New blog post: A Room Divided - the Paul McCobb room divider  

Still going
Well this subject seems to have gotten you all going!
I did say "open shelf room divider" as Pegboard is correct that the phrase "room divider" was coined earlier on.
The use of brass and mahogany in an open shelf room divider was certainly unique at the time, there had never before been anything quite like it, so much so that McCobb won the Home Fashion League's 1952 Trailblazer Award for his Irwin Collection with the Room Divider repeatedly cited in award announcements (the other winner that year was Charles Eames for his "upholstered wire chair")
It was a singular design idea at the time and very very original.

OK straylight
... so are you are changing the rules when folks question your assertion? Granted, your original post did say "open shelf room divider", but your subsequent post said "Singular in that the concept of the room divider was originated by Paul McCobb."
I'd think you could understand why people would question a definitive statement like that.
When I clicked on the link to your blog post, I read that "... it's a very rare occasion when a truly new and original design concept comes into being. Paul McCobb managed to do this with the introduction of the room divider in 1952. The room divider was a revolution, an entirely new idea in furnishings."
If I accept your parsing of "OPEN SHELVING room divider" as opposed to "room divider" (again, my emphasis) then I again direct your attention to the 1950 Herman Miller catalogue and the images there that show case goods that are open or have glass one or both sides. This renders them transparent or "open".
Again, I certainly don't want to demean McCobb's work, as I hold it in high esteem. Likewise your research into his work. I'm just always dubious about irrefutable claims, like others I've seen such as "Harvey Probber invented the sectional sofa". I personally think that art and design innovations are more fluid than those proclamations make them appear.

Granted
You are correct.
My hyperbole was ill informed and poorly researched.
I forgot one of my own primary rules of checking everything twice before I post in a public forum. I'll try to make sure that it doesn't happen again.

Edited for accuracy
Blog post edited for content as Pegboard pointed out.

Cool
Again, straylight I'm not looking to beat anyone up or be a nit-picker. And like I said, I think McCobb rocks. He was a very gifted designer and I don't want to downplay his contribution. But I think if important innovations are to be attributed, it's imperative that they be accurate. Or at least debated.
I'll finish by saying I've had a few of the McCobb room dividers and they are wonderful. The detailing, scale, proportions/ rhythm are impeccable.
* again edited for poor spelling

For the record
I agree with Pegboard's assertion that art and design innovations are fluid.
Ideas tend to come of a time, with no particular primary originating source that can be directly cited except in exceptionally rare cases where the originator of a particular idea was well and truly ahead of his/her time.
Ideas are memes that infect the human subconscious, they move both slowly and quickly, stutteringly and fluidly. Ideas are both a particle and a wave. Ideas are not quantifiable or measurable by any scale that humanity has to measure.
It's also human habit to try to break things down into their component pieces, to measure the unmeasurable, to explain away the inexplicable. I guess I'm human after all 🙂

I guess Pegboard answers the...
I guess Pegboard answers the question that of whether McCobb invented the concept of a room divider -- clearly he didn't. But McCobb might have designed the first piece of furniture that was designed specifically to be a room divider, and actually called a room divider. Nelson case pieces on benches might make great room dividers, but that isn't what they are. Still seems to me like McCobb may have invented the dedicated room divider as a piece of furniture.

Hi I am glad we have two...
Hi
I am glad we have two great people in Straylight and Pegboard, contributing to this forum. Your English teachers should be proud of you! Your input is always great to read. This was an interesting discussion.
Straylight.... I love your work, keep going on the blog. Its the best blog anywhere!
I own a Planner group divider, model 1596. Have you ever noticed that some people have the top shelf on both sides of the top metal support? What is up with that? It looks like the top shelf should have came that way, but many have the top maple shelf, attached to the underside of the metal framework.
Don

On top
Though the top shelf of the 1596 Planner Group Room Divider can certainly be attached either way my research shows that it would have been shipped from the factory with it attached on top of the metal framework.
http://paulmccobb.blogspot.com