Photo Index - Richardson, Meriam & Co. - Woodworth-style planer

Machinery Photo Index

Manufactured/Badged by:
Richardson, Meriam & Co.
Worcester, MA

Machine Specifications
Machine Class:	Wood Working Machinery
Machine Type:	Planer, Wood
Machine Size:
Submitted By:	Jeff Joslin

Machine Specifications
Description/Model:	Woodworth-style planer
Date of Manufacturer:	Ca. 1870
Serial Number:
Last Updated	4/13/2003 1:11:45 PM

Comments:

This machine belongs to Bill McCarthy, who has completed restored it and plans to run it in his personal "museum" shop, with a steam-driven lineshaft.

This planer is of the Woodworth type; William Woodworth's 1828 patent (X5,315) was a key contributor to the Industrial Revolution, because it enabled the mass production of flooring, siding, and framing lumber. Woodworth sold his patent rights to a syndicate of wealthy and rapacious investors, who used bribery and punitive litigation to maintain a monopoly on the licensing of planing mills. Their monopoly ended in 1856 when Scientific American spearheaded a massive protest against another extension of the Woodworth patent.

Richardson, Meriam & Co. was one of the companies that arose to make Woodworth and Daniels planers once those patents expired. They were in operation from about 1866 until 1876.

Photo 1:

Comments: Overall view of the planer.
Source: Bill McCarthy

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Photo 2:

Comments: Label. The referenced patent is no. 64,064, for a self-lubricating journal box.
Source: Bill McCarthy

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Photo 3:

Comments: Cutterhead and feedworks.
Source: Bill McCarthy

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