Howard Iron Works Vise???

[Tarnished]

Picked this one up recently because I hadn't seen one like it before. It is stamped with Howard Iron works Buff. NY on one side, and somthing I cant yet make out on the other. Can anyone tell me anything about it? Haven't had a chance to clean it up yet, but looks to be in usable shape for its age. Has large chunk out of the rear of the slide, but shouldn't affect the usage much from here on in. Especially curious about the mounting plate underneath? Was it made to cover the head of a bolt that went thru the hole on the right side? Why would there be a bolt (only 1) here? Unless swivel was option?
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks!
John

 

[bigcaddy]

The other side is marked No.1 and what looks like some patent date but its been abbreviated quite a bit.

That vise is extremely old. I would say post civil war but not much newer then that. I have a Chas Parker with similar raised lettering of the same vintage.


edit: I just took a closer look and the side reads Pat Jun 15, -9 Even if that missing number is 9, your vise is still over 100 years old.

Good find, even with the damage to the slide

 

[Outlawmws]

You really can't go by patent dates to age the iron other that how old it COULD be, only that it's not older than that date. A more important date is where Howard closed their doors as that WOULD cut the date off.

The swivel was the way it mounted to the bench and the side hole would have been for a hole in the bench where you wanted to swivel it to and you drop in a pin or bolt to keep it from spinning under pressure.

 

[Tarnished]

Looks like it would have been made between 1847 and 1904 when they were sold to J.D.Cousins & sons, from what I can find so far. Bigcaddy, what makes you date it to C. War era? Howard seem to make a lot of castings and machinery, but doesn't seem like vise's were a biggie for them.
Outlaw: Pretty simple swivel. Move and pin with bolt. Like that. So you think the large iron bar underneath was just part of clamp device then?

 

[KesterHouse]

Hi ho,

Looks like I found the patent to help nail down the earliest manufacture date - I didn't read through the whole thing, but it has something to do with the method of casting the slide or static jaw. Here it is: Patent 91,199, issued June 15, 1869.

Hope that helps,
-JeffK

 

[Outlawmws]

Looks like it would have been made between 1847 and 1904 when they were sold to J.D.Cousins & sons, from what I can find so far. Bigcaddy, what makes you date it to C. War era? Howard seem to make a lot of castings and machinery, but doesn't seem like vise's were a biggie for them.
Outlaw: Pretty simple swivel. Move and pin with bolt. Like that. So you think the large iron bar underneath was just part of clamp device then?

Yep. I'm assuming the part clamped in the other vise is a giant wing nut?

 

[Tarnished]

Outlaw, ya got it correct. Kinda a loop welded to a threaded collar. Threads up onto the threaded rod.
Scraped the crud off a little and looks like Jeff is exactly correct. sure looks it says "pat june 15.69" "No. 1" to me. I'd say you nailed it Jeff. Thanks. Right about post Civil War era then. Wow. Almost century and a half. Dam good shape for that.
Plans are to degrease her and clean her up a bit. Don't think the paint is original, but then there isn't a bunch of globed up paint either, so just might be. I would rather not remove or paint over original if I don't have to. Dings and scrapes are history! At that point, I will evaluate what needs to be done so she survives the next 150 years.