The collection is open for research.
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Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: [identification of item], [folder], Vine and Ashmead Patent, 1849-1850, Ms1986-014, Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Va.
The Vine and Ashmead patent was acquired by Special Collections and University Archives prior to 1986.
The processing, arrangement, and description of the Vine and Ashmead Patent completed in November 2023.
James H. Ashmead was born about 1810 in Pennsylvania. Ashmead married Susan Jane Terry of Hartford, Connecticut, in 1839. During his life, Ashmead worked as a gold foil merchant. He died in 1880.
William Vine was born in England in 1798. By 1830, he and his wife Sarah moved to New York, where they had several children. By 1850, he was a machinist in Hartford, Connecticut. The next year, he was listed in the Hartford city directory as a "patentee and manufacturer of gold beating machines, knife polishing machines, and a variety of other articles." He died around 1872.
Sources:
U.S. Federal Censuses, 1850-1860
James Ashmead (abt. 1810 - aft. 1870), WikiTree, https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Ashmead-40, accessed November 2023.
"James H Ashmead", Findagrave.com, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/146075354/james-h-ashmead, accessed October 8, 2025.
"William Vine" in the U.S., City Directories, 1822-1995, Ancestry.com, https://www.ancestrylibrary.com/search/collections/2469/records/1276711508, accessed October 8, 2025.
"William Vine", Findagrave.com, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/14138566/william-vine, accessed October 8, 2025.
This collection contains a handwritten patent certificate (No. 7552) awarded to William Vine and James H. Ashmead of Hartford, Connecticut for "machines for beating gold." The four-page document includes a description of the device and a set of engineering drawings for it.
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has digitized a copy of the published patent, which can be retrieved by searching the USPTO's Patent Public Search for patent number 0007552.
The guide to the Vine and Ashmead Patent by Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, is licensed under a CC0 (https://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/public-domain/cc0/).