Posted 11 years ago
jlawp2013
(1 item)
Help needed... Love it! I picked this trunk up at a flee market. Wanting to learn a little about it.It shows the following markings:
Outside: The Belber Trunk & Bag Co. Oshkosh Wisconsin Trademark.
a bunch of patented information.
Inside:
5 drawers on right side and clothes rack/extension, shoe holders, at bag of some sort, and a round ball thing (not sure what it is).
Underneath 4 drawer: Patented Dec. 22. 1914, No. 1,121,933 The Oshkosh Trunk Company.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
The fact that you have a makers label is significant for any trunk. Osh Kosh made a medium to high quality trunk and yours appears to be a nice example of a wardrobe trunk of its time. What other type of information were you hoping to find?
I just got a 1914 Oshkosh steamer trunk with the key. I was able to unlock it but I could not actually open the trunk by separating the two halves. I tried pulling them apart but they wouldn't budge. Any suggestions? patient # 1060937.
Thanks
Did you try opening it upside down -- sideways etc... something inside must have shifted... try to give it a good shake as well...
Rotate the shackle that has the main lock on it. The shackle once unlocked is on a long hinge and then becomes a crank like a car window. When you rotate this, it unlocks the retaining claws all the way down the inside of the trunk and pushes it open the first inch.
It's a great trunk. I recently found one myself and love it.
Thanks to Conansoranno the instructions for opening the Oshkosh Steaner Trunk was invaluable. I had the key but had no clue about cranking the locking mechanism “like a car window” and that’s all we needed! Thank you for that; it was a bit of a puzzle and avoided any damage trying to force it open. Many thanks to you and this site for collecting valuable tips!
I just scored one of these from an estate sale, and I appreciate the tip on where to find the patent - I was trying to find a timeline, and like yours, it’s 1914. I feel so lucky to have found one!
Hmmm, I missed this trove of patents.
Hi, AbCadabb22. :-)
I'm not sure why you or others commenting on this post have singled out one of the 1914 patents, but the rule of thumb on patents is that an item can't be any older that its newest patent.
It's even more clear cut here in the case of a wardrobe trunk with a riveted patent plate than it would be on a vintage sewing machine with patents engraved on a bobbin slide plate (which could have been a replacement for a lost one).
The newest patent on this Oshkosh wardrobe trunk is April 30, 1918.
Here they are in Google Patents:
https://patents.google.com/patent/US1060927
https://patents.google.com/patent/US1120215
https://patents.google.com/patent/US1121933
https://patents.google.com/patent/US1131722
https://patents.google.com/patent/US1151370
https://patents.google.com/patent/USRE14143
https://patents.google.com/patent/US1203169
https://patents.google.com/patent/US1225001
https://patents.google.com/patent/US1262911
https://patents.google.com/patent/US1264321
Here's another, slightly newer vintage Oshkosh wardrobe trunk (the newest patent is November 2, 1926).
The piece also has some great vintage wardrobe trunk ads:
https://www.hagley.org/librarynews/oshkosh-trunk-company