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By 1875, the company had expanded and renamed itself the
Davis Level & Tool Co. It produced a full line of
metal and wood levels, metal planes, machinist's tools
and hacksaw frames. The company also developed and marketed
the Rose and Johnson ratchet brace (U.S. Patent No. 192,018),
along with other tools and railway supplies. By 1880,
the company developed the pedestal-type level (U.S. Patent
No. 288,624) using the same sort of vertical rod mount
in both small bench and larger carpenter levels. A variation
of this unique design was introduced after the company
had been sold to M. W. Robinson in 1892. Numerous variations
of this type of level are found, with or without the inclinometer
disc.
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No other American tool produced during the late 19th century
embodied detail with such ornate filigrees and thin-section
casting using cast iron, a medium prone to breakage with
normal use. Perhaps this is why so many of the Davis-type
levels that collectors find today have chipped and broken
rails, or large portions of the internal webbing missing.
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D.S. Orr |
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