Ayers and his patents
I have previously posted about a patent that I read about in this paper from W.C. Ayers. Well, tonight, I found another article, and this one longer. It comes 11 years later than that first mention, but in the 13 May 1898 issue of the Roanoke Beacon, they wrote about Ayers’ next patent, this time for a railway switch.
“Our townsman, Mr. W.C. AYERS has again shown his wonderful inventive genius. We have before us the diagram and specifications of his latest invention – a Railway-Switch, which was patented May 3rd, 1898.
Some years ago, Mr. AYERS invented a machine to take garlic out of wheat, and while it was a complete success, yet Mr. AYERS was unfortunate and lost the patent.
His new invention, the railway-switch, is complete in its constructions and we are sure will be a success and fill a long felt want. This instrument is attached to and forms a part of the locomotive and is to be operated by a lever in the hand of the engineer, by the aid of this machine the engineer switches his own train and closes and locks the switch as it passes over it. We trust that Mr. AYERS may receive fall compensation for his time and trouble.”
Now, I’m not sure what they mean by his patent being lost, because I see in the records that it did go through. I’ll have to research that further. But, if you’re interested, this latest article refers to this patent. I believe it is very cool that almost 110 years later, we are able to look at the same documentation that W. Fletcher Ausbon and the others publishing the Roanoke Beacon were looking at when this notice was published.
