U.S. Patent Office Model for an Improvement in Pantographs by Lucien F. Bruce and Newlan J. Wolcott

Lucien F. Bruce and Newlan J. Wolcott received U.S. Patent 118,902 for this “Improvement in Pantographs.” This is their patent model. It consists of eight metal bars, two 21.6 cm. long and six 11 cm. long. Holes in the bars and suitable pivot points allow one to alter the enlargement or reduction of the image. A pivot-post on the right side at the center (now missing) held the instrument to a drawing-board or table at the desired height. To enlarge drawings, once the bars were suitably set, a tracer-point was placed at the joint nearest the pivot-post. The drawing point was on the same line, at the joint furthest from the pivot-post. To reduce drawings, the tracer point and drawing point were reversed. No points survive.

Lucien F. Bruce (1835-1910) and Newlan J. Wolcott were employees of the Springfield Armory in Springfield, Massachusetts. Bruce spent over fifty years at the Armory and took out a variety of patents. City directories indicate that Wolcott spent the years from 1859 to 1872 in Springfield and suggest that he eventually moved to Lowell, Massachusetts.

References:

US Patent 118902, September 12, 1871.

“Obituaries,” Machinery, vol. 16, May, 1910, p. 784.

City Directories for Springfield and for Lowell in Massachusetts.

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