Serial Numbers and Years

[reubenjames]

I've heard it said a lot on here that the old model 10's are used to manufacture ShopSmiths, even today. I'm not a very creative person, and have trouble envisioning what this looks like / what this means. In what manner are they used? Do you have a pic from that old catalog that you can show?

[oldiron]

Reuben,

The shopsmiths where used to ream table trunion holes, all of the threaded holes on the main tables, etc...

The pictures even show the employees running the milling equipment. Of course, All of those guys are most likely long gone.

I will try to dig out the catalog later this evening. I will need help with getting the pictures posted...

Mike

[everettdavis]

Here's a Western Machinery and Steel World catalog that I have apparently just a piece of based on the text referencing photos on the facing pages where they use Ex-Cell-O Borematic for producing headstock bores.

They do reference a photo where two headstocks are on one set of tubular ways being used to ream holes for bracket pins for the table tie bar, but again, this copy lacks the photo on the facing page.

I would love to see those missing pieces. I think it was on vintage machinery where I originally downloaded this piece.

Western Machinery and Steel World.pdf

(756.13 KiB) Downloaded 976 times

OK It's already here: see https://www.shopsmith.com/ss_forum/view ... 41#p183541 Thanks Dusty for being there with that answer last year....


Everett

[oldiron]

Here's a Western Machinery and Steel World catalog that I have apparently just a piece of based on the text referencing photos on the facing pages where they use Ex-Cell-O Borematic for producing headstock bores.

They do reference a photo where two headstocks are on one set of tubular ways being used to ream holes for bracket pins for the table tie bar, but again, this copy lacks the photo on the facing page.

I would love to see those missing pieces. I think it was on vintage machinery where I originally downloaded this piece.

Western Machinery and Steel World.pdf

OK It's already here: see https://www.shopsmith.com/ss_forum/view ... 41#p183541 Thanks Dusty for being there with that answer last year....


Everett

Everett,

Thank you for finding the pdf catalog. That will save me some time later on!!!

All the Best,
Mike

[reubenjames]

That article was very cool! Makes me want a 10ER all over again.

[JPG]

So From all the SN snooping, I can say I have a late 47 10E.

The original packing slip(typed) is not dated.

[everettdavis]

My 10E has Serial # 8443;

My Logo tag says San Francisco.
Does anyone have a shopsmith that has Cleveland on the Logo?

I found this from Skip Campbell who is said to be the leading living authority on Shopsmith:

The 10E went on sale on Nov. 8, 1947 just in time for Christmas. It is possible that 4000 were sold by the end of the year but no way to know that for sure.
They sold 10Es until late 1948 and the serial numbers went into the 20000 range.

If production averaged around 20,000 per year, then chances are I have a 1947 Shopsmith or at very latest, a 1948 . . .
unless the Cleveland plant didn't start up at the same time as the San francisco plant.

Terry

I read from time to time various questions on the 10E and 10ER productions and as others have visited with Skip Campbell who is a great resource for them, and has a wealth of knowledge.

I recently was in communication with Skip regarding some of mine and he found it interesting as he put it; "You have one of the first 10E machines (1414) from late 1947 and one of the latest made (95470) from late 1953"

I have 10ER 70714 and another that is too far back in the stack to photograph at the moment. I will try to get that one and update it by the weekend.

Terry, after stating “My 10E has Serial # 8443; My Logo tag says San Francisco”, asked in the first post in the thread “Does anyone have a Shopsmith that has Cleveland on the Logo?”

I can pretty much show with certainty, not badged for a 10E or 10ER in Cleveland, based on the badges I list below for mine, but there were retrofits, upgrades and refurbishing going on as well. There are some other badges, but I have not seen one with Cleveland yet.

As you will see, all reflect San Francisco and the later two reflect only “Patent Applied For” but my oldest 1414 also says “Registered Trade Mark” on the badge below the logo. That machine is blue.

Also there is a discussion somewhere about some of the earliest units being blue.

Skip and I had a conversation about 10E 1414 being blue, which it is, and thinking it was repainted as there was some overspray blue in areas. Now that I have done more research and closer inspection of it, I believe that overspray was indeed Magna factory painted.

In support of that belief, I also have a NOS 84-2982 Magna 3 ¾” Face Plate in the box with a segment of the original tape on it, that is an identical blue color that I acquired separately from stock in another state half-way across the country.

The paint matches, and it would not have been painted as NOS if it was not the color of that series of machines made at that time.

Like all paint it has faded some with time, but they faded to the same patina in blue and were 2000 miles apart. The early 10E’s, I conclude were indeed blue. Later units were changed as we all know.

10E 1414.JPG (140.94 KiB) Viewed 8209 times

10ER 70714.JPG (124.49 KiB) Viewed 8209 times

10ER 95470.JPG (149.23 KiB) Viewed 8209 times

Blue NOS Faceplate 84-2982.JPG (100.78 KiB) Viewed 8209 times

Tailstock from 10E.jpg (109.46 KiB) Viewed 8206 times

One can note from the space they reserved for serial numbers on the 10E, they didn't expect too much further than 4 or maybe 5 digits. They corrected that in the next generation of labels for the 10ER.

Terry, I hope that helps some.

I photographed the Face Plate at my computer with a flashlight opposed to daylight as I did on the headstock. That is the difference in the two photos.

The Tailstock photo was taken by Dave H in his shop in Colorado before I got it to Texas. The Headstock photographed outdoors is that same blue as the Tailstock photographed indoors, with yet a different camera.

Everett

[BuckeyeDennis]

One more, for the record. 10E serial number 1750. Sand-cast headstock. Gray wrinkle paint on all the painted parts. To the left, in the background, see the white pegboard, white landscape tape, and blue landscape-tape housing for color references.

image.jpeg (1.01 MiB) Viewed 8196 times

[everettdavis]

Interesting – The Badge on yours shows Reg. Trade Mark as well, but the Serial number field also has a Red E in Paint in front of 1750 opposed to my 10E (1414) that did not have the E.

I wonder when that changed. There are only 336 machines between the two.
I will also try to get color strips in blue and gray with new photos all taken outdoors at the same time in the same light with the same camera to cut down on those variances.

It is so difficult to move from one computer monitor to the next and have the color rendering appear the same. That is so true here in the forums with every member having a variety of lighting, and camera equipment, not to mention the varying patina of aging through the years and our own photo submissions taken at varying times and lighting.

I saw that in person when a displayed a Pantone Color Strip was fed from a live video camera, on three different monitors on the same machine and even they had three variant appearances.

Everett

[everettdavis]

I noticed sn 1200 from Australia posted last year is also a blue color and that photo has some other blue items in it to reference the blue variance. It looks a bit dirtier, and has an age tint, but very similar to my 1414.

It's badge is just like mine, but the serial number stamp looks pristine - 1200

I am wondering since this one sported an Australian motor, if Montgomery Wards didn't ship this to a store in Australia as part of their deployment etc. and it was outfitted with a locally sourced motor, as was the custom for so many, especially an export.

http://shopsmith.com/ss_forum/viewtopic ... 51#p177251

My bet for the licensed under label was a label that came with the motor and was affixed to the 10E there on final assembly.

Everett