Identifying a machine. HELP!

Hi Folks!

My husband and I recently purchased a property that has two very old barns on it. In the second story of one barn is this very large drill press (I think). I have looked and looked and cannot find anything that even looks close to it. As the weight of this machine is quiet heavy, it is causing the barn to collapse in the middle. With that being said, I was only able to safely snap a few photos before creating a new hole in the floor without my leg. Any help would be so appreciated! PS- it has a stamp “L. Houston’s Patent Jan 28, 1873”. I will try to attach the photos I took.

The closeup picture of the tool shows that it is a belt driven mortising machine for making rectangular slots in wood. You start with a drilled hole the size of the chisel width and feed the wood in one direction taking incremental cuts until the length of the slot is right. Then you reverse the chisel 180 degrees and square up the rest of the drilled hole.

Such a machine would have been used in a factory that mass-produced windows and doors or similar products. There were foot-pedal operated versions for smaller operations. One was demonstrated on Roy Underhill's TV show, The Woodwright's Shop. At some point, the reciprocating chisel mortisers were displaced by a better design, the hollow square chisel with a central auger bit, still in use today.

Google then confirmed it. US135337A - Improvement in mortising-machines - Google Patents

The machine would be right at home in a museum, but most museums are not buying artifacts, or even taking them as gifts. If a rigger was paid to carefully move the machine, it would cost far more than the machine is worth. You need talented and motivated volunteers and a welcoming museum. The Isaac Ludwig Mill in the Toledo Metroparks is one place that could be asked. The last three pictures show their vintage workshop. At least they are in your state. In 1989, they accepted my gift of a dozen large wooden pulleys, but can't say what they would take these days.

Larry

I hope that your posting here is a sign you are interested in saving this old machine. I hope so. If lowering it is more than you can handle I hope you can find some help to lower it safely to ground level and, if you don't want to clean it up and get it going for yourselves, find a new home for it. Please don't scrap it. If you need to, put a few temporary supports under it so it isn't dangerous until you can plan to safely lower it. If you need to find help try and find a club in the area that is into old machinery. Even trucks or tractors, and you may find some interested in such a project. Keep us informed please, most here are interested in saving old machines.

Thanks for the replies! The information provided was very helpful. We are absolutely trying to save the machine. We have been avidly trying to come up with a cost effective way to get it down as the barn is near falling. I will update as soon as we’ve made progress!

wdTom said:

I hope that your posting here is a sign you are interested in saving this old machine. I hope so. If lowering it is more than you can handle I hope you can find some help to lower it safely to ground level and, if you don't want to clean it up and get it going for yourselves, find a new home for it. Please don't scrap it. If you need to, put a few temporary supports under it so it isn't dangerous until you can plan to safely lower it. If you need to find help try and find a club in the area that is into old machinery. Even trucks or tractors, and you may find some interested in such a project. Keep us informed please, most here are interested in saving old machines.

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