Location:

• "Broadway, near John street", New-York

Timeline:

• ?-1834-?

History:

• E. Rockwell's 1834 Vault Light Patent is the earliest in the United States. It has the curious designation 8058X and only the drawing remains. The patent is for a round iron cover with a single huge glass eye in the center, fully half the diameter of the whole cover. It must have looked fantastic, but been very fragile. In 1834, two were installed in front of "the Exchange" in the New-York, and others in front of the Gazette.
• Two are presently in the Cohill collection, and another still on the street in Brooklyn.

Paper:

• Rockwell's Patent Vault Light - Mechanic's Magazine 1834