Trademarks - Part I
by Dave Rankin
Issue 26 - June 1975
This month we will discuss the first of two groups of trademarks, centered around the word CAMBRIDGE.
The CAMBRIDGE trademark 
was registered in 3 classes:
Registration # 278643 issued December 23, 1930 in class 33, Glassware,
covers an extensive list of glass items including table service, figure
flower holders, vanity articles and swans;
Registration # 279630 dated January 20, 1931 in class 34, Heating,
Lighting and Ventilating Apparatus covers candlesticks; and
Registration # 279636 issued January 20, 1931 in class 8, Smoker's
Articles, covers ash trays and the like.
The registration
states that the trademark (shown in figure 1, at left) "has been used
and applied to said goods in applicant's business since 1927. The
trademark is applied or affixed to the goods or to the packages
containing the same by placing thereon a printed label on which the
trademark is shown".
In our search for actual label usage we found four different
versions, each one with a slight variation from the
preceding version.
All version contained the word CAMBRIDGE and the
symbol and are
printed with black ink on yellow paper.
The oldest label,
figure 2, has the word TRADEMARK aided to the registered version. It
appears as two words, one on each side of the symbol. It measures
9mm X 16mm. We did not locate this label in any trade advertising, but
we determined that it was the oldest version on the basis of the pieces
we have observed with this label. Since it did not appear in the
advertising, we have no indication of the date of discontinuance. Until
more information is found our date range is 1927 - ?
The next version is
the same as our oldest label, with the addition of the words MADE IN
USA. along the bottom of the oval (see figure 3, at right). We have not
observed an actual CAMBRIDGE MADE IN USA label other than in the trade
advertising where it appears from February through April, 1930 only. We
hesitate to suggest that this label was used for such a short period of
Our third label,
time. It is mote likely in this case that the label came into use on
the goods prior to its introduction in the advertising. Again until
more information surfaces, we will use a date range of ? -1930.
figure 4, at left, has the word GENUINE added at the top of the oval. The GENUINE CAMBRIDGE label appeared in the trade advertising May, 1930 through February 1932. It measures 11mm. X 17mm.
final known version, figure 5, at right, measures 11mm X 19mm. The modification to this format came with the addition of the words HAND MADE after GENUINE at the top of the oval. In the trade advertising, the earliest occurrence was in April, 1932.
Usage of this label continued through 1937. in January, 1938, an
article in a trade publication announced to the glass trade that
The forth and
Cambridge had adopted a new paper label. Discontinuance of the label at
this time was confirmed in both trade and national advertising. Our
date range is, therefore, 1932 - 1937.
To recap these four labels:
1) CAMBRIDGE (figure
2) - 1927 - ?
2) CAMBRIDGE MADE IN
USA (figure 3) - ? - 1930
3) GENUINE CAMBRIDGE (figure 4) - 1930-1932
4) GENUINE HAND MADE CAMBRIDGE (figure 5) - 1932 - 1937