Old Iron Eye Candy

[Maurice Ungaro]

This thread is for Dev and all those who feel the need to cut loose a primal scream when they see gorgeous old iron. I snapped these photos at a wonderful little museum in Kennesaw, GA. The Southern Museum of Civil War & Locomotive History (http://www.southernmuseum.org/exhibits.html#glover) is a fairly new museum (3 years old), and is about the only one that has a focus on the reconstruction era, and the industrialization of the south. All of the machines displayed were either from the old Glove Machine Works (local company featured in the collection), or were aquired to round out the inventory of what was used at GMW. Every one of the machines have been restored to factory new condition, and will operate. I'd personally like to see a display on that process alone!

Anyway, enjoy!

[Maurice Ungaro]

Second batch of photos.

[Jim Becker]

I like them just for the fact that they aren't grey or green...the colors really make them look special! (And that really is some awesome iron...)

[Maurice Ungaro]

But wait, there's more!

[Maurice Ungaro]

This lathe has a 20' bed - useful when turning axels for locomotives, etc. The electric motor is of course, the power plant replacement for the water wheel, but, note that all of the machines feed off of the same take off ("jack shaft" - thanks Tod, I was searching for that term).

Jim, I too was immeadiately struck by the beauty of the polychromatic paint schemes. Also note the heart shaped cutouts in the base of the lathe. You just don't get ornamentation on tools anymore.

[Jim Becker]

Yes, there was a lot of pride in the design "way back when"...they not only were able to provide for extreme functionality, they also designed for elegance...and pulled it off.

[tod evans]

way cool maurice! years ago i worked in a sash shop that still had a functional jackshaft, kinda scarry.....tod

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Neat photos and iron! That lathe should even satisfy Andy Hoyt!

[Jeff Sudmeier]

Wow what a neat place!! THanks for the photos!

[lou sansone]

wow they dont look much newer than my machines

lou

[Andy Hoyt]

Neat photos and iron! That lathe should even satisfy Andy Hoyt!

Oh! And it does indeed!

So what's with this "uncle thing" Ken. Do you really wanna forgo the grand finale?

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Sorry for the hijack but I have to respond!


The last great act of defiance Andy!:rolleyes: .....I'm the mouse (@245 lbs.)..........I have every intention of buying a lathe someday...but it's not in the budget in the very near future...so.....bring it on! :rolleyes: :p :D

[Norman Hitt]

This kind of pics always bring back fond memories of the different shops around home when I was a really young kid. I was always fascinated by all the belt driven tools, and Really liked the ceiling fans in several stores there that were all driven by one electric motor that powered a series of shafts (with no belts) that connected to and drove all the fans. The Blacksmith shop even had a large machine to hammer metal that was belt driven as well as a drill and other tools hooked up to the system, and the local Cotton Gin was absolutely fascinating with all the shafts and wheels and belts. I worked part time occasionally during "Ginning Season", (sometimes while I was waiting for my cotton to be ginned), repairing and splicing some of their belts, (back before the child labor laws would have prevented it), and I really enjoyed it too.

Great shots, Maurice, thanks for the memories.

[Tyler Howell]

Way Cool Mau!
Thanks for sharing.

[Dev Emch]

Here is the reason all little boys like toy trains.:D These are wonderful photos. By the way, if you ever make it to Cinci Ohio, check out the musuem there. Its something like the museum of industry and technology for Cincinati, Ohio. The city owns it so how many big museums can they have.

At any rate, they have a working vintage machine shop showing off the works of the American Machine Tool Company as well as the Cincinnati Machine works and the R.K. LeBlond works. These were featured in the program History of Machine Tools which was aired by the History Channel. Of course guys like me had to get the DVD.:D

I have some of this stuff waiting a ton of TLC. One item I have which is surfaced rusted but still restorable is a 1904 Brown & Sharpe #00 automatic screw machine lathe. This machine requires you to design a set of cams and clutches for each part you make. Once loaded up, the machine mass produces simple parts one after another all day long as long as the line shaft keeps running and the machinist keeps loading bar stock into the lathe. You can call this the first version of CNC.

What amazes me about these photos is the absence of a metal shaper. They did have toolroom planer but no shaper. The planer is extremely small as far as planers go. But that is a very cool planer. How about any line shaft milling machines such as LeBlond Slab Mills or Brown & Sharpe universals?

The motor was pretty cool. Darn nice restoration job however. That motor looks pristine clean. That is a huge motor to run on DC power. What did they do to get DC? Do they have a shaft speed governer or regulator on this motor?

Glad to see some of this stuff surviving. So much of it is being thrown out and melted down for scrap to china. About ten years ago, the city of rodchester tore down an old mill because homeless folks were setting fires inside the mill to keep warm. It had not been used in many years. Tractors came in and were throwing 4000 to 8000 pound LeBlond milling machines from the 1900s into a huge dumpster truck which was bound for recycling. In twenty years, pristine restored LeBlond milling machines that survived this horror will be worth something.

This is a picture of a hardinge toolroom lathe from the turn of the century. It was offered on ebay and the buyer snaged it with a Buy-it-Now feature. Here is another reason not to use that feature. Had the seller waited for the auction cycle to complete, guys like me would have bid after it. As it stands, I missed out on this one. But these are all like trains. If you miss one, just wait for another one is comming down the track.

[Brian Hale]

Great photos Maurice, Thanks for sharing them with us! :cool:

For those that may be interested, the Baltimore Museum of Industry has a complete working machine shop, belt driven, from the early to mid 1800's. The volunteerss come in and run various pieces of machinery.

http://www.thebmi.org/

Brian :)

[Wes Bischel]

Thanks for the pictures Maurice! I love that old iron. I have a Champion bench mount drill press - it has special meaning since it was made about a mile away from my house. Unfortunately, the facility is now a bunch of restaurants.:rolleyes:

Wes

[Dev Emch]

Thanks for the pictures Maurice! I love that old iron. I have a Champion bench mount drill press - it has special meaning since it was made about a mile away from my house. Unfortunately, the facility is now a bunch of restaurants.:rolleyes:

Wes

Hmmm, so lets think about this. Do the bunch of restaurants provide an equivalent number of jobs which in turn provide an equivalent standard of living? It took years to train a machine builder nevermind the engineers, salesmen and managers involved.