Farnborough - 1944 - identification of lathes

[tonylathes]

A photograph taken in 1944 at the Royal Aircraft Establishment at Farnborough. It's suspected that the lathes are American; can anyone identify the maker?
My thanks, Tony Griffiths.

 

[Tom A]

No idea, but it sure looks like it was a dangerous set up, with the operators crammed between the lathes and the wall.

 

[Joe Michaels]

The lathe in the immediate LH corner is a "Roundhead LeBlond Regal" lathe. The lathe has the speed/lever setting dial on top of the headstock, and the coolant tank/pump is a "Gusher" unit. I have a 13" Roundhead Regal built in 1943, so can see all the same features, even to the coolant tank/pump.

 

[maynah]

What's going on with the floor?
The black substance that seems to be under every machine.

 

[Peroni]

No idea, but it sure looks like it was a dangerous set up, with the operators crammed between the lathes and the wall.

Well there was a war on - any means necessary to defeat Jerry.

 

[Joe Michaels]

My first thought is the zig-zag edging was from floor matting under the machine tools. However, this was WWII, and there was a need to keep production moving, as well as a shortage of things like rubber or synthetic rubber. In the old shops, it was common to have 'duck boards' at the machine tools. The duck boards were wood slats nailed or screwed to wood rails. These provided a surface for machinists and machine tool operators to stand on through their working shifts. Standing on a concrete floor day in and day out (or night in and night out if a person worked 2nd or graveyard shifts) took a toll on a person's feet, hips and back. Duck boards were supplanted by interlocking sections of resilient matting, but that came some time well after WWII.

My guess is the floor appears dark as it may have been un-coated concrete which became black with a mixture of used cutting oil and fine metal particles. The zig-zag edged lighter area creating the aisle between the machine tools may have been a painted walkway. It was common in older shops as well as powerplants to paint the floors one color and designated walkways another color. In the USA, a typical color scheme for this was to paint engine room floors a kind "Tuscan Red", with the walkways painted in 'Battleship Gray'. In shops, designated walkways or aisles were often delineated with white lining, prior to 'safety yellow' taking over.

I doubt whether the management at Farnborough was going to put down rubber (or synthetic rubber) matting with zig-zag edges/connections. There is a floor drain in the photo, and it looks like sawdust or sand is on the floor near it. This was WWII, so things like 'Speedy Dry' or cat litter were not in use. If there was oil on the floor, about all that was done was to throw down some wood shavings or sawdust, or maybe a scoop of sand to reduce slipping hazards.

As noted, this picture was taken during WWII. England was in a fight for survival, and the RAF was vital. Keeping ahead of the Luftwaffe in terms of fighter and bomber aircraft development was a key piece to this survival, and with this came development of aircraft engines. If I am not mistaken, Farnborough was also something of a research and development facility for the RAF. I have a copy of the biography of Sir Harry Ricardo on my shelves, and he describes in detail, working with engineers at Farnborough to develop improved aircraft engines for the RAF in WWII and sometime thereafter.

During WWII, an installation like Farnborough would have been working at maximum capacity and then some. As such, the shop in the picture may well have been setup quickly, with the only objective being to get it online as quickly as possible. The building housing the shop may well have been an existing building that was cleared of whatever its previous use was to make way for the machine shop in the picture. Some of the machine tools may have been part of the "Lend Lease" act, coming from the USA to England as part of the Allied war effort. When those machine tools arrived, they were jammed into any available space and put right to work, as is apparent in this photo.

Note that the machinists (or fitters) in the photo wear shop coats & ties- even in a wartime situation. A bit more formal than their counterparts in US machine shops. If we look at the horizontal mill in the center of the photo, it may well be a Cincinnati. I know from other old photos and youtube clips of WWII production machine shops in England, that a lot of Cincinnati horizontal mills were used there. Could these came from a Cincinnati plant in England ?

I like to tell people how Cincinnati, Ohio, was the hub of the US Machine Tool Industry. I also like to tell people how the US Machine Tool Industry literally 'tooled up' our allies for their war production work. LeBlond made lathes ranging from the little "Roundhead" Regal lathes in this photo to some really large lathes used for
boring and turning 16" naval gun barrels. This list of US Machine Tool Builders is long and illustrious, and the largest concentration of those machine tool builders was in Cincinnati, Ohio. Even now, watching youtubes of Pakistani machine shops, it is quite common to see Cincinnati horizontal mills in use, milling splines on replacement truck axles or teeth on motorcycle sprockets and much more. While the US Machine Tool Industry in Cincinnati is hardly a wisp or glimmer of what it once was, it left a legacy of enduring, solid, user-friendly machine tools. A testament to this is how those machine tools survive years of hard use in shops where regular maintenance is unknown.

Getting back to this photo, it is not a stretch to imagine the fighter aircraft in the Battle of Britain, or the Lancasters and Mosquitos going on their raids over Germany as having parts machined in this shop. The shop and the machine tools in this photo may well have played more of a role in the saving of Britain than one might imagine.

Thanks for posting this photo and the discussion it has generated.

 

[SIP6A]

The zig-zag pattern is where some of the wood block floor was taken up so that electrical service could go to each machine through conduit, the remaining space was then filled in with concrete, I've seen this done many times in US plants.

 

[tonylathes]

The lathe in the immediate LH corner is a "Roundhead LeBlond Regal" lathe. The lathe has the speed/lever setting dial on top of the headstock, and the coolant tank/pump is a "Gusher" unit. I have a 13" Roundhead Regal built in 1943, so can see all the same features, even to the coolant tank/pump.

Thank you very much - the "built-in" reversing switch on top of the headstock should have been a clue!

 

[tonylathes]

My first thought is the zig-zag edging was from floor matting under the machine tools. However, this was WWII, and there was a need to keep production moving, as well as a shortage of things like rubber or synthetic rubber. In the old shops, it was common to have 'duck boards' at the machine tools. The duck boards were wood slats nailed or screwed to wood rails. These provided a surface for machinists and machine tool operators to stand on through their working shifts. Standing on a concrete floor day in and day out (or night in and night out if a person worked 2nd or graveyard shifts) took a toll on a person's feet, hips and back. Duck boards were supplanted by interlocking sections of resilient matting, but that came some time well after WWII.

My guess is the floor appears dark as it may have been un-coated concrete which became black with a mixture of used cutting oil and fine metal particles. The zig-zag edged lighter area creating the aisle between the machine tools may have been a painted walkway. It was common in older shops as well as powerplants to paint the floors one color and designated walkways another color. In the USA, a typical color scheme for this was to paint engine room floors a kind "Tuscan Red", with the walkways painted in 'Battleship Gray'. In shops, designated walkways or aisles were often delineated with white lining, prior to 'safety yellow' taking over.

I doubt whether the management at Farnborough was going to put down rubber (or synthetic rubber) matting with zig-zag edges/connections. There is a floor drain in the photo, and it looks like sawdust or sand is on the floor near it. This was WWII, so things like 'Speedy Dry' or cat litter were not in use. If there was oil on the floor, about all that was done was to throw down some wood shavings or sawdust, or maybe a scoop of sand to reduce slipping hazards.

As noted, this picture was taken during WWII. England was in a fight for survival, and the RAF was vital. Keeping ahead of the Luftwaffe in terms of fighter and bomber aircraft development was a key piece to this survival, and with this came development of aircraft engines. If I am not mistaken, Farnborough was also something of a research and development facility for the RAF. I have a copy of the biography of Sir Harry Ricardo on my shelves, and he describes in detail, working with engineers at Farnborough to develop improved aircraft engines for the RAF in WWII and sometime thereafter.

During WWII, an installation like Farnborough would have been working at maximum capacity and then some. As such, the shop in the picture may well have been setup quickly, with the only objective being to get it online as quickly as possible. The building housing the shop may well have been an existing building that was cleared of whatever its previous use was to make way for the machine shop in the picture. Some of the machine tools may have been part of the "Lend Lease" act, coming from the USA to England as part of the Allied war effort. When those machine tools arrived, they were jammed into any available space and put right to work, as is apparent in this photo.

Note that the machinists (or fitters) in the photo wear shop coats & ties- even in a wartime situation. A bit more formal than their counterparts in US machine shops. If we look at the horizontal mill in the center of the photo, it may well be a Cincinnati. I know from other old photos and youtube clips of WWII production machine shops in England, that a lot of Cincinnati horizontal mills were used there. Could these came from a Cincinnati plant in England ?

I like to tell people how Cincinnati, Ohio, was the hub of the US Machine Tool Industry. I also like to tell people how the US Machine Tool Industry literally 'tooled up' our allies for their war production work. LeBlond made lathes ranging from the little "Roundhead" Regal lathes in this photo to some really large lathes used for
boring and turning 16" naval gun barrels. This list of US Machine Tool Builders is long and illustrious, and the largest concentration of those machine tool builders was in Cincinnati, Ohio. Even now, watching youtubes of Pakistani machine shops, it is quite common to see Cincinnati horizontal mills in use, milling splines on replacement truck axles or teeth on motorcycle sprockets and much more. While the US Machine Tool Industry in Cincinnati is hardly a wisp or glimmer of what it once was, it left a legacy of enduring, solid, user-friendly machine tools. A testament to this is how those machine tools survive years of hard use in shops where regular maintenance is unknown.

Getting back to this photo, it is not a stretch to imagine the fighter aircraft in the Battle of Britain, or the Lancasters and Mosquitos going on their raids over Germany as having parts machined in this shop. The shop and the machine tools in this photo may well have played more of a role in the saving of Britain than one might imagine.

Thanks for posting this photo and the discussion it has generated.

Hello Joe,
Indeed, judging by the number of manuals we send out for ancient American (and Britsh) machine tools, most of them appear to have emigrated to Pakistan and India and are still working happily away there. They also seem to particularly favor older gear-making equipment

 

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

The zig-zag pattern is where some of the wood block floor was taken up so that electrical service could go to each machine through conduit, the remaining space was then filled in with concrete, I've seen this done many times in US plants.

That went through my mind as well. Lots of places over here had those type of floors.

Regards Tyrone