The firm of T. Norris & Son was one of the most prestigious makers of hand tools in England in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and famed for the quality and gracefulness of its output, notably of its metal planes. Both wooden and metal planes made in Norris's workshop survive as do other edge tools. Some Norris planes, especially bespoke models, are highly prized by woodworkers and collectors.
Thomas Norris is recorded as a joiners' tool-maker in Lambeth, Surrey by 1861,[5] living at 57 York Street.[6] A works address at 23 York Road, Lambeth, is also given on some tools and on the cover of the c. 1908 price list. Thomas James Norris, the eldest child of Thomas and Eliza Norris is recorded as a tool maker in the 1881 census and again in the 1891 census; by the 1911 census, however, he is recorded as living at 3 Sycamore Grove, New Malden, Surrey, with a "personal occupation" of "iron plane making & repairs for joiners and cabinetmakers also general tool dealers".
Planes by T. Norris & Son and Henley Optical Company Photograph by James Austin
New Malden, Surrey
It is not known when Thomas J. Norris set up his workshop in the grounds of his house in New Malden. David Russell suggests that this had happened by 1919.[8]
Thomas James Norris died 3 July 1936 leaving an estate of £3640 13s 9d.[9]
W.J. Yarranton worked as an apprentice at the Norris workshop from October 1939 when he joined as a 14-year-old boy until April 1943 when he volunteered for the RAF.[10] When he left he recalls that he was given a reference signed by the director, a Mrs H. Norris.
According to the London Gazette, Helen Sellars Norris, the widow of Thomas was chairman of the company at the time of an Extraordinary General Meeting of T. Norris & Son Limited held on 31 March 1941 at which the resolution was duly passed that "the Company be wound up voluntarily".[11] The Members' Voluntary Winding-up was to be reported at a General Meeting of the Members of the Company on 23 September 1941.[12] The timing of change of ownership has yet to be clarified. It would seem, however, that she had taken charge of the business on her husband's death and that although perhaps no longer the owner of the firm in 1943 when Yarranton left, she was working on as a director after the firm had become Norris Planes Ltd.
Helen Sellars Norris died 8 March 1952 at Worthing.[13]
The 1913 patent number on the adjustment knob of an A1 jointing planeThe 1922 patent number on the adjustment knob of an economy version of a closed-handle smoothing plane
Norris patent adjustment device
The quest for full vertical and lateral control of the plane iron had been raging for many years. Leonard Bailey in Connecticut devised a system in 1867 that was to be adopted by Stanley. Charles Nurse in London invented a plane-iron regulator (patented 1889), a device that the firm of Norris & Son experimented with on its planes before Thomas James Norris created and patented an adjustment mechanism of his own.
First patent
Under patent 11,526 of 13 July 1913 Norris sought protection for his "Adjustment for Plane Irons". The 1914 Norris price list gives an outline explanation, whereas the HMSO report published in 1921 gives a full description of the mechanism.[14]
During the First World War Norris continued making tools. Economy designs were supplied to the government, some with Norris's patent adjustment device.
On some later low-angle planes with pin-and-hole iron adjustment, the 1913 patent number was used without the 13 suffix.
Second patent
Under no. 199,198 of 22 June 1923 Thomas J. Norris patented modifications to his patent adjustment device.
Maker's marks
In the early days the mark varied considerably and often gave one of the Lambeth addresses. Later the simple "Norris London" (initially set straight or later in an ellipse) was used.[15]
Later years
Norris Planes Ltd and Norris Planes & Tools Ltd
The premises at 3 Sycamore Grove, New Malden, were leased in 1941 for the duration of the War plus three months to Aeronautical and General Instruments Ltd, with registered office Purley Way, Croydon,[16] "for the manufacture of scientific instruments and the purposes of general engineering".[17]
Many planes made during this period used parallel steel channel rather than being dovetailed and peened.
A certain Ernest George Long, Foreman, Aeronautical & General Instruments Ltd. (Morden, Surrey) was awarded the British Empire Medal in the 1951 New Year Honours. Although there is no known direct correlation with Norris planes, the award hints at a continuing excellence in engineering.
Legacy
Several makers have found inspiration in the workmanship and design of Norris planes:
Henley Optical Company, Oxford, made a range of exquisitely manufactured planes in the 1970s and 1980s.
Bill Carter has since 1987 been making planes many in the Norris tradition.
Holtey Planes; first inspiration came from a Norris plane in the 1990s.
Exhibitions
No evidence has yet been found of participation by T. Norris & Son in world's fairs.
Notes
T. Norris & Son: A Selection of High-Class London Made Metal Planes Front cover of the 1930s price list Photograph by James Austin
↑ Date given on the front cover of the 1914 price list
↑ Clockwise from bottom left: adjustable shoulder plane serial no. 276 (Henley Optical Company); low-angle rebate/mitre plane with pin-and-hole adjustment (Norris); smoothing block plane in beech (Norris); moulding planes in beech (Norris); smoothing plane (Norris); A31 adjustable thumb plane in gun-metal (Norris). Picture used on the jacket of Antique Woodworking Tools.
↑ “A plane is provided with a threaded spindle ... adapted to coact with a nut ... , which is pivoted to the body of the plane, and the spindle is rotatably connected with the plane iron by means of a cup-shaped block ... engaging the head ... of the blade screw. The portion of the spindle coacting with the block ... is of reduced diameter, and the screw-thread thereon is in the opposite direction to that on the part of the spindle which coacts with the nut... The screw threads on the two portions may be in the same direction but of different pitch; or the end of the spindle may be revolubly connected with the block ... The cut of the plane is adjusted by rotation of the spindle, and the angular position of the plane-iron is corrected by an angular or side movement of the spindle about the pivoted nut ...” Patents for Invention: Abridgments of Specifications, Class 61 (ii), Hand Tools, Period—A.D.1909–15, London, 1921, p. 127 (this is as quoted in Russell, p. 380, n. 4).
↑ This firm established in 1915 became a public company in 1936 and continues to operate in Poole, Dorset. See the official website. It is likely that Norris Planes Ltd (1944–1946), probably still based at Sycamore Grove as well as the later Norris Planes & Tools Ltd (1946–1958) were successive subsidiaries.
↑ Lease dated 21 February 1941 (ref. KX329/4 Kingston Museum and Heritage Service). The premises comprised "dwelling house, garage adjoining and business at 3 Sycamore Grove and the factory, workshop and outside garages as have been in the occupation of [Helen Sellars Norris]". The property on the north side of Sycamore Grove had a frontage of 120 feet to Sycamore Grove and a depth of 200 feet with "buildings thereon".
Bibliography
Moskowitz, Joel, and Sally Bernstein (intro.), with photographs by Joel Moskowitz. Norris Metal Planes (2002), Lakeville, MN: Astragal Press (reprints the Norris 1914 catalogue with material from the c. 1928 Norris catalogue and from the 1938 dealer's catalogue issued by Buck & Ryan) ISBN978-1931626088OCLC313450745
Norris, T. & Son (c. 1908), Illustrated Price List Metal Planes, Lambeth, London
Norris, T. & Son (1914), A Selection of High-Class London Made Metal Planes, London
Norris, T. & Son (c. 1928), Norris London Metal Planes, London
Norris, T. & Son (1930s), A Selection of High-Class London Made Metal Planes, London
Russell, David R., with John Adamson, "The great plane-makers: The history behind T. Norris & Son", Furniture & Cabinetmaking, issue 221, August 2014, ISSN 1365-4292, pp.58–62 (updated summary taken from David Russell's book with a column on the Norris adjuster written by Karl Holtey)
The router is a power tool with a flat base and a rotating blade extending past the base. The spindle may be driven by an electric motor or by a pneumatic motor. It routs an area in hard material, such as wood or plastic. Routers are used most often in woodworking, especially cabinetry. They may be handheld or affixed to router tables. Some woodworkers consider the router one of the most versatile power tools.
Henry Maudslay was an English machine tool innovator, tool and die maker, and inventor. He is considered a founding father of machine tool technology. His inventions were an important foundation for the Industrial Revolution.
A drill is a tool used for making round holes or driving fasteners. It is fitted with a bit, either a drill or driver chuck. Hand-operated types are dramatically decreasing in popularity and cordless battery-powered ones proliferating due to increased efficiency and ease of use.
A smoothing plane or smooth plane is a type of bench plane used in woodworking. The smoothing plane is typically the last plane used on a wood surface, removing very fine shavings to leave a smooth finish. When used effectively it quickly produces a finish that equals or surpasses that made by sandpaper.
A hand plane is a tool for shaping wood using muscle power to force the cutting blade over the wood surface. Some rotary power planers are motorized power tools used for the same types of larger tasks, but are unsuitable for fine-scale planing, where a miniature hand plane is used.
A spokeshave is a hand tool used to shape and smooth woods in woodworking jobs such as making cart wheel spokes, chair legs, paddles, bows, and arrows. The tool consists of a blade fixed into the body of the tool, which has a handle for each hand. Historically, a spokeshave was made with a wooden body and metal cutting blade. With industrialization metal bodies displaced wood in mass-produced tools. Being a small tool, spokeshaves are not suited to working large surfaces.
Richard Roberts was a Welsh patternmaker and engineer whose development of high-precision machine tools contributed to the birth of production engineering and mass production.
Henry Cort was an English ironware producer who was formerly a Navy pay agent. During the Industrial Revolution in England, Cort began refining iron from pig iron to wrought iron using innovative production systems. In 1784, he obtained a patent for an improved version of Peter Onions's puddling process, for refining cast iron, although its commercial viability was only realised in the 1790s, through further innovations introduced by Richard Crawshay and Homfray of the Cyfarthfa Ironworks, in Merthyr Tydfil.
A jack plane is a general-purpose woodworking bench plane, used for dressing timber down to size in preparation for truing and/or edge jointing. It is usually the first plane used on rough stock, but for rougher work it can be preceded by the scrub plane. The versality of the jack plane has led to it being the most common bench plane in use. The name jack plane is sometimes used interchangeably with the longer fore plane.
A sander is a power tool used to smooth surfaces by abrasion with sandpaper. Sanders have a means to attach the sandpaper and a mechanism to move it rapidly contained within a housing with means to hand-hold it or fix it to a workbench. Woodworking sanders are usually powered electrically, and those used in auto-body repair work by compressed air. There are many different types of sanders for different purposes. Multi-purpose power tools and electric drills may have sander attachments.
Hensoldt UK, formerly Kelvin Hughes, is a British company specialising in the design and manufacture of navigation and surveillance systems and a supplier of navigational data to both the commercial marine and government marketplace.
Although an antique tool might be said to be one that is more than a hundred years old, the term is often used to describe any old tool of quality that might be deemed collectable.
The Holtzapffel dynasty of tool and lathe makers was founded in Long Acre, London by a Strasbourg-born turner, Jean-Jacques Holtzapffel, in 1794. The firm specialized in lathes for ornamental turning but also made a name for its high-quality edge and boring tools.
Edward Preston & Sons is a tool manufacturer based in Birmingham, England.
David R. Russell was a builder who for many years collected antique woodworking tools.
The firm of Alexander Mathieson & Sons was one of the leading makers of hand tools in Scotland. Its success went hand in hand with the growth of the shipbuilding industries on the Firth of Clyde in the nineteenth century and the emergence of Glasgow as the "second city of the Empire". It also reflected the firm's skill in responding to an unprecedented demand for quality tools by shipyards, cooperages and other industries, both locally and far and wide.
James Austin is an Australian fine-art and architectural photographer.
Antique Woodworking Tools: Their Craftsmanship from Earliest Times to the Twentieth Century is David Russell's account of the history of woodworking tools illustrated profusely with items from his extensive collection of British, continental European and North American hand tools. Planes are given special attention and British makers, among them Holtzapffel, Norris, Mathieson and Spiers, are discussed in depth.
Stewart Spiers was a small but innovative firm of plane-makers in Scotland, founded first of all in Ayr in Ayrshire and continuing under the registered name of Stewart Speirs Ltd [sic] in Paisley, Renfrewshire, from c. 1933 until its demise in the mid to late 1930s. Like the Glasgow firm of Alexander Mathieson & Sons, Spiers benefited hugely from the thriving industries on the Firth of Clyde in the latter half of the nineteenth century.
Loud Brothers was an American piano designer and manufacturer based in Philadelphia. Established in 1822, it was the leading American piano manufacturer till 1837, when the factory closed due to overproduction, market flooding, and plummeting sales. Four brothers, Thomas Loud, Jr., Philologus Loud, John Loud, and Joseph Loud, were involved with the company. Thomas C. Loud, son of Thomas Loud, Jr., upheld the family reputation till about 1855. The Louds, besides being strong inventors, were important promoters of the industry.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
