1850s Travelling Head Shaper

This 1850s shaper by William Collier is on display at the excellent Museum of Bath at Work. It’s in a lineshaft workshop which can be viewed from above, but close access to the machines is only by arrangement. I’m very grateful to the museum director, Stuart Burroughs, for allowing this.

The machines, and hundreds of other items on display were brought from the works of Messrs Bowler in Bath. Bowler’s were plumbers, brass founders, general engineers, bell-hangers, and makers of …… carbonated drinks!

For more information about William Collier & Co, see:-

http://www.practicalmachinist.com/v...-mill-engines-146469/index37.html#post1661288

For more information about an old milling machine in this collection, and links to other threads about the museum, see:-

http://www.practicalmachinist.com/vb/antique-machinery-history/1880s-milling-machine-233153/

Now, down to detail:



It’s a travelling head shaper. As the name implies, the whole head travels along the bed, and, shapes. The big flywheel/handwheel is on the power feed shaft. The shaft has a full length keyway which drives a sliding pinion. This pinion drives the big gearwheel in the photo above. Behind the gearwheel is the fast return link that strokes the shaper arm. On the camera side of the gear can be seen the slotted disc which operates the rod for the automatic feed.

The smaller handwheel engages with the feed mechanism, ultimately reaching a gear wheel mounted on the stationary leadscrew.

We’ll return to the mechanisms later




I think the swivelling head is quite nicely designed and made. Not sure about the brass block. I suspect this was a replacement, possibly made by Bowler’s since they had a foundry keen to make brass castings.






Note the worm in the foreground. This would have engaged with a wheel on a spindle protruding from the bed, allowing cylindrical surfaces to be shaped. The worm had an incremental power feed.

I like that the table uses dogs instead of T-slots for clamping. I guess one better have had a forge handy.

I saw traveling head shapers in the Niles-Bemont catalog but hadn't seen a prototype. Thanks for the pictures.

When considering the workmanship on these old machines, good or bad, it’s only fair to reflect on the tools that were available, and on the working conditions. Although Collier was an important machine maker, the factory was old even in the 1850s, and it’s likely that there wouldn’t have been much daylight. The extract from the article above comes from The Engineer, 11 July 1856.


The adjustable quick-return crank.


Closer view. Making the ‘window’ in the arm must have been tricky, not to mention the apparently simple flat part of the attachment lug. No vertical milling machines to help at that time.

Wonderful post as always!..... we all thank you for all the time you put into feasting our eyes and educating our minds.

I always wish I had been able to into Mr. Bowler's Business as I think it was then called, I went there to see it and for some reason it was closed that day..... that was about 25 years ago...... oh well next trip. I did however read the little book about him.....

Again thanks for the great posts.

Asquith,
I had been quickly scrolling through this book from 1879 that I found in a search for forging .
The mechanician, a treatise on the construction and manipulation of tools, for the use and instruction of young engineers and scientific amateurs; comprising the arts of blacksmithing and forging; the construction and manufacture of hand tools, and t

I came across some drawings of some Traveling Head Shapers perhaps a few years newer than the one in your photos but I thought you might like to see them if you aren’t already familiar with this book.
The mechanician, a treatise on the construction and manipulation of tools, for the use and instruction of young engineers and scientific amateurs; comprising the arts of blacksmithing and forging; the construction and manufacture of hand tools, and t

The mechanician, a treatise on the construction and manipulation of tools, for the use and instruction of young engineers and scientific amateurs; comprising the arts of blacksmithing and forging; the construction and manufacture of hand tools, and t

The mechanician, a treatise on the construction and manipulation of tools, for the use and instruction of young engineers and scientific amateurs; comprising the arts of blacksmithing and forging; the construction and manufacture of hand tools, and t

The mechanician, a treatise on the construction and manipulation of tools, for the use and instruction of young engineers and scientific amateurs; comprising the arts of blacksmithing and forging; the construction and manufacture of hand tools, and t

Some of the set ups they used


The mechanician, a treatise on the construction and manipulation of tools, for the use and instruction of young engineers and scientific amateurs; comprising the arts of blacksmithing and forging; the construction and manufacture of hand tools, and t

Regards,
jim

Rivett,

Thanks. Did you see the calipers in post #11 below? As good as vernier calipers in a dark Victorian shop!

http://www.practicalmachinist.com/vb/antique-machinery-history/1880s-milling-machine-233153/

Jim,

Thanks for the links. I must study that book more carefully, as I’m currently curious about how they managed to make things accurately in those days of primitive equipment. I note that the author was located at Erith in 1869, so I suspect he was an engineer at Easton & Anderson. They were one of the foremost British engineering companies in that era, making steam engines, cranes, guns, boilers, etc. In fact they supplied equipment to the ill-fated Chignecto Ship Railway in Nova Scotia. Some information on the scheme here:-

Cumberland County Genealogical Society

UNB Archives & Special Collections-Henry George Clopper Ketchum fonds

Back to the shaper:


Drive shaft and cone pulley. Below the shaft is the adjustable eccentric for the ratchet feed for the worm wheel mentioned earlier, and mentioned later.


This shows the small sliding pinion taking the power from the mainshaft to operate the ram and the main traversing feed ratchet.




This is the ratchet feed for the worm shaft. The crank would be at the top rather than hanging down.

Traveling head shaper

Hi,
I work at the Thomas Edison National Historical Park and we have a traveling head shaper. I was just wondering if anybody may have some sort of video that I could see how this works. Our park is open now and the heavy and precision machine shops are nice but not in working order yet. It is in our long range plans. If anyone is interested I would be happy to post some pics of some of our machines up here on this site.
Thanks again for all of your information you provide on this site...it has really helped me out a lot. Thanks again
Carmen

Carmen,
Yes, by all means post some pics.

TomB.

Carmen,

It's good to hear from someone at a museum with an interest in old machine tools.

Member ‘TedinNorfolk’ has made a video of his travelling head shaper in action, working on a casting for a steam engine. Relevant thread here:-

http://www.practicalmachinist.com/v...tory/shaper-h-hind-nottingham-england-192499/

Direct link to video here:-

H. Hind & Son metal shaper - YouTube