Galion Iron Works & Mfg. Co. v. Beckwith Machinery Co‪.‬

BIDDLE, Circuit Judge. This is a patent infringement suit in equity involving plaintiffs Patent No. 2,020,271, issued on November 5, 1935, to Roy J. Winsor, on an application dated April 7, 1923, on sixteen claims added to the application shortly before the patent issued. Judge Schoonmaker, before whom the case was tried, held that there was no infringement, and therefore deemed it unnecessary to pass on the validity of the patent. On July 7, 1938, he entered a decree that the defendant had not infringed, and dismissed the bill of complaint. In his findings of fact, however, the learned trial judge found not only that the accused machine was substantially in line with the prior art, but also that the only novelty in the plaintiffs patent was in the means for coupling a tractor with "an ordinary road-working" machine. The plaintiff appealed, and argued to us both the validity and infringement. We have concluded that the decree was proper, and shall therefore discuss only the question of infringement.