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Manufacturers Index - Stephens Patent Vise Co.
Patents
This page contains information on patents issued to this manufacturer.

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Patent Number Date Title Name City Description
4,319 Dec. 20, 1845 Machinery for riveting pipes Jonathan Ball New York, NY
38,249 Apr. 21, 1863 Improvement in locks for fire-arms Anson P. Stephens Brooklyn, NY Of interest because the inventor also patented and manufactured bench vises.
42,236 Apr. 05, 1864 Improvement in vises Anson P. Stephens Brooklyn, NY The 16 November 1867 issue of Scientific American carried this description of the Stephens patent vises displayed at the American Institute Fair: "The Parallel Vise of Messrs. Stephens & Co., 91 Liberty street, N. Y., is shown in several different sizes. It is one of the most useful and ingenious implements of the kind that has come under our notice. The claim of the makers that it is stronger, more durable, and can be adjusted in less time, holding firmer than screw vices, appears to be well sustained. It is a superior article."
A Martin J. Donnelly tool list for February 2000 showed a Stephens Patent Vise Co. catalog of 8 pages, ca. 1878.
67,080 Jul. 23, 1867 Improved tap for cement-lined pipes Nathan Stephens Brooklyn, NY
186,800,851 Mar. 12, 1868 Vices, &c. Anson Parsons Stephens Brooklyn, NY This patent is the British equivalent of US patent 42,236. The vise uses a moving jaw sliding along a bar and held in place by a toggle and cam lever. To that known mechanism, Stephens used a T-shaped bar and formed a complementary shape on the underside of the sliding jaw. In addition, a toothed steel rack is fixed to the slide of the T-bar that engages with the toggle clamp. A leaf spring engages the outer end of the rack bar to pull it forward when the toggle is released.
78,336 May. 26, 1868 Improved composite pipe Anson P. Stephens Brooklyn, NY Of interest because the inventor also patented and manufactured bench vises.
87,985 Mar. 16, 1869 Improved rotary metal-cutter Anson P. Stephens Brooklyn, NY
94,146 Aug. 24, 1869 Improvement in joints for cement-pipes Melvin Stephens Brooklyn, NY
96,282 Oct. 26, 1869 Improved base for bench-vises Anson P. Stephens Brooklyn, NY
105,507 Jul. 19, 1870 Improvement in vises Anson P. Stephens Brooklyn, NY Improvements to patent 42,236.
According to the November 1875 issue of "Manufacturer & Builder", the Stephens Patent Vise Co. were exhibitors at that year's American Institute Fair: "Stephens Patent Vise Co., of this city, exhibit Stephens parallel vise with swivel taper table and pipe attachments." The November 1872 issue carried a similar notice.
125,345 Apr. 02, 1872 Improvement in branch-couplings for cement pipes Melvin Stephens Brooklyn, NY
125,625 Apr. 09, 1872 Improvement in vises Anson P. Stephens Brooklyn, NY
126,100 Apr. 23, 1872 Improvement in devices for lining cement pipes Melvin Stephens Brooklyn, NY
187,201,341 May. 03, 1872 Improvements in vices for machinists and others Anson Parsons Stephens Brooklyn, NY This patent is the British equivalent of US patent 125,625.
127,438 Jun. 04, 1872 Improvement in the manufacture of cement pipes Anson P. Stephens Brooklyn, NY The inventor operated the Stephens Patent Vise Co. There are other cement pipe patents to others with the surname Stephens so we presume that manufacturing cement pipe was some kind of family business.
RE4,980 Jul. 16, 1872 Improvement in joints for cement-pipes Melvin Stephens Brooklyn, NY
132,699 Oct. 29, 1872 Improvement in pipe-couplings Melvin Stephens Brooklyn, NY
137,970 Apr. 15, 1873 Improvement in cement-lined pipes Melvin Stephens Brooklyn, NY
141,091 Jul. 22, 1873 Improvement in broaching-machines Anson P. Stephens Brooklyn, NY
142,528 Sep. 02, 1873 Improvement in cement-lined pipes Melvin Stephens Brooklyn, NY
143,473 Oct. 07, 1873 Improvement in machines for punching sheet metal Melvin Stephens Brooklyn, NY
144,155 Oct. 28, 1873 Improvement in rotary shears for metal Melvin Stephens Brooklyn, NY These shears were primarily intended for cutting strips of metal used in the inventor's manufacturing of cement-lined cast iron pipes; making stove-pipe and speaking-tubes are also mentioned in the specification.
146,287 Jan. 06, 1874 Improvement in Milling-Machines Dwight Slate Hartford, Hartford County, CT Lemuel W. Terrell - patent attorney
Milling-tools have heretofore been usually mounted upon an arbor or mandrel at the end of a lathe-mandrel, and the outer end of the arbor of the milling-tool has been supported by a center that is screwed up by the lathe center. In this case, the severe strain to which the milling - tools are subjected is liable to spring the parts, and prevent the milling-tool working true; besides this, the friction causes warmth and expansion in the mandrel that binds the parts in the heads of the lathe. My invention is made for insuring a reliable support to the shaft or mandrel of the milling tool, for allowing the parts to expand under change of temperature, and for easily removing one set of milling-tools and substituting another. I make use of a tubular extension to the mandrel that serves to support such mandrel, and also to clamp the milling-tools upon the arbor or mandrel. This tubular extension is sustained by a journal box or bearing, in which it revolves, and it is free to slide endwise under the varying conditions of temperature, or when being screwed up to clamp the milling tools, or unscrewed for their removal.

149,263 Mar. 31, 1874 Improvement in sheet-metal cement-lined pipes Anson P. Stephens Brooklyn, NY
155,473 Sep. 29, 1874 Improvement in cement-lined pipes Nathan Stephens Brooklyn, NY
156,105 Oct. 20, 1874 Bench Vise Jaws Benjamin F. Stephens Brooklyn, NY
156,386 Oct. 27, 1874 Improvement in movable vise-jaws Benjamin F. Stephens Brooklyn, NY These patent vise jaws were an available attachment for "woodworkers, coach or harness makers" in an 1880 Jackson & Tyler catalog.
158,539 Jan. 05, 1875 Improvement in cement pipes Melvin Stephens Brooklyn, NY
163,341 May. 18, 1875 Improvement in devices for connecting, holding, and punching sections of sheet-metal pipe Melvin Stephens Brooklyn, NY
205,434 Jun. 25, 1878 Hand Vise Benjamin F. Stephens Brooklyn, Kings County, NY Lemuel W. Terrell - patent attorney
In this vise the front jaw has a tubular stock at right angles to the face of the jaw, in which stock a bar upon the back jaw slides and is guided by a slot and pin. The screw that actuates the jaws is applied in this stock. Around the stock is a clamping-eye, through which a screw passes to act against a follower in the eye and clamp the stock at any position to which it may be turned within the clamping-eye. The clamping-screw is either at the end of a handle by which the vise is held, or it may be upon a clamping stand or bed upon a bench, or it may be the mandrel of a turning-lathe. In either instance the vise can be made to hold any article that is to be filed, turned, bored, or otherwise worked, or the jaws may be used to hold any cutting or boring tool or bits, so that this tool is of general utility, especially upon small or hand work.
232,892 Oct. 05, 1880 Vise George A Hickcox Brooklyn, NY A Spring is used to draw the movable jaw toward the object.
234,930 Nov. 30, 1880 Taper jaw for vises Benjamin F. Stephens Brooklyn, NY Improvements to patent 125,625, granted to Anson P. Stephens.
235,177 Dec. 07, 1880 Vise-jaws Benjamin F. Stephens Brooklyn, NY
235,469 Dec. 14, 1880 Chuck for planing-machines Benjamin F. Stephens Brooklyn, NY
319,144 Jun. 02, 1885 Method of utilizing old boiler-tubes Matthew L. Ritchie New York, NY
    Method of utilizing old boiler-tubes Nathan Stephens Brooklyn, NY  
412,558 Oct. 08, 1889 Surface for grinding and crushing Anson P. Stephens New Brunswick, NJ
629,177 Jul. 18, 1899 Cycle driving mechanism Anson P. Stephens New York, NY This patent, along with patent 629,178 and 629,179, describe a bicycle where the front wheel is driven by pedals and the rear wheel is steered by the handlebars. The pedals pump up and down rather than move in a circle.
The inventor had operated the Stephens Patent Vise Co.
629,178 Jul. 18, 1899 Cycle driving mechanism Anson P. Stephens New York, NY
629,179 Jul. 18, 1899 Steering mechanism for cycles Anson P. Stephens New York, NY