Jeroen's build of the Stuart toolroom lathe has reminded me of some of the retirement gifts that were built where I once worked. One of the fellows that ran a turret lathe, who was very well liked by all, was given a model of his turret lathe upon retirement. The making of the lathe was a collective effort by a few of the old timers with mngt's blessing. I don't know what ever happened to it but it was a very nice model.
Another model that was built was of the plant fire brigade fire engine. One of the guys in the toolroom was on the plant fire brigade. They were a group of volunteer hourly guys with some firefighting expirience that were first responders in case of emergencies inside the plant. They were very helpful and were well trained and took the job seriously. The fellow who always drove the mini fire engine was our guy from the toolroom, it was like an unwritten law that he was the driver and the guys would tease him about it. The same guys who teased him about it built him a model that was an exact copy of the full size mini fire engine. Upon his retirement it was given to him for everyones appreciation of his service. Don't know what happened to this one either.
The best for last, our long time superintindent of the toolroom had a battle with the guys on the floor back in the early sixties over having chairs to sit on. It was a long and bitter battle that ended in a walkout but the guys ended up getting their chairs. When he retired in the early eighties the guys had built him a model of a stick man holding a sledgehammer and when you turned a crank on the base the man would smash a chair with the sledgehammer. It was very complicated and used a spring for force and once tripped it would come down on the chair with force. He was presented with his gift at his retirement party and he had no knowledge of it's construction. He was also presented with a bill to cover the construction costs so he could reemburse the company. You didn't want to get caught doing a goverment job back in those days. He took his gift with a great deal of humor. A few years ago I happened to meet this man's son, his father had passed a few years prior. I asked him about the retirement gift and his face lit up and he told me he had possession of it and it was one of his fathers favorite possessions. So I guess what I'm getting at is sometimes when you give away something that is handbuild for a purpose to someone it could last more than one lifetime.
Sorry for the length of this post but Jergoen's beautiful work just dug up some memories for me and I thought I would share them. Dave
Another model that was built was of the plant fire brigade fire engine. One of the guys in the toolroom was on the plant fire brigade. They were a group of volunteer hourly guys with some firefighting expirience that were first responders in case of emergencies inside the plant. They were very helpful and were well trained and took the job seriously. The fellow who always drove the mini fire engine was our guy from the toolroom, it was like an unwritten law that he was the driver and the guys would tease him about it. The same guys who teased him about it built him a model that was an exact copy of the full size mini fire engine. Upon his retirement it was given to him for everyones appreciation of his service. Don't know what happened to this one either.
The best for last, our long time superintindent of the toolroom had a battle with the guys on the floor back in the early sixties over having chairs to sit on. It was a long and bitter battle that ended in a walkout but the guys ended up getting their chairs. When he retired in the early eighties the guys had built him a model of a stick man holding a sledgehammer and when you turned a crank on the base the man would smash a chair with the sledgehammer. It was very complicated and used a spring for force and once tripped it would come down on the chair with force. He was presented with his gift at his retirement party and he had no knowledge of it's construction. He was also presented with a bill to cover the construction costs so he could reemburse the company. You didn't want to get caught doing a goverment job back in those days. He took his gift with a great deal of humor. A few years ago I happened to meet this man's son, his father had passed a few years prior. I asked him about the retirement gift and his face lit up and he told me he had possession of it and it was one of his fathers favorite possessions. So I guess what I'm getting at is sometimes when you give away something that is handbuild for a purpose to someone it could last more than one lifetime.
Sorry for the length of this post but Jergoen's beautiful work just dug up some memories for me and I thought I would share them. Dave
