The patent models in our portfolio beginning on page 49 of this issue are only a minute fraction of the tens of thousands that still survive. O. Rundie Gilbert, the owner of most of them, is shown here in one of his barns, surrounded by ranks and Stacks of the models that he has recently unpacked. Somewhere nearby are hundreds of unopened crates, all filled with patent models. We can only guess at what treasures from America’s technological infancy are yet to come to light.
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