science · 12 April 1799 · 225 years ago
In 1799, the first US patent for a comb-cutting machine was issued to Phineas Pratt of Connecticut as a "machine for making combs." He and his son , Abel Pratt, cut the plates with handsaws and the teeth with circular saws operated by a windmill and waterpower at Ivoryton, Conn. Previous manufacturing of combs in the U.S. began with the first commercial scale comb factory by Enoch Noyes of West Newbury, Mass. (1759), who made combs from flattened animal horns. The first U.S. made ivory comb was made at Centerbrook, Conn. (1789) by Andrew Lord, who cut the plate and teeth with a handsaw.
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