Handbook N-P - Fulton County Public Library

Pa
“Jenks, who resides at 701 Lincoln, is fuel engineer of the Gary sheet and tin mills.
Sutherland is an employee in the electrical construction department of the mills . Application for
exclusive rights opposed by only one claim, was filed January 22, 1931. The patent has been
assigned to the American Sheet and Tin Plate Co.
“The new furnace, according to a technical description is of a continuous type
incorporating many departures from systems now in use in Gary and other sheet and tin
manufacturing centers.”
[The News-Sentinel, Friday, February 10, 1933]
LAKE RESIDENT APPLIES FOR “BEHEADER” PATENT
All those tender-hearted husbands and housewives who have for years balked as acting as
executioners of tough-necked chickens will be delighted to learn that a local man has applied for a
patent on a device which will make this task more of a pleasure than a bugaboo.
The inventor of the chicken beheading apparatus is John Keller, proprietor of Kellers Inn,
of Lake Manitou. The contrivance is a conical shaped piece of galvanized iron, about 20 inches in
length. This is attached to the back porch wall or steps with three screws and a bracket. On the
front side of the cone is a razor-edged “V” shaped slot which extends about half way down the
cone. The feet of the condemned chicken are held in the left hand of the executioner and the head
held gently in the right hand. The chicken’s neck is thrust into the “V” razor-edged slot and presto
the neck and the body of the chicken slides on down into the funnel and the blood drains through
into a catch basin.
Keller states in this manner there is no bruising of the fowl’s body by its floundering and
no blood spattered on buildings or clothing of the executioner. The beheader is extremely simple
in construction and highly efficient in its operation. The inventor stated that the device would
probably retail around a dollar.
Other patents and inventions made by Mr. Keller in recent years were a windshield visor
and several forms of fishing tackle.
Upon being issued a patent on the “beheader” Mr. Keller will put his new product on the
market through some metal manufacturing concern in this section of the state he said.
[The News-Sentinel, Thursday, October 31, 1935]
ROCHESTER MAN INVENTOR OF RURAL LIGHT SYSTEM
After months of experimentation, a new Rochester company gives to rural America an
invention that makes possible the convenience of electric lights at a cost far below that of any unit
here-to-fore developed. In addition to supplying current for lighting farm homes and outbuildings,
this new unit provides economical power for operating a new, improved, electric milking unit.
Patents fully covering the unit and its many exclusive features have been applied for.
Myers Exhibits Model
The inventor, Don Myers, of Black & Bailey hardware company, this city, is showing the
machine publicly for the first time at an exhibit in the manufacturers’ building at the Indiana State
Fair, Indianapolis, this week. Next week Myers will assist the company’s Kentucky distributor in
showing the unit at the Kentucky state fair, Louisville. It will be recalled that Myers and Bill
McCall cooperated with Black & Bailey in taking two large electric lighting systems to Louisville
during the devastating Ohio River flood early this spring.
The Myers light system already has a proven record of low-cost operation. Units have
been in use for several months. At the John Smith Farm, Richland Center and the Ray Overmyer
farm, near Culver, these machines have proved trouble-free and efficient. Other units have been in
use in nearby counties and downstate.
A new company is being formed locally and plans are underway for setting up production
soon so machines can be supplied to a large mid-western company that will handle sales and
promotion throughout the United States.
In addition to being in charge of the manufacture and further development of this new
product, Mr. Myers will continue in the management of Black & Bailey’s electrical department.