Niels Christensen

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Niels Christensen (* 1865 in Tørring , Denmark ; † 1952 ) was the inventor of the O-ring .

Life

Niels Christensen trained as a machinist in Vejle , Denmark. He then attended the Technical Institute in Copenhagen and, at the age of 26, immigrated to the United States , where he worked as a technical draftsman in Chicago . His specialty was the development of vehicle brakes.

In 1933, at the age of 68, he invented the O-ring after private experiments, for which he applied for a US patent in 1937 and received it in 1939. After the entry of the United States into the Second World War , the military declared the invention to be important for the war effort and expropriated Christensen, like other civil licensors for the high technology, for the duration of the "national emergency" in return for a lump sum of US $ 75,000 from the government, took control of the issuing of licenses and, in particular, exempted the armaments industry from any license fee for the production and further development of the O-ring. This “national emergency” was to last until the peace treaty with Japan came into force on April 28, 1952. Christensen litigated against it for the rest of his life after the expropriation, and only his heirs received the patent back with a remaining term of only four years. Since the armaments and high-tech producers had been exempt from paying license fees for the use of patents for eleven years, they refused all payments to the patent heirs with reference to the grandfathering of government contracts that were not limited to the duration of the emergency. The patent had become de facto worthless through abuse by the long-time owner, the USA, because the protection for Christensen's intellectual property was not enforceable on the market. The government trial for this embezzlement did not end until 1971 with a final compensation of only US $ 100,000.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://www.engineerguy.com/comm/2994.htm Radio report from August 1, 2000 on Illinois Public Radio
  2. ↑ http://www.engineerguy.com/comm/2994.htm Radio report from August 1, 2000 on Illinois Public Radio
  3. ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original dated February 23, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Report on the expropriation @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.americanheritage.com
  4. ↑ http://openjurist.org/339/f2d/665/calhoun-v-united-states complaint from 1964 on account of the non-enforceability of license fees for the years 1952–1956
  5. ↑ http://www.uh.edu/engines/epi555.htm University of Houston: Expropriation and Compensation for Graduations
personal data
SURNAME Christensen, Niels
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Danish inventor
DATE OF BIRTH 1865
PLACE OF BIRTH Tørring , Denmark
DATE OF DEATH 1952