Air Devices, Inc. v. Air Factors, Inc.

The former opinion, given prior to rehearing herein, is withdrawn, and this one filed in its stead. This is an appeal from a judgment in an action for infringement of Harrigan Patent 2,240,-617, issued May 6, 1941. The trial court D.C., 94 F.Supp. 819 , held that the claims in issue, 1, 2 and 5, were not infringed. It held that the patent was valid if limited to the specific construction described in the patent.

The patent discloses a device for introducing air into a room, called an “air distributor”. It is a grill constructed with a combination of louvers and vanes. The louvers are spaced, in an inclined position, parallel to each other and parallel to the sides of the frame in which they are placed. Upon one surface of each of the louvers are vanes extending in an oblique direction relative to the longitudinal dimension of the louvers.

The court found that the patent in suit was in a crowded field; that many prior patents had used inclined louvers and vanes to control and direct air passing therethrough; that these had disclosed constructions so similar to the one here involved that the claims in suit amount to a combination of old elements, and that in order to escape…