Home   Machine Tool Archive   Lathes for Sale     Millers & Grinders for Sale   
E-MAIL   tony@lathes.co.uk

Sloan & Chace Lathes
Wanted for research: Sloan & Chase Advertising Literature
Milling Machines   Gear & Pinion Cutting Engines   Staff & Pivot Lathe   
Drills & Tapping Machines  Sloan & Chace Photographs

Sloan & Chace were one of a number of American companies (Ames, Waltham, Stark, Pratt & Whitney, Potter, Rivett, Hardinge, Cataract, Elgin, Derbyshire and Levin) who were all well known for their small precision machine tools, especially those used by the watch, clock and instrument-making trades. Based in Newark, New Jersey, USA, Sloan and Chace made small milling machines, wheel & pinion cutters, automatic and manually operated gear-cutting equipment, drills, tappers, specialised production machines to order and a well-known range of  precision "plain-turning" bench lathes. All their products, though not of revolutionary design,  followed the accepted quality standards of the day and were successful enough to make up the bulk of the type offered in the comprehensive hard-back catalogues issued during the 1920s and 1930s by one of England's largest machine-tool distributors.

Sloan & Chace No. 51/2 precision bench lathe. Because the bed was formed with two symmetrical V ways the milling and grinding slide could be fitted on a compound slide rest that was mounted back-to-front. The slide shown is carrying a collet-holding dividing unit fitted with interchangeable "notch" plates indexed by a spring-loaded pawl. In tradition of precision bench-lathes the headstock pulley was arranged with its smallest diameter towards the spindle thread so that the all-important front bearing could be surrounded with as great a mass of metal as possible. The edge of the largest spindle pulley was drilled with a single ring of 60 division holes (competitor machines had up to three rings) and the front of the bed immediately below the headstock had a short T slot machined into the first few inches of its front face so that a screwcutting attachment could be bolted in place.

Sloan & Chace No. 51/2 precision bench lathe fitted with an unusual design of screwcutting attachment. Instead of utilising the existing compound slide rest and driving the top slide by changewheels and a universally-joined shaft--as was commonly practiced by other makes--the Sloan & Chace employed a complete set of new parts including a proper leadscrew and a long raised "sub bed" carrying a carriage consisting of a saddle and cross slide unit.

Lever-action cut-off (sometimes called a  forming slide) topped with a short-travel lever-action tool slide.
Each toolpost could be adjusted precisely for height by turning a knurled-edge ring

Boring attachment with an eccentric-setting toolholder.

Hand-frosted T-slotted faceplate and angle plate.

Left: fixed steady

Toolpost-mounted grinding attachment with pivot adjustment for height setting. The hand knob (by which means the stone was advanced and retracted) was free to spin on the shaft. A small adjustable stop was provided to set the depth of travel.

Tailstock to use with Grinding head.

Unusual lever-action tailstock with rotating spindle and multiple adjustable stops


Home   Machine Tool Archive   Lathes for Sale     Millers & Grinders for Sale   
E-MAIL   tony@lathes.co.uk

Sloan & Chace Lathes
Milling Machines   Gear & Pinion Cutting Engines   Staff & Pivot Lathe   
Sloan & Chace Home Page   Drills & Tapping Machines  Sloan & Chace Photographs
.