Both
handles were made from rosewood:
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The
patent for this Fray-made brace is so complex that the original patent
drawings occupy two pages, but I've spared you some of the
back-and-forth of studying the patent, at right. The patent is in the U.S.
Patent Office's 279/40 classification (Chucks or Sockets/Threaded
Sleeve Actuator). There appears to be no classification number for
chucks with anti-friction (ball or roller) bearings to aid in gripping
bits that have no means of positive resistance to slippage. Only two
other chucks in the 279/40 classification have ball bearings.
In this chuck the spring that urges the jaws apart also serves to
capture those jaws against the threaded actuating block. The jaws are
positively driven by the sides of slots in the body of the chuck, but
no torque is transferred through the chuck body to the actuating
sleeve, so the chuck is not self-tightening like most three-jaw, ball-bearing chucks.
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B&D-120
Price: $75.00
plus shipping
Both
rosewood handles of this brace are in fine condition, with nary a ding
or
scratch to show for a hundred years of exposure to the elements of wear
and corrosion. The frame is mostly coated with black magnetite, which
largely obscures the John S. Fray & Co. and Bridgeport, Conn.,
U.S.A. maker's marks on the two sides of the upper crank. Mechanically
the brace is in excellent working condition; the only apology is for a
probably replaced screw at the base of the chuck which has a sharp
edge. There are no wrench scars on the sleeve of the chuck - it would
have been easy to tighten this chuck on any round-shanked bit from
1/8th inch up to half an inch; and it will still hold square/taper
shank bits, but not any Morse Taper bits.
See JohnFrayBBChuck816.JPG for an earlier description.
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