Sayles v. Chicago & N. W. R. Co.
U.S. Circuit Court for the Northern District of Illnois
This was a bill in equity, filed to restrain the defendant from infringing letters patent [No. 9,109], for “improvement in railroad car brakes,” granted to Henry Tanner, assignee of Lafayette F. Thompson and Asahel G. Bachelder, July 6, 1852. The invention consisted in the employment of a lever pivoted in the center under- the middle of a car body, the outer ends of which were connected by rods to windlasses at each end of the car, while the brakes were attached on opposite…
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This was a bill in equity, filed to restrain the defendant from infringing letters patent [No. 9,109], for “improvement in railroad car brakes,” granted to Henry Tanner, assignee of Lafayette F. Thompson and Asahel G. Bachelder, July 6, 1852. The invention consisted in the employment of a lever pivoted in the center under- the middle of a car body, the outer ends of which were connected by rods to windlasses at each end of the car, while the brakes were attached on opposite sides by rods to points in the same lever, intermediate between the ends and the pivot. In this way, by operating the…
1Opinion of the Court
DRUMMOND, District Judge.
The letters patent in this case were granted to Henry Tanner on the 6th day of July, 1852, covering what is called the “double acting car brake.” It is well known that cars were originally run with four wheels, a single car brake being usually applied to them to retard or arrest the progress of the train. It became very important, when the railroad companies began to run ears with eight wheels, to have the brakes applied in such a way as to save the employment of numerous brakemen, and operate simultaneously upon all the wheels of the car, and that this should be done…
2Cases cited4 opinions
- Root v. Railway Co.Supreme Court of the United States · 1882
- Railway Co. v. SaylesSupreme Court of the United States · 1878
- Hendrie v. SaylesSupreme Court of the United States · 1879
- Sayles v. Louisville City R.U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Kentucky · 1881
3Cited by1 opinion
- Dickinson v. SwinehartCourt of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit · 1920