Interference No. 103,414
system, and the previously supplied rivet did
not satisfy those requirements. Also, Mr.
Vickers advised that Unistrut was having
difficulty installing the previous Southco
rivet through three layers; in particular,
through two tubes and one fitting in
Unistrut's Telestrut system. (Vickers ER
12:5-13; Frame, ER 16:8-15; and Ellis, ER
5:6-13). Messrs. Vickers, Frame and Ellis
discussed that the particular problem
presented by the Unistrut requirements was
that the rivet sample which had been supplied
to Unistrut was designed by Southco for a
limited grip range only to be installed
through one tube and one fitting. (Ellis,
ER 5:17-6:3; Vickers, ER 12:13-17; and Frame,
ER 16:15-19). In the course of that meeting,
Mr. Vickers made the suggestion of producing
a three-stage rivet[,] which had not been
done before to Mr. Vickers['], Mr. Ellis' or
Mr. Frame's knowledge. (Ellis, ER 6:3-6;
Vickers, ER 12:17-19; and Frame, ER 16:19-
17:3). Mr. Vickers, Mr. Ellis and Mr. Frame
each understood that the reduced diameter
near the end of the shank provided by the
additional step should reduce the driving
force when installed through three layers
while still functioning through two layers,
and thus satisfy the Unistrut requirements.
(Ellis, ER 6:6-11; Vickers, ER 12:19-24; and
Frame, ER 17:3-7). It was agreed that Mr.
Ellis would prepare the necessary drawings of
the modified rivet, from which samples would
be prepared and sent to Unistrut, (Ellis,
ER 6:11-13).
7. On June 10, 1992, Mr. Vickers sent a
handwritten letter by facsimile to Mr.
O'Rourke responding to the matters raised by
Mr. Wright in his June 9, 1992 letter. Mr.
Vickers' letter is identified as “Ellis
Exhibit 3”. Mr. Vickers' comment in his
letter regarding the “hard driving through
three thicknesses” refers to the difficulty
that Unistrut was having in attempting to use
the previous Southco rivet to connect two
tubes plus one fitting, which is identified
as number 3 in Mr. Wright's June 9, 1992
letter. Mr. Vickers' comment in the letter
that the hard driving through three
thicknesses “is not surprising” refers to the
App. 3
Page: Previous 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007