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Posted by Clint Dixon [74.206.62.94] on Saturday, December 26, 2009 at 14:22:18 :
With all of the interest of late in swivel frames, I thought I would share some Patent information that I found. Joe has posted a few .pdf files in his imageevent site at: http://www.imageevent.com/sjwelcher. My patent search turned up some more information that hopefully will add to the history for those who may be interested.
The first patent, in regards to a swivel frame vehicle, was granted to a Mr. Carlo Cohen-Venezian of Turin, Italy on November 1, 1932. (Patent number 1,886,319). This patent does not cite as reference any previous patents on the subject. A pdf of the patent can be viewed at: http://www.freepatentsonline.com/1886319.pdf
The next patent was granted to Mr. Harry Edward Willock of Vancouver, British Colombia, Canada on January 2, 1945. (Patent number 2,366,166). This patent does not cite as reference the previous 1932 patent of Mr. Cohen. A pdf of the patent can be viewed at: http://www.freepatentsonline.com/2366166.pdf
The third patent was granted to Mr. Raymond L. Page, Brecksville, Ohio, assignor to Truckstell Manufacturing Company, a corporation of Ohio. (Patent number 2,792,234). This patent cites as references the previous 1932 patent by Mr. Cohen, and the previous 1945 patent by Mr. Willock. There must have been enough differences/improvements over the previous patents to warrant the granting of a new patent to Mr. Page. A pdf of the patent can be viewed at: http://www.freepatentsonline.com/2792234.pdf
I saw in person, at a VPW Rally a few years back, the reproduction "Willock" swivel frames that John Gentry sells, and found them impressive. I have seen photos of those being produced by Dan Mininger and they appear every bit as equally impressive. One would be hard pressed to contract a machine shop to produce something of that complexity for less money.
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