Lathe manufacturers from the turn of the last century continue to pop up. I swear they're like the software companies of today. Sidney Machine Works set up shop in the Sebastian May factory in Sidney, Ohio in 1904 to build woodworking machinery. They added metal lathes to their line in about 1910 and the name was changed to Sidney Machine Tool Co. By WW2, the woodworking tools had been discontinued and metal lathes were their only product. New owners came in 1961 in the form of the Buhr Machine Tool company who renamed the company Buhr Sidney. That company was bought up a few years later and the Sidney operation was shut down. More history here. And the whole story at Lathes.co.uk.
From the Practical Machinist forum;
Serial Number reference book has serials from 1930 to 1962, when it says "all lines discontinued". The first number is 5532 and the last number is 10629, so they made a little more than 5000 in 32 years, and supposedly a little more than 5000 from 1904 to 1930. Sounds like a fairly serious effort, though nothing like the amazing output over at Monarch or Lodge & Shipley. They made 14 to 32" medium and heavy duty lathes. Sidney was famous for their herringbone gear headstock.
2 comments:
Andre Citroen bought the patent to those gears, hence the company's double-chevron badge. D.
I did not know that.
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