Rawlings patents 1885-1922

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Rawlings patents 1885-1922

Postby mikesglove » October 7th, 2010, 1:52 am

Rawlings Sporting Goods was founded in 1887 by George and Alfred Rawlings, brothers who opened a small store in St. Louis. Its first catalogue characterized the company as "Dealers in Fishing Tackle, Guns, Baseball, Football, Golf, Polo, Tennis, Athletic and General Sporting Goods." The store soon went up in flames, so the Rawlings brothers got into manufacturing in 1898 in partnership with Charles W. Scudder, who put up the money.

Rawling's first baseball glove patent was in 1885 for a fingerless glove.
1885 rawlingsa.jpg

The padding in the palm and wrist strap design in the patent drawing above is distinctive and looks to be the same as the gloves below
Fingerless Gloves 2 John.jpg

In 1911 and 1912 the inventor Charles Whitley as assignor to Rawlings, patented a duck web glove and a duck web variation.
1911 whitley rawlingsa.jpg
1911
1912 whitley duck rawlingsa.jpg
1912 variation with slits cut at the base of the fingers for more flexibility


Rawlings Sure Catch Duck Web Fronta.jpg
1911 Rawlings "Sure Catch" duck web glove
Rawlings Sure Catch Duck Web Backa.jpg
Last edited by mikesglove on October 7th, 2010, 3:20 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Rawlings patents 1885-1922

Postby mikesglove » October 7th, 2010, 2:19 am

Also in 1912, Charles Whitley invented a leather flap with metal snaps at the heel of catchers mitts so padding could be added or removed easily
1912 whitley rawlingsa.jpg
RwlSnpCB.jpg


In 1913 the inventor B.M. Sargent as assignor to Rawlings, patented several features as improvements to the catchers mitt. First was a tapered perimeter leather band joining the front and back of the mitt, second was a molded pad forming a pocket and third was an overlapping leather wrist protector
1913 sargen mitt rawlingsa.jpg
Gibson Rawlings Front Marka.jpg
1913 Rawlings "The Gibson"
Gibson Rawlings Back Marka.jpg


In 1922 Charles Whitley patented a leather reinforcement for gloves at each crotch between the fingers and thumb. This reinforcement was applied inside the glove during production and not really visible on the outside accept possibly for some extra stitching.
1922 whitley rawlingsa.jpg
Last edited by mikesglove on October 7th, 2010, 3:17 am, edited 4 times in total.
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Re: Rawlings patents 1885-1922

Postby mikesglove » October 7th, 2010, 2:33 am

Also in 1922 the famous Bill Doak patent was introduced
1922 doak rawlingsa.jpg
The advertisement lists all the improvements the "Doak" glove provided. The glove was instantly popular among MLB players as well as the retail public and was a Rawlings flagship model for decades.
1928 rawlings doaka.JPG
Doak Rawlings Original Front Scotta.jpg
Bill Doak Rawlings Original Backa.jpg
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Re: Rawlings patents 1885-1922

Postby mikesglove » January 23rd, 2014, 3:59 pm

Below is a Rawlings ad from 1924 showing the "Bill Doak" model with three webbing holes on the finger stall instead of the usual two. Not sure what is up with that. I've never seen one before, anyone else?
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Re: Rawlings patents 1885-1922

Postby vintagebrett » January 24th, 2014, 7:37 am

Great information Mike - thanks for sharing. It's interesting that they have patents as far back as the 1880's but we don't see their gloves appear until the 1910's. As for the Doak glove with three holes for lacing, maybe it was an error by the person doing the rendering for the catalog?
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Re: Rawlings patents 1885-1922

Postby mikesglove » January 24th, 2014, 1:48 pm

I thought that too, since the 1924 catalog was a hardware supply company that carried Rawlings equipment. May be there was some artistic license at the printers. Below is a photo JD supplied from years gone by for a repo "Doak" glove made by Rawlings in the 1990's. Interesting that Rawlings used the three grommet design for the web, instead of the original patent design. May be there is a vintage three grommet glove out there. It would be a nice find.
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