Lathe Identity? Seller Says "Cincinnati". Cone head, Fairly Large.

Peter S · Mar 8, 2021

The seller reckons the only name he can find is Cincinnati. So maybe Cincinnati Lathe & Tool Co. but I wondered if this is correct? There must have been a multitude of different manufacturers who at least had Cincinnati in their address.

I see riser blocks have been added.

Edit: the lathe dimensions given are confusing. The best I can figure is that it will swing 63" in the gap and 40" over the cross slide.

The 4-jaw chuck is 29.5" diameter.

There is a very large face plate in the background.

Leadscrew missing...

BTW, I checked Cincinnati Lathe & Tool Co. on VintageMachinery.org | Welcome and couldn't find any that looked like this.

Robert Lang · Mar 9, 2021

R. K. LeBlond.

Rob

thermite · Mar 9, 2021

Peter S said:
...must have been a multitude of different manufacturers who at least had Cincinnati in their address.

Far fewer as used that assymetrical shape of inverted vee-way, though.

Robert called it.

Early LeBlond, fixed, not sliding gap-bed. That way shape was on the "heavy duty" line.

1920's? Not sure it had existed prior to "lessons learned" off War One's need of making ordnance?

LeBlond made their bones in arsenals, not just the one war. Cannon barrels mostly. 20 mm on up to the big-bores.

Page Title

Peter S · Mar 9, 2021

Thanks Rob & Thermite!

Looking at the photos again - I see it has a fixed gap and also a further removable gap. Is that normal? Just wondering if the fixed gap has been added...

thermite · Mar 9, 2021

Peter S said:
Thanks Rob & Thermite!

Looking at the photos again - I see it has a fixed gap and also a further removable gap. Is that normal? Just wondering if the fixed gap has been added...

By "fixed gap" I only meant no adjustment. In. Out. Period. Even if in two sections.

That it was NOT the famous LeBlond (and damned few others, ever) "SLIDING" or adjustable gap bed lathe.

Because that needs effectively a "double" bed.

Sort of like mounting the "working" bead atop a structure similar to a planer, hor-bore, or a large surface-grinder. So it can slide TS-ward to open an arbitrary width of gap and not need a filler block to close the gap - just crank it the other way and shut.

Your photo has a "gap gut" where the casting near the HS is reinforced with extra depth under the gap.. so that with gap-filler block out it is still stiff.

Sliding bed has a full-length secondary bed instead - no need of the "paunch".

Photos of those are around. Most are geared-head, not flat-belt drive "cone" heads though. No Joy on finding this one.

Kinda neat in concept for a one-lathe job or repair shop. Grand thing to have on a ship at sea or to keep machinery in repair at a remote mining camp.

Otherwise just one more place to lose alignment and stiffness, any given max mass.

johnoder · Mar 9, 2021

Still has half nut lever but lead screw got lost - seems unlikely a twenties RKL would have it in some odd place - even on fixed gap

Still making plain gap beds circa 1947 bottom half of page

Adair Orr · Mar 9, 2021

If that lathe is a 20" before the risers were added, I have a lead screw from a LeBlond Gap bed of that era, though it spent some time in the PNW weather.
-Adair

(edit: I just saw that you are in New Zealand and that the machine may never have had one.)

thermite · Mar 9, 2021

johnoder said:
Still has half nut lever but lead screw got lost - seems unlikely a twenties RKL would have it in some odd place - even on fixed gap

"Zoom" indicates it might have never had a "separate" one. Combo LS/ surfacing drive only "maybe".

Plenty of markets where surfacing was enough - no single-point threading would have been required.

Peter S · Mar 9, 2021

thermite said:
Photos of those are around. Most are geared-head, not flat-belt drive "cone" heads though. No Joy on finding this one.

Thermite,

I have photos of two Barnes Drill Co., cone head, sliding bed gap lathes which were for sale in NZ. Much smaller though.

Make that three - today out of the blue, a 1975 German Lieben sliding bed lathe of decent size is advertised in the South Island (see photo). 1.5m (59") swing.

---------------

Getting back to the LeBlond, it might be getting on for 100 years old, plenty of time for the lead screw to be removed (I am guessing something broken in the carriage or perhaps the Norton box end). Especially considering it is presently in a fabrication-type shop, think digger buckets and the like :eek:

I saw a big old Dean Smith & Grace for sale (at a scrap yard) in Auckland, same problem, lead screw removed, broken parts somewhere in the train.

The LeBlond has a 50mm spindle bore, but I doubt it matters much, given its other capacities. Likewise the missing leadscrew.

Jim Christie · Mar 9, 2021

I noticed in Peter's first picture in Post 1 that there is what looks like an outboard support for a small horizontal boring mill to the left of the lathe head stock .
Perhaps the mill for it is in the shop .
If not I can imagine there is probably someone who has a small boring mill that it would fit and wishes it was close to them .
Jim

thermite · Mar 9, 2021

Peter S said:
Thermite,

I have photos of two Barnes Drill Co., cone head, sliding bed gap lathes which were for sale in NZ. Much smaller though.

Make that three - today out of the blue, a 1975 German Lieben sliding bed lathe of decent size is advertised in the South Island (see photo). 1.5m (59") swing.

I would have expected Bluff, South Island, keeping the Iron hulled steam whaler squadron in repair. That's about the right age, and Bluff WAS kinda remote before fast road to at least Queenstown entered!

Even so, that applies to NZ in general. So that there would be a higher percentage of "Swiss Army Knife" versatile sliding gap-bed lathes than in denser-industrialized lands fits North Island as well.

Even unto the present-day, actually. Costs aside, it takes TIME to get "stuff".

cyanidekid · Mar 9, 2021

hi Peter, what is going on down there, all this heavy iron is hitting the market at once?!? is it because you are looking at the moment, or just coincidence,

. folks were talking about sliding bed lathes, and BAG! one shows up for sale down there...what are the odds..

thermite · Mar 9, 2021

cyanidekid said:
hi Peter, what is going on down there, all this heavy iron is hitting the market at once?!? is it because you are looking at the moment, or just coincidence, . folks were talking about sliding bed lathes, and BAG! one shows up for sale down there...what are the odds..

"Odds" are it has been on the market for two years already.. he just now took the ...BAG .. off his head .... and went looking?

Peter S · Mar 10, 2021

cyanidekid said:
hi Peter, what is going on down there, all this heavy iron is hitting the market at once?!? is it because you are looking at the moment, or just coincidence, . folks were talking about sliding bed lathes, and BAG! one shows up for sale down there...what are the odds..

Cyanidekid,

Without going into the manufacturing situation in NZ (but I'll mention as an example we don't even make our own clothes and shoes any more...)

For as long as I can recall (years) there has been a constant supply of old machinery listed on NZ's local equivalent to Ebay.

There seems to be an endless supply of smallish old lathes, sometimes of unknown manufacture and well past there useful lives. I reckon it is because machine tools were seldom or never scrapped, they were always of value and so have survived, slowly working their way down the chain of users until they near the bottom...

Here are some examples listed in the last few weeks: makers unknown. The angled apron looks distinctive on the 2nd photo. I have many photos of machines about this size and age, they keep appearing:

A couple of heavier lathes listed today: Meuser and Mitchell. Mitchells are quite common and appear every few months. Meuser not uncommon, I have seen a few for sale:

A 6ft table which looks ex-lathe to me:

Round table 1800mm dia. old lathe perhaps 01 edit.jpg

Peter S · Mar 10, 2021

A couple of Dean, Smith & Grace lathes in the last 2 weeks:

3 x large Stanko (Russian) lathes in a row and a smaller Stanko:

A Cincinnati Toolmaster from the auction of a tobacco company workshop:

Peter S · Mar 10, 2021

A nice old Australian-made Nuttall lathe and a slotter of unknown parentage:

Covmac lathe (Coventry Machine Works, better known for their heading machinery) and a Woodhouse & Mitchell lathe (once builders of steam engines for mills etc.):

Covmac conventry machine works 01 crop edit.jpg

A nice hand shaper, apparently made in NZ by a model engineer in the 1920's -30's:

Hand shaper apparently made by Bill Atkinson of Timaru 01.jpg

Peter S · Mar 10, 2021

And to finish, a Comec lathe (Italian, looks quite nice) and an unusual old 10 ft toggle press which the seller reckons is a press brake, but I think may be some other kind of press. Suggestions welcome.

All of the above, with few exceptions: "well-used, inspection recommended"!

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Lathe Identity? Seller Says "Cincinnati". Cone head, Fairly Large.

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