Patented and Distinctive Bit Braces, a Research Study
by
George Langford, Sc.D.
Updated February 20, 2004
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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