Peter Hoogerzeil Patents a Stove in 1891

 

Beverly Citizen, Saturday, November 28, 1891, page 2

"Ancient and Curious Stoves

Peter Hoogerzeil made application, last week, for his third patent on a rolling oven grate. His first patent was issued about two years ago and the second about one year later. The improved grate is automatic, and emerges and receds as the door, to which it is attached, is opened or closed.

     He also has a Franklin stove, a portable iron fireplace, with open front and swinging crane, which was named after Dr. Franklin, who invented it, and bears a bust of its inventor.

     Another curious possession is one of the old James stoves, the word "Salem", which appears on its face, indicating the place of its manufacture, though there is nothing that suggests its age. It is in an admirable state of preservation, stands about 28 inches from the floor, is of about the same width, and is not over 15 inches in depth. The fire is kindled at the bottom, and overhead is the oven, with a door opeing in front and one at the back.  The heat also passes through a funnel on either side of the oven, and an iron handle forms a part of the stove-covers. Mr. Hoogerzeil believes this to be the oldest stove in existence, and is desirous of obtaining information of the period when it was manufactured in Salem.  Particular interest attaches to it from the fact that a Detroit stove company has offered $100 in gold for the oldest stove to be placed on exhibition at the World's fair.  Mr. Hoogerzeil obtained the stove through James M. Woodbury, who purchased it from the estate of Miss Susan Forniss, by whom it was used until her decease." 

My great great grandfather Peter Hoogerzeil was a tinkerer and an inventor.  I have found at least a dozen patents he produced, including several for stoves, stove parts, and other cooking devices. He was born 24 June 1841 in Beverly, Massachusetts, the son of Peter Hoogerzeil (an immigrant from Holland) and Eunice Stone.  Peter married Mary Etta Healey on 14 March 1870 in Salem.  She was the daughter of Joseph Edwin Healy and Matilda Weston, natives of Nova Scotia.  

Peter had many occupations over the years.  In the 1860 census he was a fisherman.  In the 1870 census he was listed as a quartermaster and expressman (made deliveries).  He was listed as a teamster (truck or delivery driver) on his 1908 death certificate.  In 1867 he founded the Hoogerzeil Express Company, which he ran for many years and eventually passed it on this his brother-in-law, John E. Healey. He ran his express business from his home in Beverly, and had a large workshop behind the house.  The 1884 Beverly City Directory lists "Peter Hoogerzeil, Jr., job wagon, house 43 Bartlett St."   My mother remembers this house, where her aunt, Isabel Hoogerziel Sorenson, Peter's daughter, lived. 

Among Peter's US patents were the following that were all related to stoves or cooking:

        #403,938 Patented May 28, 1889 Stove Oven

#418,721 Patented January 7, 1890 Stove Oven

#467,292 Patented January 19, 1892 Stove Oven

#486,469 Patented November 22, 1892 Wheelbarrow

#512,615 Patented January 9, 1894 Steam or Baking Pan

For the truly curious:

My Surname Saturday post of my HOOGERZEIL lineage:   https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2018/03/surname-saturday-hoogerzeil-of-holland.html

Blog post "Peter Hoogerzeil's House in Beverly, Massachusetts":     https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2010/08/not-so-wordless-wednesday-peter.html

Tombstone Tuesday - Peter Hoogerzeil's gravestone:    https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2010/08/tombstone-tuesday-peter-hoogerzeil.html 

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To cite/link to this blog post: Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Peter Hoogerzeil Patents a Stove in 1891", Nutfield Genealogy, posted May 7, 2024, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2024/05/peter-hoogerzeil-patents-stove-in-1891.html: accessed [access date]). 

An Amusement Park Ride Patent by my Great Great Grandfather

This is another post on "20th Century Americana". My Great Great Grandfather Peter Hoogerzeil (1841 - 1908) was an inventor.  He patented many inventions for improving household items such as wheelbarrows, stove ovens, and baking pans.  While researching his patents, I found this amusing design:


It seems that Peter was trying to come up with a clever ride for an amusement park. I can only think that perhaps he was inspired by Salem Willows Park, in Salem, Massachusetts.  Peter Hoogerzeil lived in Beverly, Massachusetts on Bartlett Street, just a short walk from the harbor.  Across the water he would have been able to see Salem Willows.  It was lit up at night, and featured fireworks.  I'm sure that since he was obviously a creative man, he spent some time thinking of an invention he might be able to sell to an amusement park.

Don't you love the 1907 figures drawn on this ride? It was patented on 12 March 1907 under Number 847,002.  These are the actual sketches given as part of his patent application.  Peter Hoogerzeil died on 10 May 1908, just a little more than a year after his invention was patented.  Several toys and some exercise equipment have used his patent, as you can see on a Google Patent search.

If you suspect that an ancestor might own a patent, you can search under www.google.com/patents by name or a patent number. There are more than 7 million US patents on this database, and the applications and technical drawings and sketches will come up in the results.

Salem Willows Park was first planted in 1801 as part of a public smallpox hospital on the grounds.  Later the area was developed into a public park in 1858, and then an amusement park in the early 20th century. Salem Willows is still open with free parking and no admission charge.  The historic 1866 merry-go-round is still operating, as well as kiddie rides and an arcade with vintage pinball machines.

A modern version of the "Seesaw" ride

is the Pirate Ship at Canobie Lake Park, Windham, New Hampshire

Salem Willows Park website   http://www.salemwillowspark.com/  

More blog posts about Peter Hoogerzeil's inventions and patents:

A wheelbarrow http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2013/01/peter-hoogerzeils-wheelbarrow.html   

Several patents https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2010/08/not-so-wordless-wednesday-peter.html   

Google Patents https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2011/01/perusing-google-patents.html   

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To cite/link to this blog post: Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "An Amusement Park Ride Patent by my Great Great Grandfather", Nutfield Genealogy, posted September 12, 2013, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2013/09/an-amusement-park-ride-patent-by-my.html: accessed [access date]). 

Peter Hoogerzeil's Wheelbarrow

Found at GenealogyBank.com

Saturday Morning Citizen, Beverly, Mass.  1 October 1892, page 2

"Four Awards at the Fair

Mr. Peter Hoogerzeil may well feel proud of the success of his exhibits at the Essex Agricultural Fair this week, he recieving four awards, as follows:  First premium, $2, on coop of Perkin bantams; second permium $1, on one coop of Perkin bantams; gratuity $1, on patent rolling oven grate for a stove.  Those who saw the wheelbarrow were highly pleased with Mr. Hoogerzeil's invention and several flattering offers were received from parties who wished to put it on the market.  It is on exhibition at Whitcomb & Carter's store."

This image was found at the Google Patent Search

No Model No 486,469 P HOOGERZEIL WHEELBARROW Patented Nov 22 1892

 THE NORRIS PETERS CO PHOTO LITHO WASHINGTON D C 

http://www.google.com/patents?id=-zZ2AAAAEBAJ&pg=PA1&img=1&zoom=4&hl=en&sig=ACfU3U3DeLj9X7xz2921ophP2YyAQLqVmA&ci=18%2C14%2C966%2C1349&edge=0

Peter Hoogerzeil is my 2nd great grandfather.  He was a prolific inventor and I've written about him at this blog previously (see the links below).   His father, also named Peter Hoogerzeil,  came from Holland to Salem, Massachusetts in the 1820s. Peter, Jr. was a fisherman, quartermaster and then began his own express business in Beverly, Massachusetts, near the Salem bridge on Bartlett Street.  During his lifetime he patented over a dozen inventions.  

Peter Hoogerzeil, son of Peter Hoogerzeil and Eunice Stone, born in Beverly, Massachusetts on 24 June 1841, died on 10 May 1908 in Beverly; married on 14 March 1870 in Salem to Mary Etta Healey, the daughter of Joseph Edwin Healey and Matilda Weston.  She was born in Beverly on 19 May 1852 and died  on 23 July 1932 in Beverly.  They had six children, all born in Beverly:

1.  Florence Etta, my great grandmother, born 20 August 1871, died 10 February 1941 in Hamilton, Massachusetts; married Arthur Treadwell Hitchings.

2.  Lillie May, born 29 September 1873, died 17 May 1874

3.  Alonzo, born 29 May 1875, died 23 January 1946; married Mabel Thurston Cressey

4. Edward Peter, born 27 July 1877, died 11 October 1807; died unmarried

5. Lucy May, born 18 June 1882, died 3 September 1931, died unmarried

6. Isabel, born 3 August 1888, died 29 February 1960; married George Sorenson

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Previous blog posts about Peter Hoogerzeil's inventions and patents:

Perusing Google Patents http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2011/01/perusing-google-patents.html 

Peter Hoogerzeil's House

 http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2010/08/not-so-wordless-wednesday-peter.html

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Copyright 2013, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Captain John Dominis, his invention and patent file

Imagine my surprise when I found that a sea captain in my family tree had filed a patent application.  I knew he was in many newspaper articles, and in the history books for Hawaii, where he lived with his wife from Boston.  One day, at GenealogyBank.com I was searching for more newspaper accounts when I failed to click on just newspapers and pulled up historical documents instead.  I had many hits there for the name "John Dominis" which was terrific, and some of these were related to his patent applications.  It described his invention as "a measuring instrument for sails".

When you find an ancestor who is an inventor, the place to look for records is at Google.com/patents   There you can enter the name and it will pull up patent applications filed under that name, or witnessed by that name.  I had used this in the past to search for my 2x great grandfather, Peter Hoogerzeil, who we knew was an inventor because of oral history (see this link for the story http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2011/01/perusing-google-patents.html)  When I entered the name "John Dominis" this is the application that came up!

The application contains much complicated mathematics and calculations, and I was very impressed.  I know that Captain John Dominis was from Croatia, but his application is very well written.  I don't recognize the names of his witnesses, and his application describes him as a "citizen of the United States of America now residing in the Sandwich Islands, in the Pacific Ocean" and it was filed in 1842.

Now you know to never assume that an ancestor doesn't have any historical documents such as a patent for an invention!  And you know where to look for those patents, too.

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Copyright 2012, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Perusing Google Patents

Technology is moving along at an alarming speed. Just a few years ago a librarian at the Boston Public Library showed me a link to the US Patent and Trademark Office website so I could look up patent reports online. Together, the librarian and I recorded the patent numbers of every patent listed under Peter Hoogerzeil, my 2x Great Grandfather, and then we looked through the volumes of books in the PTDL at BPL (that’s the Patent and Trademark Depository Library at the Boston Public Library) to find each patent application. Then we carefully photocopied each one as we found it. It took hours!  The librarian assured me (at that time) that this was much faster than any other way of doing patent searches.

Then, last summer I wrote a blog post about using the online database at http://www.uspto.gov/  to search for patent numbers by the name of the inventors. At that time, once you had the numbers, you could input them to see images of the patent applications. Check out the blog post here at http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2010/08/not-so-wordless-wednesday-peter.html and you can see that the process was still a big laborious, but better than my previous search.

Last week, on Deb Ruth’s blog “Adventures in Genealogy”, I read about the new Google Patents website at http://www.google.com/patents . Now by just entering Peter Hoogerzeil’s name into the search box, I can pull up all the patent images with one click. I can also find all the other inventions up to now that have referenced his original patents in the 1800s and turn of the century. For example, in 1906, Peter Hoogerzeil of Massachusetts patented an amusement park ride for a giant see-saw. In 1950, Charles J. Jugans of New Jersey patented an “Excercising Toy” referencing Hoogerzeil’s original patent and three other patents. Even more interesting, one of Hoogerzeil’s chimney lamp patents from 1899 was used by the famous Coleman Company in 1984 for a new camping lantern! And one of Hoogerzeil’s 1890 patents for a sliding door in an icebox was used in 1994 by Daewoo Electronics of Korea for a new type of refrigerator.

How fun to see that Peter Hoogerzeil’s inventions are still relevant in today’s world! It is very interesting to think that my Great-Great Grandpa’s tinkering turned out to be so useful! The Google Patent search is very easy to use, and it will also make any inventions by family or ancestors pop up in your regular Google searches. All the patents from the 1790s to those “recently issued in the past few months” are available on this search engine.

For fun, I also looked up my first cousin, umpteen generations removed, Benjamin Franklin, and I was surprised to see that he had no patents recorded on the Google Patent website. I used the regular Google search and pulled up this quote from Benjamin Franklin “as we enjoy great advantages from the inventions of others, we should be glad of an opportunity to serve others by any invention of ours; and this we should do freely and generously.” This is why he had no recorded patents of any kind with the US government, even though he was a prolific inventor of all sorts of gadgets and household items.

For more information:

Please see Deb Ruth’s stories about Google Patents here at “Treasure Chest Thursday- Google Patents” http://deb-adventuresingenealogy.blogspot.com/2011/01/treasure-chest-thursday-google-patents.html and “Treasure Chest Thursday – Steffy Patent”  at http://deb-adventuresingenealogy.blogspot.com/2010/09/treasure-chest-thursday-steffy-patent.html

The quote from Benjamin Franklin comes from A Benjamin Franklin Reader by Walter Isaacson, Simon & Schuster, 2005

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Copyright 2011, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Not So Wordless Wednesday – Peter Hoogerzeil’s House in Beverly, Massachusetts

One recent day I told my husband we were going to photograph my 2xgreat grandparent’s house . Now, remember, this all started with just wanting a picture of a house. After all, it's supposed to be Wordless Wednesday.

My mother remembered the address in Beverly where her grandparents, Peter and Mary Hoogerzeil, lived on Bartlett Street, Beverly, Massachusetts. She said my great great grandfather owned an “express business”, which was basically a moving company. I found the house on Google maps street view, and we used a GPS device to find the address for the photograph above. There’s technology at work here!

I also used technology to learn more about Peter Hoogerzeil. On Ancestry.com I had seen his name and address on a scanned image of the 1898 Beverly City Directory. By serendipity, on the same page there was an advertisement "Hoogerzeil Express Company" and also an advertisement for one of Peter Hoogerzeil’s inventions, a cooking pot. I used the patent number on the advertisement to search on the US Patent and Trademark Office website.

You can see the patent for the cooking pot here at this link. Click on images to see the report.
http://patft1.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?patentnumber=512615

The US Patent and Trademark Office http://www.uspto.gov/ has an online database for all patents since 1790, searchable by patent numbers. You can search by name for patents since 1976. You can use the Public Search Facility in Alexandria, Virginia at this link http://www.uspto.gov/products/library/search/index.jsp

There is a nationwide network of Patent and Trademark Depository Libraries (PTDLs) that offer access to patent and trademark reference materials and search tools. The closest one to me is the Boston Public Library. You can call 800-786-9199 to locate one near you. This is the only way to find the patent numbers listed under an ancestor’s name. Using the Boston Public Library indexes I was able to find over twenty patents listed under the name Peter Hoogerzeil. So, you can't depend on technology for everything- sometimes you have to actually get out to libraries to do some research. That's where I found the really great details!

So, I started out just wanting to take a photo of Peter Hoogerzeil’s house, and now I know a lot more about him! You can click on the links below to see several more of his patents, just click on the button marked images to see the complete report.

http://patft1.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?patentnumber=631211 lamp chimney

http://patft1.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?patentnumber=418721 stove oven

http://patft1.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?patentnumber=486469 wheelbarrow

UPDATE 2011, now you can use Google Patent Search to find any patent by number or inventor's name.  Just go to https://www.google.com/?tbm=pts

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Copyright 2010, Heather Wilkinson Rojo