Alan Mays' photos with the keyword: Parker

"Presented by C. B. Winchell, Harrisburg, Pa." This inscription, handwritten in elaborate Spencerian script , appears on the reverse of a business card for "E. R. Parker, manufacturer and dealer in new hardware specialties, 227½ Wyoming Avenue, Scranton, Pa."

"E. R. Parker, manufacturer and dealer in new hardware specialties, 227½ Wyoming Avenue, Scranton, Pa. Parker's Patent Combined Clamp and Filing Guide." Handwritten in elaborate Spencerian script on the other side of this business card: "Presented by C. B. Winchell, Harrisburg, Pa." The illustration of "Parker's Patent Combined Clamp and Filing Guide" refers to a patent for an "Improvement in Saw-Clamp and Filing-Guide" (see below) that was issued to Edwin R. Parker in 1879. Improvement in Saw-Clamp and Filing-Guide . U.S. Patent No. 219,650, dated September 16, 1879. "Be it known that I, Edwin R. Parker, of Scranton, in the county of Lackawanna and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a certain new and Improved Saw-Clamp and Filing-Guide . . . . The object in making this invention is to produce a convenient instrument or machine for clamping and holding the saw-teeth and guiding the file in filing all sizes of circular and mill saws of any gage, size, and shape of teeth, and whether the saw be on the arbor or removed therefrom; and the improvements consist, respectively, in the several devices, and in the combinations and sub-combinations, as hereinafter described and claimed."

A cyanotypes photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. "You can use this to keep the mice and rats away. Yes, I will keep the dog in and put out the key. A.S." Addressed to: Miss Maud W. Parker, North Lubec, Maine. Postmarked: South Lubec, ME, Oct. 18, 1906, and North Lubec, ME, Oct. 18, 1906. The joke about a photographic portrait being so bad or ugly that it scares away rodents, insects, and burglars was evidently a common one in the early twentieth century. Another version, for instance, appeared in a 1911 letter sent to American musician and composer William D. Dawson: "My Dear Mr. Armstrong: I duly received, welcome, and possessed myself of your portrait and am glad to have it. At the same time I am ashamed to recall that I have so long neglected to acknowledge it or to send the reciprocal photo to you. I have autographed one this evening and it will be shipped by freight tomorrow. It is warranted to scare away rats and burglars" (see W. T. Norton, William Dawson Armstrong, American Composer , New York: Breitkopf & Härtel, 1916, p 87). For another 1906 real photo postcard with a "scare away the rats" joke, see Guaranteed to Rid Any Cellar of Rats, Roaches, or Other Creatures (below).