Panama canal

eldorado

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Mar 19, 2009
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started out with compass nugget.1970? have had many over years, current choice is Garrett ACE 350. collection includes: ace 250, AT Pro, ATX, Whites 6000, whites classic, still have my compass too.

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L.C. BAKER

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Sep 9, 2012
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Might have fallen off of Teddy's Uniform when he was digging! LOL

"In 1911, former President Theodore Roosevelt told an audience in Berkeley, California, that he had decided as chief executive to ensure access to the Isthmus of Panama, then part of the nation of Colombia, to get a canal built as the centerpiece of America's growing global power."
 

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Red-Coat

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Dec 23, 2019
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Very interesting. Haven’t seen one of those before.

The year of the patent isn’t very clear, but I think it has to be 1903. US patents take their grant date from the patent bulletin which has been traditionally published on Tuesdays. The only years in the 20th Century ending in a ‘3’ where 12th May was a Tuesday were 1903 and 1953.

If it is 1903, that puts the date before the commencement of the canal being dug and my guess is that it’s the patent date for the steam shovel/bucket excavator or whatever pictured on the other side (and presumably used during the construction of the canal). I would bet that the wording “the material contained herein” means that the metal used to cast the item has had some of the excavated material mixed into it (sand, crushed rock or whatever) as a souvenir. Perhaps for workers on the canal or employees of the company that made the excavator. I would think it’s a watch fob and the only odd thing is the absence of any company name relating to the patent.

There were lots of companies whose equipment was used during the project, notably steam shovels made by Le Roy Marion or Bucyrus but many others too. I couldn’t find patents granted to either of those companies on 12th May 1903. There were some promising possibilities such as Rezin Hosford’s “Gravel or Sand Dredge” (727623), W.E. & P.J. Maloney’s “Excavator” (727656) and Frank E. Potter’s “Machine for Hoisting, Conveying, or Excavating” (727,836) but I don’t know if any of those have a connection to the canal. I didn’t search exhaustively, so there may be other possibilities.
 

OP
OP
eldorado

eldorado

Full Member
Mar 19, 2009
136
125
Northwest OHIO
Detector(s) used
started out with compass nugget.1970? have had many over years, current choice is Garrett ACE 350. collection includes: ace 250, AT Pro, ATX, Whites 6000, whites classic, still have my compass too.
Very interesting. Haven’t seen one of those before.

The year of the patent isn’t very clear, but I think it has to be 1903. US patents take their grant date from the patent bulletin which has been traditionally published on Tuesdays. The only years in the 20th Century ending in a ‘3’ where 12th May was a Tuesday were 1903 and 1953.

If it is 1903, that puts the date before the commencement of the canal being dug and my guess is that it’s the patent date for the steam shovel/bucket excavator or whatever pictured on the other side (and presumably used during the construction of the canal). I would bet that the wording “the material contained herein” means that the metal used to cast the item has had some of the excavated material mixed into it (sand, crushed rock or whatever) as a souvenir. Perhaps for workers on the canal or employees of the company that made the excavator. I would think it’s a watch fob and the only odd thing is the absence of any company name relating to the patent.

There were lots of companies whose equipment was used during the project, notably steam shovels made by Le Roy Marion or Bucyrus but many others too. I couldn’t find patents granted to either of those companies on 12th May 1903. There were some promising possibilities such as Rezin Hosford’s “Gravel or Sand Dredge” (727623), W.E. & P.J. Maloney’s “Excavator” (727656) and Frank E. Potter’s “Machine for Hoisting, Conveying, or Excavating” (727,836) but I don’t know if any of those have a connection to the canal. I didn’t search exhaustively, so there may be other possibilities.
Thank you all for input,
 

UnderMiner

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Jul 27, 2014
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We should have annexed Panama as the 51st state. Makes no sense why we did the weird Panama Zone rental agreement garbage deal instead.
 

tamrock

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Jan 16, 2013
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Colorado
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Interesting find. Not real far from me is a old steam shovel that saw service on the Panama canal in 1923. https://www.treasurenet.com/threads/bucyrus-mod-50-b.641577/
Though it wasn't there to do any of the famous big dig. It was still involved with other projects that needed finishing up. That's how big projects were done in those day unlike all the over thinking impact studying time that goes on these days with anything big. I read a book on the construction of the transcontinental railroad back in 1869. The motto was "Build it Fast-Fix it Later" I kinda think this old steam shovel near me was a rig involved in straighten out all the finer details of one of the greatest achievements in construction.
 

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