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Court records: Caselaw Access Project (static.case.law) and CourtListener search (2026-10-03)

Sites: - CourtListener search API (https://www.courtlistener.com/api/rest/v4/search/), used to find cases. The opinion pages and the opinion API were blocked for an unauthenticated client (empty body, then "Authentication credentials were not provided"). - Harvard Caselaw Access Project static data (https://static.case.law/), used to read the full opinions. These are open JSON files. Result: positive. Copies: files/In-re-Arnold-185F2d686-CCPA-1950.json and files/Arnold-v-Watson-144FSupp282-DDC-1955.json (full CAP case JSON, including the opinion text).

Queries tried

  • CourtListener: Kassner "anomalous dispersion" (2 opinions); "Ternion" (1, irrelevant: a 2007 trucking case).
  • The lead came from the US Official Gazette vol. 642 (2 Jan 1951), which prints In re Arnold (see 2026-10-03-internet-archive.md).
  • CAP: f2d/185/CasesMetadata.json (In re Arnold, p.686) and f-supp/144/CasesMetadata.json (Arnold v. Watson, p.282).

Case 1: In re Arnold, 185 F.2d 686, 38 C.C.P.A. 768, 88 USPQ 93 (U.S. Court of Customs and Patent Appeals, decided 5 Dec 1950; opinion by Judge Johnson)

[web: https://static.case.law/f2d/185/cases/0686-01.json ; https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/226141/in-re-arnold/] - The applicant (Orlan M. Arnold, appearing pro se at oral argument) claimed a method of welding or fusing materials by an alternating electrostatic field tuned to the centre frequency of the "anomalous dispersion range" of molecules at the surface. He claimed that this induces "phenomena similar to those which occur at higher temperatures while the actual temperature of the material remains below that at which they ordinarily occur". His specification says the sheets come out "without overheating and apparently at a temperature below the normal softening point". - The Patent Office Board rejected the claims over Pitman 2,087,480 (1937), Kassner 2,089,966 (1937) and Keller 2,179,261 (1939). The court summarises Kassner's teaching: the process "depends on characteristic periods and frequencies of dipolar substances such as (1) the relaxation time of the orientation of the dipoles ... and (2) the period of natural oscillation relative to each other of the charges constituting a dipole"; "excitation is especially strong and energy absorption especially great under conditions of resonance"; "the anomalous dispersion region" is "a suitable indicator for the resonance frequency". - Holding: affirmed (unpatentable). "It is admittedly old in the art to pass a high frequency current between electrodes ... The art of record here shows further that it is old to select a frequency from within the anomalous dispersion range of the material most effectively to utilize the energy of the high frequency field." On claim 41: "Kassner provides a sufficient disclosure of the balance of the claim." Arnold's new point (that surface molecules have a separate dispersion range) was treated as a discovery of a natural principle, "if it is a fact". The court did not test whether it was true.

Case 2: Arnold v. Watson, 144 F. Supp. 282, 111 USPQ 134 (D.D.C., 13 Sep 1955; Judge Wilkin)

[web: https://static.case.law/f-supp/144/cases/0282-01.json ; https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/8740045/arnold-v-watson/] - Two civil actions (35 U.S.C. §145) by Orlan M. Arnold against the Commissioner of Patents, tried together on pleadings, evidence and briefs. Prior art listed: Hickman et al. 2,343,666 (1944), Darrah 2,362,889 (1944), Kassner 2,089,966 (1937) and Clayton 2,483,623 (1949). The application concerned vaporising a substance from a body of material using the anomalous dispersion range. - Findings: "the plaintiff has pioneered in the field ... and has made a contribution to scientific knowledge and has revealed certain facts and details of operations which will probably be useful"; "The methods of determining the 'anomalous dispersion ranges' of various substances are known and practiced"; "The plaintiff has exposed the error of certain assumptions and conclusions by predecessors in this field of art". Judgment for the defendant.

How this bears on the claims

  • Claim 7 (significance). Kassner's US 2,089,966 was treated by the US Patent Office and two federal courts (1950, 1955) as the standard prior-art statement that "anomalous dispersion" frequencies give maximum absorption. That is a concrete measure of the patent's legal influence, separate from the 1945 sale.
  • Claims 1-2 (resonance, non-thermal effects). A second, independent inventor (Orlan M. Arnold, 1940s-1950s) claimed a sub-thermal, frequency-selective effect at the dispersion frequency, much like Kassner's. The courts ruled only on patentability. Neither opinion reports a controlled test, and the 1955 court's phrase about "the error of certain assumptions ... by predecessors" is unspecific (it may or may not refer to Kassner). The 1955 trial record (exhibits, expert testimony) would be the place to look for measurements. It is a lead and not evidence of the effect. It should be noted that both courts describe the mechanism in standard Debye (relaxation) terms.
  • Claim 12 (suppression). The patent was openly cited and argued over in public court records in 1950-55. This counts against the idea that it was hidden.

Leads

  • Orlan M. Arnold's own patents and applications (the CCPA case cites application Serial No. 501,??? — the number is garbled in the OCR) and the trial exhibits of Arnold v. Watson (US District Court for D.C., civil actions of about 1953-55; district court records are usually in NARA Record Group 21 [memory, medium]). Search Google Patents or USPTO for inventor "Orlan M. Arnold".
  • Other decisions citing 2,089,966: search CAP bulk data or CourtListener for "2,089,966" and "Kassner".