Photo Index - Gallmeyer & Livingston Co. - 20-inch "Union"

Machinery Photo Index

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

Machine Specifications
Machine Class:	Wood Working Machinery
Machine Type:	Band Saw
Machine Size:	20"
Submitted By:	Dave Potts

Machine Specifications
Description/Model:	20-inch "Union"
Date of Manufacturer:	1920s
Serial Number:
Last Updated	9/22/2005 12:00:00 AM

Comments:

A summer trip to San Diego took me into the lower holds of the Star of India, a three-masted sailing ship that serves as the main workshop for the San Diego Maritime Museum. The largest and most notable of their machines is a Gallmeyer & Livingston bandsaw that the museum acquired when they assumed possession of the former Ryan Aircraft Company factory site. The *legend* associated with the saw is that the saw was possibly used to build Ryan Aircraft's most famous airplane-- the Spirit of St. Louis, Charles Lindbergh's chosen airplane for the first trans-Atlantic solo flight. In fact, a faded paper tag has been affixed to the rear cover to remind museum employees of the saw's heritage.

A quick check of dates reveals that the Spirit of St. Louis was built in 1927 and many of G&L's patents and catalogs listed within the OWWM indexes are dated 1928 and later. There are several ads from some 1926 publications that do contain illustrations of this same model saw....

http://www.owwm.com/MfgIndex/image.asp?id=734
http://www.owwm.com/MfgIndex/image.asp?id=669

... so the saw's provenance may indeed be true, as Ryan Aircraft was a newly-formed company in the mid 1920s. The San Diego Maritime Museum can be found here:
http://www.sdmaritime.com/
and a very nifty 3-D tour of the ship can be viewed here:
http://www.sdmaritime.com/

Photo 1:

Comments: The largest machine aboard the Star of India
Source: In the belly of the Star of India

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Photo 2:

Comments: Rear cover and *reminder tag* of the saw's origins at Ryan Aircraft
Source: In the belly of the Star of India

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Photo 3:

Comments: Lower wheel and base casting
Source: In the belly of the Star of India

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