Ornamental and rose engine lathe on stand

Ornamental and rose engine lathe on stand, with eccentric and oval chucks and other accessories

"This lathe, made by Fieldhouse of London, is mounted on a slotted wooden bench, having a treadle and driving pulley below. The headstock consists of a casting carrying the mandrel bearings and pivoted on two pointed screws passing through sockets fitted into slots in the bench; an arm projects downward from the headstock and is connected, by an adjustable rod, with the lower end of a flat spring screwed on to the back of the bench. The bearings are of white metal, in halves, and are parallel so that the mandrel may have a certain amount of end play when required. The mandrel has a screwed nose, on which the various chucks are fitted, and behind it is a collar to take the thrust when turning. There are 32 rosettes, with different numbers of waves, one of which is fixed to the mandrel, while the others are keyed on a loose sleeve which can be rotated, relatively to the mandrel by means of a tangent screw and wheel, or by hand. The tangent screw is carried by a notched division plate, portions of which are divided into different fractions of the circle, and the pawl for this is carried by the driving pulley which is fixed to the mandrel. Thus the rosettes may be set in any position on the work and successive waves may be stepped round by fractions of the pitch of the waves, as is often required.

Some of the rosettes have waves on their side faces, so that when a suitable rubber is placed against them they give a longitudinal motion to the mandrel. and thus cause the tool to cut lines of varying depth; another adjustable spring, acting on the rear end of the mandrel, holds the rosette against the rubber. The two motions may be used together.

The lathe is fitted with a slide rest in which the transverse motion is given by a screw with a divided head, while the top slide which carries the tool is moved forward by hand, the depth of cut being regulated by an adjustable stop, when ornamenting a flat surface, but by a rubber fitted close beside the point of the tool when working on a curved surface. The rest has vertical and angular adjustments, and the tool slide may be replaced by another carrying a drilling spindle, which would be rotated by a belt from an overhead gear.

When preparing work the headstock is fixed by two screws and the mandrel is rotated rapidly by the treadle, but when ornamenting, the treadle is disconnected and the mandrel is turned at a slow speed by a hand gear fixed at the front of the bench.

The lathe is shown fitted with an elliptic chuck provided with two additional slides, moving at right angles to one another, which enables it to be used as a compound eccentric chuck also. The nose carrying the work forms part of a movable plate with 96 notches round its edge so that by the aid of a Pawl the work can be set in certain positions as when describing a series of eccentric circles round the work.

Another accessory is a straight line chuck. This consists of a vertical bedplate bolted to the front of the headstock, and a plate sliding in V-grooves in it which is moved up and down, by a partial rotation of the mandrel, by means of a chain wound on a pulley screwed on the mandrel nose. The sliding plate carries a notched division plate with a screwed nose, so that straight lines or waves may be cut across the work in any direction. The equipment includes two other special chucks, one for mounting, on a mandrel, prismatic work the faces of which are to be ornamented, and the other for mounting work with its axis at any angle with the axis of the lathe mandrel. A set of rubbers for the different rosettes and various cutting tools are exhibited, as well as specimens of the work executed.