In 1833 Daniel H. Wiswell was granted a pair of patents for a machine for making wheel spokes. He was apparently successful in selling licenses to his invention.

In this early era of the Industrial Revolution, such machinery patents were typically licensed to an end user allowing them to use the patent machine within a specific geographic territory. The licensee would contract with a machinist to make one or more machines for them. Eventually, as manufacturing technology improved to the point that a mass-produced machine was significantly less expensive than a custom-made machine, and as improved transportation infrastructure made it feasible to ship machinery longer distances, the patent licensing model changed to one where a manufacturer would license a patented machine design and would then sell machines with an implicit license to use them anywhere.

We have seen an 1834 pamphlet offering licenses to both James Hamilton's sawing machine and to Wiswell's spoke machine. The pamphlet was published by Joshua Tolford of Brooklyn and B. F. Thompson of Hempstead, Long Island, who had been contracted by Wiswell to sell licenses to his invention for counties or towns of Long Island. Tolford and Thompson note that R. Hoe & Co. of New York could construct Wiswell's machine for $250 each. The machine was said to require about four horsepower to run, which on Long Island was expected to be supplied by a water-wheel.

In 1834 Wiswell and Benjamin Goodspeed of New York patented a felly sawing and boring machine that competed directly with Hamilton's patent machine. We have not found evidence that this machine reached broad acceptance.