updated 19 May 2018
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In this issue of the American Agriculturalist as digitized by Google Books, Rev. Henry Ward Beecher endorses the use of this contraption.
| Title | American Agriculturist, Volumes 25-26 |
| Publisher | Peters, 1866, January, p.35 |
| Original from | University of Minnesota |
| Digitized | Jan 7, 2015 |
Doty's Clothes Washer was manufactured by Doty Brothers, Janesville, WI. Their ad appeared in:
| Title | Wisconsin and Minnesota State Gazetteer, Shippers' Guide and Business Directory for 1865-'66 |
| Author | George W. Hawes |
| Publisher | G.W. Hawes, 1865 |
| Original from | the University of Wisconsin - Madison |
| Digitized | Sep 30, 2011 |
| Length | 358 pages, page 110 |
The machine was the invention of William Doty. Judy and Conrad Terrill outline Doty Brothers history as part of their PDF of a promotional pamphlet filed by the company with the Library of Congress:
"...The original patent for this washer was issued in 1864 to William M. Doty, of New York City. The names of his brothers Ezra Philo Doty and Ellis Doty, both of Janesville, Wisconsin, appear on improvement patents later in the 1860’s, sometimes accompanied by William’s name. R. C. Browning, who is named as the General Agent for the product, became president of the Metropolitan Washing Machine Company, of Middlefield, Connecticut, in the early 1870’s, and the company may then have begun manufacturing the Doty washer, although it could also have been doing so before Mr. Browning’s arrival. A picture of the washer, still labelled “Doty’s Clothes Washer,” appears on the company’s receipt letterhead in the 1880’s, and the washer is listed as one of their products, along with the “American Mangle,” a machine for ironing clothes, and their main product, the “Universal Clothes Wringer.” The No. 2 Universal Wringer was offered as an $8 option for the Doty Washer in 1865, according to page 2 of this pamphlet."
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| Doty's in action! |
Look who's testifying:
Henry Ward Beecher was a brother of Harriet Beecher Stowe. Sounds like he never used the advertised wringer.Mrs. Henry Ward Beecher (no doubt "the powers that be" above) speaks for herself in this ad, "...the inventor may have the satisfaction of feeling that he has changed one of the most toilsome parts of woman's work into a very attractive amusement." Unlike her husband, Mrs. Beecher was something of an expert on home economics, and her endorsement thus carried some weight as the Wikipedia article points out:
"Mrs. Beecher was a contributor, chiefly on domestic subjects, to various periodicals, and some of her articles were published in book form. During a long and tedious illness in her earlier married life, she wrote a series of reminiscences of her first years as a minister's wife, afterward published with the title From Dawn to Daylight: A Simple Story of a Western Home (1859) under the pen name of “A Minister's Wife.” She also published Motherly Talks with Young Housekeepers (New York, 1875), Letters from Florida(1878), All Around the House; or, How to Make Homes Happy (1878), and Home (1883)."I was able to find full text of the following titles of Mrs. Beecher's online:
Google Books captures an ad for the Universal Clothes-Wringer in the Methodist Quarterly:
Title
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The Methodist Quarterly Review, Volume 24, p.711
Volumes 330-332; Volumes 1093-1100 of American periodical series, 1800-1850 |
Contributor
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Methodist Episcopal Church
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Publisher
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G. Lane & P. P. Sanford, 1864
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Original from
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the University of Wisconsin - Madison
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Digitized
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Mar 26, 2009
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Information on Solon Robinson is quoted from the following resource:
| Title | The WPA Guide to Indiana: The Hoosier State American guide series |
| Author | Federal Writers' Project |
| Publisher | Trinity University Press, 2013 |
| ISBN | 1595342125, 9781595342126 |
| Length | 548 pages |
Wikipedia presents a long article on the life and career of Orange Judd, an expert in agriculture and a well-known writer.
According to the Lehrman Instititue's site, Mr. Lincoln and New York, the Rev. Dr. Henry W. Bellows
Evidently the Universal Wringer was sold as an accessory to more than one brand of washing machine, at least both Doty's and the Metropolitan.
For a look at the difference the wringer washer made in the daily washing routine, see the History of Laundry after 1800.
According to the Lehrman Instititue's site, Mr. Lincoln and New York, the Rev. Dr. Henry W. Bellows
"is alike eminent for eloquence, piety and a large acquaintance with the progress of the age in development of humanity," ... New York businessman Moses H. Grinnell in introducing the Rev. Dr. Henry W. Bellows to the President in May 1861.1 His First Congregational Church, located in Gramercy Park, included [in] its congregation some of New York's most prominent residents including Peter Cooper, Parke Godwin, and William Cullen Bryant. Henry W. Bellows was a well respected Unitarian clergyman, social mixer, and a born organizer. "Ross C. Browning did much more than just sell clothes wringers and washers. Born in Barre VT in 1832, his obituary (NY Times, 28 March 1899, p.7) relates that, after graduating from the Liberal Institute in Lebanon NH, he taught school for many years in Sussex NJ, then worked for the Erie Railroad at Piermont-on-Hudson. In 1859, under the name of Johnson & Browning, he published an atlas of the world, Johnson's New Illustrated (steel plate) Family Atlas with Alvin J. Johnson. At that time Browning was publishing out of Richmond VA. When the Civil War broke out, he supported the Union and made a perilous journey through the lines to the North with his family to Llewellyn Park NJ. The obituary notes that the printing presses he left behind were used by the Confederacy to print its currency. "In 1861, following the outbreak of the American Civil War the Johnson and Browning firm moved their office from Richmond, Virginia to New York City. Johnson and Browning published two editions of the Johnson Atlas in 1860 and 1861. Sometime in 1861 Browning's portion of the firm was purchased by Benjamin P. Ward..." - See more at: http://www.geographicus.com/P/AntiqueMap/WorldMerc-johnson-1861#sthash.uph63yfA.dpuf It was only after the war that, as per the Times, "Mr. Browning engaged in the manufacture of clothes wringers, and in 1892 sold out to a syndicate and retired from business."
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| view the plates individually or as a slideshow at the Library of Congress |
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| near no. 86 Cedar St., Aug 2014 (Google Street View) |
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| American Agriculturalist, 1876 page 349 |
For a look at the difference the wringer washer made in the daily washing routine, see the History of Laundry after 1800.
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| Garland Parlor Stove |
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| What's the matter with this wild woman? ...see below |
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| Meanwhile, on the other side of the stove... this is why Mother is so alarmed! |
For more information on Garland Stoves, see page 86 of the Earl J. Arnold Advertising Card Collection.
The Digital Commonwealth posts an image of the back of this card:
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Pat. by Joseph William Smith, Mar 19th 1878. |
| Title | The Boston Directory, Part 3 |
| Publisher | Sampson & Murdock Company, 1882 p.1394 |
| Original from | University of California, Berkeley |
| Digitized | Nov 13, 2014 |
Below is the text of the Smith's patent from Google Patents:
DESCRIPTION (OCR text may contain errors)
J. W., SMITH. Suspender Clasp.
No. 201,458. Patented March 19, I878.
UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.
JOSEPH W. SMITH, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.
IMPROVEMENT IN SUSPENDER-CLASPS.
Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 201,458, dated March 19, 1878; application filed October. 27, 1877.
To all whom itmay concern:
Be itknownthat I, JOSEPH WILLIAM SMITH, of Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain Improvements in the Manufacture of Suspenders, of which the following is a full, clear, concise, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making a part hereof.
In the drawings, A A represent the main straps; B B, the button-straps or suspenderends, and G G the device for uniting them. This device is made in two parts. One part, 0, is a sheet of metal, either plain or ornamented, and the other part, 0, is a sheet of metal provided with the teeth 0. The ends of the strap, after being arranged in the proper relation to each other, are applied to the part 0. The teeth 0, which have been bent at right angles with G,,pass through the web, are bent down or clinched, and the part 0 ap plied and secured by rivets, as shown in the drawings, the rivets serving to hold the parts 0 and 0 close together.
When teeth 0 are used upon the ends of both the parts 0 and G, as in Figures 8 and 9, they should be made shorter, and applied by clamping the straps between them, and then secured firmly together by an eyelet or rivets, as shown.
Figs. 1, 2, and 3 show the form of this device best adapted for connecting the parts A A B B by means of the teeth 0. Figs. 4, 5, 6, and 7 show two forms of the device, for use when the parts A A are to be connected by the teeth 0, and a ring of some kind is needed to fasten the button-straps;.while Figs. 8, 9, and 10 show two forms of this device used for connecting the pieces B B together, and attaching-' them to the buckle, by which they are attached to the straps A A, the device shown in Fig. 10 being attached to the button-straps B B precisely as the device shown in Fig. 4 is to the shoulderstraps A A.
Suspenders thus formed are extremelydurable, and the device can be applied with great neatness, and be highly finished. It is easily and inexpensively applied.
It is better to subject the parts to a heavy pressure between two flat surfaces after the teeth are bent down, and before riveting or eyeleting on the part 0. In this way the rivets or eyelets, when applied, bring the part 0 closely into place, and hold it there very securely. r
The parts 0 and 0 may be made in one piece, or be separate pieces.
The loop shown in all the figures (except 1, 2, and 3) is for attaching the device to the straps B B, or to a hook on the buckle of the main strap. 7
I am aware of the Patents No. 182,526, of 1876, and No. 136,549, of 1873, and disclaim the devices there shown.
What I claim as my invention isl. The combination of the suspender-straps A A (or B B) with the toothed plate G and shield-plate G, united and held together by the rivets, as shown. e
2. The device composed of the plates 0 G, provided with holes for the eyelet or rivet and a loop at or near one end, as shown.
JOSEPH WM. SMITH.
Witnesses GEORGE S. LITTLEFIELD, GEORGE O. G. COALE.
No. 201,458. Patented March 19, I878.
UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.
JOSEPH W. SMITH, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.
IMPROVEMENT IN SUSPENDER-CLASPS.
Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 201,458, dated March 19, 1878; application filed October. 27, 1877.
To all whom itmay concern:
Be itknownthat I, JOSEPH WILLIAM SMITH, of Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain Improvements in the Manufacture of Suspenders, of which the following is a full, clear, concise, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making a part hereof.
In the drawings, A A represent the main straps; B B, the button-straps or suspenderends, and G G the device for uniting them. This device is made in two parts. One part, 0, is a sheet of metal, either plain or ornamented, and the other part, 0, is a sheet of metal provided with the teeth 0. The ends of the strap, after being arranged in the proper relation to each other, are applied to the part 0. The teeth 0, which have been bent at right angles with G,,pass through the web, are bent down or clinched, and the part 0 ap plied and secured by rivets, as shown in the drawings, the rivets serving to hold the parts 0 and 0 close together.
When teeth 0 are used upon the ends of both the parts 0 and G, as in Figures 8 and 9, they should be made shorter, and applied by clamping the straps between them, and then secured firmly together by an eyelet or rivets, as shown.
Figs. 1, 2, and 3 show the form of this device best adapted for connecting the parts A A B B by means of the teeth 0. Figs. 4, 5, 6, and 7 show two forms of the device, for use when the parts A A are to be connected by the teeth 0, and a ring of some kind is needed to fasten the button-straps;.while Figs. 8, 9, and 10 show two forms of this device used for connecting the pieces B B together, and attaching-' them to the buckle, by which they are attached to the straps A A, the device shown in Fig. 10 being attached to the button-straps B B precisely as the device shown in Fig. 4 is to the shoulderstraps A A.
Suspenders thus formed are extremelydurable, and the device can be applied with great neatness, and be highly finished. It is easily and inexpensively applied.
It is better to subject the parts to a heavy pressure between two flat surfaces after the teeth are bent down, and before riveting or eyeleting on the part 0. In this way the rivets or eyelets, when applied, bring the part 0 closely into place, and hold it there very securely. r
The parts 0 and 0 may be made in one piece, or be separate pieces.
The loop shown in all the figures (except 1, 2, and 3) is for attaching the device to the straps B B, or to a hook on the buckle of the main strap. 7
I am aware of the Patents No. 182,526, of 1876, and No. 136,549, of 1873, and disclaim the devices there shown.
What I claim as my invention isl. The combination of the suspender-straps A A (or B B) with the toothed plate G and shield-plate G, united and held together by the rivets, as shown. e
2. The device composed of the plates 0 G, provided with holes for the eyelet or rivet and a loop at or near one end, as shown.
JOSEPH WM. SMITH.
Witnesses GEORGE S. LITTLEFIELD, GEORGE O. G. COALE.
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