Parker Appliance Co. v. Irvin W. Masters, Inc.

The Parker Appliance Company is the owner of Parker Patent No. 2,212,183, which said patent covers a tube coupling. A tube coupling is composed of three members: (1) a body, (2) a nut, and (3) a sleeve. Plaintiff admits that the body and the nut are prior art. The validity of the patent depends on the sleeve.

Tube couplings are not new. Tube couplings have been used for many years. Sleeves, are not new in tube couplings. In fact, from the very beginning, sleeves have been used by inventors and manufacturers of tube couplings. Throughout the years the shape and form of sleeves have been changed, according to the desires of the users or the so-called inventive genius of the inventor.

A sleeve has a flare and a sleeve head. The shape and form of both the sleeve head and the flare have been changed from time to time. An examination of the drawings in Patents Nos. 1,893,442 (1933), 1,977,240 (1934), 2,212,183 (1940 — plaintiff’s patent in suit), and of the AC 811-Standard Fitting will disclose the various changes which have been made both in the flare and in the head of the sleeve.

*73 As frequently stated at the trial, the two important improvements claimed in the patent in…