A Patent from Pinkstaff

Around Christmas 2022 the researchers here at the Historical Society were contacted about a patent by Bowman and Hughes, inventors from Pinkstaff. ( For more information see https://www.lawrencelore.org/post/pinkstaff-inventors ) We are always surprised and excited to find that interesting tidbits of our local history find their way around the globe and become interesting to other researchers. We are now honored to present an update about this project from Jonathan Hills.

Readers of this blog may recall that last year, my brother and I wrote a post in which we outlined our interest in the work of Mark Bowman and William Hughes, two inventors from Pinkstaff. Our interest in these inventors comes from the fact that we are writing a series of short books, each focussing on an early design for an armoured vehicle. Each book describes the vehicle in detail, questions whether an invention was practical and what inspired the inventors. The first volume of the series, which examines an 1861 vehicle that carried both guns and bayonets, will be published very shortly. Our second book analyses Bowman and Hughes’ invention, which they patented in both the United States and Great Britain at the start of the 20th century.

Currently, we are in the process of finalising the manuscript and preparing it for publication, always a laborious task! However, the Lawrence County Historical Society has asked us to provide readers with an overview of what we have found in our research. Given the generous support we have received from the Society, we are only too happy to oblige.

So, what did we learn? Quite a lot as it turns out. We found that what the inventors envisaged was a mobile defensive position, which had the combined firepower of several machine guns all housed in a large mount inside the vehicle. Our research has also established that Bowman tried to arouse interest in the invention in the local press. He had even contemplated building a model of their design with the help of a local blacksmith. However, despite their best efforts, Bowman and Hughes failed to arouse any interest in their design either in the United States or Great Britain. No doubt this was partly because their vehicle was horse drawn and the machine gun mount was highly unlikely to have been practical.

What we found of most interest is how their invention reflects certain trends in military technology. For instance, Bowman and Hughes grasped the importance of the machine gun and the need to protect the gunners with armour, concepts which some military officers were beginning to appreciate at the time.

To give our readers a good idea of what Bowman and Hughes’ armoured vehicle might have looked like, we have produced a range of three-dimensional drawing such as the one that accompanies this post. 

Jonathan Hills, England