Drip oilers

[Glenn Brooks]

Hello all,

Thought I would share a photo of my 1922 Dalton with drip oilers installed atop the bearing caps. Only one oiler came with the machine. However a friend of mine had the oiler on the left sitting in his shop unused for 30 years or so, so offered it for use on the Dalton. It is brand new, never used prior to this. The original oiler, on the right, is a Lunkenheimer #000. Apparently Lunkenheimer made many sized oilers. The size 000 are hard to find on eBay - they have a 1/8" NPT, most others I've seen are 1/4". So very happy to acquire this new one.

In three hours turning axles yesterday, the oil level dropped down about half way from that seen in the photos. You can see a drip of oil just falling through the sight glass at the bottom of the oiler on the left! How cool is that???

Glenn

[Russ Hanscom]

Nice!

[neanderman]

Most of the mid-sized (17x22) printing presses I used to run used oilers like this. Not all of the guys used to keep them filled, so we were constantly having to get a guy in to replace the bronze sleeve bearings. It would take him a couple of days to hand scrape the bearings - he'd install them turn the cylinder over a few terns, pull the bearing back off, scrape the high spots, then reinstall them. Rinse, repeat as needed.

I enjoyed printing, but watching him work was fascinating.

[spro]

There is more to these "drip oilers" than appears. Some like the Lukenheimer have an adjustable jet and the little lever to flood the bearing. Some have the lever and no jet adjustment. Some are wick lubrication without positive shutoff. A little thing as this, can be complicated.

[spro]

It is better to see thru the sight glass below the reservoir, the actual drips. Tailor them to bearing use.