Well, What smart bunch o fellas. Yes indeed It was first used as a guillotine until shortly after the demise of Anne Boleyn 1536. It was then used as a peperoni slicer but when the head cook lost a finger tip circa 1650 the device was relegated to a simple ravioli stuffer. In the late 1800's when the Miller Falls company had other ideas.

read on......

"During the 1880s, Millers Falls' affiliation with the Langdon Mitre Box Company began to pay dividends in the form of new products. On September 19, 1882, David C. Rogers was issued patent no. 264,766 for what was to become known as the Rogers miter planer. Manufactured by Langdon and available through the Millers Falls Company, the Rogers miter planer, a deluxe shootboard with a semi-circular frame, was capable of delivering an almost flawless trim of angle cuts on mating pieces of stock. The tool, which cut on both the push and pull strokes, would soon become a favorite of picture framers who valued its versatility, accuracy and economy of motion. The miter planer was capable more sophisticated work, however. Two adjustable, lockable guides on its rotating bed plate provided rests which allowed for the precision trimming of the wedge-shaped pieces used to fabricate cylindrical and oval-shaped forms in patternmaker's shops. The Rogers miter planer was popular enough to remain in the Millers Falls catalog for over four decades."