To the left is Billy Bob, belly-up in the melting snow in the back of the p/u. B.B. came from Pejepscot, a town about 25 miles from here. He was owned by an 88 y/o cabinetmaker who's eyes had gone to the point where he no longer felt safe using B.B. the way god intended: barehanded with sweat dripping. The old guy no longer recollected where he had gotten B.B., though he recalled he'd had him about 15 years.
It took his son, myself, a John Deere with a front-end loader, and about an hour to get B.B. into the truck. It was one of those sort of scary move-it-all-an-inch and talk it over things. I would estimate his weight at over 500#. To unload him, since I was on my own, I chose the expedient gravity-assisted route of a ramp of oak planks. Once he got moving I didn't have a lot to do with the results. But both B.B. and the shop floor came thru without injury.
A couple of things become apparent in the above photo. This is an old flat belt-run saw that was at one time on a line drive shaft that ran many machines at once, probably a river mill. The most basic moving part is the cast iron yoke which is raised by a handwheel and gears, thus raising the blade up through the table for cutting. The handwheel is located at the front of the saw right in front of the operator. This would be to the far left of the above photo; you can see part of the wheel with a bit of romex wrapped around it.
To the left is B.B. in an upright postion. I had been wondering how to get something I couldn't possibly move flipped over when my friend Rick sent me a line to say that he would drop by with his friend John to help me out. Both these guys are into old arn and independence - remind me to tell you about old time Mainers sometime. So, come morning here are my two helpers. We stand around the shop shivering and chatting about old arn, and the woodstove Rick is sad he left behind when he sold me the shop, and the house, and kicking sawdust around. I say I don't think just the 3 of us can flip him. Sure we can, they insist. We now have 3 guys in their 50's lifting, hauling, shoving and snorting their way to victory.
It takes John a couple of smokes to get his head into it, but we get it done. Now, I was ambivalent about trying this because Rick has an off day now and then due to his multiple spinal fractures, so I try to get him handling less weight and me and John taking more. After we are done I notice John is limping, but I think 'what they hell?' we are older guys. But that ain't the half of it: turns out John had a recent heart attack, a leg amputated less than a year ago, and a back so bad the doc wants him on continuous morophine. These are our Golden Years: this is my peer group. (Remind me to tell you about old time Mainers sometime.)
Also worth noting in the above pic is that the table is in 2 pieces; a very large laminated throat plate sits between them. The larger, 215#, is still on the frame as I am afraid to take it off; I have slid it to one side to get to the arbor. The smaller piece, 110#, is leaning against the wall. Each piece independently bolts to the wooden frame and to no other iron piece. This table does not tilt at all.
Up to the left is the arbor assembly. The flat belt drum encloses the arbor, and each end of the arbor is set into a babbitt bearing. The outboard bearing has been uncapped here. On the upper part of the photo toward the right is where the yoke is bolted to the wooden leg; the yoke pivots off these pins, one on each side, as the gears raise the blade.
To the left you see that both the babbitts are uncapped and the arbor and drum assembly is lifted out of its cradle and is setting up on the table. These 2 babbitt bearings are all that is needed to completely support the arbor on this large saw.
Below, in the left side of the photo, you see the cradle, or saddle, that holds the arbor in place; it is unbolted and set to the side. Two large bolts hold the cradle in place. Four other bolts, visible here, serve to align the cradle side-to-side, and 4 more bolts come from under the yoke to act as levellers by pressing against the bottom of the cradle.
Below is the inboard, closest to the blade, babbitt body. You can see the dark stripe, lower/right, where the arbor doesn't even contact the bearing. The wear is very uneven. The striations show the radial wear: this wear is echoed on the steel arbor where palpable ridges exist; my guess is that they need to be machined off. The arbor is 3/4" dia. and has a 16" blade attached. It would appear that there is room for a 24" blade. The cutting height with the 16" is only about 4.5".
Below and left is the outboard babbitt. The dark patches on it show the same uneven wear. It has a sort of thrust-ring setup poured in. These bearings were semingly run dry; some substance had been poured into the oil reservoirs on top of the bearing caps so that no lubrication could be added - or is it just old oil and grease hardenend like rock? Normally a babbitt bearing needs constant lubrication; one of the reasons that industrial machines began going over to ball bearings as early as 1911 was their lower maintainence requirements.
Babbitt metal is very soft, rather like lead, though composed of tin, antimony and copper. It can be melted on the stove and the bearings poured at home. Though this seems a very low tech approach these bearings will last much longer than ball bearings, if properly lubricated. Industry went to ball bearings for the sake of convenience. Some old machines with babbitts are converted to ball bearings as they change owners, but I think that more and more, owners of these machines are teaching themselves to repour their own babbitts. That is my intention.
It is still unknown who Billy Bob's mom and dad were, industrially speaking, but some online friends have pointed out his similarity to saws made by the L. Powers Co. It is hoped that further research will reveal the truth of his heritage. Many old tools are simply never identified, even though you have such clues as numbers cast into the iron parts. There were probably thousands of companies producing heavy machinery, a category that B.B. probably doesn't even qualify for, in the smoke-stack heyday of industrial America. When we deal with old arn we are talking history, and we attempt the role of caretakers in our own crude and misinformed way. Some of us may paint our machines pink, but we do mean well, and those much-alluded-to future generations can start thanking us any old time at all - we ain't getting any younger!
Here is Billy Bob's rip fence. This view is of the bottom. The center piece has an obvious ridge centered on it; a T nut is present on this ridge. It rides down inside a slot that runs in the middle of the larger table.
The photo to the right is the other side of the fence, as seen from on top. The small wheel seen center is what tightens up the T nut in its slot to lock the fence to the table. The small wing nuts each side of this wheel serve to adjust the fence to square it with the blade: an effective and simple design.
To the left I have added the outboard babbitt cap. Not much to say about it. Shiny spots abound where the shaft was in contact. Same can be said for the inboard babbitt cap, seen below.
Below is a shot of the wood used in the frame. It is all a very light but tightly and straight grained.
And now, laddies and gentlemen, you will note the stunning vista afforded of BOTH of Billy Bob's fence in place on the larger section of table at one and the same time! Praises be! You will note that I omitted to mention that the rip fence does tilt: brass bar and wingnut left of knob.
I am intrigued by the pattern on the tables. It is not a blachard-type grinding pattern but is striped.
And below is the gearing mechanism. The handwheel, about 12" across, is directly on the other end of the shaft coming throught the circular gear. As the handwheel is turned the circular gear is spun, thus raising or lowering the yoke upon which the arbor assembly rests by turning the acme screw and thus moving the 'W'-shaped piece, upon which the yoke rests...
A couple of supporting pieces help keep it all aligned, the piece coming from the top in the photo holds the round gear and shaft upon which it turns steady, and the arm on each side of the circular gear steadies the half round tubing that encloses the acme bolt so it is not open in the front where a pant leg might catch in it.
Here are all the casting numbers I was able to find.
Babbitt caps: 3274
Arbor saddle 3273 (? last digit unlcear)
Drum & arbor assy. 3272
Small table: 13 3/8x48 1/8" 3263 110#
Lg. table: 24 1/2x48 1/8" 3265 215#
Miter fence 3281
Rip fence 3268
Yoke 3271 75#
Half round tube holding acme 3280
Handwheel 485
Bars from sides of round gear 3442
Round gear 3277
Found something tantalizing; a couple of the shims had some printing on them: "National Roofing" was on one, and another said "Tonawanda, N.Y. 1916". Now I have to wonder if these shims are original, or if they came with a repour? Brings me back to the question of why someone poured the oil reservoirs full of a hard substance... it's visible longitudinally in the pics of the caps, above.
