Leonard Bailey and his Woodworking Planes

An Unrecognized Genius of the American Industrial Revolution

Paul Van Pernis, John G. Wells

• Publisher: Astragal Press
• Year: 2019
• Topic: Technology & Engineering
• eBook ISBN:
  9781931626453
• Subtopic: Technology & Engineering Research & Skills
• Index: Technology & Engineering

New Englander Leonard Baileywas one of the inventive geniuses of the

American Industrial Revolution. His designs and patented inventions solved

problems with woodworking planes that had plagued craftsmen for centuries. His

planes allowed woodworkers to transition from the age of wooden carpenter’s

planes to modern, metallic, fully adjustable planes suitable for any kind of

woodworking. His plane designs are still in use throughout the world and are

essentially unchanged from the planes he first made in the 1860’s. He deserves

more credit than he has received among America’s great inventors.

This book covers the thirty-two-year period in Leonard Bailey’s life

between 1852 when he began inventing, making and selling woodworking

tools in Winchester, Massachusetts, through his years at the Stanley Rule & Level

Company from 1869–1874, and ends in 1884 when he worked in Hartford,

Connecticut, and sold his Victor Tool business to the Stanley Rule & Level Company.

Table of contents

• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Chapter 1 – Working in Winchester – The Early Years, 1853-1858
• Chapter 2 – Working in Boston – The Years Before and During the Civil War, 1858-1863
• Chapter 3 – Working in Boston – The Years During and After the Civil War, 1863-1869
• Chapter 4 – Working in New Britain – The Years at the Stanley Rule and Level Company, Part I, 1869-1875
• Chapter 5 – Working in New Britain – The Years at the Stanley Rule and Level Company, Part II, 1869-1875
• Chapter 6 – New Beginnings in Hartford, 1875-1876
• Chapter 7 – Tough Times in Hartford, 1876-1878
• Chapter 8 – Working in Woonsocket and Hartford – Facing Reality, 1878-1884
• Epilogue
• A Short Genealogy of Leonard Bailey’s Family and a Short Biography of Leonard Bailey from The Successful American Magazine
• Patent Appendix – A Chronologic List of Bailey’s Patents with Descriptions
• About the Authors