Victor Leaton Ochoa
Victor Leaton Ochoa was a notable Hispanic American inventor, newspaper editor, and activist, born in Ojinaga, Mexico. He came from a family with a rich local history, including ties to Fort Leaton in Texas, established by his grandfather Ben Leaton. Throughout his life, Ochoa lived in various locations across the United States and Mexico, becoming a U.S. citizen in 1889 and marrying twice, fathering five children. His early career involved editing Spanish-language newspapers, where he addressed social and political issues affecting Mexican communities.
Ochoa's inventions began to emerge later in life, with his first U.S. patent issued in 1903 for a reversible electric motor. He is credited with several patents, including those for a fountain pen and a unique windmill design, which suggested generating electricity—a concept relevant today. He also designed an innovative airplane, the Ochoaplane, characterized by collapsible wings, although it never gained significant recognition. Ochoa's contributions to both innovation and the Hispanic American community during the early twentieth century highlight his multifaceted legacy before his death, which is believed to have occurred in 1945.
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Victor Leaton Ochoa
Mexican American engineer
- Born: 1850
- Birthplace: Ojinaga, Mexico
- Died: c. 1945
- Place of death: possibly Sinaloa, Mexico
Ochoa invented an airplane with collapsible wings, called the Ochoaplane, and several mechanical and electrical devices, such as an adjustable wrench, a windmill, and an electric brake for streetcars.
Primary fields: Aeronautics and aerospace technology; mechanical engineering
Primary inventions: Ochoaplane; electricity-generating windmill
Early Life
Victor Leaton Ochoa (oh-CHOH-uh) was born in Ojinaga, Mexico, to Juan and Isabel Leaton Ochoa. His mother was also known as Elizabeth Leaton before her marriage. She was the daughter of Ben Leaton, a prominent figure in the Presidio, Texas, area (across the Rio Grande River from Ojinaga). Ben Leaton remodeled an old Spanish mission, located about three miles east of Presidio, into a fort and trading post. It later became known as Fort Leaton, now a Texas State Historic Site.
Juan and Isabel Ochoa had five children. Victor was the firstborn; the others were Lucia, Esteban, Eduardo, and Enrique. Juan was collector of the Port of Presidio Del Norte. He also owned a large lumber mill in Fort Davis. According to a family story, Juan was attacked by American Indians while he was harvesting timber. His sons Victor and Esteban were with him and managed to get him loaded onto a wagon and taken back to Fort Leaton, where he died. After Juan’s death, Isabel married Frank Shirley.
Victor Ochoa lived in the United States in various places for most of his life. He became a U.S. citizen in 1889. Ochoa did not begin inventing until late in his life. He was more than fifty years old when his first U.S. patent was issued in 1903. Before that, he led an active, colorful life in Texas, the New Mexico Territory, and Mexico.
Life’s Work
Ochoa married Juana Sanchez and had three children: Sam, Stella, and Isabel. For at least part of Ochoa’s married life with Juana, the family lived in Las Vegas, New Mexico Territory, where Juana was murdered by assassins hired to kill her husband, who had been uncovering corruption in the city as a newspaper editor. New York Times articles from 1893 and 1895 report that Ochoa was editor of the Hispano Americano, a daily newspaper in El Paso, Texas.
In addition to being an inventor and newspaper editor, Ochoa was a Texas Mexican activist and a supporter of the Mexican Revolution against President Porfirio Díaz. In the early 1890’s, Ochoa helped organize La Unión Occidental Mexicana, a community-based organization that served as a social and political forum for Texas Mexicans. He was arrested in the United States in April, 1895, for his revolutionary activities, because Mexico was at peace with the United States. He was sentenced to two years in a penitentiary in Brooklyn, New York.
Victor’s second wife was Amanda Cole, granddaughter of Thomas Cole, an American painter. Victor and Amanda had two children, Esteban Leaton and Lucia.
Ochoa’s earliest U.S. patent was issued on January 13, 1903 (U.S. Patent number 718,508), for a reversible electric motor. Ochoa was residing in Peekskill, New York, at this time. In 1906, he received a patent for a fountain pen and sold the patent to the Waterman Pen Company. In 1907, he was issued three U.S. patents. The first was for a pen and pencil clip, and he sold the patent to the American Pen and Pencil Company. The other two patents were for a magnetic brake for streetcars and an improvement to this brake. Ochoa sold these patents to the American Brake Company in Seattle.
During 1908-1911, Ochoa designed the Ochoaplane, an airplane with collapsible wings that allowed for easy storage in a garage or barn. The machine had a framework of steel spring and steel tubing, put together so that it could be folded by working a lever. It had a canvas covering and was about twenty-six feet wide and six feet long. It was powered by a six-horsepower motor and weighed about 250 pounds. Ochoa had been working on this airplane for more than twenty years. It was never patented in the United States, and there is no evidence of its widespread success. During this time, Ochoa is reported to have been the president of the International Airship Company, based in Paterson, New Jersey.
In 1919, Ochoa was issued a patent for a windmill with a rotor, which rotated on a vertical shaft rather than the typical disk rotating on a horizontal shaft, which was used in water-pumping windmills. A half interest in the patent was assigned to Leigh Clark of El Paso, where Ochoa was residing at the time. Ochoa’s last two U.S. patents were issued in 1922 and 1923. They were for an adjustable wrench and an improvement to the invention. The patent of May 8, 1923, was assigned to the Ochoa Tool and Machine Company, a Delaware corporation.
Ochoa is believed to have died in 1945 in Sinaloa, Mexico, but the exact date and details are not known. Included in a Smithsonian Institution collection of Ochoa’s papers is a letter he wrote to his son Stephen dated June 7, 1945.
Impact
Ochoa was an active Hispanic American inventor in the early twentieth century. He designed several devices between 1903 and 1923 and sold the rights to several of them to companies. He formed two companies: the International Airship Company, which produced the Ochoaplane, and the Ochoa Tool and Machine Company, which manufactured his adjustable wrench.
Ochoa was a prominent man in his time, having served as editor of at least two Spanish-language newspapers, in Las Vegas and El Paso. He was also active in Hispanic American affairs in the Southwest. He lived part of his life in New York and New Jersey and was said to be a friend of President Theodore Roosevelt.
Ochoa received a patent in 1919 for a simple windmill in which the wind directly turned a vertical shaft. Typical windmills, used for pumping water out of the ground, used a horizontal shaft turned by the wind; the horizontal rotating shaft then had to be converted to up-and-down reciprocating action to drive the pump. Ochoa also proposed use of his windmill to generate electricity, a concept that gained momentum in the early twenty-first century.
Bibliography
De León, Arnaldo. The Tejano Community, 1836-1900. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1982. Includes information about Ochoa and his activities as a Texas Mexican activist and supporter of the Mexican Revolution.
Garcia, Mario T. Desert Immigrants: The Mexicans of El Paso, 1880-1920. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1981. Several pages of this book are devoted to Ochoa, with emphasis on his activities as a revolutionary and activist rather than on his inventions.
Gipe, Paul. Wind Power: Renewable Energy for Home, Farm, and Business. White River Junction, Vt.: Chelsea Green, 2004. Includes information about independent homestead and grid-connected systems. Case studies of successful wind systems as well as many color photographs and illustrations.
Romo, David Dorado. Ringside Seat to a Revolution: An Underground Cultural History of El Paso and Juárez, 1893-1923. El Paso, Tex.: Cinco Puntos Press, 2005. About ten pages devoted to Ochoa discuss his inventions as well as his other activities. A time line shows highlights of his life.