^r ten • KW nrli • 



Figure 40. — Double-podded screw auger patented by 

 Ezra L'Hommedieu, July 31, 1809 (restored patent 

 1114X). 



Stoves of all sizes, shapes, and forms can be found, 

 and all reflect the extensive use of cast iron and a 

 flexible design aimed at achieving multipurpose re- 

 sults. David Little, in 1826, suggested an 11 -plate 

 range (fig. 48) "in which all kinds of boiling, broiling, 

 roasting, baking and steaming are done," and its 

 size was to be flexible "to suit all families or pur- 

 chasers. Steam Boats and Ships." Similarly, John 

 Harriman, in 1834, submitted a stove design (fig. 

 49), "both ornamental and convenient," in which, 

 at one and the same time, food could be either boiled, 

 roasted, baked, fried, or broiled. Thus, from beds 

 to stoves, researchers will at least be rewarded by 

 details of form, decoration, original appearance and 

 use. 



What, for example, do the above patents and others 

 show of the transition of popular taste, say from the 

 temple to the cottage, from the Greek to the Gothic? 

 As mechanical inventions, do they reflect the roman- 

 ticism of the day? Is there any indication in them of 

 the views expounded by Downing or Greenough? 

 Do architectural fashions manifest themselves in the 

 architectural designs of machinery patented in the 





K./f/o'/m 



■'■■■'7, 





Figure 41. — .Screw wre.nch patented by Solyman Merrick, 

 August 17, 1835 (restored patent 9030X). 



period — lathe beds, steam engines, steamboats, and 

 locomotives? How widespread is the concept of 

 the cast-iron skeleton as articulated by James 

 Bogardus? Is it merely coincidence that in 1849 

 Alexander Barclay and Charles VV. Bontgen of New- 

 ark, New Jersey, patented ice skates (fig. 50) made, 

 according to their patent specification, "of one or 

 more pieces of iron (instead of wood as heretofore) 

 of a skeleton form"? These questions are most 

 frequently answered by citing physical survivals that 

 show the given characteristics. The breadth and 

 depth of the patent files ought to add a new dimension 

 to such research. 



140 



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



