Hi,
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I see you are sort of close to me, I'm in NY. Rutland, VT is about a
four hour drive for me. I think Windsor was 5 hours over fromGlens
Falls, NY. I was there about 1990 and then it was just a collection of
machines like Ferdinand Snow's place of used machinery over in Westwood,
NJ, that spanned a few generations. There was a minature machine shop
to a very small scale, all working models, made by hand by an old
retired machinist/toolmaker they had on display there. I was impressed!
The display said it was ALL done by hand files in this guys spare time
until he died!! But when I was there, there wasn'tmuch of a paper trail
of history on display, just old machines to look at and a bit of a mess.
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http://www.americanprecision.org/Default2.html
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The 1st computer run lathe I ran had a blinking idiot lights display
like "Robbie-the-Robot," run by a binary computer---a SOB of a big ass
turret lathe made by Pratt Whitney, the PJ400. This was 1975 for me,
that lathe had to be 1950's era. We used it to turn cast iron actuator
housings for Kieley and Mueller automatic control valves. I think the
PJ designation was a merger of Potter & Johnson, but just a guess.
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Off Topic:
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The oldest automatic turret lathe I ran was a Potter & Johnson 3JU
Speedflex, probably at least WWII or before. It was basicly a glorified
clock with electrical relays. Dogs on a rotating drum that engaged
levers that engaged the relays. You'd start out cold in the morning,
especialy in the winter, then adjust tooling accordingly as it warmed
up, a real art to work tight tolerances and still keep daily quota. And
of course I was running two of 'em simultaneosly!
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The 1st NC tape lathe I ran was the Warner & Swasey 1 SC, both chuckers
and bar stock machines that ran off perforated paper tape encoded
identical to the stock market ticker tapes of that era, supposedly built
early 1960's. I got on those in 1987! The back panel was just loaded
with circuit boards which overheated in the summerime and it had heat
safeties built in and would trip off. So I would open the rear circuit
board housing and aim a big floor fan in there to keep it cool and keep
working. (DUST?) Ideally suited to an air conditioned environment, but
bosses will be bosses!! A photoelectric eye read the code, BUT it also
read dust specks, and paper wrinkles---and BOY could that sucker
MOVE---and where you didn't want it to go! One tended to develop
lightning quick reflexes. When I was working these we used a flexible
plastic perforated tape, but stll the dust and wrinkles!
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I would think some university, maybe MIT, developed these early computer
controlled machines as a research project as to the fundamental concept
and I would think the reason was for aerospace/Air Force purposes.
Wonder if MIT has a museum?
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The 1st TV screened CNC I saw in our shop was a German made lathe that
came in new about 1977.
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Other Stuff:
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I was to Henry Ford's Museum near Detroit about 1961, I was about nine
years old. I still remember an old fashioned machine shop display
there.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Greenfield Village at The Henry Ford
http://www.hfmgv.org/village/libertycraftworks.asp
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In 1980 I was to Washington, D.C. and one of the Smithonian Museums had
a mid-1800's machine shop on display fired by a steam engine. I'd go
nuts if I was allowed access to their archive areas!
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The Workbench Book
http://www.taunton.com/store/pages/070061.asp
~~~~~~~~~~
Within this Workbench Book, I think this is the book I read, there is a
description how the 1st WOOD helical leadscrews were made---sawn and
chiseled, then refined. Then from a rudimentary wood lathe with
screwcutting capabilities the first metal leadscrews were made, then
refined. And over time, eventually, the guy that made the Moore Jig
Borer got it down to millionths of an inch refinement to work accurately
to fifty millionths off hand wheeled controlled machines. Moore was in
Bridgeport, CT at one time, maybe still?. Maybe they got a museum?
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Some stuff from my stash:
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Medieval and Renaissance Lathes
http://www.his.com/~tom/sca/lathes.html
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Yahoo! Photos - View Photo
http://photos.groups.yahoo.com/group.../vwp?.dir=3D/=
treadle+ornamental+lathe&.src=3Dgr&.dnm=3Dornament al+treadle+lathe.jpg&.vi=
ew=3Dt&.done=3Dhttp%3a//photos.groups.yahoo.com/group/humanpoweredmachinet=
ools/lst%3f%26.dir=3D/treadle%2bornamental%2b
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Soule Live Steam
http://groups.msn.com/SouleLiveSteam...?action=3DSho=
wPhoto&PhotoID=3D7
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I found ALL this stuff off GOOGLE initially, then searches within
MSN.com and Yahoo.com Some of my searches (not necessarily machine
shop) are rather intense, instead of watching a game on the TV, I go
find something.
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Oh, yeah---used bookstores in Maine got some interesting finds, if not
to buy, just read. There is one place in Wells, ME out on the main road
just south of "The Lighthouse Depot" (a store) that had a $200 big
pictorial book on how steam engines were made.
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I think finding a chronological history of machining may be difficult as
to who or what was 1st as to the needs of the marketplace or just the
fact that people were interested in working, not necessarily interested
in keeping an accurate record of it. Kind of like asking who the 1st
blacksmith was and who invented the hammer?
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My father-in-law told me some interesting stories what went on to Bell
Aircraft in Buffalo, NY during WWII. Try finding history on that or the
entire factory full of old machines buried somewhere under the
production floor there and sealed over in concrete to justify buying all
new!
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Take care,
-
Kurt
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History of Machine Tools

Group: rec.crafts.metalworking Date: Sat, Oct 25, 2003, 8:31pm (EST+5)
From: (Errol=A0Groff)
I am preparing a research assignment for my students on this subject.
Looking for suggestions as to names which might be used as search terms
or links to sites that would be appropriate.
Also, I am not remembering the names that were involved in the creation
of the first NC machines back in the late forties/early fifties. I know
that the info is back in my head somewhere but it is not coming forward.
Help would be appreciated!
I don't want togfive the kids everything obviously but I do need to give
them enough to get started It is tough to do research on a subject when
you don't know enough about it to even know what questions to ask.
Thanks for your help!
Errol Groff
Instructor, Machine Tool Department
H.H. Ellis Tech
613 Upper Maple Street
Danielson, CT 06239
860 774 8511 x1811
http://pages.cthome.net/errol.groff/
http://newenglandmodelengineeringsociety.org/