Historic Pelham Blog Archive
December 19, 2006

350TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION BOOK:  "THOMAS PELL AND THE LEGEND OF THE PELL TREATY OAK" -- $11.95 (PROCEEDS AFTER PRINTING COSTS WILL GO TO BARTOW-PELL MANSION MUSEUM).  CLICK HERE TO BROWSE BEFORE YOU BUY! LEARN MORE.

Yesterday I published to the Historic Pelham Blog an item regarding the earliest Letters Patent I have yet been able to locate issued to a resident of Pelham. See Monday, December 18, 2006: What May Be The Earliest Patent Awarded to a Resident of Pelham - Patent Issued to Elbert J. Roosevelt on May 29, 1866. Today's Historic Pelham Blog posting provides information about a number of interesting examples of letters patent issued to Pelham residents over the years.

Patents Relating to Calculating Machines and Computing Machines

During the 1920s, Pelham Manor resident Arthur F. Poole received a number of patents relating to calculating machines and computing machines. For example, on April 22, 1924, the United States Patent and Trademark Office issued Letters Patent Number 1,491,167: "Calculating Machine". According to the patent, it relates to: "calculating machines and especially to combined typewriting and calculating machines which contain clearance proof mechanism." The patent including its abstract, drawings, description and claims may be accessed by clicking here.

Arthur V. Poole received additional letters patent issued on September 29, 1925 for an invention described as a "Computing Machine". According to the abstract of that patent, the invention "relates to computing machines of that type in which the register wheels are actuated one at a time, and it has for its principal object to provide certain improvements in the means whereby the register or totalizer is set preparatory for actuation first in one denomination and then in another. This means is operated by the travel of a decimal-selecting carriage." The patent including its abstract, drawings, description and claims may be accessed by clicking here.

A Conveyer for Ice-Cakes

One quaint patent that reminds us of simpler times in Pelham and elsewhere is the patent issued to George E. Berna of Pelham Manor on November 29, 1892 entitled "Conveyor for Ice-Cakes" (Patent Number 487,001). According to the patent:

"This invention has reference to an improved conveyer for ice-cakes or other heavy articles of merchandise, by which the same can be quickly conveyed from the freezing or storage floor of the store-house to a loading platform or lower floor in such a manner that the load is automatically discharged from the conveyer and the latter then automatically returned into its former position for receiving the next charge."

The patent including its abstract, drawings, description and claims may be accessed by clicking here.

Telephone Central-Office System

Ezra T. Gilliland was an inventor who lived in Pelham Manor in the late 19th and early 20th cengtury. He may have received more patents than any other resident in Pelham history, though I have not yet confirmed this suspicion.

On April 30, 1895 the United States Patent and Trademark Office issued Letters Patent Number 538,327 for an invention by Gilliland called the "Telephone Central-Office System". According to the patent:

"The system herein described is particularly adapted for use with small exchanges and a magneto telephone system. It is of great importance that the apparatus should be simplified as much as possible and that the line should be kept as clear as possible so as to make the fullest use of the current developed by the voice, for its strength is necessarily limited and should be utilized to its full advantage. With these two objects in view I provide a system in which when two subscribers are connected the annunciator drop of one of them is retained in the circuits as a clearing out drop while the other is shunted out. Special clearing out drops are therefore unnecessary. To effect this I attach to an ordinary spring-jack and additional or auxiliary contact plate which is connected with the subscriber's leading-in wire before it passes through the drop, and I provide a pair of plugs on the opposite ends of two strands of wire, one of the plubs having a plate which contacts with the additional contact and excludes the drop from the circuit, the other having a plate which contacts only with the contact that is connected to line through the drop, thereby including the drop in the circuit. When two subscribers are connected through their spring jacks and such a pair of plugs, the result is that the annunciator drop of one of the subscribers is in the circuit and the annunciator drop of the other subscriber is out of the circuit. This apparatus embodies the main feature of my invention."

The patent including its abstract, drawings, description and claims may be accessed by clicking here.

Vehicle Bumper

A final example of interesting patents awarded to Pelham residents is Patent Number 1,389,229 issued on August 30, 1921 to Watson T. Thompson of Pelham Manor for a "Buffer for Vehicles". According to the patent:

"This invention relates to the buffers for automobiles and other vehicles which employ the usual leaf springs for resiliently supporting the bodies of the vehicles.

The object of the invention is to provide a buffer to be support by the opposite side members of the chassis, which usually project beyond the body of the vehicle. A further object is to provide cushion means for absorbing the lighter shocks of collisions, the said means consisting of coil springs, which are carried by reciprocating parts of the buffer. A further object is to provide novel, simple and effective means for utilizing the main springs of the vehicle for absorbing the heavier shocks of the collisions, the latter means being operated by the reciprocating parts only after the tension of the coil springs has been overcome. And a further object is to generally improve and simplify the construction and arrangement, as well as to lessen the cost and increase the effectiveness of automobile buffers."

The patent including its abstract, drawings, description and claims may be accessed by clicking here.

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posted by Blake A. Bell @ 4:50 AM Comment

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