Toolbox

“ In the manufacture of the tools special appliances are used and will be referred to presently. The workmen are encouraged to use only tools in sound condition. Each machine-man in the shops has ten checks, and may borrow from the store a corresponding number of tools, but these must be returned as soon as possible for overhaul and re-grinding. The bonus system further induces the men to ensure that their tools are in good condition.
The tool department is separate from the main structure, and in it all jigs, templates, and gauges, as well as tools, are constructed. ”

“ Tool Holders for Planing Machines.—The advantages of tool holders for planing machines are equally as great as those already described for lathes, but as applied to planing machines there is the additional advantage that the clearance necessary on the tool is less variable for planer work than for lathe work, because in lathe work the diameter of the work as well as the rate of tool feed affects the tool clearance, whereas in planer work the tool feed is put on before the tool begins its cutting action ”

“ A tool rack that is serviceable for almost any kind of a tool may be made by placing rows of different-size screw eyes on a wall close to the workbench, so that files, chisels, pliers and other tools, and the handles of hammers can be slipped through the eyes.
A place for every tool saves time, and besides, when the tools are hung up separately, they are less likely to be damaged, than when kept together on the work-bench. ”

“ A method which makes it unnecessary to loosen the regular center, or to use a special one, is to provide clearance for the tool-point by grinding it to an angle of approximately forty-five degrees, as shown at C. If the tool is not set too high, it can then be fed right up to the lathe center and the end squared without difficulty. As for the special center A, the use of special tools and appliances should always be avoided unless they effect a saving in time or their use makes it possible to accomplish the same end with less work. ”

“ A tool is usually more simple than a machine; it is generally used with the hand, whilst a machine is frequently moved by animal or steam power. The simpler machines are often merely one or more tools placed in a frame, and acted on by a moving power. In pointing out the advantages of tools, we shall commence with some of the simplest.
(11.) To arrange twenty thousand needles thrown promiscuously into a box, mixed and entangled in every possible direction, in such a form that they shall be all parallel to each other, would, at first sight, appear a most tedious occupation ”

“ If under certain conditions the hand tool does not operate to advantage, these conditions may be varied by a simple movement of the hands, altering the height of the tool to the work, the angle of the cutting edges to the work, or the rate of feed, as the case may be, and instantly perceiving the effects; whereas with tools held by mechanical means, such alterations would involve the expenditure of considerable time in loosening, packing, and fastening the tool, and adjusting it to position. ”

“ To prevent any change of position, it is good practice, especially when roughing, to clamp the tool square with the surface being turned, or in other words, at right angles to its direction of movement. Occasionally, however, there is a decided advantage in having [62] the tool set at an angle. For example, if it is held about as shown at B, when turning the flange casting C, the surfaces s and s1 can be finished without changing the tool's position. Cylindrical and radial surfaces are often turned in this way in order to avoid shifting the tool, especially when machining parts in quantity. ”

“ The most necessary tool in a machine shop is a file. It is one of the neglected tools, because the ordinary boy, or workman, sees nothing in it but a strip or a bar with a lot of cross grooves and edges, and he concludes that the only thing necessary is to rub it across a piece of metal until he has worn it down sufficiently for the purpose.
The First Test.—The fact is, the file is so familiar a tool, that it breeds contempt, like many other things closely associated in life. ”

“ None but a bad workman ever uses dull tools. It is easier to avoid running your tools against a nail than it is to grind out the gaps the nail will make.”
“But where are the tools? I don’t see any,” asked Tom Ridley.
“They are in these boxes, and we will now open them. I will put two of you to each box, for there are just six of these large boxes. Dory and Thad Glovering may begin with the first one: the others will look on, and see how it is done. You may learn how to do it, or how not to do it.”
The carpenter handed Dory and Thad a wooden mallet, a chisel, and a hatchet. ”

“ As the sizes of planing machines increase, they are given increased tool-carrying heads; thus, Fig. 1562 represents a class in which two sliding heads are used, so that two cutting tools may operate simultaneously. Each head, however, is capable of independent operation; hence, one tool may be actuated automatically along the cross slide to plane the surfaces of the work, while the other may be used to carry a cut down the sides of the work, or one tool may take the roughing and the other follow with the finishing cut, thus doubling the capacity of the machine. ”

“ The workman never left his machine. He was provided with a number of tools, set in compartments in a box. When a tool became dull he took it out, set it in the box upside down, and substituted another. A boy went regularly through the shop, took up all the upside-down tools, ground them, and brought them back. The grindstones were provided with tool-holders and a compound screw feed, by which the tools were always presented to the stone at the same desired angle, and were prevented from wearing out the stone by running into grooves or following soft spots. ”

“ The tool board is not an absolute necessity but it is a great convenience. To make it saw off two boards 4 feet long, nail them together with a couple of strips of wood—these are called cleats—and round off one end as shown in Fig. 5. Screw the tool board to the back of the bench and you are all ready to make things in wood.
Fig. 7a. a carpenter’s tool chest
How to Make a Tool Chest. —Either birch or chestnut are good woods to make your tool chest of. Make the box, that is the lower part of the chest, and the lid for it of 3⁄4 inch thick stuff ”

“ In the practice of many tool makers in the Eastern States the tool is ground to a point a, Fig. 932, that is, ground sharp and merely rounded off with an oil-stone. This may serve when the lathe has an exceedingly fine feed, and the strain being in that case very slight the tool point may be made to stand well above the level of the body of the steel, as in the figure, and thus save forging; but this is a slow method of procedure, and produces no better work than a tool which is rounded at the point, and therefore capable of producing smoother work with a much coarser feed. ”

“ For many years the Pratt & Whitney tool-room lathes were the standard for the country. Later their leadership was materially affected by the Hendey Machine Company of Torrington, Conn., who built a high grade tool-room lathe having the change-gear box which has since been applied to nearly all types of machine tools. The change-gear box is one of the important contributions to tool building made in recent years. ”

“ But in tools driven by power, and therefore accurately guided in their line of motion, it is preferable to let the bottom face clear the work surface, save at the extreme cutting edge. The front face of the wedge or tool is that which mainly determines its keenness, as may be seen from Fig. 2180, in which we have the wedge or tool differently placed with relation to the work, that in position a obviously being the keenest and less liable to break from the strain of the cutting process. ”

“ Tool-holding Devices.—Perhaps no part of a lathe is found in American practice with so many different forms of construction as the device for holding the cutting tool. The requirements for a lathe to be used on light work and where frequent changes in the position of the tool are necessary, are quite different from those for a lathe intended to take as heavy a cut as the lathe will properly drive, and wherein tools having the cutting edge at times standing a long way out from the tool post (as sometimes occurs in the use of boring tools) . ”

“ These tools can be used for a wide variety of ordinary turning operations. When a great many duplicate parts are to be machined, special tool equipment can often be used to advantage, but as the form of this equipment depends upon the character of the work, only standard tools have been shown in this illustration. The tool shown at A is a right-hand, roughing tool, and a left-hand tool of the same type is shown at B. Tool C is an offset or bent, left-hand round nose for roughing, and D is a right-hand offset roughing tool. ”

“ Whether one or two set-screws are used, the boring tool may be forged from a single bar of octagon steel, which can be seated in a piece like that shown at e in Fig. 610, which is grooved so as to receive and hold the tool. As is well known, boring tools are the most troublesome both to forge and to adjust in the lathe, and, as the result, a light tool is often used because no other is at hand and it is costly to make a new one. ”

“ In single-pointed tools, such as are used upon lathe work, this has but little significance, because it is the work of but a minute or two to grind up the tool to a full point again, but in taps and solid dies, or in chasers in heads (as in some bolt-cutting machines) it is highly important, because it impairs the fit of the threads, and it is difficult to bring the tools to shape after they are once worn. ”

“ The work stands without a rival. It is a complete practical treatise on the art of American Tool Making and system of interchangeable manufacturing as carried on to-day in the United States. In it are described and illustrated all of the different types and classes of small tools, fixtures, devices, and special appliances which are in general use in all machine manufacturing and metal working establishments where economy, capacity, and interchangeability in the production of machined metal parts are imperative. ”

“ Other mass-produced edge tools—axes, adzes, braces and bits, augers, saws, and chisels—illustrated in the trade literature of the toolmakers became, as had the iron-bodied bench plane, standard forms. In the last quarter of the 19th century the tool catalogue replaced Moxon, Duhamel, Diderot, and the builders' manuals as the primary source for the study and identification of hand tools. The Centennial had called attention to the superiority of certain American tools and toolmakers. ”

“ Apart from these considerations, however, there is the fact that filing work in the lathe is a very slow operation, and therefore inapplicable to large work; and furthermore, on large work the surface is not needed to be so smooth as in small work; for example, tool feed marks 1⁄1000 inch deep would upon work of 1⁄2 inch diameter leave a surface appearing very uneven, and the wearing away of those ridges or marks would destroy the fit of the piece ”

“ These tools are all made from the best quality of steel, and ready for use. The handle is made from Rosewood. The chuck is polished steel, nickeled, and will hold any tool from a pin to a large mill file. The Tool Holder is an actual necessity in every family, as it can be used for so many different repairs. Price $1.00. Postage and packing 10 cents.
BENCH VISE. Given for new subscriptions amounting to $1.00.
This tool will be very useful in every home. In making repairs about the house it will prove of great service many times. It can be adjusted to any table. The jaws will open 11⁄2 inches. ”

“ Having the room you have a place for your first tool, if it is necessary to collect them one at a time, and it is much better to do that than to buy a cheap tool-chest. When you have one tool make a place for it and keep it in its place. A hammer, a saw, a hatchet, a sharp knife, a screw-driver, a gimlet, and a rule are the first tools you will need. ”

“ Thomas contributed considerable capital, and a new shop and a foundry were built. At the same time they installed a planer 10 feet wide by 8 feet high, to plane work 45 feet long, a notable tool for that day.
After a few years of struggle, the plant began to grow [255] rapidly and at one time was the largest of its kind in the country. Bement and Sellers were among the first to concentrate wholly on tool building. They confined themselves to work of the highest quality. ”

“ Nothing is more remarkable, and yet less unexpected, than the perfect identity of things manufactured by the same tool. If the top of a circular box is to be made to fit over the lower part, it may be done in the lathe by gradually advancing the tool of the sliding-rest ”

“ The "Odd Job" Tool.—A most useful special tool, which combines in its make-up a level, plumb try-square, miter-square, bevel, scratch awl, depth gage, marking gage, miter gage, beam compass, and a one-foot rule. To the boy who wishes to economize in the purchase of tools this is an article which should be obtained.
Fig. 270. "Odd Job" Tool.
Figure 270 shows the simplicity of the tool, and how it is applied in use.
Bit Braces.—These tools are now made with so [Pg 175] many improved features that there is really no excuse for getting poor tools. ”