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History of Monarch Machine Tools

Joined
Apr 19, 2006
Location
Manchester, England
That's a very interesting read. It could do with proof reading though. I'm not an English language expert but I spotted several typos. " Broachers " for brochures is just one example. Thanks for the article though, I found it enthralling.

Regards Tyrone.
 

lars66

Aluminum
Joined
Sep 2, 2013
Location
minnesota
It looks like John Oder was right on dating my Monarch lathe # B 1434 according to the information in the history of Monarch.
 

jlegge

Stainless
Joined
Oct 7, 2004
Location
Grayslake, IL
That's a very interesting read. It could do with proof reading though. I'm not an English language expert but I spotted several typos. " Broachers " for brochures is just one example. Thanks for the article though, I found it enthralling.

Regards Tyrone.

The Author apologizes for all errors. I've sent out more corrected version to the few that have it on their sites. Which I hope they would post a link to in a new thread so it can become a sticky.
 

Cole2534

Diamond
Joined
Sep 10, 2010
Location
Oklahoma City, OK
Interesting...

June, engineering work started on the Model EE lathe. This is to be a 10” tool
room lathe with a hydraulic controlled variable speed headstock. Monarch
worked with Western Electric Co. of Chicago to develop this lathe. Western
wrote the initial specifications for this tool room lathe. Monarch invested nearly
$100,000 in the development of the EE.

That's about 1.8mil today. I bet they got their money back. :)
 

BGL

Hot Rolled
Joined
Sep 14, 2010
Location
Maryland, USA
I admire concise writing. I especially admire the writing in the preface. It could just as well been the summation.

With modern inexpensive technology this applies to today even more than it did one hundred and eleven years ago.

"At any period in time, every company has the same
tools at their disposal. It is then up to the employees of the company to have the intuition
to grasp and used these tools, to create new manufacturing techniques, new process, new
inventions and features to improve the design of their product. It is then up to the
management of a company to foster an atmosphere of inventiveness, pushing for better,
more efficient ways of doing things, and providing the resources to accomplishing the
goals set forth. Thus, it is this chain of people that weave the history of a company. It is
this same group of individuals that sets one company apart from another."

TIMELINE HISTORY OF THE MONARCH MACHINE TOOL COMPANY©
BY
John C Legge
 

Cole2534

Diamond
Joined
Sep 10, 2010
Location
Oklahoma City, OK
The Author apologizes for all errors. I've sent out more corrected version to the few that have it on their sites. Which I hope they would post a link to in a new thread so it can become a sticky.

In the manuscript many mentions are made of the 12" C and the 12" K, but I haven't seen anything about a 12CK. Same for the 16"CW.

So what is actually designated by the C or K letters?
 

jlegge

Stainless
Joined
Oct 7, 2004
Location
Grayslake, IL
In the manuscript many mentions are made of the 12" C and the 12" K, but I haven't seen anything about a 12CK. Same for the 16"CW.

So what is actually designated by the C or K letters?

The "C" designation means the machine was built as a tool room lathe. K, A, B, W etc. was the catalog size of the lathe. A "CK" is a 12" K lathe built for toolroom use. In your example of a 16" "CW" is a W lathe built for toolroom use. I believe we see so many "C" or toolroom lathes from the WWII days is that the production lathe were used harder than the toolroom lathes, but just my guess.

John L.
 

Cole2534

Diamond
Joined
Sep 10, 2010
Location
Oklahoma City, OK
The "C" designation means the machine was built as a tool room lathe. K, A, B, W etc. was the catalog size of the lathe. A "CK" is a 12" K lathe built for toolroom use. In your example of a 16" "CW" is a W lathe built for toolroom use. I believe we see so many "C" or toolroom lathes from the WWII days is that the production lathe were used harder than the toolroom lathes, but just my guess.

John L.

That makes sense. All the 3 shift machines were probably worn to the bone long ago.

Thanks John!
 

vulcan_

Plastic
Joined
Aug 12, 2020
I recently found a Monarch dating back to the 40s here in Gent Belgium. It had a plate on it identifying it as property of the US army.

20190518_134527.jpg

the name plate
20190518_134601.jpg

don't know anything about its history .. how it got to Belgium is a mystery
 

duckfarmer27

Stainless
Joined
Nov 4, 2005
Location
Upstate NY
don't know anything about its history .. how it got to Belgium is a mystery

Vulcan -

After WW2 through the early 90s there was a significant US military presence in Europe (which I am sure you are aware of), including up to depot level repair for the Army element. Also included what became POMCUS - Prepositioning Of Material Configured in Unit Sets - large warehousing facilities of equipment that was 'ready to go' in support of NATO CENTAG (Central Army Group). Concept of that was to fly personnel into 'bare base' setups in Belgium, Germany and other places who would grab the equipment and go to war. Think it got up to 3 division sets of equipment with 6 or 7 planned with some support stuff as well before the wall came down. Long winded way of saying there was a significant repair and maintenance support operation connected with that, as well as all the other US forces in the neighborhood. Lathe might well have ended up supporting such operations - not in a military unit but in what was effort by local civilian employees of the US government that took care of most of it.

I was part of the generation that on occasion flew into one of those bare bases and then 'went to the woods' in Germany. Matter of fact I was there for the last one of that era - REFORGER (REturn of FORces to GERmany)92 in September of 1992. Was part of 130th Engineer Brigade out of Hanau. Seemed like the weather was always raining and middle of the night when we arrived on one of those bare base airfields in Belgium. Big open field with an airstrip having minimal operating capability. Long time ago now. Thankfully never had to make the trip for real.

Dale
 








 
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