Photo from U.S. Patent records An image of the patent Windsor filed for a bag lock.

Being a company commander in a National Guard unit doesn’t pay the bills.

And while Windsor didn’t need to make a ton of money (he lived as a bachelor in a room above a downtown bank and in a California apartment for much of the rest of his life), it doesn’t mean he didn’t have a creative mind.

“Fred was a bundle of energy,” according to an

His first business interest was as a young man in his father’s oil business.

“He branched out into construction by winning a contract to build a macadam road from Warren to the State Hospital,” according to the Historical Society. “He and a large team of men made the road, but he ended up in court trying to get paid.”

Photo courtesy of the Warren County Historical Society Windsor, just to the right of center, at a well on the Grasshopper Oil Field in 1095.

After his second term as fire chief – 1905-1907 – Windsor resigned to go back into oil and, per the Historical Society, “his oil profits during this period were impressive.

“Fred formed partnerships with other local oil producers and drilled wells in Warren and McKean counties with relatively good success. He experienced the challenges of oil speculation; he thrived on the thrill of the gamble.”

By the time Windsor entered the industry, the initial oil rush of the 1800s had considerably decreased but there was still money to be made.

From the Historical Society: “He and two partners had some leases in Tidioute. On September 11, 1906, it was reported that they had ‘finished 18 wells and had a settled production of 60 barrels daily.'”

In 1908, he was drilling in McKean County.

Photo from Canadian Patent records An image of the patent Windsor filed for a bag lock.

From a Historical Society source: “‘ Colonel Fred E. Windsor has occasion to smile as he has opened up another oil pool in the Dew Drop sand. The well is reported to be good for fifth barrels.’ Two months later the output was down to 20 barrels a day. A week after this report, there was a fire at the site. A tent caught fire and burned up in a few seconds.”

It was noted that Windsor “fortunately was not in the tent at the time.”

“Years later, he was known to carry around in his wallet a battered cancelled check for one million dollars. The story behind the check isn’t clear but many people remember seeing it and, when asked, he said he had spent it on ‘wine, women and song.’ More than likely, much of it also went for speculation on the oil exchange.”

In 1922, records also indicate he was a shareholder in the Warren Quarry Co., holding $19,000 in shares.

But the most interesting elements of Windsor’s business ventures come straight from late 19th and early 20th century patent records.

Times Observer photo by Josh Cotton A U.S. Patent Office stamp in the collection of the Warren County Historical Society on a trademark that was granted to Windsor.

We first see Windsor pop up in Official Gazette of the United States Patent Office for a bag lock in 1894.

The following year, the same device – with a different drawing – was published in The Canadian Patent Office Record and Register of Copyrights and Trademarks.

The Canadian patent was to last for six years.

A description of the claim: “In a lock, the combination with a spring actuated bolt, of a detent for engaging the easing and holding the bolt in its retracted position, and a trip for said detent having a movement longitudinally of said bolt independently of said bolt and detent, said trop projecting beyond the end of the keeper engaging end of the bolt, substantially as described.”

That’s about one-third of the definition – I’ll spare you the rest.

Two years later, according to the Historical Society, Windsor “invested in a ‘new and wonderful electric Bully Eye lamp’ for trolleys and streetcars.”

According to the 1907 Official Gazette of the United State Patent Office, Frederick P. Cobham of Jamestown assigned three separate patents to an “L. Schmutz” as well as “F.E. Windsor” for a “headlight or lantern,” a “headlight-adjusting device” and a “electric lantern.”

“Fred was convinced it was revolutionary,” according to the Historical Society. “He gave enthusiastic spiels to potential investors in Warren claiming that the New York Interborough system was ‘attracted by the manifold advantages offered’ by the lamp and were expected to write an order for 12,000 at $45 each to outfit all the trolleys in NYC.”

He also promised, per the Historical Society, a factory in Warren “if the proper inducements were offered,” though that never materialized.

A 1925 edition of the Annual Report of the Commissioner of Patents awarded Windsor a patent for “Windshield-cleaning pads,” but offers no further description of the product.

His most interesting patent, though, was filed over a decade earlier. More on that next time.