The Cash Engineering Company - Melbourne - Australia

[kwijibo99]

The subject of milling machines manufactured in Melbourne by the Cash Engineering Company came up in another thread and rather than derail the original I thought it best to post what information I have in a new thread and hopefully others can add to it over time.

In 2009 I purchased my first mill which happened to be a Cash Plain Horizontal model and at the time I did a bit of research into the company including contacting the grandson of the founder, a bloke by the name of Tony Kitchener, who still ran the business. The following is what I managed to put together based on information supplied by Tony and gathered from old newspapers on the NLA’s Trove internet archive:

The Cash Engineering Company is a family business started in 1938 originally operating from 29 Crossley St Melbourne.
Originally a manufacturer of machine tools, with the onset of WWII the company was tasked with the manufacture of air compressors, a field they continue to be world leaders in today.
The company produced milling machines, tool & cutter grinders, dividing heads, machine vices, automatic compressed air units, refrigeration compressors and hydraulic and air presses.
By the end of 1946 they were also marketing “The Cash Refrigerator”.
In 1947 the company purchased a property at 249a Bridge Rd Richmond which became their base of operations from then on.
By 1949 a forced draught electric clothes dryer was available and by 1955 their product line also included garage hoists and air and water dispensers.

Advertisement from December 1945
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Advertisement from October 1946
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Advertisement from December 1946
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Advertisement from February 1947
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Advertisement from July 1955
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At the time I was communicating with the company they no longer manufactured themselves but derived income from the licencing of their air compressor technology, for which they hold a number of patents, to international manufacturers. They also had a niche market in wine fridges operating on the Peltier principal.

The following are links to a couple of very interesting articles that give insight to both the contemporary company and its history:
Inside Business - 18/07/2004: Inventors' streak keeps manufacturer afloat (http://www.abc.net.au/insidebusiness/content/2004/s1156433.htm)
https://www.ipaustralia.gov.au/tools-resources/case-studies/patents-worth-investing

This is a link to their Peltier wine cabinets:
Kitchener Wine Cabinets (http://www.kitchenerwinecabinets.com.au/)

The specs of my Cash Plain Horizontal Milling Machine were as follows:
Belt driven horizontal MT4 spindle.
Vertical head (rotatable 90 degrees either direction) MT3 spindle with additional outrigger support for vertical head.
4 Spindle speeds approximately 50 to 200 RPM horizontal and 150 to 600 RPM vertical (set by adjusting drive belt to different pulleys)
Power feed X axis (4 speeds per spindle speed) with auto cut out. Feed driven by belt from main spindle)
Table: 8"x 23.75" (200mm x 600mm) with 14mm T slots.
X Axis Travel: 17" (430mm)
Y Axis Travel: 6" (150mm)
Z Axis Horizontal mode: 12" (300mm) max from table to centre of arbour.
Z Axis Vertical mode: 7" (175mm) max from table to spindle nose.
Imperial lead screws (5TPI or 0.2" per rotation)with 0.001" graduated zero settable collars on Y & Z axis.
1.5hp 750RPM 8 pole 3 phase main motor
Coolant pump and tank (with seperate 3 phase motor)
Weight around 700kg.

I sold my mill to a bloke in WA in 2012 but below are some photos of the old girl, note the belt guard is not original:

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A Cash 6" machine Vice (not mine)
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Cheers,
Greg.

[jhovel]

I just received an email from Tony Kitchener, inviting me to visit him at the new factory in Spotswood and look at his original Cash Mill and photos of thee old works and other documents.
I intend to do so shortly and take lots of photos of course.
I'll post the results here instead of the grinder thread.

[morrisman]

Thanks for all of that great info.

I had a look at the Cash mill here and it has the same badge on it . I wonder if they changed the address on the badge after they moved to Richmond ? BTW the badge had a red background on it.

Thread hijack. Another business I would like to learn about is Purcell in Sydney. I have two of their Visby lathes . Apparently the original company founder was still around in the 1960's . They are not the prettiest lathe around, the castings are rough as but they are a rugged simple design .

[.RC.]

You seem to see heaps of Purcell lathes about. Even ones like I have I have seen probably five or six examples for sale.

Never seen one of the super heavy model they made though.

[jhovel]

Well did I have an interesting day!
I got a response from Tony Kitchener this morning, called him at lunchtime and visited him in the new factory this afternoon!
He is one of the nicest Managing Directors you could meet! He spent around an hour and a half with me, showing me all the photos he had of the family business, allowed me to photograph them and showed me around the factory, which houses some of the 'gems' from the factory in Richmond. This is still a family business, with brother, sister, nephews and others involved.
Here are a selection of the photos:
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That's a very young Mrs Kitchener operating one of the Cash milling machines in the factory in the 40s or 50s. Don't you love the heals on a machinist? The other person is Tony's uncle.

[jhovel]

And here a few vintage brochures - Tony also gave me some originals to keep, as well as as two really interesting engineering books: one written by his dad on training machinists, the other written by his uncle (in one of the photos above) on the design of gas producers for motor vehicles. The latter book saved the family company at one point following the depression!
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[jhovel]

And then Tony showed me the collection of other machines, tools and appliances Cash made over the years:
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His mother (still alive) is modelling the new fridge in 1946!
Each photo has a great story to go with it, of course. The developments of these items and how or why that diversification came about are fascinating stories of our Melbourne history.

The best thing is, Tony wants to join the forum and comment himself!

His forte is compressor and associated technology. In that field he is an active international consulting engineer.

But he has a great knowledge on machines, machine tools, prototyping and industrial development, as well as deep interests in sustainability.

The company has just installed a new Mazak machining centre to make protopyes for R & D. So he's clearly in touch with latest developments as well.
I for one look forward to his involvement in our forum and look forward to many stories of engeering in Melbourne and Australia from him!

[jhovel]

One last one that tickled my fancy:
When they designed the fridge, they modelled it first, just like engineers do today - just not with 3D software, but with wood, glue sandpaper and paint:
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[.RC.]

Very interestign Joe. I remember pulling a consumer grade refrigerator compressor out of it's sealed unit many years ago. It was probably in the 1970's vintage and I was surprised how simple the compressor design was. Mostly simple steel stampings. But as it was fully sealed and the fridge was long since dead there was little wear in the compressor parts themselves.

[jhovel]

Tony was telling me that the fridges were not sealed units back then, and electric motors were impossible to get at the time. So they made their own... as you do if you can...
He had one to show me:
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[morrisman]

Amazing Joe .

I wonder if they had a foundry ? Or did they have the castings done by another company ?

Gas producers were in use during WW2, when petrol rationing was in force. Many companies made them, Nasco GMH , HG Palmer, the list is almost endless. You would end up with a black sooty face if the thing exploded as you were adjusting it.

[kwijibo99]

It's interesting that the version of vertical head that was on my old mill doesn't seem to appear in any of the photos. I'm pretty certain it was original to the machine and not an adaption as the paint was a perfect match and the fit with the horizontal spindle and outrigger support was spot on.

I wonder if the vertical head in the first group of photos was a high speed version as the spindle driven one was still pretty slow even with the up gearing.

It's difficult to be sure but is that scraping on the little T&C grinder? The grinder I saw was much more substantial than the one pictured, more like a Cincinnati clone and had "Cash Engineering No1 Tool and Cutter Grinder" cast into the door in the base. I've had a look but can't find the pictures I thought I had.

Interesting to note the little Commando motor on the compressor, these were made by John Bunkle in North Melbourne or Fitzroy. A mate of mine has pretty much the same engine on a drag saw.

You've got to love the Volksey engine compressor, I thought perhaps two cylinders remained as the engine and two were modified to be the compressor but looks like there are still four leads on the dizzy so perhaps not.

Was there a story behind the photo of the dump truck?

Thanks for posting all this Joe and hopefully Tony will join in with more info about one of the many unsung Austrailian success stories.
Cheers,
Greg.

[jhovel]

I believe the major castings for the milling machines were cast in Ballarat - Tony told me the company name, but I don't recall who it was.
Tony emailed m to say he read this thread ad was happy we preserved the company heritage here, but I don't know if he registered to be able to contribute.
Tony?

[myworkshop97]

Hi Guys, really good pics and comments.
I have recently got my hands on a "Defiant" horizontal Milling Machine from Thomas Herbert & Co, Clarance St, Sydney. It is a floor model no 80. I don't think they made them as from the very little I can source they were mainly a distributor for Mars machine Tools etc. Has anyone heard of them or can supply me with info as this is a full restoration build and it would be nice to start with info or photos. I will try to attach a couple of photos but no guarantees as not real flash on the laptop. Cheers in advance, Gordon372659372660372661372662

[KBs PensNmore]

Thanks for the great information on the Cash factory history, wonder if Tony has thought of writing a book about the history of the Cash Company?
Kryn

[jhovel]

Hi Kryn,
I doubt that he be interested in doing that, but you never know. I might ask him....

As mentioned in another thread, I got hold of a Cash milling vice - not unlike the one in the original post by Greg - thanks Ralph for finding the ad for it and alerting me!
All I have to do now is finding a way to get it fro Bowral in NSW to get it here to Central Victoria....

[morrisman]

CASH mill

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/MILLING-MACHINE/264452830942?hash=item3d929df6de%3Ag%3Ar4UAAOSwIKddbxIu&LH_ItemCondition=3000