Edwin G. Bates

Edwin G. Bates was an American inventor and patent attorney who developed the Bates numbering machine, a tool for organizing legal, medical, and business documents.

Early life and education Edwin G. Bates was born circa 1864 in Boston, Massachusetts. He was also raised and educated in Boston.

His device introduced a self-inking hand stamps mechanism with an automatically advancing number wheel, which eliminated the need to advance the numbering manually after each impression.

Bates Manufacturing Company In 1890, Edwin G. Bates created the Bates Manufacturing Company with Samuel Insull.

Bates Machine Company Bates organized a competing firm, originally known as the Bates Machine Company. It had its main office and factory at 696 to 710 Jamaica Avenue in Brooklyn, New York.

The company was bought in 1910 by William C. Roberts, who had retired from the jewelry and watch trade.

Patents Bates secured multiple U.S. patents for improvements to numbering machines, including early consecutive numbering (US 484,391, 1892), improved frame and cipher designs (US 587,913, 1897), and mechanisms enabling repeated numbering (US 676,082, 1901).

US Patent 484,391 (1892) for a "Numbering Machine." US Patent 587,913 (1897), which introduced an improved frame and drop-cipher mechanism. US Patent 676,082 (1901), which enabled number repetition and a simplified self-inking stamp.