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An automatic saw filer is a machine for sharpening hand saws, back saws, band saws, and steel circular saw blades. An automatic saw filer combines the sharpening operation with a method for advancing the saw blade to the next tooth to be sharpened. A saw filer uses a taper saw file, which has a triangular cross section with equal sides. Taper saw files are also used to hand-sharpen hand saws and back saws. The first saw filing machines were hand powered, and later filers were electrically powered with a hand wheel for making adjustments. As of 2012 no automatic saw filers are known to be in production anywhere in the world.

Foley automatic saw filers

Although no production numbers are known to be available, by far the most commonly available automatic saw filers in the United States were those made by Foley, now Foley Belsaw. Hugh B. Foley (1870-1926), an English citizen living in Seattle, Washington patented a saw filing machine in late 1906. Foley formed Foley Saw Tool Company to manufacture The Foley Saw Filing Machine after applying for the patent in early 1906, according to the name plate on an early machine. By 1916 Hugh B. Foley was a US citizen living in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and he was granted another patent May 1, 1917 for an improved saw filing machine. Foley continued to invent and patent saw filing and saw setting equipment, with his last patent issued posthumously in 1928.

Mechanically, all Foley and Foley Belsaw filers are similar to Foley’s patents, with the hand wheel or motor turning a short transverse crankshaft which operates an arm holding the file, drawing the file over the saw teeth, then lifting the file and returning it to the starting position. As the arm holding the file lifts, it operates a rocker arm with an adjustable pawl to push against a filed saw tooth, advancing the saw blade. The Foley filer uses a fractional horsepower motor, 1725 rpm, with a speed range of 55 to 65 strokes per minute. Speed is adjustable by changing the size of the motor pulley.

Walter Ringer purchased Foley Manufacturing Company in 1926. and continued to develop and manufacture automatic saw filers and related saw setting and retoothing equipment in Minneapolis. Hugh B. Foley assigned model names to his machines beginning with F-1, then F-3 and F-5. Ringer and his successors continued the same naming convention until the 1960s, with the F-16, F-24, F-42, and F-61 models. The Model 200 and Model 387 filers followed.

Belsaw automatic saw filers

Belsaw Machinery Co. of Kansas City, Missouri produced the Model 1200 saw filer. The Model 1200 uses more gearing than the Foley filers and a chain and sprocket feed mechanism, making a more compact machine operating 50 to 60 strokes per minute.

Foley Belsaw automatic saw filers

Foley and Belsaw merged in 1983 under Ringer family ownership, now in its third generation. The combined firm eliminated some duplicate products, but continued to manufacture machines developed by both Foley and Belsaw under the new name. Foley Belsaw made the Model 387 and the similar SF-1000, and briefly sold the Model 1200.

Other saw filing machines

Several other saw filers were made around 1900, including the Ambler combination setter and filer. The Ambler is a combination setter and filer for band saws, and is driven by a flat belt. The Acme filer is a massive cast iron saw vise with a motor driven file holder. Since the saw must be moved by hand, the Acme is not an automatic saw filer. Byron G. Daggett invented a radically different automatic saw sharpener which uses an abrasive wheel. Daggett patented it in 1943 and 1959. There are very few surviving examples of these other saw filers and sharpeners.

External links

• Foley Belsaw web site
• Vintage Machinery web site