Oh Name That Machine, Where Art Thou?

UKworkshop.co.uk

Help Support UKworkshop.co.uk:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Scrit

Established Member
Joined
17 Sep 2002
Messages
3,872
Reaction score
3
OK, so I nicked a film title (anyone remember the film?) :roll: Anyway here's another small collection of antique wood machining conundrums from yesterday to be going on with, see how many you can name:

No. 1

ntm_70302.jpg


Looks ideal for mowing the grass but it really isn't. What is it?

No. 2

ntm_70303.jpg


In it's full title (which I think I'm going to ask someone like Mr. Grimsdale to explain) it could almost be made by/for Branston, especially when you realise that the manufacturer was Pickles....

No. 3

ntm_70301.jpg


Someone somewhere still uses these......

No. 4

ntm_70304.jpg


A machine made to do something associated more with hand work, this, or possibly engineering? But nonetheless a real woodworking machine

No. 5

ntm_70305.jpg


It really big, but what can it do?

And finally No. 6

ntm_70306.jpg


No, it's not a giant potato chipper, or even a potato chipper for giants. So what is it?

I take no responsibility for the lack of guarding on these machines other than to state the obvious - that orphan children workers were particularly cheap in the period when these machines were built (the 1920s and 1930s BTW).....

Enjoy!!! :lol:


Scrit
 
Just like buses - none for ages and then 6 come at once :lol:

1. Floor sander
2. Horizontal Morticer
3. Embosser for making mouldings
4. ??? no idea
5. Bread / meat slicer
6. Stapler / crimper of some sort?
 
1. How about a floor planer - like a sander only more viscious
2. Horizontal morticer
3. Moulding embosser - with samples and drums
4. Some sort of thicknesser
5. Slicer - everyone needs wood slices or maybe just a disc sander with extraction slots
6. Wooden disc slicer

MisterFish
 
Well I may be getting better at spotting what these things do, but not necessarily what they're for - if that makes any sense. I'll hazard a guess or two:

1. Floorboard nailer?
2. Horizontal mortiser with rounder thingy - mortise chair legs and turn a round tenon on one end in one go or something? :?
3. I'll go with what they said!
4. This sounds daft, but scraping machine?
5. Rotary end trimmer (gosh, that almost sounds like I know what I'm talking about. Not to worry - I don't)
6. Lessee... That goes to and fro and, erm... Oh I dunno - spill cutter?

Cheers, Alf
 
Hell's teeth you lot are getting good - well, sort of..... collectively :lol:

promhandicam":wwwv6ssq said:
2. Horizontal Morticer
Nice try, but no banana! The mortiser is part of the operation, but not all of it. A clue may be that there are CNC routers out there today which use square mortise chisels for cutting things other than mortise slots.

promhandicam":wwwv6ssq said:
3. Embosser for making mouldings
Yep, spot on. But then the moulding wheels gave it away didn't they?:

ntm_70301a.jpg


promhandicam":wwwv6ssq said:
5. Bread / meat slicer
6. Stapler / crimper of some sort?
????? Errm - they're wood working machinies, honest.....

misterfish":wwwv6ssq said:
1. How about a floor planer - like a sander only more viscious
Another right answer:

ntm_70302a.jpg


although I don't think the hire shops will be renting them out just yet.... I wouldn't fancy working with one of these even if I had armoured boots on, let alone steel toecapped ones

Alf":wwwv6ssq said:
4. This sounds daft, but scraping machine?
Well, daft or not, it really is a scraping machine which was designed to take a scraping pass from solid or veneered panels at a feed rate of 80/90 feet per minute. The smallest machine offered accommodated 24in wide stock and weighed in at a mere 58 cwts (or just under 3 tonnes in new money) whilst the biggest was a behemoth of 60in width at a mite under 6 tonnes. And of course you could also fit toothing knives for glue-up preparation work.....

ntm_70304a.jpg


Alf":wwwv6ssq said:
5. Rotary end trimmer (gosh, that almost sounds like I know what I'm talking about. Not to worry - I don't)
Sort of, ish...... Nah! No banana. It has a specific function. They might even have sold a few down in Cornwall!

Alf":wwwv6ssq said:
6. Lessee... That goes to and fro and, erm... Oh I dunno - spill cutter?
Sort of in the right direction, but nope :cry: .

So, three down and three to go.

Scrit
 
Thats not fair !!! You did a name that machine while i was away and i would have got the deck planer one :cry:
deckplane.jpg
[/img]
 
Well, Jason, there's always No.s 2, 5 and 6 to go......... Now where is Mel, I wonder? :lol:

Actually No.2 is the awkward one for me, because I know what it is supposed to do - I don't actually understand what the machine title means...... :shock:

BTW where's the illustration from? Spindle moulders doing 3,000 rpm? They've have horseless carraiges going faster than a man can walk next!

dickm":8sj55tp6 said:
I like the phrase "safety cutter block" on the description of the deck planer.
That was presumably in the period when square cutter blocks (noted for the large bed gaps required to accommodate same, and for their voracious appetite for digits) were still in use. In comparison the slab block shown was a safety block. You used to start the cut on spindle moulders with square blocks a bit gingerly in case they spat back at you, so I can only imagine what getting it wrong with a 12 x 2 plank of oak would do......

dickm":8sj55tp6 said:
And what size cable would this thing need to provide the quoted 3hp?
A bit more than you could stuff into the end of a 13 amp plug, no doubt! :wink:

Scrit
 
Scrit
I'll take a stab at #2. Is it for the carriage industry? Making wagon wheel spokes, and fallows?

#5 looks like it would be perfect for trimming drawers to fit.

#6 could split shingles/shakes but I'm not sure if wood roofs were as common in England as over here.
 
Inspector":y4t0tttc said:
I'll take a stab at #2. Is it for the carriage industry? Making wagon wheel spokes, and fallows?
Oh no..... actually used in domestic joinery work.......

Inspector":y4t0tttc said:
#5 looks like it would be perfect for trimming drawers to fit.
Interesting, but nope. It does trim something a tad bigger, though.

Inspector":y4t0tttc said:
#6 could split shingles/shakes but I'm not sure if wood roofs were as common in England as over here.
Riven cedar shingles were certainly not common here. perhaps the clue is in that what this makes sounds almost as though it should come from an animal..... Definitely a product which is long gone nowadays. I've seen the product in the flesh, but only when I was very young (i.e. pre-1960s).

Scrit
 
Scrit":31ekli17 said:
Inspector":31ekli17 said:
I'll take a stab at #2. Is it for the carriage industry? Making wagon wheel spokes, and fallows?
Oh no..... actually used in domestic joinery work.......

Domestic joinery? It looks like a morticing chisel and rotating blade, so something round in parts but with rectangular holes. Stair newel posts or even bed posts come to mind, but that's somewhat like the chair leg guess. Morticed handrails? Nothing else domestic that would fit in comes to mind.

MisterFish
 
misterfish":2389sd2s said:
Domestic joinery? It looks like a morticing chisel and rotating blade, so something round in parts but with rectangular holes.
Well actually it is a sort of Frankenstein marraige between a horizontal chisel mortiser and a one head tenoner and goes by the catchy name of "Haunching and Relishing Machine" and was specifically made for the sash trade......

ntm_70303a.jpg


The question is, what is a relish? I was hoping the Mr Grimsdale or JFC might be able to answer that one, because then I could understand a bit more about the machine works. Never seen one of these in any other manufacturer's catalogue.

As to No. 5 and No. 6 I'll give you a clue for each. No. 5 was designed for use in an industry which survived until a certain politician single-handedly murdered it and No. 6 was something to do with exporting. Any offers?

Scrit
 
Scrit":32zfnyvr said:
As to No. 5 and No. 6 I'll give you a clue for each. No. 5 was designed for use in an industry which survived until a certain politician single-handedly murdered it and No. 6 was something to do with exporting. Any offers?

Scrit

Something to do with pit props?

And something for making making cases?

Adam
 
No. 5 looks like it was intended for trimming end-grain on some very large timbers, mineshaft props maybe?

Mark
 
Scrit":y7r2wh42 said:
Adam":y7r2wh42 said:
Something to do with pit props?
Yes, but what?

No. 6 is more to do with what's inside of cases

Scrit

Someone has already said trimming end grain, or bark? So making a pointy bit?

As for 6, making wooden packing material then? Sort of olden day polystyrene chips?

Adam
 
Adam":1pv9hzkt said:
(No. 5) Someone has already said trimming end grain, or bark? So making a pointy bit?
Alright, I'll let you have that by deduction. The giant pencil sharpener is indeed a pit prop pointer:

ntm_70305a.jpg


All I can say is that colliery joiners had a bit more bravery than I have to use that thing sans guarding

Adam":1pv9hzkt said:
As for 6, making wooden packing material then? Sort of olden day polystyrene chips?
Yes. I can vaguely remember playing with this stuff when I was a kid. Any idea what it's called? (for a point :wink: )

Scrit
 
Back
Top