RARE Antique Handpainted-1867 Davis Level & Tool Co Adjustable Spirit Level

Description

Davis Level & Tool Co -
6 inch  - Adjustable Spirit Level Davis Level & Tool Co
manufactured this inclinometer / level in Springfield, Mass. The stamped patent date is
Sep 17, 1867.
Fabricated with a
cast-iron body
and a
center brass adjustable
spirit level which could be rotated 90 degrees for level or plumb use, or set to any degree in between by aligning the indicator arrow with the degree markings of the outer brass retaining ring. This level was finished with
Japanning
and highlighted with
hand applied gold paint.
Leonard L. Davis began manufacturing levels in Springfield, Mass. in 1867, and over the following years produced some of the most beautiful, well made, and finely detailed levels of the century. He was an artist as well as a craftsman. This design was one of the first produced by the company.
The Davistown Museum website, although not affiliated with this company calls Davis Tools the most sought after tools of the 19th century due to their almost art like nature.
From the Davistown Museum website
There is probably no section of our country where machinists' and mechanics' tools are used, that the name of the Davis Level and Tool Company is not also familiar, and for that, matter hardly any part of the civilized globe. The extent of this company's operations, the character of their productions, their contributions to the industrial thrift of the city, and the notoriety their products have given Springfield as a first class manufacturing center, all combine to make it a concern whose benefits are incalculable, and whose wide-spread and far-reaching trade stamp it as the peer of any similar establishment in the the whole country.
This enterprise was originally established in 1867 at Chicopee Falls, by its present sole proprietor, Mr. L. L. Davis. Soon after its inception the present style was adopted, and in 1875 the works were, removed to this city.  It was not until some time after its establishment that the house was marked by any particular degree of prominence, when the company secured several valuable patents, both by purchase and upon inventions of the proprietor, the adoption of which and the manufacture of the products have given them a national reputation.
The manufacturing plant of the company is equipped with all the necessary tools and machinery, including much specially constructed for their uses, and employment is furnished in the works for about twenty-five skilled artisans.
The products of the house, the most of which, as before stated, are protected by letters patent, comprise a general line of hardware tools, machinists' and railway supplies, the extent of which, in their great variety, would require too much space for particular enumeration by us. As a simple matter of justice, however, we should mention their Power Planers, Planer Cutters, Gear Cutters and Davis's Patent Adjustable Inclinometers, Improved Iron Bench Planes, Saw Clamps, Lathe Dogs, Thread Gauges, Hack Saws, Machinists' Screw Drivers, Scratch Awls, Surface Gauges, Marshall's Patent Center Square and Depth Gauges, Calipers, and Dividers. They also manufacture Johnson's Patent Car Brake, which is acknowledged by experts to be the simplest, quickest and most powerful article of the kind ever invented.
These productions, which are known in every machine shop in the country, have maintained their excellence of construction during the whole period of their manufacture, and whether the company are crowded with orders, or to the contrary, the same carefulness of details and uniformity of production is observable in all their output.  To the combination of these essentials of successful manufacture, the valuable patents owned by them, and the marked ability of the management, the Davis Level and Tool Company owe their present high reputation and standing.
Concerning a gentleman so well known to the trade as Mr. Davis, and who has been an enterprising citizen of Springfield for over twenty years, we may not presume to make any further personal comments; but we consider it quite within our province to congratulate the city of Springfield on the fact that a concern which has contributed so large a share to the prestige of American manufactures, as has the Davis Level and Tool Company, is located within her limits.