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Very old chain drive lathe

Claude380thAMS

Plastic
Joined
Jan 26, 2017
A long time ago I was given and old lathe. It was in a basement of house a friend purchased and decades later he was selling the house and decided to give me the lathe. His house was built in the 1800s.

After letting this lathe sit in my basement for 2 decades just taking up space, I finally started searching for a name and information. This lathe does not have any marking on it. However, it does have some interesting features:
  • Chain driven cross slide
  • Rise and Fall tool rest
  • Ram's head wing nut on the tail stock
  • Many other similarities with the Wilkinson Lathe in Vermont

    I have looked at all the photo's listed on the internet including Lathes.co.uk and Vintage Machinery. Nothing comes as close at the Wilkinson Lathe

    My friend's house is just a few minutes drive from the Wilkinson/Slater Mill historical site. The gentleman there was as helpful as he could be but wasn't that knowledgeable with lathes.

    Any help from this forum is welcome and appreciated. I'll try to post a few photos. If not successful I'll have to wait until tonight so my 13 year old can help me.
 

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The first photo shows an additional pulley and shaft on top. I have since removed the angle iron frame, pulleys and shaft. Obviously this wasn't original because the craftsmanship was not so good.
2nd: Tail stock with the ram's head nut.
3rd: Cross slide with the thumb screw
4th: I believe this is the thrust bearing. I loosened the top bolt and the assembly turns on the shaft. All the hardware came off very easy.
5th The chain drive system
IMG_1969.jpgIMG_1969.jpgIMG_2170.jpg
 
oops, posted the same photo twice. You might be able to see one of the legs is broken and repaired with hardware I've never seen before. A round head without a way to grip it. This is not a carriage bolt. All moving parts have no play in them except for the chain.
 
I know where there is another, also in Rhode Island and I have what must be the same machine but modified to a feed rod and lead screw. Mine came from New Hampshire... I'll post some photos later.

Are you in Pawtucket? I'm in Woonsocket and the other chain lathe is in Cumberland.

jp
 
I know where there is another, also in Rhode Island and I have what must be the same machine but modified to a feed rod and lead screw. Mine came from New Hampshire... I'll post some photos later.

Are you in Pawtucket? I'm in Woonsocket and the other chain lathe is in Cumberland.

jp

Lived in Cumberland until I got married, now I live in Johnston. Looking forward to your photos.
 
Here's mine. You will notice that the castings appear to have been made with a chain drive in mind. All of the later style fittings, the feed rod, the lead screws etc. are bolted to the main casting. Also, the hole shaft that the big chain sprocket at the head stock end was mounted on is there but plugged with wood. My guess is that it was a very early attempt to make a more modern machine using the castings that were already available. Of course, it could be "shop made" but I think this is early enough that the differences between a general machine shop and the shop of the original manufacturer would be minuscule.

IMG_0301.jpgIMG_0303.jpg
 
I doubt it. The chain lathe I know of belongs to someone who isn't named Bob and he's had it for years. My lathe came from New Hampshire or Vermont - I forget which now because I bought it 10 years ago.

Which 3 holes are you talking about? Mine actually has a back gear setup but it was also an add-on, bolted to the head stock casting. I also have a threading chart/plate that, while entirely right has all the numbers stamped individually.

I think I see...the three holes on the end of the head stock.
You are welcome to take a look at mine. I'm in the shop most days though very busy at the moment. Just send me a pm to see if I am available.

jp
 
Thank you for sharing. I love seeing these early lathes. Many of these early lathes have similar features with the lathes of those days. Even from the start builders were copying other designs and often tweeking them to fit there own style. Also you can see how even early on the builders were building not just one lathe. They were building copies. Who wouldn't build more than just one when you had already made the patterns. I have seen that tailstock design several times now with reference to multiple identified builders. My 1830s chain lathe although larger has some casting design similarity to yours including the headstock design and 3 value ways add a rear flat way add very similar rise and fall setup.
 
I also will quickly add that I did some digging add found what may be another one of these lathes at Harpers Ferry.
Harpers_Ferry_gun_smith_shop_-_drill_press_-_01.jpg
 
Isn't that interesting. I wish we could say it was used there but the Harpers Ferry Armory burned to the ground in 1861. The machinery that survived was shipped south as the confederacy had virtually no capacity to manufacture arms so whatever is there today was probably acquired in recent times. But, I am sending this picture to my colleague Alex MacKenzie, curator of the Springfield Armory Museum, and will ask him if he can get us whatever details they have on it.

Thanks very much,

jp
 
Also, Peter – who often posts here, has another very similar, albeit much larger, chain lathe with the same legs.

Thank you all for the photos. Like I said above, I literally spent days searching the web for a photo of this type of lathe and after 1000s I find 2 here. Should have started here in the first place!!!
 
I think the first photo is Peter's lathe. The second photo is the one we have at the Rough and Tumble Engineers Historical Association machine shop which we think is a S C Coombs.
 

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I'm surprised at how many there are. The logical conclusion would seem to be that whoever made them was a major manufacturer, otherwise this number couldn't have survived.

I agree. I think I've exhausted just about all sources on the web. During my Christmas vacation I think I'll travel to Worcester to do more research in the local library and historical society. I would really like to solve this mystery of who and when these lathes were made. A few years ago (if I remember correctly) I made contact with Lathes.co.uk and found out that most likely my lathe was made in Worcester MA. or the surrounding area.
I'll start with Phelps & Bickford members;
Samuel C. Combs (sometimes spelt Coombs)
R.R. Shepard
Martin Lathe
J.A Whipple who replaced C. Wheelock in 1852

. . .and somehow I'll find how Wilkinson is connected to the above list.
 








 
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