Ratchet Inventor Beat Sears Fraud

In 1964, an 18-year-old Sears clerk in Gardner, Massachusetts, named Peter Roberts invented a quick-release ratchet that let mechanics change sockets with one hand. Sears executives claimed the tool probably would not sell well and purchased his patent rights for $10,000. Roberts later discovered that Sears had already test-marketed the invention, converted about 75 percent of its wrenches to his design, and sold 26 million units for an estimated $44 million profit. He sued, and a federal jury awarded him $1 million in 1976 after finding that Sears had obtained his patent fraudulently; Sears appealed to the Supreme Court and lost.

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