Based on the size of their equipment its probably where they store their spanners
Based on the size of their equipment its probably where they store their spanners
It appears as if 62" was the biggest diameter for solid blades, bigger were of the inserted variety. The motor on a 36" blade was 50 hp so they got to be big machines.
I think your estimate to be about right, at 4'.
Gang drill. Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Railroad Company. July, 1904.
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Bement, Miles & Co of Philadelphia, machine.
i wonder what the gang was drilling working on the railroad all the live long day. ...perhaps a tick tok's grand maws grand maws?:rimshot:
There are 3 rods and two arms on the horses in front of the drill table and one more of the arms still sitting on the drill table. Anybody have any idea of what they were for?
Also, I see a pretty impressive set of change gears on top of those drills, almost like the back gear setup on a lathe. Are they to control the feed speed of the drill?
Due to long term renovations, storage is chaotic. Man alone does not help. :-(
Anyway, tracked down a Bement cat that I have of era and the following is the
specs of the machine above:
Two-Spindle Locomotive Connecting Rod Drilling Machine:
Designed for drilling at one time both ends of locomotive connecting and parallel rods.
Distance between centers 10 feet max - 3 feet min.
Power - Will drill 3-1/2" hole in solid material and bore a 9 inch hole. IMPRESSIVE!
Spindles are independently driven, having 4 speeds, & 3 feeds through a distance of 15-1/2",
Quick return motion, lever counterbalance and lateral adjustment on cross-slide by
rack & pinion.
Each spindle is adjustable vertically. two lube pumps.
Countershafts & spanners thrown in.
I look at these picture and my sense of scale is destroyed.Quote:
Distance between centers 10 feet max - 3 feet min.
1959 Milwaukee-Matic II, the first machine with a tool changer.
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Forging a 110-ton ingot at the Homestead Steel Works of the Carnegie-Illinois Steel Corporation. April, 1952.
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so..where do you buy a ingot that size, I wasthinking on whittleing out a entire car from one.
That is a pretty big bicycle chain they got.
I have a heat gun & chizzell ready to go.crap I need a bigger hammer.
Just coincidentally I ran across this vid showing this process now https://youtu.be/soCe4byjFvA some very impressive vehicles
Not to mention among two staged settings, one guy in a cap working, compared to half a dozen standing around, 30' away in hardhats....
Wheel and axle machine. Carnegie-Illinois Steel Corporation. McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania. July, 1948.
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579
Nice safety squints.
Run a few vertical lathes, never saw one with such low clearance between ways and chuck.
Every wheel set I've been around were paired on axles and turned simultaneously.
Never-the-less, a very limited work envelope, rail-wheels and maybe bowls from turbine water pumps. Good for their business, perhaps slightly lower cost, but far lower resale value.
Better rigidity, too; this is a specialized machine to crank out wheels. I don't expect resale value was ever accounted into the system; this was designed to be used to make wheels until it was scrapped.
This isn't what a railroad shop would install; they'd want to ensure that the wheels were properly concentric to each other, but if you're making hundreds or thousands of wheels to ship out this is the machine you would use...notice the stack of blanks waiting alongside
Actually, companies like Sellars, Niles etc made those specifically for railways. With a fixed crosshead, they were made to machine both wheels & tires.
Wheels had to be machines prior to pressing on axles...
Wire mesh machine. American Steel & Wire Co. Donora Works. Donora, PA. 1915-1917.
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Clearing trimmer in raised position. Wyman-Gordon Company, Grafton Plant. Worcester County, Massachusetts.
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Notice it's surrounded by floor plates; most of the operating gear and immense concrete foundation. What isn't below, of course is above, such as cylinders above ram, and ladder on right side. Guessing this press rated at 1500 ton, not sure dieset makes, but these presses and larger very prevalent in the auto industry.
Going by the model #, it is a 3000 ton x 20' between columns.
The drive chains in lieu of belts were practical non slip at high torque. Some of those motors only turned 600 rpm. I had one on an old Warner and Swasey turret lathe. It was only 3 hp but was huge. I've also worked with machines that had leather gears on motors running against iron gears. These usually had brass ends with many layers of leather between. These motors appear to be 3 phase, and the open knife switch to the other side of the motor is 3 pole. Fuse size seem to be for low (220) volt rating. Also note the adjustable eccentric on the gear shaft on the opposite side has broken ways on the left side, the farthest travel setting. I've owned two shapers, still have a 20 inch Steptoe , set up to cut internal keyways. I wish I had one of the Gould and Eberhart 24 inch that I used in the past. They made fine machines with herringbone gears and were very smooth cutting machines. I once recut a 19 inch bevel gear on one. They made a 60 inch draw cut shaper but I never saw one. But I ramble...
Love your photo of "The Little Giant" - Ismabard Kindgom Brunel. What a Victorian engineering genius!
My Hero! "It cannot be done." Never, ever, crossed his lips.
I live with PMA: "There are no problems, only solutions."
Blacksmith shop at the Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Railroad Company. March, 1904.
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Cripes! I wonder where all the steam hammers, anvils and implements are today :(
As regards the 60" draw-cut shaper, I think your memory is playing tricks... Morton
were the US draw-cut specialists and made a 60" DC shaper as did Butler of the UK.
Butler's was just on 39 tons and 14.5' high. The ram had both boring and milling capability.
If I can clear my desk I'll scan some pix.
Back in the '80s I knocked on the door of Vickers in Barrow in Furness, UK, and asked if
I could come in for a look. They told me to go away! :-(
Anyway a friendly security guard advised me to apply for permission, which I did, and
apparently after vetting by MI6, a week later, Head office London, extended an invitation! :-)
Anyway on my "grand tour" of the establishment, conducted by no less than the head draftsman,
I visited the Blacksmith shop, A building of similar size to the above, but very organized.
Both opposing walls consisted of at least ten heating furnaces each with an attendant swing crane
and a steam hammer.
On that day, only two were operational, forging the breech lump on the end of what to be 155mm
howitzer barrels, Vickers had an order of 100 for the Italian Army.
Later I saw them boring the ends of the trailing arms of the carriages, and when I commented that
they appeared fabricated out of SS, the reply was: If you're over $1million per, you wouldn't want them to rust! :-)
BTB At that time, they were installing a new VMC with a capacity of 16' cube. £16 million.
Those of you who might get to Ely, Nevada. There is an old shortline mining railroad (the Nevada Northern) there that runs steam excursion trains in the summer. If you catch them in the off season and things are quiet there see, if you can get over their machine shop and talk sweet to the shop boss. Maybe he will let you get into the dark recesses of the engine house where there is hidden an ancient railroad blacksmith shop. Give me some encouragement and I'll try to share my photos of it illuminated by a late August afternoon sun some 20 years ago.
Ed Weldon
Oh Thank You That would be "Vely Interesting" and Better than watching a Horror Sc-Fi Movie from lifetimes ago when I was a Kid.
so...when well we have to stop calling these black smith shops.. and just....the smithy shop...or...steel pounders....or...
thats too much like a occupation that may land you in the pokie. or like uttering a forged instrument ,pisssttton.:smash: