Brown & Sharp N0. 1 Milling Machine

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H&NERY
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Brown & Sharp N0. 1 Milling Machine

Post by H&NERY »

I am looking at what I believe to be a N0.1 Brown & Sharp milling machine. I have wanted an antique line shaft driven mill for a long time. What's it worth? Looks like it has quite of bit of tooling with it and owner says all the pulleys are there with it also. What else can you tell me about it? I didn't come up with much on the internet. What years would this have been manufactured. Thanks.
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earlgo
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Re: Brown & Sharp N0. 1 Milling Machine

Post by earlgo »

Good find>
One of the first places to look is VintageMachinery.org. Here is a link to the B&S History page.
http://vintagemachinery.org/mfgIndex/de ... px?id=2185
Good luck with your search.
--earlgo
Before you do anything, you must do something else first. - Washington's principle.
RONALD
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Re: Brown & Sharp N0. 1 Milling Machine

Post by RONALD »

I'm one of the Yahoo "Owners" of the Yahoo Brown & Sharpe Group. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BrownandSharpe/

We have lots of information and photos stored on that site.

The most I paid for any of my four mills was $500; such mills are worthless to anybody but a hobbyist.

Your mill appears to be 19th Century.

I have a 1908 #1-1/2, a 1924 #1, a 1950's #2, and a Van Norman #1 Hand Miller.
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SteveM
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Re: Brown & Sharp N0. 1 Milling Machine

Post by SteveM »

It's nice that it has so much tooling. You won't need to worry about having a spindle with nothing in it.

You can mount a small milling machine head on that overarm and get vertical too.

Steve
spro
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Re: Brown & Sharp N0. 1 Milling Machine

Post by spro »

Hello. I have a machine similar to the Brown & Sharpe #1. Mine is a #1 1/2 Hendy Norton with the same type box of change wheels (gears). This is what makes these machines "universal". Those gears are arranged upon table quadrants for specific feeds to a universal type dividing head. This allows for spirals and screw milling at any angle. I think it is fair rare to find 100+ year old milling machines with the gears and attachments.
spro
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Re: Brown & Sharp N0. 1 Milling Machine

Post by spro »

I don't understand the extra long ram and fixture. I just know that the machine was driven by a line shaft with matched step pulleys. To become useable, the same matched set is either suspended above or in some cases to the side. Mine has huge motor (piece of work in itself) and matching "lay shaft" ? of stepped/cone pulley above. I don't care if people think they are obsolete. We can look at mechanisms and firearms and wonder how they did that. They did it with these machines.
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Re: Brown & Sharp N0. 1 Milling Machine

Post by spro »

This was a step into more recent steps of mass production. The more recent are obsolete whereas these fair early have a different place. If the machine could talk, it may be about escaping the scrap drives between WWI and WWII. They are and represent the cross between the 19th and 20th Century of American industrial might. Thousands, hundreds of thousands of these were obsolete 80 years ago. It was production at mass scale and they were old. Too old. Some resided in pockets deep in the bowels of shops or too high in buildings to be dealt with. Unlike other art, which they are, they remain. They can pull a cutting wheel like their yesterday of 100 years ago and like a tortoise don't know time. It is only we who can look at the heavy cast shapes. These ole people had style. They didn't have to do it that way but they did. They knew about a machine operator/machinist standing in front for hours and hours... No rough edges. Some grace in curvatures and complicated castings. Industrial and not a thought of one being in a civilian's basement or garage -100 years ago. But see I saying what has been said 20-30 years ago. Art is where you find it.
spro
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Re: Brown & Sharp N0. 1 Milling Machine

Post by spro »

Well we know where this goes. Same thing, "antique, heritage, rare and "vintage". Same thread really. We've seen it before. I'm not proposing that someone rush out and buy a 110 year old milling machine for any reason beyond the combination of form and function. There is a nugget between which keeps us interested in these which were so great when new. work to the end, gone. Shot like a crippled horse. Good riddance you worn beast. Stuff wears and newer, more powerful machines are at the doors. That is practical but appreciation develops over a span of time when the old war horse hadn't been put down yet. It doesn't happen yet, for a reason.
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H&NERY
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Re: Brown & Sharp N0. 1 Milling Machine

Post by H&NERY »

We I bought it, I'm exited to get it home. I'm in Wisconsin and it is in South Carolina. I got this fascination for line shaft driven machines so we'll see what happens.
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H&NERY
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Re: Brown & Sharp N0. 1 Milling Machine

Post by H&NERY »

Does anyone know how much this thing weighs?
spro
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Re: Brown & Sharp N0. 1 Milling Machine

Post by spro »

I looked at the Hendy No. 1 universal. The aprox weight is 2025 lbs. However, it is a newer( 1905 ish ) The weight included a heavy universal dividing head, foot stock center with raising block, center rest, universal chuck, arbors, supports for the arbor, universal chuck, swivel vise and the change gears and index plates, the two -speed countershaft and wrenches. So that is a few hundred lbs. right there. The table working surface is 33" X 8 1/2" so the machines became heavier. I would estimate 1700 lbs.
spro
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Re: Brown & Sharp N0. 1 Milling Machine

Post by spro »

I had to reread a few things and blow the picture up to get a sense of scale. 1700 lbs seems out of bounds. Some would say 1200-1500 but we don't know the thickness of the iron. It is early and the question of the OA is solved in my mind. The original was solid and ended with a "goose neck" casting for the arbor support. I hate to say it but it looks like a floor drill press column was used to replace the original. That is why it is long and that is why the plate. That should get an answer, one way or another and there is more to this.
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