No Home Should Be Without One!

 

No Home Should Be Without One!


Ads from the back pages of Harper's Magazine in the late 1850s and Other Inventions.

“No Home Should Be Without One,” my father used to grate sardonically whenever something useless or absurd was advertised in print or on TV. But in my latest blog entry of the same name, I look at what we take for granted today might have seemed silly then.

Rubber bands advertised as "Elastic fasteners for bundling ballots" (too many or too few Russian rubber bands in the last election?!); “Paraffine Cream” for dry skin—we call Vasoline ®; ice cream freezers; “Sanitary Patented Diapers”—How’s that for a change? (sorry, I couldn’t resist the pun.)  Not to mention kitchen ranges, portable heaters; steam heat installed in your home and floor vents designed to go with your wall or ceiling tiles.  Plus the “best peacock feathers to brush away flies,” and, presumably, keep them brushed away. 

Notice, the ad promises eight different sizes of ranges; it can use either wood or coal and  is available "with or without hot water fixtures."

Like the cooking oven & range above, this home heating device is made of cast iron


Steam heats these cast iron radiators in the ad above. A variety of curtain grate designs are available to match your décor. 


And if the heat is coming directly from the furnace in the basement the metal floor rates in cast iron are also available in a variety of sizes and styles

June 25, 1859
Harper’s Magazine
New Patent Self Filtering refrigerating ice pitcher Date of Patent April 5, 1859
This pitcher is superior to any in use. It has the advantage over all others in the following respects:

    The water is filtered at the spout as it passes out—thus keeping back any impurities or sediment that may be in the ice or water contained in the pitcher. It is made upon the principle of a salamander safe, and is perfectly air-tight when the lid is closed. The filling is composed of the best non-conducting substance that can be found, and is perfectly hard and solid, so that the pitcher will not bruise like double wall or ordinary single wall. (One great objection to the double wall pitcher is that it is easily bruised, and when bruised there is no way of restoring it to shape again without great expense.)

      As an ale or Beer Pitcher, none is equal to it, the froth being all kept back by the filter, allowing nothing but clear fluid to pass. Its refrigerating properties are equal to any Pitcher made, as actual experiments have demonstrated. 

    The assortment comprises ten different designs

    We are now preparing to offer an URN, new and stylish in its design, constructed upon the same principle as out PATENT PITCHER. It will answer the double purpose of water cooler, or Coffee and Tea Urn. This combination meets with universal approval.
    WE MANUFACTURE, also, a great variety of Tea Sets, Cake Baskets, Castors, Pitchers, Cups, Goblets, Urns, Kettles, Communion Wares, Knives, Forks, Spoons. &c. &c.
           
     Goods Plated to order. Extra heavy deposit of silver when desired. Plating and gilding on all kinds of Metal for the trade. Bray & Manvel No. 15 Maiden Lane, New York

I Scream You Scream We All Scream For Ice Cream 

Harper’s Magazine June 25, 1859
TORREY’S NEW 4 MINUTE FREEZERS!!!!
            These highly popular machines are offered to the public with the fullest assurance of their being not only the cheapest, but the simplest and quickest Freezers in use producing ice cream of that smooth and light consistency heretofore only to be obtained of the finest confectioners.  They can be had at retail of the house-furnishing and hardware stores generally at the prices:
3 quarts-$2.50       4 quarts-$3.00     6quarts--$4.00           8quarts--$5.00       14 quarts--$7.00 20quarts--$10.00

 What we call rubber bands!
October 31, 1861 New York Tribune

Political—ELASTIC RINGS for Fastening Ballots together, can be had of C.A. BUNNER (sole manufacturer under the Goodyear Patents) at No. 11 John st. near Broadway and at C.W. Brower (at any hour) or 19th st. and 4th av.

Here's A Change!


May 15, 1858 Harper’s Magazine
INFANT’S PATENT DIAPER to any order for $3. Agencies sold for towns and cities.
Address PATENT DIAPER AGENCY, N.Y.
Or call at 181 Broadway
It is a great humanity—Hall’s Jour. Health
Always keeps the babe dry and clean—Scientific American
No humbug—Pittsburgh Gazette

June 18, 1859, Harper’s Magazine
MASSER’S 5 MINUTE ICE CREAM FREEZERS -as improved for 1859.
With stamped Iron Covers and Bottoms—Tinned
The only freezer known which is constructed on true Scientific principles.
The Cheapest, Best, and most Economical, requiring less ice and less labor than any other, being at the same time the most durable in structure, and most certain in operations.
See agents for the United States,
E. KETCHUM & CO.
Manufacturers of Japanned and Planished Tin Ware, 185 Pearl Street, New York
("Japanned" means painted with a flat enamel. "Planishing" is a method of forming sheet metal with hammers)

The Best Way To Brush Away Flies 


Pea Fowl and Ostrich Feather Fly Brushes. Wire Dish Covers. Double Ice Pitchers. Refrigerators. Travelling baskets. Selling low, and going rapidly.
SELF SEALING CANS--Self Sealing Cans and Jars of Tin, Glass, and fire and acid proof Stone Ware, in pints, quarts, and two quarts. Excellent for strawberries, green Peas, or any other fruit of vegetables. No trouble and perfectly reliable.

An Electric Butter Churn

November 18, 1850 New York

The undersigned having purchased from Mr. R.S. Sherman, the Right, Title and Interest, in the sale and manufacture of his Patent Electric Churn Dash, for the states of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Maine, and Connecticut, now offers the same for sale at a great Bargain, would prefer selling the whole together to one or more individuals, but will sell them separately if desired by purchasers, All applications for this “invaluable invention” to farmers if addressed to him will meet with prompt attention. The Dash can be seen at Ives’ Hotel, Goshen, and at Wm, Harts Canaan Conn.

Also for sale the right for several Southern States.  W. B. BANGE

Naponack, Ulster Co. N.Y. Nov 18, 1850





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