History Event Recap | August 3
Disasters in Mountain View
The topic of“ Disasters in Mountain View” attracted a group interested in learning about earthquakes, fires and airplane crashes. All three presenters, IdaRose Sylvester, Pamela Baird and David Salinero, quickly learned in doing their research that each could easily have given a 45 minute individual program.
The presentation prepared by IdaRose was delivered in a recorded format( because of her travel plans she could not attend in person). We hope to include this on the MVHA website so that more
can view it. She concentrated on the stories of the1906 and 1989 earthquake and included information about additional local fault lines, which we hope will not be activated in the future.
In the presentation about fires Pamela focused on four categories of fires-commercial & business, multi-family, deaths and heroes. The group was surprised to learn about the large number of multifamily fires and deaths. A common cause of death in fires used to be caused by smoking cigarettes, but fortunately that caused has been greatly reduced because fewer people smoke. But the rise in the use of lithium batteries has created a new fire hazard.
Lastly, David concentrated his presentation on the tragic crash of February 1, 1957, and its effects on Mountain View history. This crash took the life of the pilot, Capt. Robert Mulvehill Jr., a husband and father of four young children. Debris from the plane damaged many downtown homes. The incident made a permanent impact on the quality of life in Mountain View, as more people petitioned the Navy to halt high speed jet flights over the city.
After the presentations, ice cream was enjoyed by all- our annual ritual of indulging in frozen delights. technology
George Pattberg Prolific Creator
Perhaps one of the most intriguing of the men we profiled for the early patent holders series is George Pattberg. He was born in Germany in 1860 and immigrated to Utah in 1883. He married Elizabeth Hoffman, also an immigrant from Germany. Their daughter was born in 1890 in Utah. Even though he was not living in Mountain View when his patents were granted, we are claiming him as our own because of the interesting story of his life.
By the mid-1890s he is living in Oakland, where Pattberg listed his occupation in several directories as that of a machinist working for the Southern Pacific Railroad. The 1900 census showed him living in Fremont township( rural MV) with his wife, daughter and mother-in-law.
Pattberg quickly established a machine shop— the Mountain View Automobile and Machine Works— in 1901 in a newly built facility located on the corner of View and Dana streets.
The Register-Leader newspaper noted in 1903 that George Pattberg“ makes a specialty of building and repairing automobiles.”
The early 1900s was a crazy and exciting time for the beginning of the automobile industry. Evidently machine shops all around the US were manufacturing their own versions of an automobile.
The conditions were similar those of the early dot. com boom at the beginning of this century. Many individuals and companies were trying to figure out how to become established automobile designers, suppliers, repair shops and manufacturers.
In 1902 the city of Mountain View was incorporated, with Pattberg being a strong proponent for the incorporation. Serving as the first trustees( or council members as they are called today) were George Pattberg and his friend Dr. O. C. Gates and three other prominent citizens.
George Pattberg was one of those men working to assemble automobiles in his shop. The Register-Leader newspaper noted at the end of 1903 Pattberg“ is building a fine auto car for Dr. Gates.” Apparently, he had been working on it for almost a year.“ Sometimes it ran and sometimes it did not” according to the newspaper. As a point of reference, Henry Ford introduced the Model A in 1903. About 1700 automobiles were produced that year by the Ford Motor Company. The Oldsmobile company produced over 3,000 cars in 1903.
Pattberg’ s patented can opener.
Pattberg’ s ad from the 1904 High School yearbook.
According to a 1927 article in the Register Leader that covered the early history of the town, sometime in early 1904—“ The night before an announced public demonstration [ of the new auto ], Pattberg’ s house, workshop and car took fire mysteriously and burned to the ground. Pattberg left here soon after and never returned”.
One can imagine that this event must have devastated George Pattberg and Dr. Gates as well. This makes one wonder— Why did the newspaper describe the fire as“ mysterious”? Why did Pattberg leave? Did he face scorn from his fellow residents?
By 1920 the family was living on a farm in Concord, CA. It is after this point that he applied for and received four patents. The first in January 1922 was for a rack to hold brooms and mops. The second was for a rodent trap that shoots a projectile at the offending critter.
The third was for the can opener. The patent application states“ The principal object of this invention is to provide an improved can opener. A further object consists in providing a can opener that will be simple and inexpensive to construct.” The final patent was for a variable speed transmission.
We don’ t know if he was able to sell his patents or create any actual products. Mr. Pattberg passed away in 1926 at the age of 66 years leaving a wife and daughter.
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