"Paul J. Devitt" was a Philadelphia hardware store that was established in 1841 and continued until at least the mid-1950s. In the late 1920s they put their name on a small benchtop tablesaw. We do not know who actually made the saw.
It is interesting to compare the Devitt combination saw to that from Scott-Bansbach Machinery Co., a similar product at the same time. They sold for the same price, $35, were a tilt-top design with motorized belt drive, planer and disc-sander accessories. And where the Scott-Bansbach product came with a flexible-shaft attachment, the Devitt saw came with a dado head.
Advertisement from the January 1928 Popular Mechanics
Information Sources
- Reported on the oldwwmachines discussion group.
- According to a 1922 edition of Commercial America, The first Paul J. Devitt hardware store opened in 1841 at Second and Washington in Philadelphia.
- A 1955 issue of Hardware Age has an ad for Paul J. Devitt Hardware Co. of First Ave. and Harmony St., Coatesville, Pa.