Young Corporation, a Washington Corporation v. Roy F. Jenkins and Jane Doe Jenkins, His Wife, Dba Doroy Grapple Company

Young Corporation (Young), owner of United States Letters Patent No. 3,082,031, issued to R. H. Lindberg on March 19, 1963, brought this action for patent infringement against Roy F. Jenkins and Dora Jenkins, his wife, dba Doroy Grapple Company. Defendants denied the infringement allegation and counterclaimed for a judgment declaring the Lindberg patent invalid. After a trial without a jury, a judgment was entered adjudicating that the Lindberg patent is invalid and, if valid, not infringed by the accused device, and dismissing the action. Young appeals.

The grapple described in the Lind-berg patent is a scissors-type device having two points or jaws which are substantially alike and are areuately shaped. They are pivotably joined to legs intermediate to the ends of the jaws, and the legs are secured to opposite ends of a cross-beam. The cross-beam, in turn, is suspended by cables from a boom.

The mechanism is designed for use in loading logs on a truck or railroad car in a heel-boom loading operation. The lower ends of the jaws engage the logs to be lifted and the upper ends of the jaws constitute lever arms for operating the jaws. The lever arms are pivotally interconnected by…