On December 14, 1852, Cullen Whipple received U.S. Patent No. 9477 on Mechanism for Pointing and Threading Screw-Blanks in the Same Machine:

Cullen Whipple was born September 4, 1801, in in Petersham, Worcester, Massachusetts. In October 1840 he was one of ten incorporators who formed The New England Screw Co. a capital of $20,000. Whipple, who had been in the employ of the Providence Screw Co., was a prolific inventor and made several important inventions related to screw making, including U.S. Patent No. 2754, issued August 18, 1842, on a Machine for Cutting the Threads of Wood-Screws (Reissued March 5, 1850, as RE165, and again on June 13, 1856, as RE371); U.S. Patent No. 3029, issued April 6, 1843, on a Machines for Turning or Shaving the Heads of Blanks for Wood Screws; U.S. Patent No. 3038, issued April 10, 1843, on a Machine for Remiving the Burrs from the Under Sides of the Heads of Wood-Screws; U.S. Patent No. 6148, dated December 7, 1952, on Improved Machinery for Making Wood-Screw (Reissued April 12, 1859 as RE687); U.S. Patent No. 9110, issued on July 6, 1852, on Screw-Threading Machinery; U.S. Patent 9191, issued August 10, 1852, on Machinery for Threading Wood-Screws; U.S. Patent No. 9460 dated December 7, 1852, (Reissued April 12, 1859, as RE686 and RE686), U.S. Patent No. 9669, issued April 12, 1853, on Improvement in Machinery for Shaving the Heads of Screw-Blanks; U.S. Patent No. 14,041, issued January 1, 1856, on an Improvement in Screw Machinery; U.S. Patent No. 15052, issued June 3, 1856 on Making Screws.

Whipple’s inventiveness was not confined to screw making, and he had a several patents in other fields.