Brown and Sharpe 1 1/2... what do I have?

I rescued a brown and sharpe from going to the salvage yard. It’s a model 1 1/2a, appears to be a universal as it has a swiveling table, information in these seems to be non existent. I got it hooked up and ran it briefly and all seems good mechanically. I’d like to change the oil and it appears there is a drain on the rear just below the pulley. I added some oil today and oil began leaking out of the upper bolt holes for the power feed gearbox. Does anyone know how much oil should go in these machines, and is the only fill for the main gear/spindle assembly the door on the upper left hand side?









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Looks like the one in the 1913 catalog 10-A.

Inside shot just has tubes going down from the "door with knob" - suggesting NO internal oil bath

Another shot in this pub show the cover with "door with knob" REMOVED so you can squirt some oil on the gearing

This pub is hard bound, so any scanning will be a PITA

Maybe later

Add two views

View attachment 294497

Here's the inside of the gearbox of my #1 universal. The last patent date was 1903.
As John said just a drip.
On a lot of these oldies, you don't worry if you see oil dripping out of them, you worry if you don't see it.
I still have some parts left on this . Some things may be the same.

Thanks for the info and pics, very helpful. I was suspecting it may be a “lubricate before use” situation but wanted to be sure. It was not the easiest machine to get in place and I don’t want to have to move it again because I did something stupid. I’ll be using to miter tubing for bicycle frames so it’ll only see a few minutes of run time a few times a week. A splash of oil on the gears before running it sounds like the ticket.


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A splash of oil on the gears before running it sounds like the ticket.

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Might eliminate some of that with the modern spray-on tacky open gear lubes - unless that results in ikky sticky sounds from the gear train

Add a view from twenties parts book showing cover 270 is just a light casting

johnoder said:

Might eliminate some of that with the modern spray-on tacky open gear lubes - unless that results in ikky sticky sounds from the gear train

Add a view from twenties parts book showing cover 270 is just a light casting

View attachment 294508

Click to expand...

That explains why most of the tiny amount of oil I added came out just about every hole possible. I ran it again tonight and a quick check in that cover showed that the remaining oil was passing through the gear clusters. I may give a tacky gear lube a try at some point but for now I’ll just go with Mobil Velocite that I use on my Bridgeport as I have a bunch of it.


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Some better of the pair in Post #2



The missing view in Post #2 was caused by me

johnoder said:

Some better of the pair in Post #2

View attachment 294650View attachment 294651

The missing view in Post #2 was caused by me

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You wouldn’t by chance have any info on the setting preload on the spindle bushings would you? I’ve noticed that the rear bushing seems to loosen slightly with use and I’m not sure I have all of the parts as I look at it more.

Also wondering if you have any clue what the spindle taper might be, I found some B&S #10 arbors and they are slightly undersized for this mills spindle.


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Spindle bearings are bronze "plain bearings" and by definition would have no "preload" such as is possible on angular contact ball bearings.

Front one is conical and is adjustable by moving spindle journal in relation to "box" or bearing in head stock. Rear one is adjustable by moving bearing itself further into tapered bore in column.

I subscribe to the following for any "plain" machine tool spindle bearing as far as "adjustment" - the least possible clearance that will enable two things: Free to turn by hand and no excessive heating. If it warms up to the touch and stays warm to the touch, that is just fine with me

Here is page from 1913 with some spindle info





1 1/2 A in 1913 catalog has #10 B&S taper in spindle. This could have been "messed with" some time in the last hundred years

Nneuhaus said:

You wouldn’t by chance have any info on the setting preload on the spindle bushings would you? I’ve noticed that the rear bushing seems to loosen slightly with use and I’m not sure I have all of the parts as I look at it more.

Also wondering if you have any clue what the spindle taper might be, I found some B&S #10 arbors and they are slightly undersized for this mills spindle.


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Click to expand...

johnoder said:

Spindle bearings are bronze "plain bearings" and by definition would have no "preload" such as is possible on angular contact ball bearings.

Front one is conical and is adjustable by moving spindle journal in relation to "box" or bearing in head stock. Rear one is adjustable by moving bearing itself further into tapered bore in column.

I subscribe to the following for any "plain" machine tool spindle bearing as far as "adjustment" - the least possible clearance that will enable two things: Free to turn by hand and no excessive heating. If it warms up to the touch and stays warm to the touch, that is just fine with me

Here is page from 1913 with some spindle info

View attachment 300385



1 1/2 A in 1913 catalog has #10 B&S taper in spindle. This could have been "messed with" some time in the last hundred years

Click to expand...

Great info again, thanks.
It turns out the lock collar on the rear bearing was missing, luckily I found it in a box that came with the machine and after a little clean up of the threads had it back together. Next the clutch in the belt drive “drum” started to slip, I took that all apart, gave it a good cleaning and adjustment, re assembled and it was good to go.

100 years is a lot of time and a previous owner of this machine clearly didn’t have a clue what maintenance was as lots of “fixes” appear to be half assed “it works right now” repairs.

As I get deeper and deeper into this machine I am more impressed with it for its age.




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