Another Ames Chicopee Toolroom Lathe

Seen on Ebay (yes I know but offered here "for information only" with no commentary on value, or general salability. Have no connection, no interest except in a historical way)



See ANTIQUE METAL WORK LATHE, Ames Manfacturing Company, Chicopee, Mass. Circa 1900. | eBay

Curious legs not seen on others, also a 38" bed which is probably the shortest of these seen. (Mine are 42" and 48" respectively.)

Joe in NH

Interesting brass tag on the legs may be a clue as to it's past use.

Almost looks like its had an unfortunate run in with a wire wheel or worse, bead blaster.

maynah said:

Almost looks like its had an unfortunate run in with a wire wheel or worse, bead blaster.

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Looks like it was dipped in vinegar for a few days still super cool lathe! but I am always nervous buying from someone with 0 Ebay transactions - had too many bad dealings with Ebay newbies !

What do you think is the likely date of manufacture of that machine?

northernsinger said:

What do you think is the likely date of manufacture of that machine?

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It is hard to know. Tony's lathe site puts the dating of these lathes to "pre-Civil War." No reference given.

Tony's lathe site also shows what he conceives as a "later" pattern of the lathe - which does not include the helical gears on the back gear - perhaps increasing accuracy of gear making made the need for helical gears superfluous? But - the lathes themselves do not appear to be dated, or even numbered with a serial. (Correction: newer Tony entry shows an Ames Chicopee with "part numbers" - not sure if these correlated to a serial number.)

A respondent on this board opined that the lathe pattern was made as late as 1870, and cited a Ames Catalog in his possession. So that much we know for sure.

Another Ames Chicopee Craigslist lathe appearing a month or so ago on this forum was thought on this forum to be "earlier" because of the "hand-engraved" appearing name on the tail stock. I have examined this pix closely and I'm not sure it was hand engraved but possibly simply "sandpapered" by a former or current owner for appearance and thereby making the name less "distinct." The pix left a question in my mind.



Maynah of this board did reference a "hand script" version which appears to be on Tony's Site. This lathe may be the earliest extant. ("3rd" example at http://www.lathes.co.uk/ames-chicopee/index.html}

A "no-name" but early lathe in similar size and functional similarity came through my hands in 2019 and like the Ames Lathe seemed adapted to "tool-making" in the traditional manner. Stylistically I would put that lathe at 1870 or so. I thought it P. Blaisdell in origin as the styling was similar but this is hard to know - so many Worcester makers used the same foundries, even the same machinists depending on who got the lathe order.

In the general scheme of things, the 1876 Centennial changed a lot - including the need for this kind of lathe. Hand chasing and relieving of cutters became passe because of the increased availability of machine made tooling, and relieving tools to do it. And greater machinist knowledge of the tool markets. So I have kind of concluded that 1876 might be an "end date" for the Ames Chicopee Index Lathe No. 00.

Ames did receive an award at the 1876 Centennial (List of awards made by the United States Centennial commission to the American exhibitors, International exhibition 1876, at Philadelphia : United States. Centennial commission. [from old catalog] : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive)

Joe in NH

Thank you, Joe, they sure are pretty and the back stories are involved and interesting.