Toolmaker

“ The lathe hand saves time because he has his tools ground, his straps, parallels, etc., ready at hand and he knows his machine. It is the writer’s experience that more time is lost by the toolmaker in hunting for these accessories than it frequently takes to do the job.
The Shaper. On the shaper the work can be divided into roughing out and following an irregular line. Let us take a blanking die for an example. The diemaker (who works at the bench) lays out the die on rough stock. Then it is roughed out to this layout. ”

“ 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. ”

“ If two or more rows of holes are to be drilled parallel, the guide block can be drilled accordingly, so that the different rows of holes can be finished at the same time. The drill guide block should be relieved slightly in the center so as to insure the ends of the block bearing against the edge of the scale. A toolmaker or machinist can drill a row of holes accurately by this simple method, in the time required to lay them out in the usual way, and even though accuracy is not necessary, it is quicker to drill holes by this method than by the one more commonly employed. ”

“ And even this labour has now been got rid of; for, by an arrangement of the gearing, the slide itself has been made self-acting, and advances with the revolution of the work in the lathe, which thus supplies the place of the workman's hand. The accuracy of the turning done by this beautiful yet simple arrangement is as mechanically perfect as work can be. The pair of steel fingers which hold the cutting tool firmly in their grasp never tire, and it moves along the metal to be cut with an accuracy and precision which the human hand, however skilled, could never equal. ”

“ 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. ”

“ The engineer's plane more resembles the turning-lathe, of which indeed it is but a modification, working up on the same principle, on flat surfaces. The tools or cutters in Clement's machine were similar to those used in the lathe, varying in like manner, but performing their work in right lines,—the tool being stationary and the work moving under it, the tool only travelling when making lateral cuts. ”

“ The real problem is how to remove chips fast from a casting or a forging, and how to make the piece smooth and true in the shortest time, and it matters but little whether the piece being worked upon is part, say, of a marine engine, a printing-press, or an automobile. For this reason, the man with the slide-rule, familiar with the science of cutting metals, who had never before seen this particular work, was able completely to distance the skilled mechanic who had made the parts of this machine his specialty for years. ”

“ It may thus readily be seen that it is the little bar of metal from which the small tool is made that needs our care and attention.
This is particularly true of the expensive milling machines, where the little saw, if not in perfect order, and not properly set, will not only do improper work, but injure the machine itself.p. 27 More lathes are ruined from using badly ground tools than from any other cause.
In the whole line of tools which the machinist must take care of daily, there is nothing as important as the lathe cutting-tool, and the knowledge which goes with it to use the proper one. ”

“ In a milling machine the cut is carried continuously from its commencement to its end, whereas in a shaping or planing machine the tool does not usually cut during the back or return stroke. In either of these machines, therefore, the operator’s skill is required as much in measuring the work, setting the tools feeds, &c., as in shaping the tools, whereas in the milling machine all the skill required lies in the chucking and adjustment of the work to the cutter, rather than in operating the machine, which may therefore be operated by comparatively unskilled labor. ”

“ There is no trade or occupation which calls forth the inventive faculty to a greater degree than the machinist's. Whether it be in the direction of making some new tool, needed in some special work, or in devising a particular movement, or mechanical expedient, the machinist must be prepared to meet the issues and decide on the best structural arrangement.
Opportunities also come daily to the workers in machine shops to a greater extent than other artisans, because inventors in every line bring inventions to them to be built and experimentally tested. ”

“ Such are among the triumphs of modern mechanical engineering, due in a great measure to the perfection of the tools by means of which all works in metal are now fashioned. These tools are themselves among the most striking results of the mechanical invention of the day. They are automata of the most perfect kind, rendering the engine and machine-maker in a great measure independent of inferior workmen. For the machine tools have no unsteady hand, are not careless nor clumsy, do not work by rule of thumb, and cannot make mistakes. ”

“ 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. ”

“ The merits of the invention being generally admitted, there was a considerable demand for the locks, and the necessity thus arose for inventing a series of original machine-tools to enable them to be manufactured in sufficient quantities to meet the demand. It is probable, indeed, that, but for the contrivance of such tools, the lock could never have come in to general use, as the skill of hand-workmen, no matter how experienced, could not have been relied upon for turning out the article with that degree of accuracy and finish in all the parts which was indispensable for its proper action. ”

“ Although the development of modern machinery is largely concerned with motor and transmitting mechanisms, it is to the working machine we must look in order to get a clear idea of the differences between machines and tools. A tool may be quite simple in form and action as a knife, a needle, a saw, a roller, a hammer, or it may embody more complex thought in its construction, more variety in its movement, and call for the play of higher human [46] skill. Such tools or implements are the hand-loom, the lathe, the potter's-wheel. To these tools man stands in a double relation. ”

“ The brickmaker’s mould, the joiner’s plane, the stonemason’s chisel, the potter’s wheel, are examples of simple tools. More elaborate are the coining press, the machine for planing iron, the drilling machine, the turning lathe, the rolling mill, the Jacquard loom. But all such tools and machines have one principle in common—a principle which casual observers may easily overlook, but one which is of the highest importance, as its application constitutes the very essence of the modern process of manufacture as distinguished from the slow and laborious mode of making things by hand. ”

“ England and America produced the modern machine tool. In the period mentioned, England developed most of the general machine tools of the present day; the boring machine, engine lathe, planer, shaper, the steam hammer and standard taps and dies. Somewhat later, but partially coincident with this, America developed the special [5] machine tool, the drop hammer, automatic lathes, the widespread commercial use of limit gauges, and the interchangeable system of manufacture. ”

“ There are hundreds of drill press hands who cannot operate a milling machine, lathe hands who know nothing of planer work, and so on. The subdivision of these occupations follows closely the advance in invention, so that employers advertising for help frequently specify not only the machine tool to be used but add the name of the firm which manufactures that particular type of machine, with the result that there are about as many kinds of machinists as there are manufacturers of machine tools. ”

“ Hundreds of others, however, as managers, superintendents, chief draftsmen and tool makers, have perhaps done more to spread throughout the country the methods and standards of accuracy which have made American machine tools what they are. ”

“ It is singular, that with the immense variety of tools set forth in the preceding chapter, how few, really, require the art of the workman to grind and sharpen. If we take the lathe, the drilling machine, as well as the shaper, planer, milling machine, and all power-driven tools, they are merely mechanism contrived to handle some small, and, apparently, inconsequential tool, which does the work on the material. ”

“ The forms of cutting tools employed in the planer, drilling machine, shaping machine, and boring machine, are all to be found among lathe tools, while the work-holding devices employed on lathe work include, substantially, very nearly all those employed on all other machines and, in addition, a great many that are peculiar to itself. ”

“ There is no economy in making men work with poor light, bad air and in a cold place.
Buying Machine Tools.—Having secured by lease or by purchase a shop, or factory suitably located your next effort will be directed toward equipping it with the proper tools and machinery.
Besides the usual machinists’ hand tools you should buy (1) a gas furnace; (2) a grinder; (3) a plain lathe; (4) a screw cutting lathe; (5) a drill press; (6) a planer; (7) a shaper; (8) perhaps a milling machine, and (9) a buffer. Several of each of these kinds of machines may be needed.
Fig. ”

“ It is true that the professionals in machine-making have done much to smooth the path of the amateur. Some of the semi-automatic and automatic machines are so wonderful that one might imagine them endowed with life and professional skill themselves. I have watched, fascinated, the work of a screw-making machine which, after turning the tiny thread, reached over a steel finger and thumb, picked up the screw, lifted it back to a new position and jammed it there for another tool to slide forward at the precisely right second and cut out the cross-nick on the screw-head. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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 specification describes the object of the invention to be the saving of manual labour, the reduction in the cost of production, and the superior character of the work executed. The tools were fixed on frames driven by machinery, some moving in a rotary direction round an upright shaft, some with the shaft horizontal like an ordinary wood-turning lathe, while in others the tools were fixed on frames sliding in stationary grooves. A wood-planing machine [5] was constructed on the principle of this invention at Woolwich Arsenal, where it still continues in efficient use. ”

“ We are able to machine the earth in much the same way as a piece of metal is machined in the machine shop. In fact, the drill, [252] the circular saw, the slotter, and even the milling machine have their counterpart in the excavating machinery of to-day. Of course we cannot expect to find the counterpart of such machines as the lathe, boring mill, and planer, in which the work revolves against the tool, because this planet of ours is rather too big a piece of stock to be placed between lathe centers or to be bolted to a planer bed. ”