Harvestall Industries, Inc. And Vincent B. Steffen v. Levi Hochstetler

SWYGERT, Senior Circuit Judge.

Plaintiffs Harvestall Industries and Vincent B. Steffen appeal from a ruling, upon motion for summary judgment, that found invalid Steffen’s patent for a grain elevator floor support. We affirm.

The focus of this controversy is a patent, owned by Steffen and licensed to Harve-stall, for a base and support of grain storage bins. 1 The design, by providing for wire-mesh type interlocking metal rods rather than solid concrete blocks as supporting columns, along with a perforated floor, permits the free flow of air throughout the grain bin in order to dry the grain or…