These machines are very interesting. I'm sure many paychecks was earned with those and in turn many families housed,clothed and feed. Thank you for sharing .
It will be interesting to see how it all works out. Equipment like that is what brought us to where we are now, along with the old methods. Neither should be totally forgotten.
It is.. I have seen those in use.. I once worked at a plant which used one to make acetylene gas to be piped throughout the plant.. They used calcium carbide like used in minors lamps and water...
That shaper should be a great addition to what you already have Mike. Very lucky the original vise is still with it as well. Allis - Chalmers was a very large company so I doubt it's possible to pin point exactly what that engine came out of. It was likely used in a lot of different equipment they built and may have even been a shop power supply like you mentioned. They built engines like that far heavier than today's so the cylinder walls just might have lots of metal left to rebore it. I remember seeing a lot of there front end loaders around when I was a kid.
Luv this kinda stuff! i got the opportunity to purchase an old machine shop/home in the port of Tampa some 12 yrs ago and have been enjoying these tools ever since. This shop was full of WW2 surplus tooling, and most of it started out as line shaft/flat belt drive but has been converted to individual electric motor power. Iv sold some of the tools/machines, but kept as much as i could. I`v still got my 6' tall radial arm drill press with the oldest electric motor i`v ever seen coupled to a Hillman/ Crosley [?] transmission that once wrastled into gear with feed set, will happily put a 6" dia. hole through 12" of steel! The table is made with 1 1/2 holes on 4" centres to be used with the bent bars that get hammerd into the holes [like the old cast iron "platen" tables] to hold the work down and keep it from spinning! If i won the lotto tomorrow, this shop would be full of lineshaft tools and have an old hit-r-miss flywheel engine pulling it!
Better you than me my friend, that's a little further gone than I would be willing to take on. I do however look forward to watching two or three years of hard work. ;-)
This video made me wanna cry. Seeing all this quality machinery just rusting. Glad theres someone trying to refurbish them :) The only stuff worth a fuck was built 30 years ago, and thats coming from a 20 yr old
That engine is a power unit for a saw mill. I bet there's a lot of interest in it. Great find on all. Hope to see some great videos on restoration. Greg
I love restoring things. Hats off to you Mike. I'm looking forward to hours and hours of vicarious fun. Thank God those other machines are in the USA and I'm in the UK or the disease might kick in and I'd have more in the queue for TLC. Best of luck and enjoy! Mike
Yep, the "gas lamp" as you called it is definitely an acetylene generator. We had one very similar to that sitting around for decades......never used it though.
I’m here from Kieth Rucker and I’m not disappointed I take my hat off to you mike we live in a throw away society today’s and with people like you rescuing these amazing machines from certain scrap I wish I could know the history of the machines where they worked what they were used for and to see a piece of work originally made from one would be amazing probably impossible now but just imagine if you could see the original methods used and the work created I’m a new subscriber now big hello from London uk god bless
Wow, there are some real beauties there...good luck with the restore and to answer your question; yes they can be restored to working condition. That all depends on the effort, time and money you are willing to spend on these old girls. Get them undercover & soaked with lubricant (diesel & oil mixed together I find works best) as soon as you can and let them sit for a period and give them a chance to work with you when it comes to disassemble. What I would give for that old lathe, just wow!!.....that's a real beauty. I can just imagine that machine in full song when she's back making swarf again. Wishing you good health to enjoy the restore. Happy New Year from Ireland.
Wow I'm looking forward to watch these lovely lathes being restored. I'm doing a complete restoration on a 1939 colchester master lathe. And boy is my lathe rough. Such a shame these precision lathes are left to rot away like that. Your certainly doing these old girls justice by restoring them. Man I'm getting excited just watching your channel. On this restoration 👍👍👍👍
Yep...!!! Beautiful old machines so bad they got left in the rain for so long, and the owner treated the whole pile like scrap and now he wants gold when he finally finds someone interested.... You got yourself a lifetime supply of work .... ;)
Last year an auctioneer my brother is friends with told me about some machine shop machinery that he was supposed to be selling as part of an estate auction up here in eastern Virginia. The man had 3 machine shops on his place. Collected all types of machinery. There were several auctions of his things but they didn't get to the machinery and then a dispute started about access to the property. I got to take a fairly quick look and it was amazing what he had. Lathes and milling machines and other stuff everywhere. There was even an antique vertical engine outside which I'm not sure whether it was gas or steam, couldn't get close enough to see. I've lost sleep thinking about the stuff. A lot has probably been carted off to the scrap yard since then by scavengers and it really kills me to think about it.
It's hard to save them all, some go to scrap some as parts so others can survive. I know where there are 20 to 25 machines sitting under a shed but the guy leaves them there as displays. I wish I had room for every machine I find but I don't so I have to leave some. Some like these just presents a challenge to show what can be done.
I've spent a good share of my life trying to give new life to old machinery, NOW, I'm old, I don't think I can look forward to a new life though. Your pretty aggressive restorer, I mean this sincerely, Good Luck. If you enjoy it go for it. It'll be a challenge moving that stuff to your place.
If Im not mistaken, the thing you showed us at 5:15 is an early acetellene gas producer. Carbide and water put together caused the gas, and was used to cut and heat metal. I have one but not in such nice shape as the one pictured.
Hi Mike, Looks like you struck gold. He should pay you to move them out. Cast Iron is $100 a ton, need the shear to cut that stuff and they pay less. Wouldn't pay to haul to the scrapyard unless your on drugs.I say buy one you need. You can save on your electric bill by lighting the house with that carbide generator and run the line shaft to the house for the washing machine, your wife will love it.
Glad you saved them from the scrap yard, down here is Louisiana scrap yard won't buy it because its to much cast at best you can beg them to take them so you don't have to haul them home, I recently picked up two lathes for the same reason, the old fellow asked me to take it so the kids don't sell it, that is exactly what they said while I was loading the 1929 16" Lehann and soon as I can get to the other one 16" long bed South Bend 1918 been sitting in a business shop the old fellow told me he had worked there 45 years and never seen the lathe used, going to need a bigger show good thing I have an understanding wife.
Would be fun to clean up and paint them, such as your idea of a museum display, however, I know why they are sitting outside. They were worn to uselessness, way beyond the economic reality of rebuilding them vs replacing them. I have a good friend that dragged home an old Leblond 24 inch cone pulley lathe that had never sat outside. Not only will it not hold tenths, it won't hold .010 either. Good luck! Would be fun to see an old time line shaft shop set up.
Thanks Pete, I know this lathe, shaper or the hacksaws are worn and out dated. I would never expect them to hold tenths. It's more about not scraping them and preserving a sample of history. The next thing is by working on these old machines you lean a lot about being able to repair machines that are in good enough condition that could be saved
Yes sir many people can only see what's on the outside, If you look at the pictures good enough there is still plenty of grease and oil seeping out of some key areas that make me feel good about the lathe
that lamp might be a acetylene generator. the A/C motor cam off a combine i would bet and the last machine i think might be a key seat? good stuff keep it up.
The Backyard Machine Shop The tank with the lamp on it is definitely an acetylene generator. I had one that I inherited from my uncle's and father's welding shop in Virginia Minnesota. It was made by the Sight Feed Generator Co. You put carbide pellets in the top portion and water in the lower tank. when you wanted to use your OXY/acetylene torch you would flip the top lever up and A trap door allowed the carbide to fall into the water which produced acetylene gas. It must be kept in A heated shop or the water tank would split when it froze. After several months use you could drain the tank and use the carbide slurry for white wash. I still have the head for mine and about 50 pound's of carbide but the tank got scrapped around 40 year's ago when my father sold his farm. Good luck with the machines. You have far more ambition than I do as I approach 65 year's of age!!
Good for you to save these machines!! Look forward to some updates. Like others the Allis engine would interest me...but I think I'm on the wrong side of the USA and can even imagine the shipping on something like that!!
Looks like what is left of a bridge crane there too. I would like to have an ironworker but unless that one has a bucket of dies laying there with it it wouldn't be worth the hassle.
you have choices with dies you can buy "sleeves" to make one brand fit another machine if you have any issue finding new dies (or punches for that matter)
Very Cool Mike!!! That's an adventure I'd love to go on with a flat-bed and forklift, LOL...oh, and my wallet :) Heck, may as well just go for a boom-truck if I'm already dreaming! Aloha, Chuck
The device with glass globe on top and printing for National Cylinder Gas is an acetylene generator. It used carbide and water to generate acetylene for early day oxy-acetylene torches.
The tall intake and exhaust system is the give away, that is to get them out of the dust flow from the combine. l could be wrong but a combine engine air flow would benefit the most with the elevated system. Cheers
That gas lamp (unless it was kerosene) was probably a calcium carbide lamp. At one point in this country, calcium carbide was used pretty extensively, there was even a gas generator that was a big tank that you would throw in pounds of cc and a few gallons of water and you would have gas for your home for cooking, heating, and hot water. More rural areas had them and many farms where gas and other methods were not available or practical. They fell out of favor when propane, oil, kerosene/gasoline, and the pipelines became more accessible and more affordable. As long as it stays dry, calcium carbide is quite safe to store, and easy to stockpile, but it had other by-products not so good for humans so the transition to other methods was not a big deal.
Good luck with your projects! I sometimes wish I had the time to take on projects like these, but most of the time I'm lucky if I can just get a couple of hours every now and then to fiddle with my own small projects.
Hello . I'm a volunteer at an 1885 steam driven machine shop here in the uk all our 4 lathes 3 planers radial and pillar drilling machines slotter and power hacksaw all rusted in a field for 30 years before being returned to there proper home. Our biggest lathe has a 26 foot bed . If you check my channel at the weekend il put a video tour of or shop up. Good luck with these restorations. As Somone who participated in the restorations of our 1885 machine tools any advice or help I'd be happy to give you ( not that you need it) best of luck . Regards from the uk
A man after my own heart! I restore old firearms, so we are both involved in keeping history alive. I dislike seeing old machinery such as these going to the scrap yard, sold by the pound. If you can find a way to restore these old treasures, that doesn't lay waste to your bank account, my hat is off to you! Wish that I were able to contribute, but this cat's pension is needed to keep food in my bowl! Let us know how the restoration proceeds, please.
Brilliant, my absolute admiration for what you have done and what you are taking on. It would seem that in the US you are much more inclined to take on the restoration of your engineering heritage than we are in the UK. I shall watch with fascinated interest on the restoration, perhaps it will inspire me with my 1930 Colchester Master. Very best of luck. Kind Regards Jim Walton
Thanks for the reply and taking the time to watch, Yes I am proud of our history, and this lathe is near half as old as our country. But more importantly we seem to take for granted that the technology of the past was inferior, these older machines were engineered and built with out the aid of cad programs, calculators, and in most cases electricity. They were still able make parts that the tolerances we still have trouble achieving today.
Mike: Thanks for good work and devotion to saving these vintage pieces of American machine history. My friend Dave and I feel the same way about preserving this history I'd like to help support your work in Dave and my names. How do I donate money to your restoration work. Best wishes and highest regards, Roy in Buffalo, NY Dave in Minneapolis, MN
Thanks for watching, Just watching the videos and taking the time to leve a comment is great support, If you would like to donate you can do it through Patreon or Paypal. If you can send me an email to thebackyardmachineshop@gmail.com I cn give you the information. Again thanks for watching
What kind of money do these kind of old machines bring? Growing up we had a scrap yard and scrapped all kinds of stuff. Oh by the way first time watching one of your videos and enjoyed it. Thanks
Good luck to you! Those are awesome machines! I was hoping this was an old video so I could go into your feed and see them already restored! :) I'm subscribing! :)
First time on your channel. I have no clue where this stuff is located. I can say thay I can only dream of owning that buffalo Iron Worker. I am in Oregon and assume the freight alone would be insane. But I would put it back into service and use it for educational purposes.
Thanks and check out some of my other Videos, I am in South Georgia I am have been thinking how cool the iron worker would be to own and even cooler to restore a piece like that, the problem is time.
The Backyard Machine Shop. yeah it would be a lot of work... I plan to build my own power hammer, but owning and running a piece of history like that would be amazing... keep me in mind if you ever run across a small vintage power hammer.
GasNBullets Get ahold of the Artist's -Blacksmiths Association Of North America. abana.org The member's buy and sell all kinds of blacksmithing tool's and equipment all over the U.S. I had A long time friend that made trip hammer's (powered and unpowered). Used them in his shop and would then build A bigger and better one and sell his old one. Many local blacksmith groups affiliated with ABANA too. Good Luck!
reckon the thing you said was a lamp is from memory in new zealand could be an acetelyne generator , put tablets in water an it made it own juice , the one the guy had in NZ was a fucker , it leaked a bit & you never knew if the sodding thing was gunna blow sky high regards to you , great finding all that ol gear
I wold absolutely love a chance to work on these with you. I love machines too but dont have the funds to do anything like this. I have the ability and a bit of the knowledge required.
I have one that is almost identical- paid $40 for it some years back. They used to use them to generate acetylene on site for welding. The glass reservoir holds water, the bottom has the calcium carbide. There are adjustments for the drip rate. Alexander Smith used a similar one to generate illuminating gas for his home, so they originated at least as far back as the civil war. Thanks for saving these wonderful machines.
Haha.. seriously.. as a machinist.. and someone who owns and restores vintage equipment.. I appreciate you! MAN, YOU SHOULD SEE THE EQUIPMENT WHERE I WORK AT Shell oil.. our lathes, mills, metal workers VTL's, horizontal boring machines, keyway cutters...surfacers... grinders... the list goes on.. are pure vintage American iron in near perfect frozen time shape! It'll make a machine junky drule!
Make chips I have a small hobby machine shop myself its a lot of work keeping everything going besides taking on progects like you are finding good luck and god bless really enjoyed your vidios
