3. SAME-BUTTONHOLE MACHINES.

The Osterhout patent, No. 447,791, for an improvement in machines for cutting and stitching buttonholes, shows patentable invention, and was not anticipated. Claims 21 and 22 cover, broadly, a combination having a normally elevated cutter, positively connected with, and unyieldingly actuated and depressed at a certain time by, a depressor operated through or by means of the needle bar actuating mechanism, and a cam or device operating or rotating in unison with the feed cam, whereby the cutter is thrown into action. These claims are infringed by a machine made in accordance with the Tebbetts & Doggett patent, No. 438,655.

This was a bill by the National Machine Company against the Wheeler & Wilson Manufacturing Company for alleged infringement of a patent for an improvement in buttonhole machines.

Edwin H. Brown and James C. Chapin, for complainant.
Livingston Gifford and James H. Lange, for defendant.

TOWNSEND, District Judge. At this final hearing upon a bill in equity, complainant prays for an injunction and accounting, alleging infringement of letters patent No. 447,791, granted March 10, 1891, to James B. Osterhout, assignor to complainant. The record in this very complicated case has the refreshing merit of exclusion of irrelevant matter, and inclusion of all necessary evidence. The questions at issue have been exhaustively presented in admirable briefs, and by lucid and thorough oral arguments.

The patented device is for an improvement in machines for cutting and stitching buttonholes. The specification states that:

"One general object of this invention is to provide buttonhole sewing machines with practically successful cutting mechanisms, which shall automatically cut a buttonhole only when the machine is stitching at a predetermined portion, part, or point in the periphery of the buttonhole."

The patent covers a novel machine, comprising patentable improvements upon previously existing devices, whereby new and useful results were produced. The defense is denial of infringement. Prior to the invention embodied in the patent in suit, and in certain patents relied upon by defendant,-notably, that to Egge in 1885,no practical, automatic buttonhole attachments for sewing machines had been devised, which would both stitch and cut the buttonhole automatically. The problem presented was to provide a cutter which should not only automatically cut by a single stroke, at the proper time and in the proper place, but should be prevented from thereafter continuing the cutting operation. Defendant admits that Osterhout so far solved this problem by an inventive act that his device was capable of practical operation in the hands of an expert operator. And defendant further admits that the patents upon which it relies, and under which it manufactures, depend for their operation upon a finger or pin on a feed wheel such as is found in complainant's patent. But they deny infringement, on the ground that this finger was well known in the prior art; that the claims in suit do not cover it, except in combination with other elements not used by defendant; and, further, because defendant's machine shows. invention, by the solution of the problem presented, upon a different principle, producing the same results in a different way. The

construction of defendant's machine is practically identical with that covered by patent No. 438,655, granted October 21, 1890, to Tebbetts & Doggett. Defendant claims that the Osterhout patent is for an improvement upon the type of cutters known as "step by step cutters," in which a knife is operated at each alternate descent of the needle, but that the Tebbetts & Doggett patent is for an independent, single-plunger cutter, which can operate only once in any .event. Defendant further claims that patent No. 345,419, granted to Frederick Egge July 13, 1886, shows such a solution of the problem presented as deprives Osterhout of any claim to any device or construction, except the specific construction described and claimed in his patent. This subject will be discussed later.

Buttonhole machines of the class in question comprise a stitchforming mechanism, a work-moving mechanism, and a cutting mechanism. This litigation is concerned with the latter mechanism only. In this is included a cutter, a cutter carrier moving relatively to the plane of the work, a depressor to force the cutter through the fabric, and a cutter controller to cause the engagement of the cutter carrier and depressor. The claims alleged to have been infringed are the following:

“(1) In a buttonhole sewing machine, the combination, with its stitch-forming and work-moving mechanisms, of a work cutter and its carrier, normally elevated; a depressor, which ordinarily does not depress the cutter carrier and cutter; a cutter controller connected to and moving with the said workmoving mechanisms; and connections between the said cutter controller, cutter carrier, and depressor, whereby the latter is temporarily caused to depress the cutter carrier and cutter,-substantially as set forth. (2) In a buttonhole sewing machine, the combination, with its stitch-forming and work-moving mechanisms, of a work cutter and its carrier, normally elevated; a depressor, which is operated by the needle-actuating mechanism of the sewing machine, and which ordinarily does not depress the cutter carrier and cutter; a cutter controller connected to and moving with the said work-moving mechanism; and connections between the said cutter controller, cutter carrier, and depressor, whereby the latter is temporarily caused to depress the cutter carrier and cutter,-substantially as set forth." "(4) In a buttonhole sewing machine, the combination, with its stitch-forming mechanism, work clamps, and mechanism, including a rotary feed device for operating the work clamp, of a work cutter and its carrier, normally elevated; a depressor, which ordinarily does not depress the cutter carrier and cutter; a cutter controller connected to and rotating with the said rotary feed device; and connections between the said cutter controller, cutter carrier, and depressor, whereby the said depressor is temporarily caused to depress the cutter carrier and cutter, -substantially as set forth. (5) In a buttonhole sewing machine, the combination, with a stitch-forming mechanism, a work clamp, and mechanism, including a rotary feed device for operating the work clamp, of a work cutter and its carrier, normally elevated; a depressor, operated by the needle-actuating mechanism of the sewing machine; a cutter controller connected to and rotating with the said rotary feed device; and connections between the said cutter controller, cutter carrier, and depressor, whereby the cutter carrier and cutter are temporarily depressed by the said depressor,-substantially as set forth." "(7) In a buttonhole sewing machine, the combination, with a stitch-forming mechanism, a work clamp, and mechanism for operating the work clamp, of a depressor, operated by the actuating mechanism of the sewing machine; a work cutter; its carrier; means to elevate the cutter carrier, and means to support it when elevated and disconnected from said depressor; a cutter controller connected to and moving with the mechanism operating the work clamp; and connections between the said cutter controller,

cutter carrier, and depressor, whereby the cutter carrier is temporarily connected with and depressed by the said depressor, and is thereupon elevated and disconnected from the depressor,-substantially as described." "(15) In a buttonhole sewing machine, the combination, with a stitch-forming mechanism, a work clamp, and mechanism for operating the work clamp, of a cutter carrier, normally elevated, and an attached cutter of suitable length to cut a buttonhole at one insertion; a depressor operated by actuating mechanism of the sewing machine, a cutter controller connected to and moving with the mechanism for operating the work clamp; and connections between the said cutter controller, cutter carrier, and depressor, the same being constructed and arranged so as to cause the cutter carrier and cutter to be depressed by the said depressor to cut a buttonhole when the sewing machine is stitching at or near one and part of one side of the buttonhole,-substantially as set forth." "(21) In a machine for stitching buttonholes, the combination, with a stitch-forming mechanism, a work clamp, and mechanism for operating the latter, of a cutter, a cutter carrier or bar, a depressor operated by the needlebar actuating mechanism, a cam or device rotating in unison with the clampoperating cam or disk, and connections between the said rotating cam or device and depressor, whereby the cutter is thrown into action. (22) In a machine for stitching buttonholes, and combination with a stitch-forming mechanism, a work clamp, and mechanism for operating the latter, of a cutter bar sliding vertically in the head of the machine, and entirely disconnected from the needle bar thereof; a cutter of suitable length to cut an entire buttonhole at a single stroke; a slotted throat plate, through which the said cutter can descend; a depressor operated by the needle bar actuating mechanism to cause a descent of the cutter bar and cutter as a buttonhole is being completed; a cam or device rotating in unison with the feed cam or disk for the clamp; and connections between the said rotating cam or device and depressor, whereby the latter is thrown into action to operate the cutter." "(28) The combination, with a buttonhole sewing machine, of a cutter, a cutter carrier, a cam from which motion is transmitted to the cutter carrier to depress the cutter, and mechanism whereby the depression of the cutter from the cam will be produced but once, and after the stitching of the greater part of the buttonhole, substantially as specified."

The invention claimed in this patent consists of a cutter normally elevated, and out of engagement with the other parts of said machine, but which may be so connected with the work-moving and feeding mechanism that, at the appropriate time in the stitching of the buttonhole, it is caused to be positively and unyieldingly oper ated by the needle-actuating mechanism of the machine, so as to cut the buttonhole, and immediately thereupon to be again disengaged, and return to its normal position. In the stitch-forming mechanism of this class of machines, the needle does not move over the cloth, but reciprocates constantly in one position, while the work-moving mechanism imparts to the fabric a jogging movement for each stitch, and a progressive feed movement, whereby the cloth is so moved as to produce the required buttonhole.

A question which has been much discussed is whether the complainant's cutter controller, as claimed, covers only a controller which necessarily controls the cutting during the entire period from the time when it is automatically put into engagement, until the cutting operation is terminated, or whether it may also cover merely the means whereby it is put into engagement, without reference to the length of the engagement. The accompanying illustrations will serve to show the distinction between the two machines:

Complainant's lettered exhibit, "Wheeler & Wilson Machine with Osterhout Device No. 2," also shows the buttonhole cutter of the patent in suit. P, of the patent drawings, represents the cutter controller, a laterally projecting finger attached by means of screws to the feed-wheel disk, F, arranged to be operated by means of teeth in said, wheel engaging a ratchet or pawl, motion to which is imparted by the motion of the main shaft of the machine. As this disk revolves, it brings the projecting point of the cutter controller into engagement with a vertical finger on the arm, L, of a lever which so moves the arm, L', of said lever, acting by means of hinges upon the vertical cutter carrier, I, as to cause the cutter bar to slightly rotate, and to bring the clutch, J, on the cutter carrier, and the clutch, J', on the needle carrier, A, into engagement. Thereupon the downward movement of the needle arm depresses the cutter carrier, and the cutter passes through the fabric. Upon the upward movement of the needle carrier, a spring causes the clutches to be disengaged, and another spring, K, upon the cutter carrier, elevates the cutter.

The defendant's machine is constructed substantially in accordance with the Tebbetts & Doggett patent. The drawing on sheet 1 of said patent shows said cutter in operative combination with a Wheeler & Wilson buttonhole sewing machine. It also comprises a circular feed wheel attached to a Wheeler & Wilson machine, and having a laterally projecting finger or controller, like that of the patent in suit, operated in the same way. As the feed wheel revolves, a pin on said finger strikes an arm of a bell crank lever, causing said lever to slightly rotate and bring a latch into engagement with a catch on a collar on a needle bar rocker shaft. This latch is fastened by means of screws to a cutter bar rocker shaft. At the extremity of said cutter bar rocker shaft is an arm which operates the cutter carrier. On said cutter bar rocker shaft is a collar with a projection or finger thereon. The upper short arm of said bell crank lever is pressed against said finger when the lower arm is brought into engagement with the controller or finger on the feed wheel; thus causing a slight rotary movement of the cutter bar rocker shaft, sufficient to bring the latch into engagement, as above stated, with the catch on the collar carried by the needle bar rocker shaft. The rotary movement of the needle bar rocker shaft, communicated by said engagement to the cutter bar rocker shaft, causes a jaw or clutch at the extemity of said arm, connected with and operated by said cutter bar rocker shaft, to descend, and, in descending, to depress a finger, with which it is in engagement, on the cutter carrier, and thus to depress the cutter which cuts the buttonhole. While the cutter is thus being depressed the movement of said cutter bar rocker shaft causes a releasing, snail-shaped cam thereon to press against the top of said bell crank lever, thus releasing the arm of said lever from engagement with the controller on the feed wheel. Defendant claims that this releasing operation accomplishes what the patentees of said machine state as the main object of their invention, a single automatic descent of the cutter, and the prevention