Thomas Day Co. v. Doble Laboratories

The appellee, a research corporation and the holder of two combination patents —Doble No. 1,131,683, issued March 10, 1915, and Doble No. 1,359,042, issued November 16, 1920 — by its bill of complaint charged the appellant with infringement of claim No. 1 of the first and claims 2, 3, and 4 of the second, in that it was selling in California what was referred to in the record as the Oil-O-Matie heating device manufactured by the Williams Oil-O-Matie Heating Corporation of Bloomington, Ill. While the manufacturer was not formally made a party, through its counsel it conducted the defense in the name of appellant. Generally speaking, the two patents cover apparatus for the burning of oil and transmitting the heat thus generated to a heat-absorbing medium, such as water, for steam power or house-heating purposes; in the first, use for propelling automobiles by steam is given prominence, and in the second not only automobile boilers are specifically mentioned but “water heaters and house heaters.” The alleged infringing device, Oil-O-Matie, is specifically a house-heating apparatus devised and put on the market subsequently to both patents. By the court below the patents were held…