Olympic Fastening Systems, Inc. v. Textron, Inc.

LIVELY, Circuit Judge.

This patent case is concerned with the art of riveting, especially as it is practiced in the aircraft industry. In the manufacture of airplanes it is necessary to join sheets of metal together by riveting under circumstances where the riveter cannot see or reach behind or inside the sheets being joined. For this reason “blind” fasteners were developed in which a tubular rivet consisting of a fixed head and a hollow sleeve has inserted within its core a stem which is enlarged or serrated on its exposed end so that a pulling-type rivet gun can activate it. The lower end of…