Photo Index - Atlantic Works Inc. - 16" Jointer

Machinery Photo Index

Manufactured/Badged by:
Atlantic Works Inc.
Philadelphia, PA

Machine Specifications
Machine Class:	Wood Working Machinery
Machine Type:	Jointer
Machine Size:	16"
Submitted By:	Mike Levine

Machine Specifications
Description/Model:	16" Jointer
Date of Manufacturer:	1892 - 1930
Serial Number:
Last Updated	9/18/2005 8:42:15 PM

Comments:

This evening, the first piece of truly old iron rolled into my new workshop. The fact that the workshop is still in the process of construction did not deter me. I have a very understanding contractor.

What arrived this evening was a 16 Atlantic Works jointer in apparently excellent condition. It has a round cutter head with segmented tapered wedges which lock two 1/8 x 1 x 16 blades. It has nice tight Babbitt bearings. All of the castings appear intact, the fence is in perfect shape, and it has a Jones guard which is an odd telescoping affair, Ive never seen before. That is most likely for good reason

Originally a line-shaft machine it now has a 3 hp PowrKraft RI motor which I take to be from the 60s. (It looks just like a Wagner, and probably is.) A 30 A three phase breaker in a huge can has been set up as a switch. Both motor and breaker are mounted to the machine in a sturdy, but inelegant manner. I plan to keep the motor and replace the breaker with a magnetic control.

There is some surface rust, but not a lot, under a goodly coating of sawdust it would appear that the original paint is almost completely intact. Everything that is supposed to seems to move freely. This machine has steel lips for the tables and these are nicked in one or two places, but that is the extent of physical damage. The original planer marks are prominent and evenly worn on all parts of both tables.

Atlantic Works Incpd is cast onto a large plaque in the front of the machine. There is a patent date on the rabbetting ledge. A patent search reveals that the patent was for a planing machine and assigned to L. Power, another Philadelphia manufacturer. I gather they were an OEM supplier of this machine to Atlantic Works. My jointer is a dead ringer for the L. Power model in catalog 20 (1928) which has been posted to the OWWM site. Im dying to remove the plaque and see if any trace of an L. Power logo can be seen.

The guy I bought it from is a retired NASA engineer who now spends his time restoring carousel horses and exotic antique luxury cars. The jointer was stored in a large steel building owned by a wealthy client. There was a nice wood shop, a very well equipped machine shop, and a full size commercial spray booth of the sort you would see in an auto body shop. He said he had restored some Duesenbergs for the owner of the building. When I told him I had a lot of fun building a Hubley metal model of a Duesenberg as a kid he asked if I would like to see the model for the model

I was instantly 12 years old again. We drove to over to the clients 14,000 s.f. home and stopped at a gorgeous detached garage which was considerably larger and nicer than my home. Two Duesenbergs were parked on display. One was the large touring car I recognized, the other was a coupe which was apparently the first car Duesenberg ever put on display. This vehicle had won a national competition in 2002.

He described his restoration from near wrecks to their present state of perfection. Truly amazing. Im really excited about the jointer, but the cars really made the day.

One last detail to report: as the Jointer weighs in at 1300 lbs without the electrics I hired a roll-back wrecker. This is definitely the way to go for a guy who doesnt own a trailer. It cost half again what I paid for the machine, but it was 20 minutes on and 20 minutes off with no fuss. We tied on a tarp in honor of hurricane Ophelia which was supposed to be arriving later that day. This was all that was required to insure a dry trip.

Addendum: I removed the Cast Plaque which said Atlantic works and beneath it was the L. Power & Co. logo in all its glory. The plaque was cast with a lip at the back which permitted it to clear the Logo cast into the base. I guess this saved the trouble of grinding that off. This approach would have permitted L. Power to maintain one stock of machines it could sell under either name. Now I'm really curious about the relationship between the two companies. I've updated a photo to show both nameplates.

Photo 1:

Comments: close-up of Cast Logo
Source: M. Levine, 2005

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Photo 2:

Comments: Atlantic Works Jointer with Jones Guard
Source: M. Levine, 2005

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Photo 3:

Comments: Loading on a roll-back
Source: M. Levine, 2005

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