This brass pick counter is marked “CHAS. LOWINSON / SOLE AGENT N.Y” and “PAT. OCT. 20 – 08” and “PAT. SEPT. 20 – 10” and (on back) “CHRONIK BROS / MFRS. N.Y.” According to advertisements, the form was used by appraisers at the Port of New York, and the Quartermaster Dept. in Philadelphia.
August Chronik (1862-1942) and his brother Louis (1864-) were born in Hungary, came to the United States in the early 1880s, and invented or improved several mechanical devices. Charles Lowinson was a businessman.
Ref: August Chronik and Louis Chronik, “Thread Counting Apparatus,” U.S. Patent 901,879 (Oct. 20, 1908).
August Chronik and Louis Chronik, “Thread Counting Apparatus,” U.S. Patent 970,795 (Sept. 20, 1909).
Ad for “Lowinson’s Triplex Thread Counting Micrometer” in Textile World Record 38 (Nov. 1909): 181.
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