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A guide to the Alphonzo B. Bowers papers, 1657-1926
HDC1618 (SAFR 22225)
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Title: Alphonzo B. Bowers papers
Date: 1657-1926
Date (bulk): 1863-1926
Identifier/Call Number: HDC1618 (SAFR 22225)
Creator/Collector:
Bowers, Alphonzo Benjamin
Physical Description:
18.30 linear feet
Repository:
San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park, Historic Documents Department
Building E, Fort Mason
San Francisco, CA 94123
Abstract: The Alphonzo B. Bowers Papers, (SAFR 22225, HDC 1618) consists of correspondence, drawings, patent bulletins, court proceedings
and images regarding the inventor, Alphonzo Benjamin Bowers (1830-circa 1926) and the development of the hydraulic dredge
and system and infringement lawsuits. Inclusive dates are 1657-1925 and bulk dates are 1863-1925. The collection has been
processed to the file unit level and is open for use with no restrictions.
Physical Location: San Franicsco Maritime NHP, Historic Documents Department
Language(s):
In English. --In Spanish --In French.
This collection is open for use unless otherwise noted.
Some material may be copyrighted or restricted. It is the researcher's obligation to determine and satisfy copyright or other
case restrictions when publishing or otherwise distributing materials found in the collections.
[Item description], [Location within collection organization identified by Collection Number/Series Number/File Unit Number/Item
Number], HDC1618 (SAFR 22225), Alphonzo B. Bowers papers, San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park
SAFR-02102
SAFR-02162
The collection was retained by Bowers' caregiver after his death and donated to San Francisco Maritime National Historical
Park in 2010.
Historical or Biographical Note
Alphonzo B. Bowers, Alphonzo Benjamin Hay-Thompson Bowers or A. B. Bowers, was the inventor and patentee of the hydraulic
dredger and the hydraulic system. He was born September 25, 1830, in West Baldwin, Maine. He was the son of Sarah (Hay) Bowers
and Wilder Bowers, both of Maine. He moved to San Francisco is 1867. The 1910 United States Federal Census has Bowers recorded
as living in New York City at the age of 79 and the 1920 U.S. Census has him listed as living in Lynn, Massachusetts at the
age of 89. Bowers' documents his age as 96 in his autobiography. Information posted on Bowers.com states he passed away at
the age of 95.
Bowers' health began to decline in his early twenties. In turn, he traveled to California by way of the Isthmus of Panama
in 1853. He taught at several schools in Sonoma County, California. In 1863, he was employed to finish a farm map of the county
and was never paid for it. To record this event he wrote and published HISTORY OF THE BOWERS MAP. In San Francisco, he built
models of his hydraulic dredging inventions. He contracted typhoid fever and remained unemployed. In 1873, he was appointed
Secretary of a Board of Engineers to remodel the Mare Island Navy Yard in Vallejo, California.
It appears the Patent Office delayed processing of his applications for several years. He could not afford an attorney and
so began his study of patent laws and traveling to Washington to secure the patents. In 1884, he was successful in completing
12 invention patents. A patent bulletin from May 26, 1885 shows and describes patent number 318,859 as the A. B. Bowers Dredging
Machine and A. B. Bowers as the inventor.
In 1888, Bowers' sued Colonel A. W. Von Schmidt for infringement and won. This suit was the basis for many future lawsuits
regarding infringement of his patents. Some of the companies sued were Williams & Bixler, the Golden State and Miners Iron
Works, the San Francisco Bridge Company, and the Pacific Coast Dredging and Reclamation Company (San Francisco), L. W. Bates
of Chicago and the New York Dredging Company. An 1897 appeal case ruling declared Bowers to be the inventor of the hydraulic
system of dredging.
After moving back to the northeastern United States, he continued fighting infringement battles and wrote journal articles
regarding hydraulic dredges, politics, engineering, the economy and religion.
The Alphonzo B. Bowers Papers, (SAFR 22225, HDC 1618) consists of correspondence, drawings, patent bulletins, court proceedings
and images regarding the inventor, Alphonzo Benjamin Bowers (1830-circa 1926) and the development of the hydraulic dredge
and system and infringement lawsuits. Inclusive dates are 1657-1925 and bulk dates are 1863-1925. The collection has been
processed to the file unit level and is open for use with no restrictions.
Affidavits and exhibit drawings from specific courts cases, United States Patent Office documents, illustrations, and correspondence
in the form of written letters and telegrams record A. B. Bowers infringement lawsuits against several entities. New York
Dredging Company, Atlantic Gulf and Pacific Company, Roderick G. Ross, San Francisco Bridge Company, and Steers make up the
largest volume of lawsuit documents. Much of the correspondence is between Bowers and Miller, his attorney. Documents cover
mostly California but due to Bowers contracting for various projects and providing licenses for use of the hydraulic dredge,
Cuba, Oregon, Mississippi, Indiana and New York are represented as well. Subjects not pertaining directly to lawsuits include:
Bowers' family history, dredge history drafts, agreements and licenses, Aladdin Coal Mining Company, American Magnesite Company,
patent bulletins, dredging contracts, Physician's Who's Who Publishing Company, receipts, Packard Gun Company, Los Angeles
Harbor
Company, and San Fernando Sugar Plantation.
Organized in 7 series: Series 1. Autobiographical and Bowers family history, undated and 1864-1925. Series 2. Bound volumes
and publications, 1866-1918. Series 3. Correspondence, undated and 1885-1925. Series 4. Drafts, undated and 1863-1902. Series
5. Dredge images, undated and 1657-1923. Series 6. Legal proceedings, undated and 1858-1917. Series 7. Subject files, undated
and 1830-1926.
The papers were arranged in seven series keeping any original order and then according to material type. Series 1, 4, and
5 are original groupings and the contents retain original order. Series 2, 6, and 7 are also original groupings but the contents
have been arranged in alphabetical and then ascending chronological order. Series 3 retains orginal grouping with its contents
in ascending chronlogical order.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Dredges.
Dredges--California--History
Dredging.
Hydraulic engineering.
Bowers, Alphonzo Benjamin
California
Blueprints
glass negative
technical drawings
vandyke photoprints
Photographic prints
Patents
Maps
Engineer
Channels (Hydraulic engineering)