Thread: Westcott chuck, antone seen one

8" lathe chuck made by Westcott of NY. It is independent 4 jaw but turning the square recess turns a gear that move all jaws simultaneously.

Anyone seen one of these?

I think I had one just about like what you show except the recessed square came in from the side. I remember being concerned about it as it stood a little "proud" of the exterior circumference of the chuck and I was afraid of getting my fingertips hung up on it.

I'm not sure that I still have it. I think it went when the Flather lathe went.

Joe

Don't know if the question is 1), has anyone seen a Westcott chuck? or 2), has anyone seen a combination four jaw chuck?

I've seen both, and believe that a number of firms made combination function 4 jaw chucks.

Originally Posted by northernsinger

Don't know if the question is 1), has anyone seen a Westcott chuck? or 2), has anyone seen a combination four jaw chuck?

I've seen both, and believe that a number of firms made combination function 4 jaw chucks.

Same here. I think I have posted some Westcott patents here in a previous thread.

Larry

I have the exact same chuck sitting on my shelf. On mine, you can insert a 7/8" open end wrench from the outside of the chuck to operate the scroll. I haven't used it yet and really don't need it so if anyone wants it, let me know. It will fit in a flat rate priority mail box. I'd sell it for $60.00 including shipping to any address in the continental US.
Cheers,
Gordon

I just had someone asking about my Westcott chuck so, I figured I better say that I sold it. Thanks.

I have a 12" Westcott 4 jaw chuck with same body as pictured. It is marked "special", as it was made as a plain 4-jaw independent chuck, and does not have the scroll. It came with my 13" LeBlond roundhead Regal lathe. I knew Westcott made the combination chucks which could be used as either a scroll chuck or independent jaw chuck. My LeBlond Regal lathe shipped in July of 1943 from LeBlond's plant to the original owner. My guess is that during WWII, they used a chuck from an older lathe for my LeBlond Regal lathe. The Westcott chuck has male square drive heads on the jaw screws, which seems like it was an older design that had been replaced with female square sockets on chuck jaw screws (or bevel pinions on scroll chucks). My Regal lathe also came with a 12" Skinner 3 jaw scroll chuck, and this has the female square sockets, as well as one-piece jaws ( both sets of jaws were furnished with the lathe). The Skinner chuck looks as old as the LeBlond lathe. The patent dates on the Westcott chuck are dated way earlier than 1943, more like the late 19th century, and into the 'teens of the twentieth century IIRC.

As an undergraduate in college, I bought a beat up lathe and we put it in my father's basement in Brooklyn. It was a geared head lathe, about 12" swing, with plain tapered bronze bearings and loose change gears. The headstock was geared to give 6 spindle speeds. The high/low range was shifted with a lever and dog clutches. The three speed ranges were shifted with a handwheel on top of the headstock, which turned a pinion which slid a rack with the shifter forks. That lathe was built as a lineshaft drive machine, had no feed clutch or long power feed, but did have a sliding gear to bring in power cross feed. The lathe was called a "Rapid Precision", and it came with a pair of 3 jaw scroll chucks and a faceplate. One 3 jaw chuck was the modern kind with solid jaws. The other was a Westcott chuck. It was kind of unique in that a chuck key was used to tighten the jaws in the normal manner, but it had a means of rapidly opening and closing the chuck jaws once set with the key. This means of rapidly opening/closing the jaws consisted of a spur gear pinion which engaged gear teeth on the outer periphery of the scroll. This pinion had a male square shank which was in a milled recess in the side of the chuck body. An open end wrench was used to work the "rapid open/close" on that chuck. I've never seen another chuck like it. It was worn and beat up, so I sold it at a yard sale to some younger fellows who knew what a 3 jaw chuck was. Until I got my Regal lathe, I had not come accross another Westcott Lathe Chuck. Following this thread, it would seem Westcott was in the habit of making chucks with dual features, possibly for production work. The four jaw chuck in this thread would allow a machinist to set the jaws as an independent chuck to hold an odd shaped job and get it running true. After the initial setup/jaw adjustment, it would then be quick to use the scroll to open/close the jaws on the same shape/size workpieces. Or, it was an early design of what we now know as a "Set Tru" type of feature to get a 3 jaw chuck to hold work true.

My guess is Westcott had a unique chuck design since their chucks could function as both scroll chucks as well as independent chucks. I think it was probably the more common type of chuck that Westcott made, since my chuck is stamped "special". Many years ago, when I was a kid of maybe 10, I got an "S" pattern adjustable wrench in an old hardware/surplus place near Canal Street in NYC. It was still wrapped in brown shipping paper and in cosmoline. I think my Dad paid maybe 50 cents or a buck at most. That wrench is stamped: "Westcott Chuck Company, Oneida, NY". It is a heavy wrench for the size, and kind of unique in that it is the "S" pattern. In the 1970's, I worked on a nuke powerplant construction project in Connecticut. An older pipefitter used to refer to an adjustable wrench as a "Westcott". That pipefitter was the only person I ever heard refer to an adjustable wrench by that name, and having that "S" pattern adjustable wrench, I knew what he was referring to. I do not know when Westcott Chuck ceased to exist, but I have a feeling they are long gone, not absorbed by any other firm.

Joe ,
Around my area a lot of old timers referred to an adjustable wrench as a Westcott or more often pronounced as “ Wesscott “
Until I read about their chucks on this forum I always thought of them only as an adjustable wrench maker.
I used to have an old 10 or 12” Westcott “S” shaped adjustable wrench in my truck’s emergency tool kit for several years until I acquired some newer thinner non Westcott adjustables at a yard sale and may have given that one to another family member .
I’ll have to look and see if it is still around here.
Regards,
Jim

I have a 7" light pattern Westscott that has a lever to switch from "independent" to "together".
Somewhat strange, the screws for moving the jaws look like a sharp V thread, rather than the
more familiar acme thread. No backing plate, might not have ever been mounted. And yea,
it has an 18xx patent date. And I need a 7/16 square female recess chuck key to use it.

--Doozer

Originally Posted by Jim Christie

Joe ,
Around my area a lot of old timers referred to an adjustable wrench as a Westcott or more often pronounced as “ Wesscott “
Until I read about their chucks on this forum I always thought of them only as an adjustable wrench maker.
I used to have an old 10 or 12” Westcott “S” shaped adjustable wrench in my truck’s emergency tool kit for several years until I acquired some newer thinner non Westcott adjustables at a yard sale and may have given that one to another family member .
I’ll have to look and see if it is still around here.
Regards,
Jim

Those Westcott wrenches come in graduated sizes from 4" to 12" (in 2" increments) The run of the mill on those are the 6,7,8,9,10. EVERYONE has or can get those. The 12" and 4" are more rare.

Check out Ebay and you'll find a dozen mostly of the middle sizes.

Joe in NH

MebFab,

I Have a 14" Westcott combination chuck on my Monarch 14" Standard lathe. There is an opening on the side for a wrench and the square hole in the face that operates the spur gear for the scroll. Each jaw has its own adjustment also. I like that its very versitile being a combination chuck. The date in each of the jaws is 1914. Same time range as the lathe its on.