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How is gearbox lubrication supposed to work on my 1916 Cincinnati #4?

eosha

Plastic
Joined
Feb 2, 2010
Location
Iowa
Album with more photos: Cincinnati No. 4 Milling Machine circa 1916 - Album on Imgur
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I'm working on understanding the oiling system of my new old mill. It has a couple dozen threaded holes that were once filled with drip or ball oilers, but all but one have been lost. I've been squirting a mixture of gear oil & kerosene in them daily, as well as opening the access hatch and liberally hosing it around the gearboxes. This has worked well to dissolve some of the old gummy oil and get things moving smoothly, but there's plenty of gunk yet to go.

There is a reservoir in the column, into which the gearboxes can drain, and a reservoir in the base (presumably cutting oil). However, there have been many modifications to the machine over the years, parts removed, new holes drilled, and so on.

The closest thing I've found to a manual is the 1916 edition of Cincinnati's "Treatise on Milling & Milling Machines", which includes diagrams and instructions for machines that look identical to mine (the 1897 and 1922 editions show different machines). However, the section on oiling is largely unhelpful, little more than "keep it all oiled so it doesn't break".

I'm happy to keep hosing gear oil around, but I'd like to understand how the system was SUPPOSED to work.
 
I'll try to scan the oiling page in the the 1913 catalog - just a description. If successful, I'll edit it in here. By the time my 1919 #4 High Power Vertical (used to have) was made, they had an oil pump, but it was an entirely different design

Here is that scan
 

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Took "brad style" binding apart and this post and the following FOUR posts are the 21 scans related to to 1913 #4 High Power
 

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Five more scans
 

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Hmmm - it thinks similar posts are duplicates:D
 

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Getting near the end
 

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You are welcome. :D

If you would like the 21 as a single pdf document I can email that if you want to Private Message me your email address
 
That is a real nice looking old mill. Keep an eye on it though - it might grab that little lathe on the bench and eat it for a snack !
Where are you in Iowa? Just curious as a fellow Iowan.
 
I haven't pushed it hard enough that the single belt is the weak link (though the 10hp motor will certainly smoke the belt long before it stalls). When that day comes, I have 3 new belts to go on the triple pulley.
 
Tell us about the ? LATH (wood strips) on the curved building wall. Is that sort of a QUONSET HUT?

Here is a 1923 New York house literally full of lath before the plaster went on
 

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This is my farm shop. It's an interesting building, though I'm afraid I don't have as much information as I'd like. It's shaped like a Quonset/Nissen hut, but the structure is all laminated wood. 40'x60' with plenty of overhead clearance. Exterior was originally shingled, now ribbed steel. It was built in my grandfather's time (1930s or 1940s) as a grain/feed storage shed. The interior lath (actually old-style tongue-and-groove beadboards) was to keep the grain out of the wall structure. If you take a look at the first picture, to the right of the mill and left of the black toolchest, you'll see a metal bracket coming out of the wall, angled downwards. There are more of these brackets all along the exterior walls and that interior stub wall behind the black toolchest. Then look at the floor in the bottom right of the picture and you'll see a hole with an anchored chain link in the bottom. There was a whole system of chain nets that connected the wall brackets to floor anchors, in order to support the pressure of the grain against the exterior walls. I still have some of the chain nets hanging on the wall somewhere. It hasn't held grain in many decades, but after a bit of remodeling 40 years ago it's a fine workshop with an ~8" concrete floor.
 
"The Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County" has a number of pdf machine tool catalogs that can be downloaded.
CONTENTdm
Cincinnati Milling: 1896, 1903, 1904, 1907, 1919c
Cincinnati Cutter Grinders: 1912, 1919
Bickford 1903
Cincinnati Planers: Cat- 10, 1920
American Tool Works (ATW) 1916
Nice selection if you don't mind scrolling. Most can be found by choosing "machine tools -- catalogs (17)" but the ATW catalog will not be in the group.
Regrets as big names from Hamilton, Ohio are not included such as Hamilton Machine Tool or Niles.
John
 








 
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