Jacuzzi Bros. v. Berkeley Pump Co.

The evidence introduced at the trial of this patent infringement suit clearly established that some of the claims of the two patents assigned to the plaintiff, if they are valid, have been infringed by pumps which the defendant has manufactured and sold. The principal and most difficult issue to resolve is whether these claims are void for want of novelty or invention.

*239 The two patents relate to centrifugal pumps, both with and without attached injector assemblies, and pumping systems of which such pumps and assemblies are a part. Both centrifugal pumps and injector assemblies are old in the art. The inventions claimed constitute improvements on the earlier pumps and pumping systems. A brief description of centrifugal pumps and injector assemblies and how they were employed in older pumping systems will aid in understanding the nature of the plaintiff’s improvements.

Basically, a centrifugal pump consists of a disc-shaped impeller mounted on a motor-driven shaft within a casing. The shaft may be disposed either vertically or horizontally. Between the two discs forming the base and the top of the impeller and integrally connecting them are ribs curving outwardly from the…