Figure 1 (left). An 1874 Stanley advertisement showing its nos. 1, 2, and 3 trammel points. The Stanley Rule & Level Co. of New Britain, Connecticut, began making trammel points in 1874. Trammel points are a pair of sliding points that are attached to a wood or metal beam or bar for scribing or drawing …
Excerpted from The Chronicle Vol. XXI “Supplement,” March 1968 by Ivan H. Crowell Chest Lock with a Bell and Combination This chest lock was hand made largely of sheet iron parts riveted together, and measures 7 by 6 by 1 inch. The key was not necessarily in the locking operation, the lid catch forced the …
Excerpted from The Chronicle Vol. 30 no. 1, March 1977 by Bill Packard Sometime about 1910 to 1912, there were several spruce oil stills around Plainfield, Massachusetts. The Morann brothers had one on the grant that is now a part of a potato farm. There was one near where West Street and Bird Road meet …
Excerpted from The Chronicle Vol. 6 no. 2, April 1953 by Frank Cetin Back in 1856 a mall by the name of Adam Finger built a high chair in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, which is far more modern than any high chair being manufactured today. It stands approximately four feet high , was hand made, and …
Excerpted from The Chronicle Vol. 65 no. 4, December 2012 by Maria V. Shevzov Since the early 1920s, a piano labeled by a local craftsman, Wesley Whitaker, has stood in the North Carolina Executive Mansion, built in 1891 as a home for the state’s chief executive. Tours of the Executive Mansion routinely show the piano, …
‘Pianos of his own Manufacture’ – Wesley Whitaker, Raleigh, N.C., 1788-1858 Read More »
Excerpted from The Chronicle Vol. 53 no. 4, December 2000 by Jay G. Ruckel The Inventive Genius of Nineteenth Century New Yorkers in Glove Technology as Seen in Records of the United States Patent Office Early nineteenth‑century America was an era of relative glovelessness, but the new Republican nation soon entered an epoch of democratic …
Excerpted from The Chronicle, Vol. 65 no. 4, December 2012 by John G. Wells Luigi Nessi, a successful practicing architect and regional planner in Lugano, Switzerland, had always been curious to learn more about the beautiful preindustrial age utilitarian objects he saw. They excelled in aesthetic design and were works of the finest craftsmanship. His …
Luigi Nessi: A Tribute to a Great Collector and a Remarkable Collection Read More »
Excerpted from The Chronicle Vol. 66. no. 2, June 2013 by Willard Anderson I teach a workshop on restoring wooden planes at the Woodwright’s School in Pittsboro, North Carolina. One of the students at the school brought in a tongue plane (one half of a tongue-and-groove pair, for larger scale work), shown in Figure 1. …
Excerpted from The Chronicle Vol. 63 no. 2, June 20 by Patty MacLeish EAIA member Charlie Beatty found these advertisements in a 1878 catalog and sent them along to share. The first is for Boynton’s Patent Lightning Saws (Figure 1). Some short entries about Boynton saws have previously been published in The Chronicle (44, no. …
Excerpted from The Chronicle Vol. 64 no. 4, December 2011 by Kenneth Schwarz Colonial Williamsburg is currently reconstructing James Anderson’s Revolutionary War-period blacksmith shop and public armoury using material prepared by Colonial Williamsburg tradesmen—carpenters, joiners, brickmakers, and blacksmiths. Among those materials are nails for siding, roofing, and flooring. About 30,000 nails will be needed to …