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PATENTLY OBVIOUS“We have been instructed by the powers that reside in the upper strata of the Ministry to hand over the details of the Concorde intake and its control system to those designing the Tornado at Warton!” The voice, from a double-barrelled name that I did not catch spoke with an air of authority imported from someone higher up the chain of command. “But...” “All ‘the buts’ have been butted by our top brass. However, as the ownership of the design lies separately with the British and French Governments we can’t argue!” “But, if Warton is collaborating with the Germans and the Italians, they will get the details” |
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“Yes.” He would obviously stay in an office and not be in an opposing cockpit, “I suppose all that remains after the past years of hard work is to give it to the Americans and the Russians and everyone will have them! On second thoughts knowing the security around here and knowing how they work, they probably have had it in instalments as it happened.” “I am sure that security is adequate!” “Have you seen the preliminary details of the Concordski?” The logic of the decision was obvious. An enormous amount of design and expensive testing had gone into the project and, although the details of the two aircraft inevitably would be different, the targets were similar. And so it came to pass that our beautiful design was incorporated into the Tornado, albeit with changes that caused Terry to exclaim “What have you done with our beautiful intake?” Somehow the performance of the mutilated design was not as they expected, possibly because the engine designers and their Ministry counterparts exerted a stronger, more conservative influence on their side of the business than had been permitted by the Power plant team at Filton. We were led to understand that in the divisions of responsibility, the power plant supersonic aerodynamics appeared to lie with the Brits, whereas the supersonic intake control system responsibility lay with the Germans. And so it came to pass a few years later that we received another telephone call from HQ, but this time via the firm’s Patents Office. “The Germans have patented the intake control system and are suing us for an enormous sum for infringing their patent on the Concorde!” “Tell them to get...” “It appears that the designs are remarkably similar, so we must not take it that lightly!” Guilty until proved innocent yet again. “Did you know that we were told by the MoD to give the design to them?” There was hesitation at the other end of the line. “How do you mean?” Must be a new boy. “Our design was defined and working before the MoD gave the instruction to pass it on to them” “Oh!” said a relieved voice, “So we did not copy it? Can we back that up with documents?” “Possibly there are records from your department which told the Design Office that we could not patent things like this as they were jointly owned by Britain and France! Then again there would be the instructions from the MoD” “It would be very helpful if you could find such documents. Would you send them up to this office?” It was fairly obvious that he did not have a clue what was being talked about and would rapidly stand aside or cross over when the shooting started, “No. We have aircraft to design. Perhaps you could put a man to look up your own records” Nevertheless it was prudent to do a little probing into records and memory banks as someone would be bound to fix a meeting with little or no notice, still expecting us to do all the work. Which they did. It transpired that most firms, with the exception of a few - like ours - would permit their employees to hold a patent and claim a substantial percentage of the dues. This particular claim, we were told, would net a total which would run into at least six figures if not defeated. We met Herr P, the ‘inventor’ and his lawyer in London. Three points became quite clear during the meeting. One was that our firm’s patent hounds had not been following the field closely enough. The second was that neither the inventor nor his lawyer knew the background to the source of his ‘Invention’. The third was that the representative from Warton, who was in design collaboration with the German firm, was very embarrassed. Unfortunately for the inventor his knowledge of the details of the design showed some deficiencies. However his lawyer showed an ability to grasp the extent of these deficiencies when pointed out by our side. Even though this was a relatively new field in supersonic engineering he followed each cut and thrust and, from his glances at his client seemed to want to prod him, or step in on technical points when the latter appeared to be at a loss. Towards the end he had obviously accepted the inevitable and was beginning to enjoy the discussion. Herr P had clearly not appreciated the finer points of our work where, at extreme ambient temperatures (example - Tangier) the aircraft had to take charge of the situation and exert a significant authority over the engine control system - hitherto a heresy to engine manufacturers. The question to be answered was - should we tell him, or not? After all, the Tornado was to be flown by British pilots, on our side in any war and they should not be left with any disadvantage. It was also to be flown by Germans and Italians, but where would they be? “We have developed the control system further than you have indicated in your explanation of your patent. Several characteristics have been eliminated and significant ones have been added, for example, at low ambient temperatures” Herr P seemed to be at a loss at this point much, to our surprise and to that of his lawyer. His lawyer looked at him expectantly. Herr P cleared his throat. “Perhaps I could borrow those reports and have my engineers study them?” It was fairly clear why there had been a few gaps in the apparent understanding of the problem. It had to be brought to a rapid conclusion. “Hell no! You might invent something else!” The lawyer nearly fell off his seat as he choked behind the hand held in front of his face. We did not hear another word about the patent problem Ted Talbot |