Designer/Patentee Data
The detailed data on this page was used to create the statistical information referenced on this website. Only Avery style needle cases registered in the UK by the design registration or patent process between 1867 and 1890 are covered on this page. Additional detailed data can be found on the following pages: Needle Manufacturer Data, Licensee/Agent Data and W. Avery & Son Data.
The data listed below is based on two main sources: 1) design registrations found at the UK National Archives in Kew, UK or on their website Discovery; and 2) patents found at the British Library Business and Intellectual Property Centres in London and Sheffield, UK. Please note that some designs listed in Horowitz and Mann’s book are not listed here because they could not be found. Also several hundred additional design registrations involving needle related items were reviewed that are not included here because there is no evidence to support their classification as Avery style needle case designs. Similarly over a hundred designs which were included in Avery’s patent documents are not included because we are unsure whether they were ever produced in metal. If samples of these are discovered in the future, this page will be updated.
Company names are listed below first by location then in alphabetic order based on the surname of the company. For example, W. Avery & Son is listed under A and H. Milward & Sons is listed under M. Occasionally a company name will be listed with several different name varieties due to changes in the business or the way in which they were recorded in historical directories. For each company there is a total which indicates the number of designs registered or patented by that company. What follows is a list of individual needle case designs that make up that total including the year the item was designed or patented.
For those designs/patents where no needle case is known to exist the words “patent only” is placed next to the item.
In you have or know of any other Avery style needle cases that are not listed here, please contact us.
Totals
Total Designers/Patentees = 24
Total Designs = 227 (25 patents have not been found)
Total Registered Designs/Patents = 202
Total Signed Designs = 189 (227 minus 19 patents only and minus 19 other designs unsigned or unknown whether signed)
Total Designed/Patented by Needle Manufacturers = 145 (9 patent only)
Total Designed/Patented by Others = 57 (10 patent only)
Total Designed/Patented Only (no examples of these needle case designs have been found) = 21
Total Designed/Patented Figural Designs = 119
Total Designed/Patented Accordion-Folding Designs = 8
Total Designed/Patented Demi-Quad Designs = 8
Total Designed/Patented Flat-Name Designs = 46
Total Designed/Patented Quadruple Designs = 21
Subtotals - Redditch Area Needle Manufacturers
W. Avery & Son, Redditch (32 with Albert Fenton) |
Total = 122 (74 exclusive designs - 5 patents only) |
William Bartleet & Sons, Redditch |
Total = 2 |
John Anthony Croft and Richard Newhall, Hunt End |
Total = 1 |
W. W. Gould & Sons, Redditch |
Total = 1 (1 patent only) |
William Hall & Co, Redditch |
Total = 2 |
Henry Milward & Sons, Redditch |
Total = 10 (2 patent only) |
James Smith & Son, Astwood Bank |
Total = 2 |
S. Thomas & Sons, Redditch |
Total = 1 |
Joseph Welch or Joseph Welch & Charles Laight, Redditch |
Total = 3 (1 patent only) |
W. Woodfield, Redditch |
Total = 1 |
Subtotals - Birmingham Companies
Elijah Atkins, Birmingham |
Total = 3 (1 patent only) |
Bancroft Brothers, Birmingham |
Total = 2 |
Buncher & Haseler, Birmingham |
Total = 14 |
J. Clarke & Son, Birmingham |
Total = 2 |
Coggins & Baxter, Birmingham |
Total = 7 (1 patent only) |
J. M. Farnol, Birmingham |
Total = 5 (1 patent only) |
Albert Fenton, Birmingham |
Total = 37 (1 patent only) |
John Fenton, Birmingham |
Total = 2 |
F. Floyd, Birmingham |
Total = 1 |
Henry Jenkins & Sons, Birmingham |
Total = 2 |
Frank S. Kendrick, Birmingham |
Total = 5 (4 patent only) |
Thomas Kendrick, Birmingham |
Total = 3 (2 patent only) |
James William Lewis, Birmingham (5 with George
Archbold) |
Total = 8 |
Subtotals - Liverpool Company
Charles James Carr, Liverpool |
Total = 2 |
*=examples of these needle cases have been found with the W. Avery & Son name
Note: 3 additional items that are unsigned for which patents have not been found: Mantel Clock, Table Swivel Mirror and Umbrella
