I agree, Willis, the primary purpose was as a deterrent that told your competitors that you were serious about protecting your intellectual property, but at the same time signaled to the market that you were a professional manufacturer. Detail changes were commonly produced patent pending, which is why the application date is more important in dating the production of details than the patent date. After all, they didn't know if the patent grant would take 6 weeks or 6 years. Exceptions to this, in the case of Dietz, were globes and burners which they consistently produced 3 to 5 years after the patent was granted.