Visionary Entrepreneur

This chapter focuses on C. Francis Jenkins' inventions that he sold through several business startups. Until the late 1920s, Jenkins had no significant outside corporate sponsors. To support himself, he began selling his inventions that reflected his broad interests. This chapter first discusses the incorporation of the Jenkins Automobile Company under the laws of Delaware in 1900 and its production of several steam-propelled vehicles, including automobiles and trucks. It then considers Jenkins' patents in the field of aeronautics, such as those for an “aeroplane or flying machine,” camera adaptations that resulted in improved motion pictures, airplane catapult, and altimeter; patents for milk bottles and home improvement accessories; and novelty inventions ranging froma mathematical pocket calculator to a Christmas-tree holder and talking signs. It also recounts Jenkins' “Ocean to Ocean” automobile tour in 1911.