Early Muskogee Inventor Identified

Resting quietly in the Greenhill Cemetery is an inventor who lived in Muskogee over 100 years ago. His creation has been forgotten for decades. Here is how he was rediscovered along with a description of his life and invention.

George F. Beebe, a resident of Muskogee, Indian Territory, was found through a search of records in the US Patent Office. George's patent was on an "improved driving mechanism" that promised increased "speed at a minimum expenditure of strength and exertion" by the rider. The diagram above is of a standard bicycle of the day with Beebe's patented gears on the rear axle.

Modern bicycles transfer leg power from circular pedaling through a chain to the gears on the rear axle. Beebe proposed a radical departure from this process. His idea was to use a pumping motion up and down ratcheting the gears to gain motion.

Muskogee was not known for its bicycles when this patent was filed in 1897. People often think of trains roaring through town on a regular basis, sometimes startling horses and mules. On the other hand, two-wheeled vehicles do not show up in area history unless one looks closely.

Who was George F. Beebe? He was born in New York on May 12th, 1816. The 1880 census reports that he worked as a "Patent Rights Agent." This work allowed him to learn the process of applying for patents and the merits of doing so.

Beebe is granted his first patent in 1884 for an improvement to a pump. He returns to thinking about pumps in 1890 when he applies for another patent on an additional improvement.

In between his modifications to the design of pumps, George turned his attention to transportation. During this half decade, he receives two more patents for separate improvements in the design of sulkies. Sulkies are two wheel carriages which allow room for only one passenger. Today similar carriages are seen at race tracks.

George Beebe leaves New York and settles in Muskogee sometime during the middle of the 1890's. Even though he seems to still be active in his older years, he apparently chooses to live with his second son, Oscar, for practical reasons. Oscar has probably followed the railroads westward to Muskogee, thereby prompting his father to come here, too. By 1900 Oscar worked his way up the ranks until he became the local yard master of the Katy railroad.

It is in Muskogee that the final design is ironed out between father and son for the new bicycle propulsion that the father patents. The patent is filed on the last day of 1897 and is granted January 10th, 1899 when George Beebe is 82 years old. At his death on the following December 27th he possessed five patents, all earned after his 68th birthday. Welcome to the new blog about Muskogee's history and genealogy.

I hope you find the articles interesting enough to share with your friends. If you like, you may also post comments about what you have read.