99Panhard
Stainless
- Joined
- Feb 22, 2006
- Location
- Smithfield, Rhode Island
About 10 years ago, about the time I joined this forum, I was talking to one of my antique arms collecting friends and showed him my shop... which, at the time, consisted of a camel back drill, power hacksaw and my 1880s Prentice Bros lathe. "Do you want a shaper?" he asked. "Sure"... it turns out that he had one in a building he owned, a former toolmaker's' shop. The gentleman had closed the shop around the end of WWII. The building had been cleared out, but this machine was left behind. The problem was that the man who was now renting the space had if full and getting it out was a problem. Over the past ten years we've joked about this. I never really thought he'd be able to get to it but last week he called and said "I've got that shaper out and loaded on my trailer... do you want to come and pick it up?" I'd have to tow it myself because he no longer has the truck he used the trailer with.
I went this morning... and quickly discovered that the "shaper" was really a small (maybe 4') open side planer. I could not find any maker's identification on it and know very little about them. I would describe it as dirty but clearly servicable. There's no rust...it's been inside its entire life. I doubt it has run since WWII but it was not an overhead belt machine. The one curious feature I noted was that the "arm" appears to raised and lowered via a wire rope cable but a quick internet search hasn't turned up anything similar.
Now I have a conundrum... if I'd seen it first I'd have suggested he offer it for sale. I suspect it's a pretty good machine and we know planers are about the only older machines that are consistently in demand. I may not even fit in my shop but I'll have to go back and take some measurements. That said, I have room for a 14" or 16" shaper but squeezing this in will require a lot of shifting and I don't think it's worth the effort. Unfortunately, I didn't think to bring a camera, presuming I'd just take some photos when I got back. I will probably go back next week, take some photos and measurements and post them here in the hope someone can use it. This gentleman and I go back a long time so he was prepared to give it to me but I can't extend that offer. I will say that it can probably be bought very reasonably and, it's already out of the building.
Located in Upton, Massachusetts. The toolmaker did a lot of specialized work for the big manufacturing companies in Mass before WWII. He was apparently planning to retire when WWII began. He'd invented a machine to mass produce hypodermic needles and spent the war years making them for the Army... when the war was over, he finally retired. My friend bought the property about 25 years ago from his widow who was in her 90s then.
I went this morning... and quickly discovered that the "shaper" was really a small (maybe 4') open side planer. I could not find any maker's identification on it and know very little about them. I would describe it as dirty but clearly servicable. There's no rust...it's been inside its entire life. I doubt it has run since WWII but it was not an overhead belt machine. The one curious feature I noted was that the "arm" appears to raised and lowered via a wire rope cable but a quick internet search hasn't turned up anything similar.
Now I have a conundrum... if I'd seen it first I'd have suggested he offer it for sale. I suspect it's a pretty good machine and we know planers are about the only older machines that are consistently in demand. I may not even fit in my shop but I'll have to go back and take some measurements. That said, I have room for a 14" or 16" shaper but squeezing this in will require a lot of shifting and I don't think it's worth the effort. Unfortunately, I didn't think to bring a camera, presuming I'd just take some photos when I got back. I will probably go back next week, take some photos and measurements and post them here in the hope someone can use it. This gentleman and I go back a long time so he was prepared to give it to me but I can't extend that offer. I will say that it can probably be bought very reasonably and, it's already out of the building.
Located in Upton, Massachusetts. The toolmaker did a lot of specialized work for the big manufacturing companies in Mass before WWII. He was apparently planning to retire when WWII began. He'd invented a machine to mass produce hypodermic needles and spent the war years making them for the Army... when the war was over, he finally retired. My friend bought the property about 25 years ago from his widow who was in her 90s then.
