With a remarkable few exceptions most Airbrush books that have any historical references (and few do) will inform you that the Airbrush came into being in 1893.

In truth a major historical event that overshadowed everything previously achieved. The Airbrush was represented at this event not only by Walkup, but by Thayer and Chandler of Chicago, an established art materials company who had built a reputation with ceramics painting and pyrography.

The event itself was monumental in the development of Chicago as a city, it was the "Columbian Exposition" or "World Fair". An aim of the Fair was to upstage the previous "Paris Internationale"of 1889 and to show the world what America could do. Chicago hosted the event despite fierce competition from New York.

For Airbrush historians the facts are quite straightforward. Thayer and Chandler stole centre stage leaving a much aggrieved Walkup threatening legal action over the use of the name "Airbrush". Their model was significantly different being more like a pen and acting more like an atomiser than the fan and needle design of Walkup. The designer Charles Burdick, had started his experiments by modifying the original Airbrush design to make it lighter and more like a pen to hold and had based his concepts and developments on the original work by Peeler and Walkup.