Photo Index - Gallmeyer & Livingston Co. - "Union" hollow chisel mortiser

Machinery Photo Index

Manufactured/Badged by:
Gallmeyer & Livingston Co.
Grand Rapids, MI

Machine Specifications
Machine Class:	Wood Working Machinery
Machine Type:	Mortising Machine
Machine Size:
Submitted By:	Gary Thomas

Machine Specifications
Description/Model:	"Union" hollow chisel mortiser
Date of Manufacturer:	ca. 1920s
Serial Number:
Last Updated	11/23/2020 1:01:25 PM

Comments:

This machine was rescued from the scrap man by volunteers of the American Diner Museum in 1999. The contents of the Van Slett Sign Co. were being cleaned out of their building in Worcester, MA at that time. This machine was the property of the Worcester Lunch Car Co. in that city and they aquired it about 1930. A former employee who was with them from about 1929-1950 told me that this machine was regarded as a godsend to the employees at that time. They had been chiseling out the mortises on the diner windows and doors by hand up until then.
The machine is shown as found and has been set up primarily as a drill press, fortunately they never threw anything away at this place and just about all the parts were at or near the machine.
The Worcester Lunch Car Co. was in business from 1906-1961 and helped evolve that trade from building horse drawn lunch wagons to the streamlined diners we think of in the 1950s. The machinery and methods they used were hopelessly outdated even at that time to be competitive with other manufacturers and by the time of the company's dissolution they had been reduced to merely remodeling old diners and servicing their old product. They built 651 diners, with the last new one being delivered in 1957. Francis Van Slett, owner of the sign co., bought up almost all of WLLC's old machinery at an auction in 1961 at the breakup of WLLC. He had actually intended to carry on the tradition of building the diners in Worcester with the help of some former WLLC employees but got as far as one diner which sat unfinished in his plant for almost 40 years. Van Slett was a builder of premium signs and was known to have built a few for Las Vegas casinos.
Fortunately, the ADM was able to go into this building and rescue tons (literally) of the old hand tools, portable power tools, and machinery from WLCC, including the unfinished diner. A family member even identified a hat hanging inside this diner to be that of Charlie Gemme, the main man behind WLCC from it's inception. It looked as though he had just gone out for lunch and would be right back!
All of this machinery is crowded into storage and I will post better pics as they become accessible.
This machine, as did most G & L products, has a really neat retractable wheel on the backside. This, along with the 2 wheels on the front side make for easy mobility of these machines. I don't think HTC came up with much original!
this machine and many others, as well as anything saved from the Worcester Lunch Car Co. was lost in a fire in an old mill building where it was stored. This was in Pawtucket RI spring 2019.

Photo 1:

Comments: machine shown at Van Slett Sign Co. facility
Source: my 1999 photo

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