Bit extensions are used to extend the
reach of augers in a brace. They allow
the carpenter to drill through much thicker wood or to carry a hole through a
wider space. They were made by various
manufacturers. The one’s in my collection
are from Stanley, Millers Falls, and perhaps Greenlee.
Greenlee Tools was started in Crawford County,
Pennsylvania by Robert and Ralph Greenlee, the twin sons of a local farmer and
inventor who had patented a line of wooden barrel-making machines in the early
1800’s. The Pennsylvania oil started
flowing shortly thereafter, and the Greenlees were in a position to make money
supplying the barrels this required. The
brothers moved to Chicago in 1899, where Greenlee Brothers & Co. was
officially formed. The Great Chicago
Fire of 1871 left their factory unscathed, and increased the demand for their
woodworking machinery to help in reconstruction. The went on to develop a hollow chisel
mortiser for making square mortises quickly, a portable “railroad tie machining
car” to produce ties for the exploding railway development after the US Civil
War, and the first ever “self-feed power rip saw.” When there own factory did burn down in 1897,
the moved their plant to a more convenient location in Rockford, Illinois in
1903. In 1927, a separate firm, Greenlee
Tool Company, was established to carry on the small tools business while the
machine tools remained with Greenlee Brothers & Company. It became part of Textron Inc. in 1986.
The 1930 patent drawing is for a
Greenlee No. 900.
