By the late 1870s Isaac Robins Joslin, first cousin once removed of woodworking-machinery pioneer Edward Joslin—see our history of J. A. Fay & Co.—was vice president of S. A. Woods Machine Co. of Boston, heading their New York office. Joslin's New York operation was run relatively independently of the parent company. Joslin manufactured and sold, under the name Isaac R. Joslin, a blade-return spring mechanism for a scrollsaw. An 1879 ad gives an address that is the same as that for S. A. Woods Machine Co., although there is no mention of a connection between the two.

By the 1880s Joslin's eyesight was failing and he gradually curtailed his active involvement in the business of S. A. Woods. At the same time he was patenting woodworking machinery improvements at an increased rate, and most of these were not manufactured by S. A. Woods. In about 1886 Joslin retired from the S. A. Woods Machine Co., ostensibly due to his failing eyesight, and quietly began working toward starting a separate woodworking machinery manufacturing business. Meanwhile, one of his recently patented machines, a large circular ripsaw for resawing, was being manufactured and sold by S. A. Woods as their "Joslin's Patent Resawing Machine".

Ad from May 1887 issue of Carpentry and Building

In October 1889 Joslin died due to complications from typhoid fever, age 56. So far as we can determine his new manufacturing business was never incorporated and his patent portfolio, which was to be the basis of his new business, died with him.

Information Sources

• An 1879 article in Manufacturer & Builder describes Joslin's scrollsaw return mechanism.
• 1887 issue of Carpentry and Building with ad for S. A. Woods Machine Co.
• 1889-10-26 The Engineering and Mining Journal page 364, Obituary column.

  Isaac R. Joslin, a retired civil engineer, died this week in New York City, aged fifty-seven years. For a number of years he had been retired from active work, retaining only a pecuniary interest in the many concerns his mechanical ingenuity helped to build up.

• 1889-10-26 Iron Age and Hardware (Volume 44, Issue 2), page 22.

  Isaac R. Joslin.—Isaac R. Joslin, a retired civil engineer, died in this city on Monday of typhoid fever, aged 57 years. He was born at South Gardner, Mass. He came to New York when a young man and engaged in his profession. He was very successful in business. For a number of years he had been retired from active work, retaining only a pecuniary interest in the many concerns his mechanical ingenuity helped to build up.

• A pair of 1890 patents for a finger-jointing machine were issued posthumously.
• Isaac Robins Joslin (1833-1889) was son of John Joslin (1791-1848) who was son of Nathaniel Joslin (1761-1851) who was son of John Joslin, Jr. (1735-1810). Edward Joslin (1810-1901) was son of David Joslin (1765-1825) who was son of John Joslin, Jr. (1735-1810).