Transcript of Record — United Carbon Co. v. Binney & Smith Co.

Supreme Court brief1942

Ask Donna

What actually matters in this document.

Text

| ‘Supreme Court of the United States ,

OCTOBER TERM, 1942. -

: No. 71

UNITED CARBON COMPANY. AND UNITED CAR-

BON COMPANY, INC., PETITIONERS, -

vs. -

BINNEY & SMITH COMPANY

ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES CIRCUIT COURT ~

OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

PETITION FOR CERTIORARI FILED APRIL 9, 1942.

_ CERTIORARI GRANTED MAY 11, 1942.

| SUPREME. COURT OF THE UNITED STATES |

_. OCTOBER TERM, 1942

No. 71.

“UNITED CARBON COMPANY AND UNITED CAR-. ©

BON COMPANY, INC,, PETITIONERS,

vs.

_ BINNEY.& — COMPANY

ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES CIRCUIT COURT .

-OF APPEALS FOR THE yOuUnrE _

INDEX.

Original _ Print

Record from D8. U. 8, Southern District of West Virginia .. 1 1

Findings of Fact and Conclusicns of ES ey 1 1

Order Dismissing Action.”...............- SianuGn (ac een 7s 4

Statement of evidence. .... Gs ana GASSAEARRERERRER AOS ao a

— Testimony: 5

Plaintiff's Witnesses

Kitchel, Allan F .

err Scan ole 4

CHOI... see ce sere cece cecuneneecnseewecete 48 42

Pee re ere re rere ett 69 61

Jones, Webster

bath ii. oi xc ocackcduessedeatasaaesneakanes 69 61

a: SE rrr Ss Sorer rr ys it 76 67

Wiegand, Wm. B

Direct... 2.02... cece eee cece eee e eee tee eeees 80 72

Cas ciikccanascseckniN cGeesus teow enescas 82 73

Defendant’s Witnesses

Hanson, Hilding:

NE Ae hn vy kcon Coneek iv edi kinaneninees 105 95

NE ic cc cecevcisccenccveddosssnectaqgehuas 123 112

Drogin, Isaac

be. ccc nccbatechacsescostacuredoveces 126 115

Direct (cont'd) cob suckvaehegabbatnceaveunes 167 153

"oc cecthpavennutuassendecvegeogesees 180 165

eo. sciences cnnecoessesbseseceveseus 199 183

— reverie stir vii iy scaee’ -e 184

Jupp & Derwemer (INc.), PRINTERS, Wasuineton, D. C:, Jury 16, 1942.

—1267 . ;

‘2

nl dane . INDEX © \

; Record from D. C. U. S., Southern District of West Vir- |

ginia——Continued : ‘

‘Statement of evidence—Continued

Testimony—Continued

Plaintiff's Witnesses—Continued Original Print

Billings, Edmund

Diost. 0.0... e ee. eRe cqncenessaqasdsaens 162. 148

rs ieee wh ve asaciecns govsaste Gianna 163 149

SEE peg tseaseteeseeeseeneaes 165 152

sc cehicaaweacsubesas PRT HR: 152 *

Rebuttal Witnesses =

Parsekian, H. M

Lg che deabsnecsbarsemetedcraneessaces 202 185

eae cain Chantgngs 00b cndhesyeen 204 =: 188

I ca ck nkndpattnsss<vanctenstacserne 205 189

Wicgand, Wm. B. (Recalled) _

Bs 26 ax sh Pang dns se RPO Ae 20602 s«189

-* ERIE <a 0 dna nsaceaadwcencseve canes acne 241 221 ~

Exhibits: es

Portions of Plaintiff's Exhibit 1: - a

Wiegand et al. Patent in suit No. 1,889,429 249 228

Billings et al. Patent No. i eee 255 234

Billings et al. Patent No. 2,120,541... .. anise - 960 - 239

Billings et al. Patent No. Re. 19,750....-...... 268 - 247

Offutt Patent No. 2,184,950. Bionwies 274° = 58

Billings et al. “See 278 «257

r Patent No. Re. 21,379. .............- 284 263

Grote Patent No. Re. 21,390. .............-5. 288 267

Price Patent No. 2,127,137............-. eae 270

Heller et al. Patent No. 2,131,686............. 296- 275 —

Escertfom “An Outline of Carbon Blac by Z

I. Drogin, Ph.D.—“The India Rubber Jour-

nal,” Sept. 7, 1985, pp. 18-19............... 300 - 279

‘ Portions of Defendant’s Exhibit 22:. - . ‘

Lewis Patent No. 1,263,082........... ocdtics Sa wee.

- Randall Patent No. 1,405,439. ...........-+++ 305 283

Acheson Patent No. 1,431,079. ....... en ee 307 285

Knowlton et al. Patent No. 1,286,024.......... * 309 287

Geer Patent No. 1,245,700... ..............008 311 239

Trent (British) Patent No. 183,430..........-- 312 290

Portion of Defendant’s Exhibit 23:

Coffin et al. Patent No. 1,561,971....... chant 317 295 .

- Defendant’s Exhibit 24:

File Wrapper of Wiegand et al. Patent in suit

No. 1,889,429............ pebdeuensencsaces - 322 +* 300

Defendant’s exh) . No. 1—Banburry Miner Bullets

TN tO, Ap cacnnsessscroosecdasedecesist - 402 381

a Defendant’s exuibit No. 32—Printed Circular of ,

’ Tamms Paint Mixer...........6..02---0-ee2055 445 424

™ Portions of defendant’s exhibit No. 22: nS.

Carter Patent No. 207,013. .........-...---5> 446 425

- Metcalf Patent No. PRBS, 2 cccrpcceses Te fae fs

Trent (British) Patent No. 151,236..........- ‘, 451 430

Record from BD. C. U. 8. Southern District of West Vir- Rea =”

ginia——Continued :

Statement of evidence—Continued - ee

Exhibits—Continued |. Original’ "Print

Portions of defendant’s exhibit No. 23: J

.. Rodman Patent No. 1,076,235.............++: 457 436

Rodman Patent No. 1,239,221... ...........+5° 459 438

du Pont Patent No. 1,239,368................ 468 442

Thorssell et al. Patent No. 1,466,571. ...... san 446

Plaintiff's exhibit No. 8—Minerals Year Book 1940.. 471 451

Amended complaint. . obec @acss6 enone pancein benebece 434 413

Answer to amended complaint... .........-..++s+e+ss+0+5 435 414

Ot No ai wp ANTES Sug denhacnwincasnes enwes 440. 419

Notice of patents tobe reed upon as showing state ofthe art 443 422

Proceedings in U. 8. C. C. A., Fourth Circuit. Ledveedsebeuasas - 481 461

PR SIR. oo a wing vce cectccccccccscsmeccsescccesecctss 481 461

Opinion, Parker, J... ... 2.2... cc ce ccc cece weccccesecdonces 482 462

eee Cenk c dca cdcaccecavscsans tcakathecnecvdesds 491 471

Orders extending time to present petition for rehearing =a

staying mandate. ......... 2.21. eee eee eee eee eee eee eees " 492 472

Petition for rehearing. ..... 2.2.2... c cece ce ccccccccees dxaxke 493 473

Opinion, per curiam, on petition for rehearing. ..........----- 494 474

Order denying rehearing. .........-... 6... + essen eee eeeeees 495 475

Order staying mandate pending application for writ of certiorari. . 495 475

Canis Gartete. o.oo. cece ence ccc cccccccccccceccceceses 496 476

Stipulation as to printing record: Pateecsnaen on cckcakeaeecals - 4% 476

Order allowing certiorari... ......... 2. . fs. s eee eee ee eee neee 499 479

Stipulation as to printed record. ........ 1.6.6.6. s esse ee eee 500 479

»- .

3 a e rs

; .

’

bs .

" .

. .

° .

. .

ss .

. ,

‘ .

: °

. .

r .

‘

~ * -

. “

: ‘

: e

Ifol. 1]

IN THE DISTRICT couRT oF THE UNITED STATES

_ “FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF WEST VIR.

' GINIA, AT CHARLESTON, ON — 11TH Day OF

FEBRUARY, 1941

No. 58

Binney & Sura, Plaintiff, ~

VY. . —

-Unrrep Carson CoMPANY and Unrrep Cakson ComPany, Inc. ”.

‘ Defendants.

Findings of Fast and,Conclusions of Law

This action having been tried upon. the facts by the

Court without a jury, the Court doth hereby find the facts

specially and state separately its conclusions of law

* thefffbn, and directs the entry of the appropriate judg-

ment, as follows, in conformity with Rule 52(a) of the

Federal Rules of Civil Procedure:

is aes Fixpixes OF Fact

| SS (1) | =

: Plaintiff is the lawful owner of the patent in suit, to-

wit, Wiegand and Venuto, No. 1,889,429, filed December 2,

1927, and patented November 29, 1932. This patent will

hereinafter be referred to as <plaintiff ’s patent.’’

OS ae

In this\suit, only claims (1) and (2) of plaintiff ’s patent

are alleged to have been peerenged, and these claims are

_ as follows:

“ey, Substantially pure carbon black 4 in the feria of com-—

mercially uniform, comparatively small, rounded, smooth

aggregates having a spongy or porous interior.

_™”,

_ 2. As an article of manufacture, a_pellet of approxi-

_ mately one-sixteenth of an inch in diameter and formed of

@ porous mass of. substantially pure carbon black. rs

oe ape eras 28

(3)

The pininiietion of dry powders to eliminate dustiness

and facilitate commercial handling, was well: known to fhe

. prior art when the —, for plaintiff ’s — was

filed. ; te

: | (4).

-Qaimis. (1) and (2) are besadl article or product claims,

not in any, way restricted to the method taught by pat-

entees, or even necessarily restricted to the particular ..

product produced by their Ayn A product as described -

by these claims may’ result from methods quite different

from that disclosed by patentees and not.in any way“sug-

' gested by them.: In order to describe its product, plaintiff .

_ was obliged to describe it, in testimony, in functional terms.

The description of plaintiff’s product in claims (1) and (2)

is not sufficiently definite to distinguish plaintiff’s product

‘ from the product. of prior art processes or from a product

taught by the prior art and improved by the mechanical

skill of those secoche in the art.

‘[fol. 3] (5).

‘If clainis (1) and (2) were valid, and are construed

broadly, there would be infringement, as plaintiff’s product .

and mee ened product are eeeeeny similar.

: (6) eae

If deine ay and (2) were valid, sind are construed

| strictly, there would be no infringement, as there are recog- —

_ nizable differences between the product described by the —

. claims of plaintiff’s patent and defendants’ product, such -

as degree of porosity, degree ot purity, and degree of

— in size. >

(7) .

Plaintiff iis not established that it achieved commercial

success with its product described in claims (1) and (2) |

and manufactured by the process ’of plaintiff’s patent.

Plaintiff does not now use, and has not used since 1932,

the process of the patent in suit.. Plaintiff now uses, and

has since 1932 used, the single liquid. process described

in the Glaxner Patent, No. 2,065,371 (reissue No. 21,579),

for the manufacture of the pellets or beads which it manu-

factures and sells under the number of the patent in suit.

O°. (8)

The product described in claims (1) and a) of the pate nt,

in suit, did not require the exercise of the inventive Es

ulty, and was lacking in novelty, in view of the prior a

and particularly in view of the following patents:

Lewis—1,263,082, Feb. A 1922;

_ Randall—1,405,439, Apr. 16, 1918;

_ Acheson—1,431,079, Oct. 3, 1922;.

Knowlton and. Hoffman—1,286,024, Nov. 26, 1918;

Coffin and Keen—1,561,971, Nov. 17, 1925;

Geer—1,245,700, Nov, 6, 1917; and.

Trent (British)—188430, Mar. 22, 1923.

_ [fai. 4] <> +, Comctumoms or Law

(1) The patentees of the patent in suit, having origi

hally sought broader claims than claims (1) and Pye of

the patents, which broader claims were rejected, and pat-

entees having acquiesced in such rejection, and having |

cancelled such claims and. allowed their patent to issue

with narrower claims, as disclosed by the file wrapper and

contents, plaintiff is not now entitled to such a broad con-

struction of-claims (1) and (2) of its patent as to embrace

the same, or substantially the same, subject matter as Was

| -contained in the rejected and cancelled'claims. . ;

“- (2) Claims’ (1) and (2) of the patent in -_,' must re

strictly construed.

(3) Applying a strict conttrastion’ to the language of

claims (1) and (2) of the patent jn: suit, plaintiff has not

borne its burden of proving infringement, and no —

ment on the part of-defendants is found... ~

(4) Claims (1) and (2) of the patent in ‘suit, are invalid

‘as lacking novelty and 90 mee,

.(5) “Claims (1). and’ (2) of the patent in suit are invalid,

on they fail to define the produc Paaimed to have been

inventéd, in such clear, definite and exact terms as required

by patent law. .

' An order will therefore be entered, dismissing plaintiff’s

action, at its costs. .

A. W. Barksdale, Judge Designate.

A True Copy. Attest: .

Tra H. Motteshéard, Clerk. (Seal.)

Fal

4 eee |

~~ e. <é . 5

[fol. 5] : Is Unrrep States Distajcr CouRT

. Orver Dismissixc Action

This day again came the parties, by counsel, upon the

proceedings heretofore had herein, and the Court, being

now fully advised of its decision, and, for reasons set out

in its Findings of Fact and Conclusions of ‘Law this day

‘filed as a part of the record in this action, it appearing to

the Court that the plaintiff i is not entitled to the relief prayed:

ee by it in this action, it is so adjudged : it is, sskenisied

Ordered

that this action be, and the same is. hereby, dismissed at

the costs of the plaintiff ; to.all of which action of the Court

the plaintiff, by counsel, objected and excepted upon grounds

~ fully stated to the Court.

And it is further ~ |

Ordered’

that the Clerk of this Court certify and mail copies of this

order, together with copies of the Court’s Findings of: Fact -

and Conclusions.of Law, to Howard R. Klostermeyer,

Esquire, Charleston, West Virginia, and Pennie, Davis,

+ Matvin & Edmonds, 165. Broadway, New York, N. Y., at:

torneys for the plaintiff, and to Osman E. Swartz, Esquire,

Charleston,. West Virginia, and Dike, Calver & Gray, 2343 ©

Union Guardian Building, Detroit, ‘Michigan, attorneys for

the defendants. : 7

Enter:

Se _ (Sgd.) A. W. Barkedale, Judge Designate.

‘A copy, Teste: (Sgd.) Ira H. Mottesheard, Clerk.

[fol. 6} Ly Unrrep Srares District Court

Statement of Evidence

cet | . PLAINTIFF’ s WirnEsses

“(Plaintiff's Exhibit No. 1 filed.) [31].

Tesrrmoxr OF Avan F. Kitcnen * * * [32].

o\° -* -Q@ Sate: your name, place of residence and your

‘present occupation.

° "he

‘seript pages. . “\

? |

a om F. Kitchel; my residence is in n Old Greenwich,

Connecticut ; and I am president of — & Smith Com-

pany.

Q. The plaintiff i in this suit?

A. Yes, sir.

Q. I wish you would give us a brief statement of your’

_ business career, when you got out of college, what you did

then, and what positions you have held since heave time, right

on-t6eee 7.7 > eee 2

* *.* A..I was employed by teeny & Smith Cisdnieny

in 1909 as aclerk. In 1910 I was assigned to their general

laboratory in charge-of testing and control work on. carbon

black and in handling of general customer complaints. Dur-

ing 1911 and 1912 I spent considerable time in some-of the

carbon plants, becoming familiar with the product and the

methods used to produce.the various grades which my com-

pany sold. In 1913 I was put in the sales department in.

connection with the sales and introduction of carbon black ~ °

. into rubber compounds, and later on, some seven years later,

I was put in charge of that’sales work, and I have maintained

- that general sale*supervision since that time.

I became president of the company in 1935.

~ Q. In your capacity, in charge of sales, and as president

" . of the Binney & Smith Company, have you had occasion to

keep in rather close touch with the rubber manufacturing

industry?

_ A. It.was quite necessary that I do that, not only in rub-

ber work, but in the other industries that consumed carbon

.[fol. 7] black. I had to visit customers throughout the

country and have regularly, since that time, visited their

plants so that, through the years, I became familiar with

their use of our material, the purposes for which they re-

_quired it, the specifications and in general the changes that

tok place, due to the trends that occurred in the different

industries, due to their own changes and ‘also to the new

grades of material we were offering.

Q. And the men who have been prominent i in rubber manu-

' facture, particularly that part which concerns the use of. -

’. earbon.black, are men you have known rather intimately “°

through the years?.- , \

A. That is right. ne

Norte: ‘Numerals in brackets indicate typewritten tran-

a 3

J !

Q. Now, Mr. Kitchel, I wish you would tell the’ Court

generally about carbon black, what it is, what its uses are

and the extent of its use, etc., omitting for the present its _

use in rubber and only covering such general statement as

- will serve as a background for the further consideration of

it in connection with rubber. . :

A. Black: carbon, as distinguished — carbon black, is"

a pigment and goes back thousands of years, it being men-

. tioned in Chinese history. They very largely valued it.

- because of its use in the old Chinese inks, and the use of

those inks with carbon as a base has preserved their letters

‘to the present time. It was also responsible for the beautiful

. black lacquers on those ‘pieces of furniture that came down

to us from that time. However, that black carbon was.

essentially lamp black because it was made by the incom-

plete combustion of various oils. They gathered the soot

from those oils and used it and lamp black made from those

oils uas been, the principal ‘black pigment: down through

the ages to the ’70’s when, after the discovery of natural

gas in Pennsylvania, the gas was used to make.a_new type,

gas black carbon, but being what we term carbon black.

Because of its superior quality for most work the new carbon |

. black displated lamp black for the general arts.

Since thai time lamp black has dwindled to a very great

degree, whereas carbon black has grown immensely through

the years.

[fol.8] That, in general, was : the beginning of carbon

black, and up until the era of rubber which you mentioned, -

the carbon black was used principally in trades, largely

paints, inks, etc., paper, stove and shoe polish and things of .

that nature. They valued it because it had a very good

olor, intensely black, to‘a degree unknown until that-time.

By the. Court:

Q. What are the Siibaiiilien: of carbon black which

make it superior for those purposes to lamp black?

A. As we know it now. carbon black goes a great deal

farther and, if you put lamp black and carbon black in a

pile before your eyes and take lamp black and i impose carbon

black against it it would immediateiy look gray.

Q. By reason of other constituents contained i in the lamp

‘black other than carbon?

A. Possibly.so. I would not know the answer to that.

By Mr. Edmonds:. |

Q. I think you might tell a little more about the general

‘procedure incident to making earbon black, just enough to:

indicate what that procedure is. .

A. Carbon black or, as we term it in the trade today,

channel black, is made by impinging a flame of natural gas

in an old fashioned lava tip, against a steel channel. That

_ flame hits the channel and deposits soot on the channel, and

that, by mechanical means, is scraped off and taken ‘on into -

our plant. Just picture, if you will, what that means today.

In the State of Texas there are millions of those gas flames: -

burning in the burner houses impinged against those chan- -

nels, making what we require in this country and abroad in .

the arts. The film which is scraped off the channe] comes.in

: ; rolls. You will notice the lightness of it.

Q. The receptacle which you just presented illustrates the

black when it is scraped off the channel! ey

ie ee . sf

- Mr. Edmonds: ‘We offer this in yer aoe as Plaintiff 1 Ex-

hibit No. 2.

{Plaintiff ’s Exhibit No. 2, filed.)

[fol.9] . The Witness: In order to be able to handle that —

further we have to take certain steps. As‘it is light.and — -

fluffy it simply floats in the air and occupies so much space

‘it would be bothersome to handle it in the plant and for the

customer to use it; on account of the space required it would

not be practical in a commercial sense to handle it in that

way. So we take a step after that is scraped off the chan-

nel to remove part ofthe air that is entrained in it by

subjecting it to agitation. After churning that mass for a

white it gradually settles down. I have a specimen here of

material after it has been so treated in the first ‘step—you

will notice it is much more compact. °

_. Mr. Edmonds: I offer in evidence the receptacle just pro-

duced by thé witness bearing the inscription, ‘‘carbon black

as it. comes out of the air separator.?’ j

( Plaintiff ’s Exhibit No. 3, filed.)

The Witness: From that on, the black is taken from the |

agitator. In the first practice of the industry, it was put -

into a barrel, a regular sugar barrel, which in those’ days

would hold 50 pounds; later it was stepped up to 75 pounds, —

and in the same barrel as before; and later on it became the

custom to pack it into paper bags, and in.those bags you

could get 121% pounds. We changed the consistency or the

bulking of the black from the point where it came off the

channels from two pounds per cubic foot to about twelve -

pounds per cubic foot. That is the state in which it was -

put in.the bags and shipped to the customer.

Mr. Edmonds:-We offer in evidence the specimen just

produced by the witness as Plaintiff’s Exhibit No. 4. -

(Plaintiff’s Exhibit No. 4, filed.) . x

Q. These three samples or specimens, Exhibits 2, 3 -and

4; then represent the successive steps in making the carbon

black products? ake

A. In three successive stages in the operation of the

manufacture of carbon black, yes, sir. ba?

[fol.10] Q.. Now will you proceed with the discussion of

this channel black in rubber, about when it was discovered |

that the black is a re-enforcing agent, its use in rubber,..

- and what the history of the development has been?

_A. I would like to';comment * * *. [32-39]. * * *

_ that in this form in what we now call ‘‘uncompressed black’’

that black was largely used in paint, etc., and still goes to

those industries in that form. They want it in that form

because in general in all of the trades it is used in bulk in

‘liquid vehicles, either water or oil. It is uncompressed but

it is ideal because it is easily wetted and they disperse it

according to their own processes.

At that particular time, just prior to the introduction

- of carbon black in rubber, when I first joined our company,

the total carbon black produced in the whole industry was

- somewhat less than 25,000,000 pounds per year, and it was

practically all made in this State of West Virginia. It was -

valued because of those properties as callgd for by the

trades. :

You ask about rubber. It was in 1912 that my firm re-

ceived its first inquiry from’ one of the country’s leading

tire manufacturers for a sample of carbon black. That led

to forwarding it to them and was followed by a request for

other lots during the next year.. It was in 1913, as I stated

before, that I was assigned to the sales work to follow up ,

this apparent interest of the rubber manufacturer in our

o- eal - ,

carbon black. We-had-had-no business_of such nature be-

fore. It was not until somewhere late in 1913 that I was

able to get a line on what was going on, because on my

_ initial visits I found them very secretive and absolutely un-

willing to divulge what was going on. Late in 1913 it was

disclosed to me that this company had in mind a new step in

rubber compounding which, if successful, would. revoluv- .

tionize the whole art of tire making ds it was knowa at that

time. Up until that time automobile tires—you probably

remember them—had white treads. They were made with.

a canvass carcass for the structure of the tire, and that

white tread was niade from rubber with a zinc oxide as a

reinforcing agent * * °*- (39-40).

[fol.11] * * *. The Witness: I would like tosee samples ~ .

of some raw rubber and also some zine tread stock. That,

‘sir, is known to the trade as smoked sheet. This is com-

pounded with the zinc oxide. The others are simply differ-

ent types of rubber used by the rubber industry.

- Mr. Edmonds: We offer in evidence as Plaintiff ’s Ex-

hibit No. 5 the sample smoked sheet, and as Plaintiff’s Ex-

hibit No. 6, the sample of rubber ‘shown by the witness.

(Plaintiff ’s Exhibits Nos. 5 and 6, filed.)

The Witness: Those tires made with the canvass carcass

- and that zing oxide white tread gave fairly balanced per-.

' formance in that they were getting on the road from 3000

up to, at the highest, 5000 miles. At the-end of such time ~

the white tread would have been entirely worn off and the

canvass would have been so weakened that it was not good

_ for further use. _- :

' Thena new idea was explained to me in 1913 of improv-

_ ing the tire life and performance.of the automobile tire

being then made. The idea was to improve the carcass so

it would last longer, and at the same time it would be neces-

sary to improve the tread. They were getting at-the im- |

provement of the inner carcass: by the use of what -was

known as cord ‘construction. They had heavy cord which

would be much stronger than the canvass. To obtain addi- _

tional mileage and wearing qualities. of the tread, they were

embarking upon the use of carbon black as a reinforcing

agent for that rubber instead of zinc oxide. They made a —

black tread tire instead of the white one you are looking at. -

- | Tl

May I see-a sample of. the black tread stock? You j cansee

‘ the difference. The carbon black i is in that same rubber

instead of the zine oxide. o

Mr. Edmonds: I will introduce this sample of veinforé-

ing stock with that carbon black.as Plaintiff’s Exhibit No. 7.

(Plaintiff’s Exhibit No. 7, filed.)

-{[fol. 12] © “The Witness: As results vowed later, that de-

velopment. of the new tire was a very sound one because we

have found that, instead of the old.three or four thousand

mile use, it is not at all-uncommon to have 15,000 or 20,000

miles’ use for the black as against the white tire. .Is it ad- .

- visable at all to state anything sateen the function the black

plays in that rubber?

Q.- I think you might to the seen that it is known.

A. There are many theories advanced, but the one’ that

has come to be most popular with us is the one that the

carbon ‘black serves the function of gluing together the

rubber particles i in that mass. ‘A.parallel case would be, it

is known. you can take two blocks of wood and glue them

together in such a way that when force is applied the wood

will fracture, not the joint where it is glued. When rubber |

is bonded together with carbon black in vulcanization, the

bond is stronger than the rubber unit itself “* * * [40-42].

* * * A. This led eventually, after trying out several .

different grades of black in larger and larger quantities at

this tire factory, to the first contract which We made for the

supply of ‘carbon black. That was to us quite amazing be-

cause it involved in the first vear a delivery of 1,000,000

pounds of black, whereas the biggest previous customer

only took 500, 000 pounds. It opened up to us an amazing

vista in the tonnage of our product. I have mentioned the ~

_ fact that in. that year 1912 the general production of all

carbon black was about 25,000,000 pounds. Look. at what

has been done in the last: few years. It has got up to almost —

500,000,000 pounds,—twenty times as great as before. The

_-eontract of 1,000,000 pounds: has grown until the carbon

black industry as a whole is shipping and delivering to

rubber consumers throughout the world 400,000,000 pounds .

in one year. That gives you some idea ‘of the general

~ growth. = ie : 2

Mr. Edmonds: I would like to introduce in evidence at

‘this point a copy of the bulletin to Which Mr. Dike referred,

. e: . ||

calling attention waithiaaiaty: to a part o on the fifst’ page

[fol. 13] which gives the production of carbon black in this

country-for_a series of _years from 1919 to 1929. There is a

separate curve that gives the consumption and use and a

third that gives the stock on hand and really all the data .

_ that one wants about the industry. I will offer in evidence

a copy of the Bulletin as Plaintiff ’s Exhibit No. A.

oo ere ree

‘(Plaintiff's ’s Exhibit No. 8, filed.)

Q. I wish you. would proceed with the presentation ‘of .

this matter of the use of carbon black in rubber manufac-

turing, pointing out what particular problem confronted

the rubber manufacturer directly connected with the use of

_ carbon black, what the magnitnde of the problem was, what

efforts were ‘made towards solving that problem, and what

success attended those efforts.

A: I might say, sir, that our success in intvodecing the

black to other rubber customers was not quite.so easy as

these figures on consumption may indicate. We found that

_ the rubber people in the use of carbon blacks brought up

problems of a different nature than we had ever met before.

_ Their specifications, for instance, for black in rubber were

totally different from the ink and the paint man. He wanted

color in his paint. The rubber man wanted it in a dry state.

He was thinking only of ‘reinforcing and not of color. I€

just happened to be black, and he did not want it black. We

ran.up against the situation where we knew absolutely noth-

ing about the customers specification or how they wanted

various grades. Also the fact._came up. after the introduc-

“tion of those black tires that the users or automobile owners:

were very suspicious of those tires and saw a change from

the clean looking white tire to a black one and the suspicion

arose that that black was to. mask something spurious. But

by far‘our. greatest difficulty was that the black as we had

_ .to produce it for our various customers: at that time, when

the rubber man took it into his plant and milled it dry and

used it with this heavy resistant smoked sheet rubber, there .

_ was: just chaos in the user’s room.- When it is incorporated

[fol. 14] on the mill it rolls and boils and is sheared. When

the compressed black moved along in the travel to-the mills

- it got into the air, and at every pop there was, some of this

loose black went up into the air.and in the room where the .

‘work was being done and there was a cloud of this fine

particle stuff sifting everywhere. The men were covered

”

Pe. ene

_ seconds or a minute? .

. with it, their machinery and equipment were covered with

it and it got out of the windows and other parts of the fac- -

. . tories and even into the general offices and it raised a mess

. that had us in hot water all the time.

I would like very much to illustrate just how black in this

loose uncompressed form that we had to work with at that

time looks when anybody attempts to handle it. We will

safeguard it in such a way that it will not cause the trouble

which it did in early use. May I have the uncompressed

bag in the cage? This cover is put there only to protect us. .

If we did not do that it would do as it did in the factory —

‘and would fill this whole room and settle gently on every-

thing. What I propose to do is to have Mr. Parsekian take

a container of the uncompressed carbon and show what it |

does in the course of a very short travel between that con-

tainer and the glass in the bottom of the case. What I ex-

pect to see is, if that drops out of the container we will see

if any dust arises or not. 7 fates )

(A demonstration was then given.) See those clouds of .

black within that container. If that cover was not on that

cage it would be all over us. We will see what happens in

a very few minutes from the:atmosphere of that cage. *

Q. Will there be a collection of dust on the inserted sheet?

A. That will soon be evident. : |

Q. It is quite-evident, is“ft not? epiiais

A. Is there anything showing on the paper? 4

Q. Yes, like the first layer of snow, only it is black. .

A. Let us-look at it, pleas¢. Will you rub your fingers —

around it? (A demonstration was then given.) That illus-

- [fol. 15] trates it. I have another piece of paper inserted

there but we will look at that later.

Q. This particular sheet was probably in there thirty

A. Certainly not more than thirty seconds. Besides that

- physical ‘inconvenience there were other points as bother-

some to us and to the consumer. Working for eight, or

as long as ten, hours at a stretch'in an atmosphere of that

kind, the manufacturer was véry suspicious and very fear-

ful that might create -a health hazard to his employees.

- Besides that the matter of dust is a very common occurrence .

and it was feared that the dust floating through the air

might cause an explosion. ‘ Another important fact was that

in the same plant where they attempted to make rubber for

the tires they also manufactured other rubber goods.. Some

<—_

| 13:

companies would say that with all that dust floating around

they could not make other colors under these conditions. —

Several steps were taken in the early days to get ahead of

that. . The manufacturers put big hoods over their mills;

where this was done and they applied suction, that was

drawn up and taken outside where it did no harm.: Some

manufacturers even went to the extent of putting ap sepa-.

rate rooms where they did nothing but mix the black in the

_ room. In a visit to the Goodrich plant some years later

they took_me to a whole building they had put up where all

black compounding would be carried on and they would

concentrate the nuisance that the dust treated. 3

Some very amusing things occurred. \I remember one

small plant in Pennsylvania where they found it absolutely.

. impossible to get their regular force to handle this black

and they had to set up a night force which consisted of what

__ they called the ‘‘black men.’’ They were men that. were

hired at double wages to submit to going there at night,

when the other workmen were not there. But the boarding

houses in that town passed the ‘‘black man’’ from one to

the other until it was a joke all over the neighborhood. -

That brought us up against the fact where, the rubber -

men would state, because of. facing these problems, ‘‘Un-.

[fol. 16] less you can do something about this we will try

very hard infleed to develop and find something that will

take its place. Let us have the material without the disad-

vantages connected with it.’’ That was serious to us as

there was an increasing demand. We had built up our pro-

duction and if our stuff was thrown out it would leave us

with unnecessary production and material. which would be

a drug on the market. It was a very serious matter from

a financial standpoint, so we.thought we had to do every-

thing we could to find a solution for it.

'. That produced what has been known as the ‘‘era of dust,’”

which lasted from* 1915 to 1930. During all that time this

problem was being attacked in every conceivable way by

rubber men, by carbon black men and by anybody who knew —

the seriousness of the problems.involved. In general those

attempts took three rather different directions. In the first

- place, the rubber men themselves were up against the prob-.

lem in their own plants and approaching it along different

lines. * The first line was on the basis of a binder: which

‘would hold the particles together. The second:step, largely '

by rubber men themselves, was by the use of a wetting -

14°

* doses, wetting that mass and driving out the air. The

__carbon black manufacturer in general- devoted his attention

“to getting atthe problem through what we might term—

' “¢compression’”? * * ° -[43-49]. °.° %. The binders

were wax, resin and things of that nature.. The rubber

man said, ‘‘I d¢é not want those in my product. I do not.

want black with binders. in it.. I have to add my various

compounds in proper order, with the proper amount, etc.

and I do not want a foreign substance in the black given to

me because: I have to control my rubber compound from.

beginning to end. I do not want. any foreign stuff.” We -

found the results obtained from the use of a wetting agent:

did not look very successful for the reason that after it\is

_ wet down and dried to a point where @he wetting nt is

driven off, you get a lumping of material which is relatively .

quite hard. He said, ‘‘It is too hard to do its work. If I

get it spread through the mix it will cree t I want,

[fol. 17}but if anything interferes with getting that through

the mass it is different.’’ -

I would. like to mention here the work by some of the

- rubber men in tose days, men like Geer and Randall. It

was my great privilege to know Dr. Geer. I\met him and

had the opportunity of discussing this problem with him.

He was the author of a great deal of scientific rubber utere-

ture and made many contributions.

_ Q. These men were among those who made. some efforts

‘towards solving this problem?

A. They made efforts over a \period of time. Many of

them took out patents on some of their ideas. We have

' reference to their patent work here. We realized in this

_ matter of compression that the job was to get enough air

out of the black,.but do it in such a way as not to take

it beyond the point where it could be readily used. We have

‘ recently gotten an idea of the complexity of the problem.

It was very intricate and up until a’short time ago we had

never seen a particle of carbon black because the pe

was so.small that it was smaller than a wave of light a

we could not see it even with a microscope. Through the-

use of the electron microscope we now have pictures of the

carbon black particles themselves: Instead of it being fine

\ we found it superfine because those photographs show that

‘the diameter of the particle of our carbon black i is 28 mm.

or one-anilliont® of an inch.

By the Court :.

Q. What is the shape of it? }

-_A--Spheroid.That diameter and the finenéss of our

pean give a product which will spread over a surface

area of 13 acres per pound. That takes me up to the point

where we actually got onto different stages of compression.

Q. Before you get to that, you spoke of these expedients

ethat were offered by men who were leaders in the rubber

. industry and their ‘contributions towards a solution of this

dust problem. Were any of those sucessful or did any

of them go into use?’

A. I never knew of any of thiem being adcpted by any

consumer or used at all in the manufacture or preparation

[fol. 18] of carbon black. They were experimental things

_carried on inside of various plants. .

Q. When that was demonstrated, what did the’ catbon

_ black industry do?

.A. We continued in our general approach ‘along the line

of compression. I would like to explain thefe that as to

these 1244 pound bags containg fluffy black, i in compression -

. we developed various steps. The first was to take that bag

and put it into either a mechanical ar hydraulic press and

squeeze it down to get rid of some of that air. That had to

be done with extreme care because the only place for the

air to get out was in the end where it was tied. That pres-

sure had to. be applied very gently and slowly. We com-

pacted down to a flat package. That is what is now called

‘‘single pressed.*’ In the first days it was the only step

taken. When black of that nature was put on the rubber

mill, it helped a little, but we found that the dust was ap- .

: parently: i in almost as-great volume as before, so we went.

a‘step further and that bag was taken into another press

and squeezed down in the opposite direction, thereby re-

ducing the, cross-section of the bag. ‘That made the bag

quite compact indeed. : :

May I see a sample jar of the double compreseed black.

That, sir, is the black compressed in the two dimensions.

Mr. Edmonds: I will offer this sample of heavy com-

pressed black in evidence as Plaintiff’s Exhibit No. 9.

\( Plaintiff’ ’s Exhibit No. 9, filed.)

Witness: I would like ‘also to show his Honor what

- the b Ik i in a package looked like in comparison with the

_ further in the. line of compression that was taken by one |

loose fluffy material. I have a picture which shows what

it looks like after it has been compressed. It shows the

. lump character of the stuff.

/ :

Q. The surface of the carbon shown in. the photograph

is just as it exists-——

A. (Interposing) It has not been touched.

-Q. Just by running the fingers through the note at

shows the type of the material? |

oA. That is right. : .

[fol.19] By the Court:

Q. Is that the form which the ink manufacturers use now? |

A. No, sir, lie still uses the loose form.

By Mr. Edmonds:

-Q. ‘This is the form in which reac sites industry. yeah |

carbon black? , ;

A. Yes. : <3

Mr. Damunds: I will. offer in evidence these two photo- ;

graphs just’ referred to by ™ witness as Plaintiff’s Ex-

hibits 10 and 10-A. -

(Plaintiff’s Exhibits Nos. 10 and 10-A, filed.)

The Witness : There was one.additional step. noniewhat

or two manufacturers. This, I believe, was covered by a

‘patent to McMahan. They had their heavy hydraulic com-

pressors installed and they took our bags as delivered and

opened up the top of this hydraulic and put our bag in and

closed it and then exercised tremendous pressure. That

pressure would squeeze up that loose mass of black. It

destroyed the bag and when it wag taken out it looked like

a cheese. The paper had béen destroyed but it was found,

and I was told at that.time, that that pressure was so great —

that it compacted the black to the extent where in,putting |

‘it in the rubber miill they’found it difficult, because of the

extra time required for milling and that it would not dis-

_ perse easily or thoroughly.

We had one difficulty in addition on these so-called heavy

compressed or double compressed bags. When we took them —

into our press we naturally crimped the paper and the

- black was squeezed into aed folds.. But when we delivered

the black the rubber men said, “Yes, ‘it is not so dusty”’

Rat ee We een 17

and he would open it and put it on his mill. They had to

shake it and get the very dust we were trying to eliminate

through compression, * * * [49-54]. , ;

* * * Q. What was the effect of compression with re-

spect to the dust problem? = ae

A. I would say that it was of assistance but only a’pallia- .

- [fol. 20] tive. It did not cure it. It 7 bad, and continued .

- to-be bad but only to a less extent. :

°Q. Was that carbon black in compressed form used’

throughout the decade through 1920 to 1930?

A. It was the only thing that was used by the rubber cus-

tomers during that period. Compressed black came to be

used to a far greater part of all that which was used. ___.

I would like to show one of the antages there is be- _

tween compressed and uncompressed black. Let me see if

_» there is any black in that container, if it has gotten on the

-paper. Will you rub it? It is still there. We-could leave

. it for the rest of the day and still find some sifting down

‘very gently. ee

Q. And until tomorrow? © . |

A. Yes. I would like for you to take some compressed

. black and put it through the same‘ procedure. I think you

-will see the lump condition of the black will throw some

down and there will be some dust with which it will have

_ to contend. - | ,

Q. Is that double compression? ~~

A. Yes, it is double compression. Will you put that.

paper on, please? (The.attendant did as requested.) There

is no doubt that due to the compression there are-lumps

of that black which will carry down without breaking up. I

can see some of it. has hit the bottom of thé cage. There is

plenty of dust and it will show the evidence on the paper -

without waiting at all. Look at it now, please? Is there © °

anything-on there? There it is. You can readily see from

that that although it has given a little bit of help, the prob-

~ lem is still there. It was still with us to continue.to try to

do something about this dist. We must control it in. some

way or other. The rubber man said ‘‘we feel we want to

use that material and it is doing a grand job but it has so .

many penalties involved that it must be given the utmost

attention.”’ ‘ ‘ | rik

On that whole work of tlie various wetting agents and

binders there was quite‘a number of patents taken out dur- — .

3—71 oe ; | “

_18

ing that period, but the Can black was the wy thing

Td 21] I know that was used or’ praia to be used

throughoat the industry.”

By the Court:

'Q. I doubt that it has any saatadiatity- but I would really ~-

like to know briefly. how they got the carbon black into the

crude rubber. .-

A. There are people here, rubber people——.

Q. (Interposing) I do not want any technical discussion.

\ I had an idea that rubber ‘was some kind of a liquid form

\ and this stuff was mixed intovit. I gather from what you:

\. stated I was entirely wrong.

‘\. A..Do you remember the smoke sheet? I ave seen the

compounding carried through from beginning to end in

point of mixing form. They will weigh out so many pounds

of that.smoke sheet and so many pounds of. the chemicals

that go it and they will have them arranged in such

- order they Will get enough at the proper time and they are

taken into the mill room. They have one mill, or a battery

of thern, and they re simply double rollers. One roller

goes at somewhat a erent speed. from the other. The

material isin dry form. ~~, .

-Q. Isitheated atall? © “~~. ;

A. The rubber rolls, as I understand i it, have to be cooled

because so much heat is generated aiid. the esuead is so

tough. ' ;

' .Q How does carbon get into it? -

A. They put a dry chunk of rubber and add the: calubses.

when the rubber is there and the rolls go around and chew

it. It goes off like a gun sometimes.

- By Mr. Pannndst:

. Q. .I would like to have an opportunity to ; give the Court

* an illustration of just what that is if it will-help yon to

visualize that operation.

The Court: Go ahead. — 3 a ae

_ > "Phe Witness: Because of the. fact that the new binders

-actéd as I stated, because we knew that our own type of

* compression was only an approach and not au answer, and

~because we knew that further pressure went too far, we

_.® realized we would have to really get down to work and that

. [£6122] resulted in setting up a research department where

meee , | ee |

_ specialized attention could be given to just that problem

and nothing else, * * * [54-57]. * * * so an answer.

could be derived by us. That was our next step, sir.

By Mr. iiiiaie: :

' Q. Did you do that and with what result? ay

A. We did. Along in the ’20’s that work in a ‘specialized 7

group was successful and resulted i in the Wiegand-Venuto

patent. .

Q. I wish you would shade just what. that new product of

Wiegand-Venuto was physically and what its essential char-

acteristics were and point out why it was that that product.

possessing those essential characferistics did supply the

. needed thing, that is, the solution of this dust problem. |

A. The minute we ‘had this’ product available we saw with

* our own testing work it would apparently hit the dust prob-

lem correctly, as we wanted to, and that it could then be

put down rather concisely as to what it had done. It

_.. Seemed to bear four points ‘which were cardinal points ‘in

_ this whole thing. It. -was easy to look back and see how each

of those ideas bore on the, problem, and they established

_ themselves in about this order. No. 1, the product had to

be pure carbon black. We could not have binders, we could .

~ ‘not have wetting agents that would cause trouble. No. 2

was that it had to be hard enough to withstand handling,

transportation and use by the consumer, so there would be

no trouble from that standpoint. No. 3, it had to be soft

enough. If it was too hard it would not serve its purpose,

so it had to be soft enough to get the results. No.4 was

this new point that we had not seen before, this spherical. -

shape. Because of its spherical shape it had what we call

: “‘flow-ability”’. In other words, because of the-rounded

particles, in handling or transporting or using them they

turned and rolled over and had no

and did not create dust. Those four¢ardinal things i in this

* new product seemed to bring: out such new’ and novel

thoughts that we were naturally very enthusiastic about

the results of our attack on this problem.': . ‘om

[fol. 23] I would like very much, if there is time, to ©

illustrate all the points that I have mentioned by making

some exhibits here. I would like first for you to look at

some beads in the specimen jar. - We call these ‘‘beads’? -

as a matter of ne I think you can see the dif."

ners to break off =

ference between the new. product made by,the processes -

that have been used and others, by an exhibit of the

two-liquid process beads.

Q. This receptacle contains the product which is ‘illus- ©

trative of the invention of the abril cmt patent? -

A. Yes, sir.

Mr. Edmonds: I will offer in. evidence this ‘receptacle

of carbon black beads which is ‘produced by the witness

as Plaintiff’s Exhibit No. 11:

(Plaintiff’ s Exhibit No. 11, filed.) |

lar receptacle full of beads,—how were

Q. Th

-those beads se a

A. They were produced by the eit’ outlined in the

patent, what we have now come to.know as the ‘‘two-liquid

process. ca 7

Now I would like to show silat of a bag of

beads treated in the same way as the other photographs.

Q. Is this the photographt : e-

_ A. Yes, sir.

Mr. Edmonds: I will offer the photograph identified

by the witness ‘in evidence as “‘Phaintiff ’s Exhibit No. 12°”

e ©. * [57-68]. | | ;

(Plaintiff's Exhibit No. 12, filed.)

.* * *: A. Here ‘are the beads.

Mr. Dike: I will ask to have it appear in. the record

| what those beads were.

The Witness: I i imagine those are our current products.

Q. By what process are those made? .

A. What we call the ‘‘single liquid”’ aithell. May I see

; the hourglass? We have a rather neat way of showing

that:

[fol. 24] “yy. Would thine — been any visible difference

if the beads we have demonstrated: here on a sheet of

paper had been made by the two-liquid: process?

A. No, sir, they behave in exactly the same way. ' This

simply brings out that flow.through the spherical eee.

We do not want to offer that, do we?

Q. No, that need not bé offered.’

»’

A? might mention if that were uncompressed black in -

‘the top of that hourglass nothing would go through at all.

May I see the two cylinders to illustrate some of. this?

Mr. Edmonds: I will ask that this Jhourglass be marked

‘‘Plaintiff’s Exhibit No. 13”’.

(Plaintiff’s Exhibit No. 13, filed.) -

' The Witness: I have here two cylinders of the same sise;

one has a charge of heavy compressed and one a charge of

beads. This is the old compressed black: You can see

what happens inside.

‘Q. Just for the record, you inverted this tube very rap-

idly so the carbon black fell from one end to the other.

Is it correct to say that when that was done the tube was

filled with dust? Sane .

- A. Yes: .

Q. Will yuu do the same with the other tube containing

the beads?

A. (A demonstration was then made. ) Perfectly clean,

lar. Edmonds: I will offer in evidence these two tubular

standards that the witness has just produced and referred _

to, one containing the compressed black to be marked

. “*Plaintiff’s Exhibit No.'14’’, and the one containing the

beads as ‘‘Plaintiff’s Exhibit No. °18”’.

(Plaintiff’s Exhibits Nos. 14 and. 15, filed.)

Q. Would there have been any appreciable difference

_ if they had been made =? the two liquid precess or the

dry process? .

A. I believe not: I think our-most interesting or, rather,

elegant way to show the ease in -handling this product _

is to do exactly what we did with the uncompressed and ©

[fol.25] the compressed black except that one is not pro-

tected by surrounding it in this cage. We will ‘be very

glad to do it openly without any protection whatever.

(A demonstration was then made.)

By Mr. Smith: |

Q. So that the record is clear, will you please state what:

beads those were? |

A. Regular standard.

Q. Single liquid beads?

4, te. .)

‘By Mr. Edmonds : a |

‘Q. Would there be any visible difference in the product

or in the action when you poured them if these had been

made by the so-called two-liquid process? . :

A. We have done it time and time-again. I have never

been able to notice any difference. Here we thought we

had the solution of the troubles and the product with which

‘we could go out and do a grand job from the standpoint aa

of supplying tthe customers’ needs and make some nice

sales ourselves. It was the only thing we had seen during

this period that approached. or_solved the problem and the

only thing during “all that period that was any different

from the other attempts I have mentioned.

Q. By analysis of the achievement after it was. inde,

-was it by that procedure that you came to, these four essen-

tials which you thought of as being the key to the success -

_ .of the achievement? — . .

A te? * (69-63). eri! ragoae

at By Mr. Edmonds:

Q. I believe you had not quite hitebed your last answer —

before the recess, had you, Mr. Kitchel? :

A. Just one“or two points in connection with the pat-

ented product. I mentioned the bulk or density of the

blacks as made and treated, showing the steps from the

very bulky dusty black, when it came off the channel of

about three jounds per cubic foot; then the initial stages

of compression that brought it up te about twelve pounds

per foot;:then the heavy compression bringing it some-

where between twenty and. twenty-five pounds per cubic

foot, and in this pelleted product you got up to density there

[fol. 26] of approximately’ twenty-seven to twenty-eight

pounds per cubic foot, which reflects on the density of the

material.. Would it be proper to call attention to some

of the points in the patent itself alt Bh ' [64]? :

Pe ee The Court: I am not just sure that I caught

the weights which you gave in your last answer.

By Mr. Edmonds:

Q. Well, let us take it in a series of steps. We have

the weight per cubic foot of the material scraped from

the channel, three puands per cubic foot, is it not?

-— ° Approximately. .

- Q. Next comes the material in the) agitator bm, after

being. agitated to drive off some vi the air. , ’

_ A. That is practically as dense as the material in the

uncompressed form; I° think very little difference.

Q. What is that? _..

A. Approximately twelve pounds per cubic foot.

Q. What is the weight per cubic foot for - single

compressed ?

A. That.is twelve pounds.

Q. ‘And the double compressed? .

A. Pardon me; I made a mistake. The. uncompressed i is

about twelve pounds per cubic foot, coming out of the

.. bins; the single compression: is approximately seventeen

pounds per cubic foot, and then the double compression is

- somewhere between twenty and twenty-five pounds, de-

pending upon the amount of pressure used, and then the

beads or pelleted product is twenty-seven to twenty-eight.

Q. Is that matter, that higher weight per cubic foot, an

item of importance commercially in connection with ship-

ment?

A. Yes, it is. Besides the freedom from dust, for which |

we had originally striven, another.problem is added. and.

of very great assistance in the matter of shipping material,

particularly in the foreign field. In our cort of getting.

‘this black ‘abroad to foreign countries, where no black

is made and where they depend on this country for their.

supply, our costs are based, upon the space required on |

[fol. 27] the ships, ocean space, which is a cubic foot —

measure, -and- therefore these pellets, requiring so much ~

less space, enabled us to reduce the cost of transporting

from this stde of the ocean to the other side, and was

therefore extremely helpful. ’

Q. When you first started shipping abroad, the charge

"was on the weight, was it not? -

A.’I don’t know about that.

-Q. Until the shipping companies got on to the fact that.

they were not getting — revenue?

All shoul say that is aii but I.am not sure sa that.

-Q. Then the change occurred?

A. I think probably that is right * * * [65-67 | ae

* * * Q. Now, you | had occasion to refer, in the course |

of your testimony this morning, to patents that were

granted to various people along prior to the patent in ©

suit for expedients which they proposed for meeting this °

. dust problem, and I would like to ask you if the patents

granted in those years of the era of dustiness, 1915 to

1930, contained explanations of the dust problem and what.

2 involved, which confirm what you have — here today.

A. Yes, sir.

Q. I am going to ask you now to refer oe some of theix,

and read from them typical extracts of what you have just.

referred to, and I will say that if the Court cares to follow

this reading, your Honor. will find the —— in the book

heretofore offered,

I would like to ask you first if you find i in those patents

_general statements about this dust problem, and how mucli

“of a burden it was;-and if so, give us a. typical instance.

You might refer first to a British patent which is at the

end of the first section, 127,770, and read from that page 2,

lines 3 to 6, that being the Witten H. Taylor patent of

1919.

A. ‘‘Prior to the date of my invention, it has been gen-

erally recognized that lamp black is invaluable for many

purposes, but owing to its extremely dusty character, its

‘ use. has been very much restricted since even the slightest

[fol. 28] movement of the air distributes the substance in all

parts of a room in which it is located.’’ :

Mr. Dike: Your Honor, we admit that black i is ‘ding and

it is very objectionable, and I think it is entirely unneces-

.Sary to go into any jong discussion of that — or

that question at all. . ‘.

The Court: I understand - -you. not only admit it, but you :-

assert it; but I don’t think it is ‘objectionable for him to’

make up a record within a reasonable limitation, to show

the history of and the characteristics of this product. . _—

‘ you finished your answer? .

‘The Witness: Yes.

By Mr. Edmonds:

Q. Will you turn now to the Randall Ber No. 1,384,089,

the sa relating to compression, but the portion of the

iii I wish you to refer to is page 1, jines 10 to 21.

A. (Reading:) ‘‘In the packing, shipment and use of

carbon black and similar materials, considerable annoyance

_. and trouble has been experienced by the flying particles .

of the carbon which, as is well known, do not remain

in compact form after.manufacture, but are easily disposed

to fly about in the air. Particu’ ~ly iu the manufacture |

and compounding of rubber, the carbon particles disperse

and fly about in the workroom to the arinoyance of the

workmen, and detriment of any white goods that may be

present.’’

Q. Will you turn over to the other Randall patent,

1,405,439, and read from that, page 1, lines 19 to 34?

A. (Reading :) ‘*A pigment is usually mixed with rubber

being worked by the rolls of a mill, and is usually. added

to the rubber. in the form of a powder. In this form it

exhibits particles isolated from each other by air which

tends to permit particles to easily. be dispersed into the

atmosphere and discolor different rubber stock which may

be undergoing treatment nearby. - Further, the quantity

- of pigment required to impart desired characteristics _of

color, quality, etc., to the rubber, is of so great mass or

bulk in powder form as to cause it to mix very slowly

[fol. 29) with the rubber. Thus an abnormally long milling

period is required to produce a homogeneous product.’’

Q. By the way, did you know this Mr. Chester J. Randall,

- who he was or what he was?

-A. I know who he was, but T was as not acquainted with him

personally.

Q.. Was he ciiiictyii with one of the big rubber com- —

panies? . -

A. Yes, sir; the Naugatuck Company.

Q. And what i is that company part of?

A. It is part of the——

Q. Part.of the United States Rubber Company, was: it

not, at, that time?

A. Not to my knowledge. I think it was a Separate cor- ~

poration at that time. .

Q. Will you turn now to the Geer patent, No. 1, 245, 700,

and read from that, page 1, lines 9 to 17?

A. (Reading) ‘‘This invention relates to the compound-

ing of rubber in a mixing mill with ingredients such as gas- ~

black which occurs in the form of a powder so finely divided

a) See 3

or isubiiiis that if used in a dry conditicn they. tend to

spread through the atmosphere of the mill room, causing

the loss of a portion of the powder and discomfort to =

operatives, ”’

Q. Is this patentee, William C. Geer, the Mr. Geer you

' spoke of?

_A. Yes, sir.

.. Q. He was head of the euiaeaiediuicinns and development

end of the.Goodrich organization, I believe?.

A. Not the manufacturing end. He was head of their

technical division. .

Q. And was widely known i in the rubber industry?

A. Widely known and recognized.

Q. A master of the mney, you might say?

A. Undoubtedly.

Q. Now, will you turn to the Knowlton patent, No.

1,286,024, and read from page 1, lines 10 to 20% :

A. (Reading) ‘‘This invention relates to thé art of com-

pounding a plastic gum, such as rubber, requiring consider- -

[fol. 30] able mastication for its incorporation with filling

_ materials, with substances such as gas-black (a species of

lamp-black produced from natural gas) normally existing

as an impalpable powder, our object being to keep the atmos-

phere in the vicinity of the mixing mill substantially free

from the dust or powder, thus’ preventing waste and en-

hancing the comfort of the operatives.’’

Q. Did you know these men, Knowlton me Hoffinan, the

patentees of this patent? . : ;

A. Only by reputation at that time. .

Q. Mr. Hoffman has been well-known. in the rubber in-

dustry for the past twenty years, has he not? - :

A. Yes, sir.

-Q. And he has been connected with the Goodrich Com:

pany through that time, has he pet

A. Through most of it.

Q. Will you turn now to the isis patent, No.

1,651,733, and read from that lines 12 to 26?

A.. (Reading) ‘Carbon pigments, such as lamp-black, —

gas-black and other forms of carbon black, ivory black, etc., -

are desirable ingredients in many compositions, because

of the fact that-they are fine grained, permanent and of.

great covering power. But in certain industries-their use

has led to considerable difficutties. If dust from these Pig-

» .

ments mixes with the air in proper proportion, an explosive

- mixture is obtained, which is highly dangerous. Moreover,

this dust is liable to contaminate mixtures into which it is

undesirable to have it enter. - Furthermore, it has been

difficult*to incorporate such pigments into certain kinds of -

compositions.”’

Q. What about this man Sheppard; did you know him?

A. No, sir. .

Q. Did you know who he was connected witht

| ee

Q. Another patent, McMahan, No. 1,541,233, which I ©

might say is a patent dealing further with compression, is -

the next one I desire to call your attention to.- Will you

please read from that, page 1, lines 10 to19?.

{fol 31] A. (Reading) “This invention relates to the

preparation of lamp black for use in compounding rubber,

and has for an object to prevent dispersion of the lamp

black into the atmosphere‘during the milling operation.

‘‘Lamp black, while being compounded with rubber on

mill rolls, permeates the atmosphere and smudges the white -

and: ether colored rubber stocks which are Ss milled i in

the same room.’”’

Q. With whom was McMahan connected ?

A. Originally with Morgan and Wright, and later with

the Ajax Company in Trenton.

Q. Morgan and Wright were the Vaid States Rubber

Company?

A. Not then; but now. they are.

Q..And this compression scheme was well known, was it

not, and associated with his riame?

A. Yes.

Q. It was known as the McMahan ceamsnnened?

A. Yes, sir.

Q. One other patent I wish you to refer -to, the Lewis

patent, No. 1,263,082, page 2, lines. 57 to 67, beginning in

the middle of a sentence where he is talking of a binder,

of .a.material held together by a binder.

A. (Reading) ‘‘And such material will aid in reducing,

if not.entirely destroying the dusty character of the pow-

der and much reduce, if not eliminate, the losses incurred

by powder carried away by air currents during manufac-

turing processes. This effects not only a saving in the

material but renders the air more healthful and gives

the Sheppard patent.

28 ‘ . a

_ greater ease of manipulation of the product « as well as

' the lessened bu :

a Speaking of the various aunenie involved in this’

general nuisance of dustiness, you said one item was the |

loss of the product that the rubber manufacturer pays for.

Which. ones of these patents comment upon that loss of .

- product? |

' A. Geer, Tacetion and Lewis all comment on ~—

Q. Another item you spoke of was the discoloration of

rubber stocks from which they wanted to make things in

[fol. 32] colors other than black. Which ones of the patents

comment on that portion of the dust nuisance?

A. Both the Randall patents, 1,384,089 and 1,405,439, and

Q. Which ones of them speak of that dust in the init

phere with reference to its effect on workers?

A. Geer speaks of it, Knowlton, Lewis and Randall in

the first patent. Bote

- * Q. Which ones commented on the possibility of danger cae :

through fire or explosion?- ~—_—- Se

A. Only Sheppard. : 4

- Q. Some of these patents disclose -thé expedient or pro- :

posal of reducing or eliminating dust’ by putting a binder

into the carbon black, and you said that was distinctly bad

and gave your veasons for it, and that it was unacceptable

- to the rubber industry. Do any of these patents comment |

’ on that fact; that is, that binders, no matter what their

kind or nature,. are bad? 4.

- A. Both the Randall patents comment on that. ————

Q. Read the particular portions of those two patents you

"refer to, first Randall patent No. 1,384,089, and what I would

like to haye you read is on page 1, lines 21 to 33.

A. (Reading) ‘‘Various processes have: been devised for -

compacting the carbon by the use of various binders and .

liquids, but these have the objection that foreign materials

are ‘introduced into the carbon and into the articles into |

_- whose composition the carbon enters. This invention has

as an object to compact the carbon and thereby put it into.

such shape that it will not disperse and fly about when ©

handled, and it has also as-an-object the eompaction of

carbon without the aid of binders or liqui

Q. And the other Randall-patent, No. 1,405,439, and I

refer to page 1, lines 34 to 47. ~

Ne .

\ 29

A. (Reading) “The addition of an iiiiinies sidiaiaa to

. the pigment during the mixing operation has’ been tried,

for the purpose of binding together the particles of the

also to reduce the bulk of the pigment and thereby shorten

{fol, 33] the mixing period. . But this expedient, while pa

. pigment so that they cannot fly from the mill’s sere

accomplishing the purpose in view, cannot always be re-

sorted to with impunity, for the quantity of binder usually.

-Tequired is so great as to materially impair the quality of »

_ and-in some instances even fo spoil-the rubber product.’’

Q. I neglected to ask you about Mr. Lewis of the Lewis

patent. Did you know him?

A. Yes, sir. ;

--Q. He was, in fact, identified with your organization,

’ was he not?

A. With an associated company, yes, sir.

Q. Did his proposal ever get anywhere commercially?

a A, No, sir

Q: The sass thing I wish you would speak of, just by way

of explaining it, js the process whereby beads are made in

accordance with the description contained in the ———

tion of the Wiegand patent in this suit.

A. Although these pellets may be produced in various

ways, the method mentioned in this patent is what we now

have come to call the two-liquid process. In sirhple words,

it means mixing the dry carbon black with a certain quan-

tity of water, making a slurry, then putting into that slurry

some gasoline or other organic liquid, then agitating for

a period of time, which brings about the formation of beads

which are then taken out and dried into the product ‘as

shown in the specimen jar there. We have an. apparatus

here to make a practical demonstration of that, on a small

scale, if you wish.

Q. It is rather remarkable, is it not, how those particles

_ aggregate into these small beads, almost.as if by magic?

A. We think it is extremely interesting, yes.

. Q. I would be glad to have that demonstration made here.

- A. It can be easily made here i in the court room * * *

[67-78].

a oe an Witness: I might say, in that comnection, that

this two-liquid process as originally used was an expensive

one, and is not now used, due to the fact that developments _

in’ the early thirties resulted in what we now call the single-

. a

’ [fol. 34] liquid process, in which the expense is much less,

as patented by Glaxner in 1932. -

Q. The reduction in expense is due largely to eliminating -

the need for the use of gasoline; is that right? ..

A. It requires no gasoline whatever; water only.

_ Q. And the gasoline that you had to use for the two-liquid

process had to be very special gasoline, did it not?

- A. Very high quality material; yes, sir.

Q. And expensive?

A. Yes, sir.

Q. Would it be \ppropriate now to take out from this

cage the second sheet that was put in after the first one was

taken out?

. A. That was the heavy. compressed black which ought not

to fly quite so badly, hut the paper has been in there since

that was run,.and may\ show something.

Q. Mr. Kitchel, I wish you would tell us something about

the commercialization of this invention, for which a patent

was applied for at the end of 1927. What was done by vm.

organization with it from then on?

A. We found that there were elaborate. prepasntions,

- rather elaborate preparations, which were necessary to be

done in the attempt to commercialize this product. For the

first year or two, that is, during 1928 and 1929, the material

was made in a sort of semi-commercial. way and——

The Court:-You are referring now to the process ‘under

the Wiegand and Venuto patent?

The Witness: Yes, sir. We made in that plant sufficient

quantities in order to distribute it to rubber manufacturers, .

not only in this country, but abroad, to.distribute small.

‘samples to illustrate the points we were endeavoring to

bring out in our claim, that here was the answer. to the

_ problems which they had been urging us to.get after. Those

first two years proved that, even though we thought wehad _

...the answer, it was not quite so easy as we.iMagined it would

be? There appeared to be a tremendous lot of inertia by

the consumers. When we look at some of the business

[fol. 35] conditions which existed at that time, I think that

can’be commented on later, but there was rcsistance for

several reasons, among them the following.

- Most of the sizable.manufacturers had, by that time,

either gotten black milling concentrated into a single

. . room, which could be protected te a great i or even

~m tn

a single. building in which nothing was done. but. black :

That concentrated the trouble. By that time

also what is known as a Banbury mixer had come into |

_. use in the rubber industry. The Banbury mixer, instead

of being open rolls where this rubber was milled with

the black and so forth, was an entlosed or internal mixer,

so that the rubber and other ingredients were put in there

and the thing churned up some way or other, and it was

not exposed to the air, but it could then be taken as a

sort of a master mix and then put on the rolls when -the

black was all it it. For that reason we found that our

going was slower at that time than might be expected,

and in. fact it was considerably easier among our foreign

trade because there not only did they value the less dust

in the pellet product, but they also wanted to take advan-

tage of the saving in cost, due to the space requirements

for ocean transportation.

‘Now, our first work, the first year or two, or two or

three years, was largely taken up with getting consumers

‘to take a small lot and run their own experiment, so as

to confirm the claims which we made to them, but he had

several suspicions in his mind. In the first place— - .

-Q. (By the Court) Whom do you mean by “‘he”’?:

The Witness: The consumer, the rubber mgnufacturer.

In the first place, he had learned that if any harsh black

_ or over-burned black—what we term in the industry grit—

got into his product, that in the working of.a tire tread,

if there was a particle of: this harsh material in there, it

caused a weakening, and gradual opening up, which led-

to- spoilage or déstruction of the thing, ‘so that by that

[fol. 36] time he had been very insistent upon his specifi- ‘

cations regarding the absence of grit. _. é;

_And*so, as to these pellets, he said,-‘-How do I know

_ there, is not. some particles of grit in it?’? He would

reason, ‘*I cannot test it by my ordinary: methods; I

cannot run it over a sjeve or fine bolting opefation and ¢ .

find: out whether.or not the grit is there.’’ Of course,

we could give him our word as.to that, that the only thing

. that went into the pellet was pure amorphous carbon, and

that there should not be any more finé grit in that pellet

than in the black compressed or uncompressed ; but that

was one stumbling block.

The second was the fact that he had got to the point

where he had come to find out—as I said before—that if

a ) amyphing | had SIEM: Saale. to too wrest a iia it

ee would cause him.trouble because he either kad to mill it

« _ Now, in, 1932 we got to the single: liquid process, the ‘less

* too long’ to get. it finely, dispersed, or if if he followed the

2 regular. milling procedure, he might run the risk of hav-

_ ing some of that black not dispersed, and that would cause +. °

- trouble as bad as grit.

.. ° The third point was that he was: still very suspicious

a these ‘binders that-had been used in. attempts to meet. '

this: dust- problem. / He did’ not want the binders. He .’

. said, ‘‘How do I know you don’t have a binder ‘in there

that, I cannot find?’’? - He had to -take our word for it

that there. was no foreign material of any kind, that’ it yg

“was just pure -carbon; but: ana accumulated into quite a

‘long ‘time to convince him, and to get him to run tests to

confirm our arguments that that was trive.

- .Q. Did you vet's sontewhere with that effort i in the course

of time? _..

x. We. dia eventually, ‘yes, although I cae to osaciin So

upon one more point there, and that is in: this two-liquid -

process which was more expensive, plus the fact-that we ©

thought we had a perfectly logical right to, over-some fair «

“period of years, amortize the heavy cost | at. we had been _

_ under in making this development,. we imagined, we could

' charge a price that was commensurate with what we thought

[fol. 37] was a fair basis to meet-those two points, and we ©

_asked a premium for the pelleted product. That also added

to the difficulties because during the years when that was so-

offered we were in the depression- and—haying troubles.

The rubber men were too;. competition ‘was keen and /, -

~ they did not want té listen to a proposition of paying some-/—

-. thing more for any of their important products such as”

, . that was, but © we began to get somewhere in the early 7

"thirties. —

During 1928, for: instance, only sample lots wére e being

shipped. In-1929 we had what we call factory-size orders,

. test orders, and we shipped i in that year some 20,000 pounds.

In 1930.it grew to 164,600; in 1931, 194,000; in 1932, 281,000.

eas rye one, as developed by Glaxner, and there our

: rd’ begins to show something different. .

Qi State whether or not neo cacsuspas aie with that premium

ee you ‘spoke of. Ne ;

' A... That was ewe We brought i it down to the regular

| _priee. In 1933 we sold 800, 000 servi in- 1934, we sold

Se" ‘ . 7%

. °

r - . .

ated.

3,300,000; in 1935, 15,000,000; in 1936, .30,000,000; in 1937

we sold 44,000,000; in 1938, 53,000,000 and in 1939 it was

97,000;000. It happens that for the year 1940 over 93 per

cent. of our total deliveries of carbon black to rubber mann-

. facturers was in thé pellet form. Now, in this sales work,

although | some of the black in the pellet form is still taken

in bags, a method has come about which we t Think 3 is a direct

result of this Wiegand and. Venuto patent, and that i is what :

is known as bulk handling.

I mentioned one’of the four cardinal points that we:

‘come to look upon, this matter of thé flowability. That.

is the basic reason for makikg bulk handling possible. It

‘was soon apparent that if we in our manufacturing plants

could transport and move about and store these pellets in

bulk, there ‘was no reason. why the-consumer could not do

exactly the same thing. The final result was that many —

plants today among the rubber. manufacturers are equipped

[fol. 38]. for this bulk handling, and instead. of packing

these beads in paper bags, we dropped them directly into

a tank or hopper car built especially for that purpose.

Those cars are moved on the -railroad to the plant,of the

consumer. .He puts them on his siding, opens up the car,

- the beads flow out by gravity, are conveyed to the storage

tank overhead above the rooms or places in which he uses it,

and then it is conveyed from there to the point where it

is used and nobody touches it. There is no handling of

bags from the time it gets to the plant until it arrives at

the point where it is used. .

Q. Was anything approximating that possible with the

prior forms.of carbon black?’ |

A. No, sir. It is only.a product that would have what we |

term this: flowability: that could possibly meet the require-.

_ments of such handling; and I would like to say there that a

visit to a modern rubber plant presents a most striking

comparison over these conditions I have described in. the —

early days.’ Go into. one of these modern plants and some

of them are painted up and are as clean as any operation |

- not. requiring black of any nature whatever. All/you can

see are conveyors going up to-a tank and conveyors coming

down-from a tank It is even weighed automatically. ‘You

_ don’t have to weigh it by hand. It is weighed i in transit

froin the tank to the place — it is going to be eat

cra. Soe

- Now, some plants, either because they have: not been

modernized or because they are small, still take this pelleted

black in the paper bags, but instead of 12% pounds : they

get 25 pounds per bag. Those bags are loaded in the car

and sent forward. The consumer takes them out and when —

he comes to use them, however, he simply unties the bags °

‘and it flows out, no dust, and so he does not have to use .

the old precautions for he can use them any place he wants.

I would like right there, if possible, to show this booklet

which we published some time ago, entitled ‘‘Flow Carbon,”’’

which has some diagrams of installations, both small and

[fol. 39] large, in connection with where this bulk handling»

is carried cut arid .exactly how the black is used.

Q. Could we take those two pages out of the book you

refer to and put them in evidence? Would it be all right

to remove them from the booklet?

A. Yes. ,

Q. (After removing two pages from the booklet.) Mr.

Kitchel, you might explain what is shown on those pages

and-then we will offer them in evidence.

_ Mr. Dike: I think you might as“well put the whole book

in. We are going to ask him about it.

Mr. Edmonds: Well, I wish you had.told me that before .

I removed them from the book.

Q. As I understand, this is typical of a manetty rubber

plant installation?

A. In genera), yes. Of course, each plant has its own:

local conditions and way of —— it, but in general it is

all the same.

(Plaintiff’s Exhibit No. 16, filed.) |

The Witness: I might also say, besides our own publice-

tion, theré.are some very interesting comments from the

Government bulletins for certain years which I would alee

like‘'to read * * * [78-88]. ;

_ * * * Mr. Edmonds: * *°* [89]. * * © 7 will now site

in evidence a copy of the year ‘book for the year 1934,

one of the series that includes the one Mr. Dike presented,

and ask,,the witness to read a single paragraph on page

. 750.

Q. Yes, that is right.

“A. That is the bulletin of 1934 but reviews the j year 19337 |

A. (Reading) “‘ Although manufacturing - technique

showed little change in terms of yields there was one de-

_velopment which may revolutionize transportation methods.

Increasing quantities of black were produced in the form . |

of small, round pellets which can be transported in bulk

instead of by more costly method of compressing in bags.”’

_[fol. 40] Mr. Edmonds: We offer in evidence a copy of the |

'” year book for 1934, as Plaintiff’s Exhibit No. av.

(Plaintiff ’s Exhibit Ne. 17, filed. )

Q The next one in the series is the year book for 1935,

reviewing the year 1934, and I will’ask you to read from

_ that a short paragraph‘on page 836 * * * [89-90].

: minerals year book, 1934, mention was made of the develop-

P ment of dustless carbon black in the shape of small pellets

' ° for transportation in-bulk. Information from the trade

indicates that production of this type of carbon black in-

creased materially in 1934.’’

‘Mr. Edmonds: We offer i in evidence this ‘year book for

1935, as Plaintiff’s Exhibit No.18 * * * [90].

Q. Mr. Kitchel, here is the year book for 1939, reviewin

the year 1938. I will ask you to read a short ‘paragraph

on pane 4.

A. (Reading) ‘Research on carbon black by producers

and consumers was perhaps intensified in 1938. Much of

the research resulted in narrowing the specifications for

uses of carbon black in rubber. The relative proportion of .

dustless production continued to increase rapidly and a col-

lateral development, shipments. in bulk, grew as fast as

finances would permit.’’ :

Rrra fms Mr. Edmonds: We offer in evidence the. year r book for

hes Se -(Plaintift’s Exhibit No. 19, filed.) |

Q. Plaintiff’s Exhibit No. 8 heretofore offered in evidence

contains a paragraph on page 41 which I wish: you: would

> read into the record, Mr. Kitchel.

A. Which one is that? 3

36 —

Q. That is the -year book for 1940, Teviewing the year

1939. - -

A. (Reading): “Despite the low price level reséareh in

. the fundamentals of carbon black’ production and consump-

[fol. 41] tion continued,-as-it is quite-gerierally recognized

- that the behavior of different blacks-under varying condi-

tions is a fertile field for experiment. One of the products:

'_of this research (dustless carbon black) increased steadily

in popularity in 1939. It is doubtful if more than 10 per

cent of the present output is of the old non-granular type.”’

Q: In connection with the statement about ‘the commer-° —

cialization of the Wiegand and Venuto invention, I meant

to ask you to refer to three of the items in this exhibit book,

the first three in the last section of publications. will you

- state briefly what. they are?

‘A. They show our announcements in the recognized trade

journal of that time in regard to rubber.

. Q. What is the date of the first one of those several an-

nouncements?.

A. November 1, 1930, in The India Rubber World.

Q. And that is in this article headed, — Micro-

nex’’? ee :

A. Yes, that is ‘right.

Q. And what is the second and its date?

A. From the same publication, under date of May .

1933, is the second.

. Q. And under that same head of “‘Dustless Micronex,”

_I believe? ~° , ,

‘A. Yes.

Q. Micronex is the trade name under which your com-

pany sells its carbon black, is it not?

A. Yes.

Q. And the third?

. A. From the same publication, under date of August ‘1,

: 1934. o . ;

ann And under the same title? :

' A. No, this is under a different title. Here we have

‘‘Micrénex, Beads”’ instead of ‘‘Dustless Micronex’’. .

Q. Mr. Kitchel, I.would now like to ask you if it is a fact

-that this Wiegand and Venuto invention provided anything

in the nature of a new starting point for inventive activi- )

ties and, if so, how that disclosed itself.

= 42) A. Due to the fact that new methods for making

; 37 .

this pelleted product. were brought forward. We have seen

new pellet structures. mentioned and new machines. out- |

lined which did in effect bring, about the same general pel-

leted product. .

. Q. All of these new proposals flowing directly from enna

contribution of Wiegand and Venuto?

A. The products certainly appeared to be the: same. It

was only a different way of getting at that product. The

fact that stuck out in our minds was the fact that certainly

up until the time of the introduction of this product by our-

selves we had seen nothing offered to, or used by, consumers

of this nature.

Q. And were patents. applied for and obtained for these’

further proposals emanating from the Wiegand and Ven-

uto?

A. I believe there i is quite a list of patents of that time

- on these various methods.

Q. I am now going to ask you to read front the specifica-

tions of some of those patents, and: copies of thé ones to

which I will call your attention are in the book that is before

‘the Court, the first one being” Re-issue Patent No. 21,390,

which was granted to this defendant, United Carbon Com-

pany, some tine along in the thirties, long after the Wie- os

‘gand and Venuto patent was issued. Turn to that patent

_and-read the portion that you find on page 1, column 1, lines

1 to 16, and you can make any comment on- that which seems

: appropriate, Mr. Kitchel.

A. (Reading) ‘‘The present invention aut to the pro- -

duction of agglomerates or shaped masses of carbon black,

for the purpose of overcoming some of the objectionable '

properties of raw carbon black,such as the formation of

- dust, during the handling of the satne, during the mixing of

. the same with yu bber or other materials, and for producing

a product which is éasier to handle. As is well-known,

pe black in its original form is a powdery or more or

less lumpy material-constituted of extremely small par-

ticles, 8b that during the handling of the same, air currents

[fol. 43] may hlow the same about to some extent, and the

object’ of the present invention. is to produce agglomerates

which will be free from the said objection.’’

Q. That is an object that had fis co ‘been attained,

had it net? - , °

A. Yes,’ sir.

Q. Now will you look at the Price patent, No. 2,127,137,

and read the portion on page 1, column 1, lines 14 to 24,

please, Mr. Kitchel? .

A. (Reading) ‘‘A well recognized difficulty in “handling

all of these fine powders is that they sift through the con-

tainers used to confine them. Moreover, when packed in

barrels or paper sacks, an excessive dusting occurs when. -

the products are being used or mixed with other ingredi-

ents, and as a-result the area surrounding the point or

. points of- handling is filled with dust: which settles on sur-

rounding objects, contaminates other products, and pollutes

the air which those working with the — have to

breathe.’

please.

A. (Reading). ‘‘Often the black is , compressed | in bags :

or ‘other containers which become wrinkled and crimped

. during the pressure treatment, thus trapping a considerable

quantity of carbon black in the wrinkles, and this entrapped

black can only be removed by violent. shaking and then -

“only at the expense of a cloud of dust. It is obvious that

the application of heavy pressures involves heavy and ex-

pensive machinery, a large amount of power, increased ex-

pense, and delay in preparing the product for shipment,

while the product is very likely to be-caked so hard that it

_is difficult to disperse or to mix it with other’ material.’’ |

Q. Still harping on the same old things that the prior |

art patents harped on, is it not? ae ° 4

A. Yes, sir. — cn

Q. But meanwhile a - eomplete remedy had book pro-

vided, had it not?.

A. Yes, sir; the Wiegand and Cunt certainly met that.

Q. Now, you might continue with more from that patent,

page 2, column 2, lines 3 to 15.

[fol. 44] A. (Reading): ‘‘A further object is. to provide

an improved apparatus for making a product which is

chemically the same as the original finely divided material, |

but ‘which has .an increased density, and is in the form of »

granules or pellets which are soft, substantially dustless,

‘easy to handle and capable of being readily «dispersed. in

or intermixed with the material with which it is customarily

used, yet which has bulk characteristics which enable it to

flow, as through” chutes om conveyors, and to be trans-

Q.. Continue on page 2, column L “ited 11 ‘ 24, if you

. 39

7 kali in ili cars or tank: trucks without material disin-

tegration.’’-

' Q. Strikingly similar to the description of the Wiegand |

and Venuto product in the patent, is it not?

A. It strikes us as exattly similar.

Q. Will you please turn to Patent No. 2,120, 540 and read |

page 1, column 2, lines 13.to 31. .

A. (Reading): ‘‘The novel product thus produced, which

may. préferably. be of substantially spherical granular

shape, possesses striking commercial advantages. In the

first place, it is substantially dustless in that most of its

particles are agglomerated into granules of appreciable size

and substantial density. In the second place, the non-

adherent character of the surfaces of the granules reduces

the apparent viscosity of the mass, which viscosity may be

further reduced b the preferred spherical form of the

granules, permitt the carbon black to be conveyed

through pipes by gravity or by streams of air, to be trans-

ported in tank cars and tc be stored in bulk. Beside being—~-

much more cleanly for the consumer to handle, the novel

product when mixed with other ingredients disperses and

diffuses more completely and. perfectly in various com-

pounded materials than commercial carbon black of forms

heretofore known.’’ -

Q. I will ask vou to refer now to page 2, column 2, lines

49 and 51, which is in the middle of a sentence on that page.

a * (Reading) “¢ © |* present the striking charac-

_ teristics of dustlessness, high density‘ and non-adherent,

free .flowirig contact with each other.’’

[fol. 45] Q. Does all that description, you have read apply .

to the Wiegand and Venuto product?

A. It certain-y does.

_ Q. And do you agree with what he states rae that that

product has striking commercial advantages!

A. Undoubtedly, sir.

Q. Now, in his description, coming alang in 1932, he re-

. fers to it as novel. Was that proper?

. A. ‘Ht did not, strike us as anything new or novel there;

just exactly the same as the patented product.

Q. Will you look at the next patent, No. 2,120, 541, and

read from page 4, column 1, lites 15 to 25?

a~ Bb, ( ing) Tt j is believed, however, that never here-

tofore ha ulent carbon black been progressively built

‘o-——_.

“up ina sary ‘State, without assistance of binders, salad

liquids, tars or other additions, either temporarily or perma-

nently present in such a manner as to transform flocculent

carbon black inté substantially dustless tenacious granules,

the particles of which are united only: by their own cohesive

force with sufficient tenacity of structure to resist disinte-

gration when transported in bulk.’’

Q. All that description applies to the Wiegand and Ve-

__puto product, does it not?-

A. The product itself’ yes.

Q. He says it is the first time it has been sade in a dry

state, so his noveity. lay solely in the procedure of making

the Wiegand and Venuto product?

"A. It would be only a method of making it. ;

~ Q: Will -you please look at Reissue Patent No.. 19, 750,

and read from page 1, column 2, lines 10 to 22?

A. (Reading) ‘‘Thus the carbon black may be converted

mto small spherical granules of: apparent density in bulk

higher than before_gych treatment, of relatively tenacious

structure, with each of such_granules preseriting a more or

less polished, nonaaberoatwarface Carbon black in this

spherical grain form possesses all of the advantages of con-

-[fol. 46] venience in handling and distribution above dis-

cussed and, in addition, if disperses perfectly in rubber

* mixtures, and is otherwise as useful or more useful in rub-

’ ber making and other industries than the compressed car-

bon black of commerce formerly employ :

_ Q. Does all that apply to the Wiegand and Venuto prod- +

uct which had preceded it by some years? : ]

A. Yes, sir.

> Q. Go further with that patent and read the portion of

page 1, column 1, lines 22 to 37, please.

A. (Reading) “The agglomerates formed by our pro-

cess are of greater apparent density i in bulk than the |

powders from which they are formed and consist cf more

or less spherical masses having such a high ratio of weight

to surface that they are not dusty. Also, they have Smooth,

polished, non-adherent surfaces and compact, adhesive in-

ternal structures. These characteristics give the resulting

agglomerates a free-flowing nature which materially sim-

plifies handling in bulk, homogeneous mixing with other.

_ material, delivery by gravity through chutes and pipe lines,

' packaging in any desired weight, and all of the other con-

veniences imparted to the ureinat by ite extremes fluidity

and dustlessness.”’

Q. Are those the same advantages that are described

in the Wiegand and Venuto patent as being advantages of

the Wiegand and Venuto product?

A. Aside from the difference in words, it is.‘

Q. One more is. Patent No. 2,080,706, page 1, ‘column 1,

lines 6 to 16.

A. (Reading) ‘This extreme degree of. incinas carries

the inevitable and generally undesirable concomitant of

dustiness, and this dustiness, arising from the minute

weight of the individual particle, may lead to serious unde-

sirable commercial consequences; for example, contamina-_

tion of other nearby products and processes, excessive de-

terioration of fixtures, machinery and furnishings and res-

piratory and other occupational disorders in the workmen

exposed to the dust.’’.

[fol. 47] Q. Was there anything new about that in 1933? -

A. It was one of the dangers we had recognized and were

trying to overcome in the original work. t

Q. And did overcome?

A. Yes. : :

Q. The dangers are the dangers mentioned in the a ?

ents of the prior art where the people tried to overcome

them and failed, ate they not?

' <A. That is right.

Mr. Edmonds: Your Honor, I wish to state at this point

that I think ‘it-.will be of interest and assistance to your -:

Honor to witness a demonstration of just what this proce-

dure is of aggregating this fine powder into these pellets,

and we are now p to give a demonstration - —

that will take only a few minutes.

The,Court: All right, you may. proceed.

Mr. Edmonds: The statement describing the demonstra-

. tion will be made by Mr. Kitchel’s assistant, Mr. Parsekian,

who will conduct the demonstration. _

Mr. Parsekian: I have now weighed out 12 grams of un- .

- compressed black. I have measured out approximately 145,

cc. of water, in other words, 145 grams. The first thing

we do is to. pour the black into the water. Then we mix

‘the black with the water, Now I weigh ‘into there the.

-Tequired amount of gasoline, in this case I am weighing

6—71 -" :

42 -

out 17 grams, which is within the scope of the patent. I °

have here some: gasoline ‘and this is the process of weighing

it. Now I just mix it up.

Mr. Edmonds: Let the record show that at this point the

operator. put the tube in a rotating frame and started the

motor, which. rotates it, and continued the rotation for

what time, Mr. Parsekian? Bae

Mr. Parsekian: The longer you continue the rotation the —

smoother the aggregates are.

Mr. Edmonds: How long do you propose to continue this?

Mr. Parsekian: For half an hour. I can show you the - i

pellets in about 10 minutes, I think °° © [91-103].

[fol. 4g) * °° Q. Mr. Kitchel, I wanted ‘to ask- you one

ther thing. Have rights under this Wiegand-Venuto

tent been conferred on others? |

A. Yes, sir, the Thermatomic Carbon Company, which

I believe is owned by Commercial Solvents, has taken a

license from us under this patent.

Q. In connection with the comment made this. morning

by counsel for the defendant, is there anything farther.

_in that connection you wish to say?

‘ A. I got the intimation that it might be difficult for any

‘ other producer of carbon black to get rights under this

patent.. That is certainly not so. We will be glad to nego-.

tiate a license to anyone at any time.

Mr. Edmonds: That completes the direct examination ae

this witness. w

- Cross-examination * ° ° [103-104].

* * * Q. In your direct examination, Mr. Kitchel, you

have referred several ‘times to the Wiegand-Venuto patent.

. Can you give any further description of the.product which

you have referred to in your use of. that term? ;

A. Which one, the original or the’ present?

: Q: The product which you have referred to as the Wie-

gand-Venuto product in your direct testimony. . |

A. I referred to a product and two mathece of obtain-

ing that product.

Q. Will you please state whether or not there is any dif-

‘ference: in the products which are derived from those two

different methods

A. No, no difference. It is all of a very minor satere;

Q. Is there any ‘eee t in the size of the sitions’

A.. There is; one can be varied at will.

* Q. How is that effected ? | >

A. I do not run the process and I do not know thé pn

of the process. The idea and my understanding i is that the

. Size ofthe pellets may be varied in either precess,by vary: ~

ing the amount of the liquid used and the amount of agita-

. e tion, etc.

* - [fol. 49] Q. How would you say that the two products

compare? By. the two products I mean the micronex or—---—

the single process, and the other, as to their internal strue-

- ture. .

- A. I_know very little about internal structure. The only

description I can. give is that they are both porous. |

Q. How do the two products compare as to purity of

the carbon black as to the single liquid or the two-liquid? \

A. I know of no difference in purity. ote -.

Q. During your direct examination you discussed the Ste 6

@ question of the problem of dust around the rubber mills, ©

and I believe your direct examination penreces. that

. problem began about 1913, is that correct? :

A.:1913 was the very beginning of the use by one firm

only. It took about two years for that use to become spread

.through other consumers, so I would say that our problem

of dust became accentuated about 1915. a

~~ Q. What type of mill was used at that time?

es ‘A. In milling rubber?

af ‘Q. Yes.

A. Open roll mills.

Q. Similar to the open roll mill that was -used in the .

moving picture a short time ago? |

A. I did not see that movie.

Q. At the present time I believe you stated | that there

had beenisome change made by the rubber company in |

the milling of their black into the rubber? ber

aa A. Yes.

’ -Q. Will you please describe briefly what that change

¥ consisted in?

— . A. This isa layman’s description entirely.

: Q. That is what we want.

A. The change was primarily, instead of using ary rub-

ber and dry materials‘on the open roll mills, they went té

the use of the. Banbury mixers and the ee of rubber |

is put in there and the door closed and it grinds out the mix

_- and most of the effect is confined in that mixer. .

' Q. Do I understand you that the Banbury mixer is a

closed mixer as compared to the open mill or -* der used

[fol.50] previously? —~ -

A. That would be a common method of diniihine at. :

Q. Going back again to this matter of the Banbury

mixer, do you know approximately when the rubber com-.

panies began the use of the Banbury mixers? _

A. I am not certain. I remember seeing them in use

somewhere along in the sige 30's, according to my best

recollection.

Q. From the patents that you have read in your direct —

examination there is a considerable discussion of the dif-

ferent so-called problems in connection with the dusty

character of the carbon black; one was its explosive prop-

_ erties in_a mill —_ I believe that is referred to in.the

Sheppard Do you have any personal knowledge

of there being tny-explosion 1 in a mill from the-use of

dusty carbon black? ~~ i

A. I never knéw Of such an occurrence, no, sir.

Q. In connection with the &tatement~in several .of the .

patents: that the dusty character of the carbon black af-

» fected the health the workmen, do you know of any

instance where the

adversely affected the health of the workmen?

A. I would: say that was largely a matter of fear upon _

the part of the users and: that we never found asa 3 = .

that sort from a health standpoint.

Q. In connection with this ‘‘problem,’’ as you have

ternied it, of the dispersion of the carbon black in the

rubber, do you know whether that difficulty ae the

use of the Banbury mixer -in connection with carbon

_ black that is wetted by a single — such as is described

in this patent? =.

A. I did not get the question. ,

Q. I will. rephrase the question. In your direct examina-

tion one point which you mentioned was that. there -was a

problem of dispersing the hard particles of. carbon black

into rubber stock. I believe you discussed that in con-

nection with the heavy compressed’ blacks. I believe you

read a portion of the Wiegand-Ven patent specification

which discussed this eis of d rsion of hard particles:

sty character of the carbon black — -

in 5 vabbee stock. ‘The question I, am saking you is this:

[fol.51] Whether those problems of securing dispersion ;

related to the old method of milling on the open mill, or

did it relate to’ the method of milling in the Banbury mill?

A. The Banbury was not in use when -those previous

forms of black had been tried. There was the heavy com-

pressed and hydraulic plan,—the Lewis plan which dried _

inte cake form. I would not know how to answer the ques- —

tion because there were rio Banbury’s available to try it on. .

Q. Since the introduction of the Banbury mill in .the

‘ rubber'trade have you heard of any difficulty in securing

the dispersion of carbon: black which has been rendered

dustless by wetting with water?

-A. I-have every, on to believe at the same diffi-

culties would exi getting proper rsion by the use

’ .of a Banbury and a mill or a mill eae as the carbon black

in any form would have to be of such type and grade as

would disperse properly through a Banbury and a mill or

’ a mill alone.

_Q. In your last answer you refer to the type and grade

of blaék as having effect on its dispersion. Would you

care to elaboratefon that? ;

A. That is a ghly technical —. There are men

here who can d@that.

Q. What do you mean?

A. Certain blacks -under certain specifications have to

_be furnished for different uses.

Q. You do not refer ‘to the question of whether it is in

_a dustless form or in tlie old-fashioned dusty or com-

pressed form? .

' A. Unless proper dispersion is obtained in any form

used, there is trouble in the finished product. What I want

to bring out right along is that any method in an attempt

to solve this dust problem that carried it so far as to make

it difficult renders it dangerous.

Q. Is not the way-you had of keepitig away _ it this

two-liq rocess of Wiegand-Venuto?

aor cuter pence te been.

Q. What other way do you = treating this prob-

lem of forming too h

-A..I was not directly cen with that work 80 I .

would not know how to answer that. te

[fol. 52] Q.- Do you know of any other method oe

’ by your company to. get away from: it?

~ A. ‘Undoubtedly there is a very fine balance between the ”

materials used and the time: element ‘involved and the

handling of same. It must be a very fine limit -to. secure

those necessary elements.

a gathered from your direct testimony, Mr. Kitchel,

that there is some relation between the density of the

carbon black and its dusting properties; am'I correct. in

that?

- black and compressed black?

O Yea

A. Undoubtedly.

Q. What about what we would call the light compressed

as compared to the heavy compressed black; was the heavy.

mote or less dusty than the-other?

A. The heavy was somewhat less dusty but only a very:

' minor difference. -

-Q. In your direct examination, Mr. Kitchel, in connec-

tion ’with your testimony and what you termed. the essen-

tial characteristics of the product of the Wiegand-Venuto .

‘patent, *you discussed the importance of the pellet being

a pure carbon black. Do you have a copy of the patent?

Will you please refer to page 2, column 2, line 100 through .

105, and state whether or not this statement of the patent

is what you had in mind. when yow specified that one of

-the characteristics. of the Wiegand-Veu..uto pellet’ was the

‘purity of the «.rbon black?

‘A. The reference in those lines is not to impurities that

I desired to make mention of. The impurities of which I

_ was speaking were the binders and the additional things

added:.in some of the prior work. . This reference is to

some small particles of grit.

.‘'The matter of purification which you have vefeteil :

to is something different to that contained in the patent,

is that right? §°

_A. The point I wanted to bring oie was that, realizing -

it was necessary to offer to the consumer. pure carbon

black, this product of the patent enabled us to do that

without the addition of anything not wanted.

[fol. 53] .Q. In connection with. the next characteristic,

. which I believe you named in this order, was that it was

hard enough to ship, as being one of the characteristics of

this Wiegand-Venuto pellet. Did you have in mind that

¥ v

A. Referring to the difference between ‘uncompressed

there was some relationship of hardness of the pellets ‘to

the shipping and handling of the pellets when you used that

statement?

A. Certainly if the pellets were not hard enough to shined

. the handling it was necessary to give them at the carbon

black plant to put them up for shipment or to stand the .

transportation after shipment. . ‘

Q. Did you have any yardstick or similar measurement

by which you could measure the hardness of the pellet to

determine when they were hard enough to stand shipment?

A. I was not connected with the work so I would not

- know.

Q. .You do not know of your own: knowledge and cannot

determine that from any facts you have given us?

A. I would say practical experience: would be a very geod

test.

Q. Can you give that from practical experience? x

A. I cannot, having nothing to do with that.

Q. The next characteristic you mentioned as one of the

characteristics of the Wiegand-Venuto product was that it

was soft enough to disperse readily. Is there any test of.

‘that softness that you can give us to help us understand

-™~

a little more what you had in mind?

A. I think again the gauge would be the point beyond

which the rubber manufacturer could not secure proper dis-

persion. I know of no yardstick in that connection, no.

Q. If you will refer to the Wiegand-Venuto patent again,

please, -I should like for you to refer to. page 1, column 2, |

beginning about line 85, to the statement which reads, ‘‘and

which at the same time was easily crushed by moderate

pressure, as between the fingers, or by the pressures com-

‘monly’ employed in the rolls of rubber compounding ma-

_ ehinery, printers’ ink mixérs ‘and the like.’? Would you

[fol. 54] say that was or was not ‘an. avcurate kind of test

to determine: whether or not a pellet possessed this char-

acteristic of being soft enough?

A. I have personally felt that the finger test is a very -

good kind. If our pellets are sufficiently soft so they can be

smoothed. out ‘on- paper by just the pressure of the finger

- ahd showing no harshness, I feel that would be capable of

satisfactory dispersion provided such a pellet would be

hard enough to ship and handle readily.

Q. One characteristic of the’ Wiegand-Venuto, product

which you described in your direct examination was its

‘ . novel .spherical shape,—I believe you termed it.. .Do you

know of any instance where the process of the Wiegand-

Venuto patent was employed to produce other than spherical

shapes of the agglomerate carbon black?

A. If that proeess was used to-produce, agglomerates of ~

other types? 3 See e a rs

Q. Yes. - ga wee’ ae fet ;

A. My answer would only be by hearsay, that is, from

reports in connection with work going on at the time.’ Any

number of things -have been tried with any number of

“results. As to shapes coming out of there, I would not know .

as to that possibility. ; ohae

. Q If you will refer to the Wiegand-Venuto’patent again, °

please, on page 1, column 2, beginning at line’95, I am read-

ing from the patent: ‘‘While the pellet form is a very con-.

- venient form of the carbon black, the shape of the particles

is not the most important characteristic of this novel carbon

black.’ As I understand from your direct testimony, you

disagree somewhat with that statement in the patent, in

view of your statement.of the fourth characteristic of the

- purpose of these pellets? :

- A. I was commenting entirely upon the pellet form of the

product. I am.so badly versed in matters of patent wording

that I confess I am totally atalossonthat. — “

Q. There is not much question, is there, Mr. Kitchel, but. ~

what that portion of the patent I have just read to you is

rather clear, that at least the patentee did not consider the

[fol. 55] pellet form was the most important factor of their |

novel product; would‘you say that? ©.

A, I have no way of knowing what was in their minds

atal. =. : ;

Q. Judging from the language of the patent yourself

what would you say about it as.an ordinary business man?

' A. It says, ‘‘the shape of the particle is not the most

important characteristic of this novel carbon black.’”” _

Q. You have in your direct testimony given four char- .

acteristics which you stated as being important character-

istics of this Wiegand-Venuto pellet. Would -you say which

of those characteristics you consider, as a business man, the

most important characteristic of that product? ae

A. I would-say that either one alone would have been of eta

very little use. It was the proper combination of those -

things that seemed'to make it of such great value to us.

Q. Then you would say, would you, that the thing that

solved this problem of dustiness in the rubber companies .

that you have referred to was, first of all, a pellet of pure .

. ¢arbon black which was sufficiently hard to be handled and

which was sufficiently hard so that it could be shipped with-

out disintegration and yet so it would be soft enough or

break down under slight pressure? Is that in effect a de- --

scription of the product to which you have referred in your

direct testimony?

A. That combination plus the spherical form.

49 .

Q. In connection with the flowing of the carbon black — .

- , pellets, which is one of the matters you have mentioned and

concerning which: you testified on direct examination, I

understand that it is the shape of the dustless carbon black

which gives you the flowable characteristic of the black, is

that correct? ,

A. I understand the shape of the spherical pellet that

rolls upon itself makes. that flowability.

Q. If we had a grain similar to a grain of sand in the

hourglass instead of this spherical pellet, would you say

(fol. 56] that, material also possessed this characteristic of

flowability ? eK

A. Sand is certainly flowable.

--Q. What about granulated sugar?

A. To a degree. Any of those things which have ‘suffi-

cient roundness would provide a degree of flowiriess.

Q. So if carbon black were in the same granulated form

we would expect it would flow? Bre fk Pac

A. But it- would not remain dustless because if it had

any roughness in shape, in handling those corners would i

be knocked off and handling would create dust by so doing. .

- + .Q. In your direct examination you have stated orrseveral

~~ ~ocoasions that the beads made by. the single liquid process -

- and the beads made by the two-liquid process possessed no

visible differences, is that correct?

A. Yes. Bes

By the Court:

Q. Did not you go further than that and say that as far —

as you knew there’was no actual difference between them?

A. That is the question,

- 771

eugene

By Mr. Smith:

Q. Upon what did you base that sliceeeanbei Mr. Kitchel?

A. Just visualization. . oh ae

Q. Just as we might look at that here? | : ee PS ee

A. Yes.

Q. That is not based on any niin or microscopic test

with which you are familiar?

_. A. Not that I have done myself ; that’ information is.

available,

Q. In connection with your direct enenebiitton: you re-

ferred to the Godfrey L. Cabot patents. Are you familiar

with any product which is on the market which is similar to.

the product mentioned in those patents! oe ee

6). =. .:

Cabot Company i in the form of a-pelleted black.

Q. What is the trade name of it?

A. Spheron.

Q. When did you first ee of that product? WO ees

[117]. :

[fol.57] * * * A. To the best of my recollection,

whether it may have been designated as ‘‘Spheron,’’ we met

‘a pelleted black from that source some. time around 1933.

Q. Prior to 1933, as I understood your direct testimony,

( any had introduced to* the trade pellets which

Q. I believe you stated tha veiaa the production ier

_the years 1930, 1931-and 1932, am

ee A. 1929, 1930 and 1931. © ;

~ ‘How much of the product was put

1928? ;

A. Only very small sample lots.

Q. Would you give them again?

The Court: They are in the direct testimony.

A. Ihave them here. In 1928 it was a very small amo

probably less than 5,000 pot ds. -

Q. And in 1929?

A. About 20,000 pounds.

Q. Do you have the figures for the other years?

The Court: Give me the figures for the other years. ~~ - |

A. 164,000 pounds in 1930 and 194,000 pounds in 1931. A

the market in

Pts 51

By Mr. ‘Smith:

Q. During those years trem 1928 to 1932, of your own

_ product which you made according to the two-liquid process, —

‘can you state how much of that was actually sold and how

much of it was distributed in the form of samples? -

A. I should say that during the first year, 1928, undoubt-

edly by far the greater part of the material we turned out

was submitted in the form of samples. But when it came to

1929 and the 20,000 pounds, that was delivered in much

larger lots and was done on a billing basis, as I recollect it.

Q. What about the other years when you used the two-

liquid process? Was that sent out on a billed basis?

A. 1930 and 19311

Q. Yes... | ae

A. It was certainly sold in a. direct way.

(fol. 58] Q. You have mentioned that a premium was

charged for this product: do you recollect what that pre-

mium was? -

A. It was in the neighborhood of three-quarters of acent. -

to one cent a pound, I think it carried. ..

Q. Approximately what was the capacity of the. semi-

pilot-plant that was used for making these pellets under —

| the two-liquid process, do you know?

“A. I do not know.

(Q. Do you know where that plant was located?

A. Yes, sir.

Q. : Will you please state where it was?

A. At Easton, Pa. =

Q. As a result of your sales of the pellet. ‘made by. the

two-liquid process did you find the public would not pay. this

substantial amount of increase in price for the black?

‘A. We certainly found a very great resistance to the idea

of paying it, yes, sir.

Q. Do you have any record, Mr- Kitchel, where those -

pellets were bold?

A. I am sure there are records available but: I do not

| have them with me.

Q. Do you know in a general way ohiitibe ‘it was to the

rubber companies or to the ink makers or just where they

went?

A. I am sure it was moat largely the rubber companies

- although I know some samples were submitted to manu- -.

- facturers in other lines of work besides rubber.

Q. At the present time, Mr, Kitchel, is your company

making or using ach micronex beads sold for use in hess al

_or inks?

A. They are iéot: |

Q. Do you know of any reason why: they. are not sold i in -

those fields? .

A. We:sell bead form of other. grades to those manufac-

. turers, :

>. Without designating the micronex beads as a trade

designation or a particular type of black as well as the form?

« A. It.is any form, compressed, uncompressed or beaded.

[fol. 59] Q. I have ‘gained the impression that micronex

* beads referred to that in the pellet form. You have other

products sold in the: pellet form, is that correct?

A. That is correct.

Q. Would yon be able to designate those by their trade

names? —

. A There is a 5 caste. There are. Excelsior beads which

~* “are sold to the paint trade. There is another form of very

. high quality that goes into the lacquer and protective coat-

ing trade. .

. Q. So far as you know, -did you ever know of the bead

‘product which is sold to the ink trade?

A. I believe we have furnished bead black to ink manv-

facturers for their use but that requires a certain specific

’ manner of handling and formulating both. it cannot be

done in the regular way.

Q. Does your company employ different processes for

the use of these beads? .

A. My company does not produce the beads.

.Q. The company that produces the beads is ‘what com-

A. The Columbian’ Carbon Company.

Q. In connection with the activities of the Columbian

Carbon Company, do you know of any process other than

this single liquid: process which you have previously de-

scribed as being used by that company in the production

‘ of this bead form of carbon black? * [117.121.

with all kinds of different processes, methods and pro- .

cedures: I would not know to what extent they may have

| applied those things..

Q. To your knowledge are any processes other than the.

single — process. used in ‘other. products?

_ 58

A. I should eutunihi 80 tacdede any aaa of micro-

_ nex beads for rubber work. The greatest part i is by the

. single liquid.

Q. Is there any use of the two-liquid process of - Wie- :

gand-Venuto in connection with the production be those .

beads? — ‘

A. I would have no way of knowing that.

[fol. 60] Q. I assume that your company and. the abies:

bian Carbon Company, in company with most other busi-.

nesses these days, has some competition in the dustless

’ form of carbon black, is that correct?

A. It is a sad truth, sir.

Q.. In order that the record may be complete, I wender

if you would give us the names of other companies selling

in competition with your company the dustless form of

carbon black? —

A. The United Carbon Conipany, the Huber paicein.

and I believe the Continental Company also. — it.

Q. Do you think of any other? .

A. I do not recollect any right now.

Q. Have yeu had occasion to examine the products of

- these competitive companies visually in the way in. which

you would examirie the beads made by the single liquid

and the two-liquid process?

| A. I have.

Q. How do these prodpete compare with ‘the ‘products

of the Wiegand-Venuto two-liquid process, that is, the

first of your pellets?. Would you say they are obviously.

similar or obviously different?

A. They are very similar except possibly as to the matter _

‘of the size of the pellets. As I recollect, the first two-

liquid pellets we turned out were made out’ according to

a certain general size. Later it proved that somewhat

smaller ones weuld be more useable. It would be only a

matter of difference i in size.

Q. In connection’ with those four characteristica of the

Wiegand-Venuto two-liquid pellet which you described,

would you say that all these competitive products were

or were not this pure carbon black that you mentioned ?

A. As far as I know they:were all pure...

Q. What about this proposition of being hard enough

to stand shipping and handling? .

_ A. Some of them appear to be hard énongh and others

do not appear to be hard enough.

54 <

.Q. Do you at the present time have. any ‘aceite as

to which are which on that?

[fol.61] A. I just remember these various "samples at

different times in which some of them appear to have’

broken down to.an extent during handling or shipment so

there was some evidence of dust. _.

Q. You cannot associate that with ~ of your competi-

tors’ products?

“A. No.

pellet so as to be readily dispersed?

A. They*all appear to be.soft enough.

‘Q. What about -the spherical shape of the products?

A. There appears to be more, variance than anything

élse. Some were smoother and some were harder but all

seem to be free flowing and at least reasonably dustless.

’ Q. By “free flowing’’ you mean what you referred to

in your direct examination as the flowability of products?

A. That is right.

Q. In connection with your sales and distribution of the

Wiegand-Venuto pellets made by that two-liquid process

back in 1928 and 1929, did you ever have ‘occasion to ex-

“amine those pellets in the plants or the laboratories of any

of your customers after they had been shipped to them?

‘A. Oh, yes, it was a necessary part of the procedure.

Q. Did you observe any other appearances in them as

the result of the shipments to the customers?

A: Not to my recollection. They. seemed to be idl

enough to have stood the delivery and. just what we wanted

them to do.

Q. They were still soft enough to be readily dispersed

in: their product?

A. Yes. ‘

Q. Did you ever put the aaa through a screening .

test or anything of that nature to determine whether any

_ of the pellets had broken. up during shipnient? _

A. I did not, no.

Q. Did you ever see the results of any such tests

A. I understand that such tests were run.

[fol. 62] Q. Was there any complaint from’ these custom-

ers as to the breaking up of the pellets during eer

_ A. I recollect none. :

Q. How were these — supplied to the customers dur-

Q. What about the characteristics of the softness of the

- ing that period from 1928 to 1931, when you were mice

- on a two-liquid process?

(A. In paper bags. - °

Q. There were no tank car shipment i in those days?

A. There was not enough to fill a-tank car.

Q. Do you know who was the first to suggest the ship-

ment of these carbon black pellets in tone cars, what com-

pany?

. A. I should assume that we were, ~

Q. About when if you know, was the first shipment made

in tank: cars by your company?

A. F do not recollect off hand. I would have to obtain

that information; I do not have it with me in my records.

Q. I wish you-would look that up if you can and if it is

agreeable, to furnish that to counsel. We would like to

have that information. Do. you know who suggested the

handling of the carbon black in the pellet form in its. bulk

handling system,—what company?

A. That was a matter that was discussed by ourselves

in our own company in the very early stages after we found

the flowability. I would not know how to determine that.

Q. Could you fix’ that with relation to whether it was

during the time you were selling the beads of the two- -

liquid or single liquid? -

A. They were certdinty 0 going ‘on at the tite of both,— -

: zZ the- +wo-tiquid and the single liquid.

. Q. Did you advocate to the customers am furnishing

these samples of the Wiegand-Venuto two-liquid process

pellets that they insta!l bulk ‘handling aqepenat to- facili-

tate the handling of those pellets?

_ A. We did not get to‘that point for the reason I outlined

in my testimony.

Q. During your. direct:- examination you testified to a.

booklet entitled ‘‘ Flow Carbon.” Do you know who wrote

that? \3 :

A. That is a combination of authors. There were con-

[fol. 63] tributions made by. several. There are different —

_. headings in the book and different authors.

- Q.. You have read the book?

A. Yes * * * [122-127].

* * * Q Can you tell me when thé Columbian Carbon |

ee a discontinued the use of the two-liquid process?

‘©

. : a : g

36 Sta r ‘ : ; o

A: They started on’ the single liqnid very early in 1932,

so it must have been continued at the end of 1931, or was

discontinued at the very beginning of 1932 or end of 1931.

Q Do you know where the manufacture of poliets hy the

single liquid process was begun? ‘

A. The singk?

Q. The single liquid, yes.

A. I am not certain as to whether that. single liquid mate-

rial was produced both in Louisiana and Texas or only in _

Texas. ‘*

Q. Can baat tell where it might have been if it was’ in --

Louisiana? .

A. Undoubtedly around in the Monroe District.

Q. If it was in Texas can you state where it would Het

A. Probably in the Pampa District.

Q. Do you know on what scale the single liquid process

was worked early in 1932, I believe you said it was adopted?

To what amount of pellets? : =

-* A. Toasmueh as wecouldsell. ._ _

- Q. According to the notes which I took on your direct

examination, in 1932 that was 281,000 pounds, i is that cor- °

rect?

A. Correct. - —

-Q. What has been your ation to the Columbian Carbon

Company during this period of’ time that you have been

~ testifying about, Mr. Kitchel, particularly with regard to

this period from 1928 through 1939 on which yen gave us

the res of production?

A. The relation. of‘agent to principal.

Q. Have you during that period of time been a director

of. the. Columbian! nog

A. Yes, sir. %

- [fol.64] Q. Is there ‘any stock relationship between the

Columbian Carbon:Company and Binney & Smith? —

.A. Columbian has no interest ow in ‘raged &.

Smith Company..

Q. Does Binney & Smith have any interest in ‘the Go-

lumbian?_

A. They own stock in that company. It isa listed stock

- on the Exchange.

Q. Are the activities of the Columbian i in any way con- .

pe re peer 8

~ Q. During the time that the Columbian Carbon Company

operated under the two-liquid process o this

Wiegand-

Venuto patent did they pay a royalty to & Smith?

A. We wore very Glas indeed 04 kare thie Gat teat into

. factory operation so no license was

charged.

Q. So then I understand that no was paid by the

- Columbian Carbon Company to Binney Smith for the. .

— from 1928 to 1931? 4

A. That is right. _

Q. as there been any royalty paid since that timet

A. We were most anxious to have them give us the

prodiect and pat 8 tp tn that way end prodnes ft Sor oo to

pall.

By the Court: ;

Q. Do Binney & Smith sell allo itt \" ne

A. That is right, sir. ely

Mr. Dike: We will: ‘agree it was all supplied Ma pny &

+” geben Fae 08 ne etnies: tines.

Q. During November, 1930, do you know whether or not

Binney & Smith was an advertiser in‘ the India : need

_ World?

- A. I feel pretty sure so. It was an advertiser i iy that for

many years prior to that. - ‘a

Q.-Have you continued to advertise in the India Rubber

World? ne

A. We feel we must. |

Q.. So it would take jit the issue of May 1, 1933? .

A. There is no break in our advertising as far as I know.

| Itis a recognized trade’journal.

[fol. 65] Q. Yow feel sure all these excerpts in this book-

- let were taken at a time when Binney & os was adver- —

the India Rubber World? .

A. I would be very much. surprised if that were not 80,

yes. ’

Q. Do you contend that any black in the form 6f dustless

_ pellets which were hard enough to stand shipment and soft .

enough to break down under slight préssure satisfied the

demands of this Wiegand-Venuto patent? * * . [127- ;

131).

* Pome Material in free flowing dustless form that

; had the two properties of being hard enough and being soft

871

enopgh to- fill ‘the reauirement. I would. say thére is one

-“ thing lacking,—is it pure?

Q. We wilt put the ‘‘pure’’ on it.

. A.-If it is pure carbon and if it is hard cata and soft

enough, and has that flowability and is relatively free from ~

prs dust, I would say that it is.

Q. Do you ‘find those properties of the dustless product |

of the Huber Company or the Cabot Company? —

A. In general see no difference * * * [131-132]. | .

Q. Do you have any figures which would indicate

the endivent which was expended for advertising the ‘pellet

form of the carbon black during the _— of 1928" ———

* .41931?

A. I have no ferares with me wiih would indicate that.

_ I could only give a rough idea of what our advertising ap-

’ propriation for rubber black at that time was.

Q. That would not show anything with reference to the

relative amount to the compressed form. or bead form,—

those figures? | :

A. I would have to inquire.

Q.< Will : you kindly make such i inquiry then? Ke

A. That. is, the amount spent j in advertising on the pellet

product?

Q. Yes, if you will get that for each year from 1928.

through 1940, please. Are you familiar with what was done

by the Binney & Smith firm on sales promotion on this

- pellet form of carbon black from 1928 to 1939?

A. Oh, yes, I am familiar with that.

[fol. 66] .Q. Would you outline to us briefly what those

sales promotion efforts were?

A. All kinds of advertising, direct er personal solicita-

tion: .of- accounts, conducting and demonstrating tests and

‘everything of a conceivable nature that we could do to build

up distribution.

Q. Have you any record as to how much was s expended i in

- + ¢hese ways for promoting this sale of these beads of a es

_ black? ; , 7

‘ A. Not that I know of.

Q. Are such figtires available?

A: I have no reason to think so.

- Q. Will you make inquiry and let ps know?

A. In other words, sales promotion expenses?

. Q. That is right. I would assume from your outline of.

(59

~ the things that were oom that was a rather expensive pro-

ceeding. Would that be a correct assumption? ;

A. We felt so at the time. ee.

_ Q. It would be a rather substantial amount, I take it? |

A. It seemed so, particularly during that period because

_ that was just the bottom of the depression and everything

seemed to be coming down around our ears and a penny

then was of a pretty big size.

Q. In conhection with. these publications which you es a

ferred to in your direct testimony, particularly those arti--

cles in-the India Rubber World on the dustless Micronex —

product, do you know whether the data for those articles

was supplied by the Binney & Smith Company? -

‘A. Itwas. — ;

Q. Did you ever see the oetai-pillot plant used in connec-

tion with the manufacture of these pellets by the oe

Process? pay

an a

Q. Can you state “whkathet or “in the agitatinen equipment

‘was similar to what you had used for demonstrating pur-

poses ?

A. I should, say all sorts. I would not know which was

the preferred: one.

Q: Then, if I understand you correctly, the production

of that semi-pilot product plant of the two-liquid: process

[fol. 67] used various types of agitators, mixers and what

_ not to produce the pellets? f .

_ A. The process was in a continuing state of. experimenta-

ton. and everything was being tried-all the time.

(+ Q Why was if necessary to do so much experimental

week 3 in that plant?

A. I suppose because be were after the very best Pos-

sible results. : )

Q. Do ‘you know wiksiner or not there was. “any: difference

in the product which was offered to the trade under that

two-liquid process as the result of these different conditions

in the stmi-pilot operation?

A. I do not know.

~ Q: In your direct examination you eueienell that the

‘pellet product had a density of 27 or 28 pounds per cubic

‘foot. I did not cateh whether that was the product of the

: two-liquid operation or the old single liquid product. _

_ - A. I know of no difference between them. If there i is I

have not been acquainted with it. ,

'60

| Q. So the figure of 27 or 28 pounds per cubic foot You

think would be either the —— of the two-liquid or the

single liquid? | Sala

‘ A. As farasIknow. - — = f |

Q. Prior to the time that the black i in pellet fcxm was dis-

tributed to the rubber trade I believe you said that the com--

pounding was carried out in separate rooms in some of the

rubber companies, is that correct?

A. Some of them had separate rooms, yes.

Q. Do you recall about when you saw separate rooms in

the rubbercompanies’ compounding? —

- A, That was so long ago I would hate to hazard a eee

on that.

Q. In connection with ail’ these difficulties on which you :

elaborated in connection with the use of carbon black around

the rubber mill, do you know of any instance where the

rubber people did not use carbon black because of those

reasons? |

A. I would say it caused a serious delay i in accepting the

advantages that carbon black gave because of the nuisance.

I know of no case where it prohibited its use eventually.: _

[fol. 68] Q. I believe you say you knew. ss Knowlton

and Hoffman? :

A. I said I knew Geer. —

Q. When did you first become stiimsiated with see Geer?

A. In 1913 or 1914. *

Q. I note-that the application date of the patent was 1916,

-that is, his Patent 1,245,700, so it would be prior to the time

‘that patent application was filed when you first met him?

A. Oh, yes.

Q. Did you ever discuss this ‘patent with Mr. Geer at ariy

time?

A. No, we discussed only the problem. ;

Q. Did you ever discuss the Knowlton and Hoffman ‘pat-

ent with Mr. Geer?

A. No.

. .Q. In connection with the Wiegand-Venute two-iquid

process: which was used in the pilot plant do you know

.. whether any organic liquids ether than gasoline were used

- - in the commercial production?

A. Not to my knowledge.

Q. In the single liquid process ‘which now produces

Mieronex beads, do you know of any organic liquid “being

used? -.

A. No.

‘Q. Do you know of any wetting agent or liquid other than

- water being used in that process?

A. No 7 = | Cee a 7

fe: * Q. In your direct testimony you referred to “the

fact that a.license had been. ass by the Thermatonic

- Carbon Company?

. That ig correct.

Do you know when that license was taken?.

. Just recently.

This year or last year? sf

This year. .

‘Opeopopep

Dies that: Meenas | cover any , other patent than this

. Wiegand-Venuto? .

“A. It covers this Wicenad Vente nd others.

[fol: 69] Redirect examination * | {ass}.

mee aer ae Q. The Thermatonic has recently gone into the

‘business or.is about to go into the business, and that i is the.

reason for the license at this time?

A. I do not know of them making any pelleted black prior

to this time. I understand they are now interested in

getting into that field and. that that is why they took the

license.

Q. You were asked if you ever talked to Mr. Geer about

the proposal detailed in his patent and you said you had:

not. Were you not thinking of the years you had been -.

talking about?

A. Yes, 1915.

Q. In recent years you have talked to Mr. Geer — :

that? - ,

A. Oh, yes. ;

.Q. And if counsel wishes to inquire about it, you are

: ready to tell him what Mr. Geer has stated?

° ae TestmMoNy OF Winsrer JONES.

Direct examination * * .* [141].

* * * Q. Please state your name.

_ . A. Webster Jones. |

_ Q. Your place of residence, Doctor.

A. Pittsburgh, Pa.

Q. What is your present occupation at Pittsburgh?

A. Dean of bein "saabe se Coraape Institute of Tech-

oA nology.

Q. You graduated toma a sochaiesl school.

A. Yes.

-Q. From what school?

A.t graduated from: the University of Missouri i in 1908. .

Q. What is the general nature of your work from the

time of graduation up to 1918?

A. In 1908 and 1909 I was teaching at the University of

Missouri: From there I taught at Purdue University. I

undertook graduate work at Harvard University and; I

[fol, 70].taught at Harvard. I also taught at the University

of Maine and the University of Montana. :

2 That covers the period until 1918?

A. Yes. °

Q. What were you doing. in 1918 and 1919?

A. In 1918 I entered the service of the United States as

first lieutenant in the Chemical Warfare Service. —

Q. When were you discharged from the service?

A. I was discharged on March 6, 1919.

-Q. Now will you tell us what you did ny follow-

ing that? -

A. On April 1, 1919, I entered the sination of the B. F.

- Goodrich Rubber Company.

‘Q. And continued in the employ “ that company for

what period? |

A. Until 1932.

Q. Now will you state briefly in what capacity or capac-

_- ities you served and in what branch of the Goodrich Com-

pany business over that period of years 1919 to 1932?

A. I was invited to jom the Goodrich Company by Dr.

W. C. Geer. I entered the research department and from

_the Research Department I becaine manager of the General

Testing Laboratory: and the raw materials division. From.’

’ that place I ‘was advanced to technical superintendent of the

processing division. From that position I became general

superintendent. of the processing division. That position

I held: when I left the Goodrich Company. I left to be-

come Dean of Engineering at the Carnegie Institute of

Technology. .

_ Q. Immediately following your entrance tatie the Good-

rich _peeeion in 1919, did you become acquainted with

the practice of the company in the u use of carbon black i in .

rubber manufacture?

A. T did, sir. ;

Q- What-did you find that the Goodrich ‘Company was

using at that time, what form of carbon black?

A-At that time the Goodrich Company was passing from

uncompressed carbon black to ee carbon black.

By the Court:

Q. What time was that?

A. 1919, sir.-

By Mr: Edmonds:

_Q. Were they using carbon black i in large quantities?

A. They were.

(fol. 71] "0. Will you tell us what were the circumstances

incident to the use of carbon black as Goodrich used it?

_ A. Goodrich used uncompressed and compressed carbon

black when I first entered the industry, and then the com-

a pressed black. The black is absolutely essential in obtain- .

‘ ing the best quality in tire tread and it was used.in very

- large amounts. In the beginning 20 to 25% of the. black

- was used on the rubber. As the work progressed more and

more carbon black was used. It was a gradual change in.

the years I was with the Goodrich Company. Ultimately

JS high as 45 to 50% of black was used on rubber. ‘That is,

-~ 100 parts of rubber to 45 to 50 parts of black.

Q. Now will you tell us something about the condition

that prevailed in the operation of the Goodrich plant where

- the carbon was introduced into the rubber, what sort of

‘machiries were used and what was done with the ‘carbon

. black and anything incident to that use?

' A. The various processes in the preparation, say of a

technical men. After the formula is arrived at by the |

technica] men through various.methods used in the art the

formula is sent to the compounding room.- In the’ com-

then they are sent to the mill room, | In one of the mill rooms

‘at the Goodrich Company, there was a large mill’ room,

44 mills with 84 inch rolls. Now these rolls turn in opposite

directions. The rubber i is —- on the roll and ee

o——"

tire, are to determine, first, the formula. That is done by —

pounding room the materials are exactly weighed out and me

that is, the rubber is gotten over the entire mill roll. Then

after a certain amount of mastication the black is added.

During the addition of this black it flies in every direction,

as- -was_witnessed here i in_ uncompressed __ and compressed _

black yesterday. It is a terrible nuisance_in them roém ~~ ~~

and it dees not stop at the mill room; it flies over the whole

plant and settles wherever it might fall and contaminates

——people and materials throughout the plant.

After the black is mixed in on this -84 inch roll,—there

' are two rolls, as you: saw yesterday, itt a small mill, which

‘was a 12 inch-mill. The back roll is driven and the other

_ [fol. 72] is not. You can adjust the distance between the

rolls by screws on the side of the mill; you can adjust the

distance between the two rolls. By just mixing the rubber |

and then pouring on the black, clouds of dust will form, ,

and, when -the black is pretty well taken up, the rubber

is cut back and forth by a mill man. In that way it is ~

rolled and it enables the black to be mixed into the rub-

ber. Underneath the mill rolls is a pan called a mill pan

‘ which collects the part which is not at the time worked into

the rubber. . That is then put back on..

‘Q. When the rubber goes into that mill it is in a crude

form? ~

A. Like the smoke sheet that you saw. eee are bins

principal grades of crude rubber, the pale crepe and smoke~...

es sheet.

I happened to. be on- the receiving end of -this carbon

black. That is, as general superintendent of the process-

ing division I received the complaints, and it so happened —

that executive officers were on the fifth floor in a separate

building from this mill room I am speaking of, and I got’

complaints from the executives, ‘‘why don’t you cut down —

this black nuisance?’’ Of course the mill men did not like

if, and they did not care to work in a dusty atmospheré.

Q. Were you yourself in and around the mill room day

in and day out?.

A. Thad 1500 men working for me and I had to be-on

the job 24 hours a day.

Q. Did you wear a cap to keep it out of your: chair?

A. I did not have to do that; the mil] men did. aoe

Q. Was that common? —— fs

A. Yes. In addition to that, ees iy got through their

day’s work that could not be washed off without much

difficulty. As you get inta this black it is very difficult to

get it off and it Beeps ahead of where you are washing. If.

_ you have the carbon black on your §ands it will creep up

ee eee ss « aPOuRd your neck.

rs —Q_ Did that condition continue right along from 1919? a,

| A. Yes, sir.

- —Q.:At any time from 1919 or at any time theniafter

- did Goodrich make any use of any form of carbon black

: [fol. 73] that had a binder mixed in with the carbon par--

dees ticles?

A. The rubber compounder uses his material straight.

He does not want any binder in his materials. He will do

his own compounding. Compounding is an exact science.

Q. As a matter of fact no such binder: was ever tana in

the carbon black at Goodrich?

A. No, sir, not while I was there.

_. Q: Along in the ’20’s did you make some eee with

reference to ameliorating these conditions due to dustiness

which Goodrich adopted?

A. The dustiness was a nuisance. - It so happened that

- when I became general superintendent of the processing

division, in addition to the suppliers being stirred up about

. this black nuisance I did something myself. I was re-

sponsible for the building of a separate mill room for mix-

ing this black material. We spent a million dollars to just

~ __ «put-this black off to one side.

Q. What was the basic thing in that expenditure?

A. The segregating of black to avoid the dust nuisance,

. ~\the nuisance :to the workmen and the nuisance to the ex- ‘

Fede ieee ecutives, also the wear and tear that this dust would cause

eae on the machinery, also discoloration. °

Q. Was that found to be a menace to the health of these

engaged?

. ——A. Well, it was thought to be, yes. -

Q. There was some doubt as to what effect it als as to

inflammability and explodability?

A. We had the same sort of sign I see here on the wal,

Q. You spoke of Dr. Geer. Did he continue in the Good-

rich association for some years after you went there in

1919?

A. Yes. My impression is that Dr. Geer left there

around 1925.

971

66 «

Q, Up to that time he had been in Pes of research

and development at Goodrich?

A. Dr. Geer was vice president in charge of research

[fol. 74] and development, and he is generally given credit

throughout the-rubber industry oe ne research

into the rubber industry. .

Q. Was. Hoffman there while you wore!

A. Yes. Harry Hoffman is one of my close friends. We -

worked i in the Goodrich organization at the same time and

both of us reported to Dr. Geer.

Q. You say you left the Goodrich organization in 1932?

A. 1932.

Q. At that time or at any time before you left had any-

thing comé under your examination in the way of a carbon

black that is associated in any way with this dust-problem? -

A. Yes, sir.

‘Q. Tell us about that.

A. In the Goodrich Company we turned out in the neigh-

_borhood of 20,000 tires a day. That is a large order. These

operations must be conducted with safety. In other words,

. Yyoy.do not jump into the use of a new compounding ma-

. terial,—it takes time. Roughly speaking, it takes on the

average two years to make a major change in any com-

pounding. In tires that is especially true because before .

you use a new formula it has to be road-tested. That is,

they send out cars and the question is, ‘‘Will'this material

stand up in use?’’ There are a large number of technical

men in Goodrich, perhaps 400 or more technical men, fol-

lowing the quality of raw materials, the quality of new

poaceees and the quality of finished products..

. Q. Will you bein that down to this innovation that was

counected in some. way with the dust nuisance?

A. After I had spent this million dollars for the segre-

gation of black, a new product was presented to the raw .

materials division, and it happened to be under my charge.

- Here was carbon black in the forth of pellet. Investigations

were in progress when I left the Goodrich Company as to

- the utility of this new form of carbon black, that was called

dustless, in the form of pellets. -

Q. How far had that investigation gotten by the tine

you left the company? —

{fol. 75]. A. It had not gone beyond the experimental

‘stage. That is, it had not gotten into wide use.

—

7 ‘ Mora : 7 ;

Se P | 67

Q. Then that was in 1932, and it was at that time you

went to Carnegie, where you have. since been? :

- A. That is right.

Q. During your years at Carnegie have you maintained

your connection with the rubber industry?

A. It is.a very fascinating industry. In order to main-———

tain my prroctcen g I have for the past several years put out

-the annual survey of the rubber industry, which keeps me __

in touch with the rubber men in the industry. They are

very kind to me. They assist me in the preparation of this

annual survey. . i

_Q. In that connection do you go back to the rubber plants

from time to time on visits?

A. I do. ;

Q. In your more ‘seed investigation of rubber plants

since 1932, on your return trips, so to speak, what can you

tell us about the practice? . 7

A. It would be a joy to work in .a rubber plant elias

black is being mixed because I have a very distinct memory

of the dusty condition and the raw hiding I received when

I was head of the processing division at Goodrich. I have

the entree to the rubber factories and it is a marvelous

improvement.

Q. State just what the improvement i is.

A. Freedom from dust, sir.

Q. What is that due to?

A. To the special form of the material that i is now : bikie

used, which, it is claimed is its free flowness. In other

words, we had to handle the compressed black in sacks and

the sacks were cut and the material spilled on the mill.

That is‘no longer necessary. This material can be auto-

matically weighed. If it is automatically weighed the dust

nuisance is avoided. . .

. Q. Is that dustless effect due to the use of that carbon

black which you had under examination i in 19321

A. Yes:

[fol.76] _. . Cross Examination * °° aaa:

: rae Q. You have described in some detail, Dr. Jones,

the: ae of the old type of roller mill that was used in the.

rubber plant?

' A. Yes, sir.

68.

Q. I wonder if you would describe for us the action of .

the modern ‘Banbury mill?

» A. Yes, -ir. When I went with the Goodrich =

the Banbury mixer was not in use.

. Q. That would bein 19191 °, :

’ A. In 1919. The first Banbury that we used was obtained ~—

‘nem a neighboring company, that is, a neighboring com- °

pany in the experimental stage of this Banbury mixer, and

- they could not make a go of it. ..

Q. Can you fix the date of that ineneinatidy ?. 6.) Oo

+ . A. I would say: in@#925, or maybe, 1927. When I took. As

pter the sill’ regen we:hnd two 37 Banberys in the will | "

room. When I put into. ap this segregation ‘of black we Ses

used Banbury mixers.

Q. That is, in place of oath type relies wilt? AE

A: Wait a minute. That is a yes and no question. I will

tell you how Banbury operates. The Banbury, instead of

ghaving cylindrical rolls, has rotors. The rotors are enclosed.

' By the Court:

_ Q. What is the difference between a rotor and a ‘rollt

A. The rolls do not touch,

; By Mr. Edmonds:

Q. Is not this a picture you can use’. ,

A. Yes, this is a rotor. The rotors go} in — direc- ; -

tions.

By the Court:

Q. The ‘witness is salenieas to page 10. of “Banbury.

‘Mixers,’”’ Bulletin'171?

A.. Yes, sir. Here is the hopper the material was put -

through. This isa ram. The ram is closed after the mate-

ish ale ata All the materials are not added at once.

You put in the rubber first and. you must get the rubber in

the proper condition so it will take up the pigment. These

- are rotors. They do not touch and they can be adjusted

‘[fol. 77] with screws so you car get any bite you want. In

that connection, let me say that the cooling. of the stock,—

there is heat generated when‘ black is mixed into rubber |

- Banbury mixer. There are various sizes of Banbury mixers. ~

s , ay eno 69

Mr. Smith: At this time we would like to offer, as “‘De-

_fendant’s. Exhibit No. 1,” Bulletin No. 171, ‘‘Banbury

Mixers,’’ page 10 of which was referred to by the witness

in his previous answer.

__(Defendant’s Exhibit No. 1, filed.)

Q. Is there some other page you want to refer tot .

A. On an 84 inch mill, 200 to 250 pounds of ‘stock can be

readily handled. In this Banbury mixer you can handle

750 pounds to 1,000 pounds. The time of mixing a tread

' stock on the ‘Toller mill is about 25 minutes. The time of

mixing the black into the. rubber in the Banbury mixer;

750 pounds say is 11 minutes. In conjunction with a Ban-

_bury mixer, you always find 84 inch ‘mills because when a . ;

batch comes out of the Banbury it is in chunks and you >

= cannot handle rubber in chtnks éo it is sheeted out-on 84

inch mills. In connection with the Banbury mixer for the

mixing of stocks, it doés not eliminate the black nuisance.

Q. When. you wefe at Goodrich you fixed the time for

the first: work with. the Banbury at around. 1925 to 1927? °°

' A: Yes. :

Q. When was it you put up this new mill?

.A. In 1928. ide

’ Q. I asked you a question previously as to whether you

used a Banbury mill or an old type open roller mill? ~ .

A. We used the Banbury in connection with 84 inch mills.

Q. ‘That is the roller mill for sheeting out the rubber?

A. Yes. It was cut afterwards, and the cut is very essen-

tial in the mixing of stocks. In all pigments added to rubber

a you must have complete dispersion.

Q. So far as those 84 inch mills bo tis Air toll roam axe

concerned, were they ever used for compounding carbon

-[fol. 78] black with rubber?

A. Were they ever used? We sind the Banbury mixer

in conjunction with 84 inch mills.

Q. My question is directed to this one point, as to: whether

-or not carbon black was compounded with rubber on wiat

you term an 84 inch mill?

A. It sould have been done. |

Q. Was it done?

A. We would not léave the Banbury stand idle. The -

84 inch mills—on that it was the same as in other parts

of the ry The rubber en is a too-compeditive.

@e 2

70 aay

industry and you cannot let machinery lie idle. These

Banbury mixers cost $60,000,—figure it out...

Q, How many Banbury mixers did you have in yours new

- mill; Doctor?

A. Two.

a ‘How many of these 84: inch roller_miills would you

A: The better the mixing the fewer complaints the proe-

* essing division wilt have. The ratio is one Banbury to

three 84 inch mills. This is the mixing end of it. The more

you mix the more it costs: you. If you mill a little you get .

- in trouble with the product. If you lose a customer’s ac- x

ceptance you do not sell him. .

Q. At the time you put in the mill room, ‘what was the

_ type of carbon black you were = in the mill room?

A. Compressed black. .

’-Q. Is that what-is referred to-as the heavy sisieaiiol

blaek. You can tell this from the sample, Plaintiff’s Exhibit :

No, 9.

A. You are acquainted with the different kinds of black?

. Q. Yes.

A. There is a black called ensemmgrensed black that weighs -

13 pounds to the cubic foot.. The compressed black I am

talking about weighs in the neighborhood of 25 pounds to

the cubic foot, supplied by anyone of the suppliers of ‘car-

bon black to the rubbeer industry. |

Q. When you go in the mill room was there any. change

made in the type of compressed black that you’used in the

{fol. 79] mill room over what had been. previously used?

A. In the open mills. — |

Q. Referring to this diagram‘on page. 10 of the Banbury

‘bulletin, Defendant’s Exhibit No. 1, I note reference to

what is termed an air-operated ram. I did not get very

clearly the operation of that ram. I woneer, if you would

please describe it to us.

A. All right. First the rubber i is added i the Banbury

~ mixer.

Q. Is that added to what is ‘ternied: the hopper? ;

A. Yes, the rubber must be masticated before you add

pigments. That ram serves a double function. That is, it

puts pressure on the stock at the proper time. That is one.

down, ‘*Whew,”’ a cloud of dust. I spent $30,000 to put

in the Pangborn duet collector.

Q. Would the dust collector have a connection with the

‘ Banbury mill similar to that. which is on this diagram with

the fan to reduce dust?

A. Yes. The ot erator works the ram: ‘There are specific

directions on the mill, the rubber on the 84 inch mill. That

‘isa matter of testing. is followed by the technical men

throughout the whole rubber industry.

Q. When the carbon black is added to the rubber i in. nthe

‘Banbury mill is that also added to what i is termed the feed

‘hopper? - | :

A. Yes, sir.

Q. After it is added thoneh the feed hopper ond the ram

is closed, is there any further difference that is noticeable?

A. Not after it is mixed in. |

Q. How long does that take aftér the ram is closéd and

the mill is running?

A. The cycle. is approximately 11 minutes. You could

run it 15; you could run it as long as you wanted to. The

longer you run this expensive mill operation the more. it —

costs you, so you have technical men that decide when it is

enough. |

Q. So far as the Banbury mixer is concerned, was there

any difficulty in breaking up chunks of carbon black that

{fol. 80] may have been wetted with water « or that had a:

_ high moisture content?

_A. No compounder of my acquaintance would. add water

to a black: ‘These. materials follow specifications. The

raw material division buys black, if that is what you are

- talking about, under specifications. :

- The Court: Do you mean a black which hai been con-

- stantly wet or has been wetted by some. process? ,

_. Mr. Smith: Either way. There were instances of rejec-

tion of black because of accidental wetting and then there

are also’ instances of intentional wetting. |»

The Court: The question i is whether the Banbury ma-

chines would crush.

A. Judge, we would reject that and not u use it We would

not get that far. I would not be that dumb.

- Q. Is there any difficulty crushing these micronex beads

of the plaintiff in the Banbury mills of the plaintiff, if you’

know? * °* ° [151- aerl,

‘The Court: * * * i. will ae the question, i is the

Banbury an effective function i in preaking up the micronex

_ beads ;

AK. Yeas sir.

_ By the Coatt:

Q. Is. it-a fair r statement to say that in the use of what

you might’ term “‘dusty black,’’ which includes the com- ~

pressed form which was used when you left, that the. Ban-

bury machine ameliorated ‘the dust nuisance but did not

cure it?

A. a sr “ ~%, he Crsyr,

aia that this is a sample of the defendant’s product..

xill offer this in evidence as ‘Plaintiff "s Exhibit No. 20.”’

as,

5 raat na = Sarg Ney

ba Direct Examination Roe Peas? [160].

Q.: What is your name?

... A. William Bryant Wiegand.

Q. And your residence? » A ae

A. Old Greenwich, Conn.

2 Are you a technical graduate?

A. Yes, sit, \University of Toronto, Canada.

{fol. 81) Q. What year?

A. 1912..

‘o And your present official capacity?

A. Director of Research; Columbian Carbon Company.

Q. You are the ‘same. William B. Wiegand who! is one of

the. patentees in the’ patent i in suit?

A. Yes, sir. i he

Q. I take it we may understand that you hats given

-somne = of study to carbon hlack, years, more or less?

Q. Will you look. at this container of pelleted carbon ~ re

Jlack bearing the inscription ‘‘United-Carbon iocead

Beads, Exhibit No. 20’’; have you <sapange this? Geeks

‘A. Yes. ,

Q. Will you state whether or not this carbon producti is

substantially pure carbon? : ;

| A. Yes, sir.

Q. Is it ppure carbon in the sense that i¢ comes within the

rather ‘rigid specifications of the rubber caripanies which

they apply to the carbon blacks they buy? —

A. It does. °

. Q. Are these beads hard: enough to stand the rigors of

handling, manufacture and transportation to the users?

A. There seems to be no doubt about that.

Q. Are they soft enough so they will disperse readily

and freely in rubher manufacture!

A. Yes, eager

Q.. It is quite ebrione they are flowable?

A. Yes, sir.

Q. Are these pellets of a spongy or a ‘ aie nature i in the-

interior? .

A. They are. |

*Q. As to the pellets themselves, are they approximately

1/16 of an inch in diameter? —

- A. Yes, sir..

-* .Q. What shape are these ents, Mr. “Wiegand?

A. I suppose you would call them spheroidal. Roughly

speaking they are a rough sphere and are nearer to that

'- than anything else, I shouldsay * * * [160-162].

* * * (Plaintiff’s Exhibit No. 21, filed.)

[fol. 82} - Crogs-examination aS oF om.

* * * Q.-You are one of the pa és in the patent in

suit, are you, Dr. Wiegand?

‘A. Yes, sir. io, Trae

+ Q. What examination have you made, of these beads that

were produced by the United Carbon Company? :

A. You mean chemical or physical?

Q. The question is clear, cari you answer it? .

A. They are at least of rounded appearance ‘in shape.

We have examined them along the lines used by our cus-

tomers in the way of establishing the requisite purity and

we find that on that test they meet th

This text is long and has been trimmed here. Open the source document for the complete record.

This is a copy of a public record, reproduced as it was published. It is not legal advice, and it may not be the version a court would rely on. Check the official source before you cite it.