Purchased a shabby but salvageable thumbhole saw on ebay a few weeks ago, applied a bit of elbow grease and discovered an etch. Had a good hunt for the word TANGONIA but no joy, except a rather nice but expensive example on ebay at the moment with TANGONIA in big letters on the handle. Any ideas what TANGONIA means ? Thanks in advance, Carl
Pure guess work: could Taylors (who had an immense and world-wide export trade) have a dealer in Patagonia??? They certainly had special etches made for dealers in Buenos Aires. But this word was one of their (many) trademark names from post 1945, so this is probably as silly a suggestion as the name itself.
I've seen a number of Taylor Bros "Adelaide Works" panel and hand saws in Australia with the above etch, which I believe is a standard wire gauge (superimposed over logging circular saws) that is used to measure saw plate thicknesses. The saw model is a "Tangonia OT8" and appears to be basically a D8 knock off. The other interesting feature of this model is that the label screw disc (brass) is typically soldered to the post - I guess Taylor Bros just made up medallion nuts as required. Often the standard nuts are steel and the label nut brass. Anybody got a decent guess for the age range of saws with this etch? I have a lovely panel saw, albeit well-used, with the above etch, the problem is that the blade retains the spring temper of a ripened banana so it is a very pretty but functionally useless wall hanger.
There are a few Tangonia saws on ebay at the moment, as to what the name means, I'd be tempted to speculate that Taylor Brothers were sponsoring an in-house Tango competition, but I'm lacking primary sources to back up that assertion... Ray
Couple of points here: The patent for Perforated Circular Saw appears to be awarded in early 1870s. In the Melbourne International Exhibition, Official catalog of the Exhibits, Vol. 1, 1880, (Melbourne: Mason, Firth & M'Cutcheon, 1880) the Taylor Brothers company is described in a full page “advertisement”, including trade marks. In this description catalog editor said the following: ”At the Vienna Exhibition in 1873, where the Firm exhibited a Patent Perforated Circular Saw of 87 inches diameter, they were awarded for the same the Highest Prize, viz., the Medal of Merit.” The perforated circular saw and the wire gauge was a registered trade of Taylor Brothers. The full description of this page showing more details about their perforated saws can be found here. Interestingly enough, the perforated saw plate was patented by James Emerson in Tranton, New Jersey, US in 1867. Details of the patent are here. I am not suggesting anything here... ;-) The earliest advertisement I have seen with a Circular Perforated Saw and wire gauge is shown in the Post Office Directory of Birmingham for 1878, (London: Kelly & Co., 1878). Image is attached. Ray is very close (maybe on the money) with his suggestions that TANGONIA is related to a Tango. Internet search shows many associations of this type. I think Taylors wanted to “tip the hat” toward South America in this way, hence this etch. I didn’t find an indication that this was used as a trade mark or anything more than a model name and a marketing name.