Tooth key with steel shaft, turned ivory handle, and “[MADE] FOR / N. FRANCIS / ALBANY / G. W. MEAD / PITTSFIELD / MASS. / DENTAL INSTRUMENT MAKER / WARRANTED CAST STEEL” inscription. This may have been made by George W. Mead (1804-1870) in Pittsfield, Ma., and used by C. E. Francis, a prominent dentist in Albany, N.Y.
Patent model for Julius A. Bidwell, “Improvement in Dental Mallets,” U.S. Patent US.103,706 (May 31, 1870). At the time, Bidwell was living in Chicago.
Patent model for Thomas Cogswell, “Dental Mirror,” U.S. Patent 163,578 (May 25, 1875). Thomas Cogswell (1835-1912) was a dentist then living in Boston, Mass.
Patent model for Peter Nelson Jacobus, “Improvement in Dental Forceps,” U.S. Patent 122,254 (Dec. 26, 1871).Jacobus (1833-1905) was a physician in New Jersey.
According to the donor, this dental instrument was made by Thomas Wiltberger Evans (1823–1897), a much-honored American dentist who performed dental procedures on many heads of state.
Oliver A. Jarvis (1827-1884) was a dentist in New York City. His “Improvement in Teeth Separating Apparatus” received U.S. Patent 154,867 (Sept. 8, 1874).
The “SARGENT / V P H” and “Sargent & Co.” inscriptions on this plane probably refer to a family-owned hardware business that began in 1810 and moved to New Haven in 1864.
Ref: Ad for the Sargent Auto-Set Bench Plane in Popular Science Monthly (July 1923), p. 82.
John H. Shaw, “Rabbet Plane,” U.S. Patent 1,069,735 (Aug. 12, 1913), assigned to Sargent & Co. of New Haven.