Inventions & Innovations

Between 1800 and 1890, residents of Danbury received over 300 patents, including an early 1838 patent issued to D. Hoyt for a door hinge. Inventions reflected progress and practical convenience and included an oven, a clothes wringer, and a refrigerator, as well as items such as a banjo, a billiard cue tip, moccasins, a pedicycle, and a soda water apparatus. Two local women were among the nineteenth-century inventors: in 1872 Elizabeth Balmforth, for whom Balmforth Avenue was named, received a patent for a portable balcony, and in 1885 patent number 316414 for a hat tip sewing machine went to Emma Swartout. Inventions related to the hat-making industry helped fuel the worldwide success and reputation of two local businesses. Turner Machine Company had factories in Danbury and England and offices in Barcelona, Berlin, Melbourne, Paris, Rio de Janeiro, Vienna, and Warsaw; besides fur and wool hat machinery, it manufactured wood blocks, hatters tools, and New York City subway cars. Doran Brothers held several patents for machines related to hat manufacturing and survived the decline of the hatting industry by developing machinery for defense needs and components for the space program. As hat manufacturing declined, companies emerged that were and still are responsible for innovations in alternative energy, pharmaceuticals, and technology. In 1990, Perkin-Elmer partnered with NASA to design and manufacture the central mirror of the Hubble Space Telescope, and this local venture into aerospace, now under the auspices of Goodrich, has transformed astronomy for years to come. Danbury remains a haven for creative, industrious minds.

Danbury, Connecticut · United States