Fayette Oliver Farwell (December 18581900 United States Federal Census, 1860 United States Federal Census – 24 May 1935), co-creator of the Adams-Farwell automobile manufacturing company, was a prolific American inventor with at least thirteen patents credited to his name.theoldmotor.com: The Adams-Farewell: A Truly Unique Early Motorcar
Patents
camp chair ........................October 10, 1887 camp chair support ...............July 14, 1890 cash carrier ........................March 10, 1891 stove back ........................March 23, 1892 stove damper .....................April 27, 1892 combined anvil and vise.........April 5, 1894 non-conducting handle.........June 7, 1894 stovepipe damper...............August 21, 1894 molding machine...............September 16, 1895 front grate........................October 25, 1895 oven shelf........................November 4, 1895 milling machine..................February 25, 1896 sand press........................August 28, 1897 current controller/igniting devices for hydrocarbon engines........ October 21, 1904 lubricator........................November 17, 1904 milling machine...............December 9, 1908 molding machine...............November 4, 1910 internal combustion motor ...February 28, 1911 gear-hobbing machine.........June 10, 1911 encyclopediaduboque.org: FARWELL, Fay Oliver driving mechanism for machine spindles............January 23, 1919
Lesser known was Farwell's development of a timing device that allowed machine gun bullets to be fired through the whirling propellers of airplanes without striking the blades. Near the time of World War I, Farwell was called to Washington, D.C. by the War Department to further refine his ideas. Farwell left Dubuque in 1921 to demonstrate a merry-go-round he had patented. He sold a phonograph invention to the Victor Talking Machine Company. He returned to the gear-cutting business in Toledo. Three sons-Jay, Ray, and Fay survived him.
References