The William Tompkins mitt of 1899
Posted: August 8th, 2010, 10:51 pmThis clever design was invented by William Tompkins in 1899.
I could not find any affiliation with a glove manufacturer. This mitt has a sewn perimeter and access to the padding was done through a laced opening in the palm of the mitt. My mitt below shows a somewhat later version with the adding of the buckle strap.
The mitt below from Bill Diebold's collection is a great example of the 1899 patent. I wanted this mitt badly and unfortunately it had already been spoken for.
- note the hook and eyelet back, crescent heel pad and sewn reinforcement in the pocket
- An early mitt with the hook & eyelet back. The mitt has a fixed fastener between the thumb and body. It could be a riveted or a sewn connection. Some of these early mitts also had rigid laminated fiber band as an internal framework attached at the top of the mitt to hold the pocket in a fixed position. My research showed the use of cane as a rigid framework (both internal and external) in some early catchers mitts.