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Anybody Know of J.E. Kemp Watchmakers Lathe from Waltham Mass?

oldmasheentuls

Aluminum
Joined
Nov 28, 2010
Location
New England
I recently acquired a J.K Kempe 9MM Watchmakers lathe manufactured in Waltham Mass. I can't find any info on the web. Tony's site does not list them. It is nickel plated so built probably before 1935. Below are some photos of it. Any information that is provided will be greatly appreciated.

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You need to edit your title and message to replace Kemp with J. E. Kampe. You will get information if you spell the name correctly in your search. I found quite a few hits on my first try on Google

I have seen Kampe lathes advertised, but they are rare. The odd collet size makes them almost useless unless you also find a set of collets. Lathes that use standard WW 8 mm or Magnus-Elect 10 mm collets are still useful because collets are easy to get. The Kampe lathe would be of interest to a collector of old watch lathes who does not wish to use them. My very old Hardinge catalogs do not mention Kampe in the extensive collet tables. Kampe is one of the makes not in the lathe book by Cope.

Here is a 1911 patent on a watch tool by John E. Kampe. That gives you a single date when he was active. I bet he had several patents, which will give you a larger date range if you do the research.
http://www.google.com/patents?id=uB...=gbs_selected_pages&cad=1#v=onepage&q&f=false

Larry
 
The lathe did come with a complete set of collets and other additional watch making tooling. As for correcting the title of the post, this forum only allows one to correct the body of the text, which I did do.

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Larry,

I bought it to add to my collection of Early Watchmakers lathes, so the collets really are not an issue, I will however certainly keep my eye's peeled for the missing ones.
 
I'm a little late on this thread, but FWIW, I have one too, with faceplate, a fair # of collets, etc. Plating is in very nice condition. If anyone is interested I can dig mine out and post photos. I bought mine simply because it seemed rare, with some tooling, in very nice condition and I just plan to display it (once I get around to building a base, etc.).
 
You might try contacting the Charles River Museum of Industry & Innovation, located in Waltham. They have quite a bit of watch and clock making equipment in their collection, including artifacts from the Waltham Watch Co., and also a nice library. The phone number is on the website:

Charles River Museum of Industry & Innovation

Good luck,

~TW~
 
A bit late to resurrect the thread but it's of interest to me because a while ago I bought a number of mixed collets to sort out 8mm for my Pittler lathe, there are a number of slightly larger ones which I thought must be 10mm but only today I discovered they are in fact 9mm. As far as I can tell no other lathes use this size do they?
 
A bit late to resurrect the thread but it's of interest to me because a while ago I bought a number of mixed collets to sort out 8mm for my Pittler lathe, there are a number of slightly larger ones which I thought must be 10mm but only today I discovered they are in fact 9mm. As far as I can tell no other lathes use this size do they?

The unique 9 mm size collet was probably a large part of the reason for the rarity (unpopularity) of Kampe lathes. But any old obscure maker could have designed some odd size collet that has been forgotten, so there may be something else with a 9 mm body and maybe different from the Kampe collet in other ways.

The American 10 mm collets have threads that are different from both the UK Pultra collets and the Swiss Schaublin W10 collets, though the body dimensions are the same for all three. With three different draw bars, all three types of 10 mm collets could be used in one lathe.

Derbyshire and Levin are still in business, the last of the old American watch lathe makers. They use the common American Watch Tool Co. 8 and 10 mm collets, designed in the late 19th century. Those collets won the popularity prize long ago. More recently. both companies introduced lathes for 3C collets in the headstock for customers wanting 1/2" round capacity. Only the headstocks are different from the two companies' lathes with 8 or 10 mm spindles.

Larry
 
Thank you Larry,
I guess they will have to stay in my odds & sods box along with other stuff that came in mixed lots
 








 
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