Canadian inventor Theodore Witte of Chilliwhack, British Columbia, was issued a U.S. patent for a "Puttying-Tool" to improve the application "of putty to window sashes and similar things." It incorporated the ratcheted feed now familiar in the caulking gun (No. 512930). The putty is placed in a tube fitted with a nozzle at one end, and a ratcheted lever-operated piston at the other which moves longitudinally through the body in order to squeeze the compound out through the nozzle. The lever is "manipulated so as to force the putty outward as fast as is necessary, and the nozzle is dragged over the surface to be puttied," until the whole mass within the body is ejected from the nozzle. The method has since been adopted to apply a variety of construction materials, including caulking and glue.

Everett Hosmer Barney patented the all-metal screw clamp skates, which attached to normal shoes and were tightened with a key. Clamp skates dropped out of popularity with the advent of modern athletic shoes, which lacked a hard edge where the roller skates could be clamped.