GG's

The MF No. 2 is actually covered under Lanfair's patent, 508,427 which
according to DAT spelled the demise of Conover's patent, 468239.

Lanfair assigned his patent to the Miller's Falls Co.

The concept is the same but Conover moved the blade to the corresponding
show whereas Lanfair moves the shoe.

Kirks MF No 1 is of course very interesting in that it uses Conover's patent
but it is not marked on the tool, and his patent was essentially rendered 
obsolete
by a similar patent MF owned a year and a half later. DAT indicates the 
Conover's
shave was called "The Champion" but the maker is unknown.

Best,
Brian

At 06:59 AM 5/21/2003 -0400, Trevor Robinson wrote:
>Hi, Steve et al.
>         Sorry, but the MF No. 2 is an entirely different tool. It has a
>removable shoe that can be put in four ways to give differently contoured
>bottoms.