McCormick v. Whitmer

by Samuel Blatchford

United States Supreme Court

129 U.S. 1

McCormick  v.  Whitmer

Page 2 R. H. Parkinson, for appellants.

E. Banning and T. A. Banning, for appellee.

BLATCHFORD, J.

This is a suit in equity, brought in the circuit court of the United States for the Northern district of Illinois, by Hugh Graham against Cyrus H. McCormick, Leander J. McCormick, and Robert H. McCormick, on the 8th of June, 1877, founded on the alleged infringement of letters patent No. 74,342, granted to Alvaro B. Graham, February 11, 1868, for an 'improvement in harvesters.' In the course of the suit, the defendant Cyrus H. McCormick having died, his executor, Cyrus H. McCormick, and his executrix, Nettie Fowler McCormick, were substituted as defendants in his stead. The defenses set up in the answer were want of novelty and non-infringement. After issue joined, proofs were taken on both sides, and on the 24th of April, 1882, the court made an interlocutory decree, holding the patent to be valid as regarded its first and second claims, decreeing that the defendants had infringed those claims, awarding a recovery of profits to the plaintiff from the 12th of August, 1870, the date of the assignment of the entire patent by the patentee to the plaintiff, and referring it to a master to take an account of profits and damages. On the 21st of July, 1884, the master made a report awarding a sum of money in favor of the plaintiff, to which both parties filed exceptions. On a hearing, the court sustained some of the defendants' exceptions, and overruled all others, and rendered a money decree in favor of the plaintiff. Both parties prayed appeals to this court, but the plaintiff did not perfect his appeal. Since the record was filed in this court the plaintiff has died, and his administrator, Peter Whitmer, has been substituted in his place as appellee.

Only claims 1 and 2 of the patent are involved. The specification states, among other things, that one object of the improvements which constitute the invention set forth in the patent is to obtain a greater capacity of movement in a floating finger-beam while retaining its connection with a gearing-carriage that is drawn forward by a stiff tongue; that, to that end, the first of the improvements of the patentee 'consists of the combination of the finger-beam with the gearing-carriage by means of a vibratable link extending crosswise to the line of draught, a draught-rod extending parallel with the line of draught, and two swivel-joints, the one for the vibratable link, and the other for the draught-rod, so that the finger-beam can rise and fall at either end, and rock forward or back ward, independently of the gearing-carriage, while maintaining its connection with it;' and that his 'next improvement consists of the combination of the finger-beam, gearing-carriage, vibratable link, draught-rod, and swivel-joints, with an arm connected with the finger-beam, to enable it to be rocked for the purpose of setting its guard-fingers at any desirable inclination to a horozontal line.' The specification further says: 'My improvements may be embodied in a machine having the finger-beam arranged in advance of the axial line of the shaft of arbor of the driving-wheel, or arranged in the rear of that axial line. In the former case the vibratable link that connects the finger-beam with the gearing-carriage will be arranged in advance of the driving-wheel, and in the latter case in the rear of the driving-wheel. In the former case, also, the rod hereinbefore called a 'draught-rod' (because the strain to which it is subjected is a pulling-strain) becomes a pushing or thrust rod, and connects the inner end of the finger-beam with the rear of the gearingcarriage. In the former case, the radius-bar for the reel and raking-platform connects with the rear end of the gearing-carriage, and in the latter case with its front end. I prefer to construct a harvesting-machine with the finger-beam in the rear of the line of the axle of the driving-wheel, and, as a description of such a machine, perfected by my improvements, will enable them to be fully understood, all of my improvements are embodied in the harvesting-machine of that description which is represented in the accompanying drawings, and which is an illustration of the best mode which I have thus far devised of embodying them in a working-machine.'

There are 12 figures of drawings. The specification states that the machine is what, is commonly called a 'combined machine,' and is adapted to reaping and mowing; that, when used for the former purpose, it is arranged as represented in Figs. 1 to 6; that, when used for the latter purpose, certain of its parts are removed, as thereinafter stated, and a grass-divider is substituted for the grain-divider, at the outer end of the finger-beam; and that the gearing which imparts motion to the sickle and reel is mounted upon a carriage, A, which is supported by two running or ground weels, and is provided with a tongue to which the horses are hitched.

The parts of the specification which relate particularly to the subject-matter of claims 1 and 2 are as follows: 'The finger-beam, G, of the machine, projects at one side of the rear end of the gearing-carriage, A, and is fitted with guard-fingers, H, through the slots of which a scalloped cutter, I, is arranged to reciprocate end wise. The end of this cutter that is nearest the gearing-carriage is connected with the crank-wrist, g, of the crank-shaft, D 2, by means of a connecting-rod, J. The finger-beam is connected with the rear end of the gearing-carriage in the following manner: The end of the beam nearer the carriage is provided with a shoe, K, from which lugs, a, a, project upward. These lugs are perforated to admit a joint-bolt, a1, a which connects the shoe with one end of a vibratable forked link, L, whose other end is connected by a swivel-joint, M, with a bracket, N, secured to the rear of the gearing-carriage. This swivel-joint is formed by a cross-head, (m, Fig. 1 a,) the center of which is bored transversely, to permit a journal formed on the end of the forked link, L, to turn in it. The ends of the cross-head, m, are formed into journals, which turn in bearings upon the bracket, N. Hence the finger-beam can both rise and fall freely at either end, and rock forward and backward, without twisting the link that forms its connection with the gearing-carriage. Moreover, the axis of the cross-head, m, of the swivel-joint, is arranged in line, or thereabout, with the axis of the crank-shaft, D 2, that imparts motion to the cutter, so that such rising or falling or rocking does not materially change the distance between the crank-shaft and the cutter. The shoe, K, of the finger-beam, is connected, also, with the front end of the gearing-carriage by a draught-rod, O, and the connection between the rear end of this draught-rod and the said shoe is a swivel-joint, M', of which the joint-pin, a 1, of the vibratable link, L, is the longitudinal axis, and its T-head, m 1, the horizontal axis. This swivel-joint, therefore, while maintaining a firm connection with the draught-rod, gives free play for both the longitudinal and rocking movements of the finger-beam. Hence, when the machine is used for cutting grass, the said finger-beam may be left free, not only to rise and fall at either end, but also to rock or to be rocked forward and backward, so that the points of its guard-fingers incline towards or from a horizontal plane. In order that the finger-beam may be rocked by the conductor of the machine, the vibratable link, L, is fitted with an arm, l, whose upper end is connected by a rod with the lower end of a lever, P, that is pivoted to the gearing-carriage near its forward end. The upper end of this lever, P, extends within the reach of the driver, who sits upon the driver's seat, Q, so that he may rock the finger-beam by moving the said lever to and fro. This rocking lever, P, is fitted with a spring-bolt, whose end can engage in any one of a number of notches formed in a segment, R, which is attached to the gearing-carriage concentrically with the pivot of the rocking lever, so that the finger-beam may be fastened in the desired position by the engagement of the spring-bolt in the appropriate notch. The rocking lever is fitted with a lever-handle, p, and rod connecting with the spring-bolt, by which the spring-bolt may be withdrawn from the notched segment, and held disengaged therefrom during the movement of the lever. In order that the connection between the cutter on the finger-beam and the crank-shaft on the gearing-carriage may not obstruct the free rocking of the finger-beam, the connecting-rod, J, is connected with the cutter, I, by means of a swivel-joint, S, consisting (see Fig. 1b) of a head, s, that is pivoted to the cutter-stock, (by a shank that extends lengthwise therewith, and turns in an ear, s 1, secured to the end of the cutter-stock,) and of a cross-pivot, s 2, that passes through the said head, and through two ears formed upon the connecting-rod, J.'

Notes