Charles Burdick's 1892 Patent

(Click on the picture below to see the full size patent drawing. I've cleaned them up and converted them to the .GIF format. WARNING, they are 80kb+ files and are a slow download but worth it. Opens in a new window!)

Burdick's patent for an "air brush," filed January 19, 1892 and granted May 3. 1892. The U.S. first patent that I've found for an internal mix airbrush or that uses the term "airbrush." It's very close in design to current airbrushes in that it uses a double action, internal mix layout. Operation of this airbrush is the same as modern ones; depress the trigger for air and pull back for paint. What's unique is that the paint is held inside the rear of the body somewhat like a fountain pen, hence Burdick's name "fountain air brush." When the trigger is pulled back a plug on the rear end of the needle opens a hole in the fountain and the paint flows into the forward cavity and up to the tip. It's not perfect but is better than the previous designs. Note the flair at the rear of the handle forming a base to stand it upright; given all the paint in the rear that seems like a very good idea.

If anyone would like copies of any of the patents on the site, e-mail me and I'll gladly send them to you. The files are small in kb size (346kb for the 5 pages of the Peeler patent) but they are physically large (290" x 426") and they are in .TIF format. That means you'll need a viewer that can open .TIF's and resize them. No problem, Irfan View to the rescue. Click on one of the buttons below to go and download it. Its free (although he'd appreciate a postcard) and is the best viewer around. It also plays audio!