Maybe the Peter-Austin case file is almost closed?

Peter-Austin Mfg Co,'s Trans Canada Highway Bridge Set

The story so far: In the book, Architecture on the Carpet, the authors Brenda and Robert Vale put forward the idea that Kenner's Girder & Panel toy was invented and first sold by a Toronto firm called Peter-Austin Manufacturing Company in 1956, and the version that Kenner first released in 1957 was more-or-less an exact copy. The Vales speculate the Kenner product was “what appears to be a commercial rip-off”, not something sold under license. Being Toronto born and raised, and the proud owner of a Kenner Girder and Panel set as a child, I was intrigued and have spent some time over the last few weeks investigating whether or not the Vale's assertion was true. I won't keep you in suspense: I don't think it is.

I was quite lucky to find a Peter-Austin Trans Canada Highway Bridge Set on eBay. It's roughly the equivalent  of a Kenner Turnpike girder and panel set. It looks fairly complete, but there're no instructions or planning book, so I'm not quite sure how complete it actually is. And, there're no dates anywhere on either the box or parts to suggest when this toy was released. 

Diagram from the U.S. patent

However, while searching the internet I came across U.S. patent # 3,168,793, Construction Toy Means For Locking A Horizontal I-Beam Between Two Detachably Joined Vertical Column Members. It was filed on 20 Nov 1961, and issued on 9 Feb 1965. The inventor was Henry Gibson, and it was assigned to the Kelton Corporation, the parent company of Peter-Austin Manufacturing. 

There was also a Canadian patent, #693194, Constructional Toys, that was filed on 18 Nov 1961, and issued on 25 Aug 1964. Here too the inventor was listed as Henry Gibson, and the owner was the Kelton Corporation. So, patents were filed for the Peter-Austin version of the toy in 1961 in both the U.S. and Canada. 

That scan over on the right is the diagram from the U.S. patent, and you can see that the components are pretty close to Kenner's girder and panel parts. Except in this case the horizontal and vertical girders are joined by a pin-and-lug system, whereas the Kenner toy used a notch-and-insert system. Interestingly, in the patent's References Cited section it notes the patent for Kenner's Girder and Panel set, U. S. patent # 3,002,315.

There seems to be a little weirdness in Kenner's U.S. patents. There appears to be a second patent for the same toy, U.S. patent # 3,132,443. I'm not a lawyer, so I don't know exactly what's up with this, but both were filed on 13 Aug 1957, although one was issued on 3 Oct 1961, and the other on 12 May 1964. The key point is that the patents were filed in 1957, which was the year the Kenner toy first hit the market.

Top: Kenner; Bottom: Peter-Austin

Comparing the Kenner and Peter-Austin parts I can see the ones from the Peter-Austin set use the joining technology specified in their patent. Which I know should be obvious, but it's good to recognize that each company used the joining method they had a patent for, suggesting that wholesale appropriation likely didn't occur because I can't imagine either company wanted to become embroiled with blatant patent violations.

Now, back to that Trans Canada Highway Bridge Set box. On the side, in rather tiny print, it's stated: U.S.A. and Canadian Patents Pending. From what we've seen with the patents, for this to be true, this toy shouldn't have been released until 1961, probably late 1961 in time for Christmas, or maybe even 1962. I don't think it was released in 1956 as suggested by the Vales. The patents don't appear to support the Vale's timeline, and I would suspect if there was a rip-off, there would also have been a lawsuit.

So, here's what I'm thinking: Kenner didn't rip-off Peter-Austin's design. I speculate the Peter-Austin sets, although they look a lot like the Kenner sets, are an offering to cash-in on the market established by Kenner for these toys. Maybe Peter-Austin hoped that with some sort of Canadian-ness to their product, that would be enough of a differentiator to oust Kenner in the Canadian market.

One last thing, the set's name: Trans Canada Highway Bridge Set. Construction started on the real Trans-Canada Highway in 1950, but it didn't officially open until 1962. Was this toy named to honour that event and cash-in on the hoopla?

Well, this is the internet, so this is more-or-less just speculation, but the pieces seem to be coming together :-) I'll keep you posted if more comes up.