John Goffe Rand (1801-1873),
United States Patent No. 2,252, September 11, 1841, "Improvement in
the Construction of Vessels or Apparatus for Preserving Paint,"
2 pages, 29 x 19.5 c.m. and 28.5 x 20 c.m.
John Goffe Rand Papers.
Donated by Mary and Katherine Anglemyer, 1981 and 1985.
Twentieth century artists owe a considerable debt to portrait painter John Goffe Rand, the inventor of the collapsible metal tube for paint. Before Rand made the screw-cap tube, pigments ground in oil were tied in small parcels of animal bladder or tin foil. The parcels were punctured with pins to squeeze out the color; then the pins were replaced in the holes to seal them.
Rand's first tubes were manufactured in England and later exported to the United States. Rand's invention was an immediate success, but although he held the British and American patents for his tube, he never gained fame or fortune.
According to his obituary in the New York Post, he lost all his money when he invested in the aeolian attachment to the piano - a failed device for prolonging the sound of notes. To satisfy creditors, Rand turned over his British patent for the collapsible tube. While he retained his U.S. patent, he did not manufacture the tube in America. He died in obscurity.
Rand's papers include an example of an early metal tube and two U.S. patents for improvements issued in 1841 and 1844.