SuperDave013
01-27-2009, 01:51 PM
My grandparents owned a shop called Weiss Machine Co. that was located in Angola, In. In the early days it was 100% steam powered. That's right, to fire up the shop one had to shovel coal. My grandfather and his brother ended up building a small generator and were the first to have any power in the town. They also had the very first power boat in the lake. Powered by ..... yup a steam engine.
My uncle has restored the generator and little steam engine that powered it. He also has the original write up that the Smithsonian did on it. I have a nice framed copy that even though it's a copy is still pretty cool. It's dated in the late 1,800's. The boat is on the bottom of Lake James because it was to heavy for a team of horses to pull it out. The ice would have crushed it so I guess they just sank it.
These were taken in 1954. This was my grandfather's pride and joy lathe and he kept the west side jack shaft intact just to power this machine. The jack shafts ran under the rafters. They were powered by a steam engine and had big lether belts that came down to each machine. You can see the belt behind my grandmother.
My mom used to make baseball bats on that machine so she says.
http://www.sweetperformance.com/photo/albums/userpics/weiss_machine_co.jpg
Here is another photo showing a bunch of what looks like Warner & Swasey turret lathes. This shop pumped out parts for both world wars and though Vietnam.
http://www.sweetperformance.com/photo/albums/userpics/weiss_machine_co1.jpg
So there you go, now you know why I'm such a lathe junky.
My uncle has restored the generator and little steam engine that powered it. He also has the original write up that the Smithsonian did on it. I have a nice framed copy that even though it's a copy is still pretty cool. It's dated in the late 1,800's. The boat is on the bottom of Lake James because it was to heavy for a team of horses to pull it out. The ice would have crushed it so I guess they just sank it.
These were taken in 1954. This was my grandfather's pride and joy lathe and he kept the west side jack shaft intact just to power this machine. The jack shafts ran under the rafters. They were powered by a steam engine and had big lether belts that came down to each machine. You can see the belt behind my grandmother.
My mom used to make baseball bats on that machine so she says.
http://www.sweetperformance.com/photo/albums/userpics/weiss_machine_co.jpg
Here is another photo showing a bunch of what looks like Warner & Swasey turret lathes. This shop pumped out parts for both world wars and though Vietnam.
http://www.sweetperformance.com/photo/albums/userpics/weiss_machine_co1.jpg
So there you go, now you know why I'm such a lathe junky.