James albert bonsack biography of martin luther

James Albert Bonsack

American inventor

James A. Bonsack

Born()October 9,
Died()June 1,

James Albert Bonsack (October 9, ,[1][2] – June 1, ) was an American inventor who developed an early cigarette rolling machine in , and patented it the following year.

Early life

James A. Bonsack was born in eastern Roanoke County, Virginia.

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  • His father, Jacob Bonsack, owned a woolen mill where James learned about industrial machinery. In he was admitted to the Lutheran Roanoke College, but decided to withdraw to work on designing a cigarette rolling machine.[3][4] After building a successful prototype and patenting his invention, he registered the Bonsack Machine Company of Virginia on March 27, [3] Following a court battle of alleged patent infringement by the inventor of a competing rolling machine, Bonsack paid $18, to buy out the competitor's patent claim.[5][3]

    Bonsack Cigarette Machine

    Prior to that time, cigarettes had been rolled by hand.

    Readymade cigarettes were a luxury item, but were becoming increasingly popular.[6] The slow manual fabrication process&#;a skilled cigarette roller could produce only about four cigarettes per minute on average[7]&#;was insufficient to satisfy demand by the s. In , the Allen and Ginter company in Richmond, Virginia, offered a prize of $75, (equivalent to $&#;million in ) for the invention of a machine able to roll cigarettes.

    Bonsack took up the challenge and left college to devote his time to building such a machine.[6] In , he had a first working prototype, which was destroyed by a fire while in storage at Lynchburg, Virginia.[7] Bonsack rebuilt it and filed a patent application on September 4, [6] The patent was granted the following year (U.S.

    patents ,[2] from March 8, and ,[8] from October 4, ). Allen and Ginter had ordered a Bonsack machine but quickly rejected it, eager to save their prize money and fearing that consumers would balk at a machine-made product.[9]

    Bonsack's partnership with tobacco industrialist James Buchanan Duke made full commercial use of the invention, which could produce , cigarettes in 10 hours,[7] ( per minute), and thereby revolutionized the cigarette industry.[6][10] Duke set a deal with the Bonsack Machine Company in Duke agreed to produce all cigarettes with his two rented Bonsack machines and in return, Bonsack reduced Duke's royalties from $ per thousand to $ per thousand.

    James albert bonsack biography of martin luther king The modern cigarette-manufacturing industry traces its development directly to Bonsack's machine, which produced inexpensive cigarettes at a time when cigarette smoking was growing in popularity. Two years later, seven were operating in the United States, and an equal number, manufactured under license in France, had been built in Europe. By , Bonsack had completed the first working prototype. Bonsack's partnership with tobacco industrialist James Buchanan Duke made full commercial use of the invention, which could produce , cigarettes in 10 hours, [ 7 ] per minute , and thereby revolutionized the cigarette industry.

    Duke also hired one of Bonsack’s mechanics, resulting in fewer breakdowns of his machines than his competitors’.[11] This secret contract resulted in a competitive advantage over Duke's competitors; he was able to lower his prices further than others could. Bonsack's machine was so efficient that by , Duke had laid off all the company's cigarette rollers, who had been replaced by Bonsack's machine.[12]

    • Bonsack's cigarette rolling machine, as shown on U.S.

      patent ,

    • Bonsack Cigarette Machine,

    • Bonsack machine model

    • James A. Bonsack was 22 when he invented his machine

    Legacy

    The census-designated place of Bonsack, Virginia, located in Roanoke County, was named after James Bonsack, who lived in this town located along Route between Roanoke and Bedford.[13]

    References

    1. ^Ancestry of James Albert BonsackArchived at the Wayback Machine.

      URL last accessed

    2. ^ abU.S. patent ,Archived at the Wayback Machine, with diagrams. URL last accessed
    3. ^ abc"History of the Bonsack Machine Company".

      James albert bonsack biography of martin luther One machine could produce as many cigarettes as forty-eight people could make manually. The decision proved fortuitous when the carding machine in the mill inspired the solution to one of his most difficult problems, how to measure the tobacco consistently and accurately. James Albert Bonsack was an American inventor who invented the first cigarette rolling machine in Nobuhiro Watsuki.

      State Archives of North Carolina.

    4. ^Stark-Rankins, Amanda. "Feed, Roll, Paste and Cut: A revolutionary invention". Living Virginia. Archived from the original on January 14,
    5. ^Bonsack Mach. Co. v.

    6. Category:James Albert Bonsack - Wikimedia Commons
    7. James Albert Bonsack - Wikipedia
    8. Dictionary of Virginia Biography - James Albert Bonsack (4 ...
    9. Essay The Duke - JSTOR
    10. Elliott, 69 F. (2nd Cir. )

    11. ^ abcdBennett, W.: The Cigarette Century[permanent dead link&#;], Science 80, September/October URL last accessed
    12. ^ abcBonsack's cigarette machineArchived at the Wayback Machine.

      URL last accessed

    13. ^U.S. patent ,Archived at the Wayback Machine, with diagrams. URL last accessed
    14. ^Brandt, Allan M.The cigarette century&#;: the rise, fall, and deadly persistence of the product that defined America.

      Biography of john knox Unfortunately, a fire at a warehouse in Lynchburg, Virginia, destroyed this prototype. Readymade cigarettes were a luxury item, but became increasingly popular. The royalties from his inventions appear to have been the major source of family income, enabling him to join the Philadelphia Country Club and other socially prominent organizations. The slow manual fabrication process—a skilled cigarette roller could produce only about four cigarettes per minute on the average—was insufficient to satisfy the demands in the s.

      ISBN&#;. OCLC&#;

    15. ^"3. James B. Duke, the Bonsack Cigarette Machine, and the Origins of the American Tobacco Company". The Dukes of Durham, .

      James albert bonsack biography of martin luther the reformer Return to the Dictionary of Virginia Biography Search page. This article about an American inventor is a stub. S2CID Add a New Bio.

      Duke University Press. pp.&#;26– doi/ ISBN&#;. S2CID&#;

    16. ^Brandt, Allan M. (). The Cigarette Century: The Rise, Fall, and Deadly Persistence of the Product that Defined America. New York: Basic Books. pp.&#; ISBN&#;.
    17. ^"The Bonsack Machine and Labor Unrest," ANCHOR, North Carolina in the New South () Factories and Mill Villages
    18. ^Prince Edward County seal &#; wheat sheaf vs tobacco handArchived at the Wayback Machine, The Farmville Herald,Prince Edward County, September 24,

    Further reading

    • Tilley, N.

      M.: The bright-tobacco industry, - ; Arno Press, ; ISBN&#;

    External links