(Marks' Patent Artificial Limbs - with India rubber hands ...)
Marks' Patent Artificial Limbs - with India rubber hands and feet is an unchanged, high-quality reprint of the original edition of 1876. Hansebooks is editor of the literature on different topic areas such as research and science, travel and expeditions, cooking and nutrition, medicine, and other genres. As a publisher we focus on the preservation of historical literature. Many works of historical writers and scientists are available today as antiques only. Hansebooks newly publishes these books and contributes to the preservation of literature which has become rare and historical knowledge for the future.
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Abraham Marks was descended from Mordecai Marks, a native of London, England, who died in Derby, Connecticut, in 1771. He was the son of Levi Merwin and Esther Tolles (Tuttle) Marks. He was born on April 3, 1825 in Waterbury, Connecticut, where his father had established and operated a hauling business between Waterbury and New Haven.
Marks attended the public schools in Waterbury until he was sixteen years old and then joined his father for a year or two, after which he went to farming.
At the age of twenty, although he was without experience, he began a small wood-working business in New Haven. By some means he secured a large order for making hubs for carriages and wagons, then rented a mill, hired an expert wood-turner, and succeeded in filling the order with entire satisfaction. At the same time by close observation and practice he mastered the art of wood turning and for about six years carried on a fairly successful business. Shortly after his marriage in 1850 he transferred his shop to New York. Two years later he formed a partnership with his elder brother David, a dentist who had given considerable thought to improvements of artificial limbs. Upon the granting of a patent to David B. Marks on March 7, 1854, the brothers began with enthusiasm to manufacture and introduce the new products. After several years during which they attained very little recognition, David withdrew from the partnership to resume the practice of his profession, but Amasa, with characteristic tenacity of purpose, carried on alone. He improved the mechanism of the artificial leg in 1856 by providing for knee articulation as well as ankle and toe movements, and further improved the ankle joint in 1858, but still the business made little progress. About 1861 he began to use rubber in the construction of artificial hands and feet, and after two years of active research, on December 1, 1863, was granted Patent No. 40, 763. The radical change in artificial limbs which this invention effected was the elimination of all mechanism from the calf of the leg down. Knee articulation was retained, but both ankle and toe movements were eliminated. In 1864 the Federal government awarded Marks a contract for furnishing artificial limbs to the disabled soldiers and sailors of the Civil War, and in a comparatively short time his products were used in practically every part of the world. He personally directed all phases of his rapidly expanding business during the next fifteen years and at the same time conducted experimental work looking toward the further improvement of his products. Eventually a rubber foot consisting of alternate layers of rubber and canvas was perfected which gave the toes greater resilience and forced the foot to return to its proper shape with more certainty. Shortly after securing Patent No. 234, 596 (Nov. 16, 1880) for this improvement, Marks retired, leaving his business in the hands of his sons. He then took up his permanent residence in Sound Beach, Connecticut, where he had owned a country estate since 1872. Here he interested himself in local affairs, particularly in the improvement of schools. He died on July 19, 1905 at his home in Sound Beach at the age of eighty.
(Marks' Patent Artificial Limbs - with India rubber hands ...)
On August 22, 1850 he was married to Lucy Ann Platt, a second cousin. The couple had three sons and one daughter.
