I need help on this one

IfindFe · Sep 23, 2022

Brass item. Hook end was made that way. Groove is deep and has crusty remnant of wood/paper/rubber? 7" long overall. V nickel for size reference but was also found nearby. Nearly microscopic embossing on both sides. Best I can make out after much effort:
F M Moyes PAT APR 14 1869
Found in street deconstruction in downtown Walla Walla, WA. Area began to be settled in 1860.
I really hope to hear from somebody. I'm having no luck with other resources.

Bilgemaster · Sep 23, 2022

If you've got a name and a patent date, unless someone stumbles in here to inform us all that it's the business end of a Coachman's Friend fetlock massager for listless draft horses, might I suggest you reach out to the good old U.S. Patent and Trademark Office: https://ppubs.uspto.gov/pubwebapp/static/pages/contact-us.html

They offer lots of online resources and catalogs online, sure, but in view of the antiquity of the patent in question and the fact that competent use of those many and varied arcane databases is clearly a dark art, play with those troves and tranches of bytes if you will, but I'd suggest also just firing off a simple email to the address provided on that webpage.

IfindFe · Sep 24, 2022

Thanks, Bilgemaster, for the patent site. I will give it a try. I've looked through patent lists for that date and haven't had luck. Hard to believe how many patents were given for sewing machines that year.
I sort of expected that you folks on the east coast might have problems with these things poking holes in your lawn mower tires. Here in the west, nobody I know has seen one.

Chroma · Sep 24, 2022

You can look at the patents with images for just the day of April 14 1869 on the government website. Just guess patent numbers until you find the first and last patents filed that day, then check every patent between those two numbers. I found the 1864 patent document for a lock I dug up using this method.

If you can't figure out how to do it I'll try finding it

Edit: I did checked the uspto.gov full text patent search and didn't find any patents filed on April 14, 1869. Patent 89001 is dated April 13 and patent 89002 is dated April 20. Nothing for April 14. So maybe the date on your item is a patent application date and not a filing date?

MTtrashdigger · Sep 24, 2022

Im going to take a guess and say this is some sort of splicing fid for smaller diameter ropes or cords.

IfindFe · Sep 24, 2022

Thanks so very much for the responses. I see by the number of views and a lack of a positive i.d. that it probably isn't a common item. I'll keep trying to nail it down for certain. I do welcome the guesses, I can expand my search from there.

I need help on this one

IfindFe

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Bilgemaster

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Chroma

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