Patented & Distinctive Bit Braces, a Research Study
by
George Langford, Sc.D.

Corrections: December 29, 2016
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Ives - [Amidon] patent bit brace.
Here's a brace that has two clearly defined and almost literally followed patents, separated by only a year.  The Amidon patent is easily confused with a Pfleghar patent (U.S. Patent No. 175,151) because both rotatable pawls are disk-shaped in the generally realized versions. In Amidon's patent, the frame is slotted to allow for movement of the disk, but in Pfleghar's patent, it is the disk that is slotted. The Ives-patent chuck is shown exactly as made in the patent drawings.

Ives - Pflegar patent brace mug shotsThe chuck's parts, save the shell, are a mixture of cast iron and steel.  The quality of the cast iron is somewhat suspect, as the threads of the cast body have partially fractured from the strain of tightening the sleeve of the chuck onto bits, as seen at lower right, above.  This is a frictionally challenged design, clearly an attempt to modernize the Spofford patent, where a transverse screw was used to effect the same elastic closure of fixed portions of the frame as seen here.  This is a quite well made brace nevertheless.
U.S. Patent No. 283,844
Ives US Patent 301,058Ives patent number & dateIves patent drawingIves', witnesses, and attorney's signaturesInventor William A. Ives' claims