William B. Barnard was a creative inventor. On January 6, 1866, with an investment of
$15,000, he and three other men began the Barnard Son & Company. W. B. Barnard already held five patens for
different devices. Their goal now was to make scissors and other cutlery.
The factory was originally at Waterville, Connecticut. In 1870 the operations were moved to an old
cotton mill, which was on the site of a pre-Revolutionary war grist mill.
William B. Barnard died August 20, 1871.
The beautiful wick cutter with the bent – upward handles are designed so one could easily trim a wick on a lamp or candle. On the lower blade there is a small shelf-like addition that would catch the burned wick as it was trimmed off. If the wick was still hot it would stay safely on the lower blade ledge.
The scissor factory was destroyed by fire in 1872 and a
new factory built in 1873. The location
later served as a factory for the Hook and Eye Manufacturing Company, which made
small brass goods.
The pliers and wire cutter is a small, complex, and strange looking tool. The handles have a cross-line design to assist in gripping and applying pressure. With the flat and wide nose on the pliers a solid hold can be applied. The patent on the below shows the complexity of the scissor/pliers.
Information
from:
American Scissors and Shears, by Philip
Pankiewiez
Google book: History of Waterbury,
page 415, by Francis A. Lord
Kentucky Historical Society
Other web locations
I have. A beautiful pair of Pinking Shears from 1866 By WB Co. They work wonderfully . They just don't make things like this any more! Would love to send you a picture!
ReplyDeleteI have a pair of wick cutting scissors with the imprint W.B. Babnard Dec. 27th 1864. I remember my Grandmother using them.
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