Invalidity dossier
US 1321655
Fender-bar for automobiles and the like.
Current assignee: Elyria Iron & Steel Co
Added 9/23/2026, 4:34:57 PM
Active provider: DeepSeek · deepseek-flash
Patent summary
Title, assignee, inventors, filing/issue dates, abstract, and a plain-language overview of the claims.
Patent Overview — US 1,321,655
Title: Fender-bar for automobiles and the like.
Patent number: US1321655A
Inventor: Willis McKee, of Elyria, Ohio.
Assignee: Elyria Iron & Steel Company, of Cleveland, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio (original assignee; listed current assignee is Elyria Iron & Steel Co).
Dates: Application filed and priority date 1917-02-13; patent granted and published 1919-11-11; anticipated expiration 1936-11-11. Legal status listed as "Expired – Lifetime."
Classification: B60R19/28 and B60R19/285 (bumpers with metallic springs; leaf springs forming part of the guard itself).
Purpose (from the specification): To provide a fender bar whose spring members "yieldingly resist blows of moderate force" received at either side or center, absorbing force by bending, protecting the vehicle, and returning to normal when pressure is released — or, if severely bent, being "readily restored to normal without material difficulty or expense."
Plain-language scope: The claims recite, in combination: a rigid channel fender bar (preferably relatively high-carbon steel) with a straight central portion and backward-curved ends (8, 8), back corners of the channel sides cut off (9, 10); a pair of separate flat-strip U-shaped springs (10, 10) whose one prong extends at a diverging angle beyond the other to form link portions (13, 13) and then bends backward into a reverse loop, the extension end fastening flat against the bar end (e.g., by bolts 12). The other prongs attach to the vehicle frame out of alignment with the bar-attaching portions. Force on the bar must first bend the reverse loop, then compress the loop adjacent the frame. Claim features include spring-connecting means, end and link geometry (links at substantially 45° to the bar's central part), and all spring and bar parts lying in the same horizontal plane when in use.
What the excerpt does not establish: It does not identify specific prior-art references, dates of invention beyond filing, litigation, ownership transfers, validity, or the full text of the claims and drawings, which the excerpt truncates. (Source: https://patents.google.com/patent/US1321655/en)
Generated 10/1/2026, 9:44:21 PM
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Litigation summary
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Proceedings on file (0)
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PTAB challenges
AIA trial proceedings at the USPTO Patent Trial and Appeal Board — IPR, PGR, and CBM. Petitioners, judge panels, claim-level invalidation outcomes from Final Written Decisions, and Federal Circuit appeals. The single most important defensive datapoint after litigation history.
Assignment history
Inventors, original assignee, and the chain of ownership recorded with the USPTO — including the correspondent attorney who recorded each assignment, since shell-LLC chains often share one repeat-player attorney even when the entity names look unrelated. Surfaces NPE / patent-troll patterns: shell-entity transfers, known asserters in the chain, repeat correspondent fingerprints, pre-litigation assignments, and bankruptcy fire-sales.
Prior art
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Obviousness
Combinations of prior art that suggest the claimed invention would have been obvious under 35 U.S.C. § 103.
Extensions
Patent term adjustments, term extensions, continuations, divisionals, family members, and expiration dates.
Derivative works
Defensive disclosure: derivative variations of each claim designed to render future incremental improvements obvious or non-novel.