Joseph W. Jones employment with Berliner

[AllenKoe]

Hi,

When we (and several books) say that Joseph W. Jones worked "at the Berliner Laboratory" in the mid-1890s, do we mean in Washington DC or Philadelphia, or both?

His famous 1897-1901 disc patent helped Columbia get off the ground. He was certainly a precocious inventor, only 25 yo at the time (in 1901).

Thx.

Allen

[Starkton]

Honestly, I don't know, but since J. W. Jones was apparently living in Philadelphia in February 1897, see U.S. Patent No. 602,453, I would favor the lab there.

[AllenKoe]

Thanks for this info. US patents do usually give residence data for inventors in the text preamble, but it is an interesting question as to when that "address" applies. Does it indicate where the patentee lives when he Applies for the patent or when the patent is Granted, in this case a year apart. I tend to think that the residence is accurate for the date of the Grant of the patent (when it is printed up), so 1898 probably is the right date and place (PA).

When I get a chance, I will have to look at some old Philadelphia City Directories on Ancestry. But at the moment, I do not see him listed in Philly in the 1890s. By 1900, he has moved to NYC and marries there in 1901.

That famous Lab photo of Berliner and his motley crew (1895-1896) which is from Washington DC, does NOT show Jones in the picture.

Will keep us posted. Jones actually lived a long time, until 1960, so maybe some of us could have asked him... But he had no children.
He had many other patents (dozens), often in fields wide apart (including a self-starter for automobiles). Berliner thought highly of him.

Allen

[shoshani]

Jones actually lived a long time, until 1960, so maybe some of us could have asked him... But he had no children.
He had many other patents (dozens), often in fields wide apart (including a self-starter for automobiles). Berliner thought highly of him.

He also invented and sold the Jones Motrola, an attachment often found on talking machines that wound the spring motor automatically. Presumably it ran by electricity rather than, say, a spring motor of its own...