Rotary Measure, U.S. Patent Office Model
National Museum of American History

Rotary Measure, U.S. Patent Office Model

Davis, Jr., Daniel · 1876

steel (overall material)
National Museum of American History
CC0 — Public Domain
National Museum of American History

This small U.S. Patent Office model for a counter has the shape of an old-fashioned door key, with a dial protruding from the middle. A screw attached to a nozzle links to a shaft and rotates the dial. The edge of this dial is divided into 100 parts, which are labeled by 10s. A fixed pointer screwed to the middle of the dial indicates its reading. A second nozzle is tied to the object. The object illustrates the patent for “An Improvement in Rotary Devices” (#182,177) taken out by Daniel Davis Jr. and Edward Wright on September 12, 1876. There is no patent model tag.

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