Eagle

Appellants brought this action for infringement of patent for a wrench, No. 1,380,643, issued to appellant Samuel Eagle June T, 1921. Appellee defended upon the ground that the patent is invalid for lack of invention, and the trial court held the patent to be invalid for that reason.

Appellant’s wrench, as shown in the following drawings of the patent, consists of a handle with a square end adapted to fit into standard sockets in current use.

The handle has a hinge or joint making it possible to bend the handle in one plane. The joint is near the square end, and is described at length in the claim of the patent as follows:

The end of the handle beyond the joint (4, Fig. 2) is described as follows: “And the other end squared.” Another feature of the joint or hinge is a pin in the handle (8, Fig. 2) operated by a spring (9, Fig. 2) engaging in an indentation (7, Fig. 2) in the “socket support,” or in the other member of the hinge when axially alined with the socket, thus having a tendency to hold the parts so positioned. The end of the catch (8, Fig. 2) is rounded so that, upon pressure being brought on the handle (1, 2, 3, Fig. 2) the catch can be, sprung out of the indent (7,…