Thread: Mystery T Robinson and Son, Rochdale Machine

I looked through my Robinson books but didn't spot what its off. There are a few thing that roughly almost resemble it but none are the same . Like this below.
I got this off the Canadian forum . Matty's post I think .

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Robinson also mare railway stuff as well as some farm machinery and maybe more.
That cog for a chain on the front takes it even further away than some of the woodworking things I saw.
Matty would be the best to solve this.
Interesting thread on Robinson C forum here. The History of Thomas Robinson & Son -

Canadian Woodworking and Home Improvement Forum

Originally Posted by auscab

I looked through my Robinson books but didn't spot what its off. There are a few thing that roughly almost resemble it but none are the same...

...That cog for a chain on the front takes it even further away than some of the woodworking things I saw...

I spent far to long yesterday, looking through old Robinson catalogues online - and also came up empty handed.

The two edges of the 'wing' (marked in green) appear to be machined as dovetails, and the horizontal surfaces immediately inboard also look machined. I would say that something was mounted on here and slid closer toward (or further from) the bed - activated by means of the threaded shaft. But why a chain cog instead of a handwheel, who knows?

Robinson.jpg

The bed itself might be a lathe bed with the headstock mounted on the raised portion - again, who knows?

I wonder if that is the full length of the bed, or whether it's been cut/broken.

Cheers, Vann.

Originally Posted by Fergiz01

Mum seemed to think it was part of a lathe that turned verandah poles, but I can't see it.

Any ideas?

Thanks, Zac.

Why would your Mum think its part of a lathe Zac? Was there a family member who once had a woodwork workshop at that location? Is it on a Farm as well ? It might help to know the connection.

If its a woodworking machine. Its dovetailed way brings something over the bed to act on the timber held between two centers . A wheelwright used a hub boring machine . Where a mortiser would be bought out over a turned hub to then mortise it. But the front wheel was a hand wheel . That could be a cog there because what ever they were doing on it was to large for a hand wheel to be there so a chain went to a hand wheel some where else.

The left end of the base looks to curve slightly on the under side which may be where the left leg to the base fitted.

Rob

Originally Posted by auscab

Why would your Mum think its part of a lathe Zac? Was there a family member who once had a woodwork workshop at that location? Is it on a Farm as well ? It might help to know the connection.

Rob

Thanks for the links and replies Rob and Vann!

I will look into the history of how we came to have the machine part. Dad has been running a furniture business at the farm for 40 years, but to my knowledge this has never been used as in connection with it. It may have come from my Mum's Dad, who bought and cleared much of the land my parents live on. He may have inherited it from his Dad, who was a blacksmith/horsebreeder/racer in Tambellup in the early 20th Cent. Then again I don't know and the people who would know for sure have been dead a while.

I'll do some more digging and report back.

Cheers, Zac.

I think it is the base of a lathe for trueing wheels maybe steel

This is the the closest looking thing I can see . From a 1895 catalog .
I wouldn’t be surprised if it was something like this but from a slightly earlier time possibly.

IMG_2916.jpeg IMG_2918.jpeg

Originally Posted by auscab

This is the the closest looking thing I can see...

I think you are right Auscab. Replace the cog with a handwheel; add "Thos Robinson" lettering and you just about have an exact match. Only the right-hand end is missing the raised portion.

Cheers, Vann.