Photo Index - W. W. Carey / Carey & Harris - Large woodturning lathe with wooden ways

Machinery Photo Index

Manufactured/Badged by:
W. W. Carey / Carey & Harris
Lowell, MA

Machine Specifications
Machine Class:	Wood Working Machinery
Machine Type:	Lathe, Wood
Machine Size:	12 ft ways, 9 ft between centers, 12 in swing
Submitted By:	Carl Strathmeyer

Machine Specifications
Description/Model:	Large woodturning lathe with wooden ways
Date of Manufacturer:	Circa late 1800s?
Serial Number:
Last Updated	5/3/2005 8:09:20 AM

Comments:

Acquired this lathe around 1985 from an auction in Hillsboro NH by Richard Crane. Reported to be from the estate of a Newburyport, MA shop teacher and boat builder. The sale included two heavy laminated fir beams 4-1/4 in by 11 in with maple top and bottom plates, headstock, tailstock, tool rest, steady rest, two screw-center faceplates, a nice self-centering two-jaw chuck, a 1/2 in mandrel (for mounting grindstones to sharpen turning tools, I presume), a shaper-like head for turning door frame rosettes, and a complete set of drive and dead centers.

The ways were painted over with gray enamel and stood on a pretty useless set of posts. I stripped and re-oiled them and built the heavy maple legs and back table you see in the photo. Headstock and tailstock spindles are 1-1/4 in by 10 tpi. Centers are a non-standard (non-Morse) taper that I don't have the tools to measure. There are no manufacturer's markings that I can see on any of the parts. The original markings, if any, are probably under the many coats of gray enamel that cover everything. The bearings are babbitt metal and run nicely with no excess play. The flat-belt stepped pulley appears to be laminated mahogany. The electric motor is an old Sears 1/2 hp 110v/220v single-phase unit, obviously a pre-WWII conversion. I use it in a 120v configuration. The starter circuit doesn't have much torque, so I give the spindle a quick spin before turning on the power.

Since I purchased it, the lathe has produced maple posts for a 7ft 4-poster bed, many spindles for a cradle, and innumerable tool handles and drawer pulls. Very smooth-running and solid machine. (Good thing, too. When I was sloppy centering one of the bedposts (nearly 10 board feet of maple each) the out-of-balance post had the whole lathe and the barn it was sitting in jumping up and down!)

Just set it up again after a few years of storage. It needs a new leather belt, but that's no problem since Hudson Belting in Worcester, MA still makes them up to order.

Photos of faceplates, chucks, drive and dead centers also available if anyone is curious.

Thank you to David Lamb (who owned a similar machine) for the manufacturer identification. He reports that another similar machine is in the Strawberry Banke museum in Portsmouth, NH.

Does anyone have a more accurate dating for my machine?

Photo 1:

Comments: Complete lathe
Source: Photo by owner

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Photo 2:

Comments: Headstock
Source: Photo by owner

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Photo 3:

Comments: Tailstock
Source: Photo by owner

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