126 Year Old Lathe

Mastiff said:
Thanks for the info, guys!

Here are some more pics:
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I got this a number of years ago for $200. The guy lived on a farm out by Rockford, and he had a barnfull of old metalworking machines from the factories that had gone out of business.

I'd love to give the thing to anyone who wants to use it, I don't want to see it scrapped.
If I can't give it away, I'm going to start using it this summer.
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Any idea on what it weighs? It would look awesome restored and sitting in the lobby of our School of Engineering. I may be able to talk the boss into letting me drive to Ill. to get it.

Chuck

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Thomas Paine said:
here is Greg Menke's site for hosting. He has a catalog for Lodge and Davis scanned from the Smithsonian. Not sure what year the catalog was produced though, it looks like your version is depicted in it though.

scroll down to L&D:

link
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Ok, everyone needs to read page 38 of this brochure, it is freaking hilarious and so true! :rofl:
 
Cholmes said:
Any idea on what it weighs? It would look awesome restored and sitting in the lobby of our School of Engineering. I may be able to talk the boss into letting me drive to Ill. to get it.

Chuck

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Ok, everyone needs to read page 38 of this brochure, it is freaking hilarious and so true! :rofl:
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I'm guessing it weighs something less than two tons, but that is just a guess. There is a lot of iron there.
The guy I bought it from had a piece of angle iron with two wheel hubs and tires welded to it. It fits on one end of the lathe. He lifted the other end with a crane and moved the lathe around that way. I've still got the wheel assembly with tires.
 
Hello Bill,

Thanks for posting your lathe. I'd like to see a full on "gear end" shot of the lathe and some closer pics of the apron and taper attachment, if you would be so kind. It's a very interesting lathe for sure. I'm suprised at seeing a taper attachment on a lathe of that vintage.

I assume that the "dollies" on each end of the lathe were for positioning the lathe and not a permanent situation. I don't mean to sound condescending when I say that if left like that, it will certainly develope a swayback which won't be easily nor hurriedly corrected.

I'd love to see more pics of the lathe.

Best regards... :)

Brian
 
Brain Coral said:
Hello Bill,

Thanks for posting your lathe. I'd like to see a full on "gear end" shot of the lathe and some closer pics of the apron and taper attachment, if you would be so kind. It's a very interesting lathe for sure. I'm suprised at seeing a taper attachment on a lathe of that vintage.

I assume that the "dollies" on each end of the lathe were for positioning the lathe and not a permanent situation. I don't mean to sound condescending when I say that if left like that, it will certainly develope a swayback which won't be easily nor hurriedly corrected.

I'd love to see more pics of the lathe.

Best regards... :)

Brian
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Brian, the dolly's were removed immediately after I got it in place. It is a very heavy piece of iron to move by myself.
I'll take some more shots of the lathe tomorrow or Sunday. I'll try to get better lighting.
 
What a nice lathe. Anything that Mr Lodge (first name?) was involved in was bound to be a good thing. I wondered where the lead screw was, but the catalogue confirmed it is inside the bed under a cover, one of many signs that this is a quality machine, along with taper turning and even power cross feed. To still have all of its accessories, spanners, chuck, even the fixed steady, is a bit of a miracle. It seems in reasonable condition, even all the levers and ball handles look good, so someone must have cared for it. Do you have any idea of the original colour?

How good of them to stamp the date on it. If only all manufacturers would have done that, but I guess it takes away some of the fun of researching an old machine. I just wish Pratt & Whitney had done that on my 10" Toolmakers Lathe, it does have a Serial Number, most of them don't even have that, let alone a build date.

It would be nice to see your lathe restored as an example of U.S. precision engineering from the late 1800s. Thanks for saving it.

Regards, RossG
radial1951
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Mastiff said:
I've got a 19x114 inch Lodge, Davis lathe. The date of 2/11/88 is inscribed on the bed. The whole length is about 14 feet.
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Thats nice. The drive set up is just about what my GK has. Headstock four bolt bearings also similar.
still purrs like kittens.
sam

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