I have waited to respond to this as I have been in contact with the seller.
He has this on ebay too. He lowered the price to me a little.
He said he has no other parts for this and this is the way he got it.
I have yet to find out when and where he got it.
This is indeed a very early planer. The oldest I have seen.
I also believe that is the table on the ground.
I am not sure if it was chain drive.
The legs are cast iron. The bolts on the end, that Joe is talking about, are the bolts that hold the legs on.
These are typical legs used on very early american machines.
It is not unlike this planer from the Treatise on Planers by the Cincinnati Planer Co., but I don't think it was hand drive.
Treatise on planers, practical information and suggestions ... - Full View | HathiTrust Digital Library | HathiTrust Digital Library
The book say that parts of this planer in fig.1, came from England.
I think that is wrong. This is an american made planer.
I think the parts for this planer are or were still around.
I don't think someone originally took this apart to just use the legs and bed for something like a workbench.
Probably it was taken apart to move or to store or to start cleaning it.
As noted already, some of the drive parts are still on the bed.
Also the four bolts and nuts (two on each side), that held the uprights, are still there.
This is not something you put back after taking the uprights off if you are going to scrap them out.
You only put the nuts and bolts back in the holes to save them.
The table looks to be in good shape, so it was not used as a workbench.
It does not look as if the uprights have been off for to long.
If I were closer I would go look at it and try to find out more from the seller as to where he got it.
I am still trying to find that out from him.
Rob