old HAND-I-HACK MODEL C electric reciprocating hacksaw

I'm pretty certain this little machine has been around (someplace or other) for a whole long time now, but I don't have any real idea -- it came along years ago from the estate of someone who had obviously been an engineer/machinist, and who 'brought his work home' to his own basement shop. I myself have never seen anything else quite like it, and research done back when it was found didn't reveal anything at all about it either. (much less where to maybe get a blade or two for it?) Pic2 shows its maker's tag: "HAND-I-HACK MODEL C" made by "LIPE-ROLLWAY CORP." of Syracuse, NY. There are a couple more probably casting or part numbers on it in odd places too, but nothing to really give any useful info now. It is equipped with a WESTINGHOUSE 1/4HP motor.

I have actually used this machine and it is delightfully clever in its design. The motor spins a gearbox in the middle which makes a roller-equipped arm on the side turn, engaging a slot on the movable saw portion that in turn draws the sawblade back and forth. There's a little extra whiz-bangery to lift the blade on the return stroke and to regulate (relative term) its blade pressure, also an ingenious automatic on/off switch mechanism.

I'm sorry the pics aren't any better, the poor thing has also been most recently stored (for too long) in too close proximity to several other saws -- I got as much off of it with the air hose and a hand brush as I could now, some still seen on my tailgate with the bricks and other clutter. That raises another point about it -- though it looks (and is, I suppose) like a "portable" sized tool, its gots *lots* of heavy metal parts making it up...it is not the kind of thing anybody would wanna carry around a whole lot...