McCormick v. Graham's Administrator

Citations

• 129 U.S. 1
• 9 S. Ct. 213
• 32 L. Ed. 593
• 1889 U.S. LEXIS 1655

Syllabus

<p>Claims 1 and 2 of letters patent No. 74,312, granted to Alvaro B. Graham, February 11, 1868, for an improvement in harvesters, namely, “ 1. The-combination, as set forth, .in a harvester, of the finger-beam with the gearing-carriage, by means of the vibratable link, the draft-rod, and the two swivel-joints-, M and M', so that the finger-beam may both rise and fall at either end, and rock forward and backward. 2. The combination, as set forth, in a harvester, of the finger-beam, gearing-carriage, vibratable link, draft-rod, swivel-joints, and arm, by which the rocking' of the finger-beam is controlled,” are not infringed by a machine constructed under letters patent No. 193,770, granted July 31, 1877, to Leander J. McCormick, William K. Baker, and Lambert Erpelding, assignors to C. H. & L. J. McCormick.</p> <p>It is apparent from the proceedings in the Patent' Office on the application ' for Graham’s patent, and from the terms of his specification' and of claims 1 and 2 as granted, that the intention was to limit the modification which Graham made, to the particular location of the swivel-joint, M', on which the crosswise rocking movement takes place, and to the rigid ' arm by which the positive rocking of the finger-beam in both directions is affected and controlled.</p> <p>In the defendants’'machine there is no such rocking of the finger-beam á? in Graham’s- patent, hut only a swinging jnovement, as in prior patents, on a pivot.in the rear of the finger-beam; and there is no arm which can depress the finger-beam, but only a loose connection to it, the same as existed before; and there is no swivel-joint, M', located and operating as in the Graham patent; and it does not infringe claim 1 or claim 2.</p>