Ezra Caswell was a carriage-maker, and an inventor of everything from bed-springs to butter-tubs, but most of his patents related to machinery for making wheel hubs. We have not been able to confirm that he manufactured his hub-making machinery but we suspect he did. His hub-related patents span 1864 to 1884.

Information Sources

• From the results of the the twenty-eighth Annual Fair of the New York State Agricultural Society, held September-October 1868 in Rochester: "E. Caswell, Lyons, N. Y., rubber spring bed attachment."
• Awards at the thirty-third annual exhibition of the New York Agricultural Society, Albany, NY, October 1873: E. Caswell, Lyons, N. Y.; Caswell's excelsior box setter, sets the boxes in waggon hubs perfectly true: Certificate of Merit.
• An 1875 Canada patent for bench vise, CA-4,828, describes Ezra Caswell as a "Carriage Maker".
• At the Fortieth Fair of the New York State Agricultural Society, held at Albany in September 1880, lists "E. Caswell, Lyons, N. Y., certificate of highest merit. E. Caswell's Eureka hub-borer and box-setter." The use of a trade name ("Eureka") suggests that Caswell was manufacturing this device.
• Patent 42,075 was granted to Ezra Caswell of Newport, MI, 1864, for a hub-boring machine. Patent 92,701 was granted to Caswell, 1869, for a tub. Patent 170,344 was granted to Caswell, 1875, for a vise. Patent 205,785 to Caswell, 1878, for a whip-socket. Patent 282,495 was granted to Caswell, 1883, for a hub boring machine. Canadian patent CA20,743 was granted to Edward Brown of Syracuse, assignee of Caswell, for a hub borer.