Showing posts with label patent. Show all posts
Showing posts with label patent. Show all posts

Saturday, September 05, 2026

there's no one source of info that can be interesting... and things can be found in the strangest places that are often random, and this post is an example of the cool things I love to discover, and research into, that makes a information and historical connection surprise, like the one between neon signs and cars that you probably would never guess


The inventor of neon signs and neon lighting, was French engineer and chemist Georges Claude, who 1st demonstrated the glowing red-orange neon tube publicly at the Paris Motor Show in December 1910.

After a successful display at the Paris Art Show in 1910, Claude conceived the idea of bending glass tubing in order to form letters, developing the first neon sign.

Neon signs weren’t introduced to the US until the 1920s when Earle Anthony is believed to be the first US business owner to use neon signage – in 1923, he ordered two signs reading ‘Packard’ to be used by two car dealerships in Los Angeles. 


Neon sign usage quickly caught on after this throughout the rest of the country.

In 1924, the first neon sign was installed in New York’s Times Square advertising automaker Willys-Overland.




the coincidence that Neon Signs were given a public debut at a Motor Show, then that the 1st in the USA were for a Packard dealership, and the 1st in Times Square were for Willys Overland? Amazing

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/almanac-neon-lights/

that random strange place that I learned of this in? 


An artist's book that I got at Comic Con, Ryan Claytor: One Bite at a Time, 20 Years of Elephant Eater Comics



and there are OBVIOUS reasons that this book is an Eisner Award nominee, and I can't imagine what some other book had that would outshine this in the award competition, this book is an outstanding example of fantastic publishing, overlays, foldouts, comfortable exterior fabric, heavy paper pages, great illustrations. 

Sunday, May 17, 2026

with all the new tech that they are installing in vehicles, I suppose this shouldn't be a surprise... but had you heard that Ford has just patented a biometric data scan that runs the info through a criminal database? What are the ramifications? I leave it to you to guess (Thank you George!)


Start the video at 1:55

And keep in mind, I'm not out to freak you out, I am keeping you informed of the fact that mistakes have been made in identification, often, based on the databases with mistakes in them. Also, most people who have used Facebook are aware there are a lot of people with the same name. I will guess, there are people with the same biometric data too. 

Do with this, whatever you want. Me, I plan on not ever buying a car with too much tech. I only want a back up camera, and blutooth phone to infotainment center connectivity. And I can install a back up camera, I've done it before. 


You probably heard that Washington lawmakers are trying to pass a law about getting the manufacturers to install a kill switch in new made vehicles so law enforcement controls their operation. 

We are all aware that cell phones are recording your location and audio, constantly, and making that info available to federal law enforcement and car insurance companies. 

So, while most people won't be inconvienced by "big brother" nosing into everything, all those who don't want to be spied on have to do is leave the phone at home and drive an old car without electronics.

And if movies are an indication of what's to come, chose an old car that doesn't have electronic ignition, to prevent an EMP offensive weapon from blowing the IC chips and disabling the ignition. 

Wednesday, March 04, 2026

this is the first time I've heard of the Rotosphere, since I didn't grow up in big cities, and they are rare to find after the 80s

 
Approximately 234 were built from 1960-1971. Only about 20 Roto-Spheres are left with maybe 4 being fully operational

They were created and produced by Warren Milks who made approximately 234 of them at his sign shop in Bossier City, LA.

Roto-Spheres feature sixteen aluminum spikes outlined in neon. These multi-colored spikes are each eight feet long. They are mounted on a ball that spins in three directions. Not only does the sign rotate on its pole, but the ball itself is composed of two counter-rotating hemispheres. A motor and three gears resembling an automobile's rear axle differential are used to power the ball.

Wednesday, March 20, 2024

I wonder how terrific car magazine article writer Exra Dyer is related to LH Dyer, patent holder for car stuff?

 

Dan wrote an article on the "Instruction Plates" on Franklin car firewalls, in order to relate the "licensed by Ricker", and brought up this topic utterly new to me about 100 year old cars, that the "Made By" plate (familiar to most people interested in cars made before 1970) used to have info that relayed who owned some patents needed to manufacture the vehicle, and I was intrigued by Leonard Huntress Dyer's name, and the likelyhood that Ezra Dyer is related to him 

In the Sept 1912 book  Motor Truck: The National Authority of Power Haulage, Volume 3  the focus of an article is LH Dyer's company Enterprize Automobile Company (I've never heard of) (he was the president of it) that bought the rights to patents held by the "Patents Holding Association" that was using the Selden Patent to parasitically get rich from all the car makers (prior to 1911ish) in the Michigan area 

So, they had the patent rights to the sliding gear transmission! Who knew? 

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10225440083209514&set=pcb.10225440086169588

Friday, February 23, 2024

Deere & Co convinced a federal jury in Delaware that construction rival Caterpillar, must pay $12.9 million in damages for violating its patent rights in road-building technology.

The jury determined that Caterpillar's road-milling machines, which remove the surfaces of roads before repaving them, infringe five Wirtgen patents

The jury also found that Caterpillar's infringement was willful, which could lead a judge to multiply the damages up to three times.

Thursday, April 06, 2023

Friday, March 10, 2023

look at this magazine cover art... WOW


I've never came across Otto Brennemann's art or illustrations before

I was looking for info on the flying catamaran airplane that Air Via Transport Company of New York had Lewis A Yancey piloting, that I posted last week... https://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2023/03/cool-design-similar-to-that-1929-italia.html

When I came across this amazing magazine cover art on Google Books! YAY! I hope you enjoy reading magazines, and love that these are digital, free, incredibly interesting, and lit by your computer/tablet/laptop monitor for optima viewing!

And it's FULL of cool stuff, like these patents! Here's one from Brunelli!! I was just posting (or adding to old posts) about the Burnelli aircraft! 



Since I was looking up Yancey's aircraft, this advertisement led me to this magazine on Google Books.. 

Sunday, January 29, 2023

OHV, overhead valve, or Valve in Head, engines are the evolution of the invention of engineer Walter Marr, chief engineer of Buick.

Working for Buick, engineer Walter Marr's valve-in-head (overhead valve) engine, patent number 771,095, was awarded to Eugene Richard (who replaced Marr at Buick for a time) in the name of Buick in 1904