Packard Forum Index » General

Did some research into US patents assigned to the Packard Motor Car Co.

18,200 were listed using Google search, quite a few with Jesse Vincent and Alvan Macauley listed as inventors.

A small listing of the search attached.

Attach file:

---

Size: 150.43 KB; Hits: 69

Your number flabbergasts me, my search found about 1736 U.S. Patents assigned to Packard Motor Car Company between 1900 and the formation of the Studebaker-Packard Corp., plus a few before that assigned to either the Ohio Co. or Hatcher or Packard as individuals. I did exclude design patents from my search. About 1400 of these were filed before WW II, not so much patentable innovation after the end of the 30s. A fair number of the patents, by Vincent and more so by the Woolsons, are aviation related and many by Vincent marine related.

I've been sitting on this data for a while, getting the mindset up to do another article for The Cormorant on Packard's patents - guess I better get started.

Owen,

The number astounded me also. I randomly went thru the listing. It included automotive and aircraft utility and design patents from the early 1900's up to the late 50's.

There may have been some that only referenced existing Packard patents, which contributed to the high number.

Although given the years the Company was in business, approx. 360 patents per year may add up to the number I mentioned.

I'm working to see if I can get a comprehensive list attributed just to the Packard Motor Co. If I come up with anything significant I'll post it.

On a side note I did find out the Detroit Lubricator type 51 was not invented by the Detroit Lubricator Co. but by the Rayfield Carburetor Co. Rayfield rose to fame in the early 1900's making carburetors for race cars.

Dave

Dave, I'll appreciate hearing from you after you take another look at your search, I've studied Packard patents quite a bit and I still believe the correct number must be a bit over 1700, not 18,000.

As you probably know, Packard listed their number of the U.S. and foreign patents on the patent plates of their cars from about 1924(500 patents) thru the 14th series (1936) and at that time they say "over fourteen hundred". Seems nearly impossible that, if the first 35 years yielded 1400, the last 21 years yielded over 16,000.

I do have the list of the 1736, as well as hardcopy of many of them, if you want to compare notes.

Owen,

I agree with your lower estimate. I think the original search engine I was using was not giving me good results. I tried a few more times using an advanced search, from two different sites.

The most I came up with was 1,430 patents.

www.uspto.gov and Google search are the two I've been using. One interesting find, for DL type 51's, the inventor was W.C. Rayfield, of early race car carburetor fame. The patent is posted on the Packardinfo site, under another subject.

I've attached some of the preliminary search results. Anyone can click on the Google link in the pdf to get them to the full patent document. You can also use the patent number and enter it at the U.S. Patent Office site.

Maybe BigKev can put this under one of the document menu's and it can be revised as more information becomes available.

I've found it helpful to research some of the parts / components I'm trying to repair / restore and print the patent if it exists. I usually get a good engineering type drawing along with a description of how the invention functions.

Makes it easier when I have a bench full of parts and I'm trying to figure out when that last remaining part goes.

Regards,

Dave

Attach file:

---

Size: 674.21 KB; Hits: 95

Dave, you seem particularly interested in this so let me share a little more information from the article I've been working on. From 1899 until the formation of Studebaker-Packard Corp. there are 225 names of inventors that appear on Packard patents. The vast majority only had 1 or 2, but here's a list of the top 32.

All 1736 patents (again, excluding design patents) were sorted into decades based on the patent granted date but in hindsight the sort would have been a little more meaningful had I sorted on the application date - the filing date being closer to the date of innovation that the date of issue - and that would shift things a bit earlier as typically the elapsed time between filing and grating is between 6 months and about 2 years. It's interesting to see those whose patents spanned 4 decades - one curious name in that group is Milton Tibbetts who was also Packard's in-house patent attorney.

Also of interest to me is the patent activity by decade which is a measure of innovation or creativity, not that all innovation was patented; some was kept as a trade secret but generally those were things that weren't apparent in the finished product for all to see - they were more typically tool and die work, machine shop techniques, etc. Some would argue with this statement, but the peak of patent activity in the teens, 20s and 30s coincides (IMO) with the peak of Packard's excellence of product and reputation in the luxury segment of the industry - in my mind it traces their rise and fall as a luxury maker. I'm not looking for any but I'm sure I'll get some chatter on that.

Some inventors were specialists in a specific area so I've also sorted the patents into categories; for example, marine, aircraft, body, engine, transmission, suspension, and machining/manufacturing methods. I'll probably hold onto this but hope you enjoy the small part I've attached.

Lastly and I suppose it's obvious, Packard like most other companies traded and cross-licensed patents to and from others. If you obtain copies of the patents listed on a 42-early 48 patent plate you'll find several like this - for example the Ternstedt Manufacturing patents for vent window ventilation - I guess the customer grief from the 33 "angel wings" was more than they could stand and we'd have to assume the Ternstedt patents didn't leave any loopholes.

You might find it interesting to read the two articles in The Cormorant on Packard patents, one by myself in Issue No. 98 and another (forget the author's name) that came along a bit later. It remains an areas that for the most part untouched by the Packard researchers.

Attach file:

---

  (62.06 KB)

Owen,

Thank you for additional information, and the list. It sums up who were the innovators at the Company. Not surprising Mr. Vincent tops the list.

I do get interested in this sort of thing, I think because they go into the details of the invention. IMO, if you don't understand how it works, how can you fix it if it's broken.

I also get involved with some of this at my 8 - 5, so maybe that's another reason.

Your tabulated list was really interesting. I recognized a few names such as MacFarlan and VanRanst, I remember seeing those names associated with other car manufacturers.

Your comment about the Patent Attorney being listed as an inventor does not surprise me. In the past I've worked with Patent Attorneys who suggested improvements or changes to original art, during a review of the patent application.

In this way they contributed to the invention and were listed, although not usually as the primary inventor. Some of the best Patent Attorneys I've worked with have been Mechanical / Electrical Engineers, before getting their Law Degree.

There have also been cases where I filed an Invention Disclosure at a company and a Patent was filed by the Patent Attorney using his name along with "et al". Et al is Latin for "and others". In this situation someone that had nothing to really do with the patent was listed as an inventor.

I agree with your point of innovation. IMO, in manufacturing if you're not innovating you're not growing, and one key metric of innovation are patents, if the organization chooses to disclose their intellectual property.

Best Regards,

Dave

How would you have liked to invent the V belt?
Allis Chalmers did but never bothered to patent it!
D'oh!