If you find a patent number or patent date by this manufacturer that is not on this
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Key to Links for Patent Information
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on patents related to machinery and tools. A much easier user interface than the
USPTO's for finding information on machinery patents.
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X163
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Apr. 13, 1797
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Boring pumps and conduits
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Caleb Leach |
Plymouth, MA |
The Patent Office's original drawing and specification for this patent were lost in their December 1836 fire. However, the Massachusetts Historical Society has an original version of the patent specification; a copy is available under the "Publication Reprints" tab of the VintageMachinery.org entry for Caleb Leach (see link).
The original specification is signed by John Adams (President), Timothy Pickering (Secretary of State), and Charles Lee (Attorney General).
The following paragraphs are from a biography of Caleb Leach in the 1907 book, Early Owego, by LeRoy Wilson Kingman.
"In 1796, with Joshua Thomas and others, he organized the Plymouth aqueduct company and constructed the works, which are said to have been the first water-works constructed in America, and which continued to furnish water to Plymouth until 1855. These works he built under contract, using conduits, bored out to from two to four inches in diameter. For boring these logs he invented the screw auger and the machine for which he received a patent from the United States, dated April 13, 1797, to run fourteen years. The patent was signed by John Adams, president. The first screw auger he invented is preserved in Plymouth Hall, with the name of the blacksmith who made it for him attached.
"In 1799, at the solicitation of Aaron Burr, DeWitt Clinton and others, he went to New York city and built the Manhattan water-works. Upon whose charter the Manhattan bank was founded. He was superintendent of these water-works until his removal to Owego in 1806..." |