Dominick Cua, War Veteran and Businessman

Dominick Cua was the son of Salvatore and Maria Cua, born in Italy in 1890. He served in the Quartermaster’s Corps during World War I. In the 1920s, he operated a billiards hall in downtown Sandusky. Below is a page from his patent for a cue holder that he invented.

Later Mr. Cua ran a lunch room on Fulton Street, and from the 1930s to the 1950s, he was the operator of a concession stand at Battery Park.

As a Veteran of World War I, he was active in the American Legion. This is a medal he wore at an American Legion Convention held in Detroit, Michigan in 1931:

By 1959, Dominick Cua and his family moved to Florida. He died in Broward County, Florida in 1974. He and his wife June were buried at Lauderdale Memorial Park in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

The Lamb Brothers and Their Many Businesses

The business ventures of three Lamb brothers graced the cover of the 1880-81 Sandusky City Directory. G.W. C. Lamb stated that he was a consulting engineer and a mechanical expert. He was proprietor of the Lamb Steam Plow and Company. A Lamb mower took first premium at the Sandusky County Fair in 1877, according to an article in the Ohio Practical Farmer from October, 1877. In the late 1890s, G.W. C. was instrumental in designing several steam canal boats for use on the Miami Canal, between Cincinnati and Toledo. 

Brothers Anson C. Lamb and Virgil M. Lamb advertised their sign painting and decorating business, also on the cover of the 1880-81 Sandusky City Directory. The ad stated that the Lamb brothers were sign writers and fresco artists. They also did house painting and paper hanging. 

Anson C. Lamb saved several thousand dollars that he earned while working as a painter and decorator in Sandusky, and eventually became a successful stock broker. Embarking on yet a third career, he served as President of the Federal Casket Company. One of his patents was for a casket that looked like a couch, but when closed, became a fully functional casket. 

He hoped to “avoid, insofar as is reasonably possible, the usual background associated with the presence of death, and to retain with appropriate dignity the normal atmosphere of the household.” 

Anson C. Lamb lived to the age of 93, dying in 1949; he was buried in Riverside Cemetery in Cuyahoga County. Virgil M. Lamb had passed away at the age of 73 in 1933. Though the Lamb brothers did not in Sandusky their entire lives, they were quite productive when did live here. Below you can see the listings for the Lamb surname on page 62 of the 1880- 1881 Sandusky City Directory.

Kolb & Osberghaus, Inventive Business Owners

From about 1869 to 1880, Adam Kolb and Charles Osberghaus worked as machinists in Sandusky. In the earlier years, the firm was named A.Kolb and Co., but by 1878, the business was known as Kolb & Osberghaus.

In 1877 Adam Kolb and Charles Osberghaus were issued Patent Number 192,438 for improvement in sash balances. In 1880 another patent was issued to Kolb & Osberhaus, this time for a fastening for the meeting rails of sashes.

The advertisement in the 1878 Sandusky City Directory for Kolb & Osberghaus stated that the company manufactured the Perfect Sash Balancer & Ventilator. Nickel plated sash balancers sold for $1.25 (about $33 today), and brass bronzed sash balancers sold for $1.00. An illustration of a sash balancer made by Kolb & Osberghaus appeared in Scientific American in 1877.

In the late 1870s, there were three separate sash and blind manufacturers in downtown Sandusky: Jay C. Butler, Schoepfle & Gfoehr, and Thorpe & Fosdick. Most likely Kolb & Osberghaus’ products helped to balance the sashes that were made locally.

Both Mr. Kolb and Mr. Osberhaus were of German descent. They were both members of the Erie Encampment No. 27, Independent Order of Odd Fellows in Sandusky. After 1880, there are no more listings for Kolb & Osberghaus, but the company made sash balancers for locally produced sashes for several years.

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. 

Simplex Radio Company

After having been connected with the Maibohm Motor Company in Sandusky, Harry C. Maibohm started the Simplex Radio Company in 1924 at the corner of King and West Monroe Streets in Sandusky, Ohio. The advertisement above appeared in a 1932 Erie County Directory. The ad featured a Model P Simplex Radio which sold for $29.95 and a Model R Simplex Radio, which sold for $19.95. The Model P radio brought in radio stations from far distances, but the Model R was used primarily for local reception. In the 1930s, Simplex radios relied on RCA vacuum tubes for operation. The radio dial was illuminated, and interior chassis parts were rust-proofed. Most likely many Sandusky residents listened to President Franklin Roosevelt’s “Fireside Chats” from a broadcast brought into their home through a Simplex radio. 

When Jackson Junior High School opened in 1928, a Simplex system provided the ability to broadcast a radio program or phonograph record throughout a public address system, so that every student and teacher in the school could hear the broadcast at the same time. An article in the February 26, 1928 issue of the Sandusky Register reported that, “Through the imagination and foresight of F.J. Prout, superintendent of schools, Sandusky now claims the distinction of having what is believed to be the world’s first radio-equipped school.” 

This page from a patent issued to Harry C. Maibohm in 1932 describes a combined radio receiver, phonograph and public address system. The entire patent document is viewable through Google Patents.

As years went by, the Simplex radio became more streamlined, as seen in this picture of a 1937 Simplex radio, now at the Follett House Museum.

   

In 1937 Philco, a large radio manufacturing company, bought a controlling interest in the Simplex Company. The company relocated to the site of the former Maibohm automobile factory at 3130 West Monroe Street. By 1948 the local company adopted the Philco name. During war years, the factory worked on communications equipment for the U.S. Government. In the early 1950s, Philco made radios and television sets. In 1961 Philco moved its operations to Pennsylvania, and used the Sandusky plant as a warehouse. The Air Reduction Company purchased the warehouse building in 1964. 

The Simplex and Philco Companies provided jobs for hundreds of local men and women. The Sandusky Library Archives Research Center is fortunate to have a series of newsletters from Simplex and Philco in its business collections. Visit the Sandusky Library to view these interesting publications, which range in date from 1948-1962