Photo Index - Levi Houston Co. - Swing saw Counterweight

Machinery Photo Index

Manufactured/Badged by:
Levi Houston Co.
Montgomery, PA

Machine Specifications
Machine Class:	Wood Working Machinery
Machine Type:	Other
Machine Size:	Unknown
Submitted By:	Dave Potts

Machine Specifications
Description/Model:	Swing saw Counterweight
Date of Manufacturer:	after 1885
Serial Number:
Last Updated	11/8/2004 7:56:41 AM

Comments:

I spied this counterweight sitting on a lathe in the machine shop at Wilmington, Delaware's Hagley Museum last year. I returned recently with my camera and found the piece sitting in the same place it was last year. A couple of sharp OWWMers quickly pointed out that this was part of a swing saw. There are no Levi Houston machines in the building, and the docent really had no idea why or how it got there. A swing saw could have easily have been part of the DuPont Powder works village in the past, and might have been removed in recent years. It is a beautiful ornament to add to a woodworking machine, nonetheless.

The patent information is on the DATAMP site:

http://www.datamp.org/displayPatent.php?number=300369&type=UT and
http://www.datamp.org/displayPatent.php?number=315502&type=UT

but shows a plain round counterweight. Mr. Houston was not a firm follower of the "Form follows Function" rule.

Photo 1:

Comments: Heart-shaped counterweight
Source: As seen in the Hagley Museum

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Photo 2:

Comments: Classy adornment from an old ww machine
Source: As seen in the Hagley Museum

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Photo 3:

Comments: Catalog image
Source: From Mike Burian's stash

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