Laborsaving Patented Inventions
As the 19th century progressed, general self-sufficient agriculture and the domestic manufacture
of necessary goods gave way to specialization in work and a cash economy. Time was money, and
the invention and manufacture of laborsaving devices burgeoned into the early industrial revolution.
Click here to read background information on this new exhibit,
prepared by former Historical Society of Windham County Curator Joan Marr
Left from back: Agricultural inventions
Corn-cutter with stool, patented 1857
Horse-drawn seeder, patented 1854
Corn-sheller with plank seat, patented 1845
Domestic inventions
Butter churn & worker, patented 1865
"Little Giant Folding Wash-Tub Bench", 1879
both the above made by George W. Holton, Factory St, Jamaica
Sewing machine, invented 1846-1854 & patented in 1856
Bickford's Knitting Machine, 1875,
made in the Centerville Mill in West Brattleboro
(on loan from the Brattleboro Historical Society)
Hand-cranked food chopper
Wooden apple parer with plank seat,
possibly home-made, this type first patented in 1803
and publicized in Willich's "Domestic Encyclopedia"
Iron turntable apple parer, patented 1856
Cast iron parlor stove, patented 1846
Calvin J. Weld 1834-1894
Born in Guilford, in 1866 he bought the Luther Weld property and machine shop on Asylum Street
in Brattleboro (see photo) where he made "Planers, Belt Saws and other Machinery" (Beers Atlas).
He held patents for fluting washboards, 1866 (left below);
improvements in washing- machines 1871 &
water regulators for boilers 1873; a shingle machine, 1883 (left above); & a self-regulating water wheel
center: Watercolor portrait of Calvin Weld & invention, probably the shingle machine