A metalsmithing whatzit
Pete S
Here's a link to the page I put up about a metalworking tool in that I saw
recently. We sure would like to know more about it.
http://www.spaco.org/Whatisit/ViseLathe.htm
Pete Stanaitis
-----------------
Glenn Lyford
> recently. We sure would like to know more about it.
one machine, vise, anvil, manual drill press, lathe, and pipe
wrench...possibly intended for some sort of mobile shop/maintenance
vehicle where the weight of separate tools would be an issue?
To some degree, a cole drill and vise set might fill a similar
niche. A competitor's attempt for a similar market, perhaps.
Don't know, but it's fun to guess. Thanks for sharing.
--Glenn Lyford
Stuart
> Hi, Guys. Here's a link to the page I put up about a metalworking tool
> in that I saw recently. We sure would like to know more about it.
> http://www.spaco.org/Whatisit/ViseLathe.htm
http://55tools.blogspot.com/
This guy's been posting photos of unusual tools for people to guess what
they are for years and has a large following across several groups.
--
Stuart Winsor
Curt Welch
My best guess is that the gearing is just there to clamp the vise closed
very tightly like a shop press. The square socket on the end of the hand
wheel shaft might just be the bolt that holds the shaft in place and not
intended to act as anything on the work piece that is being clamped.
The top wheel (1) was probably a hand-wheel like (3) originally?
I think your guess for the small knob is probably correct. It would at one
time engage the gears to close the vise. Because you see no mechanism to
implement that, it might have broken off? Does it pull in and out? Or
turn?
The thumb screw doesn't look original from the photo since it's so shiny.
I would guess those might have been set screws or little square head bolts
that tightened some adjustable ways to make the jaws align correctly vs
something to hold the vise at a fixed location.
--
Curt Welch http://CurtWelch.Com/
cu...@kcwc.com http://NewsReader.Com/
Martin Eastburn
The large flat wheel is a power take on wheel. Likely a belt
ran over it to an axle of the train.
The had wheel is for setting up.
I suspect it trued out wheels or other work like that.
Deft pins need grinding if they get bent or marred.
But I bet it was for working on railroad stuff.
Martin
Curt Welch
Ok, I've found a few related links:
http://www.datamp.org/patents/displayPatent.php?pn=516288&id=43064
http://www.datamp.org/patents/displayPatent.php?pn=1328250&id=16588
http://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/stewart-handy-worker-combination-anvil-vise
http://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/stewart-handy-worker-blacksmith-anvil-vise
http://www.practicalmachinist.com/vb/antique-machinery-history/combined-anvil-vise-grinder-213273/
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=107020
It looks like the device is either a combination vise/anvil/drill, or a
vise/anvil/grinder or maybe both.
For use as a grinder, the gear train seems to be configured to allow a
crank to be used on the lower gears so like all manual grinders, the grind
wheel spins much faster than the crank.
I don't understand that the knob on the bottom gear is however.
Pete - does the removable anvil piece have some sort of pivot point that
matches the square drive so a grind wheel could be placed between the two
jaws? Your pictures don't show enough to tell.
For the vise anvil drill...
For interesting history, the HiLift Jack company:
http://www.hi-lift.com/company/index.html
Was founded by Philip John Harrah. One of his first inventions was an
Anvil-Vise-Drill
Ah, just found his patent:
http://www.datamp.org/patents/advance.php?pn=652674&id=12442&set=1
Note the "pipe jaws" on one side only! What's up with that???
Another vise and drill patent:
http://www.datamp.org/patents/advance.php?pn=91309&id=14996&set=1
And that one includes a gear train to drive the drill!
Ah, here's the google patent of that link at the top:
http://www.google.com/patents/about?id=ddpMAAAAEBAJ&dq=vise+anvil+grinder
Check out the details and we see it can be configured as EITHER a drill or
grinder!
And, for the pipe jaws, we see the drawing includes an extra missing piece
that fits in the jaws, to create the missing side!
Oh, and look, the fun continues! That was patented by "Henry B. Keiper -
Lancaster, PA" who's name is also on these patents:
http://www.datamp.org/patents/search/xrefCompany.php?id=409
Which are all for the Champion Blower and Forge Company and are related to
their blowers! So he's the guy that invented the blowers we use all the
time!
Yes, and from this, Keiper was the founder of Champion Blower and Forge!
http://vintagemachinery.org/mfgindex/detail.aspx?id=165
Bingo:
http://www.google.com/patents?id=GDdDAAAAEBAJ&printsec=drawing#v=onepage&q&f=false
Curt Welch
http://www.anvilfire.com/anvils/af_anvils_024b.php
And here's one called the "Detroit Combination Tool" from 1906 (20 years before the Champion version):
http://books.google.com/books?id=GgsAAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA325&dq=detroit+combination+tool&hl=en&ei=4FV6TtuuDKr50gH8v7HdAg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CDEQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=detroit%20combination%20tool&f=false
Pete S
Hello, Curt.
Thank you for all the research on this tool!!!
You asked if there was a hole in the anvil jaw that could have acted as the
"tailstock" bearing.
Yes, I think there is one. But, remember that that the whole anvil "jaw"
is removable, so any number of components could have been used there. I've
gotta think that one of those pieces of tooling had to be a base plate for
drilling.
The entry below your "bingo" certainly looks like the right basic patent,
even though the machine my friend has shows some differences. I will pass
all this info on.
Thanks again,
Pete Stanaitis
Curt Welch
> Hello, Curt.
> Thank you for all the research on this tool!!!
>
> You asked if there was a hole in the anvil jaw that could have acted as
> the "tailstock" bearing.
> Yes, I think there is one. But, remember that that the whole anvil
> "jaw" is removable, so any number of components could have been used
> there. I've gotta think that one of those pieces of tooling had to be a
> base plate for drilling.
Yeah, some of the designs in the links had a base-plate like option for
drilling. But the anvil/vise side in the drawings had a hole for when it
was used for driving a grinding wheel or doing simple lathe work.
> The entry below your "bingo" certainly looks like the right basic patent,
> even though the machine my friend has shows some differences. I will
> pass all this info on.
Yeah, it's clear the one your friend had was a direct descendant, or
predecessor, of that patent. 90% of the design seems identical where all
the other designs for similar tools were distinctly different.
Not that thumb scree is the original intent and it says it was for securing
the vise when it was shipped, or being used as an anvil. And for the pipe
vise, we see in the other patents that they had removable pieces for the
missing side - which no doubt was lost long ago.
It's odd that I could not find _anything_ else on that style combination
tool, or the inventor, and no company name was listed on the patent as the
assignee, even though I could find multiple things about the other style
tools of similar design.
Not only that, but the patent wasn't even listed on that one site that had
old-tool patents, I only found it on Google patents. That seems to
indicate the old tool collectors that set up that site have never seen one
of these tools of that design.
I suspect this means that tool is a very rare example of that patent. It
might even be a prototype that is a one of a kind or from a very small run.
That could make it worth something.
It would be interesting to try and hunt down more about the inventor and
see if it could be determined who made that tool!
It was fun digging this up because I had never heard of this odd-ball idea
of combing an anvil, vise, drill press, and grinder into one tool but yet
there seemed to be a collection of companies that made this type of tool
around the turn of the century.
It also seems to have been how most modern bench vises today ended up
having an "anvil" as part of them.
> Thanks again,
> Pete Stanaitis