A biographical sketch; lists of exhibitions; a Westwood Art Association certificate of merit, 1965; a ribbon for second place in the 9th Annual Art Festival, Perris, California; correspondence concerning the development of inventions, undated and 1932-1939; an illustrated letter, October 1972; Marsha Goodman's address book; a notebook about the activities of the American Rocket Society, 1932-1939; notes on inventions, 1935-1936; writings by Goodman;
honorable discharge papers, 1942; legal records for the Goodman family and concerning inventions, 1931-1972; receipts, invoices for medical expenses, and price lists for works of art, 1957-1972; income tax returns, 1942-1964; art works, including eleven drawings, one of a rocket, undated and 1929-1937; clippings, 1941-1973; exhibition announcements and catalogs, 1965-1975; calling cards; miscellaneous printed material; and photographs of Goodman, his family and friends, and works of art.
Biographical / Historical:
Assemblage artist, and inventor; New York, N.Y. and Los Angeles, California.
Provenance:
Donated 1976 by Hal Glicksman, relationship to Goodman unclear.
Restrictions:
This collection is temporarily closed to researchers due to archival processing. Contact Reference Services for more information.
This collection contains a diverse selection of materials that address a variety of aspects of the ITT Industrial Laboratories in Fort Wayne, Indiana. There are research and development notebooks from various scientists and engineers, reports and articles on products being developed and research being conducted, technical drawings, a large body of product information, and photographs of products and research projects. People represented in the collection include: George Papp, Hans W.G. Salinger, Philo T. Farnsworth, Madison Cawein, Robert L. Hirsch, Sanford F. Essig, H.J. Lott, and Edward H. Eberhardt. When these materials came to the Archives Center a portion of them were housed in envelopes with captions written on them. The envelopes were photocopied to preserve the information and the contents were incorporated into the above series in order to facilitate intellectual access to the materials.
Arrangement:
The collection is divided into six series
Series 1: Company Records, 1937-1984
Series 2: George Papp, 1938-1964
Series 3: Hans W.G. Salinger, 1944-1945
Series 4: Research Records, 1934-1969
Series 5: Product Information, 1955-1979
Series 6: Photographs, 1960-1965
Biographical / Historical:
The ITT Corporation Industrial Research Laboratories, Electron Tube Division's laboratories in Fort Wayne, Indiana conducted research and product development in the field of special purpose vacuum tubes and sensors. Their history in the research and development of these special purpose devices originated in Fort Wayne in 1939, when Philo T. Farnsworth, the inventor of television, moved there. What brought him there was that his company, Farnsworth Television and Radio Corporation, purchased the Capehart Incorporated plant in Fort Wayne.
Rather than build a plant of their own, Farnsworth Television and Radio Corporation decided to purchase the plant, which had a reputation for building quality phonographs, and retool it to build radio and television receivers. Farnsworth and his engineers' research at the plant lead to the invention of numerous devices, including amplifier tubes, cathode-ray tubes, vacuum tubes, electron multipliers, and photoelectric materials.
The laboratories in Fort Wayne were responsible for developing new technical concepts, methods and designs of tubes, sensors and devices for application in industrial, government and commercial markets. Laboratory activities included applied research, advanced development and product design, and development and fabrication. They concentrated their efforts on designing and developing components which operated in the infrared, visible and ultraviolet portions of the electromagnetic spectrum.
Their various areas of research and development led to a diverse offering of products, including: multiplier phototubes (for stellar observation, star tracking, laser detection, vibration analysis, scintillation counting); vacuum photodiodes (for laser detection, scintillation detection, high speed switching, solar radiation monitoring, interference detection); image dissectors (for slow scan TV systems, slide projector readers, industrial process control, electronic star trackers, electronic scanning spectrometers); electron multipliers (for space research, radiation detection, vacuum monochromators, single particle counting, demountable vacuum systems), image converters (for high-speed photography, infrared viewing and surveillance, optical correlation, pulsed light systems, ultraviolet detection and viewing), correlation devices (for motion compensation, area correlation, map reading, document reading, tracking), and accessories (for focusing magnets, image dissector cameras, focusing and deflection coil assemblies and yokes, phototube holders, power supplies).
The Tube and Sensor Laboratories were world leaders in the areas of photometric quantum detectors, image devices, camera tubes, and optical pattern correlators. Some of their major developments included the Star Tracker sensors used in the Lunar Orbiter Program, Vidissector camera tubes used in several observational satellites, and the cockpit display storage tubes used in the F105 Thunderchief and A4D Skyhawk fighter planes.
They were innovators in developing a number of specialized high vacuum devices including: image dissectors, star tracking dissectors and multiplier phototubes, single quantum counting photomultipliers, grid-controlled photomultipliers, biplanar and laser monitoring photodiodes, windowless electron multipliers and single particle detectors, ultraviolet sensitive photodiodes, image converters, image storage and image correlation tubes, and spectral response information.
Throughout the collection there are numerous names that the laboratories were known as that reflects different stages in the company's development. What follows is a chronology of the names of the laboratories in Fort Wayne, Indiana:
1929 – Capehart Corporation
1936 – Capehart, Inc.
1938 – Farnsworth Television & Radio Corporation
1949 – Capehart-Farnsworth Corporation
1953 – Capehart-Farnsworth Company, Division of ITT
1954 – Farnsworth Electronics Company, Division of ITT
1958 – ITT Laboratories, Division of ITT
1960 – ITT Federal Laboratories
1962 – ITT Industrial Laboratories
1969 – ITT Electron Tube Division, Tube and Sensor Laboratories
1973 – ITT Electro-Optical Products Division, Tube and Sensor Laboratories
Related Materials:
130 vacuum tubes, many related to Philo Farnsworth were donated to the Division of Information Technology & Society, National Museum of American History.
Provenance:
ITT donated the collection to the Division of Information, Technology & Society, National Museum of American History through Elaine Tuttle, Vice President of Director of Contracts on September 4, 1992. The collection was transferred to the Archives Center on September 13, 2002.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Search this
Extent:
0.5 Cubic feet (5 boxes)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Videotapes
Oral history
Interviews
Date:
1998 January 16
1998 April 28
1996 - 1996
Summary:
Original, master, and reference videos documenting an Innovative Lives presentation and interview with Ashok Gadgil, inventor of the UV Waterworks disinfectant unit.
Scope and Contents:
This collection contains original, master, and reference videos, and audio cassettes documenting Ashok Gadgil, inventor of the UV Waterworks, a water purifier.
Arrangement:
The collection is divided into four series.
Series 1: Original videos, 1998
Series 2: Master Videos, 1998
Series 3: Reference Videos, 1998
Series 4: Photographs and Slides, 1998
Biographical / Historical:
Ashok Gadgil, was born in India and is a physicist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California. Gadgil invented the UV Waterworks, a water purifier that provided reliable, inexpensive water disinfection for the world. The UV Waterworks uses ultraviolet light to kill waterborne pathogens (bacteria, viruses, and molds) and thus purify drinking water. The key to this invention is the effect ultraviolet light has on bacteria and viruses--it triggers the formation of peptide bonds between certain nucleic acids in the pathogens' DNA molecules, which robs them of the ability to reproduce and renders them harmless. Water, powered by gravity, flows down through pipes, passing into a tray where it is exposed to twelve seconds of ultraviolet light before it flows out a spigot. Gadgil used sheet metal, UV lamps, and stainless-steel piping to create this invention.
Separated Materials:
UV Water Works Disinfectant unit is located in the Division of Medicine and Science. See accession #: 1998.0158.01.
Provenance:
This video presentation and interview was created by the Innovative Lives Program of the Jerome and Dorothy Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation on April 28, 1998.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
The collection documents the invention of the Jogbra and includes biographical materials, business records, photographs, promotional, marketing and advertising materials, correspondence and audiovisual materials.
Scope and Contents:
The collection documents the invention of the sports bra primarily through marketing and promotional materials. The collection also documents the Jogbra, Inc. company activities, and includes biographical materials, business records, promotional, marketing and advertising materials, photographs, patent records, and audiovisual materials.
Arrangement:
The collection is divided into six series.
Series 1: Biographical Materials, 1980-2006
Series 2: Business Records, 1979-1999
Subseries 2.1: JBI, Inc., 1979-1996
Subseries 2.2: Champion Jogbra, 1988-1999
Series 3: Photographs, 1978-2008
Series 4: Promotional and Marketing Materials, 1979-2000
Series 5: Patent Records, 1978-2003
Series 6: Audiovisual Materials, 1993
Biographical / Historical:
Lisa Lindahl was frustrated by the inadequacy of her everyday bra when she began jogging in the early 1970s. When her sister, Victoria Woodrow began jogging she met with the same issues and called Lisa to ask what she did about it. Commiserating over their problems, Victoria asked, "What do you do about all the breast movement? It's so uncomfortable." And Lisa said, "I don't know. It really is uncomfortable." Victoria said, "Why isn't there a jock strap for women?" Lisa laughed back and said, "Yeah, same idea, different part of the anatomy. Wouldn't that be great?" The sisters hung up laughing and Lisa sat down and opened up a spiral notebook to record her thoughts and design criteria for this "jock bra." "Here's a bra made just for jogging. What would it do?" And Lindahl wrote, "Okay, the straps would not fall off my shoulders and there wouldn't be any hardware to dig in and it would be comfortable and maybe even breathable, and it would stop my breasts from bouncing."
Lindahl engaged her childhood friend Polly Palmer Smith in her effort to solve the bra problem. They found no suitable products in retail stores, but were inspired by Lisa's husband, Al Lindahl, who took a jock strap and pulled it over his head and down over his chest and said, "Hey ladies, here's your jock bra." Lisa said, "I had to get into the act, so I jumped up and said, "Let me try it. Let me try." And I pulled his jock strap up and over my head and pulled the pouch over my breast and the waistband of the jockstrap went around my rib and I kind of jumped up on bed and I said, "Polly, Polly, look at this, look at this." They went to multiple stores and inquired but could not find a bra that fit their needs--a bra that kept the breasts pressed flat against the chest and eliminated motion. They also wanted something without seams and hooks, wire or other metal elements. Lindahl, along with Polly Palmer Smith, a childhood friend from New Jersey, sewed a pair of jockstraps together creating a few prototypes.
Smith introduced Lindahl to Hinda Schreiber, a fellow costume designer and classmate at New York University. Schreiber worked as an assistant to Smith at the Champlain Shakespeare Festival held at the University of Vermont in the summer of 1977. With interest in and enthusiasm for the idea of creating more jogbras, Schreiber joined Lindahl and Smith. They called their product the "jockbra" but later changed it to "Jogbra," figuring that the word "jock" might be a turn-off for some women. On November 20, 1979, US Patent 4,174,717 for an athletic brassiere was issued to the three co-inventors. Subsequent US patents include:
Eugenie Z. Lindahl, Hinda S. Schreiber, and Polly P. Smith, Des. 259,370 for a brassiere, 1981; and US 4,311,150 for an athletic brassiere, 1982.
Eugenie Z. Lindahl and Hinda Schreiber, Des. 260,445 for an athletic shirt, 1981 and Des. 301,518 for a brassiere, 1989.
LaJean Lawson and Hinda Miller, US 6,083,080 for a protective brassiere with local energy absorption, 2000.
Lesli R. Bell and Eugenie Z. Lindahl, US 6,860,789 for a compression garment, 2005.
Lindahl started the company Jogbra, Inc. in 1977 and then re-named it SLS, Inc. (for Smith, Lindahl, Schreiber) in early 1978. As President of the company, Lindahl issued equal shares to herself, Smith and Schreiber. The name changed again to Jogbra Inc., for a brief time, before finally becoming JBI, Inc. in the early 1980s. Marketing their new product (with start-up capital lent by Miller's father, Bruce L. Schreiber) was a challenge. According to Lindahl, buyers for sporting goods stores were "squeamish" about displaying bras, which did not look like lingerie, but an athletic garment. Stores that did feature the jogbra were pleased by how well it sold. Miller placed strong emphasis on the point of purchase advertising and packaging. The jogbra line of products expanded to include a women's and men's sport brief, the Thermobra and Thermobrief. Soon, a number of other manufacturers, including Vanity Fair, Olga, and Warner, were entering the sports bra market.
JBI, Inc. was bought by Playtex Apparel, Inc. in 1990 and Playtex Apparel sold it to the Sara Lee Corporation in 1991. Throughout these transitions, Schreiber served as began as Vice-President and, in 1983, became President of the then JBI, Inc. when Lindahl became CEO and Chair of their Advisory Board of Directors. Smith was never active in the company and had become a minority shareholder. When JBI, Inc. was sold to Playtex Apparel, Miller and Lindahl became co-presidents of the new Jogbra Division until Lindahl left the company in 1991. Miller (née Schreiber) continued to serve as president and became CEO of the Champion Jogbra Division of Sara Lee in 1994. Miller left the company in 1997 to pursue other interests.
Lisa Z. Lindahl (November 23, 1948-) was born Eugénie Louise Zobian in Montclair, New Jersey to Florence and Ernest Zobian. The Zobians had four children, Ernest Jr., Mark, Victoria, and Eugénie, known as "Lisa." Lindahl graduated from Vernon Court Junior College in Newport, Rhode Island (1968), the Katherine Gibbs Secretarial School (1969), and later graduated from the University of Vermont with a bachelor's degree in education [1977]. She received a master's degree in culture and spirituality from Holy Names University in California in 2007. In 1970, Lindahl married Alfred Lindahl and divorced in 1978. Lindahl was diagnosed with epilepsy at age four and would later serve as Senior Vice President of the Board of Directors of the Epilepsy Foundation from 1991 to 2000 where, as Chair of the Women and Epilepsy Task Force she brought legitimacy to the gender differences in epilepsy and epilepsy treatments. In 2001, Lindahl co-founded, with Dr. Lesli Bell, the Lightning2 Company (dba Bellisse) to design and market their patented Compressure Comfort Bra, a compression garment for women suffering from lymphedema. Lindahl is the author of two books: Beauty As Action, The Way of True Beauty and How Its Practice Can Change Our World (2017) and Unleash the Girls, The Untold Story of the Invention of the Sports Bra and How It Changed the World (And Me), (2019). She continues to write and pursue other artistic interests.
Hinda Schreiber Miller (April 18, 1950-) was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. She graduated from the Parsons School of Design (B.F.A., 1972) and from New York University (M.F.A., 1976). A costume designer by training, Miller taught costume design at the University of South Carolina. Miller later became a Vermont state senator (2002-2013) representing the Chittenden District which includes all of Chittenden County. Miller ran unsuccessfully for mayor of Burlington, Vermont in 2006. She is presently president of DeForest Concepts, a consulting firm specializing in small business and the promotion of women entrepreneurs. Miller is married to Dr. Joel Miller and has two children.
Polly Palmer Smith (November 10, 1949-) was born in Montclair, New Jersey. She graduated from the Moore College of Art & Design with a (B.F.A., XXXX) and New York University (M.F.A., 197X). She joined the Jim Henson Company in 1978 where she worked as a costume designer for twenty-five years. Smith worked on films such as the Dark Crystal, The Muppets Take Manhattan, and Labyrinth. Some of her television work includes Fraggle Rock and Muppet Treasure Island. Smith received Emmy nominations for her designs for The Jim Henson Hour (1988) and Muppets Tonight (1996) and she received seven Emmy awards for her designs on Sesame Street. Smith also co-designed costumes for the television series The StoryTeller (1986-1988) which won a British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) award for Best Costumes in 1989.
Polly Palmer Smith (November 10, 1949-) was raised in Montclair, New Jersey. She graduated from the Moore College of Art & Design with a (B.F.A., 1971) and New York University (M.F.A., 1975). She joined the Jim Henson Company in 1978 where she worked as a costume designer for twenty-five years. Smith worked on films such as the Dark Crystal, The Muppets Take Manhattan, and Labyrinth. Some of her television work includes Fraggle Rock and Muppet Treasure Island. Smith received Emmy nominations for her designs for The Jim Henson Hour (1988) and Muppets Tonight (1996) and she received seven Emmy awards for her designs on Sesame Street. Smith also co-designed costumes for the television series The StoryTeller (1986-1988) which won a British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) award for Best Costumes in 1989.
Historical:
The introduction of the sports bra made greater sports participation possible for many American women. Many women were reluctant to engage in sports such as running, basketball, and tennis because of the embarrassment and discomfort associated with excessive breast motion. The passage of Title IX (1972) and James Fixx's popular 1977 book, The Complete Book of Running, contributed to the increased popularity of sports for women. This increase in women's sports exposed the inadequacies of conventional brassieres for athletic use: weight shifts from bouncing caused straps on ordinary brassieres to slip around or off the shoulder; excessive motion caused friction and chafed skin; and hooks or other metallic elements tended to poke into the skin; and excessive bouncing caused soreness.
Related Materials:
Materials at Other Organizations
Vermont Historical Society
Champion jogbra [publicity folder], 1988-2004
Summary: This packet of information contains photocopies and reprints of articles and advertisements from various publications, and press releases, published or released between 1988-2004, about the creation and development of the women's sports bra, Jogbra, by its inventors Hinda Miller and Lisa Lindahl.
Original jogbra
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Jogbra Brassiere, 1979. See Accession: 1980.51.
Separated Materials:
The Division of Culture and the Arts, National Museum of American History, holds Jogbra-related artifacts. See accession 2013.0322.
Provenance:
The collection was donated by Hinda Miller in 2013.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Reference copies do not exist. Use of these materials requires special arrangement. Gloves must be worn when handling unprotected photographs and negatives.
Social Security numbers are present and numbers have been rendered unreadable and redacted. Researchers may use the photocopies in the collection. The remainder of the collection has no restrictions.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
The papers document independent inventor Solomon Adler's work with sewing machine technology through correspondence, photographs, notes, drawings, sketches, patents, litigation records, and printed materials. The collection provides insight into both an independent inventor's process of invention and Japanese work culture during the post-World War II period.
Scope and Contents:
The papers include correspondence, photographs, notes, drawings, sketches, patents, litigation records, and printed materials, primarily documenting Adler's work with sewing machine technology. The papers provide insight into an independent inventor's process of invention and Japanese work culture during the post-World War II period.
Series 1, Personal Materials, 1920s-1950s and undated consists primarily of high school chemistry and biology notes, business cards, photographs, speeches, and writings of Sol Adler. The photographs contain one black-and-white portrait of Adler, November 1958, and two negatives of him from the nineteen teens; and one scanned copy of a photograph, circa the 1920s of Sol Adler with his children, R. Michael and Diane Zoe Adler. There is a small booklet, Agreement between Manufacturers Machine and Tool Co., Inc., and Amalgamated Machine and Instrument Local No. 475 from 1941. Adler worked for Manufacturers Machine and Tool Co., Inc.
Series 2, Inventions, is divided into two subseries: Subseries 1, Other, 1919-1980 and undated, and Subseries 2, Sewing Machines, 1938-1962 and undated. Arranged chronologically, both subseries highlight Adler's inventive work. While the primary focus of Adler's invention work was on sewing machines, his interests were broad.
Subseries 2.1, Other Inventions, 1919-1980 and undated, contains documentation in the form of drawings and sketches, photographs, correspondence, and patents. Overall, the documentation is uneven. The inventions include a dividing head (a specialized tool that allows a workpiece to be easily and precisely rotated to preset angles or circular divisions); decorative window treatment; telescoping umbrella; can opener; question/answer machine; correlating device; radio station recording device; receptacle tap; fountain pen; television projection device; combined ash tray and cigarette holder; automatic machine gun; juice blender; thermonuclear idea; apparatus for producing pile fabric; an extensible, retractable and concealable table; and textile machinery.
Only some of Adler's inventions were patented. However, many of his ideas were well documented through drawings or descriptive text. In some instances prototypes were built.
The question and answer machine, 1939, was approximately three feet by four feet and was powered by a battery, the device was intended for educational use by children and adults. It used interchangeable answer cards on a broad range of subjects and informed the user of a correct and wrong answer by lights and a buzzer.
The correlating device, 1942, was designed for automobile use, and it combined driving directions and maps on a roll of paper data mounted on the dashboard. Although patented (US Patent 2,282,843), the device was never manufactured.
The radio station recording device, 1939, was a device to maintain a record of radio stations tuned on a radio receiver during a twenty-four hour period using recording disks.
The receptacle tap (Siphon-It), 1939, was patented (US Patent 2,184,263). The Siphon-It was designed to fit any size bottle, can, or the like containing fluids without removing the bottle cap. The "tap" punctured the bottle cap and was then turned like a screw several times. It allowed the contents under pressure to not lose carbonation and be poured easily.
The combined ash tray and cigarette holder and lighter, 1951, was Adler's only design patent (US Patent Des. 163,984). Purely ornamental, the tray would light and hold a cigarette.
The automatic machine gun, 1952, was conceived of by Adler and his son R. Michael Adler. The drawings and accompanying narrative text detail a method for cooling the gun through the use of an automatically operated gas turbine centrifugal air compressor and a gun of simple design with few parts and capable of an extremely high rate of fire. Adler submitted his drawings and text to the United States Army Ordance Department at the Pentagon, but it was not manufactured.
Adler's thermonuclear fusion proposal, a technical paper written in 1960, was never realized. The paper, titled "Attempt to Utilize the Concentrated Magnetic Field Around a Pinched Plasma Column as the Focal Point for Particle Acceleration," details through text and schematics Adler's ideas about a thermonuclear reactor. Additionally, there is correspondence, journal articles, newspaper articles, and a notebook with notes from other publications and some loose drawings related to thermonuclear issues.
An apparatus for producing pile fabric (US Patent 3,309,252), was patented in 1967. The intention of the apparatus was to create a method for producing carpets and rugs in a fast, practical, and inexpensive way.
Adler's work with non-woven textiles and fabrics (see US Patent 3,250,655) is well documented through correspondence, drawings, notes, fabric samples, and photographs. Adler founded the Adler Process Corporation in the 1960s as a research and development organization specializing in the development of products for domestic and industrial uses. The corporation also built machinery for the commercial production of the products which included pile fabric (such as carpeting), non-woven fabrics, and leather-like material. A prospectus details the "Adler Process."
Method and apparatus for production of pile carpeting and the like (US Patent 3,424,632, 3,592,374, and 3,655,490)
Subseries 2.2, Sewing machines, 1938-1962 and undated, consists primarily of documentation about the development of the Pacesetter sewing machine and its predecessors through correspondence, drawings and sketches, photographs, guide manuals, and promotional materials. Adler constructed skeletal aluminum models to better understand the functions and internal mechanisms of sewing machines. Between 1940 and 1948, he designed and constructed a sewing machine prototype, which he called his "Parent Machine." The Parent Machine would become known as the Pacesetter. Seven patents were awarded for the novel mechanisms contained within this prototype (US Patent 2,561,643), the most notable being for a compact sewing machine that could expand to a full-sized machine. Additional sewing machine inventions include the needleless sewing machine; a zig-zag sewing machine, and an attachment for a zig-zag sewing machine (US Patent 3,016,030).
While working as an engineer for the Brother International Corporation in Japan in the early 1950s, Adler developed the Pacesetter sewing machine. This portable machine was designed to meet the rapidly growing popularity of multiple decorative and embroidery patterns. A selector dial, which Adler called the "Wishing Dial," controlled sixteen internal cams, multiple cam selectors and followers to automatically sew thirty different basic decorative stitch patterns. Since the Pacesetter could sew both zigzag and straight stitches, varying the width and length of the basic patterns made it possible to create thousands of decorative variations. Adler introduced the Pacesetter sewing machine at the Independent Sewing Machine Dealers Show in New York, July 18, 1955.
Series 3: Brother International Corporation, 1954-1959 and undated
Started in 1908 by Kanekichi Yasui, the Yasui Sewing Machine Company manufactured and repaired sewing machines. The company was later renamed Yasui Brother Sewing Machine Company by Masayoshi Yasui, the eldest of Kanekichi's ten children, who inherited the company. The new name reflected the involvement and spirit of cooperation of other "brothers" in the Yasui family.
In 1934, the Yasui brothers liquidated the Yasui Brother Sewing Machine Company and created the Nippon Sewing Machine Company in Nagoya, Japan. Nippon emerged in response to a Japanese sewing machine market dominated by imported products, and it began mass producing industrial sewing machines. In 1941, Brother Sales, Ltd. was established as a sales outlet for the Japanese market, and in 1954 Brother International Corporation (BIC) was created as an exporting company with offices established in New York City. The company actively promoted exporting in advance of other Japanese companies.
Adler joined BIC in 1954 as a consultant for their product design and development work. This work was previously done in-house by design and engineering staff, so Adler, an American, was charting new territory. The materials in this series consist of corporate histories, and annual report, correspondence, product literature, conference materials, and notebooks maintained by Adler. The latter constitutes the bulk of the material along with the correspondence.
The "conference" materials document a meeting Adler attended, presumably in Japan in 1957. The file contains detailed notes about product marketing and production factors. A flow chart for "product coordinating factors" outlines the motivations, idea sources, management control, and execution of an idea generally.
The correspondence, 1954-1958, consists of letters and inter-company communications (memorandum), patents and drawings between Sol Adler, Max Hugel and the legal firm of, Kane, Dalsmier and Kane of New York. The correspondence relates almost exclusively to patenting matters, especially by Adler and legal matters involving Singer Sewing Manufacturing Company alleging that Brother International infringed on certain Singer-owned patents.
The notebooks of Solomon Adler, approximately 1951-1958, consists primarily of materials documenting Adler's work in Japan on sewing machines. The materials were assembled by Adler and titled "notebook." Some of the materials are three hole punched (indicating they may have been in a three-ring notebook) and are both handwritten and typescript. Also included are chronologies of his work; translations of Japanese words into English; drawings in pencil on tracing paper; sketches in pencil on scrap paper and letterhead; detailed notes about mechanisms and methods of sewing machine operation; business cards; comparative data for sewing machines; and correspondence.
Of note is the "digest" or chronology of events from 1958 to 1959 maintained by Adler to detail the alleged patent infringement of BIC on Singer Sewing machine patents. The digest also notes the value, author of a document, to whom it was sent, date, and a brief description. Adler created a ranking system for his digest, assigning different values, very important, urgent, important, and general. He also compiled a chart of competitor sewing machines by brand name. Many of the Japanese documents--patents and drawings--bear Adler's "chop" or rubber stamp with Japanese characters for his surname.
The Litigation Materials, 1952-1961 and undated, consists of documents (numbered exhibits) assembled by Adler for use in litigation against Brother International Corporation (BIC). The exhibits were used as documentary evidence in court, and the materials are primarily typescript notes and correspondence, newspaper clippings, articles, technical drawings by Adler, patents, photographs and some product literature detailing aspects of the BIC sewing machines.
In 1958, Singer Sewing Machine Company filed a lawsuit against Nippon Sewing Machine Company for patent infringement by BIC's Pacesetter and Select-O-Matic sewing machines. Adler, on behalf of Nippon, conducted extensive patent research into the allegations, working with BIC attorneys in New York as well as creating new sewing machine designs to overcome Singer's claims. In 1959, Singer filed another lawsuit alleging that Nippon was violating United States customs laws by shipping automatic zigzag sewing machines to the United States, which were alleged to infringe on Singer patents. Correspondence related to this patent infringement can be found in Series 3: Brother International Corporation.
Adler returned to the United States in April of 1959 as the representative for Nippon and the Japanese sewing machine industry to help prepare the case and act as a consultant. BIC and Singer representatives appeared before the United States Tariff Commission (USTC). Adler officially testified on behalf of BIC, explaining the three angle cam structure difference between the Singer #401 sewing machine and imported Japanese sewing machines. Adler's testimony was successful, and with patent problems resolved, Adler resigned from BIC in July of 1959 and commenced a long negotiation with the company for financial compensation for his invention work.
Series 5, Publications, 1953-1967, consists of select issues of theNew Japan Sewing Machine News, which followed developments in the Japanese sewing machine industry and other publications featuring articles and brief pieces about sewing machines in general.
References
(http://welcome.brother.com/hk-en/about-us/history.html last accessed on March 24, 2011)
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into four series.
Series 1: Personal Materials, 1920-1950s and undated
Series 2: Inventions, 1938-1980
Subseries 1: Other, 1938-1980
Subseries 2: Sewing, 1938-1962 and undated
Series 3: Brother International Corporation, 1952-1961
Series 4: Publications, 1953-1967
Biographical / Historical:
Solomon "Sol" Adler is probably best known for his sewing machine inventions, but his portfolio of work also includes ideas and patents for a fountain pen, a window treatment, a receptacle tap, a telescoping umbrella, an ashtray, a retractable table, and jewelry designs. Adler wrote fiction as well (mostly short stories) that reflected his experiences during the early 1900s in New York City. He filled pages with themes on social protest, radicalism, mobs, unions, poverty, and sweatshop operators. In 1958 Adler wrote about theories of nuclear physics, noting, "Indeed a very bold attempt and definitely a long way from sewing machines." Adler's flow of ideas was constant, and he sought to express them constantly.
Sol Adler was born on July 8, 1901, [Russian?] on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, one of Isaac and Mindel Adler's five children. Isaac was a tailor, so sewing machines were part of Sol's life from the beginning. As a young man, Adler apprenticed in machine shops, honing his skills until he became an expert machinist and toolmaker; these skills eventually allowed him to build the machines he visualized. Adler's design drawings show his precision as a draftsman and engineer (he attended the City College of New York) and provide good insight into the drawing abilities that he later used in preparing patent drawings. Adler also enjoyed metalworking. His home workshop boasted a geared lathe, tilling head machine, drill press, bench grinder, and an assorted hand tools.
Adler's work on sewing machines began in the late 1930s with tinkering with his sister-in-law Bess's treadle-operated Singer machine. Bess wanted a lightweight, motorized sewing machine that had enough space between the frame and the needle for large projects such as quilts. Using his own basement machine shop, Adler began building simple frameworks for sewing machines to understand better the relationships between the parts and their functions. Adler's first sewing machine (which he dubbed the "parent machine") earned U.S. Patent 2,561,643, issued in 1951. The machine was a full-size home machine, with a concealed motor and power cord that could also expand into a commercial-size machine. Six subsequent patents for subassemblies were derived from the "parent machine" over the next several years.
During the Second World War, Adler worked for Manufacturing Methods Technology (MM&T) as a development engineer and experimental machine shop supervisor.
Analyzing the evolving U.S. domestic sewing machine market gave Adler ideas for further inventions, refining the machines and adding new features. Unfortunately, success was elusive; his machine with zigzag and straight-stitch capability was rejected by several U.S. and European sewing machine manufacturers. But in 1954, Adler met Max Hugel, president of the Asiatic Commerce Corporation of New York, later known as Brother International Corporation (BIC), a subsidiary of the Nippon Company. Nippon wanted to solve certain design and operational problems it was having in developing a zigzag sewing machine for sale in the United States. Adler joined BIC, moved to Japan, and succeeded in helping correct the design issues. Adler named the machine the "Select-O-Matic" because by turning a few knobs, an operator could select one of the six patterns that the machine produced.
Adler stayed with BIC until 1959, and worked on a variety of sewing machines, including an automatic zigzag machine and the versatile "Pacesetter," which was unveiled in the United States to great acclaim at the Sewing Machine Show in New York City on July 18, 1955 (a version of the Pacesetter is still sold by Brother). Additionally, he worked on a line of industrial and domestic sewing machines, home washing machines, home knitting machines, and other small appliances. Adler earned several Japanese patents for his work.
Among Adler's writings is a pronouncement of his passion for invention: "When an idea is conceived by an inventor, it never leaves him in peace, it possesses him day and night until it is expressed, after which he enjoys a sense of relief and accomplishment."
Adler married Fay (neé Kagan) in 1928. They had two children, Ralph Michael Adler and Diane Zoe Adler. Adler died on May 31, 1989 at the age of 88.
Issued United States Patents:
Receptacle tap (2,184,263)
Correlating device (2,284,843)
Sewing machine (2,561,643)
Sewing machine feed (2,473,934)
Bobbin winder for sewing machine (2,455,638)
Extension leaf for sewing machines (2,464,838)
Sewing machine feed (2,473,934)
Threading device (2,516,171)
Sewing machine pressure bar (2,554,970)
Sewing machine needle bar operating mechanism (2,554,971)
Sewing machine (2,561,643)
Sewing machine (2,709,978)
Attachment for zigzag sewing machines (3,016,030)
Sewing machine (3,053,207) assigned to Nippon Sewing Machine Manufacturing Company
Sewing machine (3,055,325) assigned to Nippon Sewing Machine Manufacturing Company
Method and apparatus for making non-woven fabric (3,236,711)assigned to Adler
Process Corporation
Method for producing non-woven fabric (3,250,655)
Method and apparatus for producing pile fabric (3,309,252) assigned to Adler Process Corporation
Method and apparatus for production of pile fabric and the like (3,424,632) assigned to Adler Process Corporation
Combined ashtray, cigarette holder and lighter (Des. 163,984)
Separated Materials:
The Division of Home and Community Life holds artifacts related to this collection, including several sewing machine prototypes, the Siphon-It and the combination ashtray, lighter and cigarette holder. See Accession numbers: 2009.0118 and 2009.0114.
Provenance:
The collection was donated by R. Michael Adler and Diane Zoe Adler, September, 2009. Additonal materials were donated by R. Michael Adler in 2012.
Restrictions:
The collection is open for research use.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
The collection consists of the Safe Water Book, loose filters, and a Tasita, a filter holder that connects two bottles together, created by chemist and inventor, Theresa Dankovich.
Arrangement:
Collection is unarranged.
Biographical / Historical:
Dankovich created the Safe Water Book, a book of silver-nanoparticle filter papers that kill disease and bacteria. The paper filters are called Folia Filters. The filters are used in conjunction with the Tasita, a plastic filter that holds the paper and connects two bottles together. The filters come in the form of Safe Water Books. Each book contains 26 filters and one book provides a year of safe drinking water. Dankovich holds a B.S. in fiber science from Cornell, an M.S. in agricultural and environmental chemistry from the University of California, Davis, and a Ph.D in chemistry from McGill University. She is the Chief Technology officer and Chairwoman of Folia Water, a company she founded in 2015.
Provenance:
Collection donated by Theresa Dankovich, 2016.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Made for the Smithsonian Institution by Mark Mullen, contractor, NMAH Division of Work and Industry, supervised by Roger White, curator, NMAH Division of Work and Industry. Transferred to the Archives Center, June 2015,
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research. Researchers must use reference copies available in the Smithsonian Institution Digital Asset Management System (DAMS). Archives Center reference staff will assist.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees apply when requesting reproductions.
The collection documents the creation and marketing of the Compressure Comfort Bra, a bra designed to alleviate pain for women who have had breast cancer. The bra was developed in 2000 by Lisa Lindahl with physical therapist, Lesli Bell.
Scope and Contents:
The collection consists of newspaper and magazine articles, a DVD, and promotional and marketing materials relating to a compressure comfort bra Lindahl designed for use by patients with edema following breast cancer surgery.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into one series.
Biographical / Historical:
In 1977 Lisa Lindahl, with Hinda Miller and Polly Palmer Smith, created the first sportsbra, called the Jogbra. In 2000, Lindhal partnered with Lesli Bell, a physical therapist looking to create a garment for women suffering from edema following breast cancer surgery. The two developed the Compressure Comfort Bra and founded the company Bellisse to sell their product.
Materials in the Archives Center:
Maidenform Collection (AC0585)
Jogbra, Inc. Records (AC1315)
Division of Medicine and Science Disability Reference Collection (AC1319)
Provenance:
Donated to the Archives Center in 2015 by Lisa Lindahl.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Gerber Scientific Instrument Company (Hartford, Conn.). Search this
Extent:
3 Cubic feet
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Clippings
Articles
Speeches
Place:
Hartford (Conn.)
Date:
1924 - 1999
Summary:
Records document the life and career of H. Joseph Gerber, inventor and president of Gerber Scientific, Inc. Gerber was known for his invention of the variable scale, GERBERcutter S-70, and other automated industrial devices. The records include personal records, correspondence, biographical sketches, photographs, publicity, journals and magazines, clippings, speeches, award information, and one audio recording.
Scope and Contents:
The Heinz Joseph Gerber Papers document Gerber's personal life and career as an inventor and president of Gerber Scientific, Inc. The records are arranged into six series and consist of biographical records, documentation of the Young Man in a Hurry broadcast, correspondence, publicity, speeches, and award records.
Arrangement:
The collection is organized into six series.
Series 1: Biographical, 1924-1997
Series 2: Young Man in a Hurry, 1950, 1986
Series 3: Correspondence, 1943-1996
Series 4: Publicity, 1949-1995
Subseries 1: Articles, 1950-1995
Subseries 2: Clippings, 1949-1994
Subseries 3: Publicity, 1949
Series 5: Speeches, 1952-1996
Series 6: Awards, 1952-1997
Subseries 1: Outstanding Young Man of the Year, 1952-1955
Subseries 2: R.P.I. Honorary Degree, 1981
Subseries 3: Textile Institute Companion Status, 1992-1994
Subseries 4: National Medal of Technology, 1993-1995
Subseries 5: Heinz Award, 1995
Subseries 6: Other Awards, 1988-1997
Biographical / Historical:
Heinz Joseph "Joe" Gerber was born in Vienna, Austria, on April 17, 1924. In 1940, Gerber escaped the Nazis and immigrated to New York City and then to Hartford, Connecticut, with his mother Bertha Gerber, a dressmaker. Gerber's father, Jacob, is presumed to have died in a concentration camp. Gerber attended Weaver High School and graduated in two years (1943). He attended Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in Troy, New York, on a scholarship and earned a bachelor's degree in aeronautical engineering in 1947. As a junior at RPI, Gerber developed the Gerber Variable Scale, his first invention. The earliest version of the variable scale was fashioned from an elastic band removed from a pair of pajamas. Gerber created a rubber rule and scale that could flow with a curve, expand, contract, and turn a corner. The scale allows for direct reading of curves, graphs, and graphical representations, giving direct numerical readings of proportions, spacing and interpolation. The Variable Scale became the building block of what would become Gerber Scientific Instrument Inc.
With financial assistance from Abraham Koppleman, a newspaper and magazine distributor in Hartford, Gerber and Koppleman formed a partnership and incorporated Gerber Scientific Instrument Company in 1948. Gerber served as president, Koppleman as treasurer, and Stanley Levin as secretary. The manufacture of the Variable Scale was jobbed out and the distribution was conducted from Hartford. Gerber also worked as a design analytical engineer for Hamilton Standard Propellers of United Aircraft and for Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio. Shares of Gerber Scientific Instrument Company were eventually sold to the public in 1961, and in 1978, the company changed its name to Gerber Scientific, Inc. In 1967, Gerber realized that the U.S. garment industry, due to a lack of automation, was faced with increasing overseas competition. Gerber's solution was to engineer the GERBERcutter S-70, a machine that cuts apparel quickly and effectively while using less cloth.In the 1960s and 1970s, Gerber developed the first series of precision, computer-driven cutting systems for the apparel industry called the Gerber Cutter. The cutters introduced automation to the garment industry.
Gerber holds more than 600 United States and foreign patents. Many of his patents relate to the United States apparel industry. In 1994, Gerber was awarded the National Medal of Technology by President Clinton for helping to revolutionize the optical, garment, automotive, and other industries. His pioneering achievements include:
-a generation of data readers (electromechanical devices that converted graphical data directly into computer readable format)
-projection systems that interactively converted information from aerial photographs for use in computers
-devices that plotted digital output data from computer cards or tape
-digital numerically-controlled drafting machines which verified the accuracy of the cutting path of numerical machine tools
-a photoplotter (drafting machine configured with a unique light source to directly draw high accuracy layouts of printed circuit board masters on photographic film or glass with light beams)
-systems with laser technology to draw at high speeds
Subsequent subsidiaries of Gerber Scientific, Inc., were: Gerber Garment Technology, Inc. (GGT); Gerber Scientific Products, Inc. (GSP); Gerber Systems Corp. (GSC), and Gerber Optical, Inc., (GO). GGT makes computer-controlled cutting and design equipment for apparel, automotive, aerospace and other industries. GSP produces systems for sign-making and graphic arts industries. GSC makes production systems for printing, industrial machinery and other industries. GO makes equipment for the optical-lens manufacturing industry.
In 1954, Gerber married Sonia Kanciper. They had a daughter, Melisa Tina Gerber, and a son, David Jacques Gerber. H. Joseph Gerber died on August 9, 1996, at the age of 72.
Sources
National Medal of Technology, 1994.
W. Joseph Campbell, "High Tech and Low Key as Gerber Scientific Mounts a Recovery Philosophy that Reflects Innovative Founder," Hartford Courant, May 16, 1994.
Provenance:
The Archives Center received a twenty-four (24) cubic foot addendum of archival material from David Gerber, son of of Joe Gerber in 2014. The addendum was separated into two collections--the Gerber Scientific Instrument Company Records (AC0929) and the Heinz Joseph Gerber Papers (AC01336).
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
The collection documents the inventing and design work of Benjamin Stansbury.
Scope and Contents:
The collection documents the inventing and design work of Benjamin Stansbury. It contains correspondence; photographs and slides; memoranda, manuals and other internal company documents; design drawings; clippings; and trade literature. The bulk of the material relates to Stansbury's work at the Stansbury Company and the PULSAR electric toothbrush.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into ten series.
Series 1: Personal Materials, 1954-1983
Series 2: Walter Dorwin Teague and Associates Records, 1959-1971
Series 3: Dymo, 1961, 1966
Series 4: Mattel Toymakers, Inc., 1962-1966
Series 5: Product Specialists, 1962-1971
Series 6: Innovation, undated
Series 7: Industrial Design Affiliates, 1964-1973
Series 8: The Stansbury Company, 1966-1994 (bulk 1978-1990)
Series 9: Ronco Teleproducts, Inc., 1978-1980
Series 10: Pulse Innovations, Inc., 1990-1995
Biographical / Historical:
Benjamin H. Stansbury, Jr. (September 26, 1934-March 11, 1996) was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee and graduated high school from the Baltimore Polytechnic Institute (founded in 1883 as an engineering school). He attended the Georgia Institute of Technology, School of Architecture, earning a BS in Engineering in 1957. From 1957 to 1961, Stansbury worked for Walter Dorwin Teague Associates in New York as an industrial designer. At Teague, Stansbury worked on a variety of products and missile components. In 1960, he won the Industrial Design Institute Design Award Citation for the Euphorian dental chair (for Ritter Dental). While at Teague, Stansbury met Helen Marie Beheney (December 5, 1935-July 27, 2014) who was a secretary. The couple married in 1961 in California and had two children, Claude and Jacqueline.
Stansbury left New York for Berkeley, California where he joined Dymo Industries, Inc. as Director of New Product Planning from 1961 to 1965. At Dymo, Stansbury crafted a new corporate image and supervised plant and office construction. From 1965 to 1966 he worked for Mattel Toymakers in Hawthorne, California as Director of Corporate Planning and Acquisitions. In 1966, Stansbury, along with John Pylant, formed Product Specialists in Santa Monica. Rudy Hurwich later invested in the company as a three-way partner. Product Specialists focused on product development, manufacturing and marketing. While at Product Specialists, Stansbury developed and built a folding polypropylene boat called the Stowboat (US Patent 4,556,009) available in three sizes (seven, eight and nine feet). His marketing included the phrase, "Let's Go Stowboating!" Stansbury obtained approximately thirty-five patents, many of which were design patents. Almost all of the patents issued to him were assigned to the company who contracted his services. In 1969, Stansbury founded Innovation, a company to take conceptual ideas to the point of commercialization and to then license or sell them.
In 1969, Stansbury was hired by Industrial Design Affiliates (IDA) of Beverly Hills to help turn around the faltering design practice. After years of creative frustration working for someone else, Stansbury left IDA and founded his own design firm, the Stansbury Company, in 1973. Stansbury believed in giving creative people as much freedom as possible and all of his employees were encouraged to be part of the creative process. His company provided full service product development--concept, design, appearance models, engineering development, prototype construction and testing, tool patterns, and pre-production models. A strong emphasis was placed on engineering and manufacturability. Some of the diverse products created included: an exercise bike, roller skates, a smokeless ashtray, a sewage treatment device for boats, cosmetic bottles, surgical rubber gloves, musical toys, a dental chair, packaging (Elvis concert album), and special effects (twenty-four foot alligator) for the film Alligator and miniature sets for the disaster filmMeteor. In 1978, The Stansbury Company was awarded the Western Plastics Art and Design Award for the toy category (sun runner roller skates) and the rotational molding category (La Chair). Some of his clients included: Honda Motor Car, Mansfield Sanitary, Procter and Gamble, Max Factor & Company, Mattel Toys, Schlage Lock, Technicolor, Tomy Toys, Redkin, Jaybee Manufacturing, American Hospital Supply Company and Ronco Teleproducts, Inc.
Stansbury was also a senior consultant to the Bender Corporation, which advised large manufacturing facilities about air quality issues and engineering improvements. He worked with the company on matters related to fluid dynamic modeling and to devise optimal air movements/clearance within a structure.
Stansbury was heavily involved in local politics in Beverly Hills, California. He served as traffic commissioner (1973-1977) and as a planning commissioner (1977-1980). In 1980, Stansbury was elected to the Beverly Hills City Council serving as mayor in 1983 and 1988. After leaving politics, Stansbury continued to invent and in 1992, moved to King City, Ontario, Canada to pursue his invention of the PULSAR Electric Toothbrush (US Patent 5,259,083). The patent was later reissued (RE 35,941) on November 3, 1998. Stansbury was an initial shareholder in Pulse Innovations, Inc., a Canadian corporation formed to develop, market, and license the Pulse toothbrush. The other shareholders in Pulse Innovations included Spark Innovations, Inc. (SPI), a Canadian venture capital incubator and other investors. At SPI, Stansbury was Vice-President of technical services and acted as an engineering consultant and technical advisor on other products under development. In 1995, Procter & Gamble was given an exclusive development option for the Pulse toothbrush, but ultimately Procter & Gamble underwent a restructuring and returned its focus to core products which did not include electric toothbrushes. In 1996, Pulse entered into an agreement with Butler Gum, Canada's largest consumer oral care product company. Stansbury's children, Claude and Jacqueline sold their parents' shares in Pulse Innovations to other shareholders.
Stansbury returned to the United States in 1995 and died on March 16, 1996, in Alexandria, Virginia.
Separated Materials:
Artifacts related to the Ronco Egg Scrambler are located in the Division of Work and Industry.
Artifacts related to The Mr. Dentist, Pulse toothbrushes, Hayes School Publishing Co. posters for "Good Manners" (1957) and Safety (1957), a Sesame Street learning kit and parent guides (1970) are located in the Division of Home and Community Life.
A Hayes School Publishing Company poster for "Good Habit Check Charts" (1959) is located in the Division of Medicine and Science.
Materials related to Helen Stansbury's volunteer work for the Democratic Party, especially a George McGovern Handbook, 1972 and Mike Dukakis materials, 1988 are in the Division of Political History.
Provenance:
Collection donated to the Archives Center by Benjamin H. Stansbury's daughter, Jacquelyn Stansbury in 2015.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Photographs, publications and correspondence related to D. Ward King's invention the King Road Drag, or the Split-Oak drag, which improved rural travel in the early 20th century by introducing a simple design and low-effort system for grading poor-quality roads. The King Road Drag was promoted heavily across the United States and Canada via the "Good Roads Campaign" originally sponsored by the railroad companies in the early decades of the twentieth century.
Scope and Contents:
This collection contains photographs, correspondence and articles documenting the road drag that D. Ward King invented to grade, drain water from, and improve the condition of rural roads in the early 20th century. Included are photographs of King, his family, the road drag, and the conditions of roads before and after treatment; a scrapbook containing letters and photographs; a blueprint of the road drag; as well as articles and reprints from various publications praising King's invention.
This collection would be of interest to researchers of the Good Roads movement, rural life and development in the early 20th century, and agricultural invention.
Arrangement:
This collection is arranged into three (3) series.
Series 1: Correspondence, 1907; 1909
Series 2: Publications, 1903; 1907-1917; 1999
Series 3: Photographs, circa 1905-1915; 1908-1910; 1919-1920
Biographical / Historical:
Born and educated in Springfield Ohio, David Ward King (1857-1920), who was known as D. Ward King, moved to rural Maitland, Missouri after his marriage in 1881 and began life as a farmer. In 1896, he demonstrated the use of his simple invention, dubbed the "King Road Drag" or the split-oak drag, which consisted of two split logs attached by crossbeams and hitched with a loop of chain to horses, to be dragged along a stretch of rutted muddy road until it was smooth. His rudimentary road grader had the effect not only of flattening and compacting muddy soil, but creating a crest in the center of the road, sloping down at each side, so that the next rain would run off the packed surface into the ditch. This basic scheme had a revolutionary effect on rural life--farmers were often mired in mud on the roads to their fields or into town, their most powerful draft horses unable to contend with wagon wheels sunken into deep ruts after heavy rains. Use of King's drag soon made their roads not only passable, but faster and safer to travel, which saved time and money for all in the community.
In 1903, King was employed by the Chicago and North Western Transportation Co. to promote his product across the country as part of their "Good Roads Campaign," giving lectures and demonstrations. King patented the King Road Drag (US Patent 884,497 and US Patent 1,102,671) in 1908 and later improved it in 1914. The United States Patent Office called his invention a "Road Grader," but King referred to it as a "split log drag," the "King Road Drag,"
Although King patented his invention, the simple design made it difficult to enforce patent rights, so farmers were encouraged to build and make use of their own versions of the road drag. Even after the railroads withdrew their support (the road drag's success had the effect of sending more potential passengers on the roads with their bicycles and cars, rather than riding the train), King made a decent living for years on the lecture circuit, presenting in 46 of the 48 then- existing states and Canada. His midwestern education made him an eloquent, dynamic speaker, and his talks were often sold out. The invention of the road drag and its almost evangelical use across the country has been credited for increased automobile use in the early part of the century, as well as the advent of parcel post delivery and mail-order catalogue supply to rural areas.
Provenance:
Collection donated by Helene W. King and Amy Burbank King in 2014.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
This collection largely contains correspondence regarding the Kleinschmidt Teletype, as well as financial records and newspaper clippings regarding the Teletype Company.
Scope and Contents:
The collection consists of correspondence kept by Charles B. Goodspeed, a major stockholder in KIeinschmidt Electric Company. It relates to internal workings of the company and the telegraphic typewriter it developed, as well as the merger with Morkrum and the purchase of the company by AT&T. Many of the letters are from Sterling Morton, president of the Teletype Corporation.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into three series.
Series 1: Correspondence, 1915-1930
Series 2: Financial Statements, 1929
Series 3: Newspaper Clippings, 1915-1930
Biographical / Historical:
The Kleinschmidt Teletype was invented by Edward E. Kleinschmidt, a German-American inventor and businessman. He invented a high-speed stock ticker, an automatic fishing reel, a railroad signaling device, and a high-speed teletype that "revolutionized the communications industry." The Kleinschmidt Teletype was considered a breakthrough in world communication, replacing Morse code transmission and reception with typewriters and printers. Kleinschmidt, Howard Krum, and Sterling Morton jointly obtained a patent for this technology in December 1928. Teletype Corporation was sold to the American Telephone and Telegraph Company for $30 million in 1930.
Provenance:
Donated to the Archives Center by Janet Pigott in 2011.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
History of Technology, Division of, NMAH, SI Search this
Work and Industry, Division of, NMAH, SI Search this
Extent:
0.15 Cubic feet (1 box)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Correspondence
Date:
1852
Summary:
The collection documents personal correspondence between Reuben Moffat and his
father, John Little Moffat. The materials consist primarily of letters written during the
year 1852 and detail Reuben Moffat's attempts to obtain a patent for his electric gold washer
and magnetic separator invention.
Scope and Contents:
Personal correspondence with Moffat's family members on the subject of family matters and of his invention of an electric and magnetic gold amalgamator and washer.
Arrangement:
Collection is arranged into one series.
Series 1, Correspondence, 1852
Biographical / Historical:
Reuben Moffat of Brooklyn, New York, was an inventor seeking to obtain a patent for an "electric gold washer and magnetic separator", which he developed in the years following the Gold Rush. Whether this patent was ever obtained is not discernable from the papers in the collection.
Provenance:
Source of acquisition unknown.
Collected for the National Museum of American History, Division of Engineering and Industry (now called the Division of Work and Industry.) Transferred to the Archives Center in 2007.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Work and Industry, Division of, NMAH, SI Search this
Former owner:
Work and Industry, Division of, NMAH, SI Search this
Extent:
0.15 Cubic feet (1 box)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Date:
1877
Summary:
A British patent issued to Alexander Melville Clark for an improved process for preventing the accumulation of carbon in retorts used for the distillation of carbureted hydrogen. There is a wax seal attached to the end of the patent.
Scope and Contents:
The collection is the British patent issued to Alexander Melville Clark by the English government in 1877 for inventing an improved process for preventing the accumulation of carbon in retorts used for the distillation of carbureted hydrogen.
Arrangement:
1 series.
Biographical / Historical:
Alexander Melville Clark was an inventor, patent agent, and author. Throughout the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries he applied for patents for improvements for thimbles, umbrellas and sunshades, typewriting machines, candle cases, machines for trimming and finishing boots and shoes, knitting machines, hot wire voltmeters, combination locks, and door fasteners. In 1884, Clark wrote Analytical Summaries of the Patents, Designs, and Trade Marks' Act, 1883, and of the Patent Laws of All Foreign Countries and British Colonies.
Provenance:
Donated by W.C. Dodge in 1891 to the United States National Museum.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Madison Cooper Company (Watertown, N.Y.) Search this
Extent:
0.25 Cubic feet (1 box)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Correspondence
Articles
Clippings
Photographs
Pamphlets
Patents
Date:
1900-1963
Summary:
Madison Cooper was an inventor and manufacturer of refrigerating systems in the early twentieth century. Cooper received several patents for his refrigeration inventions, including several refrigerating apparatuses, an air-circulating system, a process for preventing the formation of frost on refrigerating surfaces and a refrigeration train car. The collection spans 1900-1963 and includes his United States and foreign patents, his publications related to refrigeration, and a few documents and photographs related to Cooper and the Madison Cooper Company.
Scope and Contents:
Series 1, Historical background, 1900-1963, consists of biographical information about Madison Cooper. The series includes obituaries, two diagrams of optimal temperature for food storage that were produced by the Madison Cooper Company, and three photographs that show Cooper and workers in the shop and office in Watertown and the plant in Calcium.
Cooper published articles related to refrigeration and specifically to his refrigeration systems titled "Chloride of Calcium in Refrigeration," 1900, "Natural Ice Cold Storage and the Cooper Systems of Refrigeration," 1901, "Ice Refrigeration," (1902), the Madison Cooper Company publication "Cold"(1914), and "The Cooper Systems of Refrigeration," undated.
Series 2, Patents, 1900-1908, contains United States and foreign patents related to Madison Cooper.
The United States patents contain drawings and specifications of Cooper's refrigerating inventions and are arranged by patent number.
Patents include:
Refrigerating apparatus (US Patent, 11,822)
Process of preventing formation of frost on refrigerating surfaces (US Patent 644,847)
Old-storage apparatus (US Patent 659,468)
Indirect air-circulating systems of cold-storage apparatus (US Patent 677,536)
Cold-storage apparatus air circulating system (US Patent 754,749)
Refrigerator cars (US Patent 881,902)
Foreign patents are arranged alphabetically by country. Patents for the process of preventing formation of frost on refrigerating surfaces include:
Austria
Process of preventing formation of frost on refrigerating surfaces (4,075)
Canada
Process of preventing formation of frost on refrigerating surfaces (66,959)
Canada
Improvements in indirect air circulating systems for cold storage apparatus (75,602)
Canada
Improvements in refrigerating apparatus (75,636)
France
Process of preventing formation of frost on refrigerating surfaces (297,158)
Germany
Process of preventing formation of frost on refrigerating surfaces (117,943)
Great Britain
Process of preventing formation of frost on refrigerating surfaces (2,840)
Also included are an assignment of letters patent related to the refrigerating apparatus (US Patent 11,822) shared with George A. Dole and a contract related to the patents for the process of preventing frost formation on refrigerating surfaces.
Arrangement:
The collection is organized into two series.
Series 1, Historical background, 1900-1963
Series 2, Patents, 1900-1908
Biographical / Historical:
Madison Cooper was an inventor and manufacturer of refrigerating systems in the early twentieth century. Born in Leray, New York, on March 19, 1868, Cooper moved as a young man to Minneapolis, Minnesota where he entered the butter and egg shipping business. He invented a cold storage system while working in the produce business. Cooper shifted careers to focus on cold storage engineering where he planned, designed and installed refrigeration systems in over 100 plants in the United States and Canada. Cooper moved the Madison Cooper Company to Watertown, New York around 1903 and in 1909, built a plant for the manufacturing of refrigerating equipment in Calcium, New York. The advent of mechanical and electric refrigeration in the 1920s superseded Cooper's system and his company dissolved in 1936, although at least one of Cooper's systems was still in operation in 1953. Cooper died on July 8, 1946 and was remembered not only for his contributions to refrigeration, but also as a horticulturist and editor and publisher of The Flower Grower.
Cooper received several patents in the United States and abroad for his refrigeration inventions, including several refrigerating apparatuses, an air-circulating system, a process for preventing the formation of frost on refrigerating surfaces and a refrigeration train car. He focused on simple and inexpensive construction that provided economic and efficient operation. Many of his inventions involved the use of a false floor that allowed cool air to flow underneath it and a perforated ceiling that released warm air. Other patents included cold air circulation within walls to cool buildings and apartments and focused on controlling temperature, humidity and air purity.
Provenance:
The collection was donated by Daniel Cooper, son of Madison Cooper, in 1963.
Restrictions:
The collection is open for research use.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
This collection features business documents, legal papers, and examples of prints from Martin J. Weber, who pioneered the "Weber Process."
Scope and Contents:
This collection documents the Weber Process for printing that made images on paper appear more three dimensional, as well as the photomechanical apparatus Weber developed to implement it . The collection contains patent documents, contracts and business papers, correspondence, design drawings, advertisements for the Weber Process and for his studio, and a paper he delivered to the American Photo Engravers Association. It also contains numerous samples of Weber's work, including magazines covers and advertisements, annual reports from companies featuring images enhanced by Weber, brochures, and other printed material.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into nine series.
Series 1: Articles, 1931-1971
Series 2: Awards, 1931-1971
Series 3: Business Documents, 1931-1971
Series 4: Correspondence, 1931-1971
Series 5: Legal Documents, 1931-1971
Series 6: Prints, 1931-1980
Series 7: Weber Process Documents, 1931-1971
Series 8: Photographs, 1931-1971
Series 9: Large Prints, 1931-1971
Biographical / Historical:
Martin J. Weber was born in 1905 and worked as a graphic artist, inventor and typographer in the commercial art industry into his eighties. He died in 2007 at the age of 102.
Weber invented and patented the Weber Process in 1942, which utilized a photomechanical apparatus that altered images and text photographically to give pattern, texture, and shadow. Also known as Posterization, the process gave two-dimensional surfaces the "illusion of being reproduced in three dimensions" by printing multiple layers offset from one another. Weber helped to define the look of mid-twentieth century American advertising art, offering a "low-cost way of simulating multiple color reproduction." The process revolutionized lithography, screen printing, and standard printing, and later influenced computer typography.
Sources
Heller, Steven. "Martin Weber in the Third Dimension." Design Observer. June 19, 2007. Accessed August 03, 2016. http://designobserver.com/article.php?id=5657.
Provenance:
Donated to the Archives Center by Martin J. Weber's son, Carl Weber, 2011.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Papers of Uriah A. Boyden (1804-1879), a Boston civil and mechanical engineer and the inventor of the Boyden turbine. Materials include correspondence, notes, calculations, articles, notebooks, legal documents, financial documents, patents and patent assignments, design drawings, newspaper clippings, pamphlets, business cards, and a print of a daguerreotype.
Scope and Content:
This collection documents the activities of Uriah Atherton Boyden (1804-1879), a Boston civil and mechanical engineer. The papers cover the span of Boyden's life, but the bulk of the papers date from between 1830 and 1879. The materials relate to his professional engineering life, including his work as an engineer for the Nashua and Lowell Railroad Corporation and his work with turbines at New England mills and manufacturing companies. The collection also contains papers that illustrate his scientific interests, including sound, meteorology, chemistry, and physics. Materials include correspondence, notes, calculations, articles, notebooks, legal documents, financial documents, patents and patent assignments, design drawings, newspaper clippings, pamphlets, business cards, and a print of a daguerreotype.
Series 1, Correspondence, 1823-1879, consists of three subseries: Subseries 1, Outgoing Correspondence, 1830-1879; Subseries 2, Incoming Correspondence, 1823-1879; and Subseries 3, Miscellaneous Correspondence, 1825-1879. The bulk of the series is comprised of letters, although some telegrams are included. The majority of Boyden's letters discuss his business dealings and scientific interests, but some correspondence is related to family matters. Family correspondents include his brothers Seth Boyden (1788-1870), William Pitts Boyden, Otis Boyden, Benjamin F. Boyden, and Alexander Boyden (1791-1881); his sisters Sarah Boyden (d. 1834) and Sabra Smith; and his parents Seth (1764-1840) and Susanna Boyden. He also corresponded with his niece Susan Boyden Burnet and sister-in-law Abigail Boyden. Subjects discussed include Seth Boyden's illness, death, and will in 1840 and Sarah Boyden's death in 1834.
Correspondence from the 1830s discusses the construction of the dry dock at the Charlestown Navy Yard, Massachusetts; experiments conducted at the Boston and Roxbury Mill Dam; Boyden's work as Chief Engineer for the Nashua and Lowell Railroad Corporation and his subsequent lawsuit against the Nashua and Lowell Railroad Corporation over a pay dispute; the employment of assistants; and the construction of a mill at the Amoskeag Manufacturing Company.
Frequent correspondents include William Livingston, who was deposed in Boyden's lawsuit of the Nashua and Lowell Railroad Company; F. George Stark of Amoskeag Village; John Jacques of Worcester, Massachusetts; R. Read of Amoskeag Manufacuring Company; and Ezekial Albert Straw (1819-1882), a civil engineer and agent for the Amoskeag Manufacuring Company and the governor of New Hampshire from 1872-1874. Correspondence from the 1840s is primarily about turbines. Subjects include the development of the Boyden Turbine at the Lowell Appleton Company and Boyden's patents (US Patents 5,068, 5,090, 5,114, 10,026, and 10,027).
Other topics include the Merrimack Manufacturing Company's new mill; the Stark Company's turbine; turbine pits for the Merrimack Company's Picking House; Boyden's design for a turbine built at the Lowell Machine Shop and used at Tilestons & Hollingsworth Upper Mill; and requests for books. During this period, Boyden sent letters to various manufacturing companies and mills, informing them he would be willing to sell his patent rights for turbine improvements and provide plans and specifications, although he would not oversee the construction of turbines. Recipients of these letters include hydraulic engineer James B. Francis, P. T. Jackson, treasurer of the Proprietors of Locks and Canals; T. G. Cary, treasurer of the Appleton Company; John Avery, agent of the Hamilton Manufacturing Company; Alexander Wright, agent of the Lowell Manufacturing Company; Charles T. Storrow, treasurer of the Essex Company and the Atlantic Cotton Mills; R. Read, agent of the Amoskeag Manufacturing Company; Amos A. Lawrence, treasurer of Salmon Falls Manufacturing Company; John Mixer, treasurer of the Suncook Manufacturing Company; and William Dwight, treasurer of the Saco Water Power Company.
Letters relating to the Atlantic Cotton Mills turbine design, testing, and lawsuit comprise a portion of the correspondence from the late 1840s and 1850s. Other correspondence from the 1850s includes letters to and from Boyden's employee Norman W. Stearns, who traveled to California and Australia; discussion of the testing of a turbine at the Hamilton Manufacturing Company Mills at Lowell; an extract from a report on the power derived from the tides at the Boston and Roxbury Mill Dam; a letter from the Smithsonian Institution encouraging Boyden to publish his research on turbines; and the difficulties with turbine experiments at the Nashua Manufacturing Company's mills. Boyden continued to offer his patent rights to various companies, including James T. Ames, agent of the Ames Manufacturing Company, and Ezekial Albert Straw, agent of the Amoskeag Manufacturing Company.
Some letters were written by assistant Edward Sawyer on behalf of Uriah Boyden. Letters from the 1860s include Boyden's correspondence with the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia concerning the prize he created for any resident of North America who could determine by experiment whether all rays of light are transmitted at the same velocity. Common subjects include turbines; physics; Henri Giffard's invention of the injector; an apparatus for atmospheric electrical experiments; expanding gas; and the purchase of chemical substances.
There are many letters to the Bailliere Brothers, importers of periodicals; and E. G. Wallis, the Assistant Assessor of the third district of Boston for taxes. In 1862, Boyden wrote a letter to Massachusetts Governor John A. Andrew offering a letter of recommendation for hydraulic engineer James B. Francis. Boyden also paid for a lecture in 1862 given by George Boutwell on liberating some Southern slaves. Letters from the 1870s discuss a variety of topics, including patents, the New England Glass Company, and the purchase of books. Finally, a folder of miscellaneous materials includes several letters of recommendation and introduction for Boyden, and a few letters neither to nor from Boyden.
Series 2, Notes on Turbines, 1833-1870, contains primarily Boyden's notes and calculations relating to the design, development, construction, and testing of turbines. There are also drawings of turbines, excerpts from scholarly journals about turbines, and the manuscript article about turbines for American Cabinet authored by Boyden. A published copy of this article is located in Series 10, Printed Material, 1835-1879. Some materials are in French.
A large portion of the papers are the calculations and results of experiments on Turbine No. 3 of the Atlantic Cotton Mills. More information on these experiments can be found in the Series 5, Notebooks, 1819-1867, and Series 6, Lawsuits, 1836-1864. Experiments conducted at the Appleton Company, where Boyden developed the Boyden turbine, appear in this series.
The turbine notes also contain measurements and computations for turbines for the Chicopee Manufacturing Company; designs and calculations for the Tileston and Hollingsworth's turbine in Dorchester, Massachusetts; an estimate for installing turbines for the Jackson Company; and a report to the Boston Water Power Company on the estimate of power from the Boston and Roxbury Mill Dam. Boyden was assisted in his calculations and experiments by Maximilian L. G. Wilde, Edward Sawyer, [Neil?], W. Mertz, David Dows, and James Emerson. The series contains an oversize miscellaneous folder comprised of calculations and tables.
Series 3, Subject Files, circa 1827-1875, contains groups of papers that Boyden assembled into packets and numbered and labeled with topical categories. The papers cover a wide range of topics. A large portion of the materials are excerpts or notes from published sources, although some packets contain Boyden's own calculations, tables, and surveys. Some materials are in French, German, and Greek and some have been translated from French and German into English.
One subject Boyden explores in depth is tobacco, including the tobacco trade, taxes on tobacco, consumption statistics from the United States and Europe, different varieties of plants, and tobacco's effect on health, including whether or not it contributes to mental illness. In addition, he discusses alcohol's effect on health; whether crime is connected with drinking alcohol, liquor licensing laws, and the option of prohibition in Massachusetts. He was also interested in the early history of the Bible, including how it was translated from the original Hebrew and how Egyptian connects to Old Testament history. Boyden compares different religious practices, including Islam, Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, and ancient Greek and Egyptian religion.
Boyden collected a great deal of information from census data in the United States and Great Britain. In the Boston area, he looks at the number of births among Irish immigrants compared to native born Americans, and in particular explores whether tobacco use increases or decreases births among Irish immigrants. He also utilizes population statistics to discuss mental illness in both Europe and the United States. Like Series 4, Notes and Papers, 1806-1879, the Subject Files contain statistics on the cause of and response to fires in Boston.
Finally, the Subject Files include information on a variety of scientific subjects. For instance, a portion of materials discuss hydraulic lime, atomic theory and molecules, chemistry, thermoelectricity, meteorology, astronomy, batteries, and water pressure through pipes. Boyden quotes from Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species in his explorations of natural history. Several packets are comprised of surveys of property lots in Brookline, Massachusetts and the Longwood area of Boston. Sources Boyden utilized include publications such as the Encyclopaedia Britannica, the Bible, the New York Herald, The Boston Daily Advertiser, L'Annales des Ponts et Chaussées (The Annals of the Department of Civil Engineering), Brockhaus's Encyclopaedia, Annals of Chemistry and Pharmacy, Les Comptes Rendus de l'Académie des Sciences (The Proceedings of the French Academy of Sciences), Annales de Chimie et de Physique (Annals of Chemistry and Physics), Annales d'Hygiène (Annals of Hygiene), Appleton's Cyclopaedia, Hunt's Merchant's Magazine, Esquirol's Treatise on Mental Maladies, The London Times, and Poggendorff's Annals. The packets also contain call slips from the Boston Athenaeum and the Boston Public Library.
Series 4, Notes and Papers, 1806-1879, consists of a wide range of material. Some papers are in French and German, or translated from published French and German into English. The series encompasses notes from Boyden's scientific experiments and observations. One subject Boyden studied indepth was meteorology, and the series contains weather observations, recordings of temperature and air pressure, and eyewitness accounts of unusual weather.
In addition, Boyden conducted experiments on the effect of a dam in the Merrimack River, the specific heat of steam, electricity, the effects of rays on bisulphide of carbon, glass making, and oils. Five notebooks document experiments on the chemical combination of oxygen with liquids at atmospheric temperatures. Furthermore, the series contains information on sound experiments made at Chelsea, Massachusetts, and at the Charlestown, Massachusetts aqueduct, which are also discussed in Series 5, Notebooks, 1819-1867, and Series 9, Drawings, circa 1835-1872. Boyden conducted surveys of various industrial projects, including the Jackson Manufacturing Company's mill work and dam; the sewers of Lowell, Massachusetts; the Nashua Mills; the aqueduct, cistern and pumping apparatus for the Boston Iron Company; the Lewiston Water Power Company; the bursting of a locomotive for the Boston and Lowell Railroad; and the cold well at Brandon, Vermont.
The series consists of several folders of drawings, including sketches of an apparatus for making signal sounds, and a design for a mercurial pump, and various scientific instruments. There are also copies of drawings of a differential galvanometer, dynamometer, pneumatic apparatus, and pneumatic glasses. The originals are located in Series 9, Drawings, circa 1835-1872. A significant portion of the series consists of Boyden's investigations of the causes of fires in Boston, including statistics and eyewitness accounts. The series also contains Boyden's computations and design for a chronometer.
Boyden is the author of several published papers found in this series, including "Researches in Meteorology," "Paper on Mechanical force," "An Essay on Caloric's Repulsing Caloric and its Attracting Ponderable Matter," and "Paper on Sound." "Explosions produced by Niter in Burning Buildings" appeared in The Boston Post May 9, 1862. Boyden also wrote Researches in Physics, which was printed in 1863. The series also contains translations and copies of papers and articles on various scientific subjects, including magnetism, electricity, heat, light, meteorology, and physics. These include articles from the Annales de Chimie et de Physique (Annals of Chemistry and Physics), the Bulletin des Sciences Mathématiques (Bulletin of the Mathematical Sciences), the Annalen der Physik und Chemie (Annals of Physics and Chemistry), Mémoires de l'Academie Royale (Imperial) des Sciences de l'Institut de France, and Les Comptes Rendus de l'Académie des Sciences (The Proceedings of the French Academy of Sciences). Boyden also collected single works, including A Treatise on the Heat of Permanent Gases by John Plana, New Branch of Physics, or Studies Concerning Bodies in the Spheroidal State by P. H. Boutigny, and Thermochrosis, or Calorific Coloration by Macedoine Melloni.
Nine miscellaneous folders contain citations from encyclopedias, notes from scientific articles and newspapers, calculations, notes on laws, notes from experiments, a tide table, accounts of the weather, directions for experiments, specifications for a section of a canal built in Lowell by the Proprietors of the Locks and Canals, and a description of a heliostat. One oversize miscellaneous folder contains a legal document concerning lease from the Boston and Roxbury Mill Corporation to Horace Gray, a plan of a screwdriver, a table of experiments made in grinding rye at the City Mills, and experiments on the flow of water over dams made at the Lower Locks in Lowell, Massachusetts.
Series 5, Notebooks, 1819-1867, consists of bound notebooks ranging in size from 5" x 7" to 7" x 8". The notebooks demonstrate Boyden's wide-ranging scientific interests. They contain primarily technical information, such as experiments on sound, electromagnetism, and thermometers and include drawings and tables with data. His notebooks include excerpts from scientific journals on physics and chemistry, including some materials in French.
The personal memoranda feature notes from his travels around New England and the Mid-Atlantic States, including descriptions of railroads, dams, and mills; bridges in Georgetown, Washington, District of Columbia; a smelting furnace in Pottsville, Pennsylvania; and the Baltimore Water Works aqueduct. Several additional personal notebooks document Boyden's property and expenditures. Many notebooks were written or corrected by others, presumably Boyden's assistants, including Edward Sawyer, Levi York, Maximilian S. G. Wilde, Charles Leonard, Charles Mason, Jeremiah Dickson, L.W. Cushing, and A. Neill. One common subject is Boyden's work with turbines and water-wheels at New England mills and manufacturing companies. Many notebooks record turbine experiments at the Lowell Appleton Company, where Boyden developed the Boyden turbine, and at the Atlantic Cotton Mills. For more information on Boyden's work at the Atlantic Cotton Mills, see Series 6, Lawsuits, 1836-1864 and Series 2, Notes on Turbines, 1833-1870.
Other notebooks document Boyden's involvement in the Amoskeag Manufacturing Company in Manchester, New Hampshire, where he developed a hydraulic power system. Other mills Boyden studied include the Stark Mills, the Lawrence Company's mills, and the Boston and Roxbury Mill Dam. Boyden was interested in the construction of canals and locks, including the Weston Canal near Lowell, Massachusetts. Railroad surveys comprise a significant portion of the notebooks' content and include his work with railroad companies, including the Boston and Lowell Railroad Corporation and the Boston and Worcester Railroad Corporation. Boyden conducted a survey of a cold well at Brandon, Vermont. More information about that well can be found in Series 3, Subject Files, circa 1827-1875, and Series 3, Notes and Papers, 1806-1879.
Series 6, Lawsuits, 1836-1864, consists of legal materials related to lawsuits Boyden was involved in, both as a plaintiff and as a witness. The majority of the series is comprised of documents relating to Boyden's Atlantic Cotton Mills lawsuit, a conflict over whether Boyden had a right to conduct tests on turbines built from his design at the Atlantic Cotton Mills. The suit also involved a dispute over Boyden's patent rights to his turbine improvements used at the Atlantic Cotton Mills. On February 14, 1856, the court decided in favor of Boyden, and required the Atlantic Cotton Mills to award him reparations.
The series contains copies of correspondence related to Boyden's dealings with the Atlantic Cotton Mills, including letters to and from Charles S. Storrow and William Gray, treasurers of the Atlantic Cotton Mills. Also included are depositions; replies to allegations; Boyden's drafts of his answers to interrogatories; and calculations, notes, and drawings, presumably used as evidence in court. Bernhard Schultze (see Series 12, Bernhard Schultze Materials, 1837-1857) compared and corrected Boyden's November 21, 1855 reply to the answer of the Atlantic Cotton Mills and a statement of some expenses in measuring the power expended in actuating turbine No. 3 of the Atlantic Cotton Mills.
Also included are letters of reference for Boyden, probably related to his lawsuit of the Nashua and Lowell Railroad; Boyden's answers to interrogatories filed by the Boston Water Power Company in the case of Boston Water Power Company v. Horace Gray, which also includes his answers to interrogatories filed by the Boston and Worcester Railroad Company in regard to the receiving basin of the Boston Water Power Company; and Boyden's deposition in the case of Oswego Canal Company v. Henry M. Ames & Isaac L. Merriam.
Series 7, Financial Papers, 1820-1876, contains both personal and business financial papers. A large portion documents the New England Glass Company, including records of the stockholders meetings and end of year reports on the financial state of the company. There are also copies of receipts of bills Boyden sent to companies he worked for, including the Atlantic Cotton Mills, the Amoskeag Manufacturing Company, the Boston and Lowell Railroad Corporation, the Ames Manufacturing Company, the Salmon Falls Manufacturing Company, the Lowell Machine Shop, and the Holyoke Water Power Company. Boyden also received stock dividends from some of the same companies and others, including the Merrimack Manufacturing Company, the New England Glass Company, the Old Colony Railroad Company, Stark Manufacturing Company, the Lancaster Mills, the Amoskeag Manufacturing Company, the Boston and Lowell Railroad Corporation, and the Boston Gas Light Company.
Another aspect of the papers includes Boyden's requests to buy certain items, including metals, glass cylinders, and wire for his experiments; books in English, French and German; and periodicals. There are also reports of Boyden's income for the Internal Revenue Service dating from 1864-1871. One document is a quitclaim deed for the Savin Hill property in Dorchester, Massachusetts, which Boyden surveyed. Surveying records can be found in Series 3, Subject Files, circa 1827-1875.
Series 8, Patents, 1838-1847, consists of three subseries, Subseries 1, Boyden's Patents, 1843-1847; Subseries 2, Other Patents, 1838-1843; and Subseries 3, Patent Assignments, 1849-1856.
Subseries 1, Boyden's Patents, 1843-1847, consists of issued patents for Boyden's turbine improvements with attached drawings and specifications, including patents for improvement in turbines, September 20, 1843 (US Patent 10,026); improvement in hydraulic motors, September 20, 1843 (US Patent 10,027); improvements in hanging shafts of waterwheels, April 17, 1847 (US Patent 5,068); and improvement in diffuser for waterwheels, May 1, 1847 (US Patent 5,090).
Subseries 2, Other Patents, 1838-1843, consists of a patent granted to John R. Wheeler for an improved waterwheel on April 14, 1838, and a patent granted to Amasa B. Beckwith for improvement in waterwheels on October 20, 1843.
Subseries 3, Patent Assignments, 1849-1856, consists of legal documents giving various companies the right to use Boyden's patented turbine improvements in their mills in exchange for royalties. Companies include the Great Falls Manufacturing Company, the Amoskeag Manufacturing Company, the Appleton Company, the Amoskeag Manufacturing Company, the Merrimack Manufacturing Company, the Lowell Manufacturing Company, and the Lowell Machine Shop.
Series 9, Drawings, circa 1835-1872, contains oversize drawings and some tables, ranging in size from approximately 48'' x 30'' to 21'' x 30''. Some of the papers are brittle and crumble easily. The series contains one work in German, "Werke Theorie und Bau der Wasserraeder" (A Work on the Theory and Construction of Waterwheels).
A significant portion of the series consists of Boyden's designs for turbines used at various mills throughout New England, including the Ames Manufacturing Company; the Amoskeag Manufacturing Company; the Appleton Company, the Atlantic Cotton Mills; the Hamilton Manufacturing Company; the Essex Company Machine Shop and Blacksmith Shop; the Lancaster Mill; the Manchester Printing Works; the Merrimack Manufacturing Company; the Merrimack Print Works; the Perkins Mills the Salmon Falls Manufacturing Company; the Stark Mills; and the New England Worsted Company and Suncook Manufacturing Company. More information on Boyden's work designing turbines for these companies can be found in Series 1, Correspondence, 1823-1879; Series 2, Notes on Turbines, 1833-1870; and Series 5, Notebooks, 1819-1867.
Of particular note are drawings from "Lowell Hydraulic Experiments", a work published in 1855 by James B. Francis. Francis developed an improved turbine based on the inward flow Poncelet turbine, which became known as the Francis turbine and was more efficient than the outward flow Boyden turbine. Boyden was an associate of Francis's, but it is unclear how closely involved he was in the development of the Francis turbine. One subseries, Boyden's improvements, contains drawings that demonstrate Boyden's development of new turbines.
The series also includes records from Boyden's experiments on sound in Charlestown, Massachusetts. Notes from other experiments on sound can be found in Series 4, Notes and Papers, 1806-1879, and Series 5, Notebooks, 1819-1867. Included in the series are designs for various tools, including a chronometer, differential galvanometer, hydraulic apparatus, and pneumatic glasses. Smaller copies of some of these drawings can be found in Series 4, Notes and Papers, 1806-1879.
Two folders of miscellaneous materials include several tables documenting people admitted to mental hospitals, the observation of tides made at the Charlestown Navy Yard; a table of fires in Boston; experiments on the wheel of the Poncelet System; a plan and sections for showing the results of surveys at the cold well in Brandon, Vermont; and designs for a brass apparatus, a rack of reflectors, an apparatus for measuring the heights of water, a glass scale, and a dynamometer. Nine folders contain unidentified drawings.
Series 10, Printed Material, 1835-1879, contains newspaper clippings and other printed material collected by Boyden. The major subjects covered by the newspaper clippings include a campaign to supply Boston with drinking water, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the Smithsonian Institution. Other newspaper clippings discuss the career of Patrick Tracy Jackson, the founder of the Merrimack Manufacturing Company; Boyden's turbine wheel; railway accidents; a court case involving an escaped slave; the rotation of the earth; the establishment of a public library in Boston; the American Academy of Arts and Sciences; the Louisiana imbroglio of 1874-1875; and smoking. Boyden frequently clipped from the Daily Evening Traveller, the Boston Advertiser, The Boston Atlas, the Boston Post, and the Boston Evening Transcript. Some newspapers have been saved and placed in a folder in a map case drawer.
The series also includes a pamphlet entitled Martin's Twenty-One Years in the Boston Stock Market, or Fluctuations Therein from January 1835 to January 1856, two bulletins of new books offered by the Boston Public Library and marked up by Boyden, patents for Alfred Nobel's new explosive compound, several of Boyden's business cards, a print portrait of Boyden, and a metal sign that hung outside his office in Boston. The series contains one miscellaneous file that includes items such as a price list for mechanists' tools, an article on the phenomena of sound, and a table of the work and expenses on the Boston and Lowell Railroad.
Series 11, Seth Boyden Materials, 1840-1841, is comprised of documents related to the death of Uriah Boyden's father, Seth Boyden (1764-1840). Included are drawings of the headstones for the graves of Seth Boyden (1764-1840) and Uriah Boyden's sister, Sarah Boyden; Seth Boyden's last will and testament; a poster for an executer's sale; and the account of Uriah Boyden and Benjamin F. Boyden, the executers of Seth Boyden's (1764-1840) last will and testament.
Series 12, Bernhard Schultze Materials, 1837-1857, contains the letters and papers of Bernhard Schultze, a man employed by Boyden as a translator from around November 26, 1853 until his death in August 1857. Schultze was a witness in the case of Boyden v. Atlantic Cotton Mills and compared and corrected materials related to the case. These can be found in Series 6, Lawsuits, 1836-1864. He died from a head injury that occurred in Boyden's offices at 81 Washington Street.
More information about the accident in Boyden's official statement, August 17, 1857, to the coroner and the jury investigating Schultze's death, in Series 1, Correspondence, 1823-1879. Half of the materials are in German and consist of correspondence, receipts, registered letter slips, a medical bill, and a program for the Paine Festival and Annual Ball in 1857. Several of the documents relate to politics in the late 1850s and the election of 1856. Included is a newspaper article reporting on a pro-German James Buchanan rally; a circular supporting John C. Fremont and William L. Dayton, the Republican ticket in the election of 1856; and the by-laws of the Boston Kansas Club.
Series 13, Joseph Sidney Francis Materials, circa 1855-1872, consists of drawings made by Joseph Sidney Francis while studying at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. They are labeled as the property of James B. Francis, the hydraulic engineer and inventor of the Francis turbine who worked closely with Boyden. Included in this series are tables documenting the number of fires in Boston and the number of people admitted to French mental hospitals.
Arrangement:
The papers are arranged into thirteen series. The contents of each series or subseries is arranged chronologically, with the exception of Series 3, which is arranged numerically, and Series 9, which is arranged alphabetically by subject. The series and subseries arrangement of the papers are as follows:
Series 1, Correspondence, 1823-1879
Subseries 1, Outgoing, 1830-1879
Subseries 2, Incoming, 1823-1879
Subseries 3, Miscellaneous, 1825-1879
Series 2, Notes on Turbines, 1833-1870
Series 3, Subject Files, circa 1827-1875
Series 4, Notes and Papers, 1806-1879
Series 5, Notebooks, 1819-1867
Series 6, Lawsuits, 1836-1864
Series 7, Financial Papers, 1820-1876
Series 8, Patents, 1838-1847
Subseries 1, Boyden Patents, 1843-1847
Subseries 2, Other Patents, 1838-1843
Subseries 3, Patent Assignments, 1849-1856
Series 9, Drawings, circa 1835-1872
Series 10, Printed Material, 1835-1879
Series 11, Seth Boyden (1764-1840) Materials, 1840-1841
Series 12, Bernhard Schultze Materials, 1837-1857
Series 13, Joseph Sidney Francis Materials, circa 1855-1872
Administrative/Biographical History:
Civil and mechanical engineer and multi-faceted scientist, Uriah Atherton Boyden was born on February 17, 1804 in Foxborough, Massachusetts. His father Seth Boyden (1764-1849) was a farmer and blacksmith and invented a machine to split leather (Reynolds 2010). His brother Seth Boyden (1788-1870) was a noted inventor in Newark, New Jersey, and in 1825 Boyden worked for him in a "leather and sheepskin bookbinding business" (Reynolds 2010). Boyden moved back to Massachusetts in 1828 and worked with James Hayward on surveys for the Boston and Providence Railroad, and with Loammi Baldwin on a dry dock for the Charlestown Navy Yard (now Boston Navy Yard) (Reynolds 2010). In the 1830s he opened his own engineering practice and worked on mills in the growing industrial center of Lowell, Massachusetts and was the chief engineer from 1836-1838 on the Nashua and Lowell Railroad. He designed a hydraulic power system for the Amoskeag Manufacturing Company in Manchester, New Hampshire around 1840 (American Society of Mechanical Engineers 1975, 5).
Boyden is best known for inventing the Boyden turbine, "the first turbine to be manufactured in quantity in the United States"(American Society of Mechanical Engineers 1975, 1). Boyden developed this turbine around 1844 while working for the Appleton Company in Lowell, Massachusetts(American Society of Mechanical Engineers 1975, 5). Boyden improved the efficiency of the Fourneyron outward flow turbine by "providing a conical approach passage for the incoming water… providing guide vanes in the outlet passages and by adding a submerged diffuser" (American Society of Mechanical Engineers 1975, 2). Boyden assigned his patent rights to a number of mills and manufacturing companies in New England and provided them with plans and specifications for turbines, although he did not oversee construction.
The Boyden turbine was superseded in 1849 by the more efficient inward flow Francis turbine, developed by James B. Francis with Boyden's assistance (American Society of Mechanical Engineers 1975, 2-3). The Francis turbine is now used throughout the world (Reynolds 2010).
After 1850, Boyden focused on scientific pursuits, including chemistry, physics, and meteorology. His other interests included the causes of fires in Boston, tobacco's effect on people's health, and mental illness in Europe and the United States. However, he rarely published the results of his research (Reynolds 2010). In 1874, Boyden "deposited $1,000 with the Franklin Institute of Philadelphia to be awarded to any resident of North America who should determine by experiment whether light and other physical rays are transmitted at the same velocity" (American Society of Mechanical Engineers 1975, 5). No one has claimed the prize. Boyden died on October 17, 1879 in Boston. In his will, he bequeathed approximately $250,000 to Harvard University, which it used to build an observatory in Peru (Reynolds 2010). The Boyden Observatory is now located in South Africa.
Reference List
1975. The 102-inch Boyden Hydraulic Turbines at Harmony Mill No. 3, Cohoes, New York. The American Society of Mechanical Engineers. http://files.asme.org/ASMEORG/Communities/History/Landmarks/5507.pdf, (accessed 18 July 2010).
Reynolds, Terry S. 2010. Boyden, Uriah Atherton. American National Biography Online. Oxford University Press. http://www.anb.org/articles/13/13-00178.html (accessed 18 July 2010).
Provenance:
Unknown.
Restrictions:
The collection is open for research use.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rules may apply. Reproduction permission from Archives Center: reproduction fees may apply.
The collection documents entrepreneur and inventor John Souther and his manufacturing companies Globe Works and American Steam Locomotive. Much of the collection consists of documentation and correspondence related to Globe Works' legal affairs.
Scope and Contents:
Papers relating to the Globe Iron Works. The collection includes a handwritten transcript of testimony in the case of Monument Bank vs. Globe Works, 1868; correspondence relating to payment for work with the Navy; 1895-1918; and invoices for transactions with other companies Globe Works had business with, 1871-1872.
The correspondence consists of documentation related to Globe Works and other businesses associated with John Souther. Much of the correspondence is between Souther and his lawyer John S. Blair, often discussing Globe Works' legal case against the federal government regarding payment for construction on the USS Suncook. Other legal correspondence concerns the role of Nathaniel McKay and Globe Works treasurer Daniel N. Pickering in the federal legal case of the construction of the USS Masaoit and USS Losco, civil lawsuits, and matters of the Souther estate, and Souther's inheritance of the company from his father.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into one series.
Provenance:
The collection was donated by Marguerite Souther, circa 1969.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
