OK back to (historical) metalworking!

I just want 20' of the jack shaft and parts. Thanks Jim.

In picture 112617 that sure is a one of a kind shaper. I have never seen anything like it before.

Richard W.

Eh? I see only behemoth lathes and shapers, a drill press or two, and what I *think* is a mill (don't know what else it is!):

instance.

Though I'm only halfway through the photos...

Ah, I see... beautiful closeup of one:

Why'd they put a faceplate on the head and tailstock of that one machine?

That must be the deal with the two shafts, so it would seem?

One thing's for sure, you got as damned many tool bit blanks as one could want..... ok maybe not with that many machines running ;-)

Very nice, thanks!

Tim

-- "I have misplaced my pants." - Homer Simpson | Electronics, - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -+ Metalcasting and Games:

I ran a Niles like the one in picture # 112642. That one looks like it's a

36" swing table. The one I ran had an 80" table. Also had a patent date of 1877 cast into it.

Richard W.

This looks like a radial drill that the arm rotates for drilling. Looks like you could drill straight up if you wanted to.

Richard W.

Sure enough it is just like the one I ran. Only we converted it to DC drive using a motor generator, 4 speed transmission and a train motor. Notice the feed on the lower right with the big flywheel.

Richard W.

Better pic:

For that shaper do you mean this (to the right), with the beastly vise? 112651) Or the (what looks like a) drill press in '49?

Tim

-- "I have misplaced my pants." - Homer Simpson | Electronics, - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -+ Metalcasting and Games:

It's shows a picture of 2 planers. I ran similar to the one on the left. I can't read the name of it though. The one I ran was a "POND" and had a 14' long table.

Richard W.

No, this one. It looks like the table is bolted down and the ram is feed across the work. Could it be for doing large square holes in big parts?

(Also 112651)

This looks to me like a radial drill. See the gear teeth on the colum. That looks to me like it's for rotating the spindle in any direction, even straight up. Also it might have a "L" base to it. Part of it is covered up so I can't really tell. I sure wouldn't mind a closer look at it.

Richard W.

I'm not following you, Richard. If you mean the machine(s) to the right of the photo, blowing it up and enhancing it in Photoshop suggests that it's actually two component machines that clamp to a huge, cubic, iron table, the machine on the right being a conventional shaper, and the one slightly to its left being, I think, a mill.

There are two tables clamped to the front of the huge table and the one on the right is a cube, which allows for clamping work to the vertical sides. The one on the left is some kind of knee-type table.

What I can't see clearly is the spindle that would work on the knee-type table. It looks like a long overarm reaches over it from the back of the great big cube, but I can't see enough detail to tell what's going on there.

Ed Huntress

On Thu, 12 Feb 2004 01:55:41 GMT, Sunworshiper brought forth from the murky depths:

I downloaded the pv versions at 1024x733 pixels. Very detailed!

I just read a book about some of the inventors and Edison, of course, was among them. This is timely.

Did you see the -size- of those humongous horizontals?

I doubt that. Edison was too busy with his head in things to do that. But he did keep them up for days in a row at times. He had 1,019 patents to his name when he died, including movie projectors, records, and phonographs. (Many were vast improvements to existing technology.) I counted the timecard slots: 300!

They (Firestone, Ford, and friends) dug up and rebuilt his first factory for him to celebrate his retirement, including some West Orange dirt and mementos contained therein.

Can you imagine how beefy that flooring is to handle all that big arn in one spot? Did they use the lathes in

112627pv.jpg and 112628pv.jpg to turn those jack shafts?

I'm afraid I haven't felt very kindly disposed towards Edison since reading a biography of Tesla when I was about 12 or so...

It would seem Edison was in many ways the Bill Gates of his era (or the image of B.G. we love to hate, anyway....). Rather ruthless in business, not above visciously smearing anyone he perceived as a threat or competition, FUD as standard practice, and stubbornly and without particular regard for the truth arguing the advantages of technology which had been proven to be inferior but in which he had vested interest (here I'm thinking DC vs polyphase AC).

Nice machinery, though! Reminds me a bit of my days at the Lunenburg Foundry, except the lighting here looks like it was probably better...

Thanks for the link!

Mickey

The stories about how edison never slept apparently were total bullshit from what I've read. He just wanted to keep his employees thinking that, so he could whip them into working longer and harder. This is a time honored tradition he started, it continues to this day.

I've had former managers who used to go home, but leave their offices locked, and lights on, to keep guys thinking they were still there. Interestingly one can trip off the office lights in a given office without gaining access to the room, and this causes no *end* of consternation when they come in the next morning and the lights are out. Hee hee.

Not to mention the crane coverage.

That shop was purely amazing - it seems as though it is the perfect prototypical industrial research shop, and the capabilities it has (if the machines were to be updated to modernize them) would be unparalleled today.

A PLANER?? They had a *planer* there. I can see the comments that went through edison's mind, 'buy the best stuff, and lots of it, and hire the best hands to run it.' It's no wonder he was so prolific, he started inventing by priming the pump with technological ability.

Jim

================================================== please reply to: JRR(zero) at yktvmv (dot) vnet (dot) ibm (dot) com ==================================================

The one in the background, yes? *That's* the lathe that has the back gears on the *front* of the machine - the faceplate (really a chuck) is indeed on the front side of the headstock. It's apparent in another photo.

Jim

================================================== please reply to: JRR(zero) at yktvmv (dot) vnet (dot) ibm (dot) com ==================================================

Absolutely!! I read a biograph of him, and it was amazing. His rules of operation:

1) get venture capital. This was easy because of his name. 2) spend it on whatever you want. Typically not what it was invested for. 3) put on a big show peridocally to impress investors. 4) buy lots of stuff

5) never pay for it

6) hire young kids, teach them how to work for you.

7) fire them when they've learned enough to be independent.

Jim

================================================== please reply to: JRR(zero) at yktvmv (dot) vnet (dot) ibm (dot) com ==================================================

I *think* maybe the machine on the left might be an even bigger shaper, that is torn down for repair. Missing the ram and so on. I can't quite figure out what the ship's wheel thing is though.

A co-worker said that this:

is a vertical lathe, and that the round thing with T-slots in it is actually a chuck that holds the workpiece and turns. Make sense?

Jim

================================================== please reply to: JRR(zero) at yktvmv (dot) vnet (dot) ibm (dot) com ==================================================

Yeah, that's actually a conventional vertical lathe, predecessor of the VTL. You still see some like that one around from time to time. They never die.

Ed Huntress

On 12 Feb 2004 05:32:24 -0800, jim rozen brought forth from the murky depths:

-massive snip-

The book I read (Fire of Genius, Popular Science) was almost entirely positive. If nothing else, the man was prolific and good for society.

jim rozen jim snipped-for-privacy@newsguy.com

Tim

Jim

Yes. You are looking at the back of the lathe. But it seems to be a back-gear-in-back lathe? Very large lathes did have the back gears in the front, though, as it were--these were "triple geared" headstocks. Frank Morrison