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On Sunday, February 3, 2019 at 8:20:35 PM UTC-5, Cydrome Leader wrote:
wrote:
On Friday, February 1, 2019 at 1:11:19 AM UTC-5, Cydrome Leader
wrote:
It's some sort of press with a heavy wheel that spins back and
forth and
presses on the work using a heavy screw.

No audio needed, just watch about 10 seconds

https://youtu.be/CLcAms8GgeM?t=427

What's the history of these, any is it something uncommon in the
US?

That's a "fly press": a flywheel screw press. No, they aren't
common in the US. Apparently they've been around for a long time
in forge shops in other parts of the world, including Europe.

I never saw one but I remember seeing photos when I was an editor
at American Machinist, back in the '70s.

Interesting.

Are there other regional variations of "basic" machines like presses
that
still do the same job in the end?

Sort of like how germans were obsessed with slotted screws for
absolutely
everything forever?

I can't think of anything in particular. There are some cases of
machine types being associated with the products they make, and the
regional emphasis on those products. For example, horological lathes
initially were associated with the UK, IIRC, and then Switzerland
dominated that business. From what I saw years ago, Switzerland seemed
to have an overwhelming number of those little lathes. Lens grinding
and polishing machines in Germmany, then in Japan, etc.

--
Ed Huntress

===================

"Oil country" lathes.

Chinese blacksmith bellows are quite different from Western ones.

Horizontal blast forges.

Tap sets with progressively increasing depths of cut.

Cycloidal versus involute gear teeth.

The Multifix lathe tool post.
http://www.lathes.co.uk/multifix/

Swiss style lathes.
https://www.ksiswiss.com/swiss-style-lathe/

Japanese pull saws, Westerners push them.

Europeans worked standing, Asians sitting. According to Holtzapffel,
in India lathe tools were traditionally held between the toes with the
heel resting on the ground while the arms worked the cords that turned
the spindle.

Perhps the most significant difference is that while the western
frontier was open eastern America couldn't retain the abundance of
skilled craftsmen available in Europe and developed semi- and then
fully-automated production machines instead. The cam-operated
automatic lathe that could spit out parts without an operator dates
from the 1870's.

-jsw