John was an inventor. In the Democrat and Chronicle Newspaper from September 27, 1889, John Agate was listed as a local inventor.  We searched at the US Patent Office Website and found his two patents. One was an Improved Beer Cooler. Its Patent number is 79931 and it was granted on July 14, 1868.  The second patent is a Steam Heating Apparatus.  Its Patent Number is 411631 and it was granted on September 24, 1889. Another article we found in the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle  on October 31, 1880, describes how John Agate came up with another idea to keep the cold air out of the malt house. These inventions show us that he was imaginative, intelligent, creative and a problem solver. He kept trying to make things better for his business.