Citations
- 513 F.2d 932
Full opinion text
PHILLIPS, Chief Judge.
Milford A. Campbell, the patentee -'of United States patent No. 3,002,600, brought this action against Spectrum Automation (Spectrum) for infringement. Spectrum counterclaimed, contending that the patent was invalid and that it therefore could not be infringed. District Judge Cornelia G. Kennedy held the patent to be invalid on a number of grounds. We affirm on one of these grounds — that Campbell was not . the inventor of the patent in suit.
. The patent discloses an article that is used in material handling as a flexible feed track. Briefly described, wire is -wound in closely adjacent loops around a square or rectangular mandrel and then floated with a flexible covering such as polyvinyl chloride. It is necessary to machine a groove through the length of this assembly to remove the article from the mandrel. Besides serving the purpose of releasing the assembly from the mandrel, the groove providés a useful access to the interior of the feed track. The resulting product, known as “Open-Flex,” consists of individual metal segments bound together by the flexible coating. This invention is described in claim 3 as follows:
3. A flexible feed track for delivering articles by gravity along an irregular path comprising a plurality of hollow formed, segmental frame members disposed side by side along the length of said track and joined together by a bonded flexible coating, said frame members and said coating defining a way for articles to be delivered by said track, each of said frame members having spring-like characteristics so as to alter the cross-section defined .thereby when a force is applied thereto and return to its original shape when the force is removed so as to cooperate with the inherent flexibility of said coating to permit said track to