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Originally Posted by edgarspencer
The Spencer, of Billings & Spencer was Christopher Spencer, my Great Grandfather's first cousin. He had a spinning and weaving mill in Manchester before going into partnership with Charles Billings, approx 1870. Their principle product lines were mostly sporting related, and their biggest local customer, also in Hartford, was Columbia Bicycle.
Spencer had something to do with a gun, prior to this. He invented the Spencer Repeating rifle, which he personally sold to Abraham Lincoln.
From the picture of the rough forging in TPS, it would appear they were closed die forgings.
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There is an article in this month’s (May, 2020) KNIFE magazine, by knife writer and researcher Lee Schechter about Billings & Spencer. It features the concern’s manufacture of all-metal knives, a minor part of the business that most knife collectors have no knowledge of.
One weapon, of cross-over interest, would be the (indispensable for every-day-carry?) knife-pistol (U. S. Patent #82,279).
A combination Sliding Knife with Screw-driver heads was called the Sportsman’s Knife and was advertised in FIELD & STREAM in 1908.
According to the article, Billings & Spencer “excelled in in the manufacturing of hand tools, parts for sewing machines and firearms as well as further developing of drop hammer technology”.
An early 20th Century company report said they were using seventy-five drop hammers at the factory.
Ref.: KNIFE MAGAZINE, P. O. Box 11012, Knoxville, Tennessee 37939; 800-828-7751