Ray,
There is such a thing as 2-phase power. It's not single phase, i.e. standard household wiring. It's not 3-phase. It has two phases, 90 degrees apart, whereas 3-phase has 3 phases, 60 degrees apart. In the late 1800's 2-phase generators were installed at Niagara Falls and 2-phase power continued in the area until some time in the 1950s. 2-phase systems are usually 4 wire systems. Engineers figured out fairly early that you could get smoother power and use fewer wires by going to 3 phases. But by that time there was already an installed base of 2-phase generation, so the system continued. I've seen one other 2-phase 10EE crop up in the last decade. Josh, over in the Van Norman & Cincinnati forum, is rebuilding a Cincinnati Toolmaster mill that was originally 2-phase.
According to this, PECO still provides 2-phase service in Philadelphia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two-phase_electric_power
Robert,
A "Scott T" transformer connection can, in theory, be used to run a 2-phase motor from 3-phase. However, I don't know if it's going to work from a rotary phase converter. You may be able to find a surplus "Scott T" transformer from a piece of 2-phase equipment that been pulled out of service; check electrical surplus outfits in the Niagara Falls area. (You would be looking for about a 5kW transformer.) Is there any chance that the seller has one?
The good news is that with your machine is that a relatively inexpensive solid-state DC drive can be put together to run the original DC spindle motor. One option is to use a single-quadrant DC drive for the armature and a simple DC supply for the field. The DC control panel and the big rheostats would continue to be used. The DC control panel will provide reversing, anti-plugging, dynamic braking and field acceleration functions; the field rheostat would provide field weakening to get the motor above base speed. There is a gentleman in the UK who's doing just that.
The DC control panel on your machine is the type used on square-dial machines. You either have a very late model machine or one that's been updated.
The big box on the front of the base, under the tailstock is probably a rheostat and other wiring for a rapid reverse feature. I’ve only seen one other motor-generator 10EE with the feature. It works with the ELSR so that the reverse speed can be set higher when threading to speed up operations. There is going to be some unusual wiring associated with it and I do not know of a factory wiring diagram for it.
What is the serial number and build date of the machine?
Cal