The perks of running a machine shop Museum

i have a Potter and Johnston 24 inch shaper. Is really amazing the features this 1890-1910 machine has. Sometime in its life a large over center clutch and hand lever were added, and then a 4 speed gear box, running off a 3hp 480v motor. it now has a 230v 1ph 5hp motor. it has a vernier scaled rotating table, with a second table top that has a vernier scaled angle plate built into it. Obviously an adjustable throw traversing mechanism, power Z both directions. power down feed with adjustable travel. rotating head can power up if its reversed, and with the optional rotating feed it can cut a radius, and if that radius is large enough it can cut a circular hole, as the head can rotate 360 degrees, if its set to only stroke outside the frame. All i need to do is locktite the traversing thread shaft nuts so they dont fall into the gearset, and put belts on it.
 
those pictures are not the down feed. Those show the head rotation mechanism.. In the first pic, there are 2 levers. The lever to the right is the power down feed lever that rides up the ramp on the back stroke at travel end turning that pawl wheel, which feeds bevel gears inside. Th amount of ramp equates to the amount of feed.
Directly in front of the rear lever is a pointer which shows the position of the power down feed. that pin it hits opens a safety that sops it from going down further. The large lever in the top left is the head rotation mechanism. Mine does not have this option. And if i ever find a later P&J with that feature i am grabbing it. Also later models had a bearing system that made the table X axis roller bearing. Mine takes a lot of effort to move, even scrubbed clean and lubed well. In picture 1 the location pointer points to a square bolt which is the main rotational lock. there are 2 rotational locks on my 24
 
Yes, we also determined from the Vintage Machinery site that the feature is definitely the head rotation system. We are still making arrangements to go and fetch it from the current owner. I will try and post more pictures once we have it in our possession
 
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