Barnes Scroll Saw's
The Nr 1 scroll-saw
The Nr1 amateur saw was offered in Barnes catalogs from 1876 to 1907.
It had a swing of 18 inches, and could cut up to 1-1/2 inches of pine. The table did not tilt on this saw, and it was of the velocipede fashion, with a separate sitting stool required for the operator. This machine always used the round belt. In fact, aside from the boring attachment, this saw remained unchanged throughout its production.
The was a light-duty optional boring attachment for this machine consisted of an arm connected at the back of the scroll saw and overhanging the main worktable.
Source:Brown Auction Service. www.finetoolj.com
The Nr 2 Scroll-saw.
There are 3 types of nr2 scroll saws known:
Type 1 sold with the round drive belt, oval solid pedals, and early counter-weighted boring attachment from 1876 to 1877.
Type 2, sold from 1880-1886, had the round belt, square open pedals, but the late boring attachment.
Type 3 sold with the flat perforated belt which was patented in 1886, so from that year to the end of the its production in 1937 it had the flat belt, oval solid pedals, and the later boring attachment. This type is known as the "Improved Nr 2 Saw."
All machines provided a "tractor-style" seat for the operator, which resembled the seat of early farm tractors (before founding the Barnes company, John Barnes had worked in agricultural machinery).
The pedals found on Barnes #2 changed over the years as well. Earlier machines (between 1876 and 1877) used cast iron oval pedals. By 1880, square open-framed castings were used for the pedals, and then in 1886 the company went back to the oval cast iron pedal. Because of this flip-flop, it is difficult to accurately date a specific Barnes machine with the pedal design alone.
The #2 machine had a swing of 24 inches, a 7 inch blade, table of hard maple and frame of cast iron. One 3/16 inch boring bit was included as standard equipment. This machine could cut 2 inch pine at 1 foot per minute, and 3 inch thick walnut at 6 inches per minute.
Source: http://www.tooltimer.com/barnes.html
I included this picture to show the drilling attachment that is missing from all machines i have seen to date.
The pictures are from Oldiron's machine.
The perforated belt that is missing from the 2 pictures above.
Nr 3 scroll saw
Early walking arm type that was discontinued some time before 1881.
Source:Brown Auction Service. www.finetoolj.com
Nr 4 Scroll saw
Outside of the patent records,little of this saw is known.
This machine incorporated the Nr 3 scroll saw head with a four-legged base similar to a sewing machine base rather than the tripod base of the Nr 1.
It was actuated by a two pedal velocipede device.
Patented in 1878, and this saw was only made in that year.
The illustration is from patent records, so far none has been seen.
Nr 5 Scroll saw
A very rare saw that was made from the base of a Nr 4 and the top of a saw that is very similar to the Nr 6 but marked Nr 5.
The base is extra fancy and the blade is flat belt driven.
As of this writing, only two of these saw's are known.
Source:Brown Auction Service. www.finetoolj.com
Nr 6 Amature Saw
This scroll saw has been found in 2 types. The first, with fancier castings, was shown in catalogs from 1880 to 1883. In this type, the castings had decorative guides for the optional boring attachment. The later type, from 1883-1901, did away with these guides and used simple pulleys instead. This machine was velocipede driven, with solid oval pedals and round belt found on both types. It included a boring bit, a piston blower, pressure holddown foot, 12 blades, wrench, and an adjustable (tilting) table. It weighed 50 pounds (60 pounds boxed) and sold for $12.00 with the boring attachment, $10.00 without. It had an 18 inch swing and could cut 1-1/4 inch thick material.
This saw is most unusual because it didn't have the normal wooden arms of a scroll saw; instead, the blade ran perfectly straight up and down, and was actuated by a series of leather belts. The #6 had one belt for treadle power to the flywheel, one belt running up to a camshaft, and belts from the cam to drive the blades. The boring attachment used additional belts. Perhaps the Barnes company made the saw in this complex design due to patent problems with the #3.
Source:Brown Auction Service. www.finetoolj.com
The Nr 7
The #7 and its predecessors was the first product of the Barnes company. Because of this, the #7 went through more type variations than any other Barnes product:
Type 1 was manufactured from about 1870 to 1872. It used the patented ratcheting mechanism and round belt, although minor variations in the ratcheting mechanism may have occurred between 1871 and 1874. It used a large treadle that apparently was connected directly to the drive pulley by a round leather belt. Prototype production of this type started about 1868. No known examples exist, but an 1886 newspaper interview with W. F. Barnes describes their first saw as a "crude looking foot-powered scroll saw, having little resemblance to the perfect apparatus now turned out, but running on the same principal." This saw was called the "old saw" in an June 13, 1873 day book (a Barnes company financial journal), where it was being heavily discounted to clear out inventory.
Type 2 was manufactured from 1873-1876. This machine had a wooden spring stick in the back to provide return motion, which either the artist left out in the earlier catalog illustrations, or perhaps the saw used a metal coil spring instead. This type was called the "large saw" because they also introduced an amateur's "small saw" in 1874.
Type 3, from 1876-1885, added a patent date to the spreader block casting and the saw tables changed from ash to maple. This type still used the wooden spring. Somewhere in this period Barnes assigned this saw the #7.
Type 4 began production in 1885, when a lower wooden arm replaced the cast iron second pulley and wooden spring used on earlier types. This machine started to use the round leather drive belt, and was produced until 1889.
Type 5 adopted the flat perforated belt. Sold from 1889 through 1935, when the records indicate the last machine was sold. This type is known as the "Improved #7 Saw."
This saw was advertised as swinging 24 inches, with a 7 inch blade, and 800 to 1200 stroked per minute. Weight was 55 pounds (70 pounds boxed), and the table was 38 inches above the floor. There was no boring attachment sold for this machine. The first and second type of machine sold for $30.00, but later types were reduced in price to $20.00 each, probably as a result of the elimination of the second cast iron pulley and economies of scale. Figure 7 shows a type 1, a type 2 with and without the spring stick, a type 4, and a type 5. The type 3 looks very similar to the type 2 with the spring stick.
Patend 22 Oct 1889.
From the Melhuish 1907 Catalogue.
Source ; Charles Churchill & Co 1876.
Source:Brown Auction Service. www.finetoolj.com
More interesting pictures of the #7 steam driven.
Source; Charles Churchill Catalogue 1876.