Cutter, Wood

Description

A heavy timber, possibly ash, frame supports a 42 3/4" diameter drive wheel, which when turned raises and lowers a very heavy cast iron wedge on each side. A round iron table is mounted on each side, whose height is adjustable by means of a 3 1/4" diameter Acme thread screw, and supports the section of the log to be split. Wood parts were originally painted red, and the metal painted black.

Notes

On March 27, 1883, Frederick Evans, North Family elder, wrote a letter to the manufacturer of this wood splitter, Hildreth Bros. & Co., Harvard, MA, that was later printed as a testimonial in the company's catalogue. According to Evans: "I bought it for a Canaan Family. They had a lot of some fifty cords of wood sawed up. It was an exceptionally hard lot to split,--mostly Elm. It was their opinion the machine would fail to do the job. They set it up and put it to work. The foreman stood and watched the operation for a little while, then turned on his heel and said That will do! it splits any thing put under it. When they get through we shall bring it up here to the North Family and split our wood with it." The wood splitter was permanently set up in the wood storage room of the North Family laundry. Its precise location was recorded by A.N. Mosley of Troy, NY, in drawings that were done in 1939 as part of the Historic American Building Survey. Mosley indicated that the wood splitter was powered by a "Backus 1872" water turbine motor located in the basement of the building. From a "Schedule of Machines Driven By This Water Motor," included on one of his drawings, it is known that the wood splitter required one-half horse-power to operate. The machine was last used by the Shakers in the late 1930s or early 1940s. References: "Hildreths Patent Wood Splitter," (catalogue and price list) Harvard, MA, Hildreth Bros, c. 1886. Copy located in the collection of Hancock Shaker Village, Pittsfield, MA, catalogue number 4,244. "Laundry and Woodstore, Building No 6, North Family of Shakers, Lebanon, Columbia County, New York," Washington, D.C., HIstoric American Building Survey, 1961. Letter from John L. Tucker, U.S. Department of Commerce, Patent Office, Washington, D.C. to Muriel Collins, Shaker Museum and Library, dated July 5, 1960, providing information of patents for the wood splitter. U.S. patent No. 258,010 issued June 6, 1882 for Cutter for Wood Splitting Machines to Willard M. Hall of Worchester, MA, and assigned to Edwin A. Hildreth of Harvard, MA, and U.S. patent no. 262,591 issued August 15, 1882 for Wood Splitting Machine to Edwin A. Hildreth and Stanley B. Hildreth, both of Harvard, MA.