Hazard Knowles is best known for making the first American cast iron hand planes: see Patented Transitional and Metallic Planes in America, Vols. I and II, by Roger K. Smith. But he also invented and manufactured other items, including a reciprocating saw mill and a mortising machine.
Knowles lived a somewhat peripatetic life. Here is a list of known locations and times for him:
- 1825-1833: Colchester, CT.
- 1836-1850 Washington, DC.
- 1852-1859 New York, NY.
Information Sources
- A law-suit affidavit from Knowles, dated 1858, indicates that he was a machinist in the U.S. Patent Office in Washington from 1836 to 1848. Other information on his years of residence primarily comes from patent records.
- Besides the patents listed below, Knowles was granted a couple of other patents that were lost in the 1836 patent-office fire and not restored.1825-11-04, "Springs for carriages"; 1828-10-11, "Mode of covering buildings".
- An 1856 article in Scientific American favorably describes the performance of Knowles's reciprocating sawmill; the good performance is credited to his patented sawblade.