The pad appears to be made from lignum vitae, with the many small checks that are a characteristic of that species.
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The
wrist handle is made from some close-grained hardwood:
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The
manufacturer's marks are: John S. Fray & Co., Bridgeport, CT,
U.S.A.
and No.510 (not shown)
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B&D-83
Price: SOLD
The
jaws
of this brace fit the chuck and its shell, but they are so-called
Barber's Improved, first made by the Millers
Falls company, then by Charles Amidon's later companies, and used
here by John S. Fray & Co., presumably after the Amidon patent
(U.S. Patent No. 73,279, granted January 14, 1868) had expired.
What you see here is exactly what appears in Fray's Catalog No.26, 1911.
Everything about the brace is functioning well, with only the 50% lost
nickel plating to mar its appearance. It's not peeling very badly,
though.
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The
Amidon patent shows a pin connecting the two jaws, as well as a couple
of embodiments using springs, but what appeared by the millions in the
marketplace are the integral pin and cored hole seen in the present
brace's jaws.
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