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Machinery Photo Index
Manufactured/Badged by:
DeWalt Products Co.
Leola, PA; Lancaster, PA; Towson, MD

Machine Specifications
Machine Class: Wood Working Machinery
Machine Type: Radial Arm Saw
Machine Size: 10"
Submitted By: Reuben Deumling
Machine Specifications
Description/Model: GW 3
Date of Manufacturer: 1950
Serial Number: 86092
Last Updated 11/28/2008 4:27:01 AM

Comments:
This radial arm saw came to me via a posting on the OWWM.org shop. As it turned out the saw was looking for a home and was only a few miles away so my daughter and I hauled it home on my big bike trailer. The couple from whom I bought it had already taken the bolts holding the column to the table off, so we had an easier(?) time hauling it up the narrow steep basement stairs. Awkward to say the least, but it worked. The saw was in their basement because the old man from whom they bought their house left it there. He had been an electrician who worked for Meier & Frank (an early Portland Department store). He told them it had been used in the 'build out' of Meier & Frank in the fifties. Since I didn't know anything about that effort I did a little search and found the following note about construction at Meier & Frank:
"In 1950, Meier & Frank replaced its central bank of elevators, which were 'Under the Clock', with the largest escalator installation west of the Mississippi." http://www.pdxhistory.com/html/meier___frank.html

Not only was the saw manufactured in 1950 (which I was able to determine thanks to a wonderful algorithm on the OWWM.org site), but when I took off the saw blade on the back side the name 'Meier & Frank' was engraved, a common practice when you take your saw blades to be sharpened.
My grandmother remembers being taken by her mother to Meier & Frank almost a hundred years ago. For $30 I was pleased to inherit a piece of local history.

Photo 1:

Comments: arriving home
Source: own photo
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Photo 2:

Comments: engraved saw blade
Source: own photo
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Photo 3:

Comments: motor tag
Source: own photo
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Photo 4:

Comments: reassembled
Source: own photo
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