Phoenix Caster Co. v. Spiegel

Citations

• 133 U.S. 360
• 10 S. Ct. 409
• 33 L. Ed. 663
• 1890 U.S. LEXIS 1917

Syllabus

<p>The claim of letters patent No. 190,152, granted May 1, 1877, to Alexander C. Martin, for an “improvement in furniture casters,”* namely, “The floor-wheels EE, the anti-friction pivot wheel F, the housing B, the elliptical housing opening, or its mechanical equivalent, and the rocker-formed collar bearing, or its mechanical equivalent, all combined so as to allow the floor-wheel axis to oscillate horizontally, substantially as and for the purpose specified,” being a claim selected by the patentee in obedience to the requirements of the Patent Office, after an extended construction of it had been rejected,- and being a combination of specified elements, must be limited'to a combination of all such elements.</p> <p>In view of the state of the art, the words in the claim, “the rocker-formed collar bearing, or its mechanical equivalent,” must be restricted to suck a bearing resting on a collar beneath the floor-wheel housing, as is shown in the Martin patent;- and the claim does not cover-a caster which does not have the collar of that patent, or its rocker-formed collar bearing or an equivalent therefor.</p>