Inventor Name
Low, Abbot Augustus
Repository
Hagley Museum & Library
Manuscripts & Archives Department
P.O. Box 3630
Wilmington, DE 19807-0630
302-658-2400
https://www.hagley.org/research
Physical Description
0.8 linear ft.
Summary
Abbot Augustus Low (1843-1912) was the son of Abiel Abbot Low (1811-1893), a New York China merchant and later partner of Collis P. Huntington in the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway Company and related ventures. He was the brother of Seth Low, a mayor of New York and president of Columbia University. Abbot Augustus Low was a member of a number of corporations, including the Economy Electric Light Company and the New York Kerosene Oil Engine Company, as well as the family firm, A.A. Low Brothers. He owned large tracts of timberlands in the Adirondacks, including the village of Horse Shoe, N.Y., and was instrumental in developing the area as a vacation retreat for wealthy New Yorkers. Low was also active in charitable, cultural and religious institutions in his native Brooklyn. His son, A. Augustus Low, Jr. (1889-1963), was a prominent utility company executive. The records consist of about 140 patent and trademark papers either issued to Low himself or assigned to him or one of his companies. The inventions break down into a number of broad categories, including electrical appliances, heaters, lamps (even an electrocuting mousetrap); typesetting apparatus including calenders and compositor's sticks; elements for kerosene, gas, oil or other hydrocarbon engines, stoves or burners; and marine equipment including compasses, ventilators, and a submarine. Other inventions number devices for disposing of waste paper, eyeglasses and a desk.
