casting date?

Inside the bed under the tailstock is a number cast into the side of the bed,
82734S is that the castiong date?
August 27 1934?
Thanks

Here is a shot of my casting date on my 1922 9''.



This is the only SB I have owned so I don't know how they did it in later years.

I have heard it said that the number cast into so some beds is the casting date. However, I have also heard it said that is the date when the bed would be well seasoned and could be machined. I am told that they buried the beds under the ground for a few years before machining them. Gary P. Hansen

Bury the metals?

I dont know about the dates but the date inside the bed coincides with the date of my lathe being manufactured in late 1934.
But as for the story about burying the beds till they cured.
I have been a blacksmith most my life and I learned from older blacksmiths now long gone.
I have had more than a few of them tell me that the old smiths used to bury their metal in the ground for a time so that it would "change polarity"?
This was smiths told to me that didn't know each other and came from different periods in my life.
If there is something to be learned here, or is it something we forgot?
My step dad just passed away and was 93 at the time and being born in 1918, there is surely people still around that knows of the why of these stories?
All the smiths shops I have been in are of dirt construction , that way for many reasons, 1st being its easy on your back and feet than is concrete, 2nd is it hides all chips and slag and no reason to sweep the floor, 3rd cuts down on fires and last its makes good for burying metal and money.
Hard for a metal detector to find anything in a smiths floor.
Ron

They were buried to relieve the stress of the cast iron. If the beds were machined right away they would warp. Gary P. Hansen

The beds were not buried, they made thousands of them(see link below). Too big a hole. As far as I have read, that is the date it was cast, they were rough plained then set aside to age a few years before finishing. The build date would be a few years later and can be found using the serial number stamped on the bed.

http://www.southbendlathe.com/historical_photo.aspx?id=9

http://www.southbendlathe.com/historical_photo.aspx?id=18

Ed S

Did all beds have casting dates or was the practice discontinued? There is no visible casting date on the bed of my heavy 10" - approx 1955. Is this normal?