Sargent v. Burgess

Citations

• 129 U.S. 19
• 9 S. Ct. 220
• 32 L. Ed. 604
• 1889 U.S. LEXIS 1656

Syllabus

<p>Claim 3 of letters patent No. 223,338, granted to John M. Gorham, January 6th, 1880, for an. improvement in wash-board frames, namely, S'. .In combination with a wash-board; a’ protector located below the. crown-piece and between the side pieces of the wash-board frame, and constructed to fold down into or upon said wash-board even with or. béloiw the general plane of said wash-board frame, substantially as and for the purpose shown,” cannot, in view of the state of the art, and of the course of proceeding-in the Patent Office on .the application for the patent, be so construed as to cover a protector which does not have the yielding, -elastic or resilient function described in the specification.</p> <p>The defendant’s protector, constructed in accordance with letters patent No. 255,535,'granted to- Charles H. Williams, March 28th, 1882, and having no yielding or resilient function, and not being' pivoted, or folding down,- after the manner of the Gorham protector, does not infringe. claim 3.</p>