enginebill
Stainless
- Joined
- Feb 17, 2005
- Location
- Plymouth Meeting PA
We went and picked up that early lathe from the Jefferson County Historical Society on Thursday and we put it back together today at Rough and Tumble. When we got there we found that they built a wall in front of the door that it had to go out of so we had to take the head and tailstock that were on it off. Then we had to turn the lathe on its side so we could roll it out on dollies. Unfortunately the museum has no documentation on the lathe so we do not know where it was in the area or even how long they had the lathe. The lathe is 22' long and must weigh 4000 pounds. The wood beams are built up of thee pieces for each length and the wood might be Chestnut.
At some point early in its life the lathe the lathe was "widened" by moving the shears to the outside of the bed from the inside. Then they made a new headstock, carriage and tailstock to fit the wider shears with the headstocks at opposite ends of the bed and the operators would be on opposite sides of the lathe as well. The big end of the lathe will swing 38" and the smaller original end will swing 26". The big end does not appear to have had power feed and only has a short rack for hand feeding.
The small original end has a rack feed with an adjustable rod which is clamped to the carriage with a set screw. There is a belt that runs from the headstock to a worm gear which drives a shaft with a pinion on it to drive the rack. There are two worms for forward and reverse, one worm is on top and the other is on the bottom of the worm wheel. The headstock has only one bearing at the faceplate end and a dead center for the left side. The dead center in the faceplate screws into the spindle.
I am guessing that the lathe was built circa 1820 so it is nearly or could be 200 years old. If someone has a different idea, let me know.
At some point early in its life the lathe the lathe was "widened" by moving the shears to the outside of the bed from the inside. Then they made a new headstock, carriage and tailstock to fit the wider shears with the headstocks at opposite ends of the bed and the operators would be on opposite sides of the lathe as well. The big end of the lathe will swing 38" and the smaller original end will swing 26". The big end does not appear to have had power feed and only has a short rack for hand feeding.
The small original end has a rack feed with an adjustable rod which is clamped to the carriage with a set screw. There is a belt that runs from the headstock to a worm gear which drives a shaft with a pinion on it to drive the rack. There are two worms for forward and reverse, one worm is on top and the other is on the bottom of the worm wheel. The headstock has only one bearing at the faceplate end and a dead center for the left side. The dead center in the faceplate screws into the spindle.
I am guessing that the lathe was built circa 1820 so it is nearly or could be 200 years old. If someone has a different idea, let me know.