James Vernon Martin

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James Vernon Martin was an aero inventor, with self-described occupation "Manufacturer" filing patents from two places: Detroit in 1917, and 419 Cleveland Avenue, Elyria, Lorain county, Ohio (later than 1917, I think). Martin was a self-promoter, and not consistently ethical. He sued making claims of infringement on his landing-gear patents.

References

See for more: Martin's Kitten K-III airplane of 1917. And this page at earlyaviators.com. Sean Seyer is also doing extensive research on Martin, e.g. see this tweet.

A Smithsonian description says:[1]

James Vernon Martin ... was an aviator and inventor during the early days of aviation. He joined the Merchant Marine (1900) before attending the University of Virginia and Harvard (graduate degree, 1912). [He] organized the Harvard Aeronautical Society (1910), served as its first director, and, through the Society, organized the first international air meet in the United States (1910). He traveled to England in January 1911 for flight training and received Royal Aero Club F.A.I. Certificate #55. While in England, Martin met and married Lily Irvine. Born in South Africa to Scottish parents, Irvine learned to fly from Martin, making her first successful flight at Hendon in 1911. In July 1914, with Tony Jannus as her mechanic, Irvine completed one of the largest flights across water from Sandusky, Ohio, to Euclid over Lake Erie, breaking a speed record set by Glenn Curtiss in 1910. After returning to the U.S. in June 1911, Martin traveled the exhibition circuit for several years. He made the first flights in Alaska in 1913, accompanied by Irvine. During 1915 he flew test flights for the Aeromarine Company. In 1917, he formed the Martin Aeroplane Company in Elyria, OH on the strength of nine aeronautical patents, including his automatic stabilizer (1916) and retractable landing gear (1916). He joined the Merchant Marine and became Master of the SS Lake Fray in May 1919, earning the Order of St. Stanislaus from Russia in appreciation for assistance rendered to the Russian North-Western Army. In 1920 he moved the company to Dayton, OH as Martin Enterprises and offered free use of his patents to the American aeronautical industry, though evaluations of the efficacy of his inventions were mixed. He moved to Garden City (Long Island), NY in 1922, renaming the company as the Martin Aeroplane Factory. In 1924, Martin sued the United States government and the Manufacturers Aeronautical Association, claiming that they conspired to monopolize the aviation industry. The suit was dismissed in 1926, but Martin continued to press his claims of collusion through the 1930s. Martin also became the assignee for aviation pioneer Augustus M. Herring and attempted to revive claims on Herring's early patents. . . . [Role in WWII]

His aircraft included these: w:J.V. Martin K.III Kitten, w:Martin KF-1


Patents whose inventor or applicant is James Vernon Martin

Publications by or about James Vernon Martin


Names James Vernon Martin
Birth date 1885
Death date 1956
Countries US
Locations Detroit; Elyria, Ohio
Occupations manufacturer
Tech areas Landing gear, Landing
Affiliations
Wikidata id
  1. ↑ James Vernon Martin Papers at the Smithsonian Institution
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