Help please! Unusual unknown 1800s patent model of a lathe, boring, cutting machine?

[Romak]

Dear engineers. I need your help, please. In my collection of original American patent models, I have an interesting example of a mechanical lathe, boring, cutting machine, or tool. I am not sure what this is but I know that it is a patent model submitted to the US Patent Office in the 1800s. The patent tag has been lost. The model is all handmade from cast iron, brass, and metal. This is a unique and one-of-a-kind piece of technology measured 12" long by 12" wide. It weighs about 20 lbs! I would like to search for the patent drawing but I do not know the keywords to use. Maybe somebody will recognize this machine and its purpose or give me any keywords that I can use in search engines. The only word I know is a pulley. There are three pulleys here and each rotates a shaft. Two shafts have something like a pointy cutter, similar to a drill bit tip. I am attaching some photographs. I assume pulleys of the original machine would be attached to a steam engine by belts.

Thank you!!!

 

[thermite]

Dear engineers. I need your help, please. In my collection of original American patent models, I have an interesting example of a mechanical lathe, boring, cutting machine, or tool. I am not sure what this is but I know that it is a patent model submitted to the US Patent Office in the 1800s. The patent tag has been lost. The model is all handmade from cast iron, brass, and metal. This is a unique and one-of-a-kind piece of technology measured 12" long by 12" wide. It weighs about 20 lbs! I would like to search for the patent drawing but I do not know the keywords to use. Maybe somebody will recognize this machine and its purpose or give me any keywords that I can use in search engines. The only word I know is a pulley. There are three pulleys here and each rotates a shaft. Two shafts have something like a pointy cutter, similar to a drill bit tip. I am attaching some photographs. I assume pulleys of the original machine would be attached to a steam engine by belts.

Thank you!!!

View attachment 323918

View attachment 323919

I could be wrong. It wouldn't be the FIRST time, but suspicion is it was meant to make "skeleton" type KEY blade/tips.

StackPath

 

[M.B. Naegle]

Looks more like a wire bending machine, but I'm not sure how the spindles would work with that unless there was some kind of cam system with them not seen or no longer present. Being a patent model, It might not have the same 100% functionality as the real deal.

 

[SIP6A]

I have seen modern machine similar to this used to machine valves or pipe fittings.

 

[Romak]

Interesting guess!

I have seen modern machine similar to this to machine valves or pipe fittings.

Interesting guess! Thank you! I am not sure how exactly a valve or a pipe would fit. I see that two pulleys rotate bore-like pointy pieces against the center sharp piece that is static and does not rotate. Maybe the key would be in finding out what is placed between those bores?

 

[Romak]

Looks more like a wire bending machine, but I'm not sure how the spindles would work with that unless there was some kind of cam system with them not seen or no longer present. Being a patent model, It might not have the same 100% functionality as the real deal.

It might be missing some parts, but patent models were inventions in miniatures and they were operational ones, demonstrating the invention. Wire bending? Sounds interesting. Maybe a wire twisting machine, but there are no small hooks like on the manual wire twisters the wire attaches or slides to. I like your idea! The only puzzle is the pint bores, two rotating and one static.

 

[DDoug]

I have seen modern machine similar to this to machine valves or pipe fittings.

Goss & Deleeuw ?
Goss & Deleeuw | Builders of Tool Rotating Chucking Machines

 

[Romak]

I could be wrong. It wouldn't be the FIRST time, but suspicion is it was meant to make "skeleton" type KEY blade/tips.

StackPath

Great idea! Thank you! I know that key cutting machines use discs. Maybe in this early example, the inventor used different cutters. The only thing is I am not sure where the key would be secured.

 

[rivett608]

Not sure, but it seems too big for a patent model, I think there were standards to the maximum size for models to be submitted to the Patent Office otherwise they would have been over whelmed. It was like they had to fit in a 10" or 12" cube. The weight seems heavy for being that small.

 

[Romak]

Not sure, but it seems too big for a patent model, I think there were standards to the maximum size for models to be submitted to the Patent Office otherwise they would have been over whelmed. It was like they had to fit in a 10" or 12" cube. The weight seems heavy for being that small.

This is a 12" by 12" patent model from Rundle Gilbert's collection of Original US Patent Models. It was discovered along with other patent models but this example just did not have a tag attached. It even has a certificate telling this is an original patent model. Nobody just knows the patent number and I am trying to find it.

 

[rivett608]

I thought there was a size limit, looks like they just made that one fit. It is going to hard to find, any clue as to age? Were other models related in any way? On Datamp if you have the names of the other models it will link to all patents by that person. Just a long shot.

 

[thermite]

Great idea! Thank you! I know that key cutting machines use discs. Maybe in this early example, the inventor used different cutters. The only thing is I am not sure where the key would be secured.

"Bits" were sometimes separate from shafts. That continues through present-day as many are used with a very long rod so attempts to pick a lock have to be gone at down a DEEP hole!

 

[Dr. Hillbilly]

Can you post an image of the tool on the end of the third rotating "spindle"?
Is the little bar which is supported by the bushing free to rotate?
I assume there is nothing which synchronizes the rotation of the three shafts (other than the driving shafts)

 

[IBLSKeith]

I wonder if the reason you cannot find a patent number could be because the application was denied? The patent model was required with the application, but that doesn’t guarantee that a patent will be granted.

 

[Romak]

The patent has been granted for this invention.

I wonder if the reason you cannot find a patent number could be because the application was denied? The patent model was required with the application, but that doesn’t guarantee that a patent will be granted.

The patent has been granted for this invention because the ribbon was attached. That ribbon used to hold a patent tag with a number that got lost. I can find a patent, but I need to know keywords for searching.

 

[Romak]

I thought there was a size limit, looks like they just made that one fit. It is going to hard to find, any clue as to age? Were other models related in any way? On Datamp if you have the names of the other models it will link to all patents by that person. Just a long shot.

Yes, the size limit for the model was 12", but I had much bigger examples also. My biggest was a model of 18" wide. The other models are not related. They vary in age, from 1847 to 1873, and purpose. There are different inventions here.