These mortisers now used much shorter hand levers, as the manual work was only in cleaning up the mortise to be square-cornered. As electric power became easily available, the auger developed as a drill bit and became the main means of removing waste timber from the mortise. This helps to clear chips up the centre of the chisel. An improvement was to place a rotating cylindrical auger inside a hollow chisel. The first square chisel lever mortisers were purely manual and relied on the operator pulling down on a large lever to push the chisel through the timber. This device was invented in 1874 by Robert and Ralph Greenlee (founders of the Greenlee Company). The bit clears out most of the material to be removed, and the chisel ensures the edges are straight and clean. The square chisel mortiser (also called hollow chisel mortiser), similar to a drill press in many respects, combines the cutting of a four-sided chisel with the action of a drill bit in the center. Square chisel mortiser Lever mortising machine, now disused and placed as a monument A mortiser or morticer is a specialized woodworking machine used to cut square or rectangular holes in a piece of lumber ( timber), such as a mortise in a mortise and tenon joint.

Shop built slot mortise machine