Photo Index - Atlantic Works Inc. - Single Spindle Shaper

Machinery Photo Index

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

Machine Specifications
Machine Class:	Wood Working Machinery
Machine Type:	Shaper, Wood
Machine Size:	1 1/8" Artbor
Submitted By:	Keith Rucker

Machine Specifications
Description/Model:	Single Spindle Shaper
Date of Manufacturer:	Early 1900's
Serial Number:	none
Last Updated	4/12/2006 12:00:00 AM

Comments:

This shaper is set up and running at the Georgia Agrirama Living History Center in Tifton, GA. The shaper itself was donated to the museum by OWWM'er Arthur Fuege in December of 2005. After being "ruckered" from NJ to Tifton, GA, I received the machine in early Jan. 2006, when I did a fairly quick restoration of the machine. Since it was really in pretty good shape, all that was necessary was to strip the old peeling paint off and re-paint her. The babbitt bearings on the machine were in great shape so nothing had to be done to them.

Since the machine was going to a museum where it was going to be set back up as it originally was, running from an overhead line shaft and powered from flat belts, the next big challenge was to find a proper shaper countershaft for the machine. This time fellow OWWM'er Ben Rock of Pleasant St. Machinery came to the rescue when he donated and original double spindle countershaft for a shaper. While not original to the shaper being restored, it would work fine with a few slight modifications. Again, we had to get the shaft moved from near Chicago all the way to south Georgia but by a stroke of good luck, fellow OWWM'er Chris "Smitty" Smith just happened to be stopping by Ben's place about two weeks before hauling some machinery down south on a trip that would bring him right through Tifton! Smitty offered to "rucker" the machine down to the museum! What amazing place OWWM is!

Finally, in mid April, 2006, I was able to take a few days off of work, one of which I spent at the museum helping to install the shaper in the "Variety Works" building - a fully operational woodworking shop just like you would have seen around 1900 or so. Thanks to the many kind people in this group, the museum has one more piece of woodworking machinery that they can show off to visitors explaining how our country was built with machinery that was made to last more than a lifetime.

By the way, while this shaper is clearly marked Atlantic Works, old catalog pictures have been found showing this exact same machine in several old L. Power catalogs. The oldest one we have seen was from 1897 and the latest one from about 1920. Since L. Power and Atlantic were both Philadelphia companies, they probably had some kind of relationship. Several other L. Power machines have been found with Atlantic name plates on them so this is not the first one to come to the surface.

Photo 1:

Comments: The restored shaper
Source: Keith Rucker's Cannon Rebel XT

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Photo 2:

Comments: Rear view showing the countershaft
Source: Keith Rucker's Cannon Rebel XT

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Photo 3:

Comments: Another rear view
Source: Keith Rucker's Cannon Rebel XT

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