RouterPlanes

This is the original Metal Router Type Study Page created by Lars Larson in 1996 and published by Jay Sutherland. These pages were lost for some time then later rescued and republished with permission of the original publisher.

Metal Router Manufacturers

Metal routers were sold by the companies listed below, though some companies actually had their routers manufactured by others. The Stanley router design is based on a patent granted to Henry Cope in 1884.The amount of information presented on router models varies from company to company.

Henry Cope

De Huff

Keen Kutter

Marples

Millers Falls

Ohio Tool

Phelps

Preston

Record

Sargent

Stanley

Winchester

Router Patents 1883-1916

    272,801  H. L. Tupper         Feb. 20, 1883
    294,724  H. P. Cope           Mar.  4, 1884   Assigned to Stanley
    350,352  J. L. De Huff        Oct.  5, 1886
    378,854  J. A. Trout          Feb. 28, 1888   Assigned to Stanley
    420,232  G. Heymeier          Jan. 28, 1890   Of Bremen, Germany
    609,681  A. J. Kniffen        Aug. 23, 1898
    685,411  A. F. Schade         Oct. 29, 1901   Assigned to Stanley
    707,085  F. Clayton           Aug. 19, 1902   Of Pudsey, England
    717,883  R. P. Mathews        Jan.  6, 1903   To Sandusky Tool Co.
    793,297  F. Hesley            Jun. 27, 1905
    865,560  G. H. Bartlett       Sep. 10, 1907   Assigned to Stanley
    902,977  A. Link              Nov.  3, 1908
  1,012,591  E. A. Schade         Dec. 26, 1911   Assigned to Stanley
  1,026,053  T. B. Saner          May  14, 1912   Assigned to Stanley
  1,031,509  B. Aylor             Jul.  2, 1912
  1,195,799  C. Fink              Aug. 22, 1916

With only sixteen routers patented between the years 1883 and 1916, note that six of them, almost 40%, were assigned to Stanley.

Henry Cope

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  Henry P. Cope's router patent

Origins of the Stanley No. 71 Router Plane

Henry Cope was a pattern maker working for the Detroit Stove Works when he patented his first router plane in 1884. (Patent No. 294,724: filed January 12, 1884 and granted March 4, 1884.)

Design Changes

Cope modified his first router model (Type 1) by redesigning the cutter locking collar (Type 2).

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  Type 1. Patented March 4, 1884 by Henry P. Cope

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  TypJohn De Huff e 2. Second model as sold to Stanley Rule & Level Co.

Cashing In

Cope sold his router plane patent rights to Stanley Rule & Level Co. in 1884. Later that year Stanley introduced it's No. 71, a slightly larger version of Cope's router plane.

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  Type 2 router plane by Henry Cope above the No. 71 (Type 1) router plane as made by Stanley Rule & Lever Co.

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  Stanley Rule & Level Catalog advertisement dated January 1, 1887.

Trivia Corner

John Henry Bissell was an attorney who owned half the rights to Cope's router patent. He was born in 1846, and his law offices were located at 80 Griswald Street, Detroit, MI. He must have been very prominent as he had a telephone in 1884. Henry Cope lived at 215 McDougall Avenue, Detroit, MI for the years 1884 and 1885. His brother George also worked at the Stove Works. In 1886 Cope quit his job and opened his own business, The Excelisior Stove Pattern Company, at 59-61 Fort Street in Detroit. Henry Cope was listed as President, with his brother George as Secretary and Treasurer. I would venture that this all came about with the money he received from selling the patent to Stanley Rule & Level Co. All this not being enough, he was married in 1886 to Catherine (the Widow) Philps. Things must have continued to go well for him, as he had a telephone installed by 1889.

John L. De Huff

John L. De Huff of Reading Massachusetts patented his router on October 5, 1886. A special feature of this router is its two-piece base, which allows the throat width to be adjusted for any size blade. It also came with guides which attach to the base.

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  John De Huff's router patent

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  De Huff router. Size: 3"x11" Finish: Japanned with brass knobs

Ken Kutter

Production History Keen Kutter did not manufacture any routers, but had a large output in the hardware business by way of the E. C. Simmons Co. The first catalog numbers KK 71 and KK 171 1/2, were produced by the Ohio Tool Co. from 1907 to 1908. The second set of numbers, K171 1/2 and K171, were manufactured by the Stanley Tool Co. from 1908 until Keen Kutter went out of business.

Keen Kutter Open Throat Router

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  Type 1. KK71 - 1907-1908

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  Type 2. K171 - 1908-

Keen Kutter Closed-Throat Router

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  Type 1. KK171 1/2 - 1907-1908

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  Type 2. K171 - 1908-Type 2. K171 1/2 - 1908- The Type 2. had the Stanley 1901 patent date on it.

Acknowedgements

Lars Larson wishes to thank the following people for helping with this metal router type study: Dave Heckel Kerry McCalla Ron Pearson Allen Foster Tom Lamond Bill Badde Alice Larson Reg Eaton

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