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The central purpose of vulcanhammer.net is to disseminate documents on geotechnical and marine engineering. But this news page also covers vulcanhammer.info, the page on Vulcan Iron Works, and this news item concerns that part, and specifically an item on vibratory hammers.
In a recent article on American Piledriving Equipment's (APE) website, they noted the following:
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ICE and others, have copied APE's patented technology used on its eccentrics. APE sued to stop ICE from using the technology. The APE patent was challenged by ICE's legal staff. ICE ordered the APE patent re-examined, citing several patents as prior art.
The patent office reviewed Mr. White’s patent along with the so-called prior art provided to them by ICE. In the end, the prior art had no bearing on Mr. White’s patent and this patent has been re-issued in full force.
APE will seek damages for all losses suffered from ICE’s sales, rental, sub-rental, and package deals that were made using the infringing technology.
The patent in question is U.S. Patent 5,355,964, concerning vibratory eccentrics. As is the case with most patents, during examination prior art was cited, which generally requires modification of the application.
One of the patents that was cited in both the original patent and the re-examination certificate was none other than U.S. Patent 4,819,740, the patent that came out of Vulcan's development of its high-frequency vibratory hammers.
It's worthwhile to restate an observation from Closed Form Solution of the Wave Equation for Piles;
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In any investigation such as this the ideal goal is to come up with something truly novel, and many of such works emphasize their novelty to the denigration of those who have gone on before. While in some fields of endeavour this might be appropriate, in this case such sweeping novelty cannot be claimed. This work fits the mould as outlined by Pascal above: it takes the work that has been done before, advances it a step while realizing that there are many more steps before "perfection" is achieved.
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