422 1899. PNEUMATIC TYRE COMPANY, LTD. v. LEICESTER PNEUMATIC TYRE, Alleged Disconformity Fair Development. for cycles and other light vehicles." A patent (No. 14563 of 1890) was granted to C. K. Welch for "improvements in the construction of rubber tyres and metal rims or felloes of wheels The provisional specification1 described the objects of the invention to be "easy running, reduction of vibration, and security of the rubbers" to the Former rubber tyres were fitted in grooves, and were thereby cut. In this invention the tyres are soft and larger, and are constructed to fit special shape. The rims may be made D-shaped or convex on the outside. The rubber tyres may be saddle or arch shaped, or thickened with a groove inside to receive the suitable wire may be rim, the tyre to be secured by "two small holes through the 'rubber, one on each side of the rim, through each of which a put, and the ends may be connected with a nipple having a right and left hand thread," or a similar device, " or I may use the well-known spring-wire." The nipples may be hexagonal. be connected after the tyre is placed on the rim, and drawn together by a wrench. The tyres may be of shapes different from what they will be on the felloe, eg. a closed horseshoe, the rubber being opened when being The sides would be left, by projecting, more compressible. "I may also make the rubber tyres larger in circumference, and draw them put on. into the rims or felloes by the wires." easy running." This would cause the surface of the The rubbers may be lined with canvas. rubber to be compressed, generally making it still more indestructible and may be of any form, and the inner grooved, for lightening, reducing vibration, or cementing to the rims. The outer surfaces "The above-described improved rubber tyres are also applicable to cycle and other wheels in present use or made in the ordinary way in they may be fitted over the existing rubbers without necessarily which case making any alteration, or I may substitute in place of the ordinary rubbers a lighter or cheaper material, such as cork. Cement may "I may also fit this class of tyre to the ordinary rims by modifying the form of the inner surface of the rubbers, in which case a hole through the centre may be an advantage for lightening the same." be used in addition to the wires. Another method of securing the rubber was given. The rubber tyres, "being outside the metal The complete specification described the invention in detail, with a large number of diagrams corresponding to various forms of rims and tyres, rims or felloes," are free to expand laterally. The verz, fim. provisional is here summarized, the passages bearing on disconformity being e.g. Figs. 1, 2, 5, and 6. In all the diagrams a is the metal rim, c the tyre, d canvas for supporting the wires e, f the right and left handed screw-nipple in Fig. 6, "the tyres may be lifted and held from the rim by any convenient tool, such as a screw-driver. By making this form of rim very shallow, I may connect both the wires beforehand, and force the rubber into its place on the rim. Fig. 14 showed the application of the invention to an ordinary cushion tyre, b. In The application of the invention to pneumatic tyres is shown in Figs. 15, 16, and 18. these diagrams k represents the "shoulders" in the rims to receive the wires when the tyre is fully inflated, a canvas strip along groove in rim, and m the air-valve, the other letters having the same significations as before. The action of this device is thus described : "To secure the whole on the rim the inflatible tyre is first placed within the outer or protecting tyre c, the wires or cores e e are then d Fig 16 Fig 18 Developments alleged as disconformity. closed together, allowing the tube m to project between, this is then pushed 424 through the hole in the rim a, and the two wires or cores are placed into the bottom of the concave groove for about two-thirds of the whole rim, the remainder of the wires or cores with the tyre can then be lifted or sprung over the edge of the rim opposite the tube m, as shown in the drawing; the inner tube or tyre b may now be inflated with a small pump in the usual pushed into place over the shoulders k, k; thus, the wires being smaller in manner, this causes the wires or cores e, e, to part, until finally they are pumped tight against the inner surface of the protecting tyre, thus the circumference than the edges of the rim, the inner tube or tyre may be whole is rendered secure on the rim as shown in Fig. 15, and also in dotted To detach the rubber tyre or outer covering from the rim, the air must first be allowed to escape removed as shown in Fig. 18." and removing the tyres as above described. raised. when the wires or cores may be the wires can be lifted over the edge of the rim; the whole can then be Seven of the claims related to Figs. 15 to 18 and the mode of attaching to a number of Other grounds for invalidity, that of disconformity was This was an action for infringement of the above patent. In addition As to disconformity, it was argued that the provisional only disclosed a convex rim, on which the tyre was kept in position by wires outside the rim, which wires exerted contractile force by being screwed tight or "sprung" whereas the complete disclosed a tyre kept on by airpressure as the active force, the inextensible wires only operating by reaction to resist the results of inflating the tube, and the automatic mode of attachment (ie. without the use of a wrench). On the other side it was contended that the tyre proper was on a convex surface, viz. the inflated tube; that the complete only showed the modifications necessary to adapt it to pneumatic tubes, which were a natural development of the invention; and sufficiently foreshadowed in the provisional (as quoted verbatim on if spring wires, that it was above). It was proved that at the date of the patent pneumatic tyres were known and used, although only to a slight extent. The Courts of First Instance and of Appeal gave judgment in favour of the plaintiffs. On appeal to the House of Lords : Held (comparing the case with the facts and arguments in Newall v. Elliott, ante, p. 201), that the invention objected to was the same invention as described in the provisional specification, with a development that almost and complete specifications, and that the patentee was bound to disclose must necessarily have been discovered in the interval between provisional it in 1897. PNEUMATIC TYRE Co. v. EAST LONDON RUBBER CO., In this case, besides the objection of disconformity, that of want of novelty was raised to the validity of Welch's patent. rig.1 It Several prior specifications were put forward as anticipations. The nearest to Welch's was an American one of Latta (341811, 1886). described the construction of a velocipede. The portion alleged to anticipate Welch's invention is illustrated by Fig. 5, in which D, the tyre, is concave on the inner side (ƒ) to fit the crown (e) of the rim, (h) represented spring Latta's method of wiring on tyres. wires" embedded in the rubber tyre. These wires were to be crimped in a serpentine form, and their ends preferably secured before the tyre is moulded, so as to constitute complete rings. Cementing was mentioned as an alternative. The claims spoke of "an elastic tyre having a wavy or No mention of an inextensible serpentine spring wire moulded" therein. wire was made. Held, at the trial and by the Court of Appeal that Welch's invention was novel, Latta's wires performing a different function in the tyre. The decisions on disconformity were the same as noted in the preceding case. 1899. KYNOCHS, Ltd. v. Webb, 17 R. P. C. 100. Construction of Claim-Limit of Benevolent Construction. A patent (No. 2343 of 1891) was granted to T. G. Webb for "an improvement in apparatus for concentrating sulphuric acid." The invention was thus described in the complete specification:"Fig. 1 is a longitudinal section of the furnace-chambers and concentrating-vessels. “Figs. 2 and 3 are sectional plans on the lines 2-2 and 3—3 of Fig 1 respectively. "Figs. 4 and 5 are transverse sections on the lines 4- 4 and 5-5 of Ι Fig. I respectively. "A long rectangular furnace-chamber is arranged with two fires, A and B, from which the hot products of combustion pass into chambers, C and D, behind a wall, E. The space in front of the wall E is covered by slabs, F, arranged in 426 with a projecting lip forming an overflow spout at its upper edge. In each steps, and on each step is placed a deep cylindrical glass vessel, G, formed down to its bottom from the spout of the next higher vessel, the lower end of this tube having an outlet slit along its side. Around the vessels G, near to their upper edges, is formed a floor, H, which may be of iron plate FIG. I made sloping as G, and passages, shown, or it might be made in steps corresponding with "Passages, K, are made for the hot products of combustion from the Chambers C and D into the space under the floor H occupied by the vessels bustion to the back chamber whence a flue, M, leads to a chimney. Above of the vessels G there is a roof N, and from the space under it the tops L, are made from that space for the products of com pipes, O, serve to carry off fumes. At the upper end of the slope is a tank, P, containing the weak acid that has to be concentrated, and at the lower ducts of combustion from the chamber C circulate under the tank P, and end of the slope is a tank, Q, to receive the concentrated acid. Hot pro descend a flue, R, leading to a chimney. The apparatus is worked in the following manner. The hot products |