Lockwood Company, known formally as Lockwood Corporation and earlier as Lockwood Grader Company, was an agricultural equipment manufacturer based in Gering, Nebraska. The company initially produced potato harvesting and sorting equipment, and from the 1970s through the early 2000s it designed, manufactured and sold center pivot irrigation systems out of its Gering plant.[1]
Design and History
Lockwood Grader Corporation registered a trademark for the letter “L” with the United States Patent and Trademark Office for farm machinery and implements, including harvesters, planters, diggers and graders. The trademark expired in March 1985.[2]
The company also held a separate trademark registration for the word “LOCKWOOD” covering agricultural equipment for field and warehouse use, including potato planters, diggers, harvesters, windrowers and graders, as well as sugar beet harvesters.[3]
Lockwood Corporation filed 16 trademarks with the USPTO over its history, with a strong focus on Class 7 machinery. Its registered trademark portfolio included the mark “LC.”[4]
In November 2007, Nebraska Irrigation, Inc. of Columbus, Nebraska acquired the intellectual property of Lockwood Irrigation, doing business as Universal Irrigation in Gering, Nebraska. The acquisition included all OEM fixtures, dies, tooling and drawings.[5] Nebraska Irrigation subsequently filed a trademark for “LOCKWOOD” covering irrigation systems comprised of elongate conduit with water discharge fixtures, mechanical drivetrain and electronic guidance systems.[6]
Meaning and Symbolism
The company’s registered “L” trademark and “LC” mark indicate a letter-based identity rather than a pictorial emblem, but no official source describes the intended meaning or symbolism behind these marks.
Claims that a 1969 Lockwood logo was designed by James Cross, the Los Angeles-based graphic designer who founded Cross Associates in 1963,[7] could not be verified through available research. While Cross Associates designed corporate identity work for major clients during this period, no reliable source confirms Lockwood Corporation as one of its clients or documents a 1969 logo design by Cross for the company.
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