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Hendey lathe??

Shapeaholic:

As Johnoder has mentioned, the lathe in your
picture is not a Hendey, but a Barber Colman.
Because of the low production figures, these lathe
are seldom seen. They are a well built, first
class lathe. If a you could buy this lathe at a
price you could afford, I think you would be very
please with the way it operates. Since you have
broached the subject about Barber Colman lathes,
perhaps a little background information would be
in order.

The Hendey plant in Torrington, Connecticut
stopped production in October 1954 and plans had
been made to move a portion of the manufacturing
facilities to the Barber Colman plant in Rockford,
Illinois. On February 2, 1955, a meeting was
held in the Barber Colman offices to decide which
of the Hendey products would continue to be manu-
factured. Only the 9" Tool and Gage Makers lathe,
the #2 General Purpose lathe, the 12,14 and 16 inch geared head lathes, the 12 inch high speed
shaper and the 16"-20" shaper were to remain,
everything else was dropped. These products be-
came the Hendey Machine Division of Barber Colman. Once these items were back in production Barber Colman decided to design and produce there own lathe line.


The models developed by Barber Colman were the
1307 x 24 Tool Room Lathe, the 1610T Tool Room
Lathe, 1610 Facing, Turning and Boring Lathe, 2013
Geared Head Lathe and the 2516 Geared head Lathe.
The first three lathes are variable speed (elec-
tronic) and the last two are mechanical drive.
The 2013 and 2516 are identical lathes, except one
has a larger swing. The lathe shown in your pic-
ture is one of the 2013/2516 type. When first
introduced in 1957, they were 32 speed lathes, but
by 1958 they were 36 speed models. The serial
numbers on these machines will begin with the
letters DHL, production was less than 60 lathes.
All lathe and shaper production had ended by 1962.

Hendeyman
 
Shapeaholic:

As Johnoder has mentioned, the lathe in your
picture is not a Hendey, but a Barber Colman.
Because of the low production figures, these lathe
are seldom seen. They are a well built, first
class lathe. If a you could buy this lathe at a
price you could afford, I think you would be very
please with the way it operates. Since you have
broached the subject about Barber Colman lathes,
perhaps a little background information would be
in order.

The Hendey plant in Torrington, Connecticut
stopped production in October 1954 and plans had
been made to move a portion of the manufacturing
facilities to the Barber Colman plant in Rockford,
Illinois. On February 2, 1955, a meeting was
held in the Barber Colman offices to decide which
of the Hendey products would continue to be manu-
factured. Only the 9" Tool and Gage Makers lathe,
the #2 General Purpose lathe, the 12,14 and 16 inch geared head lathes, the 12 inch high speed
shaper and the 16"-20" shaper were to remain,
everything else was dropped. These products be-
came the Hendey Machine Division of Barber Colman. Once these items were back in production Barber Colman decided to design and produce there own lathe line.


The models developed by Barber Colman were the
1307 x 24 Tool Room Lathe, the 1610T Tool Room
Lathe, 1610 Facing, Turning and Boring Lathe, 2013
Geared Head Lathe and the 2516 Geared head Lathe.
The first three lathes are variable speed (elec-
tronic) and the last two are mechanical drive.
The 2013 and 2516 are identical lathes, except one
has a larger swing. The lathe shown in your pic-
ture is one of the 2013/2516 type. When first
introduced in 1957, they were 32 speed lathes, but
by 1958 they were 36 speed models. The serial
numbers on these machines will begin with the
letters DHL, production was less than 60 lathes.
All lathe and shaper production had ended by 1962.

Hendeyman
 
For a town dominated by milling machine builders, it nice to see that a top shelf lathe as was design and built in Rockford. it is a shame not more were built. It seems that the early 60's was a rough time for many machine builders, with many of them going out of business or being sold. Does anyone happen to know what might have been the cause?

John
 
For a town dominated by milling machine builders, it nice to see that a top shelf lathe as was design and built in Rockford. it is a shame not more were built. It seems that the early 60's was a rough time for many machine builders, with many of them going out of business or being sold. Does anyone happen to know what might have been the cause?

John
 








 
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