Lineshaft Machine Shop Photos

[Tom A]

Nice shaper, too.

 

[M.B. Naegle]

Unknown shop. Nice New Haven planer. Jake

I like that claw-foot heat treat oven on the left. I wonder if all the oil drums up on the wall are there for storage or what? It seems like in lots of old photos the oil drums appear... saggy? I wonder if their wall thickness has thickened over the years? Maybe it's just optical.

 

[blcksmth]

I like that claw-foot heat treat oven on the left. I wonder if all the oil drums up on the wall are there for storage or what? It seems like in lots of old photos the oil drums appear... saggy? I wonder if their wall thickness has thickened over the years? Maybe it's just optical.

I thought those were spare pulleys.

Bob
WB8NQW

 

[M.B. Naegle]

That wet-stone wheel on the stand behind the shaper stands out to me as well. I like the wood-work and joinery of old shop benches and the like. It tends to be very simple in execution, yet thought out for the durability. I think the availability and ease of welding and ready made kits has made a lot of that disappear. Guys still build wood bench's, for sure, but slapping 2x4's, plywood, and decking screws together doesn't really produce the same results IMO. I've saved some lighter duty legs and tops from stands like that over the years to repurpose, but mainly to see how they did it. Lots of simple mortises, square head bolts, and no nails other than maybe to stick small stuff on at the end.

 

[just Dave]

I wonder if good seeing people ever got plaino lens’s. You know for safety?
I can imagine the grimes on the Forman's face when every body stoped working , for a picture.

 

[jaguar36]

This isn't exactly a machine shop, but its a cool example of line shaft power.


This was part of the 1876 Centennial exhibition in Philly. It was just one small exhibit in a massive machinery hall built for the exhibition. The whole exhibition was powered by this monstrous 1400hp steam engine with more than a mile of line shaft.



Here's a picture of the Machinery Hall, like most World's Fair type exhibitions it didn't last long and was torn down a few years later:

 

[cncFireman]

McFarlane Foundry in Black Hawk, Gilpin County, Colorado. Putnam lathe.


View attachment 373651

I really wish they had a closer picture of the furthest lathe. Has some nice interesting design

 

[enginebill]

I really wish they had a closer picture of the furthest lathe. Has some nice interesting design

It is not very high resolution so this is as good as you can get.

 

[enginebill]

3rd of 8 Agricultural College of Utah.

 

[cncFireman]

It is not very high resolution so this is as good as you can get.

View attachment 391060

Thanks. I did the same. I downloaded the picture and zoomed in and of course it wasn't like they had high resolution cameras in those days.

 

[enginebill]

Thanks. I did the same. I downloaded the picture and zoomed in and of course it wasn't like they had high resolution cameras in those days.

An 8x10 glass plate negative would be a higher resolution than most cameras today. That is a low resolution scan of probably a print.

 

[enginebill]

Thanks. I did the same. I downloaded the picture and zoomed in and of course it wasn't like they had high resolution cameras in those days.x

So I Googled to find out how sharp 8x10 negatives are and I found this article. It looks like 8x10 film is higher in resolution than the biggest digital camera made with 150 megapixels, so digital still has not caught up to large format film yet.

8x10 Film vs 150MP Digital: Can 150 Megapixels Compete?

Over 8 years ago, we over at On Landscape performed a mammoth “Big Camera Comparison.” We compared medium format and large format film against various

petapixel.com

 

[Robert Lang]

I really wish they had a closer picture of the furthest lathe. Has some nice interesting design

This might help.

 

[cncFireman]

This might help.

That did the job. thanks

 

[enginebill]

4th of 8 Agricultural College of Utah.

 

[animal12]

I don't know where you folks keep getting these pictures ,but please keep them coming !!
A mention was made in a earlier post about the old joinery in the wooden benches a such . Years ago I was a facilities consultant for a company & one of the older guys loved to chat me up cause he found out I was on my way to the mountains to build my house after this job was over . We got to talking about joinery & pride in workmanship & he was tellin me that his grandpa was a carpenter in the late 1800's & the first thing they made. anew guy do was build a sawhorse . The guy with the best sawhorse went to work with the best carpenter and so on ... You know your doing something right when the parents & scouts are askin questions when yer helpin a bunch of cub scouts makin their first pinewood derby cars .
When your through learning your through .
thanks for all the pics !!!
animal

 

[Maltesehunter]

This might help.

I believe this lathe is made by Ames Mfg of Chicopee. Jake

 

[Joe in NH]

View attachment 344623Also unknown location

This appears to be Edison's West Orange NJ Shops. The windows are quite distinctive.

Joe in NH

 

[enginebill]

5th of 8 Agricultural College of Utah.

 

[discodan]

Tuckahoe Steam and Gas Association machine shop museum. This is where I spend most of my Saturdays. In this picture you can see the black belt leading down to our early 1900s Fellows gear shaper. We are trying to get this machine running from the line shaft for our show coming up July 6th through 9th. The tan belt to the left runs the Lucas horizontal boring mill.