I swear lathe manufacturers around the turn of the last century were like software companies of this turn of the century, everybody's doing it!
In 1875 Fredrick (Wikipedia says Francis) E. Reed bought an interest in A. F. Prentice & Co., a manufacturer of lathes and machinist tools. He soon bought the entire company and operated it under his own name. The company enjoyed a period of rapid expansion, and F. E. Reed became one of the biggest machinists' lathe makers in the world. In April 1912, the Prentice Company (apparently still operating independently) and the F.E. Reed Company merged, and became the Reed-Prentice Company.
In 1915 the company was sold to new interests and F.E. Reed passed away in 1917.
Catalog here. History at Vintagemachinery.org
5 comments:
>>>I swear lathe manufacturers around the turn of the last century were like software companies of this turn of the century, everybody's doing it! <<<
You're not far off! Casting foundries must have been on every street corner. At The Museum of American Speed in Lincoln, Nebraska (a highly recommended stop) I saw ROWS of homemde OHV and OHC conversions for Model T engines and it seemed like hundreds of different intake manifolds and cylinder heads for Ford Flathead V8's, apparently it was easy to scribble up a drawing and find someone to cast and machine your new "mousetrap".
What is the shapely object on the floor by the lathe's near front foot?
-- ratsus ignoramicus
I suspect that shapely object is a cover for the gears above it. It's the first thing you remove when you get it home.
I've seen a few Lathe and Mill portraits with all the accessories lying on the floor in front of it. Makes it look like my shop :-)
I had a reprint book "How to build a motorcycle" from the 1910 era. The suggestion was to take the drawings down to the blacksmith and have him cast up the lugs for the frame. In those days they didn't have access to a Metal Supermarket with all the stock dimensional material.
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