Fantastic!

[Dan Shapiro]

My grandson collects these figures............

On November 4, 1919, John Garand began work as an engineer at the Springfield Armory in Massachusetts. An immigrant from Canada, Garand was hired to develop the next generation of military weaponry at a time when the world was already at war. By 1932, Garand filed a patent for a semi-automatic rifle which was adopted as the M1 and soon became the envy of the world during World War II. Amazingly, Garand offered his patent to the government for free, and never profited from the more that six million M1s that were produced. Today, Springfield Armory National Historic Site preserves the more than 150 years of history of site and the work of engineers like John Garand.

49805

[Art]

Interesting fact about patent law. Almost all firms have employees in R&D sign an agreement that any discoveries or patents they apply for are the property of the employer. My brother applied for and received a patent while working for a chemical company that he did not profit from at all because of this; I believe he got a bonus but that was a drop in the proverbial bucket. I understand Springfield Armory had such an agreement and it was one of the reasons the Army adopted the M1873 "Trapdoor" rifle, which having been developed by an employee the Armory didn't have to pay a patent easement that would have been required if the 'gubmint manufactured a foreign design. The point is Garand signing over his patents may not have been exactly voluntary.