WWII Liberty ship lathe

I'm guessing that was designed for some special purpose, maybe servicing valves of some sort. I don't think it is a general purpose lathe. If someone knows for sure what it was made for it would be interesting.
 
It is for cleaning up the gland packer casting. There are standard sizes and the recess in the packer needs to be true to pack the gland evenly. Should be somewhere on it to assist in cutting the packing at an angle as well. Square Graphite impregnated Asbestos rope is a pretty awesome product given what it can do. I have a few packs of different sizes sitting on a shelf, as a seal if installed correctly it lasts and lasts and lasts. Nip it up if it weeps. Good Ships Chandlers and Propeller makers usually have it in stock. The greenie eco-terrorist fear mongers have not been able to come up with even a suggestion of a matching product that I am aware of. In a pinch you can double up or pull out your trusty knife and cut/trim to size. A spool of cord or string is the emergencey go to.
 
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Where I used to work we had lots of rolls of different styles and types of packing material. We used quite a bit of it on mobile and stationary heavy equipment. Packing glands look crude and makeshift to those of us used to oring and Teflon seals, but that stuff was cheap, worked great, it was field adjustable, simple as can be, and lasted a long time. You could also make do with something handy for a while while you found the correct packing. I have a few sizes of graphite impregnated asbestos rope packing somewhere in my shop.
 
Hemp cord or rope boiled in wax,(superfamily Apoidea preferably), or even well greased with dripping, lard or anything a bit slippery will work in a pinch with these seals. Rip a bit from the cuff of your jeans. The system looks simple but has thousands of years of engineering knowlodge behind it.
Sometimes the simplilest things are just the best for a particular application.
Horses for courses of course.
 
Now Harry's site is working perfect , yesterday it was all jacked up . I'm wondering if I need one of these lathes in my engine room . I would put my Atlas/Craftsman 6" in there but I don't have 110V at sea . Plus you never know we may need to bore out that packing gland while under way , so the hand crank is the fix .
 
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