Planing Machine





 For more than a century the planing machine was an important tool in the engineers armoury.

This machine was used to make flat surfaces in metal. The cutting tool stayed still while the piece to be cut was clamped to the flat table below, which moved back and forth on rollers.

The table moved slowly on the cutting stroke but the return stroke would be twice as fast to save time. The cutting tool was quite narrow but could be moved gradually sideways to shape wider surfaces.

This particular machine came to the museum from the Fulwood Foundry in Hamilton but is thought to have previously been used at the marine engineering firm of Dunsmure and Jackson, Govan.

© Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of

Scotland. Licensor www.scran.ac.uk

This photograph shows similar planing machines at work at the Tullis factory in Clydebank.

You can see the blur of the moving table on the centre machine.

AUDIO: Daniel Mackay describes this machine

Long Gap-Bed Lathe

This lathe by the famous Scottish firm of John Lang and Sons is almost 7 metres long. It was built around 1900.

A gap-bed lathe has part of the bed of the lathe cut away so that it can shape larger workpieces than usual without the lathe itself getting in the way.

A long lathe would be used for shaping long components such as drive shafts and connecting rods for steam engines. This particular lathe is believed to have been used in a textile mill in the Scottish Borders.

Langs of Johnstone were famous throughout the world for their machine tools for almost a century.

Back-Geared Screw Cutting Lathe

This lathe by Langs of Johnstone was used at Dumfin Sawmill at Glenfruin, near Loch Lomond.

A back-gear slows the speed of the lathe in relation to the speed of the belt that drives it. Reducing the speed increases the power so that the lathe can make deeper cuts.

The stepped cone allows the operator to vary the speed of the lathe by moving the drive belt to different steps on the cone. A cone of the same size, but reversed, is attached the line shaft that drives the belt.

Dumfin sawmill was leased by the Taylor family for about a century until 2012.

The mill was powered by water until 1957. The hub of the main waterwheel is on display at Summerlee near the colliery engine house where its construction can be compared to that of the flywheel of the 1810 Newcomen engine.

This engraving from an engineering manual shows the names of the different parts of a typical screw-cutting engineering lathe. Click on it to enlarge.

Generator

This generator was used to make electricity on board a Second World War submarine recovery barge.

The tall part is a small steam engine that powers two dynamos at the same time. The dynamos turn the movement from the engine into electricity.

The dynamos were built by the Sunderland Forge Engineering Company.

We know very little about the barge on which this generator was used - can you tell us any more?

Gear Hobbing Machine

This American machine is designed to cut the teeth of gear wheels.

The cutting tool that you can see is called a ‘hob’. The gear wheel into which the teeth are to be cut is fitted onto the spindle in the middle of the turntable in front of the hob.

The machine was used in the Coatbridge works of Anderson Brothers from the 1930s. One of the engineers there, Jimmy Houston, used this machine to build the miniature traction engine ‘Tigger’ which is now at Summerlee

This illustration from an engineering manual shows a similar machine cutting the teeth of a bevelled gear wheel. You can see that the hob of the machine is angled to match the angle of the teeth it is cutting.

Bradson Drilling Machine

This Bradson drill came to Summerlee Museum from Tambowie Smithy near Milngavie.

Originally powered by a drive belt from an overhead line shaft, the drill has been fitted with its own electric motor at some later stage. The motor has not been geared down so the drill bit would have run faster than needed.

The village smithy traditionally carried out a wide range of work and not just shoe-ing horses. With the arrival of the motor car many blacksmiths became country garages.

Curling Stone Machines

These unique machines were used to make curling stones at the factory of Andrew Kay of Mauchline.

Both were built by Andrew Barclay and Sons of Kilmarnock to designs supplied by James Wylie of Kays. Barclays were a well-known engineering firm and locomotive builder - they made one of the locos you can see in the colliery at Summerlee Museum.

Curling is thought to have originated in medieval Scotland and has strong connections with North Lanarkshire. In fact the earliest purpose-built curling pond is at Colzium House near Cumbernauld and Kilsyth Curling Club is the world’s earliest.



© British Geological Survey / NERC. All rights reserved.

Licensor www.scran.ac.uk

 The granite for curling stones was traditionally quarried from Ailsa Craig and today the running surfaces of the stones continue to be made from the stone. Kays have exclusive rights to the stone from Ailsa Craig: it was last quarried in 2002, giving a large enough supply to last until at least 2020.