Time travel to an old school machine shop job shop

[Paul Pless]

So I'm visiting Allan this weekend doing a little work on his schooner and he takes me by an old machine shop to have some holes tapped on an old manual bilge pump. This is the shop where he had the work done. We were there about 25 minutes and at shop rates Allan paid the guy $5.00 for drilling and tapping four holes. Allan tried to pay more but the guy absolutely refused to take his money.

So this shop is owned and run by two brothers, who inherited it from their father. Most of the machine tools belt driven from the drive shafts you see in the ceiling and were originally run by a steam engine at the rear of the building.

Probably the most amazing thing about this shop is that besides being a job shop, much of the machinery is set up and still perform production maintenance work on a daily basis serving the oild drilling equipment in the area surrounding Sarnia, Ontario.

[Nanoose]

Sounds like Canada, eh?

[Paul Pless]

[Thorne]

Wow.

[BobW]

Wow.

Somehow that says it all, but still isn't quite enough.

[J. Dillon]

Great to see just what an old time machine shop looked like.

And even better to know it still exists. This country was full of shops just like that at one time.

I worked in one back in1945 located in the Yorkville section of upper Manhattan NYC. The 3rd ave L was still around then and passed right by the place. We made microscopes and other hospital related scientific stuff. I just was just a teenager but they let me turn out some simple stuff. Ah the smell and sound of all that leather belts. Brings back some forgotten memories.

Thanks for posting Paul.

JD

[David G]

Amazingly tidy for a machine shop. I take some of my metal projects to a place similar. Right in downtown Portland - on the Industrial East Side. Acme Welding. Been there for a few generations. The front entry still has rings set into the curbs for tying your oxen or horses. It, however, is incredibly filthy around the edges. There's probably crud in the corners from the first day of business. They do topnotch work fast, though. And they know a ton about trailers. They've even progressed far enough into the 20th century that they know summat about that electricity stuff.


"Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin to slit throats" -- H.L. Mencken

[The Bigfella]

Excellent stuff Paul.

A mate of mine was mentioning that the lathe he was turning up the new eccentric for the water pump on my putt putt motor is 50 years old - but that gear makes it look brand new...

[TimH]

Thanks Paul

Thats really cool.

[G. Schollmeier]

There was a short time in my life that I earned wages in a line shaft driven shop very much like that one. History is cool but I can honestly say I have no fond memories of those days. These days I carry a laptop to work and the machine tools are computer controlled. My hats is off to anyone that can make a living in that shop.
Gary

[Bill R]

OMG.

That is my idea of heaven...

[Captain Blight]

I just LOVE places like that. Reminds me that true wealth is generated by people who are happy in their work; I am willing to bet that the people who work there sleep very well at night.

Whenever possible, I prefer to do business with firms that have the owner's name above the door. I am willing to bet there are some serious mustaches cultivated there, too. Men like that--like us-- understand that you can't lie to the lathe about concentricity; you can't trick the drill press into believing something is perpendicular when it's not. If something's not right, it's also out of true; it's a lie. I really believe that finds its way into a person's heart, and it shows.

It's a kind of love.

[dhic001]

What a fantastic machine shop, and all beautifully maintained too. So nice to see well built machinery, and beautiful machinery at that. With proper maintenance, that machinery will outlive all of us. Most definitely a real credit to the guys who run the place, congratulations to them.
Daniel

[goodbasil]

I second that WOW!

And the people who run these shops. True mechanics. Not just part exchangers.

[boylesboats]

That is cool Paul..
I would be heaven with a shop like that, and still don't know ditty about machineries in there..

[Concordia...41]

Well this is a great way to start the day!

Thanks Paul!

- M

[Nicholas Scheuer]

Wonderful photos and reading here!

Thanks for sharing!

Moby Nick

[Lew Barrett]

Thanks Paul.

The guy who sold us our boat, Gordon Sullivan, has a shop much like the one in your photos, except his is driven by steam. I'm told he's donating it lock stock and barrel as a living museum.

Thank you very much, Paul, and how great that you were able to visit Allan and help with the boat. Very cool, great thread.

[C. Ross]

Thanks Paul, this is a really fun thread.

[Liam English]

If we had more of these shops around making things, maybe we would be in a LOT less trouble than we are now.
Thanks for sharing.

[skuthorp]

I did my apprenticeship in the printing trade in a shop that still had most of it's machines driven by a belt and pulley system. Electric of course, but the desil motor was always ready, and rusting out the back was the original steam power. You had to be really aware where you were, not wear loose clothing and mind your head around the belts.
Thanks for the beautiful pics, they must really enjoy what thewy do, you can see the pride intheir work by the tidyness of the shop.

[Garret]

Wouldn't OSHA have a field day if that shop were in the US!

Of course, maybe they wouldn't - if all the employees said they didn't want OSHA to come in. I worked in an automotive R&D shop that had a dynomometer. OSHA rules say that the entire car has to be surrounded by a fence (chain strung along posts) to keep people a min. of 6 feet away. Ever try to adjust a distributor from 6 ft. away from the car? I'm tall - but not that tall!

Anyway - we learned that if 100% of the employees tell OSHA "No - we don't want you", then OSHA can't come in (but if even one person says yes, they can). You shoulda seen the look on the OSHA guy's face! "But I'm here to protect you!". Thanks, but....

Anyway - I ramble. Thank you so much for these pics!

Garret

[S/V Laura Ellen]

Wouldn't OSHA have a field day if that shop were in the US!

Of course, maybe they wouldn't - if all the employees said they didn't want OSHA to come in. I worked in an automotive R&D shop that had a dynomometer. OSHA rules say that the entire car has to be surrounded by a fence (chain strung along posts) to keep people a min. of 6 feet away. Ever try to adjust a distributor from 6 ft. away from the car? I'm tall - but not that tall!

Anyway - we learned that if 100% of the employees tell OSHA "No - we don't want you", then OSHA can't come in (but if even one person says yes, they can). You shoulda seen the look on the OSHA guy's face! "But I'm here to protect you!". Thanks, but....

Anyway - I ramble. Thank you so much for these pics!

Garret

The shop is owned by two older gents (brothers) and have no employees (other than the owners), an are grandfathered under the safety rules. The shop probably could not be sold as a working machine shop.

[Hughman]

I worked in such a shop in Colorado Springs, run as a one man shop by a 70 YO man. No plumbing, the seat in the outhouse was stainless steel...or so it seemed in the dead of January. It took the coal stove 6 hours to bring all that iron to a temperature comfortable to handle on a Monday.

That old guy knew a lot of stuff, but talking to his employees wasn't one of them. RIP, ol guy.

[Bill R]

Anyway - we learned that if 100% of the employees tell OSHA "No - we don't want you", then OSHA can't come in

Don't believe that to be the case anymore. If you have employees, if OSHA wants to come in, they have the right. (or so we were instructed in our OSHA 30 hour course last semester)

Regardless, that shop above is still amazing, whether it meets compliance standards or not.

[Jim Ledger]

Thanks for posting the pictures, Paul.

[Gary E]

I remember when I had a sales teritory in Philly and I called on EVERY shop in the phone book... and one looked just like that one... they had one huge motor driving the overhead line shafts...

Never called on them again...
NC milling machine? whuts that?

[Wooden Boat Fittings]

I second that WOW!

And I third it.
.

[John Smith]

My dad had assembled quite a machine shop in our basement. A band saw from pre WWI, a floor standing lathe and a drill press older than that. Plus some other items.

The drill press was very similar to, but larger than, the one in the shop on the Olympia at Independence Seaport in Philadelphia.

It saddened me deeply when I found I couldn't even give these machines away when I moved. There was a museum that would take them, but I'd have to pay to get them there, and that was out of the question.

I have some pix somewhere. If I can find them, I'll post them.

[24hacker]

Old machine shops and old hardware stores - doesn't get much better.

[Jay Greer]

Thanks for this one Paul! It takes me back to a shop run by an old German machinest I use to visit when I was a kid. The one thing I miss most today is the quiet. Just the soft slapping of the belts and the swish of the line shafts!
Jay

[Domesticated_Mr. Know It All]

Allan's been holding out on us Paul.
Thanks for the photos.
Wow!

[PeterSibley]

Thanks Paul , great photos ...I have to admit I DO like guards around my belts .

[Paul Pless]

I have to admit I DO like guards around my belts .

This drill press is the only machine in the entire shop with a safety guard surrounding the belt drive (the guard kinda looked out of place). I have to admit, living in the litigious society of the United States, that I was pretty well astounded that this shop is open to the public and that customers are pretty much welcome to wander around.

There was also one sign cautioning safety. It was greasy and yellowed and read, "Be careful where you put your fingers, they won't grow back."

[Jon Agne]

That is the COOLEST machine shop I have ever seen!

Thanks for posting.

[Garret]

There are those who say that guards give a person a false sense of security & that not having them makes a person more careful all the time.

I've noticed a # of them seem to be missing a finger or 2....