The auger at the end of which enters the timber has a 

 screw in the centre which supercedes the necessity of a 

 gouge. The auger as its name implies is made with two 

 pods directly opposite to each other and at the extremities 

 of each pod next the screw are two sharp lips, for cutting 

 the timber. The auger may be made of any dimension. 

 The shaft and handles like those in common use otherwise 

 at the pleasure of the owner. The great superiority of 

 this auger ov'er any other in use consists in its being more 

 strong and durable, in turning much easier, boring faster 

 and drawing out of the hole with more ease. 



Likewise, Solyman Merrick's screw wrench would be 

 of interest if only to know that its patent was renewed 

 and extended through 1851. 



Yet, the auger and wrench are suggestive of some- 

 thing more. Both tools facilitate building and con- 

 struction. The former is in response to a system based 

 on the mortise, tenon, and treenail as the standard 

 structural fastenings, while the latter marks the be- 

 ginning of modern construction practice characterized 

 by mass-produced hardware — bolts, nuts, screws, and 

 nails. The auger is medieval — the companion piece 

 of the broadax, the beetle, the mortising chisel, and 

 the adze — the wrench, on the other hand, is associated 

 with the screwdriver, the hammer, the gimlet- 

 pointed screw, and the factory-made nail — all, in 

 their perfected form, symbols of the 19th century. 

 Each expresses a level of technology. One, a com- 

 posite of wood, water power, and heavy timber 

 construction; the other, a synthesis of iron, steam, 

 and a lighter building frame of either wood or steel. 

 Thus, specific objects, whether a shovel or a steam 

 dredge, an auger or a wrench, can symbolize the 

 most significant ideas and techniques of a period. 

 The historian will find the patent files rich indeed if 

 he examines them in terms of the concepts and ideas 

 that created them. 



Patents and the Cultural Historian 



The understanding of what objects mean in terms of 

 the times that produced them is an important problem 

 encoimtered by the cultural historian working in the 

 museum field. But, he also faces a much lesser one, 

 simply that of identity; and, once again, the patents 

 are of value. The most elusive survivals to trace 

 are invariably the commonplace, and these are often 

 exactly what the patent records best exemplify. 

 Usually patentees were largely unconcerned with 

 elegant furniture, exquisite silver, and fine china. 

 But, whether of the finer sort or not is really un- 



Figure 36. — Nail h.'^mmer patented by Chris- 

 topher G. Dodge. Patent 56191, July 10, 

 1866. 



important because the drawings serve, regardless of 

 an object's status, as a guide to original color and 

 finish, to decoration and design, and to integrity of 

 form as well as purpose. 



Students of the decorative arts generally have 

 overlooked the patent drawings — a source in which 

 household furnishings abound. The bedstead (fig. 

 42) patented by Isaac Eaton of Mount Gilead, 

 Mrginia, in 1833, is typical of the 100 or more such 

 patents applied for before 1847; and, although less 

 numerous, patents exist for tableware and utensils 

 that reflect the fashions of the day. Inventors also fa- 

 vored chairs, and considerable Insight into popular 

 tastes can be gleaned frotn their descriptions of them. 

 For instance, Benjamin Hays of Pittsfield, Massachu- 

 setts, emphasized in his 1834 specification the 

 simplicity of his easy chair (fig. 43), but quickly 

 added that the back and sides might be "stuffed and 

 turned into any style of plainess or elegance." 

 Although it is typical of patentees to attempt to cover 



P.\PER 48: UNITED ST.A.TES P.\TENTS NEW USES FOR OLD IDE.AS 



137 



