CLAIM FOR £7,000

Evening Star, Issue 20024, 15 November 1928, Page 10

CLAIM FOR £7,000

METHVEN AND GO. SUED MANUFACTURE OF CIRCULATORS Hearing-was continued this morning before His Honour Mr Justice MacGregor in the Supreme Court of the case in which Wei by Earle Fisher, medical practitioner, of Taumaranui, and Circulators, Limited, Auckland, claimed £7,000 damages from Messrs G. Methvon and Co., Dunedin. The claim arose out of an alleged breach of contract in connection with manufacture of circulators, the allegation being that the defendant company, without the knowledge or consent of the patentee or tho plaintiff company, and in breach of tho agreement to manufacture, caused a small hole to be bored in an interior pipe, thereby nullifying the action of the inventor’s contrivance. Mr F. Leveson-Gower West, of Auckland, and Mr J.-A. Gordon, of Taumarunui, appeared for the plaintiffs, and Mr J. B. Calkin and Mr A. G. Neill for the defendant company. Further evidence was given this morning by Raymond Royle Fisher, the inventor of tho circulator. He said that in 1925 there was a change in the directorate of Circulators, Ltd. As the result of a meeting tho headquarters of the company were shifted to Auckland. The Timarn shareholders were against the proposition, and the Timaru directors resigned. Mr West produced a certificated copy of tho patent rights of tho Methven electric circulator and asked witness what difference there was between it and the Fisher twin circulator. Witness said the two were very similar The principle employed was tho same, but t!*oro were some alterations in the internal construction. Mr West said they were not asking whether there was an infringement or not. His Honour: “You suggest it supplies a motive?” Mr West; “One of the motives.” Witness went on to refer to a visit of Mr Thomas Henry Brown to Auckland, and said Mr Brown asked why they did not get the cylinders made by a local firm Brown said: “Wo have got you where we want you,” and witness replied: “Even a worm can wriggle.” Witness knew there was a “ copper ring ” among certain firms. The company then attempted to have them made locally. In November of 1927 he discovered the hole in the circulators; it came as a shock. In 1925 and 1926 the Fisher twin circulator had tho reputation of being unique among heaters for its efficiency. The explanation of the company that the holes were put in to assist the circulation of the top chamber and to prevent any possibility of vacuum col-

lapse was, iu the opinion of witness, an impossible one. Mr Gallon: “What mischief docs the hole do?” Witness: ‘The success of heating is to a great extent dependent on the siae of the fire and on getting heat at the draw-off point. The cli'cct of the hole is to disturb the heat, lowering the temperature of the water at the draw-off point. _ It also destroys the quick recovery which is a feature of ’ the twin circulator. Owing to the circulation being disturbed the heat, in--3 stead of being concentrated, is more or ’ less dissipated throughout the whole ’ cylinder.” ’ The court then adjourned till the ■ afternoon. - i