Posted 8 years ago
TheGateKee…
(222 items)
Recently I added a long sought after wire to my collection. This wire was patented by Othniel Preston of Hornellsville, NY, patent No. 238,348 on October 18, 1881.
Several months ago I was watching a History Channel program by the name Bible Hunters - Search for Truth. The program was about a man named Urbain Bouriant who in 1886 discovered a 2nd century book of the Gospel of Peter in a burial vault in Akmin, Egypt, next to a Monk. Presumably the book was one of the Monk's treasured possessions. The book was authenticated and copies published in 1891.
During the program I was captivated by one of the views of the manuscript. At the bottom of one page was a drawing of the very wire I was seeking. I stopped the program and took a photo of the TV screen.
It was common practice in ancient times to erase an earlier manuscript and re-use the papyrus. You can see an earlier image in the photo.
I have spent a lot of time researching to determine if the illustration of the wire was on the original manuscript or was it added in the 1891 publication. I have found no evidence either way. Hopefully a collector can steer me on the right path. Sure would like to know where Mr Preston got his idea for his design.
Looks like the wire they used in the dust beaters.
http://www.google.ms/patents/US678585
Good eye! Looks like the Prestons diversified.
Thanks, Dizzy! I KNEW I'd seen that before and couldn't remember where. I couldn't get the patent on the wire to come up on Google though.
UncleRon - It has become more difficult to locate some of the older patents since Google did some recent upgrades. Try typing in US248348 with no commas. Let me know if that doesn't work and I will add the patent to this posting. Carefully read the patent claims. The wire above is not illustrated on the patent. The claims are the patent.
The link to the patent:
https://www.google.com/?tbm=pts&gws_rd=ssl#tbm=pts&q=us248348
Thanks! I'll have to remember that for future look-ups. So the braiding is not the patent -I wondered about that - it's the barbing of the wire and the tensile advantages of using a flat braided wire in fencing.
Claim #1 says "braided rail or web as shown & described, 3 or more wires"
Claim #2 says "braided web with external barbs"
Claim #3 says " braided web with integral barbs"
He covered all the bases. Examples of all of the above have been found.
Thank you Nicefice.