Quote:
Originally Posted by ModelA29
Inventing the better mousetrap. It was probably cheaper to gobble up the little guy and his company than get into a patent fight.
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Actually, you are close I think. Often times back then, there were all kinds of little companies that were trying to invent some type of machine to help the reconditioner by saving time on setups. The issue that came is many of these machines just did not sell. For example, the machines I posted were manufactured from 1936 and lasted about a decade. Cast bearings were beginning to be fazed out by the time these machines were even invented. After the war effort, there was a desire for more advanced machines, so the rights, the tooling and patterns for these 'antiquated' machines were sold to larger companies just so they could say they had them in their line-up in case they were to completely outfit a new engine machine shop. This was one of the reasons Kwik-Way equipment is still easily found today is because their salesmen could (-and did) sell all of the machines necessary to outfit a complete shop including Babbitt casting equipment. Storm, and Storm-Vulcan was the same way. So to your point, I have seen machines where they were easier to setup & use before someone bought the rights and then 'modernized' them.