Maritime History: L.D. Lothrop's Patent Fog Horn

A surviving Lothrop's patent fog horn.

 Every once in a while we are able to find an item at Skipjack Nautical Wares & Marine Gallery that we can offer some factual information about it's history. Here, our research has taken us to the great maritime seaport of Gloucester, Massachusetts where this item was manufactured. Here is a brief history of the product and the company.

The fog horn was invented by Llewellyn Day Lothrop, born in Appleton, Maine in March of 1836. Mr. Lothrop opened a general ship chandler’s business in 1880 on Duncan Street in Gloucester, Massachusetts and soon became the leading chandlery for fishing gear. He invented different swivels & hooks for fishing, but was best known for the famous, Lothrop PATENT Fog Horn of which no Gloucesterman would sail without. This fog horn in this blog is an example of those manufactured by the L.D.Lothrop Co.,

Vintage picture of L. D. Lothrop's  horse-drawn wagon sandwich board advertisement.

A REED FOG HORN

  

Illustration of the working parts of a Lothrop fog horn, circa 1903.

Printed from Marine Engineering, Volume 8, April 1903: The fog horn illustrated here has a large sale in this country and abroad, as it embodies the two requirements of being well designed and well built. It is a forth, when a large quantity of air is pressed into the chamber and with little friction. The wear on the bearings and inside working parts is very small. The horn is protected by a galvanized sheet-iron covering and placed under the lever. Among the features of construction is the one-piece crank hanger, the turn-down handle having no nuts or pins to break loose, and the leather bellows, which is secure to the solid blocks of wood by being forced into the groove of the wood, held in place by a brass strip. All the bearings and metal parts are hard brass, made strong enough to withstand many years of service. Manufactured by L.D. Lothrop, 66 Duncan Street, Gloucester, Mass.

A picture of the L. D. Lothrop workshop showing a horn being attached to the bellows.
Photo was taken from  the blog "Schooner Adventure Mug Up".
http://schooneradventuremugup.wordpress.com/

Another example of a  Fog horn in an oak case, bears plaque from L.D. Lothrop, Gloucester,
Measures 16-1/2"h, 13-1/2"w, 20-1/2"d.  Notice the side-mounted horn. Photo from South Bay Auctions Inc. 

The pictures below are of the L.D. Lothrop boxed fog horn surviving in good working order that we currently have available. This particular model is  #19082, Pat. Aug. 20, 1901 as engraved on the makers brass tag. Crank handle on box side and retaining it's original red painted wood box and black stenciled letters on both sides. A wonderful example of a Gloucester, Massachusetts artifact. The box measures 20 1/2 in. X 9 1.2 in. X 16 1/2 in. Follow the link here to the fog horn listing on our webstore at Skipjack Nautical Wares.com- L. D. Lothrop box fog horn. This fog horn comes to us from the Arthur A. Rebman Maritime Collection.

Fog horn crank with wood handle and stenciled brand on the side.

View of the manufacturers brass label.

Opposite side of the box with stenciled "LOTHROP'S PATENT FOG HORN" and #1.

Top view with original leather handle. 

The Arthur A. Rebman Maritime Collection at Skipjack Nautical Wares

For sale in the showroom and online

 starting Friday, May 10th, Skipjack is pleased to present the 

Rebman Maritime Collection.

Some of the many nautical items available for sale from the Rebman Maritime Collection.

The Arthur A. Rebman Maritime Collection represents three decades of collecting authentic nautical related items during Mr. Rebman's years working in Hampton Roads shipyards. The collection comprises of a number of ship nameboards, a rare rope driven ship's wheel circa 1840, US Navy and US Coast Guard items, life rings and preservers, wood blocks of varying types and sizes, cleats and bollards, navigational ship lights, a group of Fresnel lantern lenses, wood and metal fids and marlinspikes, country flags, signal flags and pennants including a complete cased signal flag collection, oak lifeboat water keg, anchors, a WWII era boxed compass, Lionel taffrail log in original box, ship's bell, half hulls, vintage lobster trap and wood net floats, boxed fog horn (working order), collection of ship in bottles, vintage working pond boat, coffee mugs and other maritime related porcelain collectibles, old prints and photographs, brass plaques from ships, lots of ship parts and pieces and other nautical collectibles. This is a great opportunity to collect some authentic nautical items, most including the ship provenance!  

Authentic ship's name boards, life rings and vintage ship salvage is part of the Rebman Maritime Collection.

The Portsmouth showroom is now open EVERY DAY*

through the end of year!

Monday-Saturday - 10am - 5pm

Sunday - 1pm - 4pm

Additional times by chance or appointment

Skipjack Nautical Wares & Marine Gallery 

One High Street, Suite 3

(facing the riverfront)

Portsmouth, Virginia 23704

(757) 399-5012

www.SkipjackNauticalWares.com

Nautical Collars & Leashes For Your Salty Dog

Nautical themed dog collars at Skipjack Nautical Wares

Dress up your salty dog with Skipjack's nautical pet products featuring a great selection of colorful nautical themed ribbon collars & leashes on durable nylon webbing for comfort and easy care. Collars feature Delrin Acetal side release buckles for ease of fastening and separating and solid nickel plated “D” rings for strength, are available in three widths and are all easily adjusted for length. Our matching leashes feature strong nickel-plated swivel snaps. Produced in Massachusetts, USA. Want one? Follow the link here to our NAUTICAL PET section on our web store. or stop by our Olde Towne Portsmouth, Virginia riverfront showroom.

Our dog Chance models a nautical code flag ribbon collar.

Select your favorite ribbon design and webbing color for the perfect nautical dog collar. Easy to clean, just soak in dish detergent and warm water, rinse clean and air dry for years of like-new look and to eliminate odor.

Make it just right with 11 webbing colors to choose from!

Great nautical ribbon designs to dress up your salty dog!