The Davistown Museum
Center for the Study of Early Tools
Scattered throughout The Davistown Museum are tools by important manufacturers who are also the subject of
information files compiled by the museum. This is a listing of our holdings for:
Eagle Square Company

Status Location
Historic Maritime III (1800-1840): Boomtown Years & the Dawn of the Industrial
Revolution
Measuring Tools
121906T1 Framing square bio DTM MH
Forged iron or steel, 12" x 24 ", signed "S. HAWS PATENTED WARRANTED STEEL".
This square is clearly hand-stamped, with increments of inches on one side and a complex numeration of board rule (?) on the other. Of
particular interest is the notation "STEEL"; though clearly not cast steel, this mark may suggest the use of either blister steel or puddled
steel. Alternatively, it may suggest an awareness that malleable iron, having a carbon content greater than wrought iron, is a form of low
carbon steel and is so marked. The hand-stamping on the square suggests it was made prior to 1850, pre-dating the use of the dividing
machine for marking squares as well as the availability of domestically made cast steel. Whatever "steel" was used in this square was most
likely made in Vermont, which at this time had not only cementation furnaces for making blister steel but also reverbatory furnaces for
decarburizing or fining cast iron, in which the knowledgeable forge-masters could halt the decarburization process to produce puddled steel
-- a surprisingly common form of steel before the Civil War.
040103T9 Framing square bio photo DTM MH
Forged iron, 24" by 15", signed "HAWES Patent 1825" "$3.50" with owner's mark "Charles Scot".
DATM (Nelson 1999) indicates Silas Hawes made squares in Shaftsbury, VT, 1814 - 1828, but that several other local makers also marked
their squares "HAWES PAT". These were predecessors to the famous Eagle Square Co. organized in 1859. This is a fine example of a
used hand-forged, hand-stamped square of the early days of the republic.
Historic Maritime IV (1840-1865): The Early Industrial Revolution
Measuring Tools (Except Machinist Tools)
63001T3 Framing square bio DTM MH
Cast steel, 12" x 24", signed "J. Essex CAST STEEL WARRANTED No 1".
DATM (Nelson 1999) lists Jeremiah Essex as making squares in Bennington, Vermont, 1830 - 59 before merging with the Eagle Square
Co. in 1859. The variety of numeration on this square reflects the increasing complexity of construction techniques in the early years of the
Industrial Revolution and may reflect changing measurement needs for constructing newly introduced balloon frame buildings.
090508T1 Framing square bio DTM MH
Steel, 24" x 16", signed "D. J. GEORGE" "WARRANTEED STEEL".
Dennis J. George of Shaftsbury, Vermont worked from 1846 - 1859 and then merged into Eagle Square.

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