Charles P. S. Wardwell (1824-1879) made and sold his patented tenoning machines and circular sawing machines. The tenoning machine used saws to form the tenons. An 1855 article in Scientific American is nearly a full page, and shows a very nice engraving of the tenoning machine. Another article in a different 1855 issue of the same journal gives the price of such an "ordinary-sized machine" as $120.
Wardwell also patented a table saw that had two arbors mounted so that when one was raised into position, the other was lowered beneath the table. That way, the user could quickly switch between crosscut and rip blades. The "Wardwell patent circular saw" was listed in Wardwell Scientific American ads of 1862-1863, but was subsequently offered by L. D. Fay and by Rollstone Machine Works. An 1879 patent granted to Charles P. S. Wardwell noted that he was deceased.
Wardwell's grand-nephew was inventor Frank Wellington Wardwell, Jr., of
Wardwell Manufacturing Co., and his brother George J. Wardwell was also a machinery inventor, for shoe-making and stone quarrying.
Information Sources
- 1854, 1855 articles, 1854, 1858, 1862-1863 ads in Scientific American.
- Ancestry.com family trees and genealogy databases.