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.  While the concept
is the same of having different soles/shoes for the spokeshave, Conover
moved the blade whereas Lanfair moves the shoe.

Kirks MF No 1 is of course very interesting in that it appears to use 
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.