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Edgerton Pottery Co.

     Under contract to the Chicago based H. Geissel Company, the Edgerton Pottery Company continued to manufacture porous cups for a water filtering device assembled by the Geissel works, and, reported annual sales of about

$10,000 for the 1894-95 year. The next year, however, a charge of patent infringement was made against the Geissel Company, although the legal injunction was brought against the Edgerton Pottery Company, a subsidiary, manufacturing only one part of the water filtering device. Nevertheless, The Pasteur Filter Company of Dayton, Ohio, stated in its injunction that it held patents "...covering all filters using porous clay bodies of every description or composition and that all filters of similar arrangements are infringements."  The case would take up most of the remaining four years of the nineteenth century and involve much time on the part of the litigants and their attorneys. Forced into foreclosure the pottery company was sold at public auction on July 10, 1901. Andrew Jensen, a leading tobacco dealer in the community, banker and member of the board of directors for the pottery company, purchased the assets for $1,000, his being the only bid. The Wisconsin Tobacco Reporter commented "...Property that originally cost from $16,000 to $20,000 went for a song."

 

 

Photo courtesy of Alley Cats LLC

Photo courtesy of Alley Cats LLC

1. Edgerton's History in Clay by Maurice Montgomery

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