Excerpts from The Elkharttruth.com
A Chicago firefighter is taking legal action against Elkhart Brass and two of its top executives, claiming the company has breached their contract by failing to properly manufacture, market, and sell a firefighting device he invented. He also alleges that the company is attempting to falsely claim ownership of the invention.
The HERO (High-rise Emergency Response Offensive) Pipe is designed to be mounted on a window sill or floor below a fire that occurs above the 12th floor—too high for standard ladder trucks to reach. It features a telescoping arm that extends upward, delivering water directly to the affected floor.
Michael Wielgat, now a fire captain, came up with the idea in 2004 after battling a massive fire at Chicago’s 45-story LaSalle Bank building. During that incident, dozens of people were trapped above the 29th floor for hours, as firefighters struggled to access the upper levels.
In 2007, the U.S. Patent Office granted Wielgat a patent for his invention. By 2010, after years of testing prototypes with both the Chicago and New York fire departments, the FDNY requested modifications to improve the device, including a remote-controlled monitor for better water spray control. Wielgat asked Elkhart Brass to provide such a unit, and the tests proved successful, leading the FDNY to order four HERO Pipes.
Later that year, Wielgat formed Hero Systems Inc. and was approached by Elkhart Brass’s COO, Don Sjolin, who offered to manufacture the product, projecting first-year sales of over $1 million. In April 2011, the two parties signed a licensing and manufacturing agreement.
However, just a month before the deal was finalized, Elkhart Brass allegedly filed patent applications in the U.S. and China under its own name, listing three of its employees as inventors. This occurred despite having received Wielgat’s original designs and engineering reports.
The lawsuit claims that Elkhart Brass intentionally failed to market or sell the HERO Pipe, eventually terminating the agreement by pretending it couldn’t make sales. Once the contract ended, the company reportedly began selling the device as its own invention. The agreement effectively ended in December when Elkhart Brass stopped reimbursing Wielgat for expenses.
Hero Systems Inc. filed the lawsuit on January 9, 2024, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana, located in South Bend.
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