Street Lighting
Excerpted from The Chronicle, Volume III, No. 17, October 1948 By Bertram K. Little The 18th century brought great advances in street lighting both abroad and for the first time in this country. By...
Early American Industries Association Blog
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The Bygone Cobbler
Excerpted from The Chronicle, Volume III, No. 10, March 1947 By Jared Van Wagenen The community tanner and cobbler have disappeared together. Both of them represented the same phase in our industrial development; each...
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The Black Arte
From The Chronicle Volume XII, No. 1, March 1959 by Eloise Stedman Meyers When you broil that juicy steak over a charcoal fire in your backyard, have you ever thought what an important part...
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The Bath Tub Hoax
From The Chronicle Vol. 2, No. 5, June 1938 By Joseph E. Sandford [Mr. H.’ L. Mencken, to whom I submitted the following article for his comments, has written me as follows: “So far...
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The Secret Joint Hinge
From The Chronicle, Volume 3, No. 1, July 1944 By Rudolf Hommel A close study of old houses in eastern Pennsylvania revealed that up to the period of the Revolutionary War door hinges were...
‘Whatsits’
By John Verrill, Executive Director, Early American Industries Association One of the pleasures of working in the EAIA office is getting frequent requests to identify tools whose purposes are unknown to the inquirer. We...
Manufacture of Tacks, Brads & Sprigs
From The Chronicle, Volume 1, No. 3 March 1934 By Earle T. Goodnow The following information was secured from a letter of May 30th, 1832, written at Abington, Mass., by Benj. Hobart to the...
Early Methods of Grinding Paint
Excerpted from The Chronicle, Vol. XVIII, No. 3, Sept. 1965 by Alexander Farnham For our early ancestors, the stone and muller, fig. I, and mortar and pestle were about the only means at hand...
Printing in Colonial America
Excerpted from The Chronicle Vol. VIII, No. 3, July 1955 By Edwin C. Whittemore Printing, in the sense that we think of it today, began back around 14 5; when John Guttenberg used metal...
Wooden Water Pipes
Excerpted from The Chronicle, Vol. II, No. 3, January 1938; no author credited Prior to about 1820, pipes for conveying water, both in this country and in England, while sometimes of stone, were usually...
A Collection of American Implements
From The Chronicle, Vol. 1. No. 12, July 1935 by William B. Sprague Author’s note – The publication of the following article in Old Time New England in July, 1933, contributed in such large...
Stanley Model Shop Tools: Stanley No. 87 Cabinet Makers Scraper Plane Prototype
The subject of this piece is a prototype for the Stanley No. 87 cabinet makers scraper plane (Figure 1). It will be described and compared to the production model No. 87 (Figure 2). John...
Some Notes on Bayberry Candles
Reprinted from The Chronicle Volume VI, No. 1, January, 1953 A report prepared by M. W. Thomas, Jr. and W. D. Geiger in connection with the operations of the chandlers craft in Colonial Williamsburg....
The Serrated Bread Knife
by Bob Roger Reprinted from The Chronicle, Volume 63, No. 1, March 2010 First, there was bread. Then, a long time later in Fremont, Ohio, the serrated bread knife — an interesting tool that...