On March 7, 1950, Hugh E. Young, individually and as trustee, and John Went-worth filed their complaint in this court,, and thereby alleged that Hugh E. Young,, individually, was the owner of a 10% interest, that Hugh E. Young, as trustee,, was the owner of a 70% interest, and that John Wentworth was the owner of a 20% interest in Letters Patent of the United States No. 2,179,569 on motor control apparatus, issued November 14, 1939, to said *111Hugh E. Young on an application filed March 15, 1933, and No. 2,086,594 on motor control apparatus, issued July 13, 1937, to said Hugh E. Young on an application filed June 11, 1934, and that the defendant General Electric Company had manufactured, used and sold, within the United States, motor control apparatus embodying said patented inventions and infringing said Letters patent. The prayer of the complaint was for an injunction, an accounting of profits, and damages.
The answer of the defendant, General Electric Company, was filed on April 28, 1950. The defendant denied that Hugh E. Young was the inventor of the devices described in the patents in suit, but admitted that applications for patents were filed by Hugh E. Young and that the patents were issued to Hugh E. Young on said applications. Defendant denied knowledge or information sufficient to form a belief as to the ownership by the plaintiffs of the interests in said patents, denied that defendant has infringed the patents, and denied that plaintiffs have caused notice to- be given to the defendant of its infringement but admits the receipt, in due course, of a letter dated December 15, 1949, from Hugh E. Young. The defendant further averred that both patents are invalid for the reasons that they involve no invention over the prior art, that Hugh E. Young was not the original and first inventor of said alleged improvements described in said patents, and that the patentee had failed particularly to point out and distinctly to claim the part, improvement or combination which he claims as his invention or discovery. The defendant, on information and belief, averred that, by reason of the proceedings in the Patent Office during the prosecution of the applications which have resulted in each of the patents in suit, plaintiffs were estopped to claim for said patents a construction such as , would cause said patents to cover or include the acts of the defendant of which plaintiffs complain. Defendant also averred that more than six years prior to the filing of the complaint and for more than six years prior to the receipt by the defendant of any notice of alleged infringement of the patents in suit, defendant has been extensively and openly manufacturing, selling, using and advertising for sale, within the United States, motor control apparatus of the same character as the apparatus complained of in this suit; that plaintiffs and their predecessors in interest had contemporaneous knowledge of these activities by defendant and had opportunity to obtain information as to the details of construction of the motor control apparatus advertised and sold by defendant, but plaintiffs and their predecessors in interest allowed defendant to build up a large business in the manufacture and sale of motor control apparatus of the type complained of in this suit, and delayed asserting any charge of infringement of the patents in suit until at least as late as December 15, 1949; that during this period of delay and after the initial sales and advertisement by defendant of motor control apparatus of the type complained of, defendant has expended large sums of money in advertising such motor control apparatus, in tooling up for its production, and in developing and engineering similar motor control apparatus; that during the period of plaintiffs’ delay, two men, Eugene H. Haug and Stanley Plaisance, whom defendant might have called as witnesses in this suit, and whose testimony it is believed , would have been of material aid to defendant, have died; that, as a result of the long and inexcusable delay of plaintiffs and their predecessors in interest in bringing suit, defendant’s position has been changed to its detriment; and that plaintiffs and their predecessors in interest are guilty of such laches that they are estopped now to assert infringement by defendant or to maintain this suit. On November 28, 1950, during the course of the trial, the defendant, by leave of court, filed an amendment to its answer, wherein it added to its original answer the following: “The said Hugh E. Young was not the original, first or sole inventor of the subject matter of said patents but the same was conceived and developed by one Eugene H. Haug and/or Stanley F. X. Plaisance, either individually or jointly with the said Hugh E. Young.”
*112The trial, which consumed twenty-six and one-half court days, commenced on October 5, 1950, and continued, with two interruptions, until December 1, 1950. Briefs of counsel were prepared during the course of the trial and were read by the court prior to the final arguments of counsel, which took place on December 1st. On that day, seven hours were devoted to the arguments.
The drawings of Patent No. 2,179,569, to which counsel called the court’s attention, are Figures 1 and 2 next hereinafter set forth:
*113In this patent, the patentee, at page 1, column 1, line 1, says:
“The present invention relates to the control of current flow to motors and the acceleration thereof.
“The starting and acceleration of electric motors, particularly such as are operated from an alternating current supply line, has heretofore generally been accomplished by the employment of resistance in the rotor circuit or reactance in the line to hold back the current flow when the counter-electromotive force is lacking or lower than desired.
“It is an object of the present invention to employ an electron tube operating within and upon the individual cyclical impulses of impressed potential and resultant current flow instead of employing resistance, for regulating starting, acceleration speed control and reversing of a motor.
“According to my invention, an automatic current sensitive regulator controls the time of firing of the control tube for each cycle in order to limit the effective current flow. Thus, instead of wasting energy in the resistance as frequently employed, the tube permits the selection of such parts of the current wave as are required to make up the predetermined current flow, even though the resistance of the motor circuit to current flow be merely the ohmic resistance of the motor as at standstill or the ohmic resistance plus the counter-electromotive force when the motor is operating at some selected speed, or the ohmic resistance minus the counter-electromotive force when the motor is plugged, i. e., connected in reverse while mechanically running forward.
“The regulator controls the phase shift of grid excitation of the tube, either by a movable core of an inductance as shown in one embodiment, or by magnetically varying the inductive effect of a grid phase control circuit, as shown in another modification, with the result that no matter what the variations of line potential or resistance to current flow due to conductivity, or counter-electromotive force, the current will be the same, and will not exceed the predetermined value. Thus it is possible to throw the motor directly across the line without taking any more current than the predetermined value. Similarly, it is possible to plug the motor, i. e., throw the control switch to reverse while the motor is running full speed forward without allowing any more than the predetermined current to flow therethrough.
“The invention applies not only to direct current motors which are operated by rectified current, but may also be applied to alternating current motors, as hereafter described and illustrated in detail.
“Now in order to acquaint those skilled in the art with the manner of constructing and operating my invention, I shall describe, in connection with the accompanying drawings, a specific embodiment of the same.
“Figure 1 is a general schematic diagram of the invention applied to a D.C. series motor; Fig. 2 is a diagram of a modified embodiment of my invention;”
Further, on page 1, column 2, line 14, the patentee says:
“Referring to Fig. 1, 1 and 2 indicate the A.C. power lines. A transformer M supplies current to a phase splitting device consisting of a coil 4 connected in series with a resistance 5. The inductance of coil 4 is changed by any movement of the plunger 6 which is connected to a lever 7 pivoted at the point 8 and actuated at the other end by an iron plunger 9 operating in a solenoid 10. The plunger 9 is controlled manually by an adjustable handle 11 through a spring 50. Current necessary for the operation of the motor is taken from the power supply line by means of a transformer N. One side of the secondary winding is connected to the plate 13 of the tube A. The other terminal of the secondary connects to the plate 14 of the tube B. The filaments 15 and 16 of tubes A and B, respectively, are operated by a transformer T and are connected together by the wires 17 and 18. The D.C. series motor C is connected at one end to the filaments of tubes A and B and through solenoid 10 to the center tap 19 of trans*114former 12. The control voltage for the grids 20 and 21 of tubes A and B is obtained from the phase splitting device between points 22 and 23, this voltage being applied to the grids 20 and 21 through transformer 24.
“The operation of the circuit is as follows: The tubes A and B operate as half wave rectifiers and supply a current for the motor C in the usual manner. The mean position of the plunger 10 is adjusted by setting of the adjustable handle 11 operating through spring 50. If, for any reason, the. current through the motor changes, the plunger 9 will be operated upon by the current through solenoid 10 and will result in moving the plunger 6 from its normal position, which normal position depends upon the tension of the spring 50. The change in inductance resulting from any change in position of plungers 6 will, in turn, change the phase of the voltage between points 22 and 73 and this, in turn, will operate upon the grids 20 and 21 of tubes A and B so as to keep -the current through the motor substantially constant. The relative movement of the plungers 9 and 6 are such as to cause the inductance 4 to increase when the motor current increases and thus causes the grid voltage to become more out of phase with the anode voltage which, of course, reduces the average motor current to substantially its former value. The opposite action takes place when the motor current decreases. Since this effect takes place at any given set position of the plunger 9, it is evident that the motor can be reversed without drawing an excessive current.
“From the above it may be seen that the motor may be connected at standstill to the source of pulsating direct potential and the current will be limited to the selected predetermined value by the operation of the regulator 10-4. The impulses of current are selected portions of the rectified waves, and are peculiarly effective to start a load because of their momentary high value, although the mean effective value may be much lower. As the motor accelerates the counter-electromotive force builds up with increasing speed, but the regulator 10-4 shifts the phase of grid excitation to increase the potential applied until the predetermined value of current flow is again restored. This adjustment is substantially instantaneous in that it occurs within the cycle of commercial frequency. Likewise, the motor may be •reversed at full speed. This is generally termed ‘plugging the motor.’ When so reversed at full speed, the counter-electromotive force of the armature acts like a negative resistance, but through the action of the regulator 10-4, the effective current does not rise above the predetermined value.
“The frequency of the impulses of direct current is fixed by the frequency of the alternating current supply 1-2. The regulator 10-4 is capable of shifting the grid potential through substantially 180 electrical degrees, and hence is capable of maintaining the current flow within a predetermined limit or constant as desired throughout all speed and load conditions within the torque of the particular predetermined current value. By shifting the grid potential from zero angle towards 180° angle not only is the duration of applied potential for each impulse varied, but also the effective potential throughout said period is varied.
“In order to change the speed of the motor it is only necessary to change the inductance of coil 4 by moving handle 11.
“Referring to Fig. 2, 30 and 31 indicate the A.C. power supply. The filaments of Tubes C and D are supplied with current by the filament transformer E. Another transformer F supplies A.C. voltage to the plates 33 and 34 of tubes C and D from the secondary terminals 35 and 36. Two other terminals 37 and 38 of the secondary furnish the voltage for the phase splitting device made up of resistor 39, variable inductance 40 and the counter-electromotive force coil 41. The voltage for the grids 42 and 43 of Tubes C and D is supplied through the grid transformer G. One end of the primary windings of this transformer is connected to the point 44 forming the common connection between resistor 39 and variable inductance 40. The other end of the primary winding is *115connected to the center tap 45 of transformer F. A direct current series motor L is operated by the impulses of direct current potential supplied by the tubes C, D. The D.C. voltage required to operate the motor is obtained between points 46 and 47 which constitute the output terminals of the tubes C and D.
“Operation of the apparatus shown in Fig. 2 is practically the same as that of Fig. 1. The current to the motor is controlled by shifting the phase of the voltage applied to the grids of the tubes C and D, and the phase of the control voltage can be adjusted by means of variable inductance 40. Since the inductance 40 can be changed by very small steps, it is evident that a very fine control of the speed of the motor can be obtained.
“Anodes 33 and 34 are connected to transformer F through primary coils 41a and 41b, which induce a counter-electromotive force into secondary coil 41. This C.E. M.F. produces the same effect in the phase split circuit as an addition of inductance. The coils are so coupled with the proper number of turns that the current in the anode circuit is held constant, thus protecting the motor at all times from an overload of current.”
Claims 1 and 2 of this patent are in suit. They are as follows:
“1. In combination, an alternating current supply line, a variable speed motor adapted to be operated by energy from said line from zero or negative speed to full positive speed, an electron valve device controlling the flow of current through said motor, said valve having a firing control electrode, means for applying a firing control potential to said electrode, and a regulator having an actuating winding in series relation with the flow of motor current to be controlled and having means governed by said winding to shift the phase of firing potential applied by said first named means throughout substantially 180 electrical degrees to limit the current to less than a predetermined value from negative to zero speed of the motor to full positive speed of the motor.”
“2. In combination with a source of alternating current potential, a variable speed motor having a rotor provided with windings, a circuit for said rotor supplied with energy from said source, means to control the flow of current in said circuit comprising a grid controlled arc rectifying tube, a phase control circuit for said tube including a regulator having a movable part for shifting the phase of grid excitation through substantially 180°, means in series relation to said circuit for moving said movable member according to the current flow in said circuit for limiting the flow of current in said circuit to substantially á predetermined value for all speeds of said motor.”
The only drawing of Patent No. 2,086,594 called to the court’s attention was Figure 6, which is as follows:
In this patent, the patentee, at page 1, column 1, line 1, says:
“This invention relates to motor control apparatus and more particularly to such apparatus designed to operate a direct current motor from current derived from an alternating current source.
“This application is a continuation in part of my co-pending application on Motor control, filed March 15, 1933, and bearing Serial No. 660,955.
“One feature of this invention is that it permits the operation of a direct current motor on a rectified alternating current with a high power factor; another feature of this invention is that it includes means for completely and automatically preventing any current surges or overloads through the motor; still another feature of this invention is that it provides convenient and effective manual control throughout a wide range of speed variation; another feature of this invention is that it provides a high starting torque; other features and advantages of this invention will be apparent from the following specification and the drawings, in which, — ”
Further, on page 1, column 1, line 35, the patentee says: “Fig. 6, illustrates a circuit wherein control grids are used in the tubes feeding the armature.”
Further, on page 3, column 1, line 62, the patentee says:
“In the form shown in Fig. 6 no impedance transformer or saturable core reactor in circuit with the primary 35 is used, but instead control is achieved through control means inserted directly in the tubes feeding the armature and series field, shown here as grids 118 and 119 in the controlled arc rectifying tubes 120 and 121. In this form the grid transformer 56 has one end of its secondary 55 connected to the grid 118 by the lead 122 and the other end connected to the grid 119 by the lead 123. The reversing switch 16 and the dynamic braking contacts 17 and 18 operate as discussed in connection with the embodiment illustrated in Fig. 1. This form of control somewhat decreases the power factor due to wave-form distortion, yet it retains all of the other advantages of the embodiment, illustrated in Fig. 1.
*117“The current limiting device illustrated in Fig. 6 is of a slightly different arrangment than that used in Figs. 1, 4, and 5. In this form the lever 166 is pivoted about a fulcrum 160. At one end thereof it has an iron core 165 adapted to1 move into or out of the solenoid 138, through which the armature and series field current of the motor passes. Resistance to the pull of the current in solenoid 138 is provided by the tension of a spring 164, which spring is fastened to a fixed member 170 by some adjustable means, as for example a wing nut 171. At this same end of the lever there is a member 172 having a shoulder 173 and a narrow portion 174. This narrow portion is slidably splined in an opening 175 in a bar 176 which is supported by springs 177. The bar 176 has at each end thereof iron cores 178 and 179 which are adapted for movement into or out of the coils 180 and 181, respectively. These two coils are connected in series and together from the inductance branch of the phase splitting circuit.
“It may be seen that, as is also the case in the structure used in Figs. 1, 4, and 5, the lever 166 is free to move a certain amount before altering the position of the cores 178 and 179 in the coils 180 and 181. Thus provision is made for a certain amount of current changes through the solenoid 138 without any limiting effect, yet when the current rises above the desired value the shoulder 173 comes into contact with the bar 176, forces the cores further into the coils, and thus prevents too large a current. Through the use of a lost motion connection in connection with the current control means control of the motor through independent conventional control means may be used, if so desired, while retaining the advantages of a current limiting device to prevent overload currents from damaging the motor, and to completely prevent surges, as for example when the motor is reversed.”
Claims 9, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 25 and 26 of this patent are in suit. Counsel for the plaintiffs, however, has stated that Claims 13, 17 and 20 are typical and that no other claims need particularly be considered. The last mentioned claims are as follows:
“13. Method of operating a compound wound direct current motor having an armature winding and a series field winding connected in series, and a separate shunt field winding, which comprises impressing unidirectional impulses of potential at a given frequency upon the terminals of the armature and series field winding, impressing upon the shunt field winding unidirectional impulses of potential at the same given frequency, but out of phase with the impulses impressed on said armature and series field, and, as said armature accelerates, reducing the phase difference between the two sets of impulses.”
“17. In combination, an alternating current supply circuit, a direct current motor comprising a first circuit having a series type field winding and armature in series, a second circuit comprising a shunt type field winding, a first rectifier comprising a controlled rectifier tube having a control electrode, means for synchronously exciting said electrode to determine the period during the wave that said tube is conductive, said tube being connected to said first circuit, a regulator sensitive to current flow in said first circuit for shifting the phase of excitation of said electrode, and a second rectifier for supplying rectified current to said second circuit, said rectifiers being supplied with alternating potential from said supply circuit.”
“20. In a motor control system, a source of alternating current potential, a direct current motor having a separately excited field winding circuit, a rectifier excited from said source for supplying unidirectional current to said field winding circuit, said motor having an armature and series field winding circuit, a rectifier excited from said source for supplying unidirectional current to said series field winding and armature circuit, and regulating means sensitive to the effective unidirectional current flow in said field winding and armature circuit for automatically limiting the current flow through said latter rectifier and field winding and armature circuit to a predetermined value.”
*118The word “thyratron” comes from a Greek word meaning “a door.” The thyra-tron is a three-electrode tube, into which, after exhaust, a small amount of inert gas has been introduced. The thyratron consists of a cathode, grid, anode, and a small amount of inert gas. The presence of the gas changes the pure electron discharge into an arc, so that the thyratron is an electro-statically controlled arc rectifier. The thyratron is an arc rectifier, the starting of which can be controlled by a grid. After starting, the grid has no further control over the 'arc. It may repeat the starting operation because, although the arc cannot be extinguished by the grid, it can be extinguished by removing the anode voltage. Upon reapplying this voltage, the grid again determines whether the arc will start. By continued repetition of this process it is obvious that the grid can control the average current, 'and it is further obvious that the averaging can be made as “fine-grained” as desired by increasing the frequency of interruption. A simple method of obtaining interruptions is to use alternating anode voltage. The foregoing statements, relating to thyratrons, are taken from an article entitled “Hot-cathode Thyratrons” by Dr. Albert W. Hull, of the research laboratory of the General Electric Company, which was published in the issues of “General Electric Review” of April, 1929, and July, 1929.
The word “T'hy-mo-trol” is a trade name used by the General Electric Company to indicate electric circuits designed by it and employing thyratrons.
In considering the questions of infringement and validity of the Young patents, it should continually be borne in mind that' Young was not, and in fact did not claim to be, the inventor of the thyratron. Young testified that one Haug and one Plaisance, both of whom will be referred to hereafter, handed to him a copy of the reprint of the-article by Hull. Young said that this was his first knowledge of thyratron tubes. The reprint of the Hull article had been procured by Haug and Plaisance from the Chicago office of the General Electric Company. Young’s story is to the effect that, after the Hull article came to his attention, the thought occurred to him that the thyra-tron tube might be used to control the flow of electric current to motors and that this thought was developed by him and the resulting development was disclosed to the world by the two patents in suit.
The devices of the defendant, which are charged to infringe, are the so-called “Integral horse power Thy-mo-trol” and the so-called “Fractional horse power Thy-mo-trol.”
An elementary diagram of the circuits of the defendant’s integral horse power Thy-mo-trol was introduced in evidence, and a copy thereof is next hereinafter set forth:
*120A description of said integral horse power Thy-mo-trol, which appears in plaintiffs’ trial brief, is set forth in the marginal Note 1.
A more complete description is included in the testimony of Orrin William Livingston, who is employed by the defendant as consulting engineer for its Electronics and Regulator Control Engineering Division, and who, with two other employees of the defendant, developed the circuits of the integral horse power Thy-mo-trol and who apparently knows more about thyratrons and their uses than any of the other witnesses on either side of the case. The portion of Mr. Livingston’s testimony wherein he describes his integral horse power Thy-mo-trol is set forth in the marginal Note 2.
*126An elementary diagram of the circuits of defendant's fractional horse power Thy-mo-trol is next hereinafter set forth:
tiffs’ trial brief, is set forth in the marginal Note 3.
A more complete description is included in the testimony of Mr. Livingston. The portion of Mr. Livingston’s testimony ginal Note 4.
*130The questions as to whether or not the defendant’s integral horse power Thy-mo-trol and fractional horse power Thy-mo-trol infringe the Young patents have given the court some considerable difficulty, The purpose of the devices of the Young patents is to control the flow of current ió motors. They do that, though only imperfectly. The accused devices quite closely approach theoretical perfection in the control of current flowing to motors. Because of this fact, and because some of the claims of the patents may be read upon the structures of defendant’s integral horse power Thy-mo-trols and fractional horse power Thy-mo-trols, plaintiffs claim infringement. The defendant, while admitting that its circuits do perfectly what the devices of the patents do imperfectly, says that the accused devices operate in different *131ways and by different means from those disclosed in the Young patents. Specifically, the defendant says that, while its integral horse power Thy-mo-trol does have a current limit effected by change in the phase of the voltage applied to the grid by a phase shifting arrangement, and while that arrangement is like that of Young’s patents, yet it is just like Hull and just like a lot of others that preceded Young. Furthermore, says the defendant, the difference in means and methods by which the defendant’s integral horse power Thy-mo-trol achieves the results of the devices of the patents is due to the fact that the defendant uses a saturable reactor as a variable inductance element, plus the fact that instead of the clumsy teeter-totter, the defendant uses a complicated circuit involving vacuum tubes and other elements. The plaintiff contends that there is an analogy between the variable inductance coil of Young and the saturable reactor of the defendant’s integral horse power Thy-mo-trol in so far as the over-all result of shifting the phase of the grid voltage is concerned. They say that the action of the saturable reactor with respect to its average inductance is related to the amount of the flux-carrying capacity' that is left in the iron within that reactor, and that that is analogous to the moving of the iron core in and out of the solenoid of the Young patents. The defendant answers that the action of its saturable • reactor could only be analogous to the variable inductance of Young if the core of the Young solenoid were placed all the way in up to the intended firing time in the half cycle, if the core were then pulled out instantaneously, left out until the end of that half cycle, instantaneously re-inserted, permitted to remain, and then pulled out again instantaneously, and so on. It further says that there is a difference in the steepness in the wave fronts of the grid voltage which are produced by defendant’s saturable reactor flipping over substantially instantaneously from maximum to minimum inductance at the proper time of the firing of the tubes, and apparently the steepness of the wave front is of importance.
After giving the matter the best consideration of which the court is capable, and assuming that the plaintiff’s patents are entitled to some range of equivalents, the court has concluded that the defendant’s integral horse power Thy-mo-trol does infringe the Young patents, if they are valid. To come to this conclusion, the court is compelled to hold that the plaintiff is entitled to a certain range of equivalents; and there may be considerable doubt about this conclusion. Mr. Young was not a pioneer. At best, he was pointing out a specific method of using thyratrons after Dr. Hull in his article had indicated thyratrons might be used to control currents flowing to motors ( Note 5 ).
The court is of the opinion that defendant’s fractional horse power Thy-mo-trol does not infringe for the reason, primarily, that the fractional horse power Thy-mo-trol has no phase shift method of controlling the current limit. The method by which it controls the current limit is that known in the books and the art as the AC-DC method. In the fractional horse power Thy-mo-trol, the grid voltage wave is shifted in phase, 90 degrees approximately, from the basic phase of the supply, and it stays there, never shifting *132one way or the other. It is a fixed voltage, about 90 degrees out of phase with the supply voltage, and the control is effected by superimposing on the alternating out-of-phase voltage wave a variable DC potential, which varies in response to signals from appropriate circuits in the apparatus.
The court comes now to the question of the validity of the patents, and the first question in that connection necessary to be determined is the date or dates to which Young is entitled. For reasons which will be hereinafter stated, the court is of the opinion that the earliest dates that Mr. Young can be allowed are his respective filing dates, namely, March 15, 1933, for the application which resulted in Patent No. 2,179,569, and June 11, 1934, for the application which resulted in Patent No. 2,086,594. Plaintiffs’ only claim with respect to the effective date of Patent No. 2,179,569 is that, because of a sketch which during the trial was known as the Teal Lake Sketch and which sketch was said to have been made on September 17, 1932, this patent should be given that as its effective date. Even if it be assumed that the Teal Lake Sketch was made on the date stated, there was no showing of diligence between that date and the filing date of March 15, 1933. The only reduction to practice of this patent is the constructive reduction to practice resulting from the filing of the application in the Patent Office. The evidence is that none of the devices of this patent was ever made. The absence of any showing of diligence and of any attempt to show it prevents this patent from having the benefit of September 17, 1932, as the date of conception. Mr. Young testified that he was shooting grouse at Teal Lake, Wisconsin on September 17, 1932. The evidence discloses that the grouse shooting season had not yet opened at that time. Furthermore, there were so many misdated sketches produced upon the trial of this case that it must be inferred from the evidence that back in the early 1930’s Mr. Young had a practice of sending sketches of alleged inventions to a certain notary, who placed such dates thereon as Mr. Young might suggest, apparently without regard to actual dates. This evidence has brought the court to the conclusion that it cannot in this case rely upon evidence as to dates except such as establishes such dates beyond peradventure, like evidence of filings in the Patent Office. Patent No. 2,086,594 asserts itself to be a continuation in part of the earliest application. The plaintiffs contend that being a continuation the patent is entitled to the date of the application of which it is a continuation. This second application, however, was a continuation only in part, and, accordingly, Patent No. 2,086,594 is entitled to the date of the other only to the extent to which the disclosures are common. The plaintiffs claim that the second patent differs from the first because the second patent provides for a compound motor and also provides for what plaintiffs refer to as a “lost motion arrangement,” — though the “lost motion arrangement” is not referred to in the claims so that it is recognizable. The plaintiffs further contend that the second patent is entitled to the benefit of a date in May, 1933, because there was operating in Young’s basement at that time a motor control arrangement said to be constructed in accordance with the requirements of the patent No. 2,086,594. There isn’t any doubt that there was a motor control arrangement in Mr. Young’s basement at the time stated. A number of persons saw it set up in the basement. Those who saw it and would have been capable of determining whether the motor was a compound motor said they did not know whether it was or not because they had not examined the motor. One or two other witnesses, who could hardly be expected to know whether the motor was compound or otherwise, saw the motor and said it was compound. Plaintiffs have not sustained the burden of proof on this issue with that kind of evidence which the court believes worthy of belief. The best evidence is that the motor was a shunt wound motor. The fact is that, from an electrical stand-point, it did not make any difference whether it was a series motor, a shunt motor or a compound motor, but the pat-entee claims a compound motor. If he did not have a compound motor in the base*133ment in May, 1933, he is not entitled to that date. The earliest date that the court can give him is June 11, 1934, the date of the filing of the application in the Patent Office.
The court is of the opinion that the two patents in suit disclose no invention over the following prior art:
The article by Dr. Albert W. Hull on “Hot Cathode Thyratrons,” published in the “General Electric Review” in April, 1929, and July, 1929.
The Chicago Civic Opera Theatre Lighting Control, installed in 1929. In this system, thyratrons were used, both to control lights and to control a motor. This control did not involve any current limiting arrangement, in the sense that plaintiffs use the term, but did have an arrangement which effectively limited the current to an appropriate value.
Elder Patent No. 1,847,934, issued March 1, 1932, on an application filed May 20, 1930. This patent reads on the Chicago Civic Opera Company lighting control installation.
The General Electric Company Wire Reeling Application Motor Armature Control. This use was on November 6, 1930. This arrangement was one in which the motor driving the reel on which the wire was to be coiled up was supplied with rectified power through a pair of thyratrons and was caused to operate at the appropriate speed constantly varying over a wide range, that speed being one which was appropriate to cause the wire to be wound up on the reel at constant speed and constant tension, notwithstanding the fact that the effective diameter of the hub of the reel on which the wire was being wound was constantly varying because of the build-up of wire upon it. This was done by a dandy roll under which the wire was passed in such a way that any variation in speed from the desired speed resulted in a movement one way or the other of the dandy roll, a corresponding movement of the core of a solenoid coil, a corresponding change in the inductance of the inductance member of the phase shift bridge, a corresponding variation in the firing of the thyratrons due to a shift of the phase of the voltage applied to the grids of those thyratrons, such that the necessary change in the effective voltage applied to the armature of the motor would be made, and the motor caused to operate as desired to maintain constant speed and tension.
The Stack Patent No. 1,844,699, filed June 26, 1930. This is a patent upon a device designed to keep rubber tubing from dragging upon the floor. Here the arrangement is similar in principle to that of the wire reeling apparatus in that the control is effected by a moving dandy roll, with an attached solenoid core, but in the rubber conveyor the physical alignment of the parts is just the reverse of what it was in the wire reeler for the reason that in this device, the control over the speed of the motor is effected by variation of the voltage applied to the separately excited shunt field rather than corrections to the voltage applied to the armature, as in the wire reeler.
General Electric Company Thy-ra-tron Remote Control System for United States Navy. The essence of this arrangement is that the gun is caused to respond to changes in direction of the gun sighter’s telescope. The mechanics of it are that there is a selsyn attached to the gun sight and a selsyn attached to the gun, and a so-called error signal corresponding to the deviation between the positions of the armatures of the two selsyns is applied to the grids of the two pairs of tubes. That signal, which is in the form of a voltage wave, tells those thyratrons, in effect, which pair shall pass current and how much they shall pass, to the armature of the DC motor to cause that motor to turn at the appropriate speed in the appropriate direction to drive the gun to the right position. Dr. Martin A. Edwards, who had largely to do with the development of this remote control system, testified that at the beginning of the development period there was placed in this system the kind of current limiting arrangement which is the supposed invention of Mr. Young. This art was prior to any date even asserted for Young.
*134Standard Hand Book for Electrical Engineers 1922, page 1345, shows that all the plaintiff did is to apply to the Hull circuit a solenoid in what is the conventional way to use it, so that the movement of its core in response to variations in the current flowing in the load circuit will mechanically move the movable core of the solenoid coil, which is the variable inductance of the phase shift circuit.
Carichoff Patent No. 1,720,623, issued July 9, 1929, on an application filed January 26, 1920.
Thomson & Houston Patent No. 238,315, issued March 1, 1881, on an application filed June 26, 1880. In this patent, a solenoid shown in series with the load circuit at times when the load circuit needs correcting causes the movable core of the solenoid to rise or fall, thereby moving a pivoted lever (teeter-totter) that in turn serves to rotate the brush holder so as to change the position at which the brushes will come in contact with the segments of the commutator thereby causing constant current to be applied to the load circuit.
Lammers Patent No. 1,396,853, issued November 15, 1921, on an application filed November 7, 1916. No thyratrons are shown in this patent but there is a showing of the use of the solenoid to limit current. The solenoid is in effective series connection in the motor armature circuit.
Griggs Patent No. 1,809,625, issued June 9, 1931, on an application filed October 3, 1921. This patent shows the use of a solenoid in a load circuit. The operation of the solenoid moves an arm, constrained by a spring which changes the position of a contact on a potentiometer. The potentiometer impresses on the grid of two thy-ratrons a negative potential, and, as the current increases through the solenoid, the action is to pull the lever down, which increases the negative voltage impressed on the grid of the thyratrons, which tends to retard the phase of the thyratrons, or, if it goes far enough, will actually cut them off. Such a device will operate as a phase control over the first 90 degrees.
Journeaux Patent No. 2,175,547, issued October 10, 1939, on an application filed February 3, 1933. In this patent, the current that flows in the solenoid coil is directly proportional to the current flowing in the main armature circuit. The action of the solenoid determines the point in the cycle at which the 'thyratrons will turn on with respect to the motor.
Winograd Patent No. 2,189,828, issued February 13, 1940, on an application filed November 23, 1929. This patent shows the use of a solenoid to control current. The solenoid here is not in series with the load circuit but it is energized through transformer action in direct response to the value of circuit flowing in the primary to the anode transformer, that being directly proportional to the current flowing in the load circuit itself. This is equivalent to being directly in series with the load circuit. The moveable core of the solenoid is used to move a slider and change the value of the resistance. This is the AC-DC method of controlling the firing time which has been referred to heretofore.
Prince Patent No. 1,870,022, issued August 2, 1932, on an application filed April 17, 1931. This patent shows a phase shift scheme, including á reactor and a transformer, the secondary of which may be variably short circuited by a pair of diodes. These diodes form a resistance so that that branch of the circuit is essentially a resistance branch and the value of that resistance may be varied as the temperature of the cathodes of the tubes are varied. Their temperature may be varied by varying the current passing through them. This is a variable resistance and inductive type of phase shift.
Toulon Patent No. 1,654,949, issued January 3, 1928, on an application filed December 21, 1923 (in Germany January 4, 1923). This patent is said to be regarded as a forerunner of the phase shift. Toulon proposed to control the phase shift several different ways. In some cases the intent was to control it manually, but in the text of his patent he pointed out the possibility of making the phase shift automatic in response to some output or load quantity and to that end he suggested that it might be controlled in response to a voltmeter or ammeter in the load circuit. The following language is found in the patent:
*135“According to the invention, apparatus may be constructed for the automatic compensation of the drop in voltage on the lines of a main supply circuit. As I have already shown, it is feasible to vary at will and in a continuous manner the voltage or the current in the circuit supplied by the said apparatus, by changing the value of a self-induction or a resistance suitably connected to the coating (or grid) or acting directly thereupon. It is evident that this variation can be controlled by the displacement of a movable coil of a galvanometer which serves as a voltmeter or an ammeter. It is also known that the value of the self-induction of a coil with iron core will vary with the saturation of the core. This saturation varies with the magnetizing current acting upon the core. It will be an easy matter to obtain cause and effect relations between such phenomena by means of suitable arrangements of apparatus and circuits.”
Alexanderson Patent No. 1,719,866, issued July 9, 1929, on an application filed March 9, 1927. This patent shows a system of phase shifting which is similar to that shown in the Hull article.
Article by W. R. King of the General Electric Company, published in “Power” on November 11, 1930: “A typical method of applying this system is to use a solenoid coil for the variable reactor. The reactance of the magnetic circuit is changed by moving the solenoid armature. This changes the reactance of the coil, which in turn, shifts the phase of the grid voltage; consequently, the direct-current output voltage is varied. In a typical case, a movement of l-%in. of a 2-oz. armature is sufficient to change the Thyratron output voltage from zero to maximum. A small rotary regulator, similar to a Selsyn motor, may also be used to shift the phase of the grid voltage.”
Article by B. S. Havens, of General Electric Company, published in “General Electric Review” of December, 1931. This article refers to the wire reeling machine and rubber conveyor, above referred to.
Translation from “A. E. G. Mitteilun-gen” July, 1932, pp. 250-256: “Just as it is possible to govern for constant rotary speed, it is also possible to govern for constant power or for constant torque, in that the induction regulator for the grid control, instead of being adjusted as a function of the rotary speed, is set to be a function of the current or of the power. In this case also it is fundamentally immaterial what characteristic the motor has; the grid control is merely actuated more or less frequently, or else through a greater or smaller range, depending upon what the requirement is.”
Zucker Patent No. 1,851,692, issued March 29, 1932, on an application filed April 27, 1931. In this patent, the phase shift control is a network, including an inductance and a resistance, controlled by a coil connected directly in series with the armature of the motor, so that the phase shift circuit is responsive to the armature current of the motor.
Alexanderson Patent No. 1,655,040, issued January 3, 1928 on an application filed December 15, 1925. This circuit derives its grid excitation from two sources, one, a rotary device, and the other from a voltage which is developed across a resistor. The first voltage is a voltage the phase of which may be adjusted manually by turning the selsyn. The second voltage is a voltage which is derived from the current transformer, which has a secondary that is shunted by a condenser, and there is a further transformer with primaries and secondaries. This latter circuit, that is, this-current transformer circuit, produces a component voltage the amplitude of which is a function of the amplitude of the current through the motor and the phase of this voltage is adjustably related by means of the condenser to the resultant phase of the anode voltage, which is the same thing as the resultant phase of the grid excitation.
Mittag Patent No. 1,654,989, issued January 3, 1928, on an application filed March 10, 1927. The current limiting circuit of this patent is basically the same as in Alexanderson Patent No. 1,655,040, but this Mittag patent provides a more elaborate control of the fixed phase relationship of. the signal between the output of the current transformer and the component which *136is added in the grid circuit. The circuit of this Mittag Patent, properly adjusted, will operate to limit the current under all critical conditions. It will operate over the entire range of operating conditions.
Mittag Patent No. 1,894,114, issued January 10, 1933, on an application filed February 26, 1931. The circuit of this patent also uses a current signal which it obtains from another constant potential series. It is the intent of this patent that the phase of the voltage from the constant potential transformer is actually such that it is ahead of or phase advanced from the full-on position so that as the current builds up in the rectifier and as the current signal which appears across the resistor as the signal builds up it may cause a certain retardation of the grid phase. But for a while that has- no cutting down effect on the output of the rectifier so that there is a region in which the current increases from a low value to a certain predetermined value in which the rectifier remains full on.
Bethenod Patent No. 1,967,857, issued July 24, 1934, on an application filed November 21, 1933 (application in France Der cember 29, 1932 ( Note 6 ). This patent illustrates a three-phase type of rectifier. It shows a mechanical phase shifter which is coupled to what is called a torque motor or current responsive device which is itself connected directly in series with the armature of the motor. The current responsive device produces a torque which is due to the armature current of the motor flowing directly through it, and that torque is opposed by a weight. If the current in the armature circuit falls below a certain definite limit, the weight on the device will cause the shaft to rotate clockwise amd will also cause the phase shifter to operate clockwise. This rotation, due to -the weight, will continue until the current increases to such a value that the current in that circuit, through this torque device, will exactly balance the torque produced by the weight. Any change of current, either up or down, in the armature circuit will cause a rotation of thb shaft and a corresponding phase shift of the grids, which will tend to hold the current constant in the armature circuit. The actual control of the motor in this patent is by means of changing the field flux, and that is accomplished by changing the field current by means of a slider.
A consideration of the wealth of prior art which confronted Mr. Young when he made the disclosures of his patents convinces that if Mr. Young disclosed anything which was not already disclosed to the world in the prior art he merely disclosed what was the obvious to any one skilled in the art, and that what he disclosed did not rise to the dignity of invention.
The court is of the opinion that, at the time Mr. Young made his disclosures, the prior art contained a direct and complete anticipation of everything that he disclosed.
In 1931, a young man by the name of Allan Daniel Forbes was graduated in electrical engineering from the College of Engineering of the University of Michigan. On September 20th of that year, he entered the employ of Westinghouse Electric Corporation. For approximately six months he was employed in a student training course. During this young man’s college training the only instruction he had *137in respect of thyratron tubes was during a minor portion of a course on Radio Principles. Mr. Forbes’ training course at Westinghouse Electric Corporation did not bring him in contact in any way with thy-ratrons or motors or with phase shift. On April 1, 1932, Mr. Forbes was transferred from the student training course to a department of the company under the consulting control engineer, and the first job to which he was assigned by the consulting control engineer was the job of attempting to devise some means for limiting current in a thyratron type tube circuit so' that the tubes would be protected when they were in a motor control circuit. The consulting control engineer told Mr. Forbes that thyratron tube circuits were very desirable for motor control, but he also said that they had definite limitations in that there were top limits of current which could be handled by them, and he said that he thought it would be possible to devise some type of circuit that would automatically limit that upper current. Mr. Forbes studied for a short time the existing circuits which were known at the time, including phase shift circuits, and attempted to modify those in some way to obtain an automatic control of the maximum current. He spent a very few days reading a writeup which was given him concerning thy-ratron tubes and other reading matter. He spent something less than five days in reading the available literature before he put on paper the first circuit that he devised to accomplish the current limiting purpose. The witness produced a group of papers from the files of the patent department of Westinghouse Electric Corporation, the first page of which was a notification to Mr. Forbes that the Patent Department had assigned a number to this group of papers. The second page was a notification to Mr. Forbes that the Westinghouse Electric Corporation’s Patent Department had assigned a number to an application for patent. The third page of the papers was a sketch which Mr. Forbes transmitted to the Patent Department in writing his disclosure for the purpose of better explaining the operation of the invention. That paper was dated on June 20, 1932. The next three pages are a description of the events which led up to this disclosure, including a discussion of the assignment of the. job to Mr. Forbes, what he did about it, and the status of the job as of the date that the information was transmitted to the Patent Department. The statement was prepared by Mr. Forbes, bore his signature, and was dated June 27, 1932. The next three pages are a description of the invention, describing in detail how it operates, signed by Mr. Forbes under date of June 20, 1932. The next page is a sketch showing the circuit. This group of papers included Mr. Forbes’ sketch of the idea which was drawn on April 5, 1932, and signed by him on that date.
This matter was processed through the patent department of the Westinghouse Electric Corporation, an application for a patent was filed, .and that application resulted in Forbes Patent No. 2,036,264, issued April 7, 1936, on an application filed October 31, 1933. At the time Mr. Forbes made the sketch on April 5, 1932, he had done nothing with respect to. a physical apparatus in his laboratory or elsewhere but in July, 1932, he did build a circuit. The witness produced a book containing a circuit diagram of the actual circuit that he set up to. try out his idea. One of vhe pages of this book contains the following entry “Electronic Motor Controller,” “Circuit Used for Data on Pages 8 through 17 unless otherwise noted.” The pages were signed “A. D. Forbes, July 13, 1932.” The apparatus was set up in the laboratory of the Westinghouse Electric Corporation. The date of conception of this idea, as has been indicated, was April 5, 1932, a reduction to practice took place on July 13, 1932, and an application was filed in the Patent Office on October 31, 1933, which resulted in the patent on April 7, 1936. The story of the Forbes patent has been detailed because it shows that a young man, trained as an electrical engineer it is true, but wholly inexperienced as to thyratrons, and who, therefore, could hardly at that time be said to be “skilled in the art” developed, after a few days’ study, the circuit of the Forbes, disclosure. As has been indicated, this Forbes invention clearly *138and directly anticipates all of the disclosures of Young. The Young patents are not only invalid for want of invention over the prior art, but are directly anticipated by the Forbes patent, and perhaps by some of the other disclosures above referred to.
There are some other issues in the case which would have greater importance if the court’s views in respect thereof indicated a different result than that indicated by the views already expressed.
One of these issues is the question of the functionality of certain claims in issue in violation of the rule laid down in Halliburton Oil Well Cementing Co. v. Walker, 329 U.S. 1, 67 S.Ct. 6, 91 L.Ed. 3. Certain claims clearly are functional. Claims 12, 14, IS, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 25 and 26 of Patent No. 2,086,594 are functional and violate the rule referred to. The same defect appears in Claims 1 and 2 of Patent No. 2,179,569.
By an amendment to the answer filed during the course of the trial, an issue was made as to whether or not Mr. Young was the inventor of the devices described in his patents. The court is not unmindful of the high degree of proof required on the part of a defendant who contends that the patentee named in a patent was not in fact the inventor. In the case at bar, however, the court, though mindful of the character of proof required of a defendant, has been forced to the conclusion that the evidence here negatives the possibility óf Mr. Young being held to be the inventor. Mr. Young was a civil engineer. He was not an electrical engineer. When Mr. Young testified in open court, as he did, the strongest impression which he made was to the effect that he did not understand what he was talking about when he testified about the devices described in his patents and their operation. And his lack of knowledge was not that character of lack which sometimes coimes from age or illness; it seemed rather to be a lack of something that had never existed. That lack of knowledge, of course, would not alone justify the court in saying that he was not the inventor of the devices shown in his patents. As the case developed, it appeared that, at the time he claimed to have made the inventions described in the patents in suit, he was habitually making sketches and causing them to be notarized and witnessed as of dates different from those on which the witnessing and notari-zations actually took place. The evidence disclosed that practically every lawyer who had to do with the soliciting of the patents in suit (and a number of lawyers did have to do with their soliciting) felt called upon to raise the question as to whether Mr. Young was in fact the inventor. He steadfastly maintained that he was such invent- or. No reflection upon the solicitors is intended; in the light of Mr. Young’s steadfast representations, they could not have acted otherwise than they did. But it .is significant that they felt called upon to question him as to whether or not he was actually the inventor. The reason was that he then displayed a lack of understanding and that a Mr. Haug, one of the two electrical engineers who worked with him, did understand. Mr. Haug and a Mr. Plai-sance, another electrical engineer, worked with Mr. Young at and before the time of his claimed dates of conception. But one device embodying the ideas of the Young patents is claimed to have been made. It was first set up in Plaisance’s basement and was later moved to Young’s basement. The written description of the operation, identified as the first written description in the preliminary statement filed by Mr. Young in an interference in an. application which resulted in Patent No. 2,179,569 was in Haug’s hand-writing. Haug was intimately acquainted with the operation of the circuits of which Mr. Young claimed inventorship. Mr. Wentworth, one of the plaintiffs in a lettér which has been received in evidence, says: “Haug’s loyalty and continued service had been basic to the enterprise. He had done a major portion of the technical work arid we had relied on Haug’s expert knowledge and conclusions throughout. To review and reconstruct the soundness of these inventions without his participation would require a very substantial investment, if, in fact, a qualified and unengaged man could be found to do *139it. These revelations were a clincher to the conclusions that I had been building up for sometime.”
During the period of Haug’s relationship with Mr. Young approximately twenty patents were taken out naming Mr. Young as inventor. Late in their relationship', one patent was taken out by Haug and four in the names of Young and Haug jointly. After the termination of the relationship in 1942 no application was filed by Mr. Young on which a patent issued, whereas fifteen applications on which patents issued was filed by Haug, fourteen in the name of Haug as the sole inventor and one jointly with one Hansen. There is evidence that Mr. Young was named as inventor of the circuits of the patents in suit pursuant to an agreement between Mr. Young and his two co-workers, Haug and Plaisance, under which the two co-workers would each have a one-third interest. For some reason, this agreement was not carried out as far as Plaisance was concerned but Mr. Young did give Haug an interest in the patents equal to his own, 45%, which interest Mr. Young later bought back for $350. In such instances as can be reconstructed from the papers found at the farm of Mr. Young and elsewhere, the original sketches and written descriptions were made by Haug, though these documents were invariably signed by Mr. Young ultimately, as the alleged inventor. It appears from several documents found in which the signatures and notariza-tions are incomplete, that Haug frequently signed his name as a witness before Mr. Young’s name was signed. The court is satisfied that Haug or Plaisance invented what, if anything, was invented and disclosed in the two Young patents. Plaisance and Haug are both dead. It is unnecessary to belabor the point, particularly in view of the court’s conclusion in respect of validity otherwise. The court is satisfied that Mr. Young did not make the inventions of the patents in suit.
The defendant relies upon the defense of laches. Mr. Young was aware of the existence and general nature of the defendant’s Thy-mo-trol controls at least as early as December, 1943, at which time the existence of General Electric Company’s Thy-mo-trol control and the similar Mo-to-trol control made by Westinghouse Electric Corporation were called to his attention. Shortly thereafter, on December 27, 1943, Mr. Young wrote General Electric Company for information and, on January 4, 1944, was sent a comprehensive pamphlet describing the control. Thereafter, Mr. Young permitted approximately six years to elapse before sending General Electric any notice of infringement. The plaintiff Went-worth, in 1942, regarded the situation as so hopeless that he wrote it off on his income tax return for 1941 as a complete loss. According to his testimony, he never gave it another thought until counsel who brought the present suit came to him and secured his permission to bring the suit in his name along with that of Mr. Young. Mr. Young, on August 17, 1944, wrote to Mr. Went-worth as follows: “I have been trying to locate correspondence with the General Electric Company relative to our attempt to interest them in the purchase of the patents, but have not succeeded thus far. After failure of our negotiations with the General Electric and the scuttling of the prospects by Haug in 1941, I filed the entire matter in boxes and carted them out to my farm, where they are now stored in the garage attic, and have made no further effort to exploit the patents. If they are required for your purpose, I will do some more digging next week end.”
Both of plaintiffs put the matter of the patents aside and out of mind, — Mr. Went-worth in 1942, Mr. Young in 1944. The defendant has been seriously prejudiced by Mr. Young’s delay. Haug and Plaisance, who, through the Hull pamphlet, obtained by them from the General Electric Company, first informed Mr. Young of the existence of thyratrons and were his coworkers in applying thyratrons to lighting circuits and to motors, are dead. Mr. Hirschl, the attorney who prepared Mr. Young’s patent applications, is also dead. The only physical embodiment of Mr. Young’s alleged invention, the motor control circuit, set up first in Plaisance’s base*140ment, later in Young’s basement, and later tested at the Illinois Institute of Technology, has been lost. Various drawings and other records, which might throw light upon the question of inventorship, cannot b,e found. Finally, through the non-assertion of Mr. Young’s claim, defendant has continued for six years to use motors having series fields and thereby subjected itself to plaintiffs’ charges, when, had it had knowledge of the claim, it could equally well have employed motors using only shunt fields, thus avoiding, even the necessity of defending this litigation. Plaintiffs’ excuse for not bringing suit is that the plaintiffs were misled by references in defendant’s literature to the motors controlled by the Thy-mo-trol control as shunt or shunt type motors. The court is not persuaded that this excuse is sufficient. The plaintiffs, years ago, were put upon notice that the defendant was using the Thy-mo-trol control and the plaintiff could, without difficulty, have determined the type of motor which was being controlled by the Thy-mo-trol. If it were necessary to give it effect, the court would feel that this is a case for the application of the defense of laches. The court is persuaded that the real reason plaintiffs did not file suit earlier than they did was because they were discouraged by the secession of Mr. Young’s co-worker Haug from the enterprise. Plaintiff Wentworth thereupon wrote off as a total loss on his income tax return for the year 1941 his entire investment in the enterprise. Plaintiff Young baled up the papers and sent them to his farm for storage. Then, after Haug died and was removed as a possible witness, Mr. Young, with Mir. Wentworth’s consent, revived the. matter and brought the suit at bar.
The defendant insists that the defendant’s costs of defending this suit should be charged against the planitiffs. The defendant points out that misdated documents and other documents reflecting Haug’s inventorship were consciously withheld by plaintiffs from their purported compliance with defendant’s request for documents. During the trial, plaintiff Young knowingly misrepresented, through at least one of his counsel, that such documents could not be found. Throughout the trial, witnesses were tampered with :by plaintiffs. Plaintiffs’ first expert had been given a 15% interest in the proceeds of the case, and this fact was not revealed until the close of his long direct examination. Plaintiffs’ second expert had been promised a generous bonus in addition to his daily compensation, if plaintiffs should win the case, and, while this witness, on cross-examination, denied that he had any financial interest or that his compensation depended in any way upon the outcome of the case, it was made to appear by a letter which he then had in his brief case that he had been promised a generous bonus if plaintiffs should win the case. Plaintiffs’ third expert had a similar promise of a generous bonus which was unrevealed until plaintiffs’ papers were impounded for examination during the progress of the trial. One of plaintiffs’ counsel, in preparation of the case, established friendly relations with the widow of Haug and had sought to influence her testimony by implying that she would be dealt with generously if plaintiffs should be successful ( Note 7 ). Because of the lack of merit of *141plaintiffs’ case and the manner in which the case has been conducted by plaintiffs before and during the trial, the court is of the opinion that the case is one in which it is appropriate not only to award substantial attorneys’ fees, in addition to the normally taxable costs, but also to award defendant a sum which will not make defendant whole with respect to its entire expenses of defense, but which will partially reimburse it for such defense.
The total expenses of the defendant incurred in defense of this case has been the sum of $127,168.88. That includes the sum of $58,100 fees paid to Messrs. Fish, Richardson & Neave and $4,310 fees paid to Messrs. Wilkinson, Huxley, Byron & Hume, or a total of $62,-410 paid to the attorneys charged with the preparation for trial and trial of this case.’ The case was exceedingly well prepared by counsel for defendant and exceedingly well presented. The court has no hesitancy in saying that the amount paid by way of attorneys’ fees to counsel was well invested and was fully justified considering the importance of the issues involved and the large amount of damages which would have been involved had there been a decision adverse to the defendant. Nevertheless, the rate of compensation has evidently been somewhat greater than the court would feel justified in charging to a losing plaintiff. The court feels that if the part of the attorneys’ fees paid to these two firms charged to the plaintiffs be reduced to $40,000 the result will not be unjust to the plaintiffs. The defendant has paid for official court reporters’ charges the total sum of $7,756.65. This charge includes the cost of more copies of the transcript than the court feels justified in charging to the plaintiffs. The court understands that the defendant paid one-half of the cost of the copy furnished to the court and that it also paid for three other copies of the transcript for use of its counsel and their assistants. The court is of the opinion that it may properly charge against the plaintiffs one-half of the cost of the court’s copy and the cost of the first copy thereafter which was paid for by the defendant. The court does not mean to say that counsel were unwise or extravagant in procuring the number of copies which they did procure, but is merely saying that it does not feel justified in charging more than one-half of the cost of the court’s copy and the whole of the cost of the next copy paid for by the defendant against the plaintiffs. The court is of the opinion that Mr. Young is primarily responsible for the whole of the expense (as hereinbefore limited) to which defendant has been unjustly put. Mr. Went-worth, when his consent to the filing of the present suit was sought and procured, reduced his interest in the possible recovery to 20%. He has a responsibility, but not as great as that of Mr. Young. It seems to the court equitable that Mr. Wentworth be charged with not more than one-fifth of the defendant’s expenses (as hereinbe-fore limited).
Counsel for the defendant may prepare and, within six days from this date, on notice, present drafts of findings Of fact and conclusions of law not inconsistent with the views hereinabove expressed, and likewise a draft of a judgment order. Counsel for the plaintiff may, within eleven days from this date, present, in writing, their suggestions in respect of and objections to the drafts of findings of.fact and conclusions of law which may be presented by the defendant. The court is not inviting a re-argument of the case, and it is suggested that the plaintiffs make only such short and specific objections or suggestions as seem necessary. Within 14 days from this date, counsel for defendant may file, in writing, any necessary reply. This having been done, the making of findings of fact, conclusions of -law and a judgment order will be taken by the court without further oral argument. Counsel will please refrain from granting or asking for extensions of the times herein limited.