Henry A. Holt was a wheelwright and cabinetmaker who specialized in making fancy-boxes and writing desks. Beginning in perhaps the mid-1870s, he patented small planers and molders, probably for use in making his boxes and desks. In 1884, and perhaps for longer, he manufactured a combination machine of his own design.
Information Sources
- An article titled "Holt's Universal Wood-Worker" in the January 1884 issue of Carpentry and Building features "a universal wood-working machine invented and built by Mr. Henry A. Holt, of Wilton, N.H. The manufacturer directs your attention to the fact that this machine includes six different articles in one, making it a double saw bench, a molding machine, a buzz planer, a lathe, a boring machine and an emery grinder."
- We have found a handful of patents granted to Mr. Holt. The patents span 1872 through 1902 and are mainly for small planers, matchers, and molders.
- A genealogy page provides some background on Mr. Holt. We was born in 1839; in 1888, his occupation was a "wheelwright and maker of writing-desks and fancy-boxes; employs from five to seven hands."