The Patent Office's original drawing and specification for this patent were lost in their December 1836 fire. The Massachusetts Historical Society has the inventor's copy of the original specification in their files, and we arranged to have those scanned and made available to us.

The 1797 “American Gazetteer” (see link), in a paragraph dealing with the manufacture of nails: “The machine invented by Caleb Leach, Plymouth, will cut and head 5,000 nails in a day, under the direction of a youth of either sex.”

The 1815 “Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society”, Second Series Vol. III, page 170: “An Aqueduct supplies the houses north of the Brook with water from Billington sea. This work was performed by Mr. Caleb Leach, who then lived in Plymouth, now of Oswego, New York, whose talents, as a self-taught mechanick, are of the very first order…” A footnote adds, “The orrery of Brown University was constructed by Mr. Leach, at Plymouth, for Dr. Forbes.”

The February 1921 Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society, page 193, in a list of recent acquisitions: “From Captain Philip Leach, U.S.N., a photostat of the letters patent, granted on April 13, 1797, to Caleb Leach of Plymouth, for invention of machinery for boring and finishing wooden conduit pipes.”

Jeff emailed the MHS and received this reply:

I was able to confirm that the patent is in our collection; it came in as a part of the Leach family papers and is now housed separately due to its size. I pulled the patent and have attached some (very rough) reference images here. As you'll see, it's not a photostat as indicated by the Proceedings but is an original parchment document, signed by John Adams, sealed, and bound with a ribbon/string.

I'll be working with our digital imaging team and our conservator to determine how we can best provide publication quality images. We aren't used to working with documents bound in this way and we'll need to be careful to avoid damaging any part of the patent, especially the ribbon. After I've consulted with them early next week I'll have a better idea of timeline and pricing. Please let me know if you have any questions in the meantime.

The cost to scan the documentation was $60, which Jeff paid and duly received three pages scanned at high resolution (TIFF files of 57, 56 and 59 MB). Image sizes are roughly 3800×4900 pixels, making the originals roughly 12.5 x 16 inches assuming 300 dpi. The invoice for scanning gave the dimensions as “35.9 cm x 30.5 cm”, or 14.1 x 12.0 inches. Perhaps “35.9 cm” should be “39.5 cm”, or 15.6 inches.