Posted 4 years ago
Seanpaul2054
(1 item)
Hey i was doing some work in the kitchen and pulled this off the wall. When i saw the back side i saw “use Red Cross towels” so I decided to show it some love. Any information on this? I image it’s from the 30’s but can’t seem to find anything online for it.
Hi, Seanpaul2054. Cool. :-)
I'm inclined to think it's newer than the 1930s, because there are a lot of A.P.W. paper roll holders out there that are cast iron rather than stamped sheet metal, e.g.:
https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/vintage-paper-towel-holder-w-paper-co-1930795324
Here's what looks like a stamped sheet metal Red Cross paper towel holder (without the A.P.W. name) that the vendor thinks is of 1940s or 1950s origin:
https://www.etsy.com/sg-en/listing/682255557/wall-mounted-red-cross-paper-towel
The approximate age of your A.P.W towel holder might be determined by looking up the patent number listed on it. (I'd do it for you, but I can't quite make out the number.)
Here's the interface for looking up US patents:
http://patft.uspto.gov/netahtml/PTO/patimg.htm
Enter the number, padding it on the left with zeros so that the total number of digits is eight before clicking on "View Patent."
If it doesn't return anything recognizable, then it might be a design patent, in which case replace the leading zero with a "D" character and try again.
About A.P.W.:
https://www.albanyinstitute.org/perforated-toilet-paper.html
A.P.W. apparently wrangled with the Federal Trade Commission for a long time over the use of the name "Red Cross":
https://casetext.com/case/trade-commn-v-apw-paper-co
Hi again, Seanpaul2054.
I changed up my search criteria a bit and tripped on a couple of A.P.W. patent listings in a 1935 edition of the Official Gazette of the United States Patent Office:
*snip*
LABELS REGISTERED JANUARY 29 1935
45,010 Title APW TOWEL HOLDER For Holders
APW PAPER COMPANY INC Albany NY
Published December 1 1934
45,011 Title RED CROSS TOWELS For Paper Towels
APW PAPER COMPANY INC Albany NY
Published December 1 1934
*snip*
https://books.google.com/books?id=02WgAAAAMAAJ&lpg=RA1-PR9&ots=R9vtS4V_R1&dq=apw%20red%20cross%20towel%20holder&pg=RA1-PA962#v=onepage&q=apw%20red%20cross%20towel%20holder&f=false
Unfortunately, no matter what prefix I used, or how I held my mouth, I could not look up those patents in the USPTO. :-(
Here are some 19th century patents for A.P.W. (S. Wheeler):
http://www.datamp.org/patents/search/displayPics.php?source=xrefCompany7816
In case you wonder what the guy looked like:
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/97135573/seth-wheeler
Seanpaul2054, in the course of more research, it does seem quite possible that your paper towel holder is from the 1930s.
I still can't read all the digits in the patent number on it, but it looks to me like the two most significant digits are "19."
An person named William Fairchild invented and patented quite a few items for A.P.W., and the ones that have "19" for their MSDs range in date from 1933 to 1934:
http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-adv.htm&r=0&p=1&f=S&l=50&Query=IN%2Fwilliam-fairchild&d=PALL
None of them look like your paper towel holder, but then William Fairchild wasn't the only person inventing and patenting things for A.P.W.
Well worth the love you gave it Seanpaul2054 -- now it has my <love> too! :-)