SB Lathe Serial #'s

Sorry about the crummy cell phone pics. If this info should go somewhere else pls move. I just ran across it looking thru my reference library at work. Hope it helps.

Hang onto them until the list owner gets Downloads fixed and working again. Then append them all into a single PDF and upload them.

Robert D.

I need a little bit of help.

I'm trying to date my SB lathe and from researching, I'm THINKING it's a late 30's

Serial number on the end of the bed is 81629

I'm having trouble trying to understand the pictures against my SN.

Thanks!

TheSandman said:

I need a little bit of help.

I'm trying to date my SB lathe and from researching, I'm THINKING it's a late 30's

Serial number on the end of the bed is 81629

I'm having trouble trying to understand the pictures against my SN.

Thanks!

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The Serial Number Reference Book that Cheeseking shows is the 11th edition. It doesn't have serial numbers for machines earlier than 1950. (I'm not absolutely sure there are no exceptions to this but I had some correspondence a number of years ago with a person involved in the publication of this and he said they used 1950 as a cut-off year because the book was getting too thick.) I also have the 10th edition of this reference. It shows your South Bend was built in 1941. The last serial number for 1940 was 80362 and for 1941, 106199. South Bend used a single series of serial numbers until 1947 when they instituted a unique series for each model with the serial number followed by a letter specific for each model.
David

David,

What is the exact title on your 10th Edition? Any chance it includes Atlas machines?

Robert D.

My SB lathe doesn't have a serial number stamped on the bed. Are there any other locations that there maybe another number stamped?

I'm guessing that the bed may have been replaced so it has no numbers stamped on it. Judging by the tumbler handle (no detent) that it's an early 40's vintage.

Thanks,

Jim

wa5cab said:

David,

What is the exact title on your 10th Edition? Any chance it includes Atlas machines?

Robert D.

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The title on the front cover is _Serial Number Reference Book for Metalworking Machinery_. The copyright date of this edition is 1988 and the publisher is Hearst Business Media Corp. The 11th edition has the same "exact" title; it's copyrighted 1994 and the publisher is Machinery Dealers National Association.

Does the 10th edition include Atlas machines? The short answer is "no". (Pause for a deep breath here.) The Clausing Atlas section of this reference includes a category "MACH. TYPE: Lathes TRADE NAME: Atlas" and notes that these machines were formerly manufactured by the Covel Manufacturing Company, Benton Harbor, Michigan and cross references the original Covel model numbers with later Clausing Corporation numbers. The Covel line consisted of grinders (surface, tool and cutter etc., plus optical comparators which Clausing took on also), not lathes and certainly not the venerable Atlas line. This error is repeated in the 11th edition. In addition to not including any Atlas machines, neither edition includes any Clausing lathes or milling machines. I have no idea why not.
David

shawn said:

I'm not quite understanding how the reference guide works either. The serial number on my SB 9B is 923NBR7? I am guessing 1964-1965?

Shawn

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My understanding is that the serial number given for each year is the last serial number assigned that year. So looking at the pages above posted by Cheeseking, for the 9 inch South Bend the last serial number assigned in 1962 was 52500N and the last number assigned for 1965 was 53950N (and so presumably the first number assigned for 1965 would be 52501N). It looks like your serial number is missing a couple of digits. The letter "N" is specific for the 9 inch South Bend, models A, B and C. I expect the letter "B" in your serial number is because you have a Model B 9 inch South Bend.

David

This might be a good place to find what you are looking for on SBL's

http://www.wswells.com/serial_number.html

Again, my apologies if this violates some forum rule regarding links. I have no affiliation just remembered I had it in my bookmarks.

Cheeseking said:

This might be a good place to find what you are looking for on SBL's

http://www.wswells.com/serial_number.html

Again, my apologies if this violates some forum rule regarding links. I have no affiliation just remembered I had it in my bookmarks.

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Thank you very much for posting this.I've been thinking that I had seen something like this but couldn't remember where.
David