Fray made this No.33
model brace for the Morley Bros. store under their Wedgeway
brand name:
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The chuck shell is stamped with the
John S. Fray & Company name & location.
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Both
handles are rosewood:
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B&D-113
Price: $50.00
plus shipping
The
John S. Fray & Company firm made this Wedgeway brand No.33
brace for Morley Brothers Hardware in Saginaw, Michigan. According to
the Directory
of American Toolmakers, edited for the Early American Industries Association
by the late Robert Nelson, Morley Brothers Hardware was active from
1863 to 1870, but Fray's application of his 1888 chuck patent (below)
to this brace suggests that Morley Brothers may have survived past the
1863-1870 period ... to
the present day, it turns out !
The chuck carries
no patent date, but does follow the teachings of U.S. Patent No.
395,222, awarded to John S. Fray December 25, 1888; the jaws show wear
only from tapered square shank bits, and the shell bears no wrench
scars. The handles are both rosewood in excellent condition. I can see
no seams in the wrist handle, even though it appears to have been
assembled to the frame with the aid of pewter bands. About ninety
percent of the original nickel plating remains; there is no pitting of
the exposed steel wire frame.
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