Erie County Residents Were Inventive

      

For several decades, the Hinde and Dauch Paper Company was a leading company in the production of corrugated paper products. James J. Hinde is credited with developing the corrugated process that revolutionized the shipping industry in the early 1900s. Below is an advertisement for an early bottle wrapper that allowed products in glass containers to be shipped safely.

The American Crayon Company began with the development of chalk being molded into a stick. Later the company made crayons and other educational products, and provided employment for hundreds of area residents.

Willard A. Bishop was a photographer in Sandusky for many years. (You can see several of Mr. Bishop’s photographs at the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center.)

He was issued a patent for a copying camera in 1914.

Wilbert G. Schwer was issued Patent Number 1,696,584 on December 25, 1928, while he was associated with the Sandusky Tool Company. His patent related to the improvement of planes.

Though the company went out of business in the late 1920s, planes from this firm are still highly sought after by collectors.

Did any of your ancestors have a patent issued to them? It is easy to search Google Patents by keywords. For example, by putting in the terms "Otto Kromer" and "Sandusky," a search retrieved several patents by Mr. Kromer, a former Sandusky resident who was well known as a machinist in the late 1800s. 

When the Auditor’s Office Issued Bicycle Licenses

In the late 1800s and early 1900s, bicycle licenses were issued in Ohio, to provide funds for the construction and repair of bicycle paths. This blank bicycle license was issued by the Erie County Auditor’s Office for the fee of one dollar (about $30 in today's money). In the late nineteenth century, bicycles became popular for both transportation and recreational purposes. 

Below is a picture of a young man named Lloyd Gaa, standing with a penny-farthing bicycle at the Lloyd Studio in Sandusky in 1882.

We are unsure if the bicycle in front of the Beilstein Laundry belonged to an employee or a customer.

These young men are getting ready for a local bicycle race in 1919:

         

Here is a copy of the Bicycle Laws that were passed by the General Assembly of the State of Ohio on April 21, 1898:

And if you want to know about today's bicycling rules, follow the link for a column from the Ohio Bar Association that discusses current guidelines about the Law of Riding a Bicycle in Ohio.