Figure 1 6. — Grooved face for metallic planes patented 

 by E. G. Storke. Patent 96052, October ig, i86g. 



consistent in one respect — their quest for multipurpose 

 solutions through the perfection of the combination 

 tool. William Loughborough, of Rochester, New 

 \'ork, in 1859, inxented an "Iron Fillister-Plane, the 

 principles of which are applicable ... to panel- 

 plows, match-planes, dados, rabbets, and to bench- 

 planes."' How did Loughborough propose to accom- 

 plish this? First, referring to his drawing (fig. 18), by 



the construction of an iron stock for fillisters, dados, rabbets, 

 match-planes, and panel-plows; second, in the construction 

 of a parallel fence, F, for fillisters and match-planes; third, 

 in the construction and arrangement of a stop, P, moving 

 diagonally to the line of pressure upon it, the same being 

 applicable to the dado and panel-plow; fourth, in the appli- 

 cation and arrangement of the spring cap, C, in combina- 

 tion with the screw 2 or any other adjustable or fixed 

 I'ulcrum; fifth, the combination of the adjusting screw i 

 with the bit, B, and spring cap, C; sixth, the application 

 and arrangement of the spur, M. 



Charles Miller, of Brattleborough, in 1870, detailed 

 a plane readily "convertible into a grooving, rabbeting 

 or smoothing-plane,' one later manufactured by the 

 Stanley Plane and Level Company (fig. 19). The 

 same year an even more amazing piece of Yankee 

 ingenuity, as well as a departure from the traditional, 

 was a plane patented by Russell Phillips (fig. 20). 

 The multipurpose urge that prompted so many 

 American innovations is nowhere better described 

 than in Phillips' specification: 



This invention combines in one implement elementary 

 features now only found in several independent tools, the 

 result being a great saving in space in transportation, as 

 well as in stores and carpenters' shops, and enabling a 

 mechanic to obtain, at small comparative cost and in a 

 compact and efficient form, the substitutes for several classes 

 of planes. 



I have combined in this instrument a rabbeting-plane and 

 an expansible matching-plane, to operate on and prepare 



-^^2* 



Figure 17. — Metallic plane patented by 

 E. H. Morris. Patent 109037, November 

 8, 1870. 



boards of various thicknesses, one side of said rabbeting-plane 

 serving as a fence or guide to the latter, as hereinafter 

 explained. 



While this inv'ention consists, primarily, of the combina- 

 tion of a rabbeting-plane and an expansible matching-plane, 

 the latter, in turn, will be found to consist of several mem- 

 bers, or organized as to enable one to produce a "tongued 

 groove-connection," called "matching stuff," a "cross- 

 channel," or a "plowed groove of any desired dimensions." 



Were these innovations suggested by patentees 

 practical? Indeed, David McHardy thought they 

 were since with such tools "the work is not only 

 better done but in less time than formerly." By the 

 year of McHardy's comments (1876), there were 

 iron-bodied planes for every purpose, and their 

 finish varied "according to requirement; some were 

 ground and japanned, others polished, and some 

 nickel-plated, the higher finish being on the smaller 

 sizes." By 1876, one American manufacturer alone 



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