S8E11 Hoodwinked and Bamboozled

Mysteries to Die For

Welcome to Mysteries to Die For.

I am TG Wolff and am here with Jack, my piano player and producer. This is a podcast where we combine storytelling with original music to put you in the heart of a mystery. All stories are structured to challenge you to beat the detective to the solution. Jack and I perform these live, front to back, no breaks, no fakes, no retakes.

The rules for law and order create the boundaries for civil co-existence and, ideally, the backdrops for individuals, families, and companies to grow and thrive. Breaking these rules puts civil order at risk. And while murder is the Big Daddy of crimes, codified ordinances across municipal divisions, counties, states, and countries show the nearly endless ways there are to create mayhem. This season, we put our detective skills to the test. This is Season 8, Anything but Murder.

This is Episode 11, industrial espionage is the featured crime. This is Hoodwinked and Bamboozled by TG Wolff

DELIBERATION

Kelly may have a clue but Grant and Alistair can use our help. There is no question that Charles “Tink” Teasling invented the Tinkinator 93. This is no question that Henry Brown, Tink’s brother-in-law produced it. The question is who orchestrated the design getting from Tink to Brown? Here are the suspects in the order we met them:

• Minnie Teasling Brown, Tink’s caretaking sister and Brown’s silent partner
• Roger Schmidt, investment banker and Tink’s neighbor
• Alexander Bogart, mechanical fabricator and Tink’s renter
• Henry Brown, mechanical fabricator and Tink’s brother-in-law

Here are the facts as Kelly and Grant know them:

• Tink Teasling filed for and received a dozen patents including one for a valve he called the Tinkinator 93. At a tradeshow, he saw the valve on a display by Alexander Bogart.
• Tink is a widower and a hoarder. He was certain the patent documents were in his house. Only two people regularly accessed the house: his sister Minnie and his neighbor Roger Schmidt. Henry Brown long ago stopped going to the house.
• Minnie Brown supports her brother with the little things in life. She has a good memory and attention to detail, which helps to keep the house from totally falling apart. Minnie remembers seeing the patents as she manages her brother’s mail.
• Tink and Henry Brown constructed their shops side-by-side. Brown fabricates small devices for sale to local distributors. He claims all his devices were a joint design between he and Minnie. Her mechanical drawings decorate his office like artwork. His business recently improved with shipments now leaving several times a week.
• Tink now does his inventing from home and leases his shop out to Alexander Bogart. For some time after Tink moved out, Bogart continued to find files Tink hid in odd places, including the patent for the Tinkinator 93. Bogart admitted to studying the document but then added it to crate for Minnie to pick up with the rent.
• Bogart admitted to using the valve in the pipe display that showed off his invention—a large pump. He said he did not make the valve but doesn’t recall where the valve came from specifically.
• Neighbor Roger Schmidt admits to seeing the patent and thinking it was a worthwhile invention. He had a falling out with Tink when he declined to invest in the gadget, not trusting Tink to get it to market or make a profit. He did invest with Alexander Bogart, further angering Tink.

Who infringed on Tink’s patented idea?

ABOUT Industrial Espionage

According to Wikipedia, Industrial Espionage gathers knowledge about one or more organizations and takes place in two main forms. It may include the acquisition of intellectual property, such as information on industrial manufacture, ideas, techniques and processes, recipes and formulas. Or it could include priviledged information, like pricing, research and development, prospective bids, or marketing strategies. It includes activities life theft of trade secrets, bribery, blackmail and technological surveillance.

Industrial espionage is an old crime, with records going back to the 17th century showing the “migration” of technologies from one region or realm to another. The attitude toward this type of theft has an interesting history in the US. Back when we were a new country, this type of knowledge acquisition was all but openlyendorsed by the government. Congress passed the first patent statute in 1790 and the first patent was granted to Samuel Hopkins on July 31 for making potash, a fertilizer ingredient.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industrial_espionage

https://www.uspto.gov/patents/milestones

ABOUT TG Wolff

Like you, I’m not one thing. I’m a writer, an engineer, a wife, and a mother. What is first on the list depends on the day. Beyond the title I claim, I’m a person who loves learning and thoroughly enjoys a good puzzle, is creative and gets bored easily. I hold a BS in Civil Engineering from Case Western Reserve University and an MS in Civil Engineering from Cleveland State University, which gives me absolutely no background in writing, but I do it anyway. Writing mysteries and engineering isn’t as different as you’d think. Both require using logic and process to get from a starting problem to a solution.

Find me at www.tgwolff.com or M2D4podcast.com