Ron Lake Knives

D

David Z

Joined
Mar 8, 2000
Messages
31
I have always been an admirer of the work of Ron Lake. I have noticed that on the inside of his liners he puts the patent number he received from the U.S. patent office. My question is simple: Is the patent for his signature rear tab lock, or is it for his interframe design? I have not been able to find this out. Anyone out there know for sure?
Dave.
 
Can that lock still be patented?
I thought he was making it since christ was an alter boy or maybe it just seems that way.
I've seen the lock made by other makers but that coould have been with permission.

[This message has been edited by TomW (edited 03-30-2000).]
 
As i understand it, the patent runs out after so many years, and then anyone can use it. But only the originator can actually put the patent number on his product forever.
Dave.
 
David,

The patent is for the interframe. I was just speaking to Ron about it at the NY Show a few weeks back. He was saying that a lot of people use the interframe but has not gotten any royaltys from anyone ever.

Gary

------------------
GARY LEVINE FINE KNIVES
www.LevineKnives.com
 
Gary -- Thank you for the answer. It is greatly appreciated. I am lucky enough to have one of his knives. It is by far my favorite custom. Since you have met him, can you tell us at the BF some info. about him? I do not see much published about him anywhere. Why doesn't someone like Blade or KI print something on this larger than life knifemaker? Any thoughts from anyone?
Dave.
 
I just searched US patents back to 1976. I find one patent for Ronald Lake and Michael Walker for US patent #5,596,808 dated 1997: Safety for knife-blade lock.

It discloses: A knife has a folding blade, a blade lock in the form of a leaf spring, and a safety for preventing unlocking of the lock. One form of safety has a carrier in the form of an elongate arm mounted on the knife handle. A stud is positioned on an inside surface of one end of the arm. A contact surface is formed on an outside surface of the arm opposite from the stud. The other end of the arm is pivotably attached to the handle of the knife. The arm may be swung from a release position, unobstructive of the lock, to a safety position in which the presence of the stud prevents unlocking the lock. The carrier may be spring biased toward the release position, and may have limited travel away from the handle to the release position. The carrier may also be a slide or a rotating disk.

In the Background section it describes the field of the invention as relating to the field of a lock for locking a knife blade in an open position, and more particularly to a safety for keeping such a blade lock in a locking position.

So this patent concerns the locking mechanism of a folding knife. I find no patents for the interframe itself. The patent above is for a Mechanism. If Mr. Lake has a Design patent for an interframe knife, almost any small variation in the shape of the knife will make his patent useless.

Something folks often fail to understand about patents is that they only establish the rights of the inventors (or his assignees) for a 17 year period of time. Enforcement of these rights is the responsiblity of the PATENT HOLDER. In other words, if Mr. Lake feels people are copying his patented design, it is up to him to contact the offending parties and arrange for them to pay him royalties (licensing the invention) or to cease using his design. All of the costs to pursue these legal remedies are the responsibility of the inventor or assignees (people that may have purchased the rights granted by the invention). The government does Nothing to enforce patent rights.

Hope this helps. Anyone can search the US patent office database at: http://www.uspto.gov/patft/index.html

Paracelsus, inventor
 
Hi,
The patent refering to the interframe (3783509) was back in 1969. Ron knows all the makers that have used his patent and the fact that no money has come his way is just a interesting point in conversation. He doesn't loose sleep over it.

Ron Lake is the ultimate perfectionist. Every part of his knives even every screw is made by him. He doesn't make many knives a year, last year he said he made about 12. He probably will turn out more this year because he is finished with the Schrade project. That is the knife he deisigned with Michael Walker. If any one is ever at a show that he is attending you should stop by and talk to him. He is a wealth of infomation.

All the best

Gary

------------------
GARY LEVINE FINE KNIVES
www.LevineKnives.com
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top