Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 9.djvu/721

(7q^ fedkbaii bbpobtbr. �Western Electkic Manup'q Co. v. Ansonu Bbass & Coppeb Co. (Circuit Court, Z>. Connedieut. December 12, 1881.) �1. IiETTEES Patent— Teleghaph Wihes — Old Pbocess— ISTew Use. �An application of an old process to a new use without substantial alteration or cliange is not patentable. �Reissued letters patent Nos. 6,954 and 6,955, dated February 29, 1876, and granted to the Western Electric Manufacturing Company, as assignee of Joseph Olmsted, for an improvement in insulatlng telegraph wires, the inven- tion consisting in the discovery that compression of the paraffine into the pores of the fibrous covering by any well-known mechanical appliance would be advantageous, are void for want of novelty. �In Equity; �Wm. D. Baldivin and George P. Baront, for plaintiff. �Wm. B. Wooster, for defendant. : �Shipman, D. J. This is a bill in equity, founded upon the alleged infringement of two reissued letters patent granted to the plaintiff, as assignee of Joseph Olmsted, each for an "improvement in insulating telegraph wires," and dated Pebruary 29, 1876, and respectively numbered 6,954 and 6,955, and being reissued in two divisions (one for the process and the other for the product) of a patent granted to said Olmsted on July 23, 1872. �The specifications of each reissue are the same, and accurately de- scribe the patented improvement upon the method which was then commonly used for insulating office wire. The entire descriptive part of the two specifications is in these words: �" The method of insulating now in use consists in oraiding over the wire a fibrous covering, after which it is dipped in wax, for the purpoae of fllling and closing its pores, and after a subsequent scraping, to reinove the surplus wax, it is ready for use. This method is, however, objectionable, inasmuch as it leaves the covering in a very rough and soft condition, and fails to seeure perfect insulation. In my improved method, after the wire has received its coating I dip it in paratHne or wax, after which, instead of scraping ofE the surplus coating, I pass the whole through a suitable machine, which com- presses the covering, and forces the paraffine or wax into the pores, and secures perfect insulation. By so compressing the covering, the paraffine or wax is forced into the pores, and the surface becomes and appears polished. Wire insulated in this manner is entirely impervious to the atmosphere, of greater durability, aiid less cumbersome than any heretofore made. " �The claim of the process patent is for "the method of insulating telegraph wire by first filling the pores of the covering and subse- quently compressing this covering, and thereby polishing its surface, eubstantially as described." ��� �