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Barber Colman Lathe Information

hendeyman

Stainless
Joined
Nov 18, 2005
Location
elfrida arizona usa
I have posted information on the Barber Colman Hendey lathes and shapers, but I haven't post much information on the five Barber Colman
designed lathes. I may have sent some of this information to Tony in England, but by posting it here, it will be in the archives for easy reference.

After reorganizing the Hendey lathe and shaper line in 1955, Barber Colman decided to design and manufacture its own lathes. By 1956,
they had introduced five new models with the following designations: 1307 x 24 (HHL), 1610 (THL), 1610T (GHL), 2013(DHL) and 2516 (DHL).
The first two numbers indicate the swing over the bed and the last two numbers the swing over the cross slide. The lettering sequence was a continuation of the Hendey series assigned by Barber Colman. The Tool and Gagemakers lathe was AHL, the 2E General Purpose lathe was BHL and the 12", 14" and 16" Toolroom lathes were CHL.

For those of you that own Barber Colman Hendey lathes and shapers and Barber Colman lathes, here are the production dates and number of
machines produced:

AHL Tool and Gagemakers lathe - November 21, 1955 to February 12, 1960 - Total production 82
AHK 12" High Speed Crank Shaper - October 13, 1955 to June 29, 1957 - Total production 30
BHL 2E General Purpose lathe - August 8, 1955 to September 30, 1959 - Total production 102
BHK 16"-20" Crank Shaper - December 30, 1955 to June 26, 1957 - Total production 12
CHL 12" 18 Speed lathe - February 9, 1956 to November 24, 1958 - Total production 49
CHL 14" 18 Speed lathe - July 5, 1956 to March 14, 1957 - Total production 24
CHL 16" 18 Speed lathe - April 18, 1956 to January 9, 1957 - Total production 20
DHL 2013 and 2516 Lathe - March 15, 1956 to December 1962 - Total production 58 (2013 = 42) - (2516 = 16)
GHL 1610T Toolroom lathe - January 8, 1960 to August 16,1962 - Total production 49 (possibly a 50th built, but no completion date)
HHL 1307 x 24" Toolroom lathe - June 10, 1960 to April 2, 1962 - total production 26
THL 1610 Facing, Turning and Boring lathe - March 31, 1960 to June 29, 1962 - Total production 20

After Barber Colman stopped production of their design lathes in 1962, the patterns and castings were destroyed and most of the repair
parts were scrapped. When Tom McCune, the owner of Aable Machine Tool bought the Hendey lathe and shaper line in 1977, he thought that
he was buying the Barber Colman designs as well. Barber Colman made it very clear that he had only bought the Hendey lathe and shaper
line and any attempt to supply repair parts for their machines would result in legal action. They informed their dealers that Aable was
not authorized to supply repair parts. While that is what Barber Colman said, they wound up shipping all of the remaining repair parts
and drawings for their designs to Aable. Aable never sold any repair parts for the Barber Colman designs. Now that Aable and Barber
Colman are no longer in business, I am now slowly going through the inventory for these machines. If you have one of these models and
need repair parts, let me know and I will to see what is left.

So far, I have located Operator's Manuals for the 1307 x 24" lathe and the 2013T and 2516T lathes. Also, I have the Parts Books for
the 1610T (GHL) lathe and the 1610 (THL) lathes. If interested in any items related to these machines, please contact me directly at:
[email protected]

Hendeyman
 
Great info Hendeyman! One thing I always wondered, what was the driving desire for Barber Colman to purchase the Hendey lathe and shaper line? In the grand scheme of things Barber Colman never made the Hendey machines or even their own design lathe in any real volume or for a long duration. Is it know if they ever made a profit from this venture?
 
Peroni:

You ask a good question. As far as I can tell, Barber Colman became involved in Hendey as the result of Frederick Richman's purchase of
the company. Freddy Richman bought Hendey for two million dollars with the promises of improving the company. The corporation he
controlled consisted of one stockholder, Freddy Richman. After studying the Hendey financial records, he determined that the asset value
and the book value were different and a great deal of money could be made by buying the company and then selling off the pieces. I haven't been able to determine when Freddy approached Barber Colman about buying the Hendey lathe and shaper line, whether before or
after his purchase. The whole deal must have been kept very quiet, the only visible evidence that there was a connection was the Barber
Colman name on some of the drawings in 1952.

Freddy effectively dissolved the old Hendey Machine Company and replaced it with the Hendey Machine Company, Inc.. Even the old Hendey
Tie Bar Trade Mark was changed to reflect the new company. There must have been a bit of a shake up after after the purchase because
the semi-annual Price Lists did not appear for all of 1952. The November 1, 1951 Price List was marked "amended" and used until August
1953. By that time , the 4C Manufacturing lathe had been discontinued as well as a number of accessories. By November 1, 1951, four
shapers had been discontinued, the 20HD, 24Std, 24HD and the 28Std. While some older models were eliminated, two others were being
developed, the 2E General Purpose lathe and a secret model that never went into production because Hendey closed and sold off in October
1954. It was called No.100 High Speed lathe and fortunately some of the drawings for this lathe have survived. In the future, I may be
able to post more about it. By reducing the product line, it would appear that the sales team was going to be a bit more aggressive.

I can understand Barber Colman figuring that by buying an established name they could get into the lathe market, but why shapers? It was
no secret that the shaper market was declining. The Hendey decision to stop production of the shaper models I listed above was based on
the fact that they hadn't sold any of them between 1944 and 1949, except for five of the 24" HD models. The 16" HD and the 20" Std only
sold 2 and 4 machines respectively. Even the most popular shaper, the 12" High Speed, showed a rapid decline from a high of 186 machines
in 1942 to only 30 machines in 1949. Prior to the War, in 1939, 79 12" shaper were produced. By 1944, the production had dropped to 51.
In less than two years, Barber Colman stopped production of shapers, a venture they should have never started. Even major dedicated
manufacturers of shapers, such as Cincinnati, stopped production in the late 1960s.

Again, if you examine the Barber Colman production records I posted, you will notice that only three machines had any sale volume, the
Tool and Gagemakers lathe, the 2E General Purpose lathe and the 12 inch- 18 speed Toolroom lathe. You will notice that these are all
small machines, in the 12 inch and 14 inch range (14-1/2 inch and 16-1/2 inch raised swing models). The larger 14 inch and 16 inch
Toolroom lathes were not big sellers, which the sales records would have shown prior to deciding to go into the lathe business. Despite
all of this information, some genius in the sales department, decided that if the smaller lathes weren't selling, then let's make an
even larger lathe. Barber Colman had an extensive sales force for their various divisions, which made their choice for these larger
lathes possible, with the DHL models selling well over a four year period. You will notice that after the Hendey line was discontinued,
Barber Colman stayed in the lathe business, but only for seven years.

In answer to your original question and after listing the various factors that I thought may have caused Barber Colman to enter the
lathe and shaper business, it must be similar to why people get married and then divorced, because it seemed like a good idea at the
time. While I didn't list more of the various players that help make all of this possible, one fact is true, one man's greed put over
one thousand people out of work and destroyed a fine American company.

Hendeyman
 
View attachment 345239
345239d1507415112-barber-colman-lathe-information-1.jpg


I visited a few years ago.
Happy to have this memory.
I am a T&G owner.

-Doozer
 
I have posted information on the Barber Colman Hendey lathes and shapers, but I haven't post much information on the five Barber Colman
designed lathes. I may have sent some of this information to Tony in England, but by posting it here, it will be in the archives for easy reference.

After reorganizing the Hendey lathe and shaper line in 1955, Barber Colman decided to design and manufacture its own lathes. By 1956,
they had introduced five new models with the following designations: 1307 x 24 (HHL), 1610 (THL), 1610T (GHL), 2013(DHL) and 2516 (DHL).
The first two numbers indicate the swing over the bed and the last two numbers the swing over the cross slide. The lettering sequence was a continuation of the Hendey series assigned by Barber Colman. The Tool and Gagemakers lathe was AHL, the 2E General Purpose lathe was BHL and the 12", 14" and 16" Toolroom lathes were CHL.

For those of you that own Barber Colman Hendey lathes and shapers and Barber Colman lathes, here are the production dates and number of
machines produced:

AHL Tool and Gagemakers lathe - November 21, 1955 to February 12, 1960 - Total production 82
AHK 12" High Speed Crank Shaper - October 13, 1955 to June 29, 1957 - Total production 30
BHL 2E General Purpose lathe - August 8, 1955 to September 30, 1959 - Total production 102
BHK 16"-20" Crank Shaper - December 30, 1955 to June 26, 1957 - Total production 12
CHL 12" 18 Speed lathe - February 9, 1956 to November 24, 1958 - Total production 49
CHL 14" 18 Speed lathe - July 5, 1956 to March 14, 1957 - Total production 24
CHL 16" 18 Speed lathe - April 18, 1956 to January 9, 1957 - Total production 20
DHL 2013 and 2516 Lathe - March 15, 1956 to December 1962 - Total production 58 (2013 = 42) - (2516 = 16)
GHL 1610T Toolroom lathe - January 8, 1960 to August 16,1962 - Total production 49 (possibly a 50th built, but no completion date)
HHL 1307 x 24" Toolroom lathe - June 10, 1960 to April 2, 1962 - total production 26
THL 1610 Facing, Turning and Boring lathe - March 31, 1960 to June 29, 1962 - Total production 20

After Barber Colman stopped production of their design lathes in 1962, the patterns and castings were destroyed and most of the repair
parts were scrapped. When Tom McCune, the owner of Aable Machine Tool bought the Hendey lathe and shaper line in 1977, he thought that
he was buying the Barber Colman designs as well. Barber Colman made it very clear that he had only bought the Hendey lathe and shaper
line and any attempt to supply repair parts for their machines would result in legal action. They informed their dealers that Aable was
not authorized to supply repair parts. While that is what Barber Colman said, they wound up shipping all of the remaining repair parts
and drawings for their designs to Aable. Aable never sold any repair parts for the Barber Colman designs. Now that Aable and Barber
Colman are no longer in business, I am now slowly going through the inventory for these machines. If you have one of these models and
need repair parts, let me know and I will to see what is left.

So far, I have located Operator's Manuals for the 1307 x 24" lathe and the 2013T and 2516T lathes. Also, I have the Parts Books for
the 1610T (GHL) lathe and the 1610 (THL) lathes. If interested in any items related to these machines, please contact me directly at:
[email protected]

Hendeyman
I own a BHL 14x54 ser# 40044 and use it frequently. I had thought for over a decade that this lathe must have been produced earlier but hadn’t ever been able to find serial number information. I would love to find a steady rest for this lathe. A parts diagram would be really nice as well.
Thank you “Hendeyman”
 
Dexterlab24:

Barber Colman lathe BHL 40044 was completed on November 30, 1956 and is a 14" x 54" RA (Raised Swing-to swing 16-1/2") model.
It was shipped with regular equipment (as shown in the catalog), a Compound Rest, an Oil Pan, Timken bearings, a D1-6" Cam Lock
Spindle and an Electronic Drive System (440/3/60). It was painted green. the original owner was Airesearch Manufacturing Company,
Los Angeles, California. There are still repair parts left in inventory for this lathe and I have the Operator's Manual and the Repair Parts
Book in stock. I should have the schematic for the electronic drive system. Contact me directly for prices on any items you may need.

Hendeyman
 
Dexterlab24:

Barber Colman lathe BHL 40044 was completed on November 30, 1956 and is a 14" x 54" RA (Raised Swing-to swing 16-1/2") model.
It was shipped with regular equipment (as shown in the catalog), a Compound Rest, an Oil Pan, Timken bearings, a D1-6" Cam Lock
Spindle and an Electronic Drive System (440/3/60). It was painted green. the original owner was Airesearch Manufacturing Company,
Los Angeles, California. There are still repair parts left in inventory for this lathe and I have the Operator's Manual and the Repair Parts
Book in stock. I should have the schematic for the electronic drive system. Contact me directly for prices on any items you may need.

Hendyman
how can I contact you direct in regards to manual and parts book?

Ray Wilson
 
Dexterlab24:

Barber Colman lathe BHL 40044 was completed on November 30, 1956 and is a 14" x 54" RA (Raised Swing-to swing 16-1/2") model.
It was shipped with regular equipment (as shown in the catalog), a Compound Rest, an Oil Pan, Timken bearings, a D1-6" Cam Lock
Spindle and an Electronic Drive System (440/3/60). It was painted green. the original owner was Airesearch Manufacturing Company,
Los Angeles, California. There are still repair parts left in inventory for this lathe and I have the Operator's Manual and the Repair Parts
Book in stock. I should have the schematic for the electronic drive system. Contact me directly for prices on any items you may need.

Hendeyman

how can I contact you direct in regards to manual and parts book?

Ray Wilson
Dexterlab24:

You can contact me directly at: [email protected]
I have both manuals in stock.

Hendeyman
 








 
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