Briggs & Stratton Corp. v. Clinton Machine Co.

(concurring) .

The engine disclosed by the patent to Lechtenberg, who was a development engineer employed by Briggs & Stratton Corporation, resulted from his being assigned the problem of producing the best four-cycle air-cooled die-cast aluminum gasoline engine that he was capable of making. The cast iron Briggs & Stratton engine which was then being made, and which was largely supplanted later by the Lechtenberg engine, was good, but weighed 36 pounds and sold to manufacturers for $30.45. The engine which Lechtenberg developed and patented weighed 19% pounds and sold for $21.25. It could be…