K/NIBB/S ONE NAME STUDY
Over the years the K/NIBB/S have been an enterprising lot! We've already come across Joseph KNIBB who famously developed the seconds pendulum fitted with his special escapement mechanism. In 1673, amongst other items, James GREGORY, the Scottish mathmetician, ordered from Joseph, a split-second timepiece, the first such instrument ever produced. It is still in the possession of St Andrew's University.
Joseph may also have been the originator of the anchor and tic-tac escapement, both of which it is known he used before other makers. He certainly introduced new methods of striking and, in particular, invented Roman Notation. This incorporated two bells of different pitches. One represented the Roman V and the other the Roman I. By interpretating X as two V's, only four strikes were required at most to record the correct hour. As shown by David KNIBB in his article on The KNIBB Family of Clockmakers, this was hugely beneficial when considering the number of strikes that would occur in eight days, the generally expected period between windings.
His Roman striking clocks had a dial with IV, in contrast to the more normal IIII. I recommend the very interesting article by horologist Donn Haven LATHROP entitled 'To IV, or not to IV' which contains a picture of such a clock. I thank him for giving permission to provide this link.
Only recently have I truly appreciated just how early, after their introduction, were the KNIBBs making longcase clocks. The seconds pendulum was patented by HUYGENS in 1656 and only subsequently were hoods, then longcases, made to protect the inner workings. Yet Joseph KNIBB was making longcase clocks with anchor escapement by 1671, and other longcase clocks earlier still.
Less renowned but equally resourceful were James Syson NIBBS, James KNIBBS and Leroy Hayes KNIBB and others whose inventions are detailed below. Oil & Special Lamp Maker
He invented the oxidate condensing lamp made famous by Florence NIGHTINGALE. A description of it appears in the Official Catalogue of the world renowned Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of all Nations 1851 held in the newly built Crystal Palace. It reads as follows:-
| GENERAL HARDWARE 472 NIBBS, James Syson, Baslow, Blakewell (sic) Inventor |
| Forms of the "oxidate condensing lamp" for economical distribution of artificial light. The burner is constructed to effect the combustion of the whole of the carbon of the oil, and is said to produce a greater amount of light from a given quantity of oil. The common oils may be used.
Improved weather lantern, for outdoor purposes, cellars, etc constructed on the same principle with other improvements: and used for ships, railway carriages, and other vehicles, as side lights, etc |
ACJ: For "Blakewell" read "Bakewell" near to where James was headmaster at a school and where his wife also taught.
Fireman extraordinary
Born in Somerton, Oxfordshire, James made his mark in the City of Troy fire service, New York. From 1860 to 1883, he was the Engineer of the Arba Read Steam Fire-Engine Company, after which he became Superintendent of the fire alarm telegraph service. The value of the Gamewell Fire Alarm Telegraph proved to be immense under his care and management as one of the most important and effective divisions of the service of the Troy Fire Department.
He himself had suffered from the devastating effects of fire when the house he was living in was burnt down by a conflagration that ravaged a whole district of the City in 1862. As one of the three engineers in charge of their respective steamers at the time, the Board of the Company formally recognised his service as follows: 'In addition to their labors, at and subsequent to a fire, their mechanical ability has been the means of saving no inconsiderable sum to the department in the repair and construction of fire apparatus'. Inspired no doubt from his experiences, James invented and patented in 1864 a valve for relieving the pressure on steam fire engines, resulting from the sudden cutting off of the flow through any of a number of hose nozzles that radiate from the engine. In 1877, he sued the City of New York for $50,000 for unlicensed use and appropriation of his invention. Litigation continued for years and years and despite judgement and assessment of damages at $1,182,117.39 being awarded in 1881, that was not the end of the matter. An appeal was lodged to recover over $10 million which with interest later amounted to over $26 million dollars. With this case in the background, perhaps it was no surprise that endless litigation also surrounded the trust funds set up under James's Will.
The patent litigation was eventually settled for a mere $1,500.
The likeness of James KNIBBS above was taken from a book by Arthur James WEISE called 'The Firemen and Fire Departments of Troy, N.Y. published by Albany N.Y. 1895. This was copied by Ana KNIBBS-RIZZO, a direct descendant of James who also provided the photograph of the Arba Read fire steamer and carried out all of the research about the family.
AKR/ACJ
Mar 2001
Prolific inventor
(Contributed by Leroy Hayes KNIBB Jnr, son of the inventor, as edited and expanded by ACJ. Also see CREDITS at end)
As a young man he worked on the idea of using ultrawave current to harden steel. This was used in World War 2 to harden the ball bearings in US military equipment and after the war it was the major component of the microwave oven.
He also had something to do with recycling oil to reconstitute it to be used again; for the benefit of service military trucks in Europe during WW2.
He patented several items during his lifetime as follows:-
A fitting that makes oil drilling simpler.
An ice cream freezer that makes ice cream in the frozen food section of a household refrigerator. Here are a couple of super photographs taken for me by Dennis CLARK (not a K/NIBB/S researcher) who surfed into the website having acquired a machine and wanting to know more about it.
And a copy of a recipe book cover kindly copied by Sidney KELLEY, bless her.
A watch band made of a stainless steel coil similar to a slinkey but of course flat.
He was one of the first to make a fibreglass fishing rod. He made it by making the fibreglass as a string instead of wrapping it.
An invention that went into production was a plastic yoyo, the Dyna Glo skill top shown below:- Five Patents related to beauty products throughout beauty salons which really never got off the ground. All the major manufacturers in the USA later copied it and he lost out.
At the time of his death he was working on a bag for men who could not hold their urine. This was the forerunner of the product which sells in the USA under the name of 'Depends' as advertised on television.
He made money on some of these patents but lost money on others. More details of his patents from 1949 to 1967 can be viewed at The US Patents Office website under the following Patent Numbers: 2488668 D161189 D182768 2649956 2823113 2845658 3078471 3190502 322349 392/480
Sep 2000 Yoyo photograph copied from this site
OTHER K/NIBB/S INVENTORS
Roger G KNIBB of Hove (now deceased) - Treatment of sludge. US Patent No 3493494 3/2/1970 Musicians
This father and son team were born in Jamaica but moved to the States.
Father
Lloyd is a drummer who invented the unique modern Ska beat at a recording session in Studio One at Kingston, Jamaica, for producer Clement "Coxsone" DODD. Ska is a cocktail of sounds and beats (local Mento, a touch of Calypso, with influences from Cuban melodies and American Rock & Roll, Jazz, Rhythm and Blues etc). Essentially based on the 'burru' style, Lloyd's major contribution was to emphasise as 'direct' the second and fourth beats of the bar. This gave it a slightly jerky, danceable feel that persists to this day, through mutations such as the slower 'Rocksteady' and better known 'Reggae'.
Ska proved very popular from the outset and returns in phases but, unlike some forms, Ska music is strictly non-political.
In his playing, Lloyd combines together the bass drum, the funde and the repeater. He is self taught. Back in the 1940's, Lloyd lived at West Street, Kingston, Jamaica and picked up music in his mid-teens by listening to jazz drummer Donald JARRETT. The band he played with, practised nearby. Lloyd acknowledges the help he had from him and other drummers but has repaid those debts many times over by teaching others.
His first professional work, other than playing at the beach or on board ships, was in the Val BENNETT band. Next he was in the Stanley HEADLAM band and others followed, including Sonny BRADSHAW, Stanley EDLAM, Chistian SCOTT, Jack BROWN and a settled period with Eric DEANS. Notably Lloyd was a founder member of The Skatalites in 1964 but the band split up for various reasons a year later. They reformed in 1983 and played at the Sunsplash Festival in Montego Bay, Jamaica and have not looked back since with success all around the World.
The band's website is at http://www.skatalites.com/ and click here for a photograph of Lloyd. He has sat in with his son's band on numerous occasions. Truly a legend in his own lifetime. But even he suffers the K/NIBB/S surname syndrome. Here's a short extract from one interview -
You were always credited as 'Knibbs' until recently they started putting it with no 's' on the end.
Oh boy. K-N-I-B-B. They put it wrong on a check! And I get it to change still, cause is me same one. Some say K-N-I-B-B-S, some say N-I-B-B-S.
I haven't seen it spelled correctly until probably two years ago. All the old records are wrong!
Son
Soulful growling vocalist Dion KNIBB heads up the Agitators who are, according to one commentator on Ska, breathing new life and style into this great Jamaican art form. The band's story is told at their website http://www.agitators.com/main.html which I invite you to visit.
It reports that Dion Knibb & the Agitators formed in the winter of 1995-96 in Boston, Mass., bringing together musicians who had worked with Steady Earnest (Art Cohen, Mike Hartford, Patrick Faucher and Keith Yaun) and the Skatalites (Ken Stewart and Dion Knibb himself).
They played their first gig at Boston's Mama Kin Music Hall on February 15, 1996, opening for Dub Syndicate, and have since become one of Boston's most popular ska/reggae bands.
A 1998 highly rated recording of theirs (Driving Me Mad! CD - DVS Media "a classic in one listening") has a wordless track entitled "Monica LEWINSKY" - skankin' goodness per Phillip HAIRE. Enough's been said about her already, I guess!
ACJ
LHK/ACJ
CREDITS:
Terence F KNIBB of Northampton (now Bristol) - Display devices comprising a light emitting diode chip mounted on a substrate, metallic parts being eletroplated with a light absorbing material to reduce or eliminate reflections from metallic connections to the chip. US Patent No 4259679 31/3/1981
John Allen KNIBBS of Missouri - Sander with depth guide and process of sanding a surface. US Patent No 6035474 14/3/2000
Richard H KNIBBS of Steventon - Filter apparatus. US Patent No 4219421 26/8/1980
Robin K KNIBBS of Southwick - Model figures representing a horse and rider. US Patent No 4251948 24/2/1981
(See The US Patents Office website for more details. You may need to download a G4 TIFF Image Viewer if you do not already have one on your computer.)
August 2001
(with much help from 'Scratchie' Art and especially Brian KEYO)
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