Featured Patents
Woodworking Newsletter
Vol. 7, Issue 4 - March 2013
Let’s Accessorize Our Tool Hoard
A set of hollow and round bottoms for attachment to a Stanley 45 combination plane
It’s not often that one gets a chance to examine the thought process of an inventor who
created substantial and lasting patented items. After his arrival in America in 1854 to join
his father, Justus A. Traut, aged 14, embarked on a journey that saw him develop, design
and patent more than 300 usable items. Traut was employed by the Stanley Tool and Level
Co. as a contractor during its major growth years from 1870 to 1908 following the American
Civil War. From 1903 until his death in 1908, he collaborated with his son Frank L. Traut on
the majority of his patents. It is alleged that J.A. Traut was the most successful inventor of
any time who specialized in woodworking hand tools.
By 1865 manufacture of the wooden plane was starting to wane, as hand production of the
various types and styles was too laborious and required numerous skilled tradespersons.
The American industrial machine was starting to reach its zenith during that period. With
the modernization of the manufacturing process, machines were created that could do
the work faster, resulting in the elimination of independent wooden plane makers. Bailey’s
patent of 1856 had proven that a metal (cast-iron) tool could be mass produced and sold
at a much lower price, giving more consumers a chance to own and use good, affordable,
workable tools.
Traut’s patent #206,507, dated 1878, was for a series of attachments to fit a purpose-built
carrier body that allowed the user to create beads as well as hollow and round profiles. No
longer would a craftsperson have to carry an assortment of planes to do a job. In 1884,
Traut took it one step farther with patent #294,825 for the basic version of the Stanley 45,
advertised as “seven planes in one”. Presumably, this later patent supplanted the earlier
plane, which is not commonly found. The model 45 combination plane was continually
produced (with improvements) until about 1962.
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Vol. 7, Issue 4 - March 2013
A set of hollow and round bottoms for attachment to a Stanley 45 combination plane
By 1886, with patent #336,674, Traut re-entered the combination-plane forum with a set
of hollow and round bottoms designed to be attached to a Stanley 45 combination plane.
The set included four pairs with radii of 3/8”, 1/2”, 5/8”, and 3/4”. By 1888, a nosing tool
and a companion blade were produced for cutting a 1-1/2” arc. These accessories were
manufactured until America’s entrance into the Second World War in 1941.
The set shown is of the earliest issue and is identified as a type 1 set with a japanned finish,
which was made only from 1886 to 1888. The somewhat well-used cutter group is the right
configuration for this era. There is no nosing part, and the blades have no notches. The
storage method is typical for a full set for which one does not have the original packaging.
It’s common to find one bottom either with or without a blade, as full sets are somewhat
scarce (parts always go missing). Record Tools of Sheffield, England, made reproductions,
or as some would say “parallel productions”, of these sets, which were available from the
1930s until the 1980s. These fit a Stanley 45 or a Record 405 interchangeably.
Acknowledgements to David E. Heckel for his study and publication of The Stanley “FortyFive” Combination Plane.
D.S. Orr
D.S. Orr has been a collector, user and student of woodworking and metalworking tools
and practices for more than 40 years. Recently retired, he has devoted even more time to
these endeavors.
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Woodworking Newsletter
Vol. 7, Issue 4 - March 2013
Featured Patents
United States Patent Office.
Justus A. Traut, of New Britain, Connecticut.
Plane.
Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 336,674, dated February 23, 1886.
Application filed January 20, 1885. Serial No. 154,307. (No model.)
To all whom it may concern:
Be it known that I, Justus A. Traut, a citizen of the United States, residing at New Britain,
in the county of Hartford and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and
useful Improvements in Attachments for Carpenters’ Plows, of which the following is a
specification.
My improvement is especially designed for attachment to the plow patented to me March
4, 1873, No. 206,507, and March 11, 1884, No. 294,825, but it is also applicable to other
plows or rabbet-planes.
In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation of one of my said plows with my
improvement properly applied thereto. Fig. 2 is a view of the front end of the same. Fig. 3
is a reverse plan view of the same. Fig. 4 is a plan view of an attachment for said plow as
adapted for a convex cutter. Fig. 5 is an end view of said attachment; and Fig. 6 is an end
view of a part of an ordinary plow-stock with one of my attachments applied thereto.
In my aforesaid plow the stock is in two parts, one of which—the main part—bears the
handle and cutter, while the other part is adjustable on the gage-rods to and from the main
part.
In the accompanying drawings only the main part of the stock A is shown, the other part
having been removed, in order to apply my attachment.
B B designate the gage-rods secured to the stock A, and C the gage made adjustable on
said rods.
D designates my attachment, which consists of an attachable and detachable bottom for
the stock, having a throat, a, which forms a continuation of the throat and cutter-seat
in the main stock, and so coincides therewith that the cutter E, set and secured in said
main stock, properly fits the throat in attachment D. Extending upwardly from the bottom
of the attachment at one side is an upright, b, upon which are mounted the sockets c,
for receiving the respective gage-rods, the same being provided with set-screws d or
equivalent fastening mechanism for securing the attachment in place upon the stock.
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In Figs. 1, 2, and 3 the attachment D is what carpenters term a “hollow,” and is designed
for use with a concave cutter whose width corresponds to the width of the hollow in the
under side of the attachment. This cutter is placed within the main part of the stock, as
shown, after which the attachment is slipped uon the gage-rods up against the side edge
of the cutter and secured in place. The attachment thus applied covers up the bottom of
the stock proper, and if properly fitted the farther edge of the attachment will be in the same
vertical plane as the farther side of the plane-stock, all as shown most clearly in Fig. 2. The
attachment may be used either with or without the gage C, as may be desired.
When it is desired to cut a molding of a different form, it is only necessary to provide an
attachment whose under surface is of the desired configuration, and to fit it with a cutter of
corresponding width and form.
In Figs. 4 and 5 I have shown an attachment, D1, similar in all respects to the attachment D,
except that it is rounding on its under face, and is designed for use with a convex cutter.
In Fig. 6 i have represented a part of an ordinary plow, A1, and an attachment, D2, for use
upon the same in the manner before described. A similar form of attachment may be used
with my patented plow, if desired, in which case it will be unnecessary to remove the minor
part of the stock.
Planes having attachable and detachable bottoms are shown in several prior patents, and
are therefore disclaimed.
I claim as my invention—
The combination of the cutter, the main stock having cutter-holding mechanism, the gagerods B B, projecting laterally from one side of said stock, the attachable and detachable
bottom having a throat which coincides with the cutter-seat of the main stock, and having
also the upright b, extending upward by the side of the main stock so said gage-rods,
sockets c c, formed on said upright and adapted to receive said gage-rods, and fastening
mechanism for holding the sockets in proper position on said rods, and thereby securing
the attachable and detachable bottom in place, substantially as described, and for the
purpose specified.
JUSTUS A. TRAUT
Witnesses:
H.S. Walter,
Chas, B. Stanley
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