Joseph Archibald Williams

Joseph Archibald Williams
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Born	(1868-12-21)December 21, 1868
Died	November 2, 1929(1929-11-02) (aged 60)
Nationality	American
Citizenship	United States of America
Occupation	Inventor Entrepreneur

Joseph Archibald Williams (21 December 1868 – 2 November 1929) was an American inventor and entrepreneur whose inventions over 30 years from 1899 to 1930 were concentrated in automotive electrical and ignition systems but also included telephony, vehicles, Internal combustion engines, and aeroplane, and metal alloy development.

His early patents were assigned to the Williams Electric Company and the Williams Telephone and Supply Company. His later patents for ignition systems that were used for the Ford Model T were held individually, or assigned to the Kaple Williams (K-W) Ignition Company. K-W also produced and sold accessories, such as electric headlights, Ignition magnetos, contact points, and ignition system replacement parts.

Ignition systems for early internal combustion engines were electro-mechanical devices required to produce a hot spark for igniting the fuel mixture at a precise time in the combustion cycle. If the spark was not strong, or missed its timing, then the engine could not run smoothly. Getting the spark and timing to work consistently and durably was the primary design challenge for ignition systems, and key to the success of using internal combustion engines for automotive, agricultural, and other industrial purposes. In contrast, fuel mixture and vaporization were also key, but less of an engineering challenge.

In 1907, Williams was unable to convince the Ford Motor Company to adapt his ignition system for early models N, R and S. He continued to work on improvements, and in 1912, was successful in persuading Ford to use the improved K-W system for the Model T. In 1913, Ford dispensed with alternative designs, and settled on K-W's ignition coil for all model Ts going forward. Ford and K-W, in close collaboration, made millions of these devices during the Model T's subsequent production life, which ended in 1927. Each coil, also known as a trembler coil, was contained in a small wooden box with electrical contacts on the outside. 4-cylinder engine required a coil for each cylinder. The rapid charge/discharge cycle of the coils and contact points produced an audible low-frequency buzz, sounding like a bee hive to some observers.

Also in 1913, on March 5, Williams filed an application for his "Ignition Apparatus" with the United States Patent and Trademark Office, and Patent # 1,092,417 issued on April 7, 2014. This was his 14th patent, and likely the most commercially valuable over his 30 year inventing career. Joe did not, however, immediately disclose the patent issue to Ford; and K-W did not mark its parts with the patent number or "Patented."

In 1917, Ford began selling the Fordson tractor, which used an engine similar to the Model T; and contracted with Kokomo Electric Company to make the ignition coils. K-W filed a patent infringement suit against Kokomo Electric, and reached a settlement allowing Kokomo to continue manufacturing the K-W coil design for Fordson tractor engines. The suit also provided notice to Ford of the K-W patent on the Model T coils.

In 1919, K-W moved to assert its patent rights with Ford, and filed suit in US District Court of Indiana for infringement and past damages. The District Court ruled for K-W, and in 1920 Ford appealed to the US Court of Appeals for the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in Chicago. Ford's appeal argued invalidity of the patent based on the legal principles of Laches (equity) (unreasonable delay in asserting rights) and estoppel (a claim contrary to prior assertions, or lack thereof--in this case lack of notice of patent rights during the previous 7 yrs of close collaboration with Ford). The Court of Appeals reversed the District Court ruling and found for Ford.

K-W was involved in other patent litigation, including an infringement case against a competitor that was appealed without success to the Supreme Court of the United States Supreme Court.

Despite the costly litigation, K-W and Ford continued their business relationship due to increasing demand for ignition parts. Ford expanded its own coil-making department, which employed many women in the Highland Park, MI plant. Ford records show 394 women employed in 1925 in the coil department, and women made the same hourly wage as men.

After the Model T stopped production in 1927, K-W supplied replacement coils and other ignition parts to dealers and owners, but was unable to sustain operations and went out of business in 1940. Original K-W coils for the Model T are still available on auction sites like eBay, and also available as functioning rebuilt parts from suppliers for Model T collectors.

The ignition coil perfected by Williams had many other Trembler applications for electrical hobbyists and amateur radio operators transmitting in Morse Code. This utility came from a plentiful supply, and the coil's ability to generate high-voltage low-current pulses from a simple low-voltage DC dry cell battery.

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