United States Supreme Court Cases & Opinions

U.S. Supreme Court

Howard v. Detroit Stove Works, 150 U.S. 164 (1893)

Howard v. Detroit Stove Works

No. 64

Argued November 2-3, 1893

Decided November 13, 1893

150 U.S. 164

Syllabus

The alleged invention patented in letters patent No. 123,142, issued January 30, 1872, to Philo D. Beckwith for "an improvement in stoves" was anticipated by prior patents, and is void for want of invention in not describing how wide the flange should be in order to accomplish the desired result.

Letters patent No. 135,621, issued February 11, 1873, to Philo D. Beckwith for "novel improvements in a stove" are void because the bolting or riveting together of sections of a stove was well known at the time of the alleged invention, and the use of lugs with holes perforated through them was anticipated in other stoves and furnaces manufactured many years prior to the date of the patent.

Letters patent No. 206,074, issued to Philo D. Beckwith, July 16, 1878, for a "new and useful improvement in stove grates" is void because the claims in it were clearly anticipated and because it involved no invention to cast in one piece an article which had formerly been cast in two pieces and put together, nor to make the shape of the grate correspond with that of the fire pot.

Page 150 U. S. 165

In equity, for the infringement of letters patent. Decree dismissing the bill, from which complainants appealed. The case is stated in the opinion.