Date: 1916

 

Description: This is a patent that was given to David S. Anthony, who lived here in Sioux City in the 1880s. He was an avid businessman here in Sioux City and is most well-known for his factory that made travel trunks, Anthony Trunk Company, located at 413 Fifth Street. The company manufactured, sold, and repaired travel trunks of all kinds: suitcases, overnight bags, trunks, fitted cases, and Gladstone bags, as well as travel accessories such as toiletry kits and hat boxes. Anthony’s company also prided itself into making custom orders for bags and trunks suited for any kind of travel, in any color or fashion desired. However Anthony did not limit himself to a single business venture. He was a key investor in Sioux City real estate, and his house at 2101 Pierce Street was built originally in the Italian style. It was refurbished in the Victorian era and today is one of the best-kept houses in that neighborhood. He also was a keen inventor, publishing several patents for trunk handles and this one for a new kind of horseshoe. For areas like Siouxland with heavy winters, horseshoes were made with specialized extensions called calks, which act like ice picks and keep horses’ hooves from slipping on the ice. Anthony’s horseshoes featured removable calks, which meant they could be used year round rather than having new ones made for the winter. He likely sold the horseshoes in his own trunk factory, but it is unknown how successful the design was.

 

Anthony died in 1931 at the age of 82. He was survived by his three daughters, whose husbands were not interested in maintaining their father-in-law’s business. The company fell apart soon after its founder’s death in the Depression era.

 

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