Electricity & inventions
Explore this record →A Garment-Steamer Patent with a Shamokin Connection
An April 1969 patent names Jack J. Gilbert as inventor and Bernard Frank of Shamokin as assignee of a hand-held garment steaming and pressing device.
Shamokin Stories collection
Stories
Accounts of Shamokin’s people, industries, neighborhoods, institutions, and public life.
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A New Numbering System for Local Calls
A later telephone history dated Shamokin's change to all-number calling to July 17, 1960, separately from its earlier dial conversion.
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An Agreement to Improve the Electric Plant
A signed June 11, 1884 agreement laid out machinery changes, an investigation of lamp breakage and a financial arrangement for Shamokin's electric plant.
Electricity & inventionsExplore this record →Bringing Public Water to Shamokin
Shamokin Water Company’s 1872 incorporation and the beginning of public service in 1873 belong to a longer story that also includes an earlier pine-log line and the later Roaring Creek company.
Electricity & inventionsExplore this record →Building Shamokin’s Telephone Connections
Shamokin’s telephone network grew through wires, operators and regional exchanges—from the first equipment to dial service.
Electricity & inventionsExplore this record →Ideas Patented in Shamokin
More than two hundred patent records connect Shamokin residents with practical inventions for mines, railroads, homes, workshops, and everyday commerce.
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Light Outside the Clement House
A September 1883 notice described a thirty-two-candlepower electric lamp extending from the front of the Clement House and lighting its neighborhood.
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Louis Poliniak's Hydrespirator
A Reading Railroad trackwalker from Shamokin patented a liquid-based breathing device in 1937; the newspaper's sweeping performance claim remained his own.
Electricity & inventionsExplore this record →Making Machines in Shamokin
Mine lamps, breathing apparatus, heating equipment, protective electrical circuits, and garment steamers show how local technical work moved between workplaces, patent drawings, and the newspaper.
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Peter Sosnoski Demonstrates His Electrical Lifesaver
A May 5, 1954, demonstration brought the Shamokin electrician's proposed safety device to a national wire-service audience.
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Shamokin Changes to Dial Service
Shamokin's telephone service converted to dial on September 27, 1952, a milestone dated in the News-Dispatch's later Centennial history.
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Testing a Plant, Wiring the Stores
A November 1887 notice paired a tested new electric-light plant with Shamokin businessmen arranging to wire their stores.
Electricity & inventionsExplore this record →The Machinery That Powered Shamokin
A Shamokin Iron Works advertisement and surviving period listings reveal the engines, pumps, fans, boilers, castings, and skilled trades behind the anthracite city's industrial landscape.
Electricity & inventionsExplore this record →The Night Electric Light Came to Shamokin
Local investors brought an Edison central-station system to Shamokin in 1883, carrying electric light from a downtown power plant into streets, stores, homes, and St. Edward’s Church.
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The Night Shamokin Planned to Shine for Edison
In 1929, a one-minute blackout was proposed as the opening act of Shamokin’s tribute to electric light.
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The Patrol Car Can Call City Hall
Shamokin's two-way police radio entered service on December 11, 1947, connecting the City Hall police court with the patrol car.
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The Shamokin Valley Exchange Opens in Sunbury
A July 1896 notice reported a new Sunbury telephone exchange with roughly twenty-five to thirty instruments connected and more being added.
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When Electric Light Reached the Street
A hotel lamp introduced a new kind of street spectacle, while contracts, customer connections and machinery problems shaped the electric service behind it.