Small Wilkinson Metal Planer Question

Small Wilkinson Metal Planer question
If anyone has or is familiar with the little Wilkinson planers you may have some input on mine? I have seen a handful of these over the years and one thing I noticed about mine different then others is that the ornate casting that makes up the top of the bridge is decorative on both sides of mine as where all the other Wilkinson planers I have seen are flat on one side and usually have a cast brass tag mounted on it. I often wondered why mine is different? perhaps earlier? maybe latter? After looking at my machine this evening I noticed that the number 8 is stamped in several places all over the machine... could this be serial number 8? Does anyone know or perhaps have a Wilkinson with a number stamped in multiple locations? Thanks in advance.

I will look at my Wilkinson and see if there are any stamps. Mine has the flat faced design. I believe I read they built these for a couple of decades. I found a U. S. Centennial Commission report from 1877 that talks of A.J. WILKINSON small lathes and planers. And I have seen an advertisement as late as 1900 for the Wilkinson planer. I will try and find that. I have a feeling they probably produced a thousand plus of these small planers and is probably why many are still in circulation these days. I dug and found this ad from 1884 which seems to support yours is of earlier design.

I did find a 7 on my planer.

I also found this one for sale on Vintage machinery just now. What a price. If you look at the pictures that one is stamped like mine.
Wilkinson Hand-Crank / Power Driven Planer - US $3,2. (Wilton, CA) | VintageMachinery.org
The one below is my Wilkinson Planer.

Numbering convention of items manufactured varied.

It was relayed to me by Ed Battison that Pratt & Whitney "restarted" their numbering system each time they made a major change in design. This has been proven out by my (formerly) P&W planer No. 1 - which although definitely a serial number (George of George's Basement has No. 8) the planer dated from 1877, long into P&W production. P&W made planers from the 1867 beginning with at least four previous designs before mine.

Joseph Flather seems to have had a separate number track for each of the many types of machines he made, but each successive and without restarting. My Flather No. 1 (18/20 inch swing) was considered unique enough for the maker to have made a "diamond" shape around the No. "1" with a cold chisel. Another Flather (16" swing) of my former ownership had "516" (no diamond) which given the volume of Flather lathes made in this pattern by this later time seems consistent.

Plane-makers (wooden planes) usually produced in groups of 7 (or 8) with the planes not necessarily numbered but able to be kept separate in thought by that magic number 7 (Something about 7 separate entities being able to be tracked individually by the human memory: a lesser number suffers through lack of intellectual engagement, a greater number gets overlooked in sheer volume.) And why echelons of command in the Armed Forces are usually based on groups of 7.

So mileage may vary.

Joe in NH