Universal York

Part of the USA Today Network

inventions Archives

While doing some research on Phineas Davis and his York locomotive for an upcoming column, I realized I had never posted my column from some time ago on John Elgar and his Codorus steamboat. Elgar was a member of York’s Quaker community, as was Davis, and his iron steam boat

        Leafing through a recent issue of a magazine for tractor collectors called Antique Power, I found an article “Resurrecting a Pioneer Diesel” by Dave Gerlach. The photos show a gleaming orange farm tractor with a bold nameplate reading “Sheppard Diesel.” The article relates that in 1933,

I was intrigued by the strong advertising and testimonials lauding H. M. Crider’s 1881 fruit-picker (see previous post), so I stopped by York County Heritage Trust’s Agricultural and Industrial Museum to see one of these wonderful inventions in person. It does look like a good idea—strong metal tines or fingers

The Crider brothers are perhaps best known for their late 19th century marriage certificate forms, especially the ones with cutouts for individual photos of the couple, and, sometimes, also of the officiating minister. (More on the certificates later.) This time I’m sharing an ad for H.M. Crider’s 1881 “Patent Adjustable