American Historical Ephemera & Photography

Approximately 85 patents spanning ca 1900-1930s. Apple's decades-long career was highlighted by his work on systems for automobiles. He elicited legal assistance in obtaining patents for his work not just in the US, but around the world. Included in the collection are patents from Great Britain, France, Russia, Germany, Canada, and the United States. Conditions vary, most with toning, creasing, and soil, many with losses, dampstaining, and mold damage.

[With:] 25 black and white photographs of various mechanical items, 3 x 4 in. to 5 1/8 x 3 1/8 in., many identified on verso, 1927-1929 (conditions vary, creasing, soil, wear). -- 1 black and white photograph, approx. 7 1/2 x 9 1/2 in., of a man operating a machine with typed identification on verso "This method of welding armature leads to commutator bars was built in 1918 and photographed in the Demco shop on November 21, 1919." (poor condition, losses, completely separated diagonally into two halves). -- 10 negatives, 3 1/8 x 4 1/8 in. dated 1921-1929, and 1 negative 6 1/4 x 8 1/4 in. (deterioration, brittleness).

[Also with:] A bulletin containing instructions "For the Installation ad Operation of the 'Dayton' Electric Starting, Lighting and Ignition System for FORD CARS." 16pp, Bulletin No. 20, July 1919. -- The Dayton Electrical Manufacturing Company, 2-sided promotional leaflet for the "Dayton" system for Ford cards. -- Patent application made by Gourley Darroch (1896-1991), for improvements to a toy airplane accompanied by Darroch's diagram of the invention, correspondence related to the patent, and empty envelopes intended to house a "Dayton Flyer" toy airplane. Darroch was Apple's son-in-law. -- A box of Gourley Darroch's business cards featuring his name above "Vincent G. Apple Laboratories / 308 North Broadway / Dayton, Ohio." -- Dozens of printed copies of patents and patent inventions issued to Apple and other inventors.

Though little known today, Vincent G. Apple was a prolific inventor whose accomplishments rivaled those of his famous peers. Apple was a contemporary of inventors Wilbur and Orville Wright, Thomas Edison, and Henry Ford, the carmaker being identified in the Cincinnati Enquirer's 25 September 1932 obituary for Apple as a "personal friend" of the Dayton inventor. Apple was also an entrepreneur who founded his first company, the Franklin Electric Company, at the age of 18. This would become the Dayton Electric and Manufacturing Company. Apple would later found the Apple Electric Company and Apple Laboratories, both based out of Dayton. Apple's research contributed to the groundbreaking inventions that the Wright Brothers and Ford were pioneering in the early 1900s. In 1903, Apple's magneto ignition system was used by the Wright Brothers in their "Wright Flyer." His work on electric self-starters, automobile electric lighting systems, and ignition was utilized by major automobile manufacturers. Just a year before his death, Apple had more patents issued to him than any other American inventor.