An Erie Canal Foot Bridge Model
Circa 1898
with plaque reading Invented By T.H. Williams, Utica, N.Y. and pencil inscribed initials to interior lid of case.
model employs compressed air to raise and lower bridge, with original spigot and tubing for air pump included.
housed in original case and affixed to carved wood base.
Height of model 10 x width 16 x depth 6 inches.
Height on base 14 1/2 x width 24 x depth 10 inches.
Height of case 15 x width 25 x depth 11 inches.
This lot is located in Cincinnati.
Property from the collection of Jonathan Holstein, San Francisco, CA

Thomas H. Williams and Thomas Wheeler, both of Utica, New York, were granted patent no. 616,515 for their "Folding Steps or Stairs for Lift-Bridges" on December 27th, 1898. The invention was illustrated and described in the Official Gazette of the United States Patent Office for that year and was noted later in Volume XVI of the Municipal Engineering Index of 1899, under the Water and Sewage Works Machinery and Trade section.
The United States Federal Census of 1900 lists a Thomas H. Williams as living with family in Utica, Oneida County, New York, where he worked as a laborer in a brass mill. Williams was born in Wales in 1860 and immigrated to the United States in 1889. A few years prior, in 1886, the British periodical Engineering points to an inventor by the same name (T.H. Williams) and of comparable expertise, whose innovations in steam pump technology are detailed in Volume XLI. It is possible that Williams continued his study of mechanics upon his arrival in New York, under the auspices of the influential Thomas Wheeler (1845-1916), the former mayor of Utica and the Assistant State Superintendent of Public Works from 1895 until 1907, who perhaps served as an investor or promoter of William's inventions. Williams died in 1902.