Here’s a neat one!  Just finished cleaning up and reassembling it.  I took too long getting around to it and had to look up the patent to figure out what went where.

 

 

Mr. Flynn,

What a fascinating looking vise.

What is the patent number for it?

I should like to have a look at it to see how it works. (instead of trying to figure it out by myself).

Thanks.

Enjoy putting it to good use.

Thanks,

SLAG.

p.s. Where did you acquire it?

Oooh NICE vise! I'd love to have one. 

Messer Slag: The horizontal lever is connected to a cam. Pushed back like it is takes pressure off the slide for the moving jaw. Pull it forward and it engages the slide then as it "rolls" along the slide tightens the jaw with significant force. Probably not as much squeeze as a screw vise but these are very fast, push its loose, pull it's tight. 

I'm betting they're fast enough to forge weld with, like a press.

Frosty The Lucky.

https://patents.google.com/patent/US42236A

How incredible is it that I can pull up a patent from 1864 with just a few minutes of my time in my own home.  It's amazing to me that I can use technology to access the repository of all human knowledge one minute and then be out in the shop hammering hot steel on a 200-year-old anvil the next.  What a world we live in.

 

55 minutes ago, Flynn said:

What a world we live in.

Ain't life GRAND? 

The first patent I looked at is different than yours but the principle is similar. 

Frosty The Lucky.

Here is the Stephens 1870 patent and a 3" Stephens vise. My cousin has/had the twin to this one. The pictured vise is my main shop vise and still works like a champ.

From what I have been able to dig up on these vises, most were very small and had a swiveling base mechanism for jewelers type work.

Stephens vice patent.pdf

Edited April 18, 20215 yr by rustyanchor
added text.

Except it's not ALL human knowledge and a lot of it is pure muck!

That isn't quite how I thought the vise worked but a rack gear makes a lot of sense. Does pulling the handle tighten the jaws or just lock them?

Agreed Thomas, the patent files have a lot of silly muck but so does Iforge not to mention youtube. 

Frosty The Lucky.

Pulling the handle tightens the jaws up to about a quarter inch on mine, it’s not a locking mechanism at all.

So basically just slide the jaws shut and then pull the lever, and it tightens up as much as it can.

Thomas, that is all too true!

The handy thing about the Stephens design is: I can pull the lever partially and slide the jaw closed on whatever I am clamping and it will hold it, then I can pull the lever to apply more clamping pressure. Handy if I am positioning something with both hands, using my body to slide the jaw closed. Sort of like a ratcheting mechanism.

Messrs.,

Flynn,  and  Frost,

Thank you for the patent number and explanation.

It  IS much appreciated.

SLAG.

Are the Stevens vises still being made and sold?

SLAG.

There are two of them for sale on the net.

Fisher & Norris also made a version of this type of vise around 1920.  They had at least one patent "improving" something about it.  And most had their name cast into the vise.

I kind of hate to do it, but I think I'm going to end up selling my 3-inch Wilton and using this as my general workshop vise.  This Stephens has 4.5 inch jaws and it's just to fast and smooth not to use.  I'll still have my post vise and heavy Reed #34 for forging and big stuff, but I just love the mechanics of the Stephens.  So I'll either have to sell off the 3-inch Wilton or build a bigger shop!

 

That's a high-class problem.

Indeed it is.

Build a bigger shop (grin).

Of course!  The size of shop you need is 2N  where N is the size you currently have...

Hello Flynn.  I hope you are still willing to chat about your Stevens Lever Vise (or is it "Stephens" as the patent indicates?).  I just acquired one the other day.  In the process of restoring it (I was just going to do a surface cleaning) the guts fell out of the vise.  I tried every conceivable way to reassemble the parts but failed.  Last night I found the patent for this vise that you spoke of and it gave me a diagram of how those parts are supposed to fit in there.  As soon as I get a minute, I will work on the reassembly process.  Naturally, since I now have the entire vise disassembled, I will shine and oil every millimeter, inside and out.  I will keep you posted.  Also... There is so little information out there about this vise, I want to launch you a big THANK YOU for helping me figure out what I was in possession of.  I am still not sure if this vise will be the one in my shop or one for the shelf.  I really want to use it as it was made for.

Hey, congratulations on finding a great piece of history.  I ended up selling mine to another collector as I didn't find it as usable as a standard vise, as the handle stuck out whenever I'd have something clamped. But it may just have been less familiar to me so I wasn't used to it.  Either way, I'm happy and the other collector was VERY happy. :)

Hello Flynn.  With the help of the patent, I was able to reassemble the lever vise.  It went together and seemed to function normally until I tried to tighten it on something but it wouldn't tighten.  When I started looking closely at each piece to see if there was anything wrong, I found the teeth on the internal mechanism were goobered up.  If you look at the last picture I included, those teeth are on the back side of the bottom part.  I am not sure I have the technology to fix this problem, nor will I be able to go on Amazon to get a replacement part!!!  The teeth on the sliding part of the vise are perfect...  Any thoughts?  

That's going to be a tough fix, I'm sorry!  I'd say your only real option would be to build up the area with weld and then carefully file the teeth back into place.  Maybe somebody smarter than me will offer a better option though!

Wow.... Nice vise.