The first reference that I can find to show that MARPLES sold Infill Planes is in the 1888 Catalogue and these planes were almost certainly all made for MARPLES by the firm of Henry Slater in Clerkenwell, London. Slater made these style planes for very many other companies and he would most often leave his mark hidden somewhere on the plane if it was not badged as being made by SLATER. [his mark was usually on the Gun Metal lever cap] . So only those planes clearly marked on the wedge/Lever cap as being a ‘MARPLES’ can really be considered a MARPLES plane.
The 1888 and 1891 Catalogues [below] show identical listings under the heading…”English Pattern Iron Planes‘ and the planes were numbered 1 through 23. Some of these planes may have a letter ‘M’ stamped into the heel of the plane and I believe that this was applied to those iron Planes that were made from ‘Malleable Iron’.
The 1897 Catalogue shows the same number of planes listed but now under the heading of ‘Iron Planes with Rosewood Fittings‘.
The 1909 Catalogue shows that the plane numbers have all been changed and that all planes with Wedges had been discontinued [ i.e. 1;2;3;7;9;11 ].
Some additional cutter widths had also been added for some planes.
The 1921 catalogue shows that all Cast Iron planes had by then been discontinued [3110;3125;3140 and 3160]. None of these Infill planes appear in 1928, so c.1925 was the last production date. The 1909 Catalogue shows that all plane item numbers had been changed…see the pages below.
GALLERY:
Plane #1 /2/3 was produced c.1885 – c.1905. the ‘Wedge’ planes being all discontinued prior to 1909.
Plane #4/5/6 was available c.1885-c.1925:
Plane #8/10 was produced c.1885-c.1925:
Plane #13/14: was available c.1885-c.1925:
Plane #15/16 was available c.1885-c.1925:
Note: MARPLES mark on Rosewood wedge.
Plane #17 Available c.1885-c.1925. This shown is a later [after c.1905] example with a modified nose.
Plane #19 Available c.1885-c.1925. The first photo is of the earlier version [<c.1905] and the second is of the later modified nose version. Both are Gun Metal with a Steel Face:
Plane #20 Available c.1885-c.1925 [always Malleable]:
Plane #23 Available c.1885-c.1925 [always Malleable]:
