An Inventor

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Owing to his trade as a tinner and furnace manufacturer,  William patented several inventions to advance his competitive advantage. He had three patents to his name. Each patent is two pages.  Scroll through the pdf image of each patent to read the text description

 

On February 15, William was granted a patent on his first invention – an Improvement in Hot-air Furnaces. Patent no. 99,963. 

 

As of this writing, no records regarding William’s schooling have been found. However, it is clear he was an educated man. The Census’ indicate he could read and write in English and judging from his business as a tinner and the nature of his patents, he must have been astute in math and science.  

 

William was in the stove business and in the course of his trade figured out a way to use the ascension of waste heat from the stove to power fans in an exhaust flue. The fan shaft, tethered to a wheel, converted the waste heat to usable mechanical energy. And by means of a belt connected to the wheel, in his words, “the power of the wheel is communicated to machinery.”

 

On January 29, 1878, William was granted a patent for his second invention – an Improvement in Revolving Grates for Cook-Stoves. Patent no. 199,870.

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William’s stove design included a frame in the bottom of the oven, housing a revolving grate that could be turned by a manual crank handle from outside the oven. The purpose was to enable food to be rotated and cooked evenly in an oven without having to open the oven. Most microwaves we use today have a turntable that operates in the same way, albeit automatically.

 

On March 9, 1886, William was granted a patent for his third invention – a Flour Scoop and Sifter. Patent no. 337,711. No doubt we have all used a flour scoop and sifter at some point in our lives.

 

In this patent, William claims an improvement in the design of the hand held kitchen tool. An inclined scoop and sifter whereby 1) sieves of different mesh reinforce the others, 2) the agitator to the top of the scoop is attachable and removable and free of pressure on the screen, making it more durable, and 3) the screens are removable and replaceable and clamped to the open bottom of the scoop. 

 

One has to wonder how much inspiration William must have received from Mary in the design of his improvements for the stove and sifter. As the keeper of the house, Mary was likely the master of the kitchen and the master chef. As the voice of the customer, she probably provided a great deal of user experience and input to the final designs. Interestingly, there were 8 years between his 1st and 2nd patent and exactly 8 years again between his 2nd and 3rd.