Finkes v. Coe

In a suit under R.S. § 4915, 35 U.S.C.A. § 63, the District Court declined to authorize the issue of a patent for an improved hollow-back shovel. The significant concept in the appealed claim is the thickening, in order to resist wear and breakage, of the longitudinal central portion of the shovel blade. The width of this central portion, “substantially one-fifth that of the back edge of the blade,” and the rate at which it is tapered down, do not appear to be critical. Lowman patent No. 142,859, said to be the pioneer hollow-back shovel, uses a piece of sheet metal which “may be rolled of…