The papers document Victor L. Ochoa, Mexican American inventor of the Ochoaplane, orinthopter (an aircraft that flies by flapping its wings), a windmill, magnetic brakes, a wrench and a reversible motor. The papers include correspondence, photographs, patents, both U.S. and foreign, drawings and typescripts for a short story, "The Making of an American," and a novel The Cycle of Life or Professor Mimo Abas: The Wise Man of the Land of Moctezuma.
Scope and Contents:
The papers document Victor Leaton Ochoa, Mexican American inventor of the Ochoaplane, orinthopter (an aircraft that flies by flapping its wings), a windmill, magnetic brakes, a wrench and a reversible motor. The papers include correspondence, photographs, patents, both United States and foreign, drawings and typescripts for a short story and a novel.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into seven series.
Series 1: Correspondence, 1895-1945
Series 2: Financial materials, 1911, 1912, undated
Series 3: Patent Materials, 1901-1925
Subseries 3.1: Patent Papers, 1922; 1925
Subseries 3.2: Drawings, undated
Subseries 3.3: Foreign Patents, 1901-1922
Subseries 3.4: United States Patents, 1903-1922
Series 4: Writings, undated
Series 5: Photographs, 1933, undated
Series 6: Newspaper Clippings, circa 1894-1912
Series 7: Miscellaneous Printing Blocks, undated
Biographical / Historical:
Victor Leaton Ochoa (1850-1945?) was born in Ojinaga, Mexico. Ochoa later moved to Presidio del Norte, Texas, (Presidio is on the Rio Grande River) and became a United States citizen in 1889. Ochoa was the son of Juan Ochoa, a customs collector in Presidio.
Victor Ochoa was a journalist/writer, founding (El Hispano-American andEl Correo del Bravo) ; a politician (running unsuccessfully in El Paso); a union leader founding (La Union Occidental Mexicana to help Mexicans in the United States preserve their language); a revolutionary (opposing the Mexican government of President Porfirio Díaz, the President of Mexico from 1876 to 1880 and from 1884 to 1911); a prisoner, corporate president of the International Airship Company and the Ochoa Tool and Machine Company; miner and inventor. Ochoa was bitterly opposed to the dictatorship of President Porfirio Díaz. He became involved in the fight by Mexican rebels in the early 1890s to overthrow Diaz. Some consider Ochoa to be the originator of the revolt, and Díaz ultimately issued a $50,000 reward for Ochoa, "dead or alive." Ochoa's participation in Mexican revolutionary activities led to his arrest in 1894 for supplying and hiring Mexican dissidents in El Paso, Texas, thus violating United States neutrality laws. As a result of his illegal actions, a federal warrant was issued for Ochoa's arrest. The Texas Rangers as well as the U.S. Marshal Service sought Ochoa. In October of 1894, Pecos County Sheriff A. J. Royal and Texas Ranger James W. Fulgham arrested Victor Ochoa while rounding up suspected horse thieves. Ochoa was put in the Pecos County Jail and promptly escaped. He was eventually found and returned to El Paso. Ochoa was ultimately sentenced to two years in federal prison at Kings County Penitentiary in Brooklyn. Ochoa was stripped of his United States citizenship, but it was ultimately restored by Theodore Roosevelt in 1906.
Ochoa was as committed to inventing as he was to his revolutionary ideals. He was known to reside in the New York City and the Patterson, New Jersey area in the late 1890s. Ochoa's issued patents list him at New York, New Jersey, and Texas addresses. He also worked with Watson E. Coleman, a solicitor of patents in Washington, D.C. Coleman helped Ochoa file for and obtain patents in other countries such as Czechoslovakia, France, Germany, Great Britain, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, Poland, and Spain. Ochoa's patents include: a magnetic brake (US Patent No. 867,147); a reversible motor (US Patent No. 718,508); a rail magnetic brake (US Patent No. 873,587); a windmill (US Patent No. 1,319,174); and a wrench (US Patent No. 1,417,196 and 1,454,333).
Ochoa had a strong interest in aviation. He created the "Ochoaplane," circa 1908-1911. He designed it with an automobile in mind, and it included collapsible wings so that it could be housed in a garage or barn. He also incorporated the International Airship Company in Patterson, New Jersey, presumably to manufacture his "airships." Ochoa was imprisoned at the United States Penitentiary in Leavenworth, Kansas on February 18, 1917 and was released on May 1, 1918 upon completion of his sentence. In a September 17, 1917, letter written from Leavenworth, Ochoa asks the Naval Consulting Board to consider the use of metal wings constructed in such a manner that they fold back and over the body of the airship. Ochoa called this his fluttering wing machine. Ochoa's letter is deliberate, and he writes, "There was no desire on my part of abandoning this and three other patents that at this time went to issue. At that time I was taken sick with consumption and my struggle for life then became my sole purpose and then there arose other circumstances, over which I had no control, to prevent my taking them out."
Ochoa married Amanda Cole, granddaughter of Thomas Cole, the American painter, whose most famous painting isThe Last of the Mohicans . They had one son, Stephen Ochoa. Victor Ochoa returned to Sinaloa, Mexico, in 1936, and it is believed he died there in 1945.
Source
Romo, David Dorado. Ringside Seat to a Revolution: An Underground Cultural History of El Paso and Juarez: 1893-1923. El Paso, Texas: Cinco Puntos Press, 2005.
Related Materials:
Record Group 129, Records of the Bureau of Prisons held by the National Archives, Central Plains Division, Kansas City, Missouri (http://www.archives.gov/central-plains/kansas-city/), contains a 54 page file on Victor L. Ochoa's imprisonment.
Provenance:
This collection was donated by Elizabeth Victoria Ochoa on May 17, 1997.
Restrictions:
The collection is open for research use. Researchers must handle unprotected photographs with gloves.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Reproduction permission from Archives Center: reproduction fees may apply.
National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of Transportation Search this
Extent:
0.5 Cubic feet (1 box)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Patents
Photographs
Correspondence
Clippings
Date:
1898-1957
Summary:
The papers of inventor and engineer George Eli Whitney.
Scope and Contents:
Correspondence includes handwritten letters to John H. Bacon from Whitney. Bacon apparently undertook the task of collecting documentation of Whitney's career in the 1950s. Another 30 letters involve former associates of Whitney's, particularly Nathaniel Henry Cooledge (known as "Oliver") who was associated with Whitney as his trusted foreman and assistant for 50 years and Capt. Ted Middleton. Also included are agreements, contracts and patents concerning Whitney's inventions as well as newsclippings, photoprints, etc. A lengthy questionnaire prepared by John H. Bacon was filled out by Whitney in 1955 giving information on his major inventions and projects as well as his personal life.
Arrangement:
Collection is arranged into one series.
Biographical / Historical:
Whitney (1862-1963) was an engineer and inventor who developed many applications of steam power, including bicycles, cars, and boats from 1890s-1930s. The Locomobile Company, of which Whitney was chief engineer, produced several thousand steam cars around the turn of the century. During WWI, Whitney designed the compound steam engine which powered about 300 U.S. Navy anti submarine ships. Whitney was the recipient of about 150 patents on his inventions, a number of which he sold rights to.
Provenance:
Collection donated by Edward Bacon, October 31, 1992.
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 consists of United States, Canadian, Mexican and other foreign patents issued to William E. Woodard from 1909 to 1949. The patents are for Woodard's developments in steam and electric locomotive design.
Scope and Contents:
The collection includes United States, Canadian, Mexican, and other foreign patents issued to William E. Woodard for developments in steam and electric locomotive design.
Arrangement:
The collection is organized into four series.
Series 1, United States Patents, 1909-1945
Series 2, Canadian Patents, 1909-1946
Series 3, Mexican Patents, 1922-1925
Series 4, Patents From Other Foreign Countries, 1926-1941
Biographical / Historical:
William E. Woodard (1873-1942) was directly responsible for many developments in steam locomotive design. As an inventor of locomotive equipment, he held patents on various mechanical features of steam locomotive and electric locomotive design. He worked for the Baldwin Locomotive Works, Cramp's Shipyard, the Dickson Locomotive Works, the Schenectady Locomotive Works, the American Locomotive Works (1900-1916), and, finally, the Lima Locomotive Works (1916-1942); during the same period he worked as a consultant to the Franklin Railway Supply Company. At the Lima Locomotive Works, he was vice president in charge of design until his death in 1942.
Provenance:
The collection was donated by George H. Woodard, on July 21, 1984.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research but is stored off-site and special arrangements must be made to work with it. Contact the Archives Center for information at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.
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.
"Sylvanus D. Locke's Automatic Binding Harvester" ; twine-binding harvester ; "The Locke vs. The McCormick: A McCormick 'Trick' Exposed", describing a contest between four harvesters and binders that took place in 1882 ; "S. D. Locke's Automatic Car-Coupler", for railroad cars ; "Making Sprocket Chain Without Waste" ; papers and correspondence of S. D. Locke, including telegrams , bank notes , food bills , copies of letters regarding sample chain , a letter to Geo. C. Maynard, Esq. "Secy. The A.A. of I. and M." [American Association of Inventors and Manufacturers] regarding "proposed changes in the Patent law" circa May 21, 1894 , letters regarding the prospective purchase of a tract of land with cypress in Florida , an application for space at the World's Columbian Exposition (application number 9740) in the Department of Machinery , a card detailing the "Officers of Village of Medina" , a bill for castings and brass from the Pruyn Mfg. Co. , and a reciept from the Pennsylvania Railroad Company for a "skided furnace" , "cerated blower" , and a "box bricks" from the American Gas Furnace Co., with S. D. Locke as the consignee .
Includes:
Trade catalog and price lists
Black and white images
Physical description:
39 pieces; 3 boxes
Language:
English
Type of material:
Trade catalogs
Trade literature
Place:
Hoosick Falls, New York, United States
Date range:
1800s-1900s
Topic (Romaine term):
Materials handling equipment (includes barrels; bottling and filling; casters; chains; etc.) Search this
Inventors of the American Transit Instrument, Shifting Plate, and Engineers Transit. Engineering, mining and surveying instruments ; Solar Transit ; Solar Compass ; Meridian attachment for transit instruments ; levels...this comprises the uncataloged portion.
Includes:
Trade catalog and price lists
Black and white images
Physical description:
5 pieces; 1 box
Language:
English
Type of material:
Trade catalogs
Trade literature
Place:
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
Date range:
1800s-1900s
Topic (Romaine term):
Mining machinery; equipment and supplies Search this
