Lawrence E. Crowe

For as long as I can remember, I have been fascinated with how things work. I also love hearing and telling a good story. These two characteristics, born and nurtured in the rural farming community where I grew up, are what make me so passionate about preparing and prosecuting patent applications. I get to learn about so many interesting new, clever, and useful things, and then tell the world about them in the process of helping my clients do great things with their great ideas.

For more than 30 years I have been privileged to serve a wide range of clients, from sole inventors to some of the largest companies in the world. I have worked in complex technologies including aerospace, automotive, agricultural equipment, military, industrial equipment, hand and power tools, and mass production of consumer products, as well as a wide variety of inventions for improving everyday life.

When working with corporate clients, I sometimes find that the most difficult part of securing and protecting a patent is getting everyone – engineers, managers and counsel – speaking the same language. In these instances, it helps to have someone with the knowledge, experience and empathy to translate. This is an area where my years of experience as both an engineer and patent attorney can be especially helpful.

I began my career as an aerospace engineer, working on a wide range of products and technologies operating in the air, on the ground, under the sea, and in outer space. I received numerous patents during this process. Eventually, I moved from engineering into patent law first as in-house counsel for intellectual property, and then at several law firms. This experience on both sides of the proverbial fence allows me to be an efficient and effective communicator in bringing all of the parties together to get the job done. As an intellectual property attorney and patent prosecutor specializing in mechanical and electromechanical technologies, my experience with clients allows me to effectively navigate the business, legal and technical aspects of innovation.

As thrilling as it is to work with my really large clients, though, I also especially enjoy working with my sole inventors and smaller clients, for whom a patent may be the basis of their entire business, or make a very big impact in their lives.

In my role at Boyle Fredrickson, I prepare and prosecutes patent applications and deal with patent related matters, such as developing patent portfolio strategies, and conducting intellectual property evaluations.

Representative Patents

• Closed-loop Proportional Position Control of an Implement Stabilizer Wheel

Patent Number: 11,304,353

• Electromagnetic Heating Devices, Particularly for Ram Air Turbines

Patent Number: 5,558,495

• Input Source and Speed Based Control of Track-width in a Self-propelled Agricultural Product Applicator

Patent Number: 10,798,863

• Mother/daughter Industrial Cart Coupling Arrangement

Patent Number: 10,093,334

• Real-time Seedbed Uniformity Detection and Improvement in an Agricultural Tillage Implement

Patent Number: 11,252,854

• Routing Hydrostatic Ground Drive Hoses in a Self-proplled Agricultural Product Applicator

Patent Number: 10,647,197

• Task-specific Ride-height Control of an Agricultrual Product Applicator with Air Strut Suspension

Patent Number: 10,279,644

• Telescoping Axle Insert with Contoured Inner End for an Agricultural Product Applicator

Patent Number: 10,710,405

• Vacuum Booster Air Intake via Engine Compartment Breather Passage

Patent Number: 6,637,837

Experience

• Reinhart Boerner Van Deuren, Shareholder

• Leydig Voit & Meyer, Patent Attorney

• Cardinal Law Group, Patent Attorney

• Wood Phillips VanSanten Clark and Mortimer, Patent Attorney

• Sundstrand Corporation / UTC Aerospace Systems, (now Collins Aerospace / Raytheon), IP Counsel / Patent Attorney and Numerous Engineering Positions

• Swenson Spreader and Manufacturing Company, Designer / Draftsman

• U.S. Navy, RADAR, Electronics and Computer Technician, Vietnam Combat Veteran

• State of Illinois, Licensed Professional Engineer (inactive)

Awards & Recognitions

Inventor of more than twenty US and foreign patents, mostly relating to packaging and cooling of high-power electronics.

Community Involvement

Served for two terms as Township Supervisor of a rural township in Norther Illinois.

Have served multiple terms in various lay leadership positions in small town rural churches.