Market Street Cable Railway Co. v. Rowley

Citations

• 155 U.S. 621
• 15 S. Ct. 224
• 39 L. Ed. 284
• 1895 U.S. LEXIS 2111

Syllabus

<p>If, upon the state of the ai't as shown to exist by prior patents, and upon a comparison of. older devices with the patent sued on, in an action for infringement, it appears that the patented claims are not novel, it becomes the duty of the court to so instruct the jury.</p> <p>The claims in letters patent No. ¿65,754, issued June 28, 1887, to Benjamin W. Byon and Reuben Munro for “improvements in automatic top-feed lubricators for railroad car axle-box bearings,” must be construed to cover any lubricator composed of an oil cup, an outlet pipe connecting the oil cup with the axle-box containing the axle and bearing, a plug or stopper, which closes the pipe when the vehicle is at rest and opening it when there is a jolting motion, and a gauge adapted to control and limit the movement of the stopper, and to thus regulate the flow of the oil; and, being so construed, the letters patent are void for want of novelty in the invention covered by them.</p> <p>A mere carrying forward of the original thought, a change only in form, proportions, or degree, doing the same thing in the same way by substantially the same means, but with better results, is not sucli an invention a3 will sustain a patent.</p>