Just found this... http://www.google.com/patents?id=ip...&as_miny_is=1928&as_maxm_is=1&as_maxy_is=1940 No need for secondary sources or speculation here! Go here: http://www.google.com/advanced_patent_search Using advanced search, note the lines for inventor's name, assignnee, usually a company...down further, use date limits to clear away modern dreck. Stromberg, Winfield, Miller...what's hidden in there?
Edelbrock (Vic Jr,, I think) patent on triple carb linkage...this thing is a goldmine! http://www.google.com/patents?id=1Y...&as_miny_is=1928&as_maxm_is=1&as_maxy_is=1963
Thanks Bruce. Cool!! this is what started the madness! http://www.google.com/patents?id=AotpAAAAEBAJ&pg=PP1&dq=Ford+engine+block#PPP1,M1 http://www.google.com/patents?id=ip...=1928&as_maxm_is=1&as_maxy_is=1940#PPA1938,M1
Not quite the beginning...look closely. November/, '32...it shows the type of guide retainers introduced in '34 or late '33...
Now look at this...Ford eight...not a flathead. Not overhead. Not V. No head atall. Sure, it's an L-something...but what? http://www.google.com/patents?id=CO...&as_miny_ap=1925&as_maxm_ap=1&as_maxy_ap=1948
Probably a system designed as an alternative to the road-draft one actually out into production that year... http://www.google.com/patents?id=Uq...&as_miny_ap=1925&as_maxm_ap=1&as_maxy_ap=1948
And a Smith Jiggler! http://www.google.com/patents?id=3g...&as_miny_ap=1925&as_maxm_ap=1&as_maxy_ap=1948 Bye-bye; I'm gonna spend the rest of my years poking around the patent office...
And look here--something simple anyone can make for a flathead! http://www.google.com/patents?id=Qq...&as_miny_ap=1925&as_maxm_ap=1&as_maxy_ap=1948
The invention of the Crab! Traditional seafood only here... http://www.google.com/patents?id=t_...&as_miny_ap=1925&as_maxm_ap=1&as_maxy_ap=1948
Ohh, oh ... I just broke patent law. I just made one of those VALVE RACKS! (and didn't pay the royalties!!) Bruce, what amazes me is the DATES of most of FORDS patents! Ford seemed to be "slow on the up take!!" (or is it a case of the "wheels turn slowly" when applying for and obtaining patents?)
Yeah...stuff that went into production seems to have had the application filed about the time it saw daylight...and the actual approval always took years beyond that. Perhaps part of the protection came from Ford's highly individual designs, often not easily adaptable to other brands of machinery, and the complexity and relatively high cost of many Ford components in comparison to others' designs. Look at the Ford distributor and compare it with what others were using in 1934...it had to cost twice as much as a Delco or Autolite.
Damn now I can find who invented the cell phone that my wife calls me on every 20 minutes. I'm going to kick his Ass.
The Jalopy Journal
