18" Lodge and Shipley Lathe in 1915 machine shop

Hey everyone,

A little bit about myself, my dad and I are new owners of a machine shop located in downtown Roanoke, VA. We bought the building and everything in it. Loaded with lathes, shapers, planers, (all metal) and most of which still run off of a functioning line drive system. Its as cool as it sounds.

Im a pretty young guy at 25, I grew up around fabrication shops and have been a welder and custom fabricator for about half of my life (i suppose fathers can impose more disctructive habits on their kids) and have taken some analog machining classes in college but when it comes to machines that are 4x as old as i am, I'm on another planet.

ANYWAY the goal with this building is to clean it out as it is jam-packed with equipment, tooling, and trash. We want to preserve the line drive system and at least a quarter of the machines. Among the machines we are trying to get rid of is this 18" Lodge and Shipley lathe as it is large and right in the middle of the building.

There is a fair bit of information out there about how lodge and shipley got started and what innovations they were famous for in their early days, however there is very little information out there regarding the specific model of lathe i have.

All i know is that it is most likely a model A, made in the early 1900's.

Can anyone enlighten me as to what this lathe might be worth? Cool details about it?

I do know how to a run a lathe (bascally) and as far as i can tell everything works and moves as it should.

Pictures here: https://flic.kr/s/aHsmjWPNfZ

Thank you in advance

Welcome to the forum.Cool shop y'all bought, I really can't add much on the L&S outside that I would personally want to keep it. Some of the more knowledgeable guys will chime in shortly.

rtwhiteside said:

Can anyone enlighten me as to what this lathe might be worth?

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More than might at first be apparent, but only to a very narrow niche.

The value is in a bed length that is scarce on a lathe that is affordable AND still light enough to move, install, and find power to run.

Jobs for it - that have to be accomplished affordably - are not common but to a few industries.

May not be the best example, but propellor shafts fab or repair for commercial watercraft could be "an" example. Still a lot of repair work that need not be done fast, or with carbides, so long as the lathe can at least get the material into its work-envelope.

It LOOKS as if it has been well-cared for, too.

Someone should have an interest, age immaterial, if only for that long bed.

2CW

Thanks for the reply! For reference the overall length of the machine is 190".

rtwhiteside said:

Thanks for the reply! For reference the overall length of the machine is 190".

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That's useful for planning transport. A potential user will want to know the actual "travel". Also if it has one or more steady rests, as it almost certainly did have to have been useful this long already.

Being already "independent" motor'ed and with a motor easy to swap for another is also a plus vs line-shaft. Easy to convert a cone-had BACK to that. Great deal more work to fab a frame, add a drive, motor, etc. if it had none.

Bit large a "bite" for a hobbyist. You need to flesh-out as much info as possible if you want to present it at its best remaining utility. There just won't be a great many potential customers with a need it fills over any given span of time.

Don't forget, could be useful for driveshaft work as well if so inclined. If you care to post, let's see more pics of shop and machinery

Ill post pictures of the entire shop tonight, i may start a new thread for that. The lathe has two steady rests painted the same blue color that i didnt have sitting on the ways when i shot it this morning.

Round top plain bearing Model A still having Double Spindle nose - so pre 1937

State serial and I'll date it. This will be five digits right end on top stamped into machined cast iron in between TWO REAR vee ways

Early 1900s they were far more antique looking

Thumbnail is scan from 1916 - thanks to Mike C.

ERROR !! - by me. Looking at the Ebay listing it is easy to see its not a Model A at all, just a Selective Head from the teens or early twenties

That looks a lot like the 18 inch Lodge & Shipley in the machine shop of Knight Foundry here. Ours has the electric motor in the base and the bed is much shorter. According to its serial number, 22885, ours was built in 1918. What is the serial number of yours? The s/n should be between the front vee and flat way (or maybe it's the two rear vee ways) at the tailstock end.

Though the one here was built in 1918, it didn't come to the foundry until 1980 when the then foundry owner acquired it.

And as I was typing this John Oder gave the correct location of the S/N.

David

rtwhiteside said:

Thanks for the reply! For reference the overall length of the machine is 190".

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This sounds like a 12' center to center lathe, as I have a lathe almost the same overall length and it was sold to me as a 12' lathe. My particular lathe was used in power plants for long shaft work.

That lathe looks too good to get rid of. The one behind it looks even bigger.

MAMaxwell said:

This sounds like a 12' center to center lathe, as I have a lathe almost the same overall length and it was sold to me as a 12' lathe. My particular lathe was used in power plants for long shaft work.

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Where he is located was once a nexus of railway fabrication and repair and textile mills. Massive ones, both.

Three of our top execs once rented a plane (two were also licensed pilots) to fly to Cone Mills, not-so-far-away Narrows, VA to pitch a GA SPC-12 system for automation around 1970 or so. I-81 didn't yet exist, Rt 11 wudda meant having to go in the day before and overnight.

Turning for the railcar or locomotive industry isn't so much long-bed as large swing and medium bed. Big radial DP's and hor-bores are needed easily as much as large lathes.

OTOH, there are lots of shafts and rollers and such to be kept sweet in a major textile plant.

Railcars are still made nearby. AFAIK, the textile plants have all moved offshore, and long ago. Pollution issues, mainly. Cone denim is still around, but in Mexico, China, yadda, yadda.

old_dave said:

That looks a lot like the 18 inch Lodge & Shipley in the machine shop of Knight Foundry here. Ours has the electric motor in the base and the bed is much shorter. According to its serial number, 22885, ours was built in 1918. What is the serial number of yours? The s/n should be between the front vee and flat way (or maybe it's the two rear vee ways) at the tailstock end.

Though the one here was built in 1918, it didn't come to the foundry until 1980 when the then foundry owner acquired it.

And as I was typing this John Oder gave the correct location of the S/N.

David

Click to expand...

Here is a picture of the serial number and the two steady rests I didn't include in the first pictures


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johnoder said:

Round top plain bearing Model A still having Double Spindle nose - so pre 1937

State serial and I'll date it. This will be five digits right end on top stamped into machined cast iron in between TWO REAR vee ways

Early 1900s they were far more antique looking

Thumbnail is scan from 1916 - thanks to Mike C.

ERROR !! - by me. Looking at the Ebay listing it is easy to see its not a Model A at all, just a Selective Head from the teens or early twenties

Click to expand...

Here ya go

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rtwhiteside said:

Here ya goView attachment 227743

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Click to expand...

Does not look like the right location as stated here

State serial and I'll date it. This will be five digits right end on top stamped into machined cast iron in between TWO REAR vee ways

Click to expand...

Nor is that a L&S serial - will have a 1 or 2 first digit

Of course if machine has been planed (rebuilt) at least once, the original serial may be lost forever

Thumbnail shows my 24 X 14 foot from about 1917 with 19447 serial

I just wanted to say you took some excellent photos. Your title/headline photo for the alum is downright artistic, in my opinion.

thermite said:

The value is in a bed length that is scarce on a lathe that is affordable AND still light enough to move, install, and find power to run.

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I like that idea. Thanks for sharing.

An Ironworks I used to work at had one very close to that thanks for sharing the pics