[Lathe] Antique Flather Lathe -16x36 S/n # 270

Holy Cow......... second one I've ever seen. Made in N.H., I believe. I had a 16" one
back in the sixties to brake drums, clutches,etc. Great heavy clunker, but functional.
Passed on for $150 when I moved on. You want to Scrape, here you are......BLJHB
 
Thanks TLAG!!
She has a 16" swing and was made in Nashua, NH just as you stated!!!
this was the first Flather i ever saw, i was ignorant to their existence before finding Persephone.
i know a lot more about the company now, it's quite an interesting story.
they were on the cutting edge of technology before 1900!
 
I have a automatic gear cutter made by Flather, which I gave a thorough overhaul complete with re scraping of the carriage sliding surface; this machine is not a hobber, it uses single tooth space cutters, it will cut up to about approximately 36" diameter and 10" of face width; it cuts a tooth space, quick returns to the starting point, indexes and feeds into the next tooth space automatically and keeps on doing that sequence until it cuts all the spaces. It does not have a device to stop the sequence when all the teeth are cut, so you need to keep an eye on it. The indexing for differing numbers of teeth is done by change gears driving a worm and worm gear on the work spindle, and there are change gears for speeds and feeds as well; when I got the machine, there were no change gears with it, so I had to figure out the pitch of them to suit the center distances of the shafts, and was lucky to find a change gear chart of a similar machine made by Brown & Sharpe; all in all, I probably had to cut more gears to make the machine usable that I have cut for pay with it.
One thing I will say is that the machine showed some lapses in workmanship when it was built; it was not a really high class machine, but it will cut a gear and quickly at that.
John York
 
Hi John,
thanks for the information, the auto gear cutter sounds like a very interesting machine to say the least!
i haven't had the pleasure of seeing one.
do you have pictures?
 
I do not have pics at this time, and would have to do some cleaning up and moving debris to do it; I'm not saying that I won't do so, but don't hold your breath!
 
Heres a couple pictures of John's beautiful Flather Automatic Gear Cutting Machine (he's having difficulty uploading pictures, so i thought i'd take the liberty)

John%27s%2BFlather%2B2.jpg
John%27s%2BFlather.jpg

what a beautiful machine!!!
 
Hey Mike,
You are going to run out of fingers to count your lathes on! Which machine are you planning to work on first? Nice find. I love old machines like that which are reasonably complete and restorable.
-Bob
 
Hi Scraper Bob!!!
I know i have too many.
i keep finding these old machines that nobody loves anymore and can't stand the thought of a piece of history going to the boneyard.
the first lathe in this thread is mine
the second piece of equipment is another members machine that was manufactured by the same family in the same relative time period.
Flather & Company unfortunately didn't make it through the depression.

I'm trying to finish the work on my long term Henrietta restoration (SB11 project) before i get too deeply involved with Persephone.

this deal i just found seemed to fester inside of me.
i originally passed on the idea for a couple weeks, only to find myself dragging the beast home later.
i thought i did a pretty good job of disinteresting myself-apparently to no avail. :grin:
 
You're making me mad at myself. I gave away a C. 1910 American engine lathe that had a lot of life in it. I actually started my shop with it, and it made a few bucks. Was a flat belter until someone converted it with what appeared to be a shop made 4 speed gearbox. I might still have a pic of her. The guy I gave it to was supposed to find it a home in Mexico, but it got scrapped. I have the glass oilers off it. It's but a memory now.:bawling:
 
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