Joined: Aug 2017 Posts: 1,744 Threads: 42
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Location: Malvern, Victoria, Australia
We all know the little patent plate attached to all Austin Seven dashboards- in the new book by David Morgan 'Immortal Austin Seven', he makes an interesting comment on page 35 that apparently Herbert Austin received one pound for each patent in every car, starting with 16 patents.
I have not seen this mentioned before but it seems a very large amount, far exceeding the two guineas ? per car usually quoted.
Cheers, Tony.
Joined: Aug 2017 Posts: 48 Threads: 2
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I always thought he got the 2 guineas as Royalty as he privately developed the car.
Usually patents only gain payments when they are used by others in their products. I very much doubt the board of Austins would have sanctioned the 16 pounds on a car selling for 150 pounds, that would represent the profit margin before the agents commission.
I also wonder where that info came from.
It is possible that Austin sold the patents to the board and the Royalty of 2 guineas on each car was his reward.
Cheers Steve Hainsworth
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27-12-2017, 08:52 AM
(This post was last modified: 29-12-2017, 11:28 AM by Psuggmog Volbenz.)
Were these patent plates installed on Swallows? If, where? My 1932 Saloon doesn't have one.
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Location: Dunchurch, Warwickshire
I don't think that any of the coachbuilt cars had them.
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<I don't think that any of the coachbuilt cars had them.>
My 1930 Mulliner saloon has a patent plate.
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This is similar to a lot of railway chief mechanical engineers of the period, who developed all sorts of not so useful modifications which they patented and collected the money on.
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Location: Scotchland
06-01-2018, 11:15 AM
(This post was last modified: 06-01-2018, 11:15 AM by Ruairidh Dunford.)
Bill Sheehan has asked me to post the following for him:
“Austin Seven Patents
It's very rare for Tony Press and I to be not on the same wavelength, but I have to query his descriptions of Australian Seven bodies. I don't believe the ones generally made for the Oz dealers (such as Holden, Egan etc) can be correctly described as Coachbuilt. My definition of Coachbuilt would be special bodies like Swallow, Gordon England saloons, Avon etc. In the main the bodies supplied in Oz were made to the designs supplied by Longbridge and there's very little difference in appearance between them and the UK factory cars. The only notable difference I've noticed is some (both vintage and post-vintage) had their rear floors extended a few inches to give more room in the back. Sure there are superficial embellisments such as swages around the tub, different windscreens, hood frames, spare wheel mounts, etc, but the dimensions were mainly as Longbridge. Anyone such as Latrobe etc had to take out their own patents for their different bodies.
As for the Sports, although admittedly I didn't take deliberate notice over the years, I recall very few had Austin Patent plates and I doubt these would have been there originally. The most noticeable difference I found was how many had had their original dashboards replaced - some with timber instead of the original metal, others the reverse. It makes sense that they wouldn't be allowed to instal Austin patent plates as the plates list 6 or 7 items that were not applicable to the special bodies, all of which required taking out their own patents.. If I recall correctly, even Tony's own Meteor Sports did not have a patent plate. My apologies for the long discourse, which is probably of no interest to Overseas readers, but it may help Australians restore their Sports or one-off bodies correctly.
Bill Sheehan”
