In 1869 Nicholas Seibert of Nevada City, California, was granted a patent for a lubricator. By 1874 the Seibert patent lubricator was being manufactured by A. S. Brownell & Co. of Boston, "exclusive licensees for New England and the Middle States".

Over the next few years Seibert would receive a couple of additional patents related to his lubricators. In 1878 the Seibert Cylinder Oil Cup Co. was organized in Boston to manufacture Seibert's patent lubricators and oil cups. Besides the Seibert patents, they also licensed two patents for further improvements that were granted to John Gates of Portland, Oregon. Seibert and others would continue to patent improvements as late as 1891, and the company continued in business until at least that time.

Information Sources

• 1874 American Railroad Manual for the United States and the Dominion, page xvii, 1/4 page ad: "A. S. Brownell & Co. / Railroad and Machinists' Supplies. Proprietors and Sole Manufacturers of Eaton's Patent Car Stove. Manufacturers of all kinds of locomotive wire cloth. Manufacturers and Sole Agents for New England and Middle States, of N. Seibert's Patent Eureka Lubricator, for Locomotive and Stationary Engines. 111 & 113 Water Street, Boston."
• October 1878 American Machinist, page 10, in the "Machinists' and Engineers' Supplies" column:

  The Seibert Cylinder Oil Cup Co., of Boston, has been organized for the manufacture and sale of N. Seibert's Steam Engine Lubricating Cup. A new Oiler and Feed Indicator has lately been brought out, designed particularly for marine and locomotive engine cylinders. The price, including indicator, reservoir, valves, &c., is $40, and it is sold subject to a trial of 30 days, after which, if not satisfactory, it may be returned.

• June 1879 Snow's A B C Pathfinder Railway Guide, page 89, ad from Seibert Cylinder Oil Cup Co., 89 Water St., Boston.
• 1881 Fourteenth Exhibition of the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Assoociation, page 105, in a report on the category of "Motors and Appliances for Generating and Transmitting Power".

  205. The Seibert Cylinder Oil Cup Co., Boston, Mass.—Cylinder Oil Cups for locomotive, stationary and marine engines.—The system of lubricating steam cylinders embodied in this cup and automatic and continuous in its action, depending on column of water produced by condensation to force the oil against the steam pressure. It can be regulated by the turning of a globe valve to deliver any quantity required, and varying steam pressure does not interfere with the regularity of its delivery. A sight feed is provided, which enables the engineer to see at a glance the amount of oil that is being introduced into teh cylinders. For excellence of principle, beauty of design, and good workmanship, we award it a Gold Medal.

• 1883 New England Business Directory and Gazetteer, No. XI, page 1780, ad from Seibert Cylinder Oil Cup Co., 53 Oliver Street, Boston.
• 1890 Seeger and Guernsey's Cyclopaedia of the Manufactures and Products of the United States: New York, page 750, lists makers of Oil Cups and Sight Feed Lubricators, including Seibert Cylinder Oil Cup Co., 53 Oliver St., Boston, Mass.
• Lawsuits Seibert Oil Cup Co. v. Beggs (32 Fed. Rep.); Seibert Oil Cup Co. v. Lubricator Co. (34 Fed. Rep. 221, 1888); Seibert Oil Cup Co. v. Manning (32 Fed. Rep. 625, 1887); Seibert Oil Cup Co. v. Powell Co. (35 Fed. Rep.); Seibert Cylinder Oil Cup Co. v. Newark Lubricator Mfg. Co. (35 Fed. Rep. 509); Hedges v. Seibert Cylinder Oil Cup Co. (Circuit Court of Appeals, 3rd Cct, 1892). The "v. Newark Lubricator" suit involved an infringement of patent 138,243, and the court found in favor of Seibert. The secretary-treasurer of Newark Lubricator appealed the decision, and lost because an appeal could only be made by all parties to the original suit.