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[Bernd]

I finally found an avatar I liked. It's an aluminum hypoid bevel gear cut on a Gleason #102 Bevel Gear cutting machine.

I worked at the Gleason Works for over 30 years. I started as an apprentice. Worked my way through the shop and eventually wound up on the assembly floor doing what was known as machine runoff. This consisted of starting up a machine that had just been built. Specs were checked and gaging was done on the machines. A part was then cut, the machine painted. It was then dry cycled and then shipped. This is the short story.

The #102 machine was designed to cut the gears for the Singer Sewing Machines, when they used gears and back when women sewed. : These aluminum gears were used as a Junior Achievement project. Two gears were glued on two separate pieces of wood and a large spring was attached between the wood pieces to serve a letter holder. They had a few left over so I grab a couple before they were tossed out.

Here's two of the gears on either side of a penny for size comparison.

And one more closer up. Focuse is a bit bad, but you get the idea of size. That gear is a bout 13/16" in dia.

If your interested in a short bit of history about the Gleason Works the following link will take you there.

Gleason Works history

If any body has any questions about gearing I may be able to answer them. As far as cutting goes. The machine settings are very complicated. I usally worked with an application engineer for machine settings. I did spend about 5 years working on a majority of the machines and know what's involved in cutting gears.

regards,
Bernd

 

[Philjoe5]

Bernd,
Interesting history. I grew up in a factory town in northwestern Connecticut. As a young guy I was really discouraged from learning the machining trades so I never really had a good idea about what went on in those factories but I was often curious. Instead I went to college and became a chemist, worked in that field for 35 years, retired and now I'm learning all about the machining trade! When I go back to visit family that still lives there I look at all those empty factories and still wonder what went on in there. Unfortunately I think they're now just empty shells so that history is mostly lost.

Cheers,
Phil

 

[Bernd]

Bernd,
Interesting history. I grew up in a factory town in northwestern Connecticut. As a young guy I was really discouraged from learning the machining trades so I never really had a good idea about what went on in those factories but I was often curious. Instead I went to college and became a chemist, worked in that field for 35 years, retired and now I'm learning all about the machining trade! When I go back to visit family that still lives there I look at all those empty factories and still wonder what went on in there. Unfortunately I think they're now just empty shells so that history is mostly lost.

Cheers,
Phil

Phil,

Right off the top of my head I believe that some of the major factories in the area were firearms, clocks, and woolen mills. Also I believe that the Bridgeport company is, or should I say was, up their somewhere. Actually I got quite interested in electronics and computers toward the last years of employment. I discovered you needed to be fast paced to keep up with electronics and computers. I find the mechanical end much more interesting since it's a lot more tangible.

Regards,
Bernd

 

[Philjoe5]

Hi Bernd,
You're right. Colt firearms had plants in New Haven, Seth Thomas in Thomaston, Torrington bearings in Torrington (I worked there as a chemist for a while), Warrenton woolen Mill also in Torrington just to name a few. I too had become interested in computers early on. I admit I bought a PCjr in 1983! But now I'm more interested in mechanical things, more tangible as you say. When I lift the autofeed lever on the lathe, I don't have someone asking me "Do you really want to stop driving the carriage toward the chuck?".

Cheers,
Phil

 

[Bernd]

And speaking of first computers, mine was an Atari 800. I still have it. As a matter of fact I have all of the copmuters I have bought so far. It looks like a computer srap yard around here. :

Wasn't or isn't Pratt & Whitney up there some where to?

Bernd

 

[Philjoe5]

That's the thing about Connecticut... everything is close to everything else. Yes, Pratt and Whitney has facilities there as does Sikorsky.

I've given away or traded off all my old computers. Good thing too. I have all that much more room for machine tools. I have a nice benchtop drill press sitting on a computer desk I made back in 1983 for that old PCjr.

Cheers,
Phil