Large machine tools by Noble and Lund

[Jim Christie]

Thanks to Tony and the others who have posted here since.
There is an older thread on this forum that showed some of the Doxford pictures but they are no longer viewable there.

Photos of big machining processes at Doxford & Sons c1950s

Gents, Apologies if this has been linked before but I just came across the link elsewhere and felt I had to share: http://www.shipsnostalgia.com/guides/William_Doxford_and_Sons#The_Manufacturing_Process Enjoy Al

www.practicalmachinist.com

It appears that the information from Alfons's site has been hosted here now .

Memories of a Doxford time

I was able to get these,

William Doxford and Sons

Contents 1 Introduction 2 Foundation and History of the Company 3 Early Engines 4 Later Engines 5 The Manufacturing Process Introduction Born on 1 March 1812. William Doxford the son of Joseph Doxford and Elizabeth Chapman. By 1840 at Cox Green he started to build wooden ships. In...

www.shipsnostalgia.com

to display in a large format on my screen .

William Doxford and Sons

Contents 1 Introduction 2 Foundation and History of the Company 3 Early Engines 4 Later Engines 5 The Manufacturing Process Introduction Born on 1 March 1812. William Doxford the son of Joseph Doxford and Elizabeth Chapman. By 1840 at Cox Green he started to build wooden ships. In...

www.shipsnostalgia.com

The lathe in that picture reminds me a lot of a mid 1950s German made Heyligenstaedt lathe that is local to me.
this one is a newer version from a Google image search .

HEYLIGENSTAEDT Roll Lathes Used - Fair #484991 - MachineTools.com

HEYLIGENSTAEDT Roll Lathes for sale by Harry Vraets Machinery B.V. - Used - Fair - Netherlands - #484991

www.machinetools.com

Jim

 

[Peter S]

Peter,

Thanks. Do you have a high res version of the photo showing the T-bed lathe, suspected to be a Craven?

Asquith,

It is not terribly clear and I can't make out the name, but it looks more like a 'house' surrounding the makers name, not a Craven 'diamond'.

 

[Asquith]

Peter,

Thanks. I agree about the maker's nameplate.

That's a very beefy bed. Looking at the cross slide and the gubbins on the end of the bed, I wonder if it has some sort of tracing apparatus?

 

[Jim Christie]

There are some similarities to these T Lathes that turned up onTony's site from a Google Image search image search

Deutschland Dortmund Facing Lathes

www.lathes.co.uk

Jim

 

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

Asquith,

It is not terribly clear and I can't make out the name, but it looks more like a 'house' surrounding the makers name, not a Craven 'diamond'.

View attachment 383462

Yes, I agree. I can’t recall seeing that logo previously. Back in the day plenty of machine tool companies made similar machines. I’m stumped at the moment.

Regards Tyrone.

 

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

There are some similarities to these T Lathes that turned up onTony's site from a Google Image search image search

Deutschland Dortmund Facing Lathes

www.lathes.co.uk

Jim

Look at the bases of the machines Jim. On almost every D/D lathe the holding down bolt holes are open ended slots. This is a really good idea that makes installing the holding down bolts a lot easier. The lathe in the photo has conventional holes in the base.

If you’re installing a lathe like the one in the photo you can hide the rag bolts down the hole in the foundation and then position the lathe over the holes and bring the rag bolts up through the holes in the base. Doable but fiddly. Or if you have a big enough over head crane you can place all the rag bolts in their respective holes in the base and carefully lower the whole lathe down over the foundation.
With the slots in the base as the D/D lathes you can slide the rag bolts in from the front. It’s a lot easier.

Been there and got several tee shirts when it comes to installation work.

Regards Tyrone.

 

[CBarrow]

The East Lancs Railway have an old Noble & Lund lathe, I think it was built as an axle/journal lathe but I believe they are going to use it for doing tyre profiling as well with a bit of modification. I'll try and get a photo next time I am in their shop.

Strangely enough, we have an Avery Universal Testing machine at work that came from Doxfords.

 

[boslab]

The central engineering workshop at port talbot picked up a fair amount of Doxford kit, along with Denison and Amsler thick plate tensile testing machines, used to jump when the bugger broke a 1” or 3/4 thick even when I knew it was coming, hell of a bang.
Mark