PATENT LAW FIRM

EDGAR TATE & CO.

LETTER TO BICYCLE

PATENTEES

JOHN & JAMES RIDDETT,

1897.

PLEASE NOTE:  If you are a bicycle enthusiastic, involved in bicycle racing, own an indoor BMX track, own or operate a bicycle shop / repair shop, this correspondence would look great framed and hanging on your wall!  It is an original document - not a reproduction.

TYPE OF SCRIPOPHILY, EXONUMIA, NOTAPHILY꞉  Legal correspondence from a patent law firm located in New York City, New York to a client securing a United States Patent.
LEGAL FIRM꞉   Edgar Tate and Company “Solicitors of Patents and Trademarks.”
ADDRESS꞉   245 Broadway Street (opposite city hall).
CITY, COUNTY & STATE꞉  New York (New York) New York.
CABLE ADDRESS:  Tateonia, New York.
TELEPHONE NUMBER:  Cortland 2640.
FORM PRINTED BY꞉  Unknown.
DATE ON FORM & YEARS OLD꞉  March 17, 1897 (over 125-years old).
CLIENT'S NAME꞉  John and James Riddett.
ADDRESS꞉  49 Willow Street
CITY, COUNTY & STATE꞉  Yonkers (Westchester) New York.
NATURE OF CORRESPONDENCE꞉  Law firm's acknowledgment of having received the patent applicant's previously sent deposit of $10 (the equivalent of $360 in 2022 based on inflation).
TYPE OF DOCUMENT꞉  Legal correspondence from patent law firm to the brothers Riddett regarding their “chainless bicycle” patent.
GENERAL COLOR(S)꞉  Blue and black inks on an off-white paper.
MEASUREMENTS꞉  8” x 10½”.
EMBOSSING꞉  None.
TAXATION/REVENUE/OTHER STAMPS꞉  None.
WATERMARKS ON PAPER꞉  None.
FOLDS꞉  Appears to be two vertical (up and down) and four horizontal (left to right).
CORNERS꞉  Good condition.
HOLES, TEARS, DAMAGE꞉  Some “browning” from age.  One insignificant “edge tear” at one of the folds.  “Pin holes” at the upper righthand corner from where the document was “pinned” to another document.  Prior to the widespread use of staplers, sewing pins were used to “pin” documents to one another.
ADDITIONAL NOTES꞉  Blue ink used to print the letterhead is absolutely vivid - especially given it is over a century old!

ABOUT THE ITEM꞉ This is a piece of legal correspondence from the law firm Edgar Tate and Company to Inventors John and James Riddett as they moved step-by-step to get their idea for a new “driving mechanism” for bicycles protected, at first, by a United States Patent and then possibly by foreign patents. The Riddett's application (filed April 9, 1897 and later granted on April 11, 1899 as United States Patent Number 623,107) was for a "Driving Mechanism for Bicycles" (we have included a digital copy of that patent in with this listing's photographs).

From the patent application in part:  “This invention relates to the driving mechanism of bicycles and similar vehicles; and the object thereof is to provide improved mechanism for this purpose whereby the usual drive chain is dispensed with and the driving-wheel of the crankshaft and the driven wheel on the axle of the bicycle drive-wheel are geared through an intermediate transmitting-wheel and with this and other objects in view the invention consists in the construction, combination, and arrangement of parts hereinafter described and claimed...  By means of our improved gearing we decrease the friction to a minimum and gear the driving-wheel of the crank-shaft in direct connection with the driven wheel of the drive-wheel of the vehicle, and we dispense with the drive-chain, which is complicated in construction and frequently breaks.”  In summary, they developed a direct drive transmission for a bicycle.

A LITTLE ABOUT JOHN & JAMES RIDDETT꞉  Inventors John and James Riddett resided in the New York City area:  At 49 Willow Street and later at 76 Ash Street, Yonkers, New York (about 21-miles from Edgar Tate & Company).

 A LITTLE ABOUT THE LAW FIRM OF EDGAR TATE & COMPANY:  What an exciting time this must have been to have an office on Broadway in downtown Manhattan, New York!  On November 4, 1910, little more than a decade later, next to where the law firm stood at 245 Broadway would rise the world's tallest skyscraper at 233 Broadway: The Woolworth building.

Mr. Edgar Tate was the founder of the law firm and from a New York family.  He touted himself as an authority on Trade Mark and Copyright law stating in 1894 that he had taken out over 20,000 foreign patents including the Gatling Gun, the Courtenay Bell Bouy, the Wilson Sewing Machine, the Bonsack Cigarette Machine, the Essick Printing Telegraph, the Emry Davis Automatic Ink Stand, Dr. Guiley's Electric Railway Switch, et al.

In the firm's "advertising package" (copyright 1894, 1895 & 1896) they stated: "Get Rich Quickly!  The only feasible way for the average man to attain immediate wealth is to invent something new and useful and patent it...  It is interesting to note that Jay Gould made his first capital form a patent mouse trap...  the Westinghouses and the myriad others of our great American Inventors, rose almost instantaneously from obscurity to frame and fortune.  And every village or town has its Edison, who should, if he possesses brains and hard sense, render his home as famous as the 'Wizard of Menlo Park...'"

SHIPPING COST꞉  Your shipping cost is calculated when checking out.  To keep your shipping cost as low as possible, it's based on “DIM” (i.e. weight, package size and final destination).  This item ships by United States First Class Mail or eBay International Delivery.  Orders typically ship within one business day of your payment being received.

This item will be mailed in a large envelope, box, cardboard tube or cardboard “sandwich” to minimize folding in transit.  We DO NOT take historical documents and refold them to save on postage costs.