johnoder
Diamond
- Joined
- Jul 16, 2004
- Location
- Houston, TX USA
Or how the the West Hartford Pratt & Whitney Machine Tool plant - an essential industry - went away, to be replaced by useless fluff like Home Depot.
My 3B Jig Bore was built on this patch of ground in 1949 and my 12 X 30 Model C I had for 20 years was built here in 1950.
All the 12 X 30 Model B lathes were built here in the WW2 period.
They built from 7" bench lathes to enormous Keller horizontal spindle die sinkers.
Here is some of the info I have been able to come up with. I'll add to this as is possible.
From a 1941 Fortune magazine advertisement. This was ONE of the wood block floor outfits. Plant was fairly new then, having first been occupied in the late fall of 1939 after they moved from the 70 year old mess along Capitol Avenue and the Park River in Hartford. The Park River flooded both in 1936 and 1938, which likely helped them bite the bullet on the new plant. Park is under ground in a conduit today.
This was one of the last Albert Kahn himself had anything to do with, having died at age 73 in 1942. Albert as a youngster did the magnificent Packard plant on East Grand in Detroit in 1907, a plant rotting still. He also did Highland Park and later works for Henry Ford.
And a little later view from the 1957 tool catalog. The below linked newspaper article says that smokestack was a little over 200 feet tall. In 1943, the WPB or other Government agency DIRECTED that they convert from oil to coal for the power plant - they ended up being able to burn both.
Here is one David Stelly (Boss at P&WMS) sent me. It is big, so I just will link to it here. Shows the modern mess as of 2008. Being a MAPOPHiLE, I notice three years ago they were still identifying some of Oakwood Ave south of Flatbush - not on current Google maps though - not until you go down New Park some to you see it continue.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v337/johnoder/Pratt and Whitney West Harford/pw-2008-sat-map.jpg
J.O.
My 3B Jig Bore was built on this patch of ground in 1949 and my 12 X 30 Model C I had for 20 years was built here in 1950.
All the 12 X 30 Model B lathes were built here in the WW2 period.
They built from 7" bench lathes to enormous Keller horizontal spindle die sinkers.
Here is some of the info I have been able to come up with. I'll add to this as is possible.
From a 1941 Fortune magazine advertisement. This was ONE of the wood block floor outfits. Plant was fairly new then, having first been occupied in the late fall of 1939 after they moved from the 70 year old mess along Capitol Avenue and the Park River in Hartford. The Park River flooded both in 1936 and 1938, which likely helped them bite the bullet on the new plant. Park is under ground in a conduit today.
This was one of the last Albert Kahn himself had anything to do with, having died at age 73 in 1942. Albert as a youngster did the magnificent Packard plant on East Grand in Detroit in 1907, a plant rotting still. He also did Highland Park and later works for Henry Ford.
And a little later view from the 1957 tool catalog. The below linked newspaper article says that smokestack was a little over 200 feet tall. In 1943, the WPB or other Government agency DIRECTED that they convert from oil to coal for the power plant - they ended up being able to burn both.
Here is one David Stelly (Boss at P&WMS) sent me. It is big, so I just will link to it here. Shows the modern mess as of 2008. Being a MAPOPHiLE, I notice three years ago they were still identifying some of Oakwood Ave south of Flatbush - not on current Google maps though - not until you go down New Park some to you see it continue.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v337/johnoder/Pratt and Whitney West Harford/pw-2008-sat-map.jpg
J.O.
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