The Patent King of the United States
Justus A. Traut was a prominent inventor and contractor at the Stanley Rule & Level Company. His extensive collection of patents earned him the title “The Patent King of the United States” or the “King of Inventors” as he authored approximately 148 patents during the early “golden age of invention.”
Traut, who came to New Britain from Potsdam, Germany, started his career at Stanley when he was eighteen years old, joining with his father, Frederick. While Frederick Traut would have patents in his name, his son surpassed him when he became a contractor in 1875. Around the 1870s, Stanley relied on contractors and purchasing patents. For instance, in 1869, Stanley purchased patents from Leonard Bailey to manufacture his carpenter’s benches and planes with Bailey receiving five percent royalties as a contractor. Bailey and Stanley would have a strained relationship in how they operated the production of the planes despite sales rising in the late nineteenth century. Other Stanley contractor contemporaries were Christian Bodmer and Edmund Schade, both of whom developed patents with Traut. With Bodmer, he received patents nos. 515,063 and 540,283 for planes, patent no. 562,678 for a machine for graduating tubes, and patent no. 562,679 for marking level glasses.
Many of Traut’s patents were refinements, adjustments, or improvements of other designs seen in tools such as bench planes, bevels, and levels. His first patent, according to New Britain Patents and Patentees compiled by James Shepard in 1901, was patent no. 48,327 on June 20, 1865 for a joint of folding rulers. In 1876, Traut and Henry Richards patented the Liberty Bell planes (patent no. 176,152), also known as “The Stanley Adjustable Plane,” which were similar to the Bailey Planes. However, Traut also had patents that were direct refinements and adjustments of the Bailey Plane. Traut’s patents ultimately contributed to Bailey’s separation from Stanley in 1875 after Traut patented the No. 110 Block plane and the rising sales of the Liberty Bell planes. Bailey insisted that they reduced his royalties as a contractor. Bailey and Stanley continued to have acrimonious lawsuits of patent infringement and a complicated relationship. However, Traut continued to accumulate patents for Stanley. While patents could be measured in terms of the value of the production compared to the costs of applying, a patent’s worth could also be measured by preventing its use by other manufacturers, which can be prevalent in patent infringement suits.
Traut also authored patents for inventions unrelated to Stanley’s tool industry. For instance, from 1889-1890, he received four patents for bottle stoppers, and he also authored a series of patents in 1891 for suspender buckles.
On March 9, 1908, he passed away at 68 years old and was buried in the Fairview Cemetery, New Britain. Throughout his employment at Stanley from 1850-1904, his many patents propelled him ahead of any other inventor during this period in New Britain. Several of these patents and those he applied for with his contemporaries at Stanley are in The New Britain Industrial Museum, bound in ribbon and stamped by patent offices in Connecticut.
Below, you can view a gallery of just some of Traut’s patents:
