Figure 28. — Tin torch, circa 

 1880. (Illustration from ad- 

 vertisement slieet.) 



Figure 29. — Ballot-box torch, 

 1880. (Smithsonian photo 

 49926.) 



Figure 30. — Tin torch, 1880, as 

 shown in patent 232265, issued 

 September 14, 1880. 



TIN TORCH, CIRCA 1 880 Figure 28 



No example found. 



This small and well-proportioned torch was illus- 

 trated in an advertisement circular distributed by 

 E. G. Rideout & Co., New York, in 1880. The bowl, 

 composed of three portions joined together and con- 

 taining a single burner, does not represent any great 

 advance in torch development. 



BALLOT-BOX TORCH, 1 880 Figure 29 



USNM 227739 (Becker Collection) 



This most appropriate torch was dcN-ised in 1880 for 

 use in torchlight processions, especially for political 

 organizations, and for other similar purposes. This 

 torch representing a globe ballot box, was patented 

 by J. McGregor Adams of Chicago, Illinois. The 

 torch is composed of upper and lower metal plates 

 joined by four posts, making a skeleton frame similar 

 to the frame of a globe ballot box. The frame meas- 

 ures approximately 4}^ inches square and is 4 inches 

 high, and within it is a glass oil receptacle made in the 

 form of a globe. The wick tube rises from the upper 

 portion of the globe and extends above the upper 

 plate, occupying the relative position of the slot 

 through which ballots are deposited in a ballot box. 



The patentee suggested that appropriate inscriptions 

 applicable to the special use be applied to the glass 

 globe. Whether any of the globes did have such in- 

 scriptions is not known. The only examples seen by 

 the author have been without inscriptions. Other 

 than the one illustrated, there is one in the U.S. Na- 

 tional Museum that has a celluloid flyer attached to 

 one of the posts and bears portraits of Harrison and 

 Reid and the date "1892." The posts of this torch 

 are painted red and blue. 



TIN TORCH, 1880 Figure 30 



Xo example found. 



In 1880, C. Otto Hammer of Allegheny, Pennsyl- 

 vania, patented this improvement in the supporting 

 device of the torch. The patent was assigned to Dora 

 Hammer. This invention consists of a method of sus- 

 pending the lamp by a wire or bail, part of which is 

 first loosely coiled around the staff on which the lamp 

 is carried, then confined by a revolving plate on top 

 of the stafT, and finally secured by eyes on hooks at the 

 side of the lainp, allowing the staff to be turned in all 

 directions without upturning the lamp. The lamp is 

 similar in form to two cones of unequal height but 

 equal united bases, the smaller cone representing the 



28 



BULLETIN 24 1 : CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE MUSEUM OF HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 



