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Founded in 1868 by James Archdale, by 1917 the Company was making (or had made, like most of its competitors) a wide variety of machine tools, including drills, milling machine, shapers, planers ,borers, lathes, hand and power presses and the usual miscellany of general engineering equipment such as surface plates and cutters. They could also set up manufacturing plants, make one-off machine tools and undertake commissions to develop patents and improvements for other makers. After 1917, and almost certainly under pressure to delivery on Government contracts as WW1 came to its climax, they concentrated solely on milling machines and radial-arm and conventional drilling machines. With their head office and "Manchester Works" originally in Ledsam Street, Birmingham, after WW2 a move was made to a new factory in Blackpole, Worcestershire.
Archdale never gave their milling machines model numbers or names, simply designating them by their function and table travel - the 18" High-speed vertical Milling Machine; 24" Production Milling machine and Heavy-duty Hydraulic Control Full Pre-select Radial Drilling Machines 5' 0" to 12' 0" being typical examples. The pictures below are from a 1952 catalogue - one that was unusual for the time in having a number of full-colour illustrations.
For an Archdale factory tour click here
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Archdale 4' 0" Medium Duty Radial Arm Drilling Machine being used in the factory of Coventry Climax Engines Ltd., Coventry in 1951
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Archdale 3' 6" Light Type Centralised Control Radial Arm Drilling Machines in use during 1951 at Beans Industries Ltd., Tipton, Staffordshire.
Beans made a wide variety of components for internal combustion engines and combined harvesters, etc
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Archdale 20" Horizontal Milling Machine. Judging by the footwear, this operator must have been brought down from Accounts to strike a suitable pose
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Archdale 18" Combined Sliding and Swivelling Head High Speed Vertical Milling Machine - shown in use at the Barnsley works of Beatson, Clark & Co. Ltd. makers of glass bottles. The miller is shown running at 2000 r.p.m. using a 3/32" spherical cutter to mill 60 angular flutes in a glass bottle mound.
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A standard version of the popular and widely-sold Archdale 18" Vertical Milling Machine . Note the close attention being given safety notice instructions.
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Archdale 20" Horizontal Milling Machine. Employed in the Allis Chambers combined-harvester factory, this machine is shown simultaneously facing the bolt bosses and splitting an engine connecting rod. Prior to this operation the rod had been faced on its other sides on an Archdale 20" horizontal miller. Note the racks holding finished and part-finished parts.
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Archdale 28" Horizontal Miller installed at Rotaprint Ltd. in London. The job is an 8-inch diameter printing cylinder (of Meehanite cast-iron)
being straddle milled over a length of 20 inches. The spindle speed was set at 30 r.p.m. and the feed rate 2.6 inches per minute.
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Archdale 34" Vertical Miller with Sliding Head. Installed in the Rotaprint works in London, this machine is being used to mill the cast-iron side frames
of the Company's litho printing machine. All bosses and bearing positions were machined on the 34" - with just less than two hours allowed for the job.
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Jig drilling components. George. I keep telling you, going to work in your grandfather's pin-stripe trousers won't get you promotion
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