F.E. Reed & Co. (10" x 4' metal lathe) "Martha"

This is a overview of a lathe that I rescued in November 2008. I do not tend to name tools often, but this one has such "womanly" lines and to carry the 1800's theme... Martha it is~!

This lathe has a patent date of 1884 and was built by the F.E. Reed & Co. from Worcester, Mass. It was put into service sometime around 1890 in Orange, Mass. So far the lathe has been cleaned a little on the exposed metal, but otherwise it's as found. My plans are to build a proper line-shaft that is ceiling mounted and clear off the brackets mounted to the lathe right now. Once it has been set up, I will then start the restoration. The lathe will then be re-painted black as that was the original color. I also hope to find someone to help to re-pour the babbitt bearings before the restoration is done.

I have a lot of the original tooling not shown in this video. These include all the change gears, the steady rest, two face-plates, three chucks, and a Civil War era key-less chuck. Stay tuned for a video once it has been resored and I have the line-shaft & "station"
set up for the new lathe.

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• metal lathe
• antique restoration
• FE Reed worcester
• mass

[nokomisforge]

by any chance did you ever find a patten Number on the lathe. I just bought one and it is missing a lot

[firefyteremt]

@nokomisforge Nope, there are some numbers here and there, but just single digits and stuff. Good luck finding parts, there are not that many of them out there.

[Wimseys]

I possess an early 1870's : A. F. Prentice two speed foot powered lathe that once belonging to my great-grandfather, form Worcester Massachusetts. Mr. Reed went into business on his own account in 1875 at No. 54 Hermon street, Worcester Massachusetts in the firm of A. F. Prentice & Company, In 1877 he bought the interests of Albert F. Prentice company. Mr. Reed moved to Gold Street In 1883 until April 3, 1912. btw. a first-rate lathe you have there!

[firefyteremt]

@Wimseys

Thanks for the info!.. I did know where they set up shop, in fact I had tried to find the old shop a while back. I work in Worcester, so I took a drive to Hermon St, but could not be sure if the building is still there. Everything in that area did not have clear street numbers. It sounds like you have a great project as well... I would love to see photos!

[toadabc]

I have a similar lathe and am trying to find info. Where is the name stamped on yours?

[firefyteremt]

@toadabc My only stamping is on the brass plate for the gear ratio's. The newer ones had it stamped on the legs, but the early ones did not have the stamping anywhere on the casting. (From what I understand)

[nokomisforge]

@nokomisforge I found the patten number it is 649504 hope you can use it

[partsproduction]

Beautiful! I'd love to go back and spend a day in a shop in the mid 1800's, carbon steel tool bits, lard oil. Makes one appreciate modern machine tools.

[firefyteremt]

@Axbent

Me too! LOL.... One of these days I will give it a paint job! For now, it is still in use!

[Axbent]

nice lathe! Would love to restore an old machine like that!