A worker was seriously injured and scarred for life possibly because of a failure of a swivel hoist. Before technical research and engineering analysis could begin, we had to identify the manufacturer of the hoist.
The stamping on the metal swivel hoist had to belong to a company. It was a very simple marking comprised of a letter and a symbol. Yet, for all the searching on the Internet, looking at companies that produce such components and a thorough search of the US Patent and Trademark web site, nothing turned up. Not only was time of the essence but also money. The case needed the budget focused on the engineering analysis not wasted "chasing the wrong rabbits." Whether the case proceeded or died and faded away depended on identifying the manufacturer that used that mark.
I was stumped as to how to find the answer. What is worse is I knew it was out there. Somebody knew.
However, I had a couple of factors working for me. A complaint had not been filed and I had a handful of possible manufacturers I could contact.
I started calling. By the third call, I had spoken to someone who recognized the description of mark and provided me with that company's contact information. Obviously, my next call was to that company. I was told that this company used the mark; it was an old mark, but they used it. Armed with this information, I located the company's web site hoping I would see the mark somewhere on a product image. No luck. I revisited the USPTO trademark database and used the information I obtained from the telephone calls. This time I got 422 results. The 418th listing identified the mark and the company. Not too bad for two to three hours of "detective" work.
I finally had a solid confirmation as to the manufacturer of the swivel hoist that I submitted to the engineer. The engineer assigned to the case could now direct the research on the part and begin his engineering analysis.
One of the great things about this assignment was I found the answer and I found it without wasting the client's time and money. Could the engineer have found the answer in the same amount of time? Possibly, but at a substantially higher cost to the client. Besides, his time and energy (and the client's budget) were better saved for determining what went wrong with the swivel hoist.
To quote the X-Files, "the answer is out there." It is just a matter of time, resources, and most importantly, perseverance.