A 1900 Chicago patent replicated the Javanese angklung without crediting it.

Evidence

When J. C. Deagan of Chicago got U.S. Patent No. 644,817 in 1900 for this idea, they didn’t bother mentioning the Javanese instrument they copied almost exactly (figure 20.12). The Chicago-based Deagan company was better known for developing a popular marimba and the vibraphone— essentially, a marimba with motor-driven butterfly valve at the upper end of each resonator. The valve produces a characteristic tremolo. — Eric J. Heller, Why You Hear What You Hear- An…, 1910

Categorization

Category: Factual Claims

• CANDY: A neat patent-history tidbit about US appropriation of a Javanese instrument — conversation-starter material.
• XREF: Parallels the other chapters on cultural appropriation and Western borrowing of indigenous craft knowledge.