Willys Aero Patent Papers

[Gordie]

There was a copy of the original Willys Aero patent papers on eBay recently.  They were filed by Byron C. Gould the inventor and attorneys on 2/5/1952 and the document is six pages of illustrations and specifications.  It should be interesting reading.  The eBay # is 371241937780 if you want to see the listing which shows two of the pages.

[MarkH]

I saw that listing and was sorely tempted, no doubt some extremely rare documents. It was interesting how the production stampings differ from the preliminary drawings shown there.

[Gordie]

Apparently these were of a prototype design and were modified by Willys to perhaps make production easier.  It is interesting that Mr. Gould calls himself the inventor rather than the designer.  These papers are similar to the original copyright and patent papers that were on line a few years ago for Kaiser and Frazer.

[Aeroman]

I found it interesting that the file date was April 14, 1949, with a patent date of Feb 5 1952. That actual design of the Aero was not locked in until sometime in 1950 (according my research), yet the illustrations look remarkably like the production car. Perhaps the document was updated until the patent was finally granted? The cars began production in 1951, so the patent approval arrived after the cars were already being built.
And who is Byron C. Gould? First time I've ever heard his name and he is listed as the "inventor." The only things I can google about him is a patent in 1905 for Toilet Powder, the name "By-Lo," and two companies: Byron C. Gould, Inc. and M.P. Gould Co. Perhaps he worked for the patent attorney - Harness, Dickey and Pierce (in business since 1921 according to Wikipedia)?
This is the first time I have ever seen this document. Stuff to ponder...

[r1lark]

I believe that Byron C. Gould worked for Murray Corporation of America, and may have been President of that corporation at one time.

[Gordie]

I Googled Murray Corp. and Byron C Gould and there were several articles that popped up.  He was quite an inventor.

[MarkH]

The patent was for hood, fender & lamp construction. Looks to me as if the fender tops were part of the hood,  much different than the way anything was being made.

[kaiserfrazerlibrary]

Mr. Gould was agent for Murray Company as well as an executive.  It is a normal business practice for a company that feels it's developed an outstanding product or process to patent it.  It is very likely that some engineer(s) at Murray came up with the design and under employment terms the company took it over and controlled the patent.

Remember also something called "lead time".  If it wasn't a crash project (like the 1951 Frazer) it could take 2 or even 3 years to go from initial drawings to production line to keep annual expenses down.  Since the original target to get the Aero out the door was September 1951 or thereabouts, that would put initial research and development on process back to 1949.  Additionally, you can file a patent at any time, but it won't be granted until you can show a working model of the item(s) to the Patent Office either with actual example of the item(s) or certified motion picture film in the case of something big or complex (Philo Farnsworth relied on certified film footage when he filed many of his patents on Television as did John Logie Baird did on his TV work in England during the 1920's).

[Gordie]

The patent papers came in the mail and they consist of two pages of drawings and six columns of description on two pages printed on both sides.  The patent date was Feb,5, 1952 but the application was sent in on April 14, 1949 and the patent number is 2,584,576.  It doesn't appear that the construction of the actual car in 1952 followed the exact description and pictures shown on the papers of the patent as MarkH pointed out.

[joefrazer]

It's commonplace for a manufacturer to patent several variations of a design...it helps keep the copycats at bay.