November 2, 1935
THE STATE
Page Three
Our Most Prolific Inventor
II
К
lias inv«4it<»tl numerous
I lii UK's from coin puling' scales to
butler churns. His name is Col¬
vin F. Christopher and he lives
in Haywood County.
If./ PEARLi: JUSTICE YATES
UN LESS somebody conn s forward
with a counter claim, I believe
it can truthfully be stated that
Colvin F. Christopher, who lives near
Canton, Haywood County, holds the
distinction of being North Carolina's
most prolific inventor.
lie is inventor of tin* cylinder com¬
puting-type scales which are manu¬
factured by the Dayton, Stimpson,
Toledo, Standard and other large com¬
panies. These scales — there are several
different kinds of them -probably
represent his outstanding invention.
Among others of a “computing" nature
lire gas meters or calculators, a lum¬
ber calculator, a multiplying and ad¬
ding machine and a special kind of a
calculator which any merchant can
use advantageously: the number or
weight of the article is given with the
price, so that calculations can be made
iinmcdintolv.
Many Other Inventions
Hut don’t get the idea that.
Mr.
Christopher has confined his thoughts
to jii't one variety of inventions. Here
are Mime others:
A stock tether.
Ditch-digging machine which can
excavate a ditch 2 1-2 feet wide, 3 deep
deep and I feet long in one minute’s
time. This invention, incidentally, was
used in France during the World War
loi digging trenches.
Compressed brick machine.
Collapsible automobile rim.
Automatic railway switch.
Automatic street railway switch.
Churn with the dash moving up and
down.
Monkey wrench that does not have
to I*- screwed to fit the object but
which slides to fit. each part of the
wrench having grooves in it into which
I lie other parts fits.
Mr. Christopher is a likeable man
and bus hail an interesting life. He
was born in Pittsburgh. Pa., seventy-
seven years ago but is a North Carolin¬
ian by preference, hav¬
ing lived in this state over
since he was seven years
old.
“And I don’t know of an¬
other place in the couutry
where I had rather have
spent my life than in North
Carolina,” he said.
Even as u more boy, lie
bad a hankering for investi¬
gating mechanisms. Some of the older
people living in his community state
that they recall when he used to go
to the old corn mill with a "turn" to
be ground. He would spend half a day
watching the water turn the wheel,
wondering why and how, trying to fig¬
ure out a bettor way of doing the same
work.
lie went through the usual period
of trying to develop perpetual motion
machines and other fantastic schemes.
This stage of his inventive genius soon
passed, however, and again he turned
his attention to more practical things.
One day, at a local store, ho bought
some meat. The grocer threw the pur¬
chase on some old-fashioned scales.
Then he got out pencil and paper and
multiplied the weight by the price per
pound. It was a rather tedious process,
inasmuch as he wasn’t much of a
mathematician, and young Christopher
became impatient.
It was that delay which gave hiiu
the idea for the computing scale. He
worked on the proposition for several
weeks before ho hit upon a practical
solution of the problem. It was at the
age of nineteen, by the way— one year
after his marriage — that the idea was
definitely worked out.
Sold Out His Interest
A company of which Mr. Christo¬
pher was
и
member, was formed in
Washington, D. G\, in 1900. It was
known as the Independent Scales Coni-
pany. The purpose of the organization
was to manufacture the scales which
Mr. Christopher had invented. After
selling out his interest for around ?$7.-
000 the plant was moved to Bridgeport,
Conn. S< vi ral months later some bank¬
ers from Kansas City, Mo., bought the
interest of the other principals and
moved the plant to their town.
In 1910, Mr. Christopher obtained a
patent for a similar scale but with
some important improvements and
changes over the old one. The factory
was established in Asheville to produce
Mr. Christopher is 77 years old, but
he’s still hale and hearty and also is
still inventing things.
the new-typo scale. Again Mr. Chris¬
topher sold out his interest after the
plant had been in operation for a com-
parativcly brief time. Other members
of the firm died, the plant was dis¬
sembled piece by piece and the parts
were bought hv the large scale com¬
panies which soon began putting the
computing scales on the market them¬
selves.
Mr. Christopher, however, hasn’t
spent all of his life thinking about
inventions. He lias several hobbies,
one of which is music. On one occasion
when I was visiting in the home of
the inventor, his wife placed a record
on the Victrola. At the first strains
of the old mountain ballad, “Cripple
Creek," Mr. Christopher dashed into
an adjoining room and immediately
reappeared with his violin under his
chin. He played a buoyant and en¬
thusiastic accompaniment to the rec¬
ord, despite his seventy-seven years.
