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Remarks, Directions, &c.
Billerica, Mass., ca. 1835. Autograph manuscript, 9.375” x 7.75”. 1 p. on white wove paper. CONDITION: Very good, formerly folded into sixths with corresponding fold marks. A leaf of original manuscript in the hand of Rufus Porter providing directions for the construction and use of one of his many inventions, a self-adjusting cheese press. This manuscript presumably dates from within a few years of his invention of the press. The directions read in part “If the pressure is thought to be too heavy at first, it may be relieved by making fast the front rope for a little while; and if it is tho’t that an extra pressure is needed for a short time before the pressing is finished, the planks may be pressed down gently with the hand, each pound of which pressure will increase the pressure on the cheese 18 lbs…The most proper size for a press of this kind is 5 feet, 4 inches high, & 2 feet wide. The whole may be made of pine, except the press-planks & shafts, which may be made of ash or birch…It is in some respects preferable to have a small windlass shaft & crank, near the top, whereby to raise the Press…Should any further information be required, concerning the construction, management, or Patent, of the Self-Adjusting Press, it may be obtained by addressing (if by letter, post-paid) the Patentee, Rufus Porter, Billerica (Mass.).” Rufus Porter (1792–1884) was an inventor, itinerant painter, writer, and founder of the Scientific American. Born in Boxford Mass. he was raised in Maine, where he began his career as a sign and house painter, later living in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New York City. He traveled widely throughout the northeast and as far south as Virginia, painting the portraits and murals for which he is perhaps best known. Porter was a tireless inventor of a wide variety of useful machines, apparatuses, and improvements—some fully realized and others not—including the self-adjusting cheese press, two carpenter’s levels, an elevated railroad, turbine water wheels, windmills, flying ships, a car for moving houses, a combined chair and cane, a revolving almanack, and more. Rufus Porter autograph material is exceptionally rare in the marketplace.
Item #8686
Price: $3,500.00
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