Lord Davenport Pipes

Lord Davenport Pipes were made in at least 5 known shapes (Dublin, Rhodesian, billiard, apple and Lumberman) and four finishes (The Shell, The Lord Davenport with a saddle stem, the Lord Davenport with a tapered stem, and The Drury). They were advertised as "non-clogging", and "non-juicing". These pipes were advertised in Fortune and Esquire magazines and sold through the Bennett Brother's catalogs. The pipes were advertised as sold by Davenport, Ltd., with a showroom located at 480 Lexington Avenue, New York 17, New York in 1944 to 1947, and at the same time are advertised as being from "Lord Davenport, Ltd." in Esquire in 1946. The advertisements by Davenport are of note in that they stressed the cosmetic appeal of a "pipe to fit every type of face". The pipes retailed between $5.00 and $15.00 in 1946. No sign of these pipes is apparent after prior to 1942 or after 1953.

While there isn't a lot of information readily available as to the origin of the Lord Davenport pipe and company, some reasonable speculation would place it in the hands of Henry Davenport Bellin of Providence, Rhode Island. He was granted at least 2 known patents related to pipes: - US 2146613 A (applied 1938, awarded 1939) for a non-clogging, non-juicing, generally saliva-avoiding spring-twist-quick-disconnect, automatic cleaning mechanism to replace the typical mortise & tenon; and - US 2232092 A (applied 1940, awarded 1941) for an improvement to the prior design. This patent number later appeared on Pipes by Lee, and was assigned to Davenport, Ltd., suggesting a possible connection. However, no corroboration of this speculation has yet been found.

Here's the 1938 Rhodesian model:

Lord Davenport Rhodesian ca.1938 (courtesy of Chris Ambarian)

Detail of Lord Davenport patented quick-disconnect (courtesy of Chris Ambarian)

And links to the patents: File:Lord Davenport patent1.pdf File:Lord Davenport patent2.pdf