Machine, Metalworking
Sheet metal bending machine, Mount Lebanon, NY
Description
Thick chestnut slab bench with heavy turned cherry legs supports a crank-handle driven gear shaft which turns a larger cast iron gear shafted to a flat pulley-like wheel equipped with an iron yoke that swivels into a cut out on the wheel surface and clamps the end of a piece of metal to be bent. The two shafts are secured by bearing blocks on wooden supports of oak (wheel shaft) or walnut (drive shaft). The gear mechanism has a thin guard of cherry bent over mechanism. Beyond the mechanism at the end opposite the crank handle are two more support blocks, one of oak, under the guard which has a wooden turnscrew threaded vertically through the top and a leather shim on the bottom of the rectangular hole through the block. Opposite this is an open walnut block with a corresponding channel whosr ottom level matches that of the opening in the oak block.