The Lockwood Report

OK, so let’s start with something old and rather nicely worn, even though this newsletter is really about new technologies and what they can do for us. 

 

I’m talking about Mack’s famous Bulldog hood ornament that turned 80 years old a week or so ago. The company quite rightly calls it iconic, and for once the word fits perfectly. There can’t be many commercial branding tools more successful.

 

The Bulldog first became associated with Mack Trucks during World War I. British soldiers nicknamed the Mack AC models used in the Allied effort “Bulldog Macks” because of their tenacity, the company tells us. The Bulldog moniker stuck from then on.

 

In 1932 Alfred Fellows Masury, a chief engineer at Mack, hand-carved the first model of the Bulldog hood ornament out of a bar of soap while recovering from surgery. He then applied for a patent on his design, which was granted Oct. 11, 1932. As you’ll see if there’s enough detail in the accompanying picture of the patent document on your screen, it was first intended as a radiator cap.