That woodstove that we bought at the auction has some writing on it. The back says "Harris and Zoiner design pat'd 1866" and the front door to the ash guard says "Patented July 18, 1867".
So, being curious, I tried to locate patents issued on July 18th, 1867. First I need a date range so I typed in #100,000. This appeared; a sun bonnet for a horse. There is a description of the item as well but you can search that for yourself!
How interesting is that?
Eventually I found the correct date around # 65,900. Now the fun begins. The patents issued that day range from 65,790 to 65,986. That is almost 200 patents that I would have to search through one at a time! After looking at 120 of them I found it! It is absolutely amazing what people submitted patents for. Some of this stuff would make great wall art. Anyway, here is what I found after 2 hours. Patent # 65906 for a fender.
Well, I couldn't stop there so the next day I searched "Harris Zoiner Patent" in yahoo and found 32 design patents and 7 idea patents issued between 1851 and 1870. Harris and Zoiner manufactured stoves in Cincinnati, Ohio. So, another 2 hours later I have this; Design patent 2339.
Great eh? Except today I found one of our mortise locks with several patent dates stamped on it between 1862 and 1863 and now I am itching to find out what was new in a mortise lock at the time of the Civil War. I can see another 4 hours being sucked away, can you hear the slurping noise?
2 comments:
Those are great. The equine sun bonnet is waaaay ahead of its time! I've just recently discovered Jackson's Carnegie library has an entire room dedicated to Jackson's history. I spent five hours there yesterday and I had only just begun! My next visit will be to find the Sanborn Insurance maps if they have them. Thanks for sharing the interesting items.
I know what you mean about the time-suck. I get sucked into Ancestry.com and other genealogy Web sites, for every branch of my family and those of my house's previous owners.
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