Old Lathe and Drillpress

JOB

Member
Here is an old lathe dating back to 1865 the drill press is an 1855 model. Wonder when chucks were available for lathes.
17844.jpg

Was the drill held in with a screw or is there a tapered shank?
17845.jpg
 
We had drillpress like that in our shop many years ago. The top of the drill shank was tappered and the end of it looked like a big flat screw driver. We had a piece of wood and tapped the end of the drill to set it into the tapped chuck. When done there was a tappered piece of flat steel (we called it a key) that there was a slot just over the top of the drill and you sliped the key in it and gave it rap and the drill dropped out of sleeve.
 
The lathe that you have pictured does not have a chuck on it but has a faceplate and that is threaded to the head of lathe.
 
Did they have chucks back in 1865? Or was everything done off a face plate? I would think it would be kind of hard to fasten a piece of round to a face plate.
 
The tapered shank sounds like the Morse taper we have today. I haven't a clue what kind of chuck is on that drill press. Or if it is even called a chuck. Looks like every drill big or small would have to have the same size shank with a flat spot, or different Morse taper sizes, if they had Morse taper back in 1855.
 
(quoted from post at 09:22:11 05/25/13) Little Google search brought this up.....Thought you all might enjoy!
Morse cutting Co.

Intetesting little artical.If alive today I'd bet the board Morse had a disagreement with would be kicking themselves in the can!
 
If that faceplate is threaded to head you should be able to take it off and find a chuck that fits those threads.
 
They made an adapter that small drills would fit in . The small drills looked like the big drills and you used the adapter to make them work.We used ours mainly for drilling large holes. I think I may have a couple of these drills yet but don't have the drill press anymore.
 
Early lathes usually held the work between centers or used a four jaw chuck (also called an independent chuck) The three jay (universal chuck) came later.

When I was learning machining the real machinists would not trust a three jaw and preferred the independent.

I never needed accuracy beyond what could be had with a three jaw.

Working between centers the piece is turned with a lathe dog that fits into the slots in the faceplate
 

Do you remember if that lathe was an Ames from Chicopee Mass?? It sure looks like it from here. Of course you know what they say...at that age they all look alike...
 
Do not know who the manufacture of the lathe is. It
looks pretty simple, I bet the newer ones have a few
more features.
 
Did they have a four jaw back in 1865. Now I can see how they turned a piece of round. But how did they determine the center at the tail?
 

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