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

Monday, March 24, 2014

A surviving Lothrop's patent fog horn.

Every once in a while we are able to find an item at Skipjack Nautical Wares & Marine Gallerythat 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".

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.