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

[Jon]

CLOSE-UP VIEW INTO A REHEATING FURNACE IN THE No. 2 FORGE SHOP. THE FURNACE IS MISSING ITS REFRACTORY BRICK LINING. - U.S. Steel Homestead Works, Press Shop No. 2, Along Monongahela River, Homestead, Allegheny County, PA

Significance: As a group, the structures and steel-making equipment from Homestead Works represented one of the nation's most important steel mills and the Mon Valley's status as the pre-eminent iron and steel center in the United States for much of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Click on the image below for a fullsize jpg, or get the 19MB tif from the Library of Congress website.

[Jon]

GENERAL CROSS-VIEW OF No 1 PRESS AND PUMPING ENGINE. - U.S. Steel Homestead Works, Press Shop No. 1, Along Monongahela River, Homestead, Allegheny County, PA

Click the image below for a fullsize jpg, or get the 17MB tif from the Library of Congress.

[PJs]

Those are keepers Jon! Thanks...got quite a collection now...and probably not enough time.

[Jon]

ROTARY PLATE SHEAR IN STAINLESS PROCESSING BUILDING - U.S. Steel Homestead Works, Stainless Steel Processing Plant, Along Monongahela River, Homestead, Allegheny County, PA

Significance: As a group, the structures and steel-making equipment from Homestead Works represented one of the nation's most important steel mills and the Mon Valley's status as the pre-eminent iron and steel center in the United States for much of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Click an image below for a fullsize jpg, or get the 19MB tifs from the Library of Congress:

19MB tif of first image from the Library of Congress website
19MB tif of second image from the Library of Congress website

[PJs]

The Shear size of it is mind blowing. Great article and pics Jon!

[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://diqn32j8nouaz.cloudfront.net...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.