If you find a patent number or patent date by this manufacturer that is not on this
list, please contact the Site Historian.
Key to Links for Patent Information
USPTO = U.S. Patent Office .
Images of the actual patent can be viewed on the U.S. Patent Office web site but
a special TIFF viewer must be installed with your browser in order properly work.
More information on how to configure your computer to view these patents can be
found at TIFF image Viewers
for Patent Images.
DATAMP = Directory of American Tool And
Machinery Patents . A sister site to VintageMachinery.org with information
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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117,682
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Aug. 01, 1871
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Improvement in bearings for machinery
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Charles B. Richards |
Hartford, CT |
This invention represented a significant improvement in steam engine indicators and was an enabling technology for the development of high-speed steam engines. Richards seems to have sold the rights to Charles Talbot Porter, who in turn sold the rights to Elliott Brothers. That firm reportedly manufactured over 10,000 indicators over the next decade and then sold the rights to Hannan & Buchanan of Glasgow. Elliott Brothers had been paying Richards a 10% royalty based on a verbal agreement; when Hannan and Buchanan discovered that the agreement was not in writing, they refused to pay any royalties at all. Once the patent expired, it seems that Porter arranged for instrument maker Louis Casartelli of Liverpool to continue manufacturing Richards indicators. This continued into the first decade of the 20th century. J. W. Thompson's 1875 patent 167,364 was an improvement on Richards' patent, |