Two Dominant Styles of Early English Wing Dividers.

 

 

Up until the post-civil war era most, if not all, manufactured dividers and calipers in this country were imported from England or continental Europe. Since the early 1600’s English factories and their cottage industry suppliers dominated the production of small tools (sometimes referred to as “toys” in catalogs). Two English centers for the production of dividers and calipers were Birmingham and cities in the county of Lancashire, such as Warrington. The wing dividers produced in these two centers during the late 18^th and early 19^th centuries have easily distinguishable characteristics that allow us to assign many tools to one of these production centers.                              

 

Birmingham Pattern 

                                              

 To my knowledge, dividers in this category have never been assigned a name, so I’m calling them the Birmingham pattern. These tools have six consistent characteristics that set them apart from the second category: 

-        flat, three-leaf, rule joint

-        concentric circles incised on both sides of the joint

-        one or two angled incised grooves at the top, back and sides of the leg shoulders just  below the joint

-        curved chamfers on the shoulders of the dividers above the wing

-        triangular legs in cross section

-        hip bosses (carrying the wing) with angled sides due to the chamfers    above and the triangular legs below 

Four of the eight examples in my collection have heart-shaped (“mouse ears”) wing locking nuts. Six of the eight have a decorative tip on the end of the wing. Six of the eight have wings that sweep to the right, two to the left. All are of medium size, ranging from 8.5 to 16 inches. 

Three of the four marked dividers are by known Birmingham makers: W.&C. Wynn, Benjamin Freeth and Sam Ault. Ault was active between 1767 to 1781, so this style of dividers was made since at least the mid 1700’s. The fourth pair is marked “Walker”. The Directory of American Toolmakers lists a T. Walker as making dividers in America with no dates or location given. It is possible that this is an error and the maker was, in fact, English or that Walker was American and copied the Birmingham design. A pair of Walker-marked dividers almost identical to my example appears as Fig. 13 in Kebabian and Witney’s classic American Woodworking Tools.   

Birmingham dividers appear cruder in construction compared with the Lancashire dividers described below. Possibly this resulted from their being forged from wrought iron or poorer quality steel. 

 

Lancashire (Warrington) Pattern 

                                            

 “Lancashire” is a descriptor that has been applied to tools from this English county including hacksaws, spring dividers and calipers (Salaman, Dictionary of Woodworking Tools). Dividers of this type sold in England by current tool dealers often carry the label “Warrington dividers”. Warrington is a city in Lancashire. 

The following are characteristics that distinguish these dividers: 

-        cone-shaped hinge faces

-        a flattened section of the shoulders just below the hinge

-        flat chamfers on the lower shoulders with straight sides (except the smallest examples)

-        boxy hip bosses, most with raised “pyramids” on the left side of the boss

-        wings sweeping right, usually without a decorated tip

-        simple, flat, oval wing locking nuts

-        square upper and lower legs (often with slight chamfers) 

Eight of the ten examples in my collection are marked with makers names. Three of these are Warrington makers: Thewlis, Plumpton and Edelstein & Son. My examples range in size from 6.5 to 16.5 inches. Smaller dividers of this period were typically friction rather than wing dividers. 

 Lancashire style dividers were also made in Germany and France and exported to England and the United States. The German examples I have by T. Hessen Bruch and Regenstein & Maller are finely crafted pieces exceeding, I would argue, the English pieces in workmanship. 

The Lancashire dividers in my collection all appear to date to the 19^th century and are made of steel while many of the Birmingham examples show mid to late 18^th century construction and appear to be made of wrought iron. Only two of my collection of Lancashire style dividers have a fine adjustment mechanism for the wing (see below), while none of the Birmingham does.

 

A Few Exceptions to the Generalizations Above 

Not surprisingly, early wing dividers often don’t fall cleanly into one of the above categories. They show elements of both the Birmingham and Lancashire patterns described above or neither. The two dividers pictured below are primarily Lancashire style, but the joint shape and chamfering are atypical.

 

                              

 

 The wing dividers shown below are by Joseph Fenn, a London maker active between 1821 and 1873. They are basically a Lancashire style tool, but with the addition of a fine adjustment wing nut on the end of the wing. Not clearly visible in the photo is a thumb screw on the backside that locks the fine adjustment in place.

 

                                         

 

George Plumpton was a Warrington maker active likely in the late 1800’s. The dividers pictured below are typical Lancashire/Warrington wing dividers, but with a rack wing mechanism that acts as a fine adjustment. This type of dividers is uncommon and difficult to find in a functional state with unbroken teeth on the wing.

                                        

 

Additional Sources:

Tools For The Trades and Crafts (Pattern Book), documentary by Kenneth D. Roberts,  Ken Roberts Publishing, Fitzwilliam, NH, 1976.

Drawing Instruments, 1580-1980, Maya Hambly, Sotheby’s Publications, London, 1988

Tools, Working Wood in Eighteenth-Century America, Gaynor & Hagedorn, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, Williamsburg, 1993