William Mills (inventor) Kingdom at The Atlas Works, Bonnersfield. Monkwearmouth. Whilst here he produced some of Britain's earliest aluminium golf clubs: Patent, No 13545. known as Metallic Golfing Instrument Heads. He was a keen golfer and had joined the Wearside Golf Club in around 1892. Apart from his company in Sunderland, Mills also set up a company in Birmingham of the same name, which produced castings for the motor car and aircraft industries. Early in 1915, Mills opened the Mills Munitions Factory in Birmingham, making the Mills Bomb Hand Grenade. Until then, grenades had often proved as deadly to the thrower as to
Term of patent in the United States patents in the U.S., since the patent term now depends on the priority date, not the issue date. Design patents have a shorter term than utility patents. Design patents filed on or after May 13, 2015 have a term of 15 years from issuance. Design patents filed prior to May 13, 2015 have a term of 14 years from issuance. The original patent term under the 1790 Patent Act was decided individually for each patent, but "not exceeding fourteen years". The 1836 Patent Act (5 Stat. 117, 119, 5) provided (in addition to the fourteen-year term) an extension "for the