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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138,462
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Apr. 29, 1873
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Improvement in planing-machines
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Joseph P. Woodbury |
Boston, MA |
This notorious patent had an especially complex history. Woodbury originally applied for the patent on 1848-06-03, two years after the invention was completed. The main innovation is the use of flat bars before and after the cutter-head, to hold the stock firmly down to the table during planing. The patent claim was rejected in 1849 and Woodbury's attorney eventually withdrew the application (in 1852). But Woodbury's contract with the lawyer did not give him permission to do so, which created an opening to re-submit the application. In 1854 Woodbury hired a new lawyer, but it was too late to appeal the rejection. Fifteen years later, however, Congress revised the patent laws, and a generous interpretation of the new rules led to this patent finally being granted. Woodbury died about this time, and his heirs created the Woodbury Patent Planing-Machine Co. to attempt to recover royalties from essentially every planing-machine user in the country. The case went to court, which invalidated this patent due to prior art. Until the loss in court, the patent's worth was estimated at nearly $40 million. Ironically, the main prior art was an 1842 planer design from a man named Anson from Norwich CT, whose patent claim was rejected; he had claimed some machine features but not the yielding pressure bars. |
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8,438
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Feb. 22, 1878
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Improvements in planing-machines
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Joseph P. Woodbury |
Boston, MA |
This was an extension of patent 3,433 for an additional 5 years. The extension was filed for by the deceased inventor's executors, and the whole thing was a scheme to extort royalties for a very old idea, the planer pressure-bar. See the VintageMachinery.org entry on Joseph P. Woodbury for more information. |
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8,439
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Feb. 23, 1878
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Improvements in planing-machines
|
Joseph P. Woodbury |
Boston, MA |
This was an extension of patent 3,433 for an additional 5 years. The extension was filed for by the deceased inventor's executors, and the whole thing was a scheme to extort royalties for a very old idea, the planer pressure-bar. See the VintageMachinery.org entry on Joseph P. Woodbury for more information. |