Henedy Lathe and Shaper

I've been a lurker on PM for years and finally joined. I'd like to share some pics and hopefully find out some info on this duo. These two Hendy's are in our family for 70+ years. They were purchased by my grandfather probably shortly after WW2 at auction for his machine shop business. Serial no. for the lathe is 16520 and for the shaper is 1187. The lathe is a 16x8, has a taper attachment and seems to be retrofitted with a motor mounted on top. The shaper is a 16". Thanks!

Two awesome machines you have there. Looks like they are just waiting for the next job. Grampa had good taste in machinery and I'd bet they served him well. I know they are big and heavy but having had them 70 years would be nice to keep them in the family. I've had a 1906 Hendey 16" Lathe since 1976, I'm the third owner. Ran it about 3 hours on Friday. I would like to pass it on to family as well. Nice wooden machinist chest in the background too.
While your sheltered in place, oil them up and enjoy the music they made to grampa's ears for all those hours.
spaeth

nice machines, thats a shapely shaper! I think i't's got the largest nameplate I've ever seen on a machine tool, (or on almost anything for that matter!) really nice to see them in such nearly unmolested condition. do keep us updated with pictures as you progress. cheers

Wonderful machines, thanks for sharing! I have the earlier generation of both and I love them.

I have so many questions

MRoulin said:

I've been a lurker on PM for years and finally joined. I'd like to share some pics and hopefully find out some info on this duo. These two Hendy's are in our family for 70+ years. They were purchased by my grandfather probably shortly after WW2 at auction for his machine shop business. Serial no. for the lathe is 16520 and for the shaper is 1187. The lathe is a 16x8, has a taper attachment and seems to be retrofitted with a motor mounted on top. The shaper is a 16". Thanks!

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I have the 2nd Hendey made 0002 serial no.
I'm restoring the machine and I think you guys might like it but I need to see a working machine in detail

WOW. I'd sure like to see what you have! I think you woudl be better starting off your own new thread with a title something like hendey [size here] lathe serial 0002. You WILL get far more exposure and interest that way! PS, be sure to take lots of GOOD clear pics of your machine up close, ESPECIALLY before pics! You might have a valuable piece of history for Hendey fans worldwide!

MRoulin:

The Hendey Shaper records are less complete than the lathe records, but the remaining records from the 1920s pertain to
your shaper. It was one of a group of fifteen shapers built from June 30, 1927 through September 9, 1927. Serial Numbers
were 1186 through 1201, which would normally indicate that your shaper was built during the first or second week of July
1927. That would have been the normal practice with the lathe production, but not so with the shaper production. The
shapers were not built sequentially, so your shaper could have been built anytime during this period. This method of
building shapers was a hold over from the days of Friction Shaper production and in one form or another continued until
the end of shaper production. As an example, suppose you looked up you Serial Number in your handy Serial Number Records
Book and they listed the year that your shaper was built as 1939. That may not actually be the year of manufacture, as
explained in a note from the engineering department. NOTE: The serial numbers given do not indicate definite time
divisions in blocks of serial numbers. Serial numbers close to those given above may have been shipped within approxi-
mately two months either way from the first of each year. The Shaper Serial Number Books definitely show that there isn't
any given delivery time from the date you ordered your machine until it was ready to be shipped. If any cancellations
occurred, then whatever order existed, was definitely disturbed.

I didn't expect any glitches researching your lathe, but the Serial Number 16520 was assigned to a 12 x 6 Cone Head Model
and not a 16 x 8 Eight Speed Model. Serial Number 16519 is definitely a match for your lathe, please check and repost your
Serial Number. If there is a clerical error in my records, I want to correct it. If either of these number is correct, your
lathe was built during the last week of July 1915.

Hendeyman

Thanks all for the comments, and Henedyman, for the info. The serial # is correct for the lathe - 16520. The stamping of the numbers is interesting. The first three digits appear to be double, if not triple, stamped. Do you have info on the original buyers of the machinery? Thanks.

MRoulin said:

Thanks all for the comments, and Henedyman, for the info. The serial # is correct for the lathe - 16520. The stamping of the numbers is interesting. The first three digits appear to be double, if not triple, stamped. Do you have info on the original buyers of the machinery? Thanks.

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I wonder if the bed might have been re-surfaced at some point and they re stamped the numbers? The could have stamped the last digits wrong.

My company manufactures a machine that was first introduced in 1882, and they have been re-manufacturing the same machines ever since. The machines were leased and would come back for a rebuild every 10-50 years before sending it out to a new lease. They would give each re-manufactured machine a new number, however we ended the lease program in 2000 and now only sell the machines and have tried to ensure that each machine going out has the oldest number on record. Keeping track of that stuff and avoiding duplicate numbers can be a real pain!