1873.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
137 
A Saw-Set and Gauge. 
■ 
The art of keeping a saw in order is oue to 
be studied aud learned with cure. A dull saw, 
Fig. 1. — CLAMP FOR SAW. 
or oue badly set, will increase the labor of cut- 
ting wood or timber from five to fifty times. 
At this season of the year cross-cut saws are in 
general use, and we give a few timely directions 
for keeping them in order. 
A saw can not be filed well unless it be 
firmly fixed in a proper clamp. A very good 
clamp is shown at figure 1. It consists of two 
pieces of board five or six feet long, with one 
edge of each beveled, and the other edges joined 
w 
Fig. 2. — SAW-SET. 
together with hinges or pieces of stout leather. 
Each board is fastened to two light legs, so that 
when they are put together they form a sort of 
"horse" or trestle, the back of which opens and 
shuts. Three or four thumb-screws 
are put through the boards to 
clamp them together when the saw 
is placed between them, and it is 
then firmly held while being sharp- 
ened. In filing the saw, the points 
of the teeth should be brought to a 
level, and none allowed to project 
beyond the line of the others. 
The saw-set, shown at figure 2, 
is a small bar of iron spread in 
the center, where a narrow slot or 
groove is made a very little larger 
than the thickness of the saw-plate. 
The tooth to be set is inserted into 
the slot, and is bent to this side 
or that by a slight motion of the 
set. It is best to set the teeth in 
turn, one to the right and the 
next to the left, alternately. The 
saw will become warped if the 
teeth are set to one side first and 
to the other side afterwards. As 
the teeth are set they should be 
tested by the gauge shown at fig- 
This is a very important tool for all 
who use saws. A badly-set saw not 
requires sev- 
Fie. i. 
ure 3. 
those 
only 
eral times the 
power to work it, 
but it jars very 
unpleasantly the 
arms and shoul- 
ders of the sawyer 
or the machinery 
of a mill. The 
gauge may be 
whittled out of a 
piece of soft pine, 
or maple, or black- 
walnut. It should 
be of a shape sim- 
. , ,, Fig. 3.— SAW-GAUGE, 
liar to the en- * 
graving, or an elongated cross. At the end 
of each arm a small screw is inserted. 
These are screwed down level with each other, 
so that the gauge will set upon a saw-blade or 
other level surface without rocking either way- 
Then one screw is turned down exactly so much 
as will be equal to the "set" to be given to the 
saw-teeth. Then when the gauge is applied to 
the blade of the saw, as shown in figure 4, the 
point of the tooth if it is set 
correctly just touches the de- 
pressed screw, and the gauge 
remains firmly seated. But if 
the tooth is set too much, or not 
sufficiently, the gauge will be 
unsteady, and will rock in one 
direction or another. This little 
convenience can be easily made, and will be 
found well worth the little trouble that it costs. 
Farmers and Patents. 
J 
A farmer sees a gate, a clevis, or some other 
useful contrivance illustrated in the Agricultur- 
ist or other paper, aud it meeting his wants be 
makes one and uses it. His neighbor living 
several miles off sees the affair and makes 
oue like it, aud so the thing gets into use 
throughout a large section of country. At 
length there comes along a chap who claims 
that he holds a patent upon the gate or 
other device, that the farmer has infringed 
upon his rights, and threatens immediate 
prosecution if royalty is not paid. In nine 
cases out of ten the farmer is intimidated 
by the assurance of the 
fellow, and to avoid 
trouble pays the sum 
demanded, and the fellow, 
who is in nine cases 
out of ten a swindler, 
goes on to fleece the 
next farmer. This, in 
brief, is the stoiy that 
comes to us so often that 
we are sure that a large 
amount of swindling is 
carried on in this manner. 
Being in Washington a 
while ago, we had an in- 
terview with the Hon. 
Commissioner of Patents, 
with a view to see what could be doue to stop 
this now grievous nuisance. The Commis- 
sioner is entirely in sympathy with the farmers, 
and is ready to do all in his power to save them 
from imposition. He told us several things in 
relation to the matter which it is not advisable 
to publish, as the rogues 
would be put upon their 
guard. We give our 
friends the following ad- 
vice. In the first place, 
do not be frightened. 
Most farmers are willing 
to make almost any sac- 
rifice in order to avoid 
anything that looks like 
a lawsuit, and these 
swindlers know it. Act- 
ing upon this knowledge, 
they bluster and threaten. 
Let them blow. They 
can not, under any cir- 
cumstances, bring you into court 
several months, and "bluff" is their chief 
reliance. If a man claims that yoO have 
infringed his patent, demand to see the 
patent. If he can not show it, or give you its 
date of issue and the name in which it 
was issued, do not bother with him. Demand 
the date, and if you get it tell him to call again. 
Pay no money until you have written to the 
Patent Office at Washington, to ascertain if 
such a patent was issued on such a date. Be 
particular about the date. Do not fear, that be- 
ing an unknown individual the application will 
be unnoticed. It is a part of the business of the 
office to answer just such letters. If the pre- 
tended owner of the patent is a fraud, he, finding 
that you are not frightened and know what you 
are about, will not trouble you any more. Still 
there are cases in which the farmer may have 
unwittingly infringed upon the patent-right v2 
an inventor. Publishers of journals are some- 
times imposed upon by persons who send them 
drawings of things that have already been pat- 
ented. An honest owner of a patent is likely 
to be a fair man, and when you are fully con- 
vinced that you have unwittingly trespassed 
upon his rights, there will generally be no diffi- 
culty in effecting a settlement. It is only the 
pretenders who bluff and bluster. Do not be 
afraid of any who try intimidation, but adopt 
the course we liave here counseled. 
The Use of Pulleys. 
— «- — 
The pulley is one of the mechanical powers 
that is very generally misunderstood. If its 
advantages were better known, it would be 
much more generally used. Its real value is 
such that no farmer or other person using a 
Si<;,AtU' 
PULLEY PROI'EKLY RIGGEO. 
team should ever be without one, and sufficient 
rope to work it. If a heavy load is stalled in a 
bad spot on the road or in the woods, it may be 
extricated in a few minutes by the timely use of 
a pulley, and the worry and loss of time occa- 
sioned by vain efforts to drag it out may be pre- 
Fig. 2. — PULLEY IMPROPERLY RIGGED. 
under vented. In hauling logs or large stones it is 
peculiarly useful, but its full advantages are very 
seldom gained, because it is not properly used. 
We give some illustrations showing how it may 
be used to gain power, and how power may be 
actually lost by wrongly using it. 
Fig. 1 shows a log to which a pulley is at- 
tached in a proper manner. It is evident that 
when the log is drawn up to the stump the 
