William Lowell, Sr.
| William Lowell, Sr. | |
|---|---|
From left to right are: Ernest Lowell; William Lowell, Sr.; and William Lowell, Jr.
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| Born | 1863 Hoboken, New Jersey |
| Died | Script error: The function "death_date_and_age" does not exist. East Orange, New Jersey |
| Occupation | Dentist |
| Children | William Lowell, Jr., Ernest Lowell, Elisabeth Lowell, Isabel Lowell Niebling (1892-1981), and Carol Lowell Favre (1903-1987) |
William Lowell, Sr. (1863 – June 24, 1954) was a dentist, and an inventor of a wooden golf tee.[1]
Biography
William Lowell was born in Hoboken, New Jersey and lived in Maplewood, New Jersey and had a son, William Lowell, Jr. (1897-1976).[2] He first made 5,000 tees, that were stained green, but he soon changed to red, to make them more distinctive and named them "Reddy Tees". In 1922 Walter Hagen and Joe Kirkwood, Sr. used his tees during their exhibitions. The Reddy Tee was patented on May 13, 1925, but in 1922 he signed a deal with the A.G. Spalding Company, for 24 dozen. By 1925 he was selling $100,000 worth of tees and they were being made of celluloid. By 1926 copycat versions were on the market, and he spent much of his time and money fighting patent infringement.
He died at Orange Memorial Hospital in East Orange, New Jersey on June 24, 1954 at the age of 91.[3]
Patents
- U.S. Patent 1,670,627 golf tee filed December 7, 1925
- U.S. Patent 1,650,141 golf tee filed August 26, 1925
- U.S. Patent 1,569,765 gold putter filed November 13, 1925
See also
- George Franklin Grant, another golf tee inventor
References
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