Radio Script #334
Little Talks On Common Things
March 3, 1957
One of the few subjects that has never before been mentioned on this program is that of patents on inventions. Mr. Webb Noyes, chief cataloguer at the Colby College Library, has called my attention to an old government document, which for many years was stored in the attic of Chemical Hall on the old campus of Colby College. When the stacks of the college library in Memorial Hall became completely overflowed, many infrequently used volumes were moved to the Chemical Hal I attic. Among those volumes was a big government document of 700 pages with th i s ti t Ie: “A Di gest of Patents I ssued by the Un i ted States from 1790 to 1 839″ •
Natura Ily I ski mmed through the book to ascerta in what patents were issued to inventors in Maine during the early years of the Republic. Of course, for the first thirty of those years there was no State of Maine, and all patents issued to persons living east of the Piscataqua were listed among the Massachusetts patents. For instance, John Shepard of Canaan patented a churn in 1811.
As early as 1798 Isaac Laze I I of Scarborough patented a device for moving rocks. In 1810 a window sash was patented by Eben Bassford of Livermore. Over in Fayette David Watson protected his design for wheel boxes and hubs.
After 1820 the Ma i ne patents are eas i er to detect, and there was an unbeI ievab Iy large number of them. Allover the country peep Ie were trying to get better and easier worki ng churns, for a I most every fami Iy made its own butter at home. Maine inventors vied with those of the other states in this business of turn i ng out new and bette r ch urns. Among them we re Asa Humph rey of Gray, Nathan Whi tney of Augusta, Webber Furbish of Halla-lell, Benjamin Randall of Pownal, Samuel Clark of Parkman and William Herrick of Greene.
Two citizens of Jay received churn patents just a year apart. In 1835 Reading Ryerson of Jay patented cutting floats for a churn, and in 1836 Samuel Jackson of the same town patented a churn dash. Hundreds of inventors were trying to improve that universal agricultural implement, the plow; but between 1820 and 1839 just one plow patent was issued to a Maine man. He was Guy Gray of Industry, who patented a breaking and cultivating plow in 1835.
Threshing grain with the hand flai I was arduous work, and a lot of farmers were trying to perfect some sort of a machine to lighten that labor. In 1834 Peter Morgridge of Chestervil Ie devised a machine to thresh and clean clover seed. Alexander Porter of New Vineyard, in 1835, brought out a machine for threshing and cleaning grain. Samuel Lane of Hal lowe I I did the same for wheat in 1831. It was in the 1830’s also that Samuel Gould of New Portland bui It a machine to thresh and hul I grass seed.
A number of patents were held by men whose residence was given as Kennebec, Maine. John Shaw of that place patented a threshing machine in )826. Ebenezer Chandler of the same place put his patent on a simi far machine in 1834. As early as 1814 Mark Andrews of Kennebec had protected his new water wheel. Where was the town of Kennebec? Because the name of that town was changed just a little more than a hundred years ago, I suspect that many people now living in the town that once had the name Kennebec are not even aware of it. It was the town of Manchester, which was first incorporated as Kennebec and changed to Manchester in 1854.
To my surprise very few patents were issued to Maine people for inventions connected with navigation. In 1833 John Bearce of Bristol did perfect a new method of constructing decks of ships, and in 1836 Samuel Trask of Hallowell made an ice-cutting machine. Daniel Flint of Nobleboro patented a device for cutting plugs for ships; Henry Babb of Westbrook made a new kind of raft; David Stackpole of Portland had a new scheme for tightening shrouds; and Fred Kings~ bury of 8ath worked out a more eas i Iy operated steering whee I. Wh i Ie those six Maine men we’re fi ling for navigation patents, more than a hundred in Massachusetts, and nearly a hundred in New York were dOing the same thing. Perhaps we ought to add a seventh Maine man to the list, because his patent did have something to do with navigation. He was Leonard Norcross of Dixfield, who in 1834 patented an elastic diving suit.
Grist mi lis, saw mi lis and cider mi lis did attract the attention of Maine inventors. In 1827 Will i am Torr?Y of Westb rook perfected a cast i ron bark mi I I. Two years later Moses Bliss of Pittston patented a cider mill. Webber Furbish of Ha I lowe II made a corn breaker. Mark Chase of Frankfort patented a grist mi II. David Flagg of Gardiner secured a patent on what was called a !Tfami Iy grist mi II”. And down in ~ Ifast Nathan Reed secured protection for his hominy mill.
Mills operated by horse power were common in the first part of the nineteenth century, and a lot of inventors were securing patents for changes and improvements on them. Some of the Maine men who secured such patents were Sylvanus Leonard of Hampden, Moses Davenport of Phi Ilips and Charles Gi Ibert of Leeds.
was interested to learn that at least one patent was issued to a \”Iaterville citizen in those early years. In 1826 William Kendall, Jr. of Waterville got a patent on an extending motion device for a mi II. He was a son of General Wi II iam Kendall, for whom was named Kendal Is Mi lis, now Fairfield Vi Ilage.
In the processing of lumber, Maine inventors were also busy_ Jonathan Newha II of Wash i ngton made a have I whee I for a plane; Ben Parker of E I I sworth patented a belt for a saw; Phineas Quimby of Belfast worked out a primitive kind of cha i n saw; and the same Will i am Kenda II, J r _ of Wate rvi lie got a patent on saw i ng boa rds • A few years I ater the same Watervi.1 Ie man was patenti n9 a reciprocating saw mi I I.
Almost everything in the lumber industry claimed the attention of Maine ingenuity. Elkanah Leonard of Canton worked out new guages for a shingle machine, whi Ie Amasa Andrews of Livermore was patenting the machine itself. Over in my native town of Bridgton in 1826 Oliver Goddard had thought out a new way to saw shingles, and over in Minot Isaac Drake had a machine for turning out clapboards. In Vassalboro Josiah Fairfield made a scale board for shaving shingles. Job White of Belfast made a veneer machine and Ben Hinckley of Fayette perfected a scheme for gluing veneer.
A lot of Maine people were concerned with tanning. Wi I lis Berry of New Sharon patented a device for softening hides; James Banks of Dixmont was concerned with removing the hair; Benjamin Emery of Bath wanted better skiving of leather; and among the Maine men who got patents for tanning were Jonathan Prescott of Augusta, Samuel Brooks of Portland and Daniel Bell of Gorham.
Ever since I discovered the controversy over the use of stoves, in the columns of Drew’s Rural Intelligencer in 1854, I have wondered when it was that stoves came to be at all common. Some of you wil I recal I the story of that controversy as I told it on this program several years ago. The opponents of stoves, including Editor Drew, claimed that they were injurious to health as well as dangerous to use, and that fireplaces were a lot more useful and more san i tary.
Wei I, this old patent directory gives us some interesting information about stoves. Of course the ear I i est ones came before the Patent Off ice was established in 1790. You all know that Benjamin Franklin had made a workable stove long before that date. But stoves were beginning to attract the attention of inventors in earnest after 1790. The directory lists 90 different patents having to do with cooking stoves, and 112 for heating stoves. That is sufficient evidence of the popularity of stoves between 1790 and 1839.
The earliest recorded stove patent in this old directory was one issued for the design of a cast iron stove by Robert Hetierick of Pennsylvania on June 11, 1793. Two patents for stoves went in 1797 to Thomas Hirst of Pennsylvania and Ca leb WheaTon of Massachusetts. The next year a patent was secured by John Godfrey of Connect i cut, and in 1799 one went to Henry AbboTt of Pennsy I van i a . Those fi-ve patents constituted the entire lisT for stoves in the last decade of the 18th century.
When The 19th century was well under way, a few Maine men got into the picture. In 1832 Asa Graham of Rumford secured a patent on a method of constructing a stove and chimney. In 1834 David Quimby of Calais made a venti la~ ting stove. In 1835 Daniel SUTherland of Lisbon invented a combination stove and fireplace, but whether it was something like the fami liar Franklin stove we do not know. And right here in Watervi lie Nathaniel Russell got a patent on a stove i n 1 836 •
It would be many years before central heating of any kind would become at all coovnon, but as early as 1835 Robert Rogers of South Berwick, Maine had invented and patented a method of warming bui Idings by radiated heat.
One section of the patent directory is devoted to what the title cal Is rtFi re-Arms and Imp lements of vlarH. In th is list we find Watervi lie represenTed, for in 1838 F. P. Havi land and E. A. Bennett of Watervi lie, Maine patented what was called a many-chambered pistol. Nine years earlier, in 1829, Robert Eastman of Brunswick had secured a patent on a new method of discharging a gun. As early as 1827 Simon Cromwell of Edgecomb had invented a new type of lock gun, but he was preceded by Alexander Colvi lie of LiTtle River, who invented a lock gun in the very year that Maine became a state, 1820. EnTirely missing is thename of the Maine man who was to be the most famous developer of fire-arms in the latter part of the century, Hiram Maxim, inventor of the machine-gun. Maxim had not come on the scene in 1839.
The final classification in the old patent directory is called “Miscellaneous”, in which The Patent Office placed anything That could not properly be put under one of the 21 regular headings. Just one Maine patent is found in this list of miscellany. It was for a spinning spool for tobacco, issued to Samuel Hardy of Kennebec (Manchester) on December 30, 1820. Although none of them went to Maine men, some of the other patents in This catch-a I I list are interesting.
There was a new method for scalding hogs, fencing made of clay posts, cushion for a bi I liard table, a coffin of hydraulic cement, a device for driving away flies, a machine for stopping horses, a hurdle for rearing si Ikworms, an Indian rub’ber mai I bag, an oyster platform, a machine for splitting palm leaf to make fans, and a new way of making friction matches. Thomas Nei I I of Herkersvi lie, Ohio developed a new mouse-trap, but whether it caused a beaten path to his door, history saith not.
Speaking of inventions, it is time that we paid tribute on this program to a present-day local inventor who has won national and even international renown.
He is Herbert Brown of Fairfield, unti I his retiremenT a few years ago a member of the firm of the Emery Brown Company of \’Iatervi lie. Do you remember the an imated doll playi ng the organ in the Emery-Brown store at Christmas time? That was the first of Herbert Brown’s organ playing dolls — the first of more than a thousand organs and dolls that Herbert has made and distr,i}buted, not only over the United STates, but to England, the Scandinavian counTries, and even to Austra I ia.
Perhaps you saw the illustrated article on Herbert Brown and his organs, wh i ch Di ck Dyer wrote for the December 23rd issue of the Port land Sunday Te legram. I f so, you know that Herbert began wi th Sh i r ley Temp Ie dolls, later changed to Snow WhJ te and Deanna Durb in. Nowadays most of Brown’s orders are for Santa Claus as the figure whose hands move over the organ keys. Personally I am interested in Brown’s newest helper, his young apprentice to whom Brown is teaching the trade — 81-year old Steve Wing. Steve has put me on track of many items for this program during the past eight years. Now he is himself making history with Herbert Brown.
What many people do not know — because it happened many years ago — is that Herbert Brown started his career as a maker of pants in his father’s rittie factory in the bui Iding that became the Fairfield Opera House. From pants to organs played by an animaTed Santa Claus is a long career journey, but if you wi I I forgive the play on words, we have come to a time when al lover the world, someone pants for Herbert Brown’s organs.
Year: 1957