Antonio Meucci - Other Inventions

Other Inventions

This list is also taken from Basilio Catania's historical reconstruction

• 1825 Chemical compound to be used as an improved propellant in fireworks
• 1834 In the Florence's Teatro della Pergola, he sets up a "pipe telephone" to communicate from the stage to the maneuver trellis-work, at about eighteen meters height.
• 1840 Improved filters and chemical processing of waters supplying the city of Havana, Cuba.
• 1844 First electroplating factory of the Americas, set up in Havana, Cuba. Before, objects to be electroplated were sent to Paris.
• 1846 Improved apparatus for electrotherapy, featuring a pulsed current breaker with rotating cross.
• 1847 Restructuring of the Tacón Theater in Havana, following a hurricane. Meucci conceived a new structure of the roof and ventilation system, to avoid the roof to be taken off in like situations.
• 1848 Astronomical observations by means of a marine telescope worth $280.
• 1849 Chemical process for the preservation of corpses, to cope with the high demand for bodies of immigrants to be sent to Europe, avoiding decomposition during the many weeks navigation.
• 1849 First discovery of electrical transmission of speech.
• 1850-1 First stearic candle factory of the Americas, set up in Clifton, NY.
• 1855 Realization of celestas, with crystal bars instead of steel, and pianos (one is on display at the Garibaldi-Meucci Museum, in Rosebank, NY)
• 1856 First lager beer factory of Staten Island, the Clifton Brewery, in Clifton, NY.
• 1858–60 Invention of paraffin candles. US Patent No. 22,739 on a candle mold for the same and US Patent No. 30,180 on a rotating blade device for finishing the same.
• 1860 First paraffin candle factory in the world, the New York Paraffine Candle Co., set up in Clifton, NY, early in 1860, then moved to Stapleton, NY. It produced over 1,000 candles per day.
• 1860 Experiments on the use of dry batteries in electrical traction and other industrial applications.
• 1860 Process to turn red corals into a pink color (more valued), as requested by Enrico Bendelari, a merchant of New York.
• 1862 US Patent No. 36,192 on a kerosene lamp that generates a very bright flame, without smoke, (therefore not needing a glass tube), thanks to electricity developed by two thin platinum plates embracing the flame.
• 1862–63 Process for treating and bleaching oil or kerosene to obtain siccative oils for paint (US Patents No. 36,419 and No. 38,714). "Antonio Meucci Patent Oil" was sold by Rider & Clark Co., 51 Broad Street, New York, and exported to Europe. See expert comment.
• 1864 Invention of new, more destructive ammunition for guns and cannons, proposed to the US army and to General Giuseppe Garibaldi.
• 1864–65 Processes to obtain paper pulp from wood or other vegetable substances (US Patents No. 44,735, No. 47,068 and No. 53,165). Associated Press was interested in producing paper with this process, which was also the first to introduce the recovery of the leaching liquor. See expert comment.
• 1865 Process for making wicks out of vegetable fiber, US Patent No. 46,607.
• 1867 A paper factory, the "Perth Amboy Fiber Co.," was set up, in Perth Amboy, NJ. The paper pulp was obtained from either marsh grass or wood. It was the first to recycle waste paper. See expert comment.
• 1871 US Patent No. 122,478 "Effervescent Drinks," fruit-vitamin rich drinks that Meucci found useful during his recovery from the wounds and burns caused by the explosion of the Westfield ferry. See expert comment.
• 1871 Filed a patent caveat, (not a 'patent') for a telephone device in December with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).
• 1873 US Patent No. 142,071 "Sauce for Food." According to Roberto Merloni, general manager of the Italian STAR company, this Patent anticipates modern food technologies. See expert comment.
• 1873 Conception of a screw steamer suitable for navigation in canals.
• 1874 Process for refining crude oil (caveat)
• 1875 Filter for tea or coffee, much similar to that used in present day coffee machines.
• 1875 Household utensil (description not available) "combining usefulness to cheapness, that will find a ready sale."
• 1875 US Patent No. 168,273 "Lactometer," for chemically detecting adulterations of milk. It anticipates by fifteen years the well-known Babcock test. See expert comment.
• 1875 Upon request by Giuseppe Tagliabue (a Physical Instruments maker of Brooklyn, NY), Meucci devises and manufactures several aneroid barometers of various shapes.
• 1875 Meucci decided not to renew his telephone caveat, thus enabling Bell to get a patent.
• 1876 US Patent No. 183,062 "Hygrometer," which was a marked improvement over the popular hair-hygrometer of the time. He set up a small factory in Staten Island for fabrication of the same. See expert comment.
• 1878 Method for preventing noise on elevated railways, a problem much felt at the time in New York.
• 1878 Process for fabricating ornamental paraffin candles for Christmas trees.
• 1880 US patent application "Wire for Electrical Purposes"
• 1881 Process for making postage and revenue stamps.
• 1883 US Patent No. 279,492 "Plastic Paste," as hard and tenacious to be suitable for billiard balls. See expert comment.