The Winterthur Library

 The Joseph Downs Collection of Manuscripts and Printed Ephemera

Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum

5105 Kennett Pike, Winterthur, Delaware  19735

Telephone: 302-888-4600 or 800-448-3883

 

 

OVERVIEW OF THE COLLECTION

 

Creator:         Lewis, Benjamin B. (Benjamin Bennett), 1818-1890.          

Title:               Papers,

Dates:             1861-1980, bulk dates 1861-1884.

Call No.:         Col. 622

Acc. No.:        01x113

Quantity:        16 items (7 folders)

Location:        18 B 2

 

 

 

BIOGRAPHICAL STATEMENT

 

Benjamin Bennett Lewis was the inventor of a calendar clock.  He was born in Athens, New York, in 1818, and died in Bristol, Connecticut, in May 1890.  He had gone to sea in his younger days, and became captain of a trading vessel.  Not being fond of the sea, however, he settled in Huron, Ohio, around 1844, and went into the drug and jewelry business.  He tinkered with things, and invented a calendar device which could be used in clocks. In 1859, Lewis moved to Connecticut, first to Forestville and then to Bristol, in order to be closer to clock making businesses. 

 

In 1845, while in Ohio, Lewis married Almira Simons Hutchins (1826-1906).  Their son Charles Standart Lewis (1848-1896) was also an inventor.  Their daughter Frances Augusta Lewis (1845-1875) married George Cyrus Thomas of Brooklyn, New York.  Lewis’ invention brought him enough money to provide very well for his family.

 

 

SCOPE AND CONTENT

 

Papers relating to the B. B. Lewis’ Patent Perpetual Calendar Clock, 1861-1980 (bulk, 1861-1884).  Items include an illustrated advertising pamphlet with pictures of several styles of clocks, assignments of patents, copies of patents issued to Charles S. Lewis and others, papers relating to a case brought against B. B. Lewis for infringement of patent, a blank copy of an 1865 income tax form, and an issue of The Timepiece Journal which reproduces an obituary of Lewis.

 

           

ORGANIZATION

 

The materials are organized by type.

 

 

LANGUAGE OF MATERIALS

 

The materials are in English.

 

 

RESTRICTIONS ON ACCESS

 

Collection is open to the public.  Copyright restrictions may apply.

           

 

PROVENANCE

 

Gift of Norman Hascoe of Hascoe Associates, Inc.

           

 

ACCESS POINTS

 

            People:

                        Lewis, Charles S. (Charles Standart), 1848-1896.

 

Topics:

            B. B. Lewis & Son.

            Clock and watch making - Connecticut.

            Clocks and watches - Connecticut - Bristol - 19th century.

            Advertisements - Clocks and watches.

            Perpetual calendars.

Patents.

            Income tax forms.

            Clock and watchmakers.

           

 

 

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE COLLECTION

 

Location:

 

 

All accession numbers begin with 01x113.

 

 

Folder 1: periodical

 

            .1         The Timepiece Journal, vol. 2, no. 2 (winter 1980), with reprint of B.B. Lewis’ obituary from the Bristol Press, May 8, 1890

 

 

Folder 2: advertising circular

 

            .2         circular: B. B. Lewis’ Patent Perpetual Calendar Clock (Hartford: Case, Lockwood & Brainard, 1870)

 

                        Printed on behalf of B.B. Lewis & Son; includes four pictures of clocks using Lewis’ perpetual calendar

 

 

Folder 3: patents of B. B. Lewis

 

            .3         articles of agreement between B.B. Lewis, and Elias Burwell and William W. Carter, Jan. 12, 1861; Lewis conveys to Burwell & Carter the right to make 5000 calendars and they agree to pay him $1 for each made and sold; Burwell & Carter agree to sell clocks to Lewis at a certain price; when the 5000 calendars are sold, then Burwell & Carter will have the right to renew the contract

 

            .4         Lewis assigns to himself and Jeremy W. Bliss the right to improvements in his calendar clock, Feb. 6, 1862

 

            .5         basically the same information as in the document in .4 above, also dated Feb. 6, 1862;

                                    Printed form, decorated with an oak tree at the top of the page

 

            .6         Elias Burwell, formerly of Burwell & Carter, assigns his right to the calendar clock to B. B. Lewis, March 18, 1862

 

            .7         “contract with G.W. Brown & Co., June 3, 1862”: Lewis conveys to Brown & Co. the right to make a top for which he will obtain a patent

 

            .8         “B.B. Lewis to and with C.S. Lewis and George C. Thomas, assignment and agreement, dated 1881”: B.B. Lewis assigns a patent dated 1871 to C.S. Lewis and George C. Thomas, no month, no day, 1881.

 

 

Folder 4: lawsuit

 

            .9         Letter: Geo. D. Seymour, New Haven, to B. B. Lewis, Bristol, July 24, 1884: encloses a patent for a stretching tool which will have bearing on the case in hand

                                    [see .14 below – probably the patent which is in question]

 

            .10       “Opinion on the question whether the calendar movement for clocks manufactured by B.B. Lewis, and of which a sample has been submitted to me, infringes on the reissued patent of Akins and Burritt no. 3964, original no. 11711,” signed Henry T. Brown

                                    [see .13a-c for copy of this patent]

 

 

Folder 5: patents of Charles S. Lewis

 

            .11       pendulum, patent no. 290,186, dated Dec. 11, 1883;

                                    Printed; (2 pages, plus one plate)

 

            .12       fare-register, patent no. 504,731, dated Sept. 12, 1893;

                                    Printed; (6 pages, plus 3 leaves of plates)

 

 

Folder 6: patents issued to others

 

            .13a-c  patent for improvement in calendar-clocks, issued to William H. Akins and Joseph C. Burritt, no. 11711, reissue no. 3964, Sept. 19, 1854 and Nov. 2, 1869

                                    [see also .10 above]

 

 

            .14       improvement in watchmakers’ wheel-stretchers, issued to Royal Cowles, no. 156,207, Oct. 27, 1874

                                    [see also .9 above]

 

 

Folder 7: income tax form

 

            .15a-b  blank form for reporting United States Internal Revenue taxes for 1865, with supplementary form for farmers

 

            .16       photocopy of above