Item RB6 - A. McKenzie (Boston) Patent Square and Bevel.
In
1857 Alex McKenzie, a machinist from Boston, Mass was awarded a patent (No.
17,106; awarded April 21, 1857) for a tool listed as a “Square, Miter-Square,
and Bevel.” Actually, the tool is more than that. In addition to having a
blade attached to a handle, providing both square and miter functions, it has a
second bevel blade that folds out of the handle. This blade includes a pointer
in the handle that indicates several angle settings. So the blade angles can be
set in several positions that correspond to thee layout of polygons (pentagons,
hexagons, octagons, etc). The seems to be a scarce tool. This is the first
that I’ve seen, and have found very few records of others. This example has a 9
1//2 inch main steel blade, and a brass handle that has mitered ends and is 8
inches long, including mitered ends that have 3 inch edges. A screw at the
fulcrum of the fold out blade can be tightened to fix it at any desired angle.
The foldout second blade is five inches long. Thee handle, containing the
pointer has 3 marked scales to measure supplementary angles as well as direct
ones. Apparently, this tool was manufactured in at least two sizes—9 inches
(like this one) and a 6 inch smaller size. This example is marked, “A.
McKenzie / Patent” on the brass handle, and also with an owner’s stamp “H.
Oliver”. The main steel blade has a hang hole (that may be original ( near its
end, and some scattered fine pitting. The foldout blade has some modest pitting
along one edge. The brass handle is in fine condition and the moving parts work
smoothly. Good+
Price - $220.00
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