Sickels v. Borden
U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Southern New York
This was an action on the case [by William B. Sickels against William Borden,] tried before Mr. Justice Nelson, for the infringement of letters patent [No. 4,199] granted to Frederick E. Sickels, September 19th, 1845, for a “method of tripping the-dx-op cut-off valves of steam-engines, and regulating and adjusting the same.”
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This was an action on the case [by William B. Sickels against William Borden,] tried before Mr. Justice Nelson, for the infringement of letters patent [No. 4,199] granted to Frederick E. Sickels, September 19th, 1845, for a “method of tripping the-dx-op cut-off valves of steam-engines, and regulating and adjusting the same.” The material parts of the specification, and the-claims, were as follows: “By the method now practised of operating the drop cut-off valve, the motion is derived from the lifter, which approaches its state of rest as the piston of the engine ap-pi-oaehes the middle of its…
1Opinion of the CourtNelson, Circuit Justice
(charging jury). The first question to which your attention should be directed, is the construction of the patent This is essential, in order to enable you, in the first place, to ascertain the extent of the plaintiff’s right; and, in the second, to determine whether or not the arrangement of the defendant violates that right. To aid you in this investigation, it will be advisable, in the first instance, to look at the principle of the new set of ideas involved in the patentee’s discovery, and which, it is claimed, have been embodied into a working machine, and adapted to practical use.
It is…
2Cited by4 opinions
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- Porter v. Standard Measuring Machine Co.Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1886