For all who have asked me to make a later version of the PTWFE, I would point out that Shopsmith owns the rights to those and they are available in print from them. As noted, the earlier release is missing pages, and newest version 4 has a new cover but is not based on the Mark 7 Power Pro.
The book is a valuable resource and worth owning as it depicts the functionality and use of the machine. Yes there is an earlier online version Shopsmith makes available at no cost, but must be viewed on-line. That also is a valuable resource not to be discounted.
I restored and enhanced a previously scanned copy of the 1953 original version that was based on the 10E / 10ER base machine due to its limited availability in print, and that it was Copyrighted by the original company MAGNA, which has not existed for decades.
It took a long time and a significant amount of restoration on that book which was donated without cost to the worldwide Shopsmith community. It is historically significant and needed preservation.
I did far more than preserve it as in addition to fully enhanced photographs, I extracted the text recreating it word for word in a word searchable PDF format with an enhanced and vastly extended 'actively linked' table of contents.
One can find the later versions on eBay, perhaps in an on-line bookstore from time to time, or from an owner who purchased one with his machine, or came bundled in a package with the machine at the time.
Hopefully that will clarify my position on rewriting the later versions. They are both copyrighted and still being sold by the current ownership of Shopsmith Brand name.
Here is a bit of the backstory, more of which will be in my book.
Some excerpts from https://caselaw.findlaw.com/ms-supreme- ... 40853.html
"Huff alleges that she was injured by a Shopsmith Mark V operated by her then future husband, Jefferson David Huff.
She alleged that on September 29, 1994, as she passed by the machine which Jefferson David Huff was operating, her shirt became entangled in the saw blade, which lacked a protective guard.
Huff's right arm was immediately pulled into the machine causing severe injury.
Eunice Patricia Nichols HUFF v. SHOPSMITH, INC.
Shopsmith moved for summary judgment on the basis that a corporation is not responsible for liabilities of another corporation when only the assets, but not the stock, of the latter have been acquired.
Shopsmith moved for a M.R.C.P. 54(b) final judgment and was granted such. From that final judgment, Huff filed a timely appeal alleging that the trial court erred in granting summary judgment.
The nuts and bolts were:
Jefferson David Huff purchased the Shopsmith Mark V in 1994 at the estate sale of Dr. Tom B. Dominick.
Dr. Dominick originally purchased the piece of equipment around 1954.
The Mark V Dr. Dominick bought was manufactured by Magna American Corporation in Raymond, Mississippi, and sold by Montgomery Ward, Incorporated. Magna dissolved in 1988, and Montgomery Ward filed for Chapter 11 protection under the United States Bankruptcy Code. This unfortunate chain of events left Huff without direct parties to sue."
Long story shortened this suit was based on a used machine bought at the estate sale of Dr. Tom B. Dominick after his death. He owned and used the machine from 1954 to 1994 some forty (40) Years.
This case was appealed, and appealed and appealed repeatedly costing the original Shopsmith Inc., vast sums of legal fees and ultimately drove it into bankruptcy.
This was over an issue trying to transfer product liabilities through 4 decades of corporations that no longer existed, to a company who bought the physical assets of a company who held the molds and casting components to build the pieces.
I would be remiss if I did not point out several things that the court case seems to be lacking some 40 years afterward.
1) There is proof that MAGNA did indeed make a lower and upper saw guard for that machine.
a. I own the lower and am seeking an original upper myself. I can adapt later gray versions easily enough.
2) There is no proof or allegation that Dr. Tom B. Dominick did not own nor acquire one in the 40 years he used the machine.
3) There is no proof that the company managing the estate sale did not simply fail to locate and associate a saw guard for the 40 year old Mark V with the machine when they sold it.
There is no question at all that Shopsmith likely would never have gone into bankruptcy and have been reorganized had it not been for the massive legal expenditures and time wasted defending itself in court over a matter that should have been materially dismissed at every level…. Oh, wait. It was. In every case and appeal. Shopsmith won. There was no provision for them to recover their massive legal fees, or the damages to their brand name and goodwill.
So, when you as an owner today are in a ‘Huff’ over what Shopsmith today does, and does not sell, does and does not know, will and will not repair, I suggest you remember fondly Eunice Patricia Nichols HUFF and her massive damages inflicted on Shopsmith Inc., the predecessor to the reorganized Shopsmith of today preserved by Robert L. Folkerth and RLF companies.
Here’s a shot of a post I made seeking the upper guard of a (upper / lower blade guard assembly) that MAGNA was alleged in court repeatedly, not to have produced 40 years ago and sold by Montgomery Ward back in the day. The ad I cite is from a Montgomery Ward catalog.
And as Paul Harvey was fond of saying, “And now you know the rest of the story” or at least part of it. More will be cited in my Shopsmith Book which I am still researching. I’m not satisfied that I have answered all that I can find answers to.
Everett
- Looking for Greenie Upper Saw Guard.png (331.94 KiB) Viewed 17951 times