Harry Aubrey Toulmin, Sr.
| Harry Aubrey Toulmin Sr. | |
|---|---|
| Born | January 1, 1858 |
| Died | May 17, 1942 (aged 84) |
| Occupation | Patent attorney |
| Spouse(s) | Rosamond Evans (d. 1947) |
| Children | Harry Aubrey Toulmin Jr. (1890–?) |
| Parent(s) | Joshua Morton S. Toulmin (1823–1896) Frances Hellen (1828–1916) |
Harry Aubrey Toulmin Sr. (1858 – May 17, 1942) was the American lawyer located in Springfield, Ohio, who wrote the "flying machine" patent application that resulted in the patent granted to Dayton inventors Wilbur and Orville Wright on May 22, 1906.
Not much is known about Toulmin's early years. Born in 1858 to Joshua Morton S. Toulmin (1823–1896) and Frances Hellen (1828–1916), Toulmin had four brothers and three sisters. In 1882 at age 24, Toulmin graduated from The George Washington University Law School. For the next four years after graduating from law school, Toulmin practiced patent law in Washington, D.C.
Toulmin arrived in Springfield, Ohio from Washington D.C. in 1886 because it was a center of innovation and invention that required legal representation for patent proceedings. He set up his law firm in the Bushnell Building located at 14 East Main Street in Springfield. In 1888, Toulmin married Rosamond Evans (d. 1947); they had two children who lived past infancy: Morton Warwick Evans and Harry Aubrey Toulmin Jr. (1890–1965). When Harry Aubrey Toulmin Jr. joined the law firm, his father renamed the firm Toulmin & Toulmin.
Applying for a U.S. Patent on their flying machine was never far from the Wrights’ minds. Their first attempt to get a patent on their invention failed, largely because they wrote the patent application themselves. Also contributing to its demise was their inability to demonstrate a “practical flying machine.” At that time, the U.S. Patent Office had begun to receive a flood of patent applications for aerial craft of all descriptions, real and imagined, and had adopted a policy of only approving applications for inventions involving flying machines if the benchmark of “practicality” could be met and demonstrated. The practicality benchmark has long since been discarded by the U.S. Patent Office as being unworkable.
Following the U.S. Patent Office examiner's advice for the brothers to work with a patent attorney, Wilbur began searching for a qualified lawyer. Two friends, John Kirby and Will Ohmer, recommended that Wilbur contact Toulmin.
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