Siegel sat down on one of the camp stools and lit a cigarette.
"Mr. Sorensen," he asked in all innocence, "have you got a patent on
that battery?"
The humorous glint returned to Sorensen's eyes as he said, "Nope.
I didn't patent the battery in that suitcase. That's why I don't want
anybody fooling around with it."
"How come you don't patent it?" Siegel asked. "Nobody could steal it
if you patented it."
"Couldn't they?" Sorensen asked with a touch of acid in his voice. "Do
you know anything about batteries, Mr. Siegel?"
"A little. I'm not an expert on 'em, or anything like that. I'm an
electrician. But I know a little bit about 'em."
Sorensen nodded. "Then you should know, Mr. Siegel, that
battery-making is an art, not a science. You don't just stick a couple
of electrodes into a solution of electrolyte and consider that your
work is done. With the same two metals and the same electrolyte, you
could make batteries that would run the gamut from terrible to
excellent. Some of 'em, maybe, wouldn't hold a charge more than an
hour, while others would have a shelf-life, fully charged, of as much
as a year. Batteries don't work according to theory. If they did,
potassium chlorate would be a better depolarizer than manganese
dioxide, instead of the other way around. What you get out of a
voltaic cell depends on the composition and strength of the
electrolyte, the kind of depolarizer used, the shape of the
electrodes, the kind of surface they have, their arrangement and
spacing, and a hundred other little things."
"I've heard that," Siegel said.
* * * * *
* * * * *
[Illustration]
Thorn smoked in silence. He had heard Sorensen's arguments before.
Sorensen didn't mind discussing his battery in the abstract, but he
was awfully close-mouthed when it came to talking about it in concrete
terms. He would talk about batteries-in-general, but not about
this-battery-in-particular.
Not that Thorn blamed him in the least. Sorensen was absolutely
correct in his statements about the state of the art of making voltaic
cells. If Sorensen had something new--and Thorn was almost totally
convinced that he did--then he was playing it smart by not trying to
patent it.
"Now then," Sorensen went on, "let's suppose that my battery is made
up of lead and lead dioxide plates in a sulfuric acid solution, except
that I've added a couple of trifling things and made a few small
changes in the physical structure of the plates. I'm not saying that's
what the battery is, mind you; I'm saying 'suppose'."
"O.K., suppose," said Siegel. "Couldn't you patent it?"
"What's to patent? The Pb-PbO_2-H_2SO_4 cell is about half as old as
the United States Patent Office itself. Can't patent that. Copper
oxide, maybe, as a depolarizer? Old hat; can't patent that. Laminated
plates, maybe? Nope. Can't patent that, either."
Siegel looked out at the hundred glowing light bulbs. "You mean you
can't patent it, even if it works a hundred times better than an
ordinary battery?"
"Hell, man," Sorensen said, "you can't patent performance! You've got
to patent something solid and concrete! Oh, I'll grant that a
top-notch patent attorney might be able to get me some kind of patent
on it, but I wouldn't trust its standing up in court if I had to try
to quash an infringement.
"Besides, even if I had an iron-bound patent, what good would it do
me? Ever hear of a patent pool?"
"No," said Siegel. "What's a patent pool?"
"I'll give you an example. If all the manufacturers of a single
product get together and agree to form a patent pool, it means that if
one company buys a patent, all of them can use it. Say the automobile
companies have one. That means that if you invent a radical new design
for an engine--one, maybe that would save them millions of
dollars--you'll be offered a few measly thousand for it. Why should
they offer more? _Where else are you going to sell it?_ If one company
gets it, they all get it. There's no competition, and if you refuse to
sell it at all, they just wait a few years until the patent runs out
and use it for free. That may take a little time, but a big industry
has plenty of time. They have a longer life span than human beings."
"North American Carbide & Metals," said Thorn quietly, "is not a
member of any patent pool, Mr. Sorensen."
"I know," Sorensen said agreeably. "Battery patents are trickier than
automotive machinery patents. That's why I'm doing this my way. I'm
not selling the gadget as such. I'm selling results. For one million
dollars, tax paid, I will agree to show your company how to build a
device that will turn out electric power at such-and-such a rate and
that will have so-and-so characteristics, just like it says in the
contract you read. I guarantee that it can be made at the price I
quote. That's all."
He looked back out at the bank of light bulbs. They were still
burning. They kept burning--
"... They kept burning for ten solid hours," said Thorn. "Then he went
out and shut off his battery."
Captain Lacey was scowling. "That's damned funny," he muttered.
"What is?" asked Thorn, wondering why the naval officer had
interrupted his story.
"What you've been telling me," Lacey said. "I'll swear I've heard--"
He stopped and snapped his fingers suddenly. "Sure! By golly!" He
stood up from the table. "Would you excuse me for a minute? I want to
see if a friend of mine is here. If he is, he has a story you ought to
hear. Damned funny coincidence." And he was off in a hurry, leaving
Thorn staring somewhat blankly after him.
Three minutes later, while Thorn was busily pouring himself a second
helping of Five-Star Hennessy, Captain Lacey returned to the table
with an army officer wearing the insignia of a bird colonel.
"Colonel Dower," the captain said, "I'd like you to meet a friend of
mine--Mr. Richard Thorn, the top research man with North American
Carbide & Metals. Mr. Thorn, this is Colonel Edward Dower." The men
shook hands. A third brandy snifter was brought and a gentleman's
potation was poured for the colonel.
"Ed," said Captain Lacey as soon as his fellow officer had inhaled a
goodly lungful of the heady fumes, "do you remember you were telling
me a couple of years ago about some test you were in on out in the
Mojave Desert?"