Tuesday, May 21, 2019

We used to make things in this country #304 Wm.M lathe



This older lathe was for sale at a local swapmeet a few weeks ago. The seller was convinced the maker was WM. M with plants in Preston and Galt (now combined into the city of Cambridge, Ontario) as is cast into the headstock.  Searching a bit online I can find the Preston Woodworking company, and a Preston Machinery ad- selling an 18" lathe by Stevens, J J Stevens was another maker of machine tools based in Galt, in business from about 1910 till at least the end of WW2. Info from Vintagemachinery.org.   I can find nothing on an company named WM.M. or alternately, WM.M. Preston.


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4 comments:

  1. VectorWarbirdsMay 22, 2019 at 11:44 AM

    The Preston Woodworking Machinery Company of Preston, Ontario also made and/or sold metal lathes. Two models I know of are the Mod. 36 and No. 186 Preston Manual Training Speed Lathe. The lathe you show looks like a South Bend 9 clone although somewhat less refined. May have been made somewhere else for Preston. All the Preston lathes I have seen have had the name attached to the bed and not the headstock which I find odd unless a clone. I have a SB 9 circa 1944.

    Cheers!

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  2. Mister GMay 22, 2019 at 9:53 PM

    Coincidently I also have a 1944 SB 9 and feel it's much heavier construction, this seems more towards Atlas quality- or less. The fact that the name is cast into the headstock in a basic lettering font and doesn't really fit in the space provided might tell the tale, it would be nice to compare to the Preston lathes- not much online about them.

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  3. VectorWarbirdsMay 23, 2019 at 11:34 AM

    Seems to be some info on Practical Machinist but I can't open their site anymore for some reason. That's most likely the best source for info. Where did the No. 304 come from? Didn't happen to see a maker on the elec motor by chance?

    https://www.practicalmachinist.com/vb/antique-machinery-and-history/preston-machinery-company-lathe-info-202633/

    Quite the coincident on your South Bend and mine. This one is stamped W.E.F. which I understand to mean Western Escort Fleet which makes some sense as it was purchased from the Navy in San Diego after serving on a submarine. It they could only talk!

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  4. Mister GMay 25, 2019 at 1:08 AM

    Mine is #158844, just a plain workshop lathe that does all I need. Did you see this? https://progress-is-fine.blogspot.com/2013/05/you-have-no-room-for-machine-tools-you.html

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