chitown
Cruisin' on my Bluebird
Monark Silver King
Carlton's thread got me looking into patents again and I was able to find a link to the court's decision in:
Battery Patents Corp (1st Silver King producers) - VS - Chicago Cycle Supply (most of the Schwinn stock in the 30's were badged by this outfit (I think, corrections welcomed).
George Lewis had patented the design (stating the ornamental design is original, not the invention of "lamp on fender"). He even tried and succeeded in his fight to protect that patent... The United States Court of Appeals for the District upheld the patent in Battery Patents Corp. v. Coe, 68 App.D.C. 61, 93 F.2d 220 reversed, finding that Lewis had achieved invention and directing that the patent issue.
United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia reversed that decision which can be viewed here:
https://www.casetext.com/case/battery-patents-corporation-v-chicago-cycle-s-co/
Part of the final decision:
"With these principles in mind, examining the evidence before us, we are unable to satisfy ourselves that Lewis was an inventor. When he selected a mud guard old in the art and placed on it a streamlined lamp, already in popular use on fenders of automobiles, it seems to us, he did only that which a skilled designer, working with the tools and materials at his command, would do. His was not the original conception of streamlining. That, he borrowed from another. He planted an attractive lamp upon an attractive and effective mud guard in a pleasing combination, and, though we warn ourselves of the oft-found tendency in looking backward, to conclude that a thing done was easy of accomplishment, our conclusion, at the risk of accusation of lack of appreciation of esthetic beauty, is that there was nothing creative, nothing inventive in Lewis' design, despite the fact that his combination became a commercial success.
So in 1940 Chicago Cycle Supply was off the hook. I wonder if that's why you see many of the '35-'39 Schwinn/Chicago Cycle Supply having the dual light options, to come up with something that avoided reach of the lawsuit, or create there own? Heck by '36 there were so many lead light designs that the Silver Ray was obsolete in a couple years anyhow. Lewis didn't anticipate the flood of artistic designs that exploded in 1936. George Lewis held the first patents for the Aluminum Silver Kings but he didn't design the "wingbar" or flocycle. Lewis himself was distancing himself from the design explorations of that era, instead focusing on lightweights starting in 1937 using low temp brazing with 4130 tubing. He built a racing frame that was 4 lbs.
Anyway, here's the 1st design using a Silver Ray design lamp on a fender:
Carlton's thread got me looking into patents again and I was able to find a link to the court's decision in:
Battery Patents Corp (1st Silver King producers) - VS - Chicago Cycle Supply (most of the Schwinn stock in the 30's were badged by this outfit (I think, corrections welcomed).
George Lewis had patented the design (stating the ornamental design is original, not the invention of "lamp on fender"). He even tried and succeeded in his fight to protect that patent... The United States Court of Appeals for the District upheld the patent in Battery Patents Corp. v. Coe, 68 App.D.C. 61, 93 F.2d 220 reversed, finding that Lewis had achieved invention and directing that the patent issue.
United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia reversed that decision which can be viewed here:
https://www.casetext.com/case/battery-patents-corporation-v-chicago-cycle-s-co/
Part of the final decision:
"With these principles in mind, examining the evidence before us, we are unable to satisfy ourselves that Lewis was an inventor. When he selected a mud guard old in the art and placed on it a streamlined lamp, already in popular use on fenders of automobiles, it seems to us, he did only that which a skilled designer, working with the tools and materials at his command, would do. His was not the original conception of streamlining. That, he borrowed from another. He planted an attractive lamp upon an attractive and effective mud guard in a pleasing combination, and, though we warn ourselves of the oft-found tendency in looking backward, to conclude that a thing done was easy of accomplishment, our conclusion, at the risk of accusation of lack of appreciation of esthetic beauty, is that there was nothing creative, nothing inventive in Lewis' design, despite the fact that his combination became a commercial success.
So in 1940 Chicago Cycle Supply was off the hook. I wonder if that's why you see many of the '35-'39 Schwinn/Chicago Cycle Supply having the dual light options, to come up with something that avoided reach of the lawsuit, or create there own? Heck by '36 there were so many lead light designs that the Silver Ray was obsolete in a couple years anyhow. Lewis didn't anticipate the flood of artistic designs that exploded in 1936. George Lewis held the first patents for the Aluminum Silver Kings but he didn't design the "wingbar" or flocycle. Lewis himself was distancing himself from the design explorations of that era, instead focusing on lightweights starting in 1937 using low temp brazing with 4130 tubing. He built a racing frame that was 4 lbs.
Anyway, here's the 1st design using a Silver Ray design lamp on a fender:
