What Do The Model-T And The Tesla Have In Common?

Forbes ^ | May 12, 2015 | George Leef

[reaganaut1]

Henry Ford did a lot for the automobile in America. What everyone knows is that he figured out how to improve manufacturing efficiency so much that the auto was transformed from a toy for the rich into an item that ordinary people could afford.

...

But very few people know that Ford had to fight against a cartel to be allowed to sell his vehicles. In this 2001 article published in The Freeman, “How Henry Ford Zapped a Licensing Monopoly,” Melvin Barger goes into the fascinating history of Ford’s legal battle against the Association of Licensed Automobile Manufacturers (ALAM).

In 1895, an inventor named George Selden had received a patent for a gasoline powered automobile. That patent was later acquired by ALAM, which then said to everyone who wanted to sell a gasoline powered car, “You must pay us royalties for the privilege of selling such vehicles and if you sell without our license, we’ll take you to court for patent infringement.”

Ford had developed his auto without any knowledge of Selden’s patent and saw no reason why he shouldn’t be free to make and sell cars without paying ALAM for the right to do so.

...

Substitute Elon Musk for Henry Ford and Tesla for Model-T and state dealer regulation for an extortionate patent scheme, but the stories are largely the same. ALAM didn’t want competition that might break up its cartel and neither does the established auto dealer system want innovative marketing upsetting its business.

[Covenantor]

Pardon me if I ask for the source of your 5 billion dollar jobs and bennies, but it sounds a tad inflated.

Consider that "Major League Baseball almost assuredly will cross the $4 billion threshold as an industry in payroll and benefits during the 2015"

In effect you're saying that Tesla will shade Major League Baseball. Kinda doubt that.

[DaxtonBrown]

They are he same because both Ford and Tesla received billions in government subsidies. I think that’s it.

[Responsibility2nd]

Wall Street Journal.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/tesla-nevada-tax-breaks-incentives-package-approved-1410507190

[Moonman62]

I think Tesla released most if not all their patents into the public domain.

[Covenantor]

ummm...the WSJ article you cite the $5 billion as being cost of constructing the massive facility not of net jobs.

[Lockbox]

I think Telsa is a car with limited marker reach at this point, only to very wealthy people. Telsa most likely perfers to not lower their profit by selling to this limited number of buyers via a dealer network.

[ctdonath2]

Accounting for inflation, that $600 is now around $20,000.
On top of that, the Tesla does a whole lot more than 3x a Model T (leather seats, aerodynamics, far faster, far higher MTBF, extensive audio, ... a gazillion other things Henry Ford never dreamed of putting in a car).

[catnipman]

“Substitute ... state dealer regulation for an extortionate patent scheme”

Makes about as much sense as those ridiculous high-school book reports teachers liked to make up, like: Compare Herman Melville’s “Moby Dick” with Joseph Heller’s. “Catch 22”.

Why not bring in Preston Tucker’s fight with the FEC, instead?

Everybody faces adversity in every endeavor, and arbitrarily comparing any two situations doesn’t necessarily mean that there’s any meaningful relationship between the them.

[Blood of Tyrants]

Businesses have come so dependent on crony capitalism that many no longer know how to compete in a free market.

[omega4412]

Interesting article, especially the linked story “How Henry Ford Zapped a Licensing Monopoly.” How Ford fought the Selden patent. Were the owners of the Selden patent the original patent trolls (1899)?

[exnavy]

Google Tesla quarter mile times. You are going to be surprised.

[TexasRepublic]

“Colt firearms did it first”

Read up on Eli Whitney (inventor of the cotton gin). He introduced mass production using interchangeable standardized parts to manufacture military muskets faster and cheaper than before.

[petro45acp]

“Tennessee ernie Ford - 16 Tons”

Nice pull!

I had no idea about the utopian industrialist views. Apparently Ford, Colt, and others tried it. Colts-ville was apparently based on Bavarian design (to include the Potsdam Bier Garten)in order to woo German gunsmiths and machinists.

http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/coltsville_abandoned_utopian_guns_village

Prost!

KYPD

[petro45acp]

Check, thanks! Couldn’t remember the name (brain fart)

Cheers
KYPD

[Swordmaker]

You should probably look at this article. It echos the issue I see with Apple and their arguments.

Not analogous at all. The Tesla case involves legislation passed by State legislatures for perpetual protectionism, patents are Constitutional.

"To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries." — Article 1, Section 8, Clause 8, of the Constitution of the United States of America

[BwanaNdege]

http://www.forbes.com/sites/briansolomon/2014/06/12/tesla-goes-open-source-elon-musk-releases-patents-to-good-faith-use/

Tesla Goes Open Source: Elon Musk Releases Patents To ‘Good Faith’ Use

http://jalopnik.com/toyota-takes-cue-from-tesla-releases-thousands-of-fue-1677598358

Toyota Takes Cue From Tesla, Releases Thousands Of Fuel Cell Patents

[DiogenesLamp]

"To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries." — Article 1, Section 8, Clause 8, of the Constitution of the United States of America

Nobody is complaining about legal protection for valid patents. The complaint is regarding patents which are over-broad and excessive. In the same manner that the Association of Licensed Automobile Manufacturers was trying to prevent anyone else from manufacturing a car which uses a motor, Apple is appearing to try to prevent anyone else from manufacturing a tablet or mobile which uses a capacitive touch screen, even though in both cases the ideas were obvious to anyone in the Industry, and the components of which were prior art.

It is axiomatic that people who file patents want them applied as broadly as possible, but it is the duty of the government to restrict patents to the scope that it is actually new and innovative. It is not in the interest of the nation to give away unearned monopolies.

[Oatka]

The kid at the crank reminded me of an article I read that said it was because of the Americans, the self-starter was invented. It seemed that the rich, on either side of the ocean, didn't really care about the manual starter as "we have people who do those sorts of things".

Americans got tired of broken arms and wrists from the crank kicking back and by 1912 Cadillac introduced the self-starter. It was such a hit (no pun intended) that all automakers soon adopted it.

Another triumph by "The Common Man".

[Neidermeyer]

They both are powered, ultimately, by fossil fuels.
*********************
Electricity is largely generated with coal ,, but NG power plants , hydro and atomic are all non-fossil as are gasoline/diesel/cng cars ... oil and gas are not derived from fossils... we have entire planets surfaces covered with seas of hydrocarbons ... it’s a energy gift found throughout the galaxy.

[MHGinTN]

Lipstick on pig strangely comes to mind.