US 128440

I'll run targeted searches for this specific number before summarizing.

Let me check for any litigation or CAFC activity and confirm the record.

Search Results — Patent No. US 128,440

Scope note: I searched for the exact identifier 128440 / US 128440 A and for corresponding 2026 CAFC docket activity. No CAFC 2026 docket, district-court case, or PTAB/IPR proceeding involving US 128,440 exists in any result returned. This is expected and not a search failure: US 128,440 issued in 1872 and expired in 1889, roughly 93 years before the Federal Circuit was created (Federal Courts Improvement Act of 1982), so no Article III appeal from this patent is legally possible. I found no assignee record, no litigation history, and no family members — only a single US family application (Google Patents family ID 2197859).

All substantive data below comes from the authoritative record at https://patents.google.com/patent/[US128440](/patent/US128440)/en.

Bibliographic Data

Identifier caveat (per strict literal-reading rule): The record also renders internal Google IDs US128440D and US128440DA. These are database record identifiers for the same document, not separate patents. Two OCR artifacts in the signature block render the inventor as "CARL VON VVITZLEBEN" (double-V standing in for W); I have not auto-corrected the patent number itself.

Abstract

There is no abstract. Abstracts were not part of US patent practice in 1872, and Google Patents displays none for this document. The panel Google labels "Definitions" is simply the OCR'd specification text, not an abstract. Do not treat it as one.

Claims — Plain-Language Overview

US 128,440 carries two claims, both independent (no dependent claims; 1872 practice).

Claim 1 — Apparatus (the physical separator).
A circular steam pipe sits at or near the bottom of the pan in which the saccharine liquid is heated. The pipe is perforated only around part of its circumference (the specification specifies three-fourths, in oblique rows forming a spiral). Combined with that pipe is a tubular sieve rising at or near the center of the pan, sealed at its bottom by a valve. Steam jetting from the pipe's perforations spins the liquid, which speeds separation of impurities; once separated, the clear liquid is drawn off through the valve at the bottom of the tubular sieve.

Key structural limitations to note: (a) "at or near the bottom of the pan"; (b) "perforated at a portion of its circumference only" — a partial-perforation limitation, which is what produces the rotary rather than radial flow; (c) the sieve is "at or near the center"; (d) the valve is at the sieve bottom, and discharge is through the sieve so separated impurities are retained.

Claim 2 — Process (the method of use).
Separating impurities from saccharine liquids by exposing the liquid to steam applied so as to both heat the mass and impart a rotating motion, causing the impurities to rise to the surface. This is a broad, two-function steam-application claim — the same steam does the heating and the stirring.

Practical note on the claim set: Claim 2 is written to recite only the functional consequence (heat + rotation → impurities rise). It does not expressly recite the perforated circular pipe, the partial circumference, or the tubular sieve, so under modern §112 practice it would likely face a written-description/enablement challenge. That is an observation about the claim's scope, not a validity holding — no court has ever adjudicated it.

Specification Summary (context for the claims)

• Apparatus letters from the drawing: A = copper pan; B = circular perforated steam coil/pipe at the pan bottom; C = connecting pipe; D = steam supply; E = stop cock; F = tubular sieve rising from pan center; G = plug/valve; H = rod extending up through the sieve; I = discharge pipe to filtering apparatus; K = support beams; pan wrapped in a wooden jacket.
• Stated operating process: Pump liquid into the pan; admit steam until the liquid reaches 27°–28° Baumé (OCR renders this "27 O to 280 Baume"; read literally as printed, the degree/zero characters are garbled); increase steam to induce a whirling motion that carries impurities to the surface; reduce steam; skim the risen impurities with a perforated scoop; repeat the steam increase until scum formation ceases; shut off steam; discharge by raising plug G.
• Stated theory of invention: sugar has the property that impurities mixed with it tend to separate at high temperature, "particularly if… a violent rotating motion is imparted." This is the operative principle both claims rely on.

Citations and Family

• Backward citations (prior art cited against it): none listed.
• Cited By (1): US 2,966,839 A, "Basting device," James A. Ferrara, filed 1958-01-28, granted 1961-01-03, flagged as cited by examiner. ⚠️ Uncertainty flag: a 1961 poultry-basting device citing an 1872 sugar-clarification pan is topically anomalous; this entry is likely a citation-listing or OCR artifact rather than substantive art. I would not rely on it without checking the face of US 2,966,839.
• Similar documents (topically adjacent, not prior art): US 34,236 (Brainerd, evaporating pan for saccharine liquids, 1862); US 36,849 (1862); US 841,030 (crystallization, 1907); US 1,578,221 (clarifier for saccharine solutions, 1926).

Confidence and Gaps

High confidence: title, inventor, issue date, expiration date, claim text, specification contents, absence of assignee, absence of any CAFC/PTAB litigation.

Explicit gaps — I do not know these and will not fabricate them:

1. Actual filing date — not present in the record.
2. Application/serial number — field is blank.
3. Examiner name — not recorded.
4. Original 1872 US classification — only modern retro-applied CPC codes are available.
5. Whether any (now-unenforceable) assignment or reissue exists — no assignment data returned.