Figure 31. — Tin torch, 1880. 

 (Smithsonian photo 49927-0.) 



top and the larger the bottom. By its weight when 

 filled with oil, the lower portion serves as a counter- 

 balance to keep the lamp always in a vertical position. 

 The lamp is suspended by hooks on either side of the 

 juncture of the two cones. The wire supporting the 



torch i.s loosely coiled around the .staff and the ends 

 are brought upward on opposite sides and bent 

 toward each other at a point near the plate, which is 

 pivoted on the end of the staff by a screw. The dis- 

 tance between the coil and the shoulders of the bracket 

 is not more than two or three inches. These torches 

 were designed especially for torchlight processions. 



TIN TORCH, 1880 Figure 31 



USNM 227739 (Becker Collection) 



An improvement in the pivoting frame appeared 

 when Hermenegilde Prefontaine of Troy, New York, 

 in 1880, patented a frame made of one single piece of 

 wire coiled at the bottom to resemble a mandrel rod. 

 A nail passed through the coiled wire fastens the 

 supporting frame to the staff. The claim for this 

 invention was to simplify the construction and thus 

 cheapen the cost of the torches.^ No patent model 

 was submitted at the time the patentee submitted his 

 request. The diameter of the torch bowl is 3)2 inches 

 at the top and 4 inches at the bottom. The bowl is 3 

 inches high. 



^ Claim 3 of the original patent request was denied in that it 

 interfered with a patent on coffeepots previously acquired by 

 Gibson (patent 98244), issued December 28, 1869. This claim 

 had to do with the manner in which the supporting device was 

 received in the sides of the torch. 



Figure 32. — Tin torch, 1880, as shown in 

 patent 288476, issued June 8, 1880. 



Figure 33. — Tin torch, 1880, as shown in 

 patent 288476, issued June 8, 1880. 



PAPER 4 5 : POLITICAL CAMPAIGN TORCHES 



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