Patented & Distinctive Bit Braces
A Research Study
by George Langford, Sc.D.
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Phoenix Hdw. & Mfg. brace with two of three William Peck patents applied.

Compare to the Fulton brace using the same two patents; the only difference between the two braces is that 
the Fulton brace has no screw in the top of the cup handle like the present brace.  The Fulton brace therefore follows Peck's Claim No.1 whereas the present Phoenix brace follows Claim No.2.

The chuck shell of this brace is marked with the March 6, 1906 date of three consecutive William Peck patents: 
US 814,318, 814,319, and 814,320.  The middle patent covers a ratchet mechanism which is not represented here. 

However, the other two patents were used, but in interesting ways. 

The present brace has lost its patented jaws; the replacements are the "Barber's Improved" jaws used in many Millers Falls braces at the time and in many more manufacturers' braces once the patent expired.

Phoenix Hardware Co. makers mark
Sandy Moss has another brace made by the same "Phoenix Hdwe. Mfg. Co., Homer, NY." The image of the markings on the present chuck at left is shown as a negative to improve legibility.
Mug shots of Phoenix Hdwe Co bracew
The upper handle or pad is much thicker than that of most braces of the period, but there is [still] no ball like that shown in the patent drawing at bottom right from US 814,318, but there is a large headed adjustment screw visible on the top of the pad, as shown at upper left.  However, instead of the ball, there is a hardened steel wear plate carried in a cast iron threaded cup and a presumably hardened tip with a centering tit on the end of the brace's arm and covered by Claim 2 below.  There is even a split washer, as put forth in the claims:

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is -- 
1. The combination with the arm of a bit brace or the like, of a hub member fitting the arm and having a threaded end, a knob body, a chambered nut arranged in the knob body and adjustably engaging the threaded end of the hub member, a split washer received within the nut and held thereby loosely interlocked with the arm of the brace, and a centering bearing projection arranged at the end of the arm in the nut and receiving the thrust from the head or base of the nut.
2. The combination with the arm of a bit brace or the like, of a hub member fitting the arm, a knob-body provided on its outer side with a central hole, a centrally-chambered nut arranged in the knob-body and detachably engaging the hub member, said nut having a threaded opening in its head or base, a retaining device received within the nut and held thereby loosely interlocked with the arm of the brace, a bearing projection at the end of the arm within the nut, and a screw arranged through the hole in the knob and engaging the threaded opening in the head or base of the nut. (Claim 3 not shown) 

WILLIAM ALLEN PECK.
Note that the hub member is quite different from the patent drawing as well.
The wrist of this brace has strengthening rings like William McCoy's expired patent US 118,039 of 1871 (at bottom, below) unlike the wrist design shown by William Peck in US 814,318 (at top, below).  McCoy was a Millers Falls employee.
Patent drawings and actual arrangement
Patent drawing of Peck's pad bearings