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Ernst Kreißig (Glashütte)
Watchmaker's Lathe - Part 2

Glashütte Home Page  Glashütte Boxed Later Model   Kreißig Screw-head Tool

Rather than a lathe in its pure sense (like the other example described), this early triangular-bed Glashütte (Serial No. 295) could be categorised as a pair of sophisticated, heavy-duty "turns" - a device normally found with just a pair of dead centres mounted on an elegantly styled yet simple bed.
Fitted with a runner (spindle) having male and female centres and a hole drilled at each end, the headstock could carry its 2-step brass pulley to either the left or right, a tapered pin holding it in place. Unlike the headstock on an ordinary lathe, this version was not intended to mount a chuck or collets, instead it acted merely as a drive system with a second support, arranged to either the left or right, carrying the various fittings with its spindle driven by a traditional "catch" system. In the pictures below the headstock can be seen mounted at the right-hand end of the bed with two parallel, side-by-side drive pins protruding from the face of the pulley. To the left of the headstock is the support column, with its spindle running in cone bearings and, at one end a simple flat bar acting as the drive dog - while at the other a wax chuck is secured in place by a screw with a knurled-edge head, such chucks being designed to hold a workpiece glued in place. In use the support on the left was slid along the bed until the centres engaged and the drive dog correctly located between the pair of pulley-mounted pins. Unfortunately one photograph below shows a gap between the male and female centres, though it is obvious that the two should be pressed together.
Although the tailstock (identical in construction to the headstock) carried just the expected simple hand-pushed runner (spindle) with male and female centres, this could be replaced by one under the control of a lever-action assembly, a hole being provided in the tailstock body to mount a shaft that would have acted as a pivot point for the unit.
Supplied with the lathe was a large extended T-rest for use with a "graver" (a hand held turning tool) and also in conjunction with a multi-hole, self-centring drilling plate used when replacing pivots in watches and clock. The T-rest section could be replaced by a roller rest for use when filing, burnishing or using an emery-impregnated buff.
Machines by Glashütte are rare, only a handful having come to light in recent years. If any reader has one, the writer would be interested to hear from you..

Complete basic triangular-bed Glashütte lathe No. 295
From left to right:
1) tailstock with a simple hand-pushed runner (spindle) having male and female centres
2) hand T-rest in a sliding bed support; the extension of the right-hand end of the rest was used when drilling and arbor
3) wax chuck in a support clamped to an arbor with, at its other end, a female centre and a drive dog that engage with, respectively, the headstock's male centre and the two drive pins
4) headstock  with pulley

The headstock was fitted with a runner (spindle) having male and female centres to which could be attached, at either end by the use of pins passing through tapered holes, a 2-step brass pulley. In this picture the headstock is shown mounted at the right-hand end of the bed with pins protruding from the face of the 2-step pulley; to its left is a support column that carries a spindle with, at one end and being turned by the pins, a drive dog and at the other a wax chuck to which can be glued the workpiece

Unfortunately the photographer forgot to push together the headstock with its male centre and, to its right, the female centre on the end of the driven spindle

The headstock was fitted with a runner (spindle) having male and female centres to which could be attached, at either end by the use of pins passing through tapered holes, a 2-step brass pulley

Tailstock. Although this carries just a simple slide spindle, this could be replaced by one under the control of a lever-action assembly, the hole in the tailstock body being used to mount a pivot point for the unit.

A large extended T-rest for use with a "graver" (a hand held turning tool) and also in conjunction with the multi-hole self-centering drilling plate (shown below) when replacing pivots in watches and clock. The T-rest section could be replaced by a roller rest for use when filing, burnishing or using an emery-impregnated buff

The roller rest fitted into the same carrier used by the T-rest

The self-centering drilling plate mimicked the design of those used on contemporary larger ornamental-turning lathes with a series of pre-formed bevelled holes around the periphery of a disc that can be rotated into position. Its use was as a steady, when boring into the end of a job, and had to provided set-up by the makers on a new lathe to ensure absolute accuracy of alignment.

Underside of the support column that carried a spindle with, at one end drive dog and at the other a wax chuck to which can be glued the workpiece

A number of parts are stamped with the Serial No. 295

A moment of carelessness? With an initial light faint impression (and the possibility of two more placing marks), the person responsible for stamping the maker's name must have been distracted - or returned to the works from a liquid lunch of schnapps

Glashütte Home Page  Glashütte Boxed Later Model   Kreißig Screw-head Tool

Glashütte Home Page  Glashütte Boxed Later Model   Kreißig Screw-head Tool

Ernst Kreißig (Glashütte)
Watchmaker's Lathe - Part 2

E-Mail Tony@lathes.co.uk 
Home    Machine Tool Archive    Machine Tools For Sale & Wanted
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