I thought we were finished with Greg Fischer’s invention fallacy. Guess not.
Let’s a take a trip down memory lane, wherein we’ll remember that Greg once called himself the inventor of an ice and beverage machine. We’ll learn all about how he actually wasn’t the inventor and how he changes tune over the years. And how, maybe, the entire mess is just an embarrassment.
- Greg Fischer And That Fancy Ice Machine [March 30, 2010]
- More On Fischer “Inventing” An Ice Machine [April 9, 2010]
- Greg Fischer And The Ice Machine Invention [April 26, 2010]
- Definitive End To The Ice Machine & Award Stories? [April 26, 2010]
- Greg Fischer’s New Jobs “Plan” Released [August 31, 2010]
Just a couple weeks ago, Greg decided it was best to revive this ridiculous issue for the general election:
- Greg Fischer’s Got A New Ice Machine Ad [October 6, 2010]
And last week he released this ad, again claiming to be the inventor (with a friend) of the ice and beverage dispenser:
Since Fischer is being intentionally misleading (like that bogus award story), I feel it’s necessary to delve deep into the ice and beverage machine mess.
I believe Greg Fischer is exaggerating his accomplishment of co-inventing an ice and beverage machine. I also believe he was potentially less than honest when filing a patent application with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. He claimed he invented the ice and beverage machines you see in convenience stores today. As I’ve pointed out, he used to claim he invented the machines – but all of those videos and claims have mysteriously vanished from his campaign website and YouTube account. (There are videos on my accounts, however, backing this up.) His new ad, as you saw above, now claims that he’s a co-inventor.
If you’re interested in the truth at all, I think you’ll want to read the rest of this story after the jump…
In the ad, Fischer claims to have invented “this” – an ice and beverage dispenser. Reality is, however, that ice and beverage dispensers existed long before Greg Fischer was born. The device he’s pointing to is a machine that contains multiple inventions and multiple patented devices.
As I have reported in the past – here on The ‘Ville Voice and on Page One – the device does have a patent. U.S. Patent No. 4,641,763, which was filed on May 18, 1984. Greg Fischer was 26.4 years of age at that time, not 25 as he claims in the television spot. The patent was officially issued on February 10, 1987 and was titled “Ice and Beverage Dispensing Apparatus and Method with Dual Purpose Line.” Since ice and beverage dispensers existed long before, it seems the patent is actually just for a “dual purpose line.” Fischer’s company, SerVend, actually later referred to it simply as a “bin liner.” You may review the patent yourself.
Fischer didn’t actually invent the machine. His company only owned one patent for one device in the machine for which his name appeared. You can verify it yourself by examining one of the actual machines. In order to maintain patent protection, inventions have to be marked. And on Fischer’s devices are labels listing all patented inventions contained therein.
What, exactly, was it that Fischer co-invented? A plate with holes in it. And as I’ve reported previously, that device was actually invented by Jerry Landers, Fischer was listed as the secondary. Take a look at the patent’s cover page. It’s assigned to/owned by SerVend International of Jeffersonville, Indiana. Later sold it to The Manitowok Company of Wisconsin more than ten years ago. Prior to the plate with holes in it, Jerry Landers obtained another patent (No. 4,512,502, filed on March 30, 1982, also assigned to SerVend International).
At the time, Fischer was just 24 years, 2.5 months. Meaning if Fischer actually founded the company (daddy bought it for him), as he claims, he would have been 24. Not 25. On his campaign website he says he graduated from Vanderbilt in 1980 and spent the following year in Europe. Meaning he couldn’t have started work for SerVend any earlier than June 1981. Between June 1981 and the patent application’s filing on March 30, 1982 – a span of nine months – Greg founded the company and “invented” a machine.
So I think it’s a total exaggeration for Fischer to claim to be the inventor/co-inventor.
Look at the patent. Figures 3 and 5. See the curved plate with holes in it? Numbered as Item 70. A curved plate with holes actually existed previously. The patent was merely for a plate with a different number of holes. One had 14 holes and the new one had three.
Here’s one machine from SerVend International in Sellersberg, IN, lacking Patent No. 4,641,763:
Here’s another label from SerVend in Louisville, KY containing that patent:
As you can see, it’s for a device containing a plate with 14 holes:
They invented a plate with a different number of holes in it. Fischer and Landers told the Patent Office that. And Fischer is now telling the public he and a friend co-invented the ice and beverage dispenser. After, of course, initially claiming to have been the inventor. Keep in mind that the Patent Office depends on inventors to tell the truth.
Since then, Landers has obtained a number of patents for improvement on the device and other dispensing equipment. He’s got a 35 year career bringing innovation to the ice and beverage industry. And we’re supposed to believe he couldn’t create something with a different number of holes in it without Greg’s help – right after returning from Europe.
I don’t see how Fischer can claim to have invented the ice and beverage dispenser. No way, no how. The facts just don’t back that up. For him to claim such is not based in reality.
And the device he has co-inventor rights to? It’s merely an improvement on an already existent device. A metal plate with a different number of holes in it.
11 responses so far ↓
1 blowin' in the wind // Oct 21, 2010 at 1:24 pm
Leadership with integrity–if we don’t have that in this community, we have nothing. And don’t somebody out there start yammering about “politics as usual.” Politics can be and is in many instances an honorable profession; those engaging in it are supposed to be taking care of the “polis”, the community. If we do not take honesty and integrity seriously, Louisville will be in even more trouble than it currently is.
2 jake // Oct 21, 2010 at 1:27 pm
I think that if Greg said, “I helped improve this machine” – it’d go over much better than lying about actually inventing it.
Folks like improvement upon what they’ve already got.
3 Jeff Gillenwater // Oct 21, 2010 at 1:36 pm
Thanks again for following up on this, Jake.
As I’ve reported here before, Jerry Landers is a family friend that I’ve known since childhood. My dad and I used to occasionally visit SerVend long before the Fischers were ever involved.
I had an opportunity to speak with Jerry face to face a few months ago and asked him about this mess.
Me: “You know the Fischers are still telling people they started SerVend?”
Jerry: “I know. I’ve put up with that for more than twenty years.”
Me: “And you know Greg is claiming he invented the ice machine?”
Jerry: “Yeah. Typically, if I’m in the room, we invented it. If I’m not, he invented it. He’ll acknowledge me if I’m there.”
Jerry’s in his 60s now and still working for Manitowoc, continually improving the dispensers as he has since the 70s, when he owned SerVend.
He literally put everything he had on the line to make those ice and beverage dispensers a reality. Greg was just installed by his father but he’s the one who ended up with millions. That scenario is what Lynn Fischer once described to me as “a great American success story.”
I got the sense from Jerry that he’s put it all behind him and doesn’t have any interest in becoming a political pawn in the mayor’s race so I’ve respected that. When I told him I couldn’t just sit and watch Fischer lie like he has while running a campaign supposedly based on transparency, he just said, “Then you need to do what you need to do.”
That Greg and his family are so incredibly disrespectful toward a man so responsible for a portion of their wealth is something that I just can’t abide. They could tell a perfectly feasible, positive story about themselves by simply saying that they found something and someone worth investing in and helped make them a success. They’re ridiculous egos and insatiable need for societal position won’t allow for that, though.
If that’s who people want to vote for as their mayor, I can’t stop them. They should know, however, that Greg has been an opportunistic liar for far longer than he’s been running for office.
The scariest part of all this to me is that I think Greg and his siblings believe their own hype, that spending what’s been comparatively handed to them actually somehow connects them with what most people face everyday. They actually think they understand.
When my old man started his business, our family lived in a rented two bedroom trailer. My parents’ bedroom was an enclosed front porch with a space heater and even that, along with my and my sister’s futures, was at stake. He didn’t have the option of going to John Y. Brown or Elaine Chao for juicy government contracts and he damn sure didn’t get hundreds of thousands in tax incentives by threatening to move to Kentucky. But that’s not a sob story. It’s an actual American success story, as he did pretty well for himself on his own terms but at real, significant risk.
Fischer started with a 3/4 mile head start on a mile long track and still can’t bring himself to be honest about it. As much lip service as he’s paid them, Greg doesn’t know what risk and entrepreneurship actually are.
4 blowin' in the wind // Oct 21, 2010 at 2:26 pm
Thank you, Jeff! You have done the community a great service.
5 The Highlander // Oct 21, 2010 at 2:49 pm
Jeff: I second blowin’ in the wind’s observation. It is, INDEED, a public service. The time’s long since passed around here where we allow another charlatan, plastic, pretty boy to take the reins of leadership — without being fully examined. This examination is as wrenching as it is true. We don’t need a continuation of Harvey Sloane (who surrounded himself with his wife’s insinuation that he was a relative of the president of General Motors).
6 Steve Magruder // Oct 21, 2010 at 2:58 pm
Perhaps this Sunday we will be stating in unison:
“Louisville’s so-called newspaper of record endorsed a liar and crook today.”
7 charles // Oct 21, 2010 at 10:49 pm
I agree withall of you!….It’s the same old game that the slimy politicans always play, If thet put it out there and repeat it enough, People believe it, they don’t know or care why they believe it , they think since they heard it enough….IT MUST Be CORRECT or TRUE.>>>>Then the person making the story up believes it himself. Same shit Jerry has done for years along with a lot of other Hacks!
If the voting public dosen’t see thru all this Hocus Pocus, and if they don’t pay attention to the underhanded deal Fischer did with Green, then It’s REALLY the Dumbing Down of of Louisville! The people need to pay attention, these guys lie and assume no consequences >>>>this is Not a social position!…It’s the MAYOR, the leader of our community and the future of our famlies.
8 Dino // Oct 21, 2010 at 10:49 pm
Steve
Exactly right. But we can already write the editorial ourselves as the CJ is that easy to predict:
- Fischer will be called a “progressive” voice for the future. He will be described as a unifier who will work with “all” of Louisville’s neighborhoods and embrace diversity. Fischer will be credited with the ice machine which Jake has pointed to as a myth. The CJ will laud Fischer’s stances on the art, libraries, downtown development etc. They’ll offer a slight criticism that he has a learning curve ahead of him but will offer a strong endorsement.
- On the other side, they condemn Heiner for his positions on Fairness and most critically they will go after him on defeating the library tax (the CJ will conveniently ignore that this is what majority of voters wanted) They will offer faint praise to Heiner for strong business credentials and for serving the 19th district. They will then attack him on his bridges position and will also paint him as a villain for being such a thorn in McCheese’s side for the past 18 years. Finally, they will try and compare the Allen/Heiner vs. Green/Fischer scenarios to deflect all the criticism flowing Fischer’s way.
In the end, it will be a strong endorsement for Fischer. The CJ will then go on to complain for the next 4-8 years about the lack of progress in Jefferson County/Kentucky yet they will continue to endorse the same individuals who lack real ideas, vision, and courage.
You can mark it down.
9 Joe Momma // Oct 22, 2010 at 8:38 am
I used to work at SerVend and was always told that Jerry Landers invented the paddle wheel and other parts of the ice dispenser. I never once heard that Greg Fischer invented any part of the machine itself.
10 Steve Magruder // Oct 22, 2010 at 9:19 am
Dino, I think you have nailed it. Good job!
11 Paul Jason Puckett // Oct 22, 2010 at 11:06 am
I think we can all take the rest of the day off…Dino pretty much nailed the Comment of the Day.
It’ll be fun to see how the Once Great Newspaper rationalizes the Fischer-Green scandal, and probably claim that Mr. Fischer is somehow a “breath of fresh air” so to speak when evidence shows he’ll end up being a re-tread of the current administration.
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