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The key to American watchmaking was the machinery more than the watches. The
development of factory machinery to produce watches began with relatively simple
improvements to existing tools. This was followed by the first automatic
machinery. Eventually the machinery evolved to fully automatic machines that
could make a finished part from raw stampings or drawn wire.
In addition to the machines themselves, there were the systems of standards
needed to keep the machines in precise adjustment. These were applied to the
tooling that operated directly on the watches and on the tooling and machines
that were used to produce the fabrication tools.
The full range of machines, tools and standards is much too broad to cover in
this exhibit catalog, but an attempt has been made to show a representative
selection from each of the major areas of the manufacturing process.
Split tapered spindle bearings
This was the invention of Ambrose Webster in the 1850's at Waltham. They enabled
fine adjustment for end shake and were huge improvement over the curved cone
shaped bearings. This design is still used today.
Standards and Gauges
There were four different sizes of American style (Waltham) lathes and collets
used in the American Watch Co. They were the Nashua #1 (4.5 mm), Nashua #2 (8.25
mm), Nashua #3 (11.25 mm) and Nashua #4 (20.03 mm).
The four sizes of Waltham factory lathe collets are pictured with their
Master gauges to check: angle, body diameter, thread diameter, and thread fit.
The second set of gauges are used to check the angle in the lathe spindle for
Nashua #1, #2 and #3 collets.
The gauge on the left of the
picture is the Standard gauge Church machine chuck. It is marked
"Office" and was presumably the master gauge. There is a larger
group of these gauges in the Master Gauge
Assortment.
This thread gauge is used to check the metric threads of screws used on the
watchmaking machinery.
These brass gauges are samples to show the 7 different sizes of number and
letter stamps used in the factory. These comparisons were done by eye since the
exact shapes were not critical.
Precision Hole Gauges
Precision hole gauges were used to quickly and accurately gauge the size of
holes from a hairs diameter to 1/4" diameter. They consisted of a tapered
spring loaded spindle with hand that indicated hole size on the engraved scale.
Each gauge would measure a small size range.
Master Dies for Watch Plates
Many parts of a watch were stamped out on a punch press which would hold a sub
press that contained the working dies to make the part. These are master punches
from which working dies were made. They are for a barrel
bridge and top plate for
1859 model18 size
3/4 plate watch, balance cock and
top
plate for a 10 size watch.
Master Plates
These precision hardened ground master plates standardized all the hole
positions on each model of watch.* These master plates were kept in muslin
bags inside leather pouches and were stored in the factory vault. * They were
used to check fixtures for drilling holes in watch plates. Plates included in
the photo are the KW16 model 3/4 plate, 1872 model and 1883 model.
Master Form Cutter
Master Form Cutters are used to shape master dies and punches. The example with the form cutter and the die assembled is for punching out
a three arm balance on an early 1857 model Waltham..
Circular Form Cutters
Invented at Waltham in the 1870's by Charles Vander Woerd they were turned
hardened and ground to form. In use they only needed to be sharpened on the top
surface. After repeated sharpening the cutter eventually looks like a standard
fly cutter.
Master Thread Gauges
Every thread size whether for watch or watch machinery had a set of master
gauges to check the screws, nuts or bolts.
Assortment of Master gauges
This drawer of gauges shows how master gauges were kept and stored. Many of
these are lathe and collet standards.
Dial Gauges
This jaw gauge is used to check dimensions quickly during production. The
standing chain type dial gauge is circa 1868 and the early jaw gauge is from the
1860's and 1870's. All these dial gauges are metric reading. American Watch Co.
adopted the Metric System in the late 1860's.
Movement Tray
Movements moved through the factory in batches of 10. This tray holds all the parts for 10 watches. The larger holes contain the plates.
The medium size holes carry the wheels and the small holes the jewels.
Early Form of Screw Cutting Lathe
This Waltham "three bearing slide spindle" Nashua 3 lathe has
a spring collet for holding wire rods that are released by a foot-activated
sliding spindle. The collet is stationary and the spindle moves back away to
open the collet. The three bearing sliding spindle was invented in the Waltham
factory in the 1850's probably by Charles S. Moseley. It eliminated the problem
of varying length or thickness of parts due to variable tension on the collet
draw bar or slight differences in the stock diameter. This form of construction,
although modified in some particulars, was almost universally adopted by all
watch factories and builders of automatic production machines and is still in
use today. Notice the cam activated slide spindle on Charles Vander Woerd's
automatic screw machine.
On the lathe bed is a double slide rest with one tool for turning down the
wire to form the body of the screw and another tool for cutting it off. The
lathes is also provided with a swing or tumble tail stock containing two or more
spindles, one of which serves as a stop to control the length of the screw and
another that carries the threading die. The careful hand of the operator was
necessary to avoid twisting off the screw in the die came into contact with the
underside of the head during the threading process.
After the threading operation, the cutting off tool was brought into action
and the wire rod partially severed, leaving enough metal to support the screw.
At this point the operator would pick up a "slotting plate" that had
even rows of tapped holes, hold it up to the nearly severed screw and run the
screw into a tapped hole until the head came into contact with the plate and
parted with the rod by twisting off. When the slotting plate was full, it was
placed in a slotting machine where each row of screws was slotted. The screws
were then removed by a boy who returned the plate to the lathe operator for
another filling. A skilled operator could make about 1,500 screws a day by this
method.
Charles Vander Woerd's Automatic Screw
Machine *
Charles Vander Woerd, then the mechanical superintendent at American
Watch Co., invented the first automatic screw machine in 1871. The first few
machines made were a smaller version used to make jewel screws. This machine,
however, could be set up to make any size watch screw, from tiny jewel screws to
the case screws used to hold the movement in the case.
There were 45 of these machines built at a cost of $2,000 each between 1871
and about 1876 to be used in the screw making department at Waltham. The 30th
machine built was exhibited in Machinery Hall and attracted the attention of
crowds of visitors for the whole duration of the great Centennial Exhibition
held in Philadelphia in 1876. This was the first international exhibition where
the products and methods of the American System were displayed.
A single operator can readily attend six or more of these machines and
produce 50,000 to 60,000 screws per day while by the older method a man might
make 1,200 to 1,500 screws per day with a little aid from a boy. The basic
design of this machine was copied by other watch factories. In 1895, the Waltham
Screw Co. made some for their own use and the B. C. Ames Co. in Waltham made
some almost 50 years after it was invented. None of these later copies exhibited
the fine finish workmanship of the original. The Waltham Watch Co. featured this
machine in company advertising as late as 1919. This machine represented the
triumph of Charles Vander Woerd's mechanical genius.
C. V. Woerd Drawing Notes
These are watch detail drawings from the 1860's and 1870's. They are
particularly interesting because of the detail dimension changes marked on the
back by A. T. Bacon and Charles Vander Woerd.
Damasceening Lathe
This lathe was possibly used at the United States Watch Co., Marion, NJ
before going to the Rockford Watch Co. The machine has a pivoting headstock that
moves with the contour of a rosette cam, which is selected by a moveable
follower. It is used to ornament winding wheels and watch plates. The
damasceening method was developed in America and first used at Waltham in the
1860's (1868 model and Nickel KW16 model).
John Stark Damasceening Machine
This machine was built by John Stark in the 1870's and sold to the
Rockford Watch Co. It will do straight line, circular or wavy damasceening on
watch plates or any combination of techniques on the same plate. Different sized
laps are used on hand fed spindles to apply the pattern to the plates.
This machine is very similar to examples that were built in the Waltham
factory. John Stark was born in Glasgow Scotland in 1828, came to American in
1849 and learned the machinist trade while employed at the Boston Mfg. Co.
textile mill in Waltham. In 1864 he took up with two machinists from American
Watch Co. who had opened the Waltham Machine Shop on Felton St making watchmaker
lathes with attachments. Stark Tool Co. became a major builder of lathes, gear
and pinion cutting machines and other automatic machines for watch factories in
the U.S. and in Europe. Records from 1872 show that he built most of the
machinery at the New York Watch Co. of Springfield Massachusetts.
American Watch Co. Thread Milling Machine
This machine was used to mill taps that were used in the machine department
at the Waltham factory. Watch factory machines that were nickel plated were the
examples shown at international exhibitions. This machine may have been at the
Centennial Exposition in 1876 and other expositions that Waltham Watch Co.
attended well into the 20th century.
Four Spindle Vertical Drill Press
For many years at Waltham, girls used these machines to drill a series
of holes in a watch plate that was held in a jig. Once a series of holes was
finished, the plate was passed to the next operator and another series of holes
were drilled. This system left much room for error. With the invention of the
watch plate drilling and tapping machine by D. H. Church in 1897, jig and
fixture work and much handling was eliminated.
Church Multiple Plate
Drilling Machine (used on watch plates, bridges and balance cocks)
"Never leave a piece of work until the best possible effect has been
gained." That is to say, once a piece is in the grasp of an automatic
machine it should not be released until fully completed. This was D. H. Church's
philosophy that ended the use of jigs and many people handling watch plates. The
former practice had many girls, each performing three operations on a
multi-spindle bench drill press while holding the watch plate in a fixture, then
removing it and passing to the next girl for another series of holes. In spite
of the utmost care possible, this step by step production produced imperfect
plate drilling and costly rework jobs.
There is an example of this machine at the Charles River Museum of Industry
in Waltham Massachusetts. This machine is set up to drill a 12 size balance cock. The balance cocks are
stacked in vertical loading tubes. One blank is released into the work holding
fixture, which is carried on two slides with one slide mounted on the other
(compounded). Both slides are moved by air cylinders until they rest against and
adjustable hardened steel micrometer stop on a revolving head. Once a location
of the plate is located, the machine performs a series of operations at that
location to drill, countersink and tap the hole. The multi spindle turret acts
upon the work, retreats and then indexes the turret to the next drill (or other
work tool). The revolving heads underneath the two slides index to the next
position. The slides then move to rest against the next pair of micrometer stops
and the next hole is drilled. With the use of micrometer stops each hole in the
plate has an adjustable definition that can be individually regulated.
The first of these machines were built around 1894.
D. H. Church Automatic Pinion
or Wheel Cutting Machine
Invented by Duane H. Church at American Waltham Watch Co. circa 1892,
this machine is set up to cut pinions using a circular loading plate to hold the
blanks, a cam driven picker arm to feed the machine, and a form cutter to cut
the teeth. The number of teeth on a pinion or wheel is controlled by a count
wheel on the spindle. By using a feeding tube and a fly form cutter, the
machine can be adapted to the cutting of stacks of wheels, or to the cutting of
single wheels on the face. This machine, by virtue of its automatic feeding
mechanism, requires no individual operator, but allows him or her to attend to a
large group of similar machines. The machines can perform a wide variety of
cutting tasks. This machine with its automatic features and loading plates,
represented the beginning of the final stage of development in automatic
machinery at Waltham.
Ink on linen drawings
These drawings were produced by the American Watch Tool Co. in the
1880's. The American Watch Tool Co. was one of many spin-offs from the machinery
department of the Waltham Watch Co. The one on the lower right is a design by
Edmond L. Sanderson while employed at the American Watch Tool Co.
Factory Drawings
These are a series of drawings of the Waltham watch factory. The
original ink on linen drawing of the expanding
floor plan and hexagonal stair towers is dated from 1902. The floor
plan of the American Watch Co. works from 1884 shows detail information in
each of the floor plans with the location of different departments. The 1879
elevation drawing is signed by the H. H. Hartwell, architect.
*The Charles Vander Woerd Automatic Screw Machine was
too large to bring to the exhibit. The one pictured is courtesy of the NAWCC
Museum and NAWCC web site.
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