| The Davistown Museum |
| Center for the Study of Early Tools |
| Scattered throughout The Davistown Museum are tools by important manufacturers who are also the subject of |
| information files compiled by the museum. This is a listing of our holdings for: |
| Brown & Sharpe |
| | Status | Location |
| Historic Maritime IV (1840-1865): The Early Industrial Revolution |
| Machinists' Tools |
| 71903T6 | Rule | bio | DTM | MH |
| Tool steel, 24", signed "D & B Bangor Me USA Stnd.". |
| One of the rarest of all marks, Darling & Bailey made machinist rules in Bangor, Maine, for only one year before becoming Darling & Sharpe |
| (1854), the precursors of the famous Brown & Sharpe Company. This rule is also marked "Shr" for shrunk on one side with increments in |
| tenths of inches. |
| Measuring Tools (Except Machinist Tools) |
| 50402T7 | Wire gauge | bio | DTM | MH |
| Tool steel, 3 1/4" diameter, signed "J. R. Brown & Sharpe Providence R.I. standard wire gauge 0 - 30". |
| Joseph R. Brown and Lucian Sharpe worked together from 1853 to 1866, before the formation of Darling, Brown and Sharpe in 1866. This |
| mark, however, was used after this date (Nelson 1999, 120). |
| The Industrial Revolution (1865f.): Classic Period of American Machinists' Tools |
| Measuring Tools |
| 41212T3 | Center gauge | bio | DTM | TT |
| Tool steel, 2 1/4" long, 3/4" wide, signed "Darling, Brown & Sharpe Providence, R.I." and "P.H. MAY" owner’s mark. |
| This machinists' tool bears a rare, early mark. Courtesy of Liberty Tool Co. |
| 111900T7 | Dividers | bio | DTM | MH |
| Tempered alloy steel, 3 3/8" long, signed "B.S. Mfg Co Prov. R.I. USA". |
| This is made by Brown & Sharpe, a major competitor of Laroy Starrett in Athol, MA. The first mass-produced micrometer was designed by J. |
| R. Brown in 1856. |
| 30101T1 | Gear tooth vernier caliper | bio | photo | LPC | MHC |
| Tempered alloy steel in leather box, 4 1/15" long, 4 1/4" high, signed "Brown & Sharpe Mfg. Co. Providence RI USA 20.2DP". |
| This tool is representative of the florescence of the New England toolmaker and is made by L. S. Starrett's principal 20th century competitor. |
| The English measure caliper is an uncommon Brown & Sharpe product. |
| 111900T6 | Inside calipers | bio | DTM | MH |
| Tempered alloy steel, 2 3/4" long, signed "B.S. Mfg Co Prov. R.I. USA". |
| Inside calipers are used to measure the diameter of a cylindrical hole. They have rounded tips that are bent away from each other. |
| 111900T8 | Outside calipers | bio | DTM | MH |
| Tempered alloy steel, 2 3/4" long, signed "B.S. Mfg Co Prov. R.I. USA". |
| 102100T18 | Rule | bio | DTM | MH |
| Steel, 6" long, signed "J. R. BROWN & SHARPE PROVIDENCE R. I. U,S, ST'D". |
| This signature precedes the later B S Mfg. Co. (Brown and Sharpe). |
| 30311T10 | Scale | bio | DTM | TT |
| Tool steel, 10 1/2" long, 11/16" wide, 1/8" high, signed "Brown & Sharpe Mfg Co" "Providence, R.I. U.S.A." and with their trademark LBS. |
| 6316T2 | Vernier caliper and rule set | bio | LPC | TT |
| Tool steel, wood box, 26 3/4" long, 6 1/2" wide, 1 1/2" thick, signed "MORSE TWIST DRILL & MACHINE CO. NEW BEDFORD, MASS." |
| "BROWN & SHARPE PROVIDENCE RI USA TEMPERED NO. 4". |
| This boxed set contains a vernier gauge by Morse and a steel ruler by Brown & Sharpe. This set was used in the Morse Twist Drill factory to |
| measure bits. |
| 032203T7 | Wire gauge | bio | photo | DTM | MH |
| Steel, 3 1/2" diameter, signed "J. R. BROWN & SHARPE" "PROVIDENCE R.I." "STANDARD WIRE GAUGE" with bird trademark and |
| "BS TRADE MARK". |
| The Directory of American Toolmakers (Nelson 1999) lists J. R. Brown, a predecessor of Brown & Sharpe, as working from 1853 - 1866, but |
| continuing to use this mark after that date on some tools. This is a typical tool in the increasingly complex tool kit of a c. 1880 shipyard worker. |
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