Grinding Barrels at the Colt Factory WWI

[LAH]

Ladies grinding Colt 45 barrels at the Colt Hartford, Conn plant.

[Bill E]

Neat, thanks for posting. I wonder what powered all those belts for the lathes? I've seen that set up in pictures of early factories.

[Johnny P]

Before electric motors became small enough for each individual tool a common line shaft was used to drive a bank of tools with the power coming from a large motor at one location.

[joem]

Years ago I was in a steel factory and saw what was left of the line shaft that connected leather belts to lathes and other equipment. As a up date they had installed big DC motors hung on the steel support structure and then ran leather belts to each lathe or grinder. They had a old corless (sp) steam engine in the power plant that made the DC. No wonder they went out of business using old junk equipment like that. Nothing worth buying there.

[PhillipM]

Before electric motors became small enough for each individual tool a common line shaft was used to drive a bank of tools with the power coming from a large motor at one location.

or steam engine.

[Johnny P]

That is probably Helen and Penelope in the photograph.

[Festus39]

Prior to electrical generation most gun and other factories were located on rivers to power those overhead shafts.

[ignats]

There were two cotton mills in our town both located on the river. These plants were set up in the late 1800's and they built their own hydro-electric generating system. The plants no longer exist, they were demolished and some of the materials salvaged such as used brick and large planks that made up the flooring. However, the generating system is still there and used by the local power company. The original generator was changed out about 40 years ago to a more modern set up and the sent to a museum. My father helped in changing over the Campbell Chain Company in PA from belt driven equipment to modern individual motors on each machine work station. He claimed the belt driven equipment was actually more efficient! However, OSHA and others would probably have fits using that type of set up.

BTW, the quality of the picture is great, it almost appears 3 D on my computer screen.

[PhillipM]

There were two cotton mills in our town both located on the river. These plants were set up in the late 1800's and they built their own hydro-electric generating system. The plants no longer exist, they were demolished and some of the materials salvaged such as used brick and large planks that made up the flooring. However, the generating system is still there and used by the local power company. The original generator was changed out about 40 years ago to a more modern set up and the sent to a museum. My father helped in changing over the Campbell Chain Company in PA from belt driven equipment to modern individual motors on each machine work station. He claimed the belt driven equipment was actually more efficient! However, OSHA and others would probably have fits using that type of set up.

BTW, the quality of the picture is great, it almost appears 3 D on my computer screen.

As a former motion and time study professional, the real headache with the overhead belt drive is the lack of options with machine placement because everything has to be aligned with the shaft like that. Nowadays there is a big electrical busbar overhead and they just plug into it wherever with a drop cord.

That being said, I wish I could have visited those plant and spend a few weeks studying how they laid out those plants for the belt drives.

[Johnny P]

The first gunsmith that I can remember in our town used an old lathe designed for line shaft operation. He had an electric motor mounted in the ceiling of his shop with a belt off the electric motor driving the lathe. He could have mounted the motor closer I guess, but he was very old school.

[da gimp]

Years ago I was in a steel factory and saw what was left of the line shaft that connected leather belts to lathes and other equipment. As a up date they had installed big DC motors hung on the steel support structure and then ran leather belts to each lathe or grinder. They had a old corless (sp) steam engine in the power plant that made the DC. No wonder they went out of business using old junk equipment like that. Nothing worth buying there.

Was it in the old Armco steel/Sheffield Steel plant in independence Missouri? helped on a rip out remodel there years ago...... before it finally closed.

[joem]

No, that was scullen steel in St. Louis. Now torn down and shopping center built on the site. I heard from some old timers that during WWII they built tank turrets and other assemblies there. I was told that they had one of the most powerful X Ray machines of the time. There was a lot of war time industries in and around St. Louis.