High-quality black-and-white photographs of large old machines and tools

[Jon]

VIEW SOUTHEAST TO TRIPHAMMER. - East Broad Top Railroad & Coal Company, Blacksmith Shop, State Route 994, West of U.S. Route 522, Rockhill Furnace, Huntingdon County, PA

Significance: The Blacksmith Shop, along with the Machine Shop and Foundry, was one of the three primary metalworking facilities at the East Broad Top Shop complex. Built prior to 1882, and enlarged after a fire in 1908, the wood-frame, board-and-batten sided Blacksmith shop was equipped for both general and specialized metal forming tasks. Major blacksmithing equipment includes three coal-fired forges, a massive 3,300 lb. steam-powered forging hammer, a smaller belt-driven hammer, and a reciprocating metal saw. Two areas of the Blacksmith Shop were devoted to specific processes and utilized specialized equipment. Locomotive boiler flues were cleaned, swoged, and rewelded using an oil-fired forge and pneumatic flue swager, and locomotive elliptic spring clusters were repaired and tempered by the EBT blacksmiths. Some occasional light smithing has been performed since the EBT ceased operation in 1956, and some minor stabilization of the structure has been done, otherwise, the Blacksmith Shop remains in essentially original condition.

Click an image below for a fullsize jpg, or get the 17MB tifs from the Library of Congress:

17MB tif of first image from the Library of Congress website
17MB tif of second image from the Library of Congress website

[Jon]

Bucyrus steam shovel. Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 1918.

Fullsize image: https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/h...l_fullsize.jpg

[Toolmaker51]

Bucyrus steam shovel. Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 1918.

MY Bucyrus dines on your Bucyrus. With relish!
But yours isn't a celebrity either, Brutus is the world's largest electric shovel. Also on display there in West Kansas is the smaller bucket, only 40 cubic yards...

Wanna see it? Do ya, do ya? Sorry this hack isn't black and white.
https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-bi...-19657627.html

Spoiler alert; examine foreground of shot site opens with.

[owen moore]

I have stood on the top of a strip mine pit and watched Brutus dig. You could almost feel the ground shake. That was around 1965. The strange thing about a monster like that was how quiet it was, as it was all electric. Currently, Brutus is in its final resting place in a city park in West Mineral, Kansas. There is a museum there as well.

[PJs]

Man they came a long way in 45 years...feels like Exponential technological growth for digging up earth for its treasures. Technology at its cutting edge height in both eras.

[CharlesWaugh]

My apologies if this has been posted before, but her's a video about 'America's Iron Giants' - it's all about those monster presses.

Here's the blurb:
"This is the story of America's massive forging presses built during the cold war used to build America's most advanced machinery - the Heavy Press Program. Modern airplanes, missiles, helicopters, turbines - all have parts made on these giant machines!"

[Jon]

Yes, it has been posted before, but no need to apologize - it's a great video, and I hope it will be posted again and again. The creator is a member here, username machinethinking. Check out this other video he posted: World's Oldest Micrometer - 1776! Who made this thing??

[Jon]

Farquhar Style K tractor powering a Farquhar sawmill, York PA c.1918

Fullsize image: https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/h...l_fullsize.jpg

[suther51]

About 2 hrs away there is a show called The Pagent Of Steam in Canadagua N.Y.. I am the most impressed with how quiet the steam tractors are. Just a little mechanical ticking n so forth. Came away thinking how easy it would be to get run over if both pedestrian and operator were distracted. Fastenating machines.
Eric

[Jon]

Buckeye Traction Ditcher for the Army, Findlay, OH c.1918

Fullsize image: https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/h...r_fullsize.jpg