gadget antedated to 1868

[Stephen Goranson]

The antedating of gadget (below) is in the context of glassmaking. The OED has, of gadget: "Origin obscure. First known in use among seafaring men...." But the more I read (I should know more about glassmaking, as my grandfather was a glassworker), the more it seems plausible that the word gadget arose in glassmaking. The gadget was a spring clip attached to an iron rod, a pontil. The gadget, by holding the base of a glass, eliminated the pontil mark that resulted when it was detached.
The OED also states: "The possibility of connection with French engager to engage (one thing with another) has also been suggested; compare dialect French gagée tool, instrument." The possible origin from French engager, I suggest, has been strengthened.
At "pontil"--itself of French origin--OED includes the following quote:
1918   P. Marson Glass 83   The servitor has now done his part of the work, and the glass is handed to the workman. It is then cracked off, and the foot caught by a spring clip arrangement attached to a pontil, called a ‘gadget’.

Stephen Goranson
www.duke.edu/~goranson
________________________________________
From: Stephen Goranson
Sent: Saturday, October 06, 2012 10:32 AM
To: American Dialect Society
Subject: gadget antedated to 1868

OED has gadget from 1886 "Origin obscure...."
ADS-l archive has gadget from 1884:
http://listserv.linguistlist.org/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind1109D&L=ADS-L&P=R12069&I=-3&d=No+Match%3BMatch%3BMatches

Gadget is used three times in an 1868 publication:
 The tenth report of the Commissioners Appointed to inquire into the organization and rules of trades unions and other associations :
together with minutes of evidence.

Great Britain. Parliament.; Great Britain. Commissioners Appointed to Inquire into the Organization and Rules of Trades Unions and Other Associations.
1868
English Book Book 119 p. ; 33 cm.
London : H.M.S.O.

30 June 1868; page 37, col. 1, paragraph 18,778 (Mr. Harrison)
....This wine-glass which I have in my hand was made on the gadget, a small piece of machinery that does away with the necessity of cutting in the centre of the foot....

30 June 1868; page 40, col. 2, par. 18,815 (Mr. Leicester)
I may explain that the gadget being cold when this foot (pointing to the wine glass) is hot cracks the foot, and it requires great nicety in adjusting the temperature between the cold iron and the hot glass; and the men say, "Pay us for the cracked ones till we get used to it." I am authorized to say that the men have never refused to work this gadget, and to introduce this improvement in England, when the employer will allow them for the cracked ones in cases where the cracking has been caused by the machine. The injustice is all the other way.

For more context:
http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt/search?id=mdp.35112203984192&view=1up&seq=55&num=37&q1=gadget

Stephen Goranson
www.duke.edu/~goranson

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