Saratoga County inventions

Saratoga County is centrally located in New York State. It has two cities (Saratoga Springs and Mechanicville), nine villages, and nineteen towns. The county seat is in Ballston Spa.

The county is home to a variety of famous inventions, many of which were developed to support its industry in the mid- to late 1800s.

Some of the most famous inventors and their inventions are:

* Lysander Button, Waterford - steam and hand-operated fire engines sold around the country; in 1870, 70 percent of US fire engines were manufactured by the Button Fire Engine Company

* Ransom Cook, Saratoga - auger bit in use today inspired by observing the jaws of a beetle through a microscope, also credited with inventing the art of stenciling

* Henry Miller, Waterford - sound machines (licensed by the Victor Talking Machine Co) and knitting machines; Saratoga County’s most prolific inventor with over 100 patents

* Theodore Timby, Saratoga - revolving turret used on Monitor iron-clad in Civil War, and Globe Clocks sold around the country (some can be seen on auction sites) among many other inventions

* George West, Ballston Spa - most popular line of square-bottomed paper bags after the Civil War (hundreds of millions sold)

* George Eddy, Waterford - Mohawk Hydrant (still manufactured by the Clow Valve Company) and award-winning Eddy Taper-Seat Valve

* George Batcheller, Saratoga - Batcheller Mansion, first copyrighted residence (now known as the Batcheller Mansion Inn)

* Charles F. Dowd, Saratoga - inventor of Standard Time

* George Crum, Saratoga - the potato chip

* Ebenezer Holmes, Saratoga - refrigerated casket, used to preserve the body of General Ulysses Grant when he died on Mt McGregor in 1885

* Luke Kavanaugh, Waterford - knitting machine burrs, used around the country

* Solomon Smith, Waterford - furnace air current governors, used around the country

* William Potter, Clifton Park - roofing composition for shingles in wide use today

* Israel Mosher, Galway - shovel plow sold throughout the country

* Lucien DeGolia, Edinburgh - unique washboard, manufactured by the tens of thousands and sold around the country

* Benjamin Barber, Ballston - double-turbine water wheel that tested as one of the best in the country

* John Hegeman, Vischer’s Ferry - folding pontoon boat manufactured and sold at Ballston Spa's Blue Mill

* Joel Farnam and John Hatfield, Mechanicville - refined and produced the country's first striking matches

* Various inventors who invented machines and processes to support the mineral water industry (Abel Putnam and his Star Spring, Albert Lawrence for the Excelsior Spring, Julius Formel for the Seltzer Spring, etc).

* Caleb Mitchell - Saratoga Springs Village President and gambling house owner, affiliated with the Glen Mitchell hotel and racetrack (with brother), invented a liquor serving table, committed suicide in 1901 over dispute with State Senator Edgar Brackett

* James McGregor Jr., Wilton - from the huge McGregor clan; one of the most prolific inventors despite falling out with the rest of the family (brother was Duncan McGregor who owned Mt McGregor); McGregor, Iowa named after his other brother Alexander.

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