Ryerson Conradson Lathe

[wdgarrett]

Ryerson Conradson 17" X 96" Lathe. Manufacturing date between about 1920 and 1930. 16 spindle speeds from 10 to 222. Spindle hole 2 1/8". Tailstock no. 5 morse taper.
This lathe was a design ahead of it's time. It was designed and patented by Conrad M. Conradson. Ryerson was a machinery dealer and partnered with Conradson to build their line of lathes. The 17 X 96 lathe was the smallest of the line according to my reasearch.

Notice PDF's after last picture.

Bill

 

[Tony Wells]

Good looking old lathe, Bill. Need a little kitty litter around the headstock.
Serious taper cut set up there. Those old machines were designed to cut larger jobs, with the top speed as low as it is. Still plenty useful in my opinion. The first lathe in my own shop was a 1912 20 x 60" American flat belt machine that some hack had converted to a 10hp 3ph with some homemade looking(and acting) gearbox. That thing was so noisy it would run you out of the shop! Babbitt bearings kept it from being really productive. I gave it away a couple of years ago. I think it is sitting outside still with the guy I gave it to. Anyone interested in a project?

 

[wdgarrett]

Tony

I just wish I owned this lathe before it had been "rode hard and put up wet" too many times. It has a lot of wear on the ways and the gearing in the headstock is a bit noisy even though everything is running in an oil bath. I bought it 20 years ago mainly to work on round hay baler rollers and conditioning rollers out of hay swathers plus an occasional truck drive shaft.
It definitely wouldn't be up to making parts for the space shuttle. I don't know what it did in it's previous life but someone sure got their money's worth out of it. It is semi retired now as long as I am around and won't be going to the scrap yard anytime soon.

I am amazed at it's modern design being that it is from the time period of flat belts and open gearing. It must have surely been a fine machine in it's day. I have never seen another one except some pictures of a larger version on the internet. I posted it thinking most others on this site have not seen one either and probably won't.

Bill

 

[wdgarrett]

Thanks Turbo

It measures about 15 ft. long from the tip of the motor to the end of the bed. It does take up a lot of space but on the rare occasion that I need to work on something really long it will save the day.

Bill