Leonard Bailey (inventor)

Leonard Bailey
Born	May 8, 1825 Hollis, New Hampshire, United States
Died	February 5, 1905(1905-02-05) (aged 79) New York City
Occupation	Toolmaker/cabinet Maker

Stanley advertising, showing Bailey's plane designs

Leonard Bailey (May 8, 1825 in Hollis, New Hampshire – February 5, 1905 in New York City) was a toolmaker and cabinet maker from Massachusetts, United States, who in the mid-to-late nineteenth century patented several features of woodworking equipment. Most prominent of those patents were the planes manufactured by the Stanley Rule & Level Co. (now Stanley Black & Decker) of New Britain, Connecticut.^[1]

Commonly known as Stanley Bailey planes, these planes were prized by woodworkers of the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries, and remain popular among today's wood craftspeople. A type study of his patented planes and the rest of the Stanley line may be found at Patrick Leach's "Blood and Gore".^[2]

Bailey's design ideas are still used by Stanley and other plane manufacturers to this day.

References

1. "Inventor of the Week" archive: Leonard Bailey
2. Patrick Leach's Blood and Gore