Patented and
Distinctive Bit Braces, a Research Study
by
George Langford,
Sc.D.
Updated February
20, 2004
return
to bit brace study
Note
1- William A. Ives, the manufacturer, New Haven, Connecticut, 1868-1917.
Patentees
are listed here who are presumed to be connected to the Ives concern through
a common attorney (John E. Earle) and a common witness (John H. Shumway).
This is based on the assumption that the attorney would not have undertaken
to prepare any patent for a competitor of Ives where a conflict of interest
might arise.
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. 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. Eventually, I will also link the patent numbers to the excellent
website of the US
Patent and Trademark Office where you can look up the patent images
yourself right now.
US
Patent Number
|
Inventor
|
Patent
Date
|
Attorney
|
Witnesses
|
Comments
|
64,444
|
Parsons
|
May 7, 1867
|
John E. Earle
|
Tibbits &
Shumway
|
Pearson NS
|
75,699
|
Pfleghar
|
March 17, 1868
|
John E. Earle
|
Tibbits &
Shumway
|
Pearson NS
|
87,531
|
Wilcox
|
March 2, 1869
|
John E. Earle
|
Tibbits &
Shumway
|
Pearson B
|
87,940
|
Ives
|
March 16, 1869
|
John E. Earle
|
Tibbits &
Shumway
|
Pearson NS
|
111,649
|
Ives
|
February 7,
1871
|
John E. Earle
|
Tibbits &
Shumway
|
Pearson B
|
112,419
|
Cleveland
|
March 7, 1871
|
John E. Earle
|
Tibbits &
Shumway
|
Pearson NS
|
126,395
|
Ives
|
May 7, 1872
|
John E. Earle
|
Tibbits &
Shumway
|
Pearson B
|
175,105
|
Ives
& Rutz
|
March 21, 1876
|
John E. Earle
|
Shumway &
Broughton
|
Pearson NS
|
175,151
|
Pfleghar;see
also
|
March 21, 1876
|
John E. Earle
|
Shumway &
Broughton
|
Pearson B
|
195,373
|
Ives
|
September 18,
1877
|
John E. Earle
|
Shumway &
Broughton
|
Pearson B
|
202,458
|
Ives
|
April 16, 1878
|
John E. Earle
|
Shumway &
Ketson
|
Pearson B
|
205,096
|
Ives
|
June 18, 1878
|
John E. Earle
|
Shumway &
Ketson
|
Pearson B
|
247,062
|
Ives
|
September 13,
1881
|
John E. Earle
|
Shumway &
Rogers
|
Pearson B
|
248,470
|
Ives
|
October 18,
1881
|
John E. Earle
|
Shumway &
Rogers
|
Pearson A
|
258,764
|
Ives
|
May 30, 1882
|
John E. Earle
|
Shumway &
Earle, Jos.
|
Pearson B
|
270,072
|
Ives
|
January 2,
1883
|
John E. Earle
|
Shumway &
Earle, Jos.
|
Pearson B
|
274,040
|
Smith, H.V.
|
March 13, 1883
|
John E. Earle
|
Shumway &
Earle, Jos.
|
Pearson A
|
274,041
|
Smith, H.V.
|
March 13, 1883
|
John E. Earle
|
Shumway &
Earle, Jos.
|
Pearson A
|
274,042
|
Smith, H.V.
|
March 13, 1883
|
John E. Earle
|
Shumway &
Earle, Jos.
|
Pearson A
|
301,058
|
Ives
|
June 24, 1884
|
John E. Earle
|
Shumway &
Earle, Jos.
|
Pearson B
|