Sylvanus Cox and William Fanning from Richmond, Indiana, received a U.S. patent for an improved school desk and chair. Patent no. 135089 was issued on January 21, 1873.
This model consists of a wood and iron combination folding seat and desk. The brass desk supports have Gothic arches. The seat has dark and light wood slats with a curved, smooth bench and back support. The desktop is made of wood and features a groove for writing utensils. The cutout for an ink well would have been an option. It is attached to the back of the bench and has a folding mechanism to reduce noise. The brass base supports and legs form two birds with beaks touching. There is a small brass label on the desktop. The Cox and Fanning design was become one of the most attractive desk designs of the nineteenth century.
There were a few men with the name Sylvanus Cox living in Indiana when this model was created so we do not have specific information about the inventor. William W. Fanning was a carpenter who lived in Richmond, Indiana. He was born in November 1843 and died February 20, 1909 at age 65 in Richmond, Indiana.
This patent model demonstrates an invention for a flatbed cylinder press, granted patent number 218493. The patent details a web-fed press that printed on both strokes of the bed, doubling the usual output of cylinder presses. It also stacked, cut, and counted the sheets after printing.
Plain-rimmed circular dish with shallow, flat well scored around perimeter; no foot ring. Underside of rim is struck with seven marks, three at top are a partial touch mark for Stephen Cox, an incuse crowned "X", and an indented oval bordered by "[HARD] / [METAL]", while four partial hallmarks are below (left to right): "S•C" between horizontal lines and Britannia seated, both in squares, a lion's head erased facing left in an octagon, and an illegible figure (a rooster walking left) in a clipped-corner square. Two clipped-corner white paper collector's labels adhered near center of underside. One of three plates, DL*006812.03-.05.
Maker is Stephen Cox of Bristol, England, w. 1735-1754.
The Copp Collection contains a variety of household objects that the Copp family of Connecticut used from around 1700 until the mid-1800s. Part of the Puritan Great Migration from England to Boston, the family eventually made their home in New London County, Connecticut, where their textiles, clothes, utensils, ceramics, books, bibles, and letters provide a vivid picture of daily life. More of the collection from the Division of Home and Community Life can be viewed by searching accession number 28810.
Colored print depicting the Death of George Shiffler, the Nativish martyre of the Kensington Bible Riots, May-July 1844. This print depicts three of Schiffler's comrades holding him while he dies of a chest wound while clutching an American flag. He was killed by shots fired from the Hibernia Hose Company firehouse supposedly while defending or resuing an American flag. The scene takes place on a cobblestone street while mobs are rioting in the background. During three days of anti Catholic riots, homes, schools, and churches of Irish Catholic immigrants were burned or damaged. Shifler (or Shifler) was an 18 year old Protestant apprentice tanner (born Jan. 24, 1825) and Nativist supporter against immigrant (mostly Irish) Catholics. Shiffler's death made him a martyr for the Nativist cause with resulting in a large funeral with poems, songs, and prints created in his honor and Nativists parading the flag around the city with a placard exclaiming that the flag "was trampled on by Irish papists." The "Native Americans" mentioned in the caption refer to the Native American Party of Nativists. The names listed on the right and last sides of the Title and subtile are the last names of other Nativist casualties of the May. The caption claims their deaths occured May 6-8 but if the Cox listed is William L. Cox of the Germantown Blues, then his death wasn't until July when more riots occured. Officially 14 were killed and 39 wounded though others may casualties may have been undocumented.
Plain-rimmed circular plate with shallow, flat well scored around perimeter; no foot ring. Underside of rim is struck with seven marks, three at top are a partial touch mark for Stephen Cox, an incuse crowned "X", and an indented oval bordered by "[HARD] / MET[AL]", while four partial hallmarks are below (left to right): "S•C" between horizontal lines and Britannia seated, both in squares, a lion's head erased facing left in an octagon, and an illegible figure (a rooster walking left) in a clipped-corner square. Two clipped-corner white paper collector's labels adhered near center of underside. One of three plates, DL*006812.03-.05.
Plain-rimmed circular plate with shallow, flat well scored around perimeter; no foot ring. Underside of rim is struck with seven marks, three at top are a partial touch mark for Stephen Cox, an incuse crowned "X", and an indented oval bordered by "[HARD] / [METAL]", while four partial hallmarks are below (left to right): "S•C" between horiztonal lines and Britannia seated, both in squares, a lion's head erased facing left in an octagon, and an illegible figure (a rooster walking left) in a clipped-corner square. Two clipped-corner white paper collector's labels adhered near center of underside. One of three plates, DL*006812.03-.05.
This semicircular brass protractor is graduated to half-degrees. It is marked by tens from 10° to 170° in both directions, from left to right and from right to left. A brass rectangle with a curved notch has been soldered on at the origin point. The rectangle contains a small hole for locating the vertex of the angle being measured. The base of the protractor bears the maker's mark: W. C. Cox, Devonport. The letters DB are scratched near the maker's mark.
William Charles Cox, a British instrument maker who worked in Plymouth and Devonport, had his shop in Devonport from 1830 to 1851. He presumably made this protractor during that period. The Smithsonian purchased this instrument in 1959 from the estate of Henry Russell Wray via an auction conducted by Maggs Bros. Ltd. of London.
Reference: Gloria Clifton, Directory of British Scientific Instrument Makers 1550-1851 (London: National Maritime Museum, 1995), 69–70.
Reference:
Sotheby & Company, Catalogue of a Collection of Scientific Instruments, the Property of the Late Henry Russel Wray, London, 1959 (a copy of the catalogue is in the accession file).
