Thread: WW2 and Melbourne

With the chronic shortage of machinery , all types of stuff was hastily manufactured , like this lathe .


Capstan Lathe - A.G Healing, circa 1942 - Museum Victoria

Originally Posted by morrisman

With the chronic shortage of machinery , all types of stuff was hastily manufactured , like this lathe .


Capstan Lathe - A.G Healing, circa 1942 - Museum Victoria

Mike
I worked a Herbert Capstan, like this one for the first 6 mths of my Apprenticeship back in 1958 I was 16 yrs old.
Totally, a marvellous machine, very accurate, & the company I worked at... AWA had a lot of them. We produced plenty.
Whilst I am writing I can still hear the factory horn sounding at 7 30 AM "precise", & all of the machines starting up at that time, perhaps 20 or 30 of them.
A great memory, with tangible jobs. A wonderful era.
I would like one of these sitting in my workshop, fully tooled.
Thanks for the photo.
regards
Bruce

I picked up a Herbert No.4 recently for not very much, will post a photo soon...

Nice to hear the Herbert is an accurate machine from an original user

Toowoomba Foundry/Southern Cross made copies of Ward turret lathes... I have a photo of one on my PC somewhere...

This one looks like it could be a Hercus . I wonder how many workers would wear a apron these days ! Mike


Photograph - Kodak Australasia Pty Ltd, Man Operating Lathe, Camera Repair Workshop, Abbotsford, Victoria, circa 1957 - Museum Victoria

Antique milling .. this guy has a waistcoat and maybe a a tie as well .

http://museumvictoria.com.au/collect...ria-circa-1900

Originally Posted by morrisman

This one looks like it could be a Hercus . I wonder how many workers would wear a apron these days ! Mike

Probably not such a stupid idea for the milling machine as it sprays hot chips all over your tracky daks and burns holes in them. Probably not good for working a lathe with an exposed lead screw.....

During metalwork class at high school , a kid in my class was polishing something with a buffing wheel on a stand. His apron became tangled in the wheel and he was pulled into the machine . We got him free but the apron was shredded .

The other thing I remember is the method we were taught for checking the soldering iron temperature - you lifted the iron up next to your cheek and felt how hot it was . Imagine the uproar today if kids did that at school ! Mike

you lifted the iron up next to your cheek and felt how hot it was . Imagine the uproar today if kids did that at school !

An EE told me, that they once looked for a new engineer. There was the guy for a few test weeks, fresh from university. At the very first day, the EE needed the soldering iron. Being the polite guy, he wanted to hand it to him.
He grabbed it at the hot end.
That was his first and his last day.


Nick

Mike
I can recall at 12 yrs of age in 1954 first year of tech high school, we heated our "Soldering Irons" which we were strictly told to call "Soldering Bits" because they were not made of iron but copper.
In Town Coal gas fired, small furnaces designed for that job.
Anyway, we were told to take them off the heat when there was a constant bright green flame showing.
At that point, they were ready for soldering. Any more & the tip was "Burnt" that is the tinned section on the end of the"Bit" was burnt off, & the whole thing had to be heated filed, dipped in "Killed Spirits" which was Zinc Chloride ZnCl2, & recoated with solder.
A "Burnt" Bit..... meant the cane.
Amazing how the fear factor brings back the memory of those days.
But it all worked.
regards
Bruce

Originally Posted by Abratool

Mike
I can recall at 12 yrs of age in 1954 first year of tech high school, we heated our "Soldering Irons" which we were strictly told to call "Soldering Bits" because they were not made of iron but copper.
In Town Coal gas fired, small furnaces designed for that job.
Anyway, we were told to take them off the heat when there was a constant bright green flame showing.
At that point, they were ready for soldering. Any more & the tip was "Burnt" that is the tinned section on the end of the"Bit" was burnt off, & the whole thing had to be heated filed, dipped in "Killed Spirits" which was Zinc Chloride ZnCl2, & recoated with solder.
A "Burnt" Bit..... meant the cane.
Amazing how the fear factor brings back the memory of those days.
But it all worked.
regards
Bruce

Yes that's it, the town gas fired furnace .... we also had brazing torches running from the coal town gas . I still have the candle stick holders I made . My metalwork teacher at Highett high was the laziest so and so, he whacked me on the bum as I was fossicking around in a drain where my work piece had fallen into . We also had him for mechanical drawing , his other nasty habit was to throw the duster at anyone who was dozing off in the desk . One time, the Highett gas works caught on fire , the black walls were visible for many years . The huge gasometers were always fascinating to a kid . Mike