Bridgeport clones

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Hukshawn

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Here’s a funny thought, never occurred to me till JUST now.
How in the Sam H-E-double-hockey-stick did Bridgeport mess up their patents and wind up with every manufacturer and their uncles copying their mill heads?
Is there a story here? I think I can honestly say I’ve never seen a case where there are so many objects, made by different manufactures, all almost completely identical. How did that happen?
 
As far as I know, patents expire after 20 years, they cannot be renewed.
 
jmarkwolf said:
Maybe the patents simply expired?
Click to expand...
Eddyde said:
As far as I know, patents expire after 20 years, they cannot be renewed.
Click to expand...

^^This.

Patents expire like mentioned. The whole reason for patents is merely to give the original design person or group the opportunity to recover the vast investment outlay from R&D. They figure 20~ish years is about where that ROI has paid itself back and open up the market for others to use the design. Once that happens it is no longer a patent infringement or violation.

Mike
 
Makes sense.
It seems that most manufacturers, as time goes on, make their product cheaper and more inexpensive in order to stay with the market. It seems that Bridgeport has made an effort to stay at the top of the market, build a quality machine, no matter the price. And it seems people are still buying regardless. You don't see that very often anymore
 
In the time when BP could have patented their machine the life of a patent was 17 years.
IIRC the patent expired in the 1950s
 
Not sure if they operated under a different name previously or if Google Patents goes back only so far, but you can see a few of the patents here.
 
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