W. W. Townsend

W. W. Townsend was the U.S. patent examiner who examined the Wright brothers' first patent submission in 1903.

A little over a month after the Wrights filed their patent application (date?), Patent Office Examiner W. W. Townsend looked at it. From Head, 2008, pp 29-34:

Townsend was in charge of examining all 'flying machine' applications. . . . In most cases he questioned their ability to fly. To him, unless it had a gas bag attached, it wouldn't fly. Thus, as usual, Townsend rejected the [application]. . . he didn't understand how it would fly. [And] he denied that application as not defining anything new over five U.S. and one Germany patent.

Which patents were those? Not visible yet.

Detailed records would be at the patent office archives in Kansas City.

The 1904 Roster of US patent attorneys gives a partial directory of the US patent office staff, and lists W. W. Townsend as the person in charge of division 28 of the office, and in room 382.

See also patent examiner J. H. Colwell.

This person had 0 publications and 0 patents in this database.

Names	W. W. Townsend
Countries	US
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Occupations	patent examiner
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Affiliations	USPO, US Patent Office
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