Thomas F. Hamilton, born in 1894, had a long history in aviation, including hot-air balloons, gliders, and seaplanes. When the Matthews Brothers Manufacturing Company of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, primarily a producer of furniture, sought to enter the wood propeller business during World War I, it hired Hamilton in 1917 as general manager of its aircraft department. He bought the propeller business from Matthews in 1919 and formed the Hamilton Aero Manufacturing Company, later becoming a secondary source to the United States government for the ground-adjustable propeller pioneered by Standard Steel.

William E. Boeing, one of the aviation entrepreneurs who formed the United Aircraft and Transport Corporation, and a fellow Seattle native, enticed Hamilton to join UATC in return for an exchange of the new corporation's stock. With the later acquisition of Standard Steel, this was the predecessor of the Hamilton Standard Propeller Corp., formed in 1929.

This artifact was used on Curtiss JNS aircraft.