Monty Hyams (1918-2013): Patent Information Pioneer

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A spin-off from the day job buys our first car

One of my first assignments as patents manager was a rather tricky one. The Managing Director no less had a brilliant idea which he wished to have patented. In the event of a fire, people tended to panic, and might grasp an extinguisher the wrong way up. "So I have devised an extinguisher which will even work upside down -- well, Hyams, what do you think of that?"

The period of Christmas bonuses was close at hand, so my answer to that was obvious: "Brilliant," I said, "we will file a patent application right away." Fortunately he had forgotten all about the idea a year later, when completion was due.

It was surprising how many people wanted to take out patent applications just before Christmas, in the hope it might bring them recognition at a vital time. One individual came to me with the idea for an aircraft protection device based upon an accelerometer. In the event of a crash there would be maximum deceleration, in which case the accelerometer would automatically close down the engines and spray the whole fuselage with foam. But what, I asked, if the plane were to decelerate in mid-air for normal navigational purposes? Oh dear, he said, I had not thought of that.

Bonderizing meant that you dipped the whole chassis in a hot tank. But what if there were only a few scratches? I had never given the matter thought until I saw, advertised in a trade journal, a steam spray gun for cleaning the outside of stone buildings. Why not, I thought, use such a gun to spray hot phosphate solution on to corroded parts of a car surface prior to repainting? 

So I filed two patents in the United States and then sent one of them to Neilson Chemical Company of Detroit, Michigan.

Back came a letter to my patent agent -- for how much would I assign the application? Chancing my luck I said $500. They accepted straight away.

It so happened that I had filed a second application, a slight improvement on the first, so I asked if they would pay $500 for this also -- and they did. With the proceeds we were able to buy our first car, a Hillman Minx.  (The reason this photo is instead of a Standard 8).

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