Metropolitan Vickers

[tallie123]

Trying to find out more about my great-uncle Ralph Balmforth-Smith's patent granted 1948-1951.  He worked for Metropolitan Vickers Electrical Co and his invention was supposedly very important in defence.
Patent No GB656926A

[youngtug]

Most British patents from 1890 onwards are available on the European Patent Office's Espacenet database which you can access free of charge on the internet.
From; https://www.bl.uk/help/find-early-british-patents#:~:text=If%20you%20have%20a%20patent%20number%20and%20year&text=Most%20British%20patents%20from%201890,of%20charge%20on%20the%20internet.

[Andy J2022]

Short cut to the patent here: https://worldwide.espacenet.com/publicationDetails/biblio?DB=EPODOC&II=0&ND=3&adjacent=true&locale=en_EP&FT=D&date=19510905&CC=GB&NR=656926A&KC=A#

[tallie123]

Many thanks. Can you determine where this patent ended up being used?

[Andy J2022]

Many thanks. Can you determine where this patent ended up being used?

Well, assuming the device went into production I suspect that it would have been marketed to metal working companies as it was intended to be used in lathes and milling/boring machines. However not all patents end up being fully exploited commercially. This can be because of many factors, including the fact that someone else has invented a better/cheaper device for doing the same thing. It is possible that if Vickers didn't wish to produce this device themselves, they may have licensed the patent to another company which specialised in the particular area pf application.