181
Hitching Posts
by Bob Roger
Reverdy B. Stewart of Warren, Pennsylvania applied for a patent for his
―
Compound
Tool
‖
on December 31, 1889.
Although the main purpose of Stewart's patent was
as a hitching device for horses, he combined it with
a hammer, wrench, or hatchet and a scraper or pick
for removing stones from horse feet.
The head has a screw for threading the tool into a
fence, tree, or plank - thus a portable hitching post.
We suppose a thirsty horseman could have utilized
this as a corkscrew in a pinch.
U. S. Patent No. 418,541 was granted December 31,
1889.
Stewart received a second patent for
―
Portable Hitching
Post
‖
on September 22, 1891 (No. 460,094). In this patent
he notes that the tool could be
―
a convenient appliance for many other purposes.
‖
A hitching-post reminiscent of a corkscrew appears in
Edmund C. Lemerand's U. S. Patent No. 906,438 of December
8, 1908.
The Monroe, Michigan resident gives a rather detailed
explanation of screwing the device into the ground and then
pushing the top down to secure the side anchoring bits.
Lemerand wrote
―
...which when in use is so firmly anchored that a
horse attached to the post can not dislodge the post.
‖
