Patent of the Day: US Patent No. 487,460 - Sectional Stock Case, to Otto H. L. Wernicke of Minneapolis, MN; Filed: 04/09/1892.

   118 years ago today, US Patent No.487,460 - Sectional Stock Case was issued to Otto H. L. Wernicke of Minneapolis, MN. Wernicke's invention popularly known as the stackable bookcases, was an important innovation in filing system.

   Otto Heinrich Louis Wernicke (1862 - 1930), son of a German immigrant from Vaethen, Germany, was born in Dixville (later Hayton), Wisconsin in 1862. After attending business college in Fond du Lac, WI, Wernicke took several jobs: a druggist bookkeeper; a salesman of wire binders, plows and insurance; a fireman and a brakeman for the Chicago, Burlington, & Quincy Railroad; a corn grower in Topeka, KS; a state and later a general agent for a South Dakota firm. He invented a stackable bookcase for which he applied a patent on April 9, 1892. Two months later, he incorporated Wernicke & Company in Minneapolis to manufacture his invention.
   In 1895, O. H. L. Wernicke resigned from his last job so he can devote full time to his business. In 1897, he  transferred his company to Grand Rapids, MI still retaining the same name. A year later the Globe Company of Cincinnati, OH, a manufacturer of office appliances, (which was founded in 1885 by businessman and inventor, Henry C. Yeiser,) became a licensee of the Wernicke Company to manufacture sectional cases under the trade name "Globe Wernicke." The two companies merged in 1899 and assumed the corporate name The Globe Wernicke Company. O. H. L. Wernicke became its secretary and general manager.
   Even before the merger, Wernecke continued to improve on his stackable bookcases for which he obtained several patents. He became the company's vice president and general manager in 1900. Two years later, O. H. Wernicke resigned from his posts which was followed by a patent litigation involving him and the company.
   Meanwhile The Globe-Wernicke Company continued to expand. It moved its US headquarters from Grand Rapids to Cincinnati, OH with manufacturing plants in Norwood, a suburb of Cincinnati. The Globe-Wernicke Company also expanded to Canada and Europe with branches in  England, France, Belgium and Austria.
   In 1916, O. H. L. Wernicke moved to Gull Point, FL to manage a tar and turpentine company he purchased in 1905. His interest in resin and turpentine manufacture led him to organize the Pine Institute of America in 1927. In Florida, Wernicke continued his inventive activities resulting in numerous wood-related tools and machines of his own designs as well as an improved process for obtaining resin from trees. O. H. L. Wernicke died in Gull Point, FL on August 20, 1930. 
   To this day, his stackable bookcases are much sought as collectibles.
   Sources of information on O. H. L. Wernecke: p. 53 - 54, Volume 25, National Cyclopedia of American Biographies.
   The following links provide additional information on O. H. L. Wernicke, The Globe-Wernicke Company and the stackable bookcases: a) The History of Stackable Bookcases http://news-antique.com/?id=781887
b) Globe Wernicke Company, Norwood Historical Society (Norwood, OH)
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ohnhs2/Globe-Wernicke.html