Abraham - Inventor

Abraham Gudmundsen
"An Artisan, and a Genius"

Picture taken1923.

Gudmund Gudmundsen's son, Abraham, learned the jewelry and goldsmith business from his father and established his own shop at approximately 136 West Main, Lehi, Utah. The 16 May 1895 Lehi Banner noted that Louis Garff, Abe's half-brother, had the alleyway between his Lehi Opera House and James Hardwood's harness shop "closed in" for Gudmundsen' Jewelry Shop. He opened for business there on 16 June, the only other competition in town being Broadbent & Son.

Gudmundsen's shop was a mere cubbyhole which he quickly outgrew. The 6 August 1896 Banner reported that he was building a new shop across the street south at 121 West Main. Though Gudmundsen was skilled in crafting rings, bracelets, necklaces, earrings, pendants, brooches, cufflinks, and wedding bands from five-dollar gold pieces, he was much more than a jeweler and gold-smith. The able inventor was awarded patents on numerous devices - including an automatic lamp lighter, a railroad car coupler, a beet-topping machine, and a thinning apparatus. Along with several other Lehi businessmen he formed the Lehi Novelty and Manufacturing Company, which was established in his jewelry shop when it opened at its new location in a896.

Part of Gudmundsen's business was dispensing eye glasses. The 11 October 1898 Lehi Banner noted that "a staunch prohibitionist of Kansas was unable to find a sober, industrious, and reliable jeweler in his own state to repair his spectacles so he sent them to Abe Gudmundsen." The deft mechanic near the turn of the century also went into the bicycle business, and coupled the size of his shop. A 15 February 1904 Banner synopsis of Gudmundsen's business reported,

"At his rooms he is showing lines of jewelry, watches, clocks, etc. He is a manufacturer of novelties of many kinds, rings, chains, cuff buttons and other things allied ot the jewelry business. As a repairer of watches, clocks, or chronometers or any article in jewelry, Mr. Gudmundsen is an artisan, a genius, and is so considered by the trade, whose confidence he enjoys.

In the bicycle season, Mr. Gudmundsen handles the standard makes of bicycles and sundries, or makes to order, as well as operating a "hospital for sick wheels."

The bicycle business had dwindled within five years, and in 1909 Gudmundsen closed out that portion of his trade. He remodeled that area of his shop into a silverware and cutlery display. In 1917 Gudmundsen moved his shop to American Fork and his son Austin remodeled the Lehi building intoa garage. The structure was demolished in the mid-1920s.

The above is rom Lehi History

Abraham saw an invitation in the newspaper from the Union Pacific Railroad for inventors to design an automatic coupler for railroad cars. Abraham was interested in the idea and eventually produced a design. The inventors were to present their coupler designs to the UPRR officials in Chicago on a certain day.

On the appointed day, Abraham and his wife, Lettie, arrived in Chicago. His wife wanted to see a little of the city, so they toured a little before going to the appointment, and didn't get there until about 1:30pm. The official inspected the coupler and said that if he had been there two hours earlier, they would have chosen Abraham's design, but they had already signed a contract with another designer. It was too bad because the patent would have made Abraham a rich man. But anyway, it's interesting to know just how talented an inventor Abraham really was!

Later, in 1928, and again in 1930, Abraham and his son, Austin, collaborated on several inventions to clean beets. They are patented and can be found on the internet.