Dental articulator designed by Frederick W. Stephan (1874-1965), a graduate of the Chicago College of Dental Surgery, and made by the Crescent Dental Manufacturing Co. This Chicago firm was established in 1896 by Hugo J. Chott (1878-1943) and Edgar L. Chott (1882-1942), brothers from Bohemia who were brought to the United States while still young children.
Ref: Frederick W. Stephan, “Dental Articulator,” U.S. Patent 827,824 (Aug. 7, 1906).
Crescent Dental Manufacturing Co. ad for Stephan crown and bridge articulators, in Popular Health Dental Supplement (Aug. 1925): 45. This mentions a U.S. Patent dated April 17, 1923.
The donor referred to this item as a Bisco crown articulator. The Blue Island Specialty Co., which sold various supplies for dentists and orthodontists, was established in Blue Island, Ill. in 1898. It was using the term BISCO by the 1920s. The firm is now Bisco, Inc., and is located in Schaumburg, Ill.
D4-A dental articulator #12858 made by the Denar Corp. in Anaheim, Ca. Jay Zvolanek purchased this articulator in early 1974, for teaching students at the University of Illinois School of Dentistry, and donated it to the Smithsonian in 1981.
The donor termed this a crown articulator. It may have been sold by the Blue Island Specialty Co., a firm that sold supplies for dentists and orthodontists, and that was established in Blue Island, Ill. in 1898. This firm was using the term BISCO by the 1920s.
An inscription on this articulator reads in part “ENGINEERING COMP. BUFFALO, N.Y. HANAU ARTICULATOR.” Rudolph L. Hanau (1881-1930) was a mechanical engineer from Cape Colony, South Africa, who studied in Leipzig, Germany, and moved to New York City in 1906. Moving to Buffalo in 1918, Hanau became director of biomedical research at the University of Buffalo School of Dentistry, and established the Hanau Engineering Co., a firm that manufactured and distributed products related to the dental trade.
Dental articulator based on the designs of William Gibson A. Bonwill (1833-1899), a graduate of the Pennsylvania College of Dental Surgery who studied at the Jefferson Medical College, established a dental practice in Dover, Delaware, and relocated to Philadelphia in 1871. Bonwill developed his first dental articulator in 1864.