Frederick Stitzel — “The Thomas Edison” of Whiskey

 An impressive number of pre-Prohibition whiskey men have been inventors, frequently patenting their creations.  Very few, however, were able to see their “brain children” put into production.  An exception was Frederick Stitzel of the famous Stitzel family of Kentucky distillers.  Not only did Stitzel, shown here, register numerous patents, two of his inventions were commercial successes and continue to be in use down to the present day.

Recently Whiskey Magazine listed the 100 “Greatest Whiskey People,” highlighting individuals worldwide who left a lasting legacy on the whiskey trade over the years.  Frederick Stitzel was among that chosen few.  His claim to fame was based on his patented invention for stacking barrels of whiskey for aging.  Earlier the custom was to stack them directly on top of each other.  This was a highly risky practice.  Each barrels held about 53 gallons of whiskey and filled would weigh around 500 pounds.  Putting one of those behemoths on top of another could cause leakage, outright ruptures and other problems.

As shown here in a drawing, Stitzel’s system consisted of what he called rails, shelves attached to heavy wooden frames to support the weight of individual barrels.  The rails were spaced, so that when a barrel was placed on its side, each end would be supported by a rail.  It also allowed for the barrels to be turned from time to time, assisting the aging process.  Stitzel’s design called for each section to be made separately, allowing easier configuration of tiers in the warehouse.

In his patent application, Stitzel explained: “This my invention relates to a new and useful improvement in racks for tiering barrels containing whisky or other spirituous liquors, the object of which is to provide a portable rack or frame made in sections that will be sufficiently strong to bear the weight of as many barrels as may be tiered between the floors of the house without resting upon each other, thereby avoiding the danger of crushing the staves by the weight, as each tier is made to rest on separate rails projecting on the inside of the frame independent of the others, thereby causing a free circulation of air between the barrels, and at the same time making it easy to remove any of the barrels in the lower tiers without interfering with those above or below.”   The Stitzel rails are in general use even today.

Stitzel did not just exercise his inventive genius on whiskey.  When he died, newspapers across the country carried a notice headlined “Death Takes Inventor of Railroad Signals.”  Called a “semaphore”  Stitzel’s was one of the earliest forms of fixed railway signals. His semaphore system involved electronic signals that display their important information to engineers by changing the angle of inclination of a mechanical pivoted ‘arm'.  During the late 19th Century they became the most widely used form of railway signal.  

Stitzel described the system as “devices along the route for controlling devices in the…train, e.g., to release brake, to operate warning signal at selected places along the route…intermittent control simultaneous mechanical and electrical control….”  Shown here, these semaphore devices are still being used on some railroad lines although generally replaced by signal lights.

These were just two of perhaps a dozen or more Stitzel inventions.  Shown below left is the drawing for his 1883 improvement for railroads.  Noting that in telegraph, electric signals, and other electronic devices, the batteries operating them steady weakened and required replacement , Stitzel proposed an innovation that would automatically cut out the weakened battery and insert a new one.  Thirty years later in 1923 at 80 years old, Stitzel was still inventing.   Shown right is a “spring wheel” device for automobiles he patented to help smooth out bumps on rough roads.   Stitzel and other family members regularly were in touch with government and industry marketing his ideas for railroads, automobiles and, yes, even airplanes.

Given his passion for invention, it is a wonder Stitzel had time for distilling.  An immigrant from Germany, Frederick, at the age of 14 had arrived in the United States with his father and two brothers, Philip and Jacob.  The family was recorded living in Louisville in 1855.  With Philip in 1875 Frederick founded a distilling company they called Stitzel Brothers.  Frederick was president; Philip was vice-president.  They purchased a small existing plant known as the Glencoe Distillery in Louisville. Shown here, it had only limited mashing capacity.

After this distillery was destroyed by fire in 1883, the brothers rebuilt and expanded the facility as shown here.  Insurance underwriter records from 1892 note that that it was of frame construction, with three warehouses:  A — brick with a metal or slate roof, located 79 feet south of the still;  B — ironclad, 120 feet southwest of the still, and C — ironclad, located 83 feet north of the still. The warehouses were reported capable of holding 22,000 barrels — obviously on Stitzel racks. The partners also maintained cattle pens 79 feet downwind of the complex where the cows were fed spent mash from the whiskey-making. This distillery could mash up to 600 bushels, daily turning out 54 barrels of whiskey. 

The  Stitzel distillery, above, eventually covered an area of two and one half acres.  An 1895 publication entitled “Louisville of Today,” featured the facility:  “Here are a large and splendidly equipped stillhouse, elevator, immense warehouses, cattle sheds, etc.  The plant stands second to none as regards modern high-class machinery and appliances, power being supplied by a thirty horse power engine.”

The expanded capacity allowed the brothers to issue a variety of brands.  At various times they included "Billy Burke,” “Champion,” "Friend of Man,” “Glencoe,” "Lock Horn", "Merryland Rye,” “Mondamin,” “Parkland,” “Parkwood,” "Pomona Rye,” "S. B. Co.,” and “Old Fred Stitzel.”  Despite Frederick’s frequent contacts with the U.S. Patent Office, the brothers trademarked only one label.  Shown on a shot glass here, the brand was Mondamin, named for a Native American god of corn.

The distillery was listed in Kentucky State tax records as Stitzel Brothers until 1919 and the coming of National Prohibition.  During this period, the plant continued to be expanded.  At Prohibition the company had a large stock of whiskey in its commodious warehouses that it was authorized by authorities to bottle for medicinal spirits.  The distillery itself was dismantled.  The relationship of Frederick to the company during the 1910s is not clear.  Some indications are that he may have left actual distilling with his Stitzel brothers and nephews in favor of operating  a whiskey brokerage in Louisville — and pursuing his inventions.

While exercising these interests, Frederick also was carrying on a personal life with wife and children.  In 1874 he married Emma Laval, a woman born in Kentucky who was twelve younger.  Her father had hailed from the same part of Germany as Frederick.  They would have five daughters over the next nine years — Marguerite, Elizabeth, Winnie, Emma, and Marrie.   The couple would be married for 50 years, until Frederick’s death in 1924.

Stitzel was stricken with bronchial pneumonia in the autumn of that year, lingered only a short period and died on September 18 at the age of 81.  He was buried in Louisville’s Cave Hill Cemetery, where so many Kentucky bourbon barons are interred. His widow Emma would join him there 11 years later.  Stitzel was commended in the press as a Louisville distiller who supported: “All public enterprises of any moment calculated to advance the prosperity of this section”. 

Still receiving patents up to a year before his death,  Stitzel could never approach the record of 1,093 patents Thomas Edison received during his lifetime.  Nonetheless, inventing virtually up until the day he died, Frederick Stitzel richly earned the accolade as “The Thomas Edison” of whiskey men.

Addendum:  Frederick’s nephew, A. Philip Stitzel, later would join with members of the notable Weller Kentucky distilling family to create the famous Stitzel-Weller distillery that survived National Prohibition and brought Julius “Pappy” Van Winkle to the fore. See my post on Pappy, November 22, 2014.

Notes:  This post was gathered from a wide range of sources, of which the more important were records of the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office and “Louisville Today,” issued in 1895 by Consolidated Illustrating Co., Louisville.