I remember reading a while ago that the oldest square rule frame found so far, dated from 1801. This had been discovered in a contemporary newspaper article which described the anticipation of the old-timers waiting to see how the new technique was going to work.
Does anyone know of the source of this newspapaper article?
And is this barn/house still standing?
And is/was it the first one?
All info on the beginnings of square rule appreciated.

1800 sounds too early to me, in north america anyway. Do you remember where your newspaper was from?
I have still not seen a scribe rule barn in my area(Ontario).

Mark, are you saying every timber frame barn you see is square rule? How old are these barns?

Where's Mr Truax? He is pretty knowledgable about this.

One interesting theory he told me about is that the War of 1812 may have been the vehicle for the square rule's rapid dissemination. Carpenters from all the states intermingling and traveling and learning new techniques, etc.

As for the earliest known example, 1801 sounds about right to me.

I, too, am interested in the circumstances surrounding this practically overnight change in carpentry that happened on this contintent.

One thing I am curious about is this -- Since the square rule was the norm in Canada (as Mark has said) where the cultural exchange with the UK was greater in the 19th century, why didn't it make it's way back to the UK as a viable method? I can understand it not spreading from the States to the UK in that time period, given our being at odds with each other. Any thoughts?

Gabel

Hi Joe,

It is generally preached in the business management world that Springfield Armoury, Mass. is accorded the honour of being the first factory in the world where a standard limit and fit approach was developed to permit the mass manufacture of musketts and ammunition where interchangeability of parts was a pre requisite. This manufacturing technique commenced development following the american war of independance and certainly by 1795 muskett manufacture had commeced at Springfield. By 1819 it had become so well established that machinery being developed that could achieve this aim.

Since square rule is a technique that promotes interchangeability of parts (mainly braces) then it is unlikely that this would be evident in timber frames before the early 1800's but if this is found to be the case then we might just be about to rewrite the manufacturing history book and accreditation for the development of this important manufacturing technique.

This is quite a profound question.

Regards

Ken Hume

Hi Ken,
Yes, square rule was applying the techniques of early mass production to timber framing. The roots of this came from Europe in the late eighteenth century and then found fertile ground to flourish in the States from the beginning of the nineteenth, initially in military applications then on to agricultural and consumer goods. Division of labour, standardization, interchangeability, and mechanical power sources enabled the States to supply the demands required of it and to utilise its specific human and material resources in a way that Europe was not able to initially.
So further information on these early square rule frame would be very interesting.
I know Eli Whitney( who was a central player in the production of the smithfield rifle) had a square rule barn built in 1816 at his farm. But I bet he was not the first.

Jim,
yes. I have not seen anything but square rule construction here in Ontario. But the barns are not that old here 1850 is about as far as I can see frame barns going. Before that they all seem to be log. There may be older barns closer to Toronto or Montreal??...

Thanks for the Canadian info of about mid nineteenth century for square rule.
I read in an old Guild newsletter today that the first square rule frame was 1803. No reference given for the source of the info, but it does seem to confirm that Square rule probably originated at the beginning of the nineteenth century.
It would be great though to get a name or a source to look up for this.

http://www.connecticutbarns.org/index.cgi/3923

ConnecticutBarns.org has a newspaper clipping advertising the teaching of square rule of framing dating to 1814. The newspaper clipping is near the bottom of the page. Local (New Haven county) timber framers believe they have evidence that a frame was constructed in 1795 or there abouts using the square rule.

Framing square collecting is popular with the barn historians at least from what I've seen. One scenario is the local blacksmith made the framing square(s) to the local barn builder's specs. Bringing square rule to the area via the layout tool.

Neat stuff.

Here's a town history talking about 1812.
Goshen Town History

This one's interesting. It talks about 1812, as well and then mentions a legend that a frame built in 1801 in Antrim, NH was square ruled.
Newbury, VT town history

Here's one that gives 1815 as the date of the first local square rule frame -
Antrim town history

Here's one written in 1875 that claims 1760's as the first square rule frame in town. That seems too early to me.
town history of Northfield, Mass

Here's one that mentions the first carpenter in town to use the square rule as being a veteran of the War of 1812.
Washington Co., Vt.

Here is an interesting passage from a James Fennimore Cooper novel from 1845.
The Chain-bearer

Nothing conclusive about the true origins, but interesting stuff about when it started showing up in different places.

Gabel

Hi Gabel,
Many thanks for those links. I have only had a chance to chase one of them up so far.
I read the Chain-bearer passage with great interest, he really paints a picture of the thrills and dangers of raising a frame.

I guess I am not suprised that the first frame is claimed by a number of places. The history of new ideas and inventions is that they often crop up almost simultaneously in two or more locations, and this may fit the facts in the case of square rule.
Thanks again

Gabel – Good stuff !

I am particularly intrigued by the Northfield possibility, ( site of a Guild event ) a picture perfect New England town that I know well, having spent nine months on a restoration in the next town north, just over the NH line. ( site of another Guild event )

It’s intriguing for two reasons, a huge building boom began in the area in the 1760’s with the end of two wars, The F&I ( or the Seven Years War as I’m guessing SussexOak would know it ) and The Dispute over the New Hampshire Grants, ( the Grants being an undeclared and little recognized war, but a war all the same ) which opened up vast areas to now be safely settled. ( many NH towns were incorporated in the 1720’s but not settled until the 60’s and 70’s ) Coastal areas in Northern New England were long settled, ( if I travel 25 miles east I can be in towns settled in the mid 1620’s though mine was not for another 150 years ) but the interior was settled almost en masse.( there were exceptions, good bottom land and mill sites and self interest in keeping squatters off valuable grants meant some risked the threat of raids ) While the settlement of Massachusetts differed in that much of the interior was settled, I believe the Pioneer Valley (in which Northfield falls) was then the frontier. Northfield was settled in 1673 but certainly an area wide building boom would have had effect there – The longstanding trained carpenters home-quatered on the frontier would have been in high demand, as example, Winchester NH – the next town north – was razed completely in a fiery raid in 1747, during King Georges War

Such building booms often spark innovation. All my towns earliest buildings are scribe and English Tying, but obviously someone somewhere was innovating. And while The War of 1812 may well have been the vehicle responsible for the rapid dissemination of SR ( forget where I heard that theory or whose it is ) on a national scale, that does not mean it’s innovator and his crew had not been quietly practicing it for some years.

The other reason it is intriguing is that it is potentially verifiable! Records verifying the steeples date of construction might well exist, and if the Meetinghouse likewise still exists, a survey of it’s framing will tell us much.

I already have a call in to the towns historic commission hoping to arrange such a survey, should I find something to report, I’ll post it here.

Thanks, Will. Let us know what you find out.

I read the whole chapter before I connected with the commission, so was not surprised to learn that the building was lost in 1833.

All the same the locals are being more than cooperative and seemingly happy to help research one of histories mysteries, and have offered to try to determine if anything he did build, still stands.

I know it's as likely as not that the gentlemen who penned the history might well have been trying to shine a little extra light on the town they loved, but I'm gonna keep looking because there is still some potential for verification, and I find it interesting that there's a name to research...

After the Revolution Capt. King moved to Vermont (the Grants) and is now two hundred years gone, (1807) so if he was the innovator, he didn't live to see SR move into dominant practice. There's also the potential to find something he built there. Either would be telling.

Thanks for following this thread up everybody.
It does sound as though you are narrowing in on the locallity and the date range .
Have you seen Eli Whitneys barn at New Haven? built in about 1815.
Whilst this will not be the first square rule frame it would give a benchmark on how well developed the method had become by this date.
I just built a small square rule frame the other week, using a lot of similiar tools and techniques to scribe rule until you get to the housings, where as you know the two techniques then diverge. Interestingly it does not appear to be much quicker for the primary timbers. The real increase in speed is for the smaller secondary timbers. We were not cutting housings on the layout faces, and just snapping one (or at most) two chalklines on the timbers as the layout required. No trial fits, and luckily no mistakes! Shoulders at the joints were not as good as with scribe rule.

Thanks for following this thread up everybody.
It does sound as though you are narrowing in on the locallity and the date range .
Have you seen Eli Whitneys barn at New Haven? built in about 1815.
Whilst this will not be the first square rule frame it would give a benchmark on how well developed the method had become by this date.
I just built a small square rule frame the other week, using a lot of similiar tools and techniques to scribe rule until you get to the housings, where as you know the two techniques then diverge. Interestingly it does not appear to be much quicker for the primary timbers. The real increase in speed is for the smaller secondary timbers. We were not cutting housings on the layout faces, and just snapping one (or at most) two chalklines on the timbers as the layout required. No trial fits, and luckily no mistakes! Shoulders at the joints were not as good as with scribe rule.