September 3, 2024
Meeting Place: Gilbert High School Classroom – 7 p.m.
Welcome \ Introductions: Don kicked off our meeting.
Guest and family additions: Ron Frantzen is our newest member. He’s from Ames and has a Ford 8N. Welcome him to the group. Evan Young was a visitor who owns a Silver King Centennial. 4th gear is really fast.
Treasurer Report: $1,500+some change.
Old Business: Pay your dues.
New Business:
Discussion Items: Bob West noted there are 2 possible opportunities for plow days. One is at Ron Morgan’s with 30 acres of alfalfa. The other opportunity is at Robbie Martins, east of the winery. They’d like to do them soon if interest.
We received a Thank You note from a student, from Finland, who won Reserve Championship at the Iowa State Fair for the FFA sponsorship we provided. The thank you note included the photo of his tractor.
Gilbert days had 18 units and great weather. The kids tractor pull had 25 kids.
Don went to Albert City where John Deere’s were featured. He noted the Bath D experimental with an open fly wheel and how interesting it looked. Roll Ag implement had John Deere D’s.
Auction or Threshing events: by Ft. Dodge there was an estate with F 20’s and 30’s, plus a hundred sets of rear wheels.
For Sale or Wish List: Free to good home from Neil Anderson are W9 tin ware and sediment bowls and Ford 8N stabilizer bars. See Dick Struve for these.
Bob Gibson, has for sale, 4 International tractor weights which will work on other tractors.
Presentation: Henry Corbin presented on Patents in Story County. Henry attend Iowa State University, where he now works and he has been a member of our tractor club for 7 years.
He spoke about patents in Story County 1900 and prior. Patents back in 1900 didn’t cost as much as they do today, which can be $10,000 or more. Check the U.S. Patent and Trademark website for rules and cost to apply for a patent. Paying a fee doesn’t mean you’ll receive a patent. You’ll probably need an attorney. NOTE: I found this link when I went hunting for U.S. Patent information: Patent process overview | USPTO
The patent office had 2 major fires and lost most records during the first fire in 1836. The second fire they had backup files and some protypes. A lot of patents in the early 1900s’ were for barbed wire and automatic music page turner mechanisms. You can search by patents on the website. You can also search by county. Henry will be happy to check for patents if people are interested, let him know.
Mr. Blakeslee was from Story City and was a serial inventor. He fame was noted for a can opener which helped the ladies of the church open large cans. Henry had blue print pictures and details for each person he mentioned during his research. Another invention was the seat latch lock for wagon seats. This was needed to keep the seat from moving around when you’re on the wagon. Other devices included a carpet stretcher and a device for molding tools.
Otis Briggs was from Nevada. He as a clock repair person, banker and farmer. He created the auto thermostat for coal oil burner furnaces. It was called a “damper device”.
James E. Bectly was from Zearing, Iowa and invented one of the first self-adjusting beds. It was operated by using a series of ropes and pulleys which would tilt the bed up or down at an angle.
Henry’s grandfather had a patent for an angel drill for doors. The patent may have cost about $200. in 1968. They had 2 prototypes. He noted his grandfather begin to see his invention being sold after his patent had expired, which was approx. 20 yrs. later.
Pre 1900’s there were 3 patents for people from Gilbert, Iowa. In the early days a model was a requirement; however, today it’s no longer required for most items. Perpetual motion does require a model. NOTE: A perpetual motion machine is a hypothetical machine that can do work indefinitely without an external energy source.
The first barbed wire was in Story City. It took 16-18 mths. for the patent approval. There was a gate which was triggered by the horse stepping on it. An accordion gate would lower for the horse to step over and rise back up once they crossed. In Nevada you can still see fence poles from the 1900’s. Some are concrete and some are metal with places for the wire to hook into. There are also some ‘T’ shaped poles, with patents from the 1870’s, with an interlock device for the wire to lock into. Kim R. noted he has the tops of some cast iron pole with the wire lock device. He’ll get one to Henry to see. In the early 1900’s you could order fence posts from a catalog. A lot of people had concrete corner poles. There are some in Nevada. WWI started the making and need for steel post, which were quick to make.
A school desk patent was entered by M. T. Anderson of Story City in the early 1900’s.
Dick Struve also provided information about patents and noted he has 2 pending. He can’t talk about them until they reach a certain stage.