These are notes that I am writing to help me learn our industrial history. They are my best understanding, but that does not mean they are a correct understanding.
The Dubuque Star was incorporated in 1896. The initial annual capacity was 35,000 barrels. Of the 138 breweries in Iowa to be shut down by prohibition in 1916, this was the first one to restart in 1933. It produced just barrels of beer until a bottling line was added in 1935. "The peak production came in 1959 with 50,000 barrels and an employment of forty workers." It went through a series of owners since the 1970s and closed in 1999. The city acquired the building through eminent domain, and, in 2006, Stone Cliff Winery agreed to lease 10,000 sq. ft. of the ground floor. [EncyclopediaDubuque, StoneCliffWinery]
(Bourn & Koch/Rockford Machine Tool Satellite)
(Owly Oop Sports Pub/W. F. & John Barnes Satellite)
(Paoli Storage/Sundstrand, machine tool div. Satellite)
(R.L. Leek Industries (trucking co.)/Sundstrand, hydraulic div. Satellite) West of here is a women controlled wire manufacturing company: Nevers and Company, Inc. But a street view shows the building is for lease.
(UTC Aerospace/Sundstrand, aviation div. Satellite)
+Sundstrand also had a machine tool building on Newburg Road in Belvidere. I wonder if it was the building just west of Hamilton Sundstrand Park. That building still has a railroad spur. This plant was built in 1957 to handle the demand for their new numerical-controlled, 5-axis Omnimill machine.
A link provided by Jim Ritchie in a comment recorded below is worthy of more attention. It not only provides the history of Sundstrand, it describes the "water power" days of Rockford. Of note is that electric motors did not replace line shafts until 1920. I thought it would be earlier than that.
The following is what I had learned earlier when I researched the Ingersoll company.
I remember that several years ago Boeing announced a competition for which city would get a new plant to make a new airplane. (If I remember correctly, it was to build the Dreamliner 787.) I was surprised that Rockford was one of the cities bidding for the plant. Then I read that they have a labor force that is skilled in aerospace and manufacturing. Looking at Google Maps, I'm beginning to appreciate the skill of their labor force. A quick look found another machine tool company,aerospace, another aerospace, another aerospace, steel cutting, steel stamping, wire, bearings, screws, springs, parts manufacturing, hydraulics as well as more specific products such as wheels,plastic packaging, and hammers and axes. But, as was no surprise, Boeing built the new plant near Seattle even though they had already moved their headquarters to Chicago.
Lost Illinois Manufacturing posted nine images. Dennis DeBruler The buildings were bought by Bourn & Koch in 1984. They make new machine tools and parts for older models.
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According to the address, the machine tool company still exists as Bourn & Koch. Although the railroad spur that used to be on the south side of the building is gone.
Bourn & Koch provides precision automated machine tool solutions for the global manufacturing community. We specialize in gear manufacturing equipment and precision grinding machines with the ability to specially engineer custom solutions for some of the most challenging manufacturing applications. We support 28 American Machine Tool Companies with repair parts, field service, retrofit & rebuild. Over 2500 years of engineering expertise in our archives allows us to engineer custom solutions for today’s manufacturing market while keeping the machines that built American industry alive. [Bourn & Koch]
B&K bought the Rockford Machine Tool building in 1984. In 1985 they "acquired the machine tool division of Barber-Colman," which was just a few short miles away. They manufactured gear cutting equipment. Hobbing is a special type of milling machine to cut gears. After watching this older model actually cut a gear, I better understood these videos showing that model 16-16 machines still work: 1:26 and 8:21.
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They have also acquired OEM rights for the Blanchard Surface Grinders and Springfield Vertical Grinders products.
Rich Behrends During World War II, Sundstrand operated two shifts to meet the demand for machine tools and other products, and women were employed in the company's factories for the first time. Under the direction of a government war supply board, Sundstrand turned out aircraft engine and propeller parts, turbine blades, pistons, shell casings, and rifle barrels. Chet Ziebka You have to go to China now to see innovation in machining. China has three times the amount of toolmakers than the U.S..
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Two distributors in Cincinnati is a reminder that Cincinnatie also used to be a hotbed of machine tools.
Winthrop Ingersoll assumed control of a milling machine company in Cleveland, OH in 1890. In 1891, he "relocated to Rockford, Illinois, one of the country’s burgeoning new industrial centers. Ingersoll’s first Rockford plant, which employed 19 people, cost $12,000." In 1903, "Ingersoll creates the worlds largest Milling Machine for General Electric. It weighs 400,000 lbs and represented a major accomplishment for such a young upstart company. The Great Depression didn't slow Ingersoll down. In 1935 Ingersoll builds one of the first machines to automatically transfer engine blocks from one machining station to another." [history]
Some of the videos indicate that they can also replace the milling head with heads that can do 3D-printing, inspection, and adding layers to build carbon fiber (composite structure) parts.
I learned about Ingersoll Machine Tools from a Facebook posting of 1947 photos that I include at the end of these notes where there should be space in the sidebar for the original sized images. The company has a Facebook page. That page has this video that demonstrates the "Largest Gantry AFPM."
I never did figure out what an "AFPM" is. I doubt it is the Google search results of "American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufactures." I think the "music" in that video is painful. I sat through the audio once to confirm that no information is lost by hitting the mute button.
This video shows they machined the pressure vessel for the Orion Spacecraft. There is no need to mute this video because it doesn't have any audio.
(new window) A video about a solar telescope they evidently built. It has a pleasant sound track.
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Lost Illinois Manufacturing posted
1956 and what was proclaimed the largest mill in the world, Ingersoll and its bridge mill in Rockford. Jim Ritchie.. what Ingersoll did and HOW they did it will never be replicated under one roof again ....Joseph KoleOvernite Transport Co...Now a UPS Co.Jim Ritchiepiston turning machines - tank turrent / body milling machines - air craft wing spar mills - composite tape laying machines - oil well pipe turning machines - aluminum scalpers - milling machines for machining steam turbine shells - high speed routers for machining airplane composite floors - milling machines for automotive body dies - milling machine's for rough machining in steel mills - locomotive engine block machining systems - drilling systems for air craft wing structures - linear motor ( they built there own ) high speed aluminum routers with 30 - 40000 rpm hydrodynamic bearing spindles ( also built their own spindles ) - custom cutter bodys for the machining systems they built.Jim RitchieAdverage part lot size in the machine shop was 3 -------- % 70 which will never be repeated againJim RitchieStyle of mill in the picture .. table was a hydrostatic lift .... part weight limits available the other side of 200000 lbs .... overhead crane capaticy usually was the determining factor. ( your responsible for the foundation )
The following three videos were suggested by Jim Ritchie.
(new window) A lot of scenes are rather confusing. But some are very informative.
(new window) At 1:55, the robot arm I had noticed started working. Look at its rack of cutting tools that it can choose from. These videos make me appreciate that I do a pretty good job of holding a camera steady during a video.
Lost Illinois Manufacturing shared three images from the 1947 Locomotive Cyclopedia.
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Lost Illinois Manufacturing shared Josh Franks They did just make a 3D printer that produced the largest 3D scale product in the world. It was a boat made by a university in Maine. Kevin J RossMichael Hilstad massive engine block on right side of picture. Possibly for a locomotive?
Lost Illinois Manufacturing commented on Kevin's comment Good eye. I missed that. Probably a Diesel for a locomotive. 1947 Locomotive Cyclopedia ad.
Steve OConnor posted five photos with the comment: "Jeff Ahrstrom, COO of Ingersoll proved to be a super nice guy. After viewing some posts I did on Ingersoll in the Rockford Made It Facebook page, Jeff invited me over for a tour of Ingersoll's plant. All I can say is WOW."
1 Jeff Ahrmstrom shaking hands with me. I was quite honored to be invited.
2 Aircraft wing panel machined from a solid slab of aluminum.
3 The new 40,000 square foot high bay where the 1,800 ton mount for the Magellan telescope will be built. Penny Abbott: That's what they are known for unique machining and complex applications. My dad worked there for over 30 years when it was family owned.
4 A section of a new machine that Ingersoll is developing.
5 An intricate part machined from a solid aluminum billet.
I have some notes on big machine tools. But probably more of America was built with many small machine tools than with a few big ones. I'm starting some notes concerning small machine tools.
Antoni Gual Via posted Lady at the controls of a milling machine during WWI. Pete Bronlund: As a hobby machinist I needed a piece of brass bar 1.75” dia around 12” long. I could have called up the big metal suppliers seriously paid dearly for the privilege of them cutting it from stock & the shipping but I popped into a truly old machine shop near my work in my lunch hour. I met an elderly lady in her late 70s I thought looking after the phones & the minute I asked her she smiled & took me out on the shop floor, found an off cut & in about 30 seconds she’d chucked it parted it off & trued the ends in a lathe. She did it in virtually a perfect dance of familiarity with the old lathe I was just stunned! She told me it was her grandfathers shop, her fathers & she had run the show for her life so three generations… & she’d been there for the War Effort. Sadly being in the city the Developers came in with a huge check & within a year her famous machine shop disappeared for an office block! [Some comments argue about whether it is a jig borer or a milling machine. I think jig borer won.] Kent English: That would be a jig borer...... designed for more accurate hole making than a milling machine. Full coverage to keep the caustic soda cutting fluid off skin. E Henry Horn: At least she controlling her hair with that hat. I was an Apprentice assigned to a radial drill line. Long hair freak at the next drill bent down to pick up a drill chip, fan blew his hair into the chuck while it was indexing the drill bit down. I remember it but don't talk about much. It was bad. Richard Koch: Tools that did not require brute force were developed for a mostly female workforce. After the war the men had to begrudgingly admit those tools were just better, period. Took them another 20 plus years to start to admit the women were, too. My JHS shop teacher, Mr. Welch, spent part of one day showing us old and new tools to drive home that point. Exemplified the old axiom that if all you have is hammer, everything becomes a nail.
Every machining center on your floor traces back to five men in Milwaukee who filed a patent on June 27, 1958.
Before that, a numerically controlled machine could position to a thousandth and then stop and wait for a person to change the cutter. One tool, one operation, then a human. Ford asked the machine tool builders to fix it in 1956. Kearney & Trecker answered, and the machining center existed.
The best parts of this one came out of the court records rather than the usual retellings. A competitor found out it had been beaten when its own customer called to ask why. And Kearney & Trecker spent two decades suing to defend that patent, which tells you exactly what they thought they were holding.
It ends on the practical version: the one inspection on a used machining center that most buyers do last and should do close to first.
Steve Johnson shared a link to a photo album with the comment: ""Our pneumatic tools in use on one hundred and thirty-five railroads" 1897 Chicago Pneumatic Tool Co pneumatic hammers brochure, including their Boyer Railway Speed Recorder. Very cool illustrations, rare early brochure, company incorporated in 1895." Steve JohnsonDid a very extensive search and only found one other copy, in the Canadian National Archives of all places. Dennis DeBrulerBetween steam locomotives, ships, bridges, and skyscrapers, there were a lot of rivets that had to be pounded back then.
Below are some of the photos from that album.
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Pneumatic tools are also used to to drill holes. In fact, compressed-air driven tools were invented to create holes in rock for explosives when building tunnels and mining minerals because they can hammer and twist the tool.
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Hammers have many uses. In the case of this photo, cleaning flange off of forgings. I used a smaller pneumatic cold chisel with my 2-horse air compressor to bust the stucco off my house when we were installing a new door. The carpenter I hired to do the job had bought a concrete cutting blade for his saw. But the pneumatic chisel did a much quicker job. He was embarrassed because he had consulted with a friend as to how to remove the stucco. He was also relieved because the saw didn't make much progress, but the chisel cut through the stucco like butter.
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I've also come across videos of a couple of generations of making chain.
Due to the dwindling supply of quality machine shops and very poor quality aftermarket parts as well as a lack of people interested in learning the engine building and machine shop trades, I regret to inform our many followers and current as well as past customers that we will no longer be taking on any new engine build orders unless it is for a car we are restoring. Since Covid, we have had to do rework on multiple engine builds due to poorly manufactured parts that failed during break in or machine work that was below our standards due to all the old farts like me dying off with no younger workers interested in taking their place. For example, rod bearings are now made too thin resulting in 390 and 401 crank grinds needing to be ground .0085, .0185 or .0285 under standard rod journal size yet all but one machine shop in the entire Phoenix area refused to do anything other than the standard .010, .020 or .030 grinds. Even worse, when the one shop that will grind the cranks the way we tell them we need them loses their crank grinder to retirement in another year or two, they do not plan to replace him. Machine work that used to have a turnaround of 2-3 weeks now takes a minimum of 2-4 months due to an acute lack of people interested in learning machine work and doing manual physical labor. In fact, one engine block was at a machine shop for a year and when we got it back hey did such a poor sleeve job in one cylinder that it was not even useable so it is now a 250 lb paper weight.
About 15 years ago I nearly bought out an aging gentlemen's machine shop and continue to regret not doing so due to the lack of availability of places to get the work done.
As for poor quality parts, Edelbrock aluminum heads are now such poor quality and filled with so much manufacturing machining slag that we have to completely disassemble them, reset the valve stem and spring heights and even sometimes have them resurfaced because the slag scratched the head gasket surface. Similarly, there are only a couple of camshaft manufacturers remaining that harden their cams correctly and nearly all flat tappet lifters are now such terrible quality and inconsistent hardness that we are no longer willing to risk losing a cam due to poorly made cams and lifters. In fact, we now only use either rollers or custom ground flat tappets with Johnson made lifters from Howard or Herbert. For example, we have probably used 50 or more Summit cams over the past 15 years but the last 4 we used did not even make it through break in so they too are now off the list of acceptable quality parts as well.
So what does all of this mean? We will honor whatever engines builds that are not part of a full restoration that we already have in the queue however we must warn all those who have been patiently waiting for their engines to be built that supply chain constraints in addition to rapidly declining parts quality along with a lack of qualified machine shop workers is resulting in our anticipated wait times to get an engine built often doubling in duration. And if anyone is tired of waiting and thinks they can do better elsewhere, we will fully refund their deposit and wish them well.
What used to take a couple of weeks to get back from a machine shop can easily now take 2-4 months or more resulting in our overall engine backlog now being 15-18 months. The bottom line is that custom engine building is on its way to becoming extinct and it won't be too many more years before all of us old farts that currently do this work either retire and/or die off resulting in engine building within the collector car hobby becoming nearly impossible to find And when you do find someone, don't be surprised if they are backed out 2+ years or more and that they only want to do Chevy builds and know zero about our beloved AMC engines. "The times they are a changin'."
And any know it all's that are not in this business who try to show everyone how smart they think they are by declaring that these conditions do not exist, despite literally hundreds of others saying they are experiencing the exact same thing, will have their comments deleted because they are clearly talking out of their ass.
