Eagle Square

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AKA: ~

Additional Information: Legend has it that just after the war of 1812, a Vermont blacksmith was paid for his efforts in old saw blades. He forge welded two together at right angles and the steel square was born. The story is apocryphal, there is evidence of steel squares 200 years before but Silas Hawes (also the name of the blacksmith in the story) in 1819 did patent a carpenters square. Hawes' patent was actually for tapering the square from the Heel (shown here) to each end thus rendering the square lighter, improving balance and saving metal. One year later Hawes and his associate Stephen Whipple went into business as the Eagle Square Company. For nearly a century the company dominated the market. Then, in 1916, Stanley Rule and Level bought a majority interest in the Eagle Square Company and welcomed the now famous tool into their product line.

Relative Link: Eagle Square Factory

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