Patented and Distinctive Bit Braces, a Research Study
by
George Langford, Sc.D.
Updated December 8, 2016
return to bit brace study

 
Connections between attorneys Wilhelm & Bonner 
and the Buffalo, New York, brace patentees.
 

Firms in which Charles Amidon took part, however tenuously, according to the Directory of American Toolmakers. Firm Location Dates in Operation Millers Falls Mfg. Co. (was Gunn & Amidon) Greenfield,  Massachusetts 1861-1872 Amidon Mfg. Co. Greenfield,  Massachusetts ca.1872-1877, per Sandy Moss Saxton & Amidon Buffalo 1877-1883 Brace & Tool Co. (Amidon) Buffalo ca.1880 Amidon & Bastedo Buffalo 1887-1892 Amidon & Hastell Buffalo Unknown Amidon & White Buffalo 1883-1887 Saxton & Osgood Buffalo 1886-1887 Saxton Buffalo 1890-1892 Amidon Tool Co. Buffalo 1894-1895 American Bit Brace Co. (by Ansley D. White) Buffalo 1888-1892

Most of the patentees listed below are presumed to be connected to the Amidon concern(s) through a common law firm (Wilhelm & Bonner) and common witnesses (Buchheit, Brady & Popps). This is based on the assumption that the attorneys would not have undertaken to prepare any patents for a competitor of Amidon or one of the related firms where a conflict of interest might arise. Note that the Emil Neuhart acting as witness and Emil Neuhart the attorney are one and the same person, establishing continuity between the firms of Wilhelm & Bonner, Neuhart & Burkhart, and Neuhart.  The attorneys Stark, Sangster, and Drake are apparently independent of Amidon.  Note also that the January 14, 1868 patent won by Amidon was in use by both the Millers Falls Company and the American Bit Brace Company. That patent date is marked on a brace of mine made by the American Bit Brace Co.  This brace calls into question the start date of the American Bit Brace Company, presently thought to be 1882 per the DAT. Patentees with italicized names seem not be be in the Amidon group in spite of their Buffalo residencies.

I am indebted to Ron Pearson for his book, The American Patented Brace, 1829-1924, and its images of patent drawings wherein I found the attorney and witness signatures that made this correlation possible. The comments in the right hand column refer to Pearson's rating system, where NS means not seen (by Pearson or anyone on whom Pearson relied), A means rarest, and B means less rare but certainly not common, C, still not common, and FF meaning frequently found. With the advent of the Internet and in particular eBay, these ratings are relatively about the same, except that some patent examples of which Pearson was unaware have now surfaced.  I have put Pearson's NS rating into italics where I know that examples do exist.  For the present, patentee's names are linked to known examples in my collection and/or in the collection of Sandy Moss, magnificently presented on his website. Use your browser's BACK button to get back to this page. I have linked the patent numbers to the excellent website of the US Patent and Trademark Office where you can look up the patent images yourself.  Entries in green contributed by Joel R. Havens of DATAMP.

US Patent  Number	Inventor & Buffalo resident	Examples found by GB	Patent Date	Attorneys	Witnesses	Comments
50,214	Amidon (MA)	none	October 3, 1865	None listed	DeWolf & Gunn	Pearson B
64,931	Amidon (MA)	98	May 21, 1867	None listed	DeWolf & Gunn	Pearson B
73,279	Amidon (MA)	80	January 14, 1868	Smith, R.D.O.	Gunn & Newton	Pearson C
134,237	Amidon (MA)	none	December 24, 1872	Smith, R.D.O.	Lyons & Bartle	Mfg. method, drills
140,451	Amidon	none	July 1, 1873	Smith, R.D.	Lyons & Bartle	Pearson NS
193,632	Amidon	none	July 31, 1877	None listed	Grinnell & Park	Pearson A
210,075	Amidon	none	November 19,1878	Wilhelm & Bonner	Buchheit & Brady	Pearson B
201,379	Amidon	none	March 19, 1878	Wilhelm & Bonner	Buchheit & Tyler	Not in Pearson
217,672	Amidon	none	July 22, 1879	Wilhelm & Bonner	Buchheit & Brady	Pearson NS
226,646	Amidon	66, 81, 91, 96, 162, 173, 183	April 20, 1880	Wilhelm & Bonner	Buchheit & Brady	Pearson B
235,380	Rightmeyer	none	December 14, 1880	Sangster, James	Guestwell & Sangster	Pearson A
243,093	Watson	none	June 21, 1881	Drake, J.R.	Parsons & Burnett	Pearson NS
246,513	Ireland	none	August 30, 1881	Wilhelm & Bonner	Buchheit & Brady	Pearson NS
263,455	Amidon	none	August 29, 1882	Wilhelm & Bonner	Buchheit & Brady	Pearson FF
283,844	Amidon	176, 183	August 28, 1883	Wilhelm & Bonner	Buchheit & Brady	Pearson B
286,388	Clarkson	168, 170	October 9, 1883	Stark, Michael J.	Stark & Stark	Pearson A
288,748	Watson	none	November 20, 1883	Sangster, James	Caldwell & Sangster	Pearson NS
294,762	Clarkson	none	March 11, 1884	Stark, Michael J.	Stark & Stark	Pearson NS
298,542	Amidon	none	May 13, 1884	Wilhelm & Bonner	Popps & Buchheit	Pearson B
305,263	Amidon	none	September 16, 1884	Wilhelm & Bonner	Brady & Popps	Pearson B
309,902	Watson	none	December 30, 1884	Sangster, James	Sangster & Sangster	Pearson NS
344,130	Osgood	184, 185	June 22, 1886	Wilhelm & Bonner	Popps & Buchheit	Pearson B
348,182	Amidon	none	August 31, 1886	Wilhelm & Bonner	Buchheit & Pitman	Pearson NS
361,368	Osgood	81, 86, 152, 184, 185	April 19, 1887	Wilhelm & Bonner	Popps & Buchheit	Pearson A
378,274	White	none	February 21, 1888	Wilhelm & Bonner	Popps & Buchheit	Pearson NS
392,062	Pedersen	85, 91, 186	October 30,1888	Terrell, Lemuel	Smith & Staib	Pearson A
428,984	Wilcox	none	May 27, 1890	Wilhelm & Bonner	Buchheit & Neuhart	Pearson A
438,338	Zirikelback	52, 78	October 14, 1890	None listed	Hoddick & Menlott	Pearson NS
682,263	DuMont	none	September 10, 1901	H.B. Willson & Co.	Wakefield & Harper	Pearson A
812,198	Gessert	none	February 13, 1906	Neuhart & Burkhart	Lankes & Maier	Pearson NS
859,059	Haeberli et al.	Corner brace	July 2, 1907	Neuhart, Emil	Offutt & Feinle	Pearson A
890,801	Schmidt	none	June 16, 1908	Neuhart, Emil	Feinle & Rapp	Pearson NS