Bruce E. Babcock
Cast Iron
- Joined
- Sep 11, 2009
- Location
- Amanda, Ohio
I recently purchased a small, hand-powered, bolt threader that I believe to have been made by Wiley and Russell. Many of the castings have the initials "W & R" on them, and a few of the dies that were included are marked Wiley and Russel, as is a chuck which is also marked "Lightning." The dies are made in two pieces with special screws holding them in place. The dies are mounted in straight shank adapters that are keyed to fit the spindle of the machine.
There is a bevel gear on the side of the machine that can be engaged with a larger gear that is mounted on the spindle. This gear can be engaged and disengaged by rotating an eccentric collar with a small lever on it. It appears that disengaging the small gear allows the crank on the end of the spindle to act somewhat like a rapid traverse. It seems that the crank on the bevel gear was used when threading larger bolts.
I assume that this machine was made between 1874 and 1912.
How common are these machines today? For how many years were they produced?
The machine and dies are in good working order. I have threaded a 1/2 inch rod with no problem, except that it was difficult to keep the rod from turning in the vise.
Thanks in advance for any information that I receive.
Bruce E. Babcock
p.s.
I attempted to attach a photo, but was not successful. I repeatedly received an error message "Invalid thread specified." What did I do wrong?
There is a bevel gear on the side of the machine that can be engaged with a larger gear that is mounted on the spindle. This gear can be engaged and disengaged by rotating an eccentric collar with a small lever on it. It appears that disengaging the small gear allows the crank on the end of the spindle to act somewhat like a rapid traverse. It seems that the crank on the bevel gear was used when threading larger bolts.
I assume that this machine was made between 1874 and 1912.
How common are these machines today? For how many years were they produced?
The machine and dies are in good working order. I have threaded a 1/2 inch rod with no problem, except that it was difficult to keep the rod from turning in the vise.
Thanks in advance for any information that I receive.
Bruce E. Babcock
p.s.
I attempted to attach a photo, but was not successful. I repeatedly received an error message "Invalid thread specified." What did I do wrong?