Baltimore Inventors/Inventions: The Famous and Not So Famous

Ottmar Mergenthaler
(1854-1899)

   Baltimore has had its share of creative and ingenious minds even prior to 1790 when the United States officially began recognizing patents as legally proscribed by the signing of the Constitution in 1785 and, as such, there have been some famous and not-so famous inventors that Baltimore is proud to call its own.

Mergenthaler Linotype - 1886
(Courtesy: U.S. Patent Office)

   One of the earliest documented Baltimore inventions is the Baltimore "Mud Machine", a horse-powered dredger that scooped mud from channels in the Port of Baltimore.  Invented in 1783 by two of three Quaker Ellicott brothers, Andrew and John Ellicott who owned the largest gristmill and flour export business on the east coast of the United States, as a solution for clearing and deepening the departure channels for the many boats from their warehouse and wharf at Pratt and Light Street.

   In 1886, Ottmar Mergenthaler (1854-1899) of Baltimore, designed a "Machine for Producing Type Bars" for Printing Purposes, which went on to be known as the first Linotype Machine.  His company went on to become the Mergenthaler Linotype of New Jersey and New York where numerous improvements were made to this important invention of the U.S. printing industry.

Bates Hoist Machine (1871)
(Courtesy: U.S. Library of Congress)

   From his Iron Foundry and Machine Shop at 1512 Fleet Street, James Bates (1816-1896) invented his "Hoist Machine" (currently in the Baltimore Museum of Industry) which was patented in April 1871. Although Elisha Otis was said to have invented the first passenger elevator ten years prior, this Baltimore inventor's idea for a hand ratchet hoist made it unnecessary to wind a rope upon any drum or cylinder.

Elijah Bond's
"Toy or Game" - 1891
(Courtesy: U.S. Patent Office)

   By the end of what is known as the Victorian Era, between 1891 and 1892, when spiritualism was nearly fifty years mature and popular within the U.S., a total of three Baltimore inventors filed patents for their "talking boards."  It turns out that the Ouija Board, invented by Isaac and William Fuld of Baltimore, was not (as some Baltimore-based blogs have postulated) the first of the lot.  Elijah J. Bond of Baltimore invented his "Toy or Game," filed for patent in May 1890 and receiving U.S. Patent No. 446,054, for a psychograph/game rendition having a suspicious likeness to the model later made famous by the Fulds.  The other Baltimore inventor by the name of Moritz Schirman patented his "Talking Board" (Patent No. 520,616) from a 1892 filing.

Joseph Shapiro
Cake Cone Design - 1920
(Courtesy: U.S. Patent Office)

   In January 1894, while the world was still opening chewing gum having the form of flat sticks, George M. Harsh of Baltimore, filed and shortly afterwards patented his "Design For a Tablet of Chewing-Gum," (Patent No. 23,096).  The design consisted of a circular disk or tablet having a diametrical ridge or bead extending across one side and dividing the surface into two equal parts; the surface of the reverse side being plain.  The "Chiclets" tablet came into production 11 years later, possibly as a candied perfection to this Baltimore invention.

   According to the New York Times, at the turn of the 20th Century, when eating was still a formal affair, ice cream was served as a delicate sliver on a plate and savored with a teaspoon.  During the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis, that changed when it is said the first waffle was rolled into a cone allowing the ice cream eater to walk-about.  While there are many such stories on the first to invent an ice cream cone, a Baltimore inventor by the name of Joseph Shapiro invented a design for a cake cone, filed for patent in April 1920, which was likely the first ornamental design of its kind.

   In the 21st Century, the origin of one of the more modern inventions was that of Robert D. Morrow of Baltimore who, as a 38-year-old electronics engineer working at the Martin Company, designed and invented his "Video Tape Recorder Using Amplitude Modulated Carrier and Saturated Tape."  He, along with Andrew S. Hegeinan, received a patent (No. 3405232) in May 1965 and (according to a June 5, 1965 Baltimore Sun article) it was available at market by the Christmas of 1966 as a home TV recorder at the price of $400.