doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Needham's ejector patent

In 1874 English gunmaker J. Needham designed and patented the ancestor of most if not all automatic ejector systems today. Does anyone have a copy of any U.S. patent obtained by Needham or Needham's assignees' to protect his ejector invention? I am trying to understand the relationship between the development of ejectors in the U.S. and the duration/expiration of patent protection on the early European ejector designs, particularly Needham's.

Is this what you are looking for?

Needham patent

Adapted by Greener in their "G" guns

Yes. Thanks, PhysDoc. Gunman, do you know when Greener first used an adaptation of the Needham ejector patent? If it was during the term of the patent, was Greener licensed by Needham or any successor owners of the patent? The laws and patent term were affected by international treaty and patent legislative changes on both sides of the Atlantic, but for rough estimation purposes I am figuring that Needham's patent term ran 20 years from the April 1, 1874 date of his English patent, meaning Needham no longer had patent protection in England or the U.S. after about April 1, 1894. Although he patented his ejector design in the U.S. in 1881, I am confident that he would not get 20 years of patent protection here in the U.S. from the 1881 date but that it would cut off or end 20 years from the original patent in England. So even though the U.S. patent term is 20 years, I believe that on both sides of the Atlantic his patent protection would end no later than 20 years after his 1874 English patent. If anyone has a more precise and educated understanding of the Needham patent term on both sides of the Atlantic, I would welcome the information. Thanks.

It is my understanding that W.W.Greener bought Needham's company in 1874 to obtain the ejector patent for his own use. The Needham factory remained open for 10 more years with Mr.Needham continuing to produce guns under the Needham name but in Greener's employ. In 1884 the patent was assigned to Greener and the Needham factory closed. I have an under-lever single shot 16ga produced during that time period with the J.V. Needham name on it...Geo

George, Thank you very much for this interesting information. Greener filed for U.S. patent protection on the Needham ejector system in 1881, just as breech loading hammerless guns were in their infancy here in the States. I don't think we did much here in the way of auto-ejector systems until the Needham/Greener patent lapsed around 1894.

My last post was a little imprecise. There were some patent filings here. Lefever made several ejector patent filings between 1891 and 1894 (forend ejector systems and later in-frame systems). There may have been other ejector related U.S. patent filings during this period by U.S. makers. I don't know.

I have not really delved into patent laws that much, but do know that at some points in time US patents were issued for 14 years with up to Two 7 year extensions being possible under certain conditions. These had to be applied for & were not automatically granted. I am quite sure this was the standard in the 1850s through the 1870's but do not know when it was changed.

In England a provisional patent lasted for three years , a full patent for 16 . I am not sure whether this was from date of first grant or after the full British patent had been granted .
Any patent is only valid in the country of origin unless reciprocal agreements have ben reached with other countries
Many provisional patents were taken out and products advertised as " patented" that actually were not protected .
Needham ejector work although it should be noted as one of the first successful ejectors was fortunately quickly superseded as it was not reliable in general and comparatively weak in operation . Greener abandoned it not for reasons often repeated that so many craftsmen had been killed in the Great War , but simply as a better system the Baker was used enabling shallower bodies and was less costly to produce .

RichardBrewster,
Volume 2 of the "British Shotgun, by Baker and Crudgington, Chapter 11,pages174-176 provides a comprehensive review of the Needham ejector patent,1205 0f 1874.Here we see pictures of both Joseph Needham and George Hinton. George Hinton is credited with being the gun maker that assisted Needham with developing and refining and manufacturing the Needham ejector. In any event, George Hinton was from his share of the profits able in 1885 to purchase the business of George Sheppard a gun maker in Taunton, Devonshire. The name of this business was changed to,George Hinton,the business continued for more than 40 years.