toolmakers, described the hand tool in a most realistic and objective
manner as an "extension of a man's hand." The antiquarian, attuned to
more subjective and romantic appraisals, will find this hardly
sufficient. Look at the upholsterer's hammer (accession 61.35) seen in
figure 45: there is no question that it is a response to a demanding
task that required an efficient and not too forceful extension of the
workman's hand. But there is another response to this implement: namely,
the admiration for an unknown toolmaker who combined in an elementary
striking tool a hammerhead of well-weighted proportion to be wielded
gently through the medium of an extremely delicate handle. In short,
here is an object about whose provenance one need know very little in
order to enjoy it aesthetically. In a like manner, the 18th-century
bitstock of Flemish origin (fig. 46), the English cabinetmaker's bevel
of the same century (fig. 47), and the compass saw (accession 61.52,
fig. 48) capture in their basic design something beyond the functional
extension of the craftsman's hand. The slow curve of the bitstock, never
identical from one early example to another, is lost in later
factory-made versions; so too, with the coming of cheap steel, does the
combination of wood (walnut) and brass used in the cabinetmaker's bevel
slowly disappear; and, finally, in the custom-fitted pistol-like grip of
the saw, there is an identity, in feeling at least, between craftsman
and tool never quite achieved in later mass-produced versions.
[Illustration: Figure 49.--EARLY 19TH CENTURY: THE DESIGNATION
"GENTLEMAN'S TOOL CHEST" required a chest of "high-style" but
necessitated no change in the tools it held. (Book 87, Cutler and
Company, Castle Hill Works, Sheffield. _Courtesy of the Victoria and
Albert Museum_.)]
[Illustration: Figure 50.--19TH CENTURY: THE SCREWDRIVER, which began to
appear regularly on the woodworker's bench after 1800, did not share the
long evolution and tradition of other Anglo-American tool designs. The
screwdriver in its early versions frequently had a scalloped blade for
no other purpose than decoration. (Smithsonian photo 49794.)]
[Illustration: Figure 51.--1870: THE USE of a new material prompted a
departure from the traditional in shape and encouraged surface
elaboration. The tendency, however, was short lived and the
mass-produced metallic plane rapidly achieved a purity of design as
pleasing as its wooden predecessors. (Private collection. Smithsonian
photo 49789.)]
Occasionally, ruling taste is reflected in the design of the carpenter's
equipment. Notable is the "gentleman's tool chest" (fig. 49) advertised
in the pattern book of the Castle Hill Works. The bracket feet, brass
pulls, and inlaid keyholes imitate the style of the domestic chest of
drawers of the period 1790 to 1810--undoubtedly, features included by
the manufacturer to appeal to a gentleman of refined taste. In contrast
to this Sheffield product is the plate from Shaw's _The Modern
Architect_. The concept of the builder-carpenter as a gentleman still
prevails, although the idea in this American scene is conveyed in the
mid-19th century through fashionable dress. The tools and in particular
the tool chest reflect only the severest of functional lines (fig. 19,
p. 196).
In deference to ruling taste, some tools lost for a time the clean lines
that had long distinguished them. The screwdriver, simple in shape
(accession 61.46) but in little demand until the 1840's, occasionally
became most elaborate in its factory-made form (fig. 50) and departed
noticeably from the unadorned style of traditional English and American
tools. The scalloped blade, influenced by the rival styles rather than a
technical need, seemed little related to the purpose of the tool.[10]
No less archaic in decoration was the iron-bodied version of the plow
plane (fig. 51). The Anglo-American tradition seems completely put
aside. In its place is a most functional object, but one elaborately
covered with a shell and vine motif! Patented in 1870 by Charles Miller
and manufactured by the Stanley Rule and Level Company, this tool in its
unadorned version is of a type that was much admired by the British
experts at Philadelphia's Centennial Exhibition in 1876. What prompted
such superfluous decoration on the plow plane? Perhaps it was to appeal
to the flood of newly arrived American craftsmen who might find in the
rococo something reminiscent of the older tools they had known in
Europe. Perhaps it was simply the transference to the tool itself of the
decorative work then demanded of the wood craftsmen. Or was it mainly a
compulsion to dress, with little effort, a lackluster material that
seemed stark and cold to Victorians accustomed to the ornateness being
achieved elsewhere with the jigsaw and wood? Whatever the cause, the
result did not persist long as a guide to hand-tool design. Instead, the
strong, plain lines that had evolved over two centuries won universal
endorsement at the Centennial Exhibition. The prize tools reflected
little of the ornateness apparent in the wares of most of the other
exhibitors. American makers of edge tools exhibiting at the Centennial
showed the world not only examples of quality but of attractiveness as
well.
[Illustration: Figure 52.--19TH CENTURY: THE AMERICAN AXE WAS UNEXCELLED
in design and ease of use. European observers praised it as distinctly
American. At the Centennial Exhibition in 1876 Collins and Company of
New York City was singled out as one of the outstanding manufacturers
exhibiting these axes, a reputation that persisted. (_Tools for all
Trades_, Hammacher, Schlemmer and Company, New York, 1896. Smithsonian
photo 56625.)]
[Illustration: Figure 53.--1876: DISSTON AND SONS LONG CONTINUED to
remind prospective buyers of the company's success at the Philadelphia
Centennial Exhibition by retaining the "Centennial Saw, No. 76" as a
brand name. (_Illustrated Catalogue_, Baldwin, Robbins and Company,
Boston, 1894. Smithsonian photo 56627.)]
Change
American hand tools in 1876 did not achieve the popular acclaim accorded
the Corliss engine, yet few products shown by American exhibitors were
more highly praised by foreign experts. It seems justified to suggest
that American edge tools displayed at the Centennial had reached their
high point of development--a metamorphosis that began with the medieval
European tool forms, moved through a period of reliance on English
precedents, and ended, in the last quarter of the 19th century, with the
production of American hand tools "occupying an enviable position before
the world."[11]
[Illustration: Figure 54.--1809: THE INTRODUCTION of the gimlet-pointed
auger followed Ezra L'Hommedieu's patent of 1809. From this date until
its general disuse in the early 20th century, the conformation of the
tool remained unchanged, although the quality of steel and the precision
of the twist steadily improved. (Wash drawing from the restored patent
drawings awarded July 31, 1809, U.S. Patent Office, Record Group 241,
the National Archives. Smithsonian photo 49790-A.)]
[Illustration: Figure 55.--1855: RUSSELL JENNINGS' improved auger bits,
first patented in 1855, received superior citation at the Philadelphia
Centennial; in the years following, the trade name "Jennings" was seldom
omitted from trade catalogues. (Original wash drawing, patent drawing
submitted by R. Jennings, U.S. Patent Office, Record Group 241, the
National Archives.)]
The tool most highly praised at Philadelphia was the American felling
axe (fig. 52) "made out of a solid piece of cast steel" with the eye
"punched out of the solid." When compared to other forms, the American
axe was "more easily worked," and its shape permitted an easier
withdrawal after striking.[12]
Sawmakers, too, were singled out for praise--in particular Disston &
Sons (fig. 53) for "improvements in the form of the handles, and in the
mode of fixing them to the saw." The Disston saw also embodied an
improved blade shape which made it "lighter and more convenient by
giving it a greater taper to the point." Sheffield saws, once supplied
to most of the world, were not exhibited at Philadelphia, and the
British expert lamented that our "monopoly remains with us no
longer."[13]
[Illustration: Figure 56.--1894: THE PERSISTENCE OF "JENNINGS" AS A
TRADE NAME is suggested by the vignette from the "Illustrated Catalogue"
of Baldwin, Robbins and Company, published in 1894. (Smithsonian photo
56628.)]
Augers, essential to "the heavier branches of the building trade ...
[and] in the workshops of joiners, carpenters, cabinetmakers, turners,
carvers, and by amateurs and others," were considered a "most important
exhibit" at the Centennial. The auger had attained a perfection in "the
accuracy of the twist, the various forms of the cutters, the quality of
the steel, and fine finish of the twist and polish." The ancient pod or
shell auger had nearly disappeared from use, to be replaced by "the
screwed form of the tool" considerably refined by comparison to
L'Hommedieu's prototype, patented in 1809 (fig. 54). Russell Jennings'
patented auger bits (figs. 55-56) were cited for their "workmanship and
quality," and, collectively, the Exhibition "fully established the
reputation of American augers."[14] Likewise, makers of braces and bits
were commended for the number of excellent examples shown. Some were a
departure from the familiar design with "an expansive chuck for the
bit," but others were simply elegant examples of the traditional brace,
in wood, japanned and heavily reinforced with highly polished brass
sidings. An example exhibited by E. Mills and Company, of Philadelphia,
received a certification from the judges as being "of the best quality
and finish" (fig. 57). The Mills brace, together with other
award-winning tools of the company--drawknives, screwdrivers, and
spokeshaves--is preserved in the collections of the Smithsonian
Institution (accession 319326). Today as a group they confirm "the
remarkably fine quality of ... both iron and steel" that characterized
the manufacture of American edge tools in the second half of the 19th
century.[15]
[Illustration: Figure 57.--1876: JAPANNED AND SPLINTED WITH HEAVY BRASS,
this brace was among the award-winning tools exhibited at the Centennial
by E. Mills and Company of Philadelphia. (Smithsonian photo 49792-D.)]
[Illustration: Figure 58.--1827: THE BENCH PLANES exhibited at
Philadelphia in 1876 were a radical departure from the traditional. In
1827 H. Knowles patented an iron-bodied bench plane that portended a
change in form that would witness a substitution of steel for wood in
all critical areas of the tool's construction, and easy adjustment of
the cutting edge by a setscrew, and an increased flexibility that
allowed one plane to be used for several purposes. (Wash drawing from
the restored patent drawings, August 24, 1827, U.S. Patent Office,
Record Group 241, the National Archives.)]
[Illustration: Figure 59.--1857: THE ADDITION OF METALLIC PARTS to
critical areas of wear as suggested by M.B. Tidey did not at first
radically alter the design of the bench plane. (Wash drawing from U.S.
Patent Office, March 24, 1857, Record Group 241, the National
Archives.)]
It is the plane, however, that best exemplifies the progress of tool
design. In 1876, American planemakers were enthusiastically credited
with having achieved "an important change in the structure of the
tool."[16] Although change had been suggested by American patentees as
early as the 1820's, mass production lagged until after the Civil War,
and the use of this new tool form was not widespread outside of the
United States. Hazard Knowles of Colchester, Connecticut, in 1827,
patented a plane stock of cast iron which in many respects was a
prototype of later Centennial models (fig. 58).[17] It is evident, even
in its earliest manifestation, that the quest for improvement of the
bench plane did not alter its sound design. In 1857, M.B. Tidey (fig.
59) listed several of the goals that motivated planemakers:
First to simplify the manufacturing of planes; second to render
them more durable; third to retain a uniform mouth; fourth to
obviate their clogging; and fifth the retention of the essential
part of the plane when the stock is worn out.[18]
By far the greatest number of patents was concerned with perfecting an
adjustable plane iron and methods of constructing the sole of a plane so
that it would always be "true." Obviously the use of metal rather than
the older medium, wood, was a natural step, but in the process of
changing from the wood to the iron-bodied bench plane there were many
transitional suggestions that combined both materials. Seth Howes of
South Chatham, Massachusetts, in U.S. patent 37,694, specified:
This invention relates to an improvement in that class of planes
which are commonly termed "bench-planes," comprising the foreplane,
smoothing plane, jack plane, jointer, &c.
The invention consists in a novel and improved mode of adjusting
the plane-iron to regulate the depth of the cut of the same, in
connection with an adjustable cap, all being constructed and
arranged in such a manner that the plane-iron may be "set" with the
greatest facility and firmly retained in position by the adjustment
simply of the cap to the plane-iron, after the latter is set, and
the cap also rendered capable of being adjusted to compensate for
the wear of the "sole" or face of the plane stock.
The stock of Howes' plane was wood combined with metal plates, caps, and
screws. Thomas Worrall of Lowell was issued patent 17,657 for a plane
based on the same general principle (fig. 60). Worrall claimed in his
specifications of June 23, 1857:
the improved manufacture of [the] carpenter's bench plane or
jointer as made with its handle, its wooden stock to which said
handle is affixed, and a separate metallic cutter holder, and
cutter clamping devices arranged together substantially as
specified.
Finally patentees throughout the 19th century, faced with an increasing
proliferation of tool types, frequently sought to perfect multipurpose
implements of a type best represented later by the ubiquitous Stanley
plane. The evolution of the all-purpose idea, which is incidentally not
peculiar to hand tools alone, can be seen from random statements
selected from U.S. patents for the improvement of bench planes. In 1864
Stephen Williams in the specifications of his patent 43,360 stated:
I denominate my improvement the "universal smoothing plane,"
because it belongs to that variety of planes in which the face is
made changeable, so that it may be conveniently adapted to the
planing of curved as well as straight surfaces. By the use of my
improvement surfaces that are convex, concave, or straight may be
easily worked, the face of the tool being readily changed from one
form to another to suit the surface to which it is to be applied.
The announced object of Theodore Duval's improved grooving plane (pat.
97,177) was "to produce in one tool all that is required to form grooves
of several different widths." None was more appealing than Daniel D.
Whitker's saw-rabbet plane (pat. 52,478) which combined "an adjustable
saw with an adjustable fence or gage, both being attached to a stock
with handle similar to a plane, forming together a tool combining the
properties of the joiner's plow and fillister" (fig. 61). Nor was
Whitker's idea simply a drawing-board exercise. It was produced
commercially and was well advertised, as seen in the circular reproduced
in figure 62.
[Illustration: Figure 60.--1857: IN A VARIETY OF ARRANGEMENTS, the
addition of metal plates, caps, and screws at the mouth of the plane, as
shown in Thomas Worrall's drawing, proved a transitional device that
preserved the ancient shape of the tool and slowed the introduction of
bench planes made entirely of iron. (Wash drawing from U.S. Patent
Office, June 23, 1857, Record Group 241, the National Archives.)]
[Illustration: Figure 61.--1865: NOT ALL MULTIPURPOSE INNOVATIONS
resulted from the use of new materials. Daniel D. Whitker patented a
combination saw and rabbet plane little different from one illustrated
by Andre-Jacob Roubo in his _L'Art du menuisier_ in 1769. (Wash drawing
from U.S. Patent Office, October 4, 1865, Record Group 241, the National
Archives.)]
In sum, these ideas produced a major break with the traditional shape of
the bench plane. William Foster in 1843 (pat. 3,355), Birdsill Holly in
1852 (pat. 9,094), and W.S. Loughborough in 1859 (pat. 23,928) are
particularly good examples of the radical departure from the wooden
block. And, in the period after the Civil War, C.G. Miller (discussed on
p. 213 and in fig. 63), B.A. Blandin (fig. 64), and Russell Phillips
(pat. 106,868) patented multipurpose metallic bench planes of excellent
design. It should be pointed out that the patentees mentioned above
represent only a few of the great number that tried to improve the
plane. Only the trend of change is suggested by the descriptions and
illustrations presented here. The cumulative effect awaited a showcase,
and the planemakers found it at the Centennial Exhibition of 1876 held
in Philadelphia.
[Illustration: Figure 62.--ABOUT 1865: THE PROGRESS OF AN IDEA from an
18th-century encyclopedia through an American patentee to commercial
reality can be seen in this flier advertising Whitker's saw-rabbet.
(Smithsonian Institution Library. Smithsonian photo 56629.)]
The impact of these new planes at the Exhibition caused some
retrospection among the judges:
The planes manufactured in Great Britain and in other countries
fifty years ago were formed of best beech-wood; the plane irons
were of steel and iron welded together; the jointer plane, about 21
inches long, was a bulky tool; the jack and hand planes were of the
same materials. Very little change has been made upon the plane in
Great Britain, unless in the superior workmanship and higher
quality of the plane iron.[19]
The solid wood-block plane, varying from country to country only in the
structure of its handles and body decoration, had preserved its
integrity of design since the Middle Ages. At the Centennial, however,
only a few examples of the old-type plane were exhibited. A new shape
dominated the cases. Designated by foreign observers as the American
plane, it received extended comment. Here was a tool
constructed with a skeleton iron body, having a curved wooden
handle; the plane iron is of the finest cast-steel; the cover is
fitted with an ingenious trigger at the top, which, with a screw
below the iron, admits of the plane iron being removed for
sharpening and setting without the aid of the hammer, and with the
greatest ease. The extensive varieties of plane iron in use are
fitted for every requirement; a very ingenious arrangement is
applied to the tools for planing the insides of circles or other
curved works, such as stair-rails, etc. The sole of the plane is
formed of a plate of tempered steel about the thickness of a
handsaw, according to the length required, and this plate is
adapted to the curve, and is securely fixed at each end. With this
tool the work is not only done better but in less time than
formerly. In some exhibits the face of the plane was made of beech
or of other hard wood, secured by screws to the stock, and the tool
becomes a hybrid, all other parts remaining the same as in the iron
plane.[20]
The popularity of Bailey's patented planes (fig. 65), the type so
praised above, was by no means transitory. In 1884 the Boston firm of
Goodnow & Wightman, "Importers, Manufacturers and Dealers in Tools of
all kinds," illustrated the several planes just described and assured
prospective buyers that
These tools meet with universal approbation from the best
Mechanics. For beauty of style and finish they are unequalled, and
the great convenience in operating renders them the cheapest Planes
in use; they are SELF-ADJUSTING in every respect; and each part
being made INTERCHANGEABLE, can be replaced at a trifling
expense.[21]
By 1900 an advertisement for Bailey's planes published in the catalogue
of another Boston firm, Chandler and Farquhar, indicated that "over
900,000" had already been sold.[22]
Other mass-produced edge tools--axes, adzes, braces and bits, augers,
saws, and chisels--illustrated in the trade literature of the toolmakers
became, as had the iron-bodied bench plane, standard forms. In the last
quarter of the 19th century the tool catalogue replaced Moxon, Duhamel,
Diderot, and the builders' manuals as the primary source for the study
and identification of hand tools. The Centennial had called attention to
the superiority of certain American tools and toolmakers. The result was
that until the end of the century, trade literature faithfully drummed
the products that had proven such "an attraction to the numerous
artisans who visited the Centennial Exhibition from the United States
and other countries."[23]
[Illustration: Figure 63.--1870: THE METALLIC VERSION OF THE PLOW PLANE
later produced by Stanley and Company was patented by [Charles] G.
Miller as a tool readily "convertible into a grooving, rabbeting, or
smoothing plane." In production this multipurpose plow gained an
elaborate decoration (fig. 51) nowhere suggested in Miller's
specification. (Wash drawing from U.S. Patent Office, June 28, 1870,
Record Group 241, the National Archives.)]
[Illustration: Figure 64.--1867: THE DRAWING accompanying B.A. Blandin's
specification for an "Improvement in Bench Planes" retained only the
familiarly shaped handle or tote of the traditional wood-bodied plane.
This new shape rapidly became the standard form of the tool with later
variations chiefly related to the adjustability of the plane-iron and
sole. (Wash drawing from U.S. Patent Office, May 7, 1867, Record Group
241, the National Archives.)]
Collins and Company of New York City had been given commendation for the
excellence of their axes; through the end of the century, Collins' brand
felling axes, broad axes, and adzes were standard items, as witness
Hammacher, Schlemmer and Company's catalogue of 1896.[24] Disston saws
were a byword, and the impact of their exhibit at Philadelphia was still
strong, as judged from Baldwin, Robbins' catalogue of 1894. Highly
recommended was the Disston no. 76, the "Centennial" handsaw with its
"skew back" and "apple handle." Jennings' patented auger bits were
likewise standard fare in nearly every tool catalogue.[25] So were bench
planes manufactured by companies that had been cited at Philadelphia for
the excellence of their product; namely, The Metallic Plane Company,
Auburn, New York; The Middletown Tool Company, Middletown, Connecticut;
Bailey, Leonard, and Company, Hartford; and The Sandusky Tool Company,
Sandusky, Ohio.[26]
An excellent indication of the persistence of the Centennial influence,
and of the tool catalogue as source material, is seen in Chandler and
Farquhar's illustrated pamphlet of 1900. Their advertisement for
Barber's improved ratchet brace (fig. 66), a tool much admired by the
Centennial judges, amply illustrates the evolution of design of a basic
implement present in American society since the first years of
settlement. The Barber brace represents the ultimate sophistication of a
tool, achieved through an expanded industrial technology rather than by
an extended or newly found use for the device itself. It is a prime
example of the transition of a tool from Moxon to its perfected form in
the 20th century:
These Braces possess the following points of superiority: The Sweep
is made from Steel; the Jaws are forged from Steel; the Wood Handle
has brass rings inserted in each end so it cannot split off; the
Chuck has a hardened Steel antifriction washer between the two
sockets, thus reducing the wear. The Head has a bearing of steel
balls, running on hard steel plates, so no wear can take place, as
the friction is reduced to the minimum. The Brace is heavily
nickel-plated and warranted in every particular. We endeavor to
make these goods as nearly perfection as is possible in durability,
quality of material and workmanship, and fineness and beauty of
finish.[27]
[Illustration: Figure 65.--1900: AMERICAN PLANEMAKERS had been cited at
the Philadelphia Centennial as having introduced a dramatic change in
the nature of the tool. Although wood-bodied planes continued to be
used, they were outdated and in fact anachronistic by the close of the
19th century. From the 1870's forward, it was the iron-bodied plane,
most frequently Bailey's, that enlivened the trade literature.
(Catalogue of Chandler and Farquhar, Boston, 1900. Smithsonian photo
55798.)]