Moody v. Thompson Mfg. Co.

This is an appeal from an interlocutory decree holding valid patent No. 1,776,455, issued September 23, 1930, to W. Van E. Thompson, assignor to Thompson Manufacturing Company, and holding that appellant has infringed claims 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 13 and 14 of the patent.

The patent in suit discloses a sprinkler head designed to screw bn a water outlet in an irrigation system. Figs. 1 and 2, following, show two of the patent drawings. The water enters through 45, which is an opening in a plate 24, into a “quieting chamber” 25. From the quieting chamber, it passes through an annular mouth, 36, into an “exhaust passage” 30, whence it leaves the sprinkler head through a fan shaped spray opening, 33. The annular mouth is formed by the annular wall, 34. The amount of water entering the sprinkler through the opening 45 may be regulated by a screw valve, 41, which is adapted to be screwed into or out of opening 45. This valve may be operated -from fhe top of the sprinkler.

Fig. 1.

Fig. 2.

TEe problem which the inventor set for himself, according to his patent, was to deal with “half circle sprinklers at the boundaries of the lawn”. He states that “the half circle sprinkler provide…