Early Atlas 7shaper

NCjeeper

NCjeeper

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Hey everyone. I picked up an early Atlas 7 shaper and trying to find some info on it. There doesn't seem to be a lot out there. Mine does not have the table support at the bottom and no wipers for the ways. Trying to date the machine. Anybody point me in the right direction for some info? I have already checked the usual sites and google.
 
My 1945 catalogue shows the foot already in place, so yours is prior to that. How far I'm not sure, I'll see if I have an earlier catalogue or ad. I believe they were introduced in 1938.

-frank
 
Thanks Frank. My motor is also a 1/3 HP and Says "Dunlap" and at the bottom of the plate says "Sears & Roebuck".
 
Well, 1939 catalogue illustrations show no foot and the 1941 catalogue shows the foot. So somewhere in between is yours, assuming that the illustrations were somewhat current to the publication they appeared in. Got any pictures you want to post of it? Maybe somebody else will recognize a particular feature. I have a small shaper, but not the Atlas one.

-frank
 
NCJeeper,

Sears didn't begin selling the Atlas shapers and mills until 1953. So the fact that your motor has a Sears nameplate merely means that the OO bought the motor separate, or the motor isn't original to the shaper. Perhaps more likely the former, as the Dunlap name disappeared after about 1943.

The Atlas 7 (and 7A which was the same except no belt guards) first appears in the November 1937 Atlas catalog No, 28.. It last appears in the 1940 catalog No, 40 which was printed in November, 1939. Catalog No, 41 is undated but the shapers listed in it are the 7B and 7AB (no guards). So the probable production life of the 7A was November 1936 through November 1940. So four years. The only serial number that we have for a 7 is 001226. The earliest 7B serial number is 2038. So assume that between 1500 and 2000 Model 7's and 7A's were made. From your serial number (which you did not give), you can calculate roughly when yours was made.
 
Thanks for the info Robert. Any idea where the serial number would be? I couldn't locate any tags on it other then the round "Atlas" ones that are so worn you cant read them.
 
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I don't know where the serial number was located on an Atlas Shaper. On the lathes of the period, it was stamped into the top of the front way at the right end. All that I can say is that we have 41 shapers in the database. Three are Sears, one is a 7A, one is a 7AB and the rest are 7B's. The database lists serial numbers for all except one 7B. From which, knowing the penchant for former owners of machines to remove removable name plates and forget to reinstall them, might indicate that the number is stamped somewhere. Perhaps another Atlas Shaper owner can say.
 
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