Nye & Nissen v. Kasser Egg Process Co.

This is a suit brought by appellee charging infringement of certain claims in two different patents issued to Morris Kasser covering machines designed for handling eggs and for processing them by cleaning and coating them with mineral oil preparatory for shipment, or cold storage. The eggs are delivered to a processing machine in crates with two compartments, each containing five fillers with 36 eggs in each.

The- problem presented is the removal from the crate of each filler as a unit, the treatment of the eggs, and the return of the eggs to the filler for crating, with a minimum amount of handling. To this end Kasser, in his first patent in suit, No. 1,489,944, developed and patented a machine which received the layer of eggs from the filler íu a square basket or tray containing a receptacle for each egg, 36 in all, arranged in the same manner as in the filler. These eggs are moved through the processing baths in the basket, or tray, *421 and must be removed therefrom for replacement in the crate.

Claims 12, 14, IS, 28, and 29 of the first patent in suit are limited to a conveyor, a basket carried on the conveyor, and means for releasing the eggs from the basket. Claims 12,…