History of the milling machine 4

[GregLocock]

Anybody know when the first 3d milling machine was invented?

I suppose you could argue that a simple pedestal drill with a 2d table would qualify.

FWIW the first lathe with a proper crosshead was around 1715. I am well aware that it could be used as a milling machine.



Cheers

Greg Locock

SIGlease see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips.

 

[unclesyd]

1816 Milling machine invented to reduce hand filing of intricate shapes. (Simeon North, Harpers Ferry Armory)

"Later, in 1818, Whitney invented the first milling machine." From another source.

"A bit later in the year 1818 Eli Whitney (inventor of the cotton gin) invents a milling machine in New Haven Connecticut. Prior to the milling machine, a machinist's tools were primarily files and required a highly skilled operator. The milling machine allowed a less skilled operator to make the same quality of parts as the skilled operator with the file. This milling machine found use making rifles for the government.

The spindle of Eli Whitney's milling machine was moved from being horizontal to being vertical. This is commonly seen in the Bridgeport style knee-mill. The knee-mill is a vertical spindle milling machine that can move the workpiece in the x, y, and z directions by increments of 0.001" by turning the appropriate hand crank. " From yet another source.

1920 ca. Keller milling machine introduced: die-sinking for three-dimensional copying of template, used for large steel dies in automobile manufacturing.

The 1816 and 1920 dates are from:

http://www.asme.org/Communities/History/Resources/Machine_Tools.cf

The CNC (tape) machines started to show up around 1953

The MIT press has a book on the history of the milling machine.

It is strange that you would ask this question while I'm on a quest to get information on a Multi-axis milling machine that was used by the company I worked for in 1952. This machine was a wood milling machine made in England that was used in making patterns in a foundry. This machine had more axis than an octopus. The table had X-Y-Z, would rotate, tilt. All this motions were made by gear changes. The spindle head contained a gear head where the tool could be extended off the center line while running. If the spindle extension was set the gear head could rotate around the spindle axis while extending the tool bit. This machine generated so many wood chips that the floor around the pedestal was a grate with a vacuum pickup.

 

[gaufridus]

Greg,

Interestingly, in his book "Foundations of Mechanical Accuracy" (1970) Wayne R Moore of the Moore Special Tool Co USA shows an illustration (Page 137 figure 213) of a screw-cutting lathe dating to about 1483. Moore says that this lathe "produced screw threads out of wood and employed a true compound slide rest".

Mr. Moore also says that the first machine tools offered for sale (i.e. commercially available) were contsructed around 1800 by a Matthew Murray in England around 1800.

Mr. moore also broadly agrees with Uncle Sid re. Simeon North and Eli Whitney.

 

[GregLocock]

Excellent, thanks you for those two contributions. Wiki is now a much more accurate resource!

Cheers

Greg Locock

SIGlease see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips.

 

[gaufridus]

Uncle Sid

Have you tried researching Wadkin (of Leicester, UK) for your wood milling machine. They were a large producer of woodworking machinery. Although they no longer exist you might find some info on them.

 

[unclesyd]

gaufridus,
Thanks, you have nailed it. It was a Wadkin. I'll double check with the family of the operator to see if he visited Leicester while in the UK.

Here is a picture of similar machines to the one I was researching. The one in question had a few more options than the ones pictured in links below.

http://www.lislesurplus.com/W/Wadkins-universal-pattern-milling-machine-mill/picture-1.jpg

http://www.perilloauction.net/cgi-bin/mnlist.cgi?perillo13/18

 

[gaufridus]

Unclesyd
Wadkin DO still exist: go to

http://www.Wadkin.com.

They claim to have original drawings for all the machines they ever produced.
Good Luck

 

[unclesyd]

gaufridus,
Thanks again. I had read that Wadkin had been sold to Wenlock. They have on manual for the universal milling machine. I found another place that has other manuals for Wadkin machines.
These were quite the machines in their day and would be impressive making chips today if one could get the pattern pine that they worked with.

 

[PBroad]

Henry Maudslay born August 22, 1771, died 1831 UK mechanical engineer and "father of the machine-tool industry". His father was a mechanic in the Royal Arsenal at Woolwich and at 12 Henry was hired as a "powder monkey", filling cartridges with gun-powder. He left at 18, to work for Joseph Bramah, a pioneer in hydraulics and locks, and at 27, he was commissioned by Marc Isambard Brunel and Samuel Bentham to produce 43 machines to manufacture wooden blocks, or pulleys, for the British Admiralty. He perfected a measuring machine accurate to 0.0001 inch and in 1799-1800, developed a screw-cutting lathe, which created uniformity in screws and was key to the Industrial Revolution. (This career path seems typical of engineering training in the period before 1850)

 

[jerry1423]

As far as NC milling machines .... I believe it was Kerney and Trecker (of Milwaukee, WI) with their Milwaukeematic.
In 1991 they were sold to Giddings and Lewis.

 

[dicer]

NC machines? Bit before my entry into the work force, I think theyv'e been around since the tape controled justowriter. Late 50's or so???