Jump to content

Mf Christensen Red Slags


mon

Recommended Posts

  • Replies 203
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Top Posters In This Topic

Posted Images

Wonderful stuff Mike, I was smiling the whole time I read it. So there were pots of glass. But they appear to be glass made ready to put in the Monkey Furnaces. These must have been tiny furnaces for each team as they only had one to two steps to the machines. Makes a bit more sense than pots of cooling glass. Cool stuff, and it gets me back to thinking my impression is pretty accurate, the poor shearer just did a lot more work than I imagined. That helped a lot and my brain is not hurting so much,(I hardly slept)(LOL) And I gotta say it sure does sound like it was only one marble per gather

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Mike,

Thanks for the added postings!

Three-quarters of the way down Page 70 has a sentence of interest:

"We have tried that, tried to gather two at a time on it. Mr. Christensen and I did that ourselves. We didn't try it in regular production."

This is in the context of dropping glass directly into the machine instead of an intermediate cup.

Is he stating that they tried but did not use in production multiple cuts for a gather? One gather = one cut = one marble?

Sincerely,

John McCormick

"Shamrock Marbles"

Link to comment
Share on other sites

John,

Do you make mables on a similar machine? Anyone have a picture of the cup? Im trying to figure out if the cup has a hole in the bottom that the glass drops out of with a certain sized hole to gauge the diameter of the marble #0,#1....etc. but they decribed throwing the marble against the back roller which suggests it coming out of the top of the cup not the bottom..

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm pretty sure there was no hole, the marble was just dumped out.

Considering that they only got paid for the good marbles, and knowing that a team could make 1000 marbles in an hour, I imagine they were skilled enough to judge the correct size of each gob nearly every time. They had a little leeway, since a machine at a certain setting would make two sizes marbles, such as size 0 and size 1, depending on the actual size of gob cut into the cup.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Doesn't get much better than this......Thanks Mike!!! Do you think the cup was graphite or something that didn't hold the heat as much? The machine was very simple and do you think that oil cup/drop is at the bottom and to the left of the larger wheel in the first pic?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Craig,

The two marble machines that I have are based on the MFC patent, but with ideas from other patents and one of my own.

Gen-One machine has quick-change tooling with the drive shafts connected via chain and sprockets.

There is one small and one large wheel per set.

There are four (4) sets of tooling:

Set 1: Marbles from 3/8" to 5/8"

Set 2: Marbles from 1/2" to 7/8"

Set 3: Marbles from 7/8" to 1-3/8"

Set 4: Marbles from 1-1/4" to 2"

Mark-II machine has basically fixed tooling.

The wheels can be swapped, but would take more time to change-over.

Shafts are geared electronically and both wheels are the same diameter.

Tooling is for marbles from 1" to 1-1/2" diameter.

With respect to the cup: Many years ago on this site, Brian G. posted a rusted cup that was found on the MFC property.

It looked like a ladle.

If my memory serves me correctly, I don't recall a hole in the bottom.

Mike is correct about gathering the right amount.

Think about a professional dart player.

They develop such accurate muscle memory, that allows them to deliver a dart to the bulls eye with uncanny precision.

Glass workers do the same.

Imagine doing this 5000 times a day over 6 days a week?

I think you would get good at it pretty quickly.

I too, deliver the glass to the roller driving down to the "working point".

Something I had to learn through experimentation.

Sincerely,

John McCormick

"Shamrock Marbles"

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Mon...I think the cup was cast iron.

They keep talking of pulling back the oil cup to release the marble, and I think the oil cup is on the top side of the part sticking up between the larger sprocket and wheel in the first picture of the MFC machine....the part with the long oblong slot and two arms going down....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Mon,

Yes, I agree with you.

There are three (3) oil cups (round objects) visible in the "Top View".

The stationary shaft of the smallest wheel (right side) has two cups.

Order of items from Top to Bottom: Small Forming Wheel, Bearing/Oil Cup, Belt Pulley, Bearing/Oil Cup and Sprocket (13T).

The movable shaft (left side) has one oil cup and it is the one you point out in your post.

Order of items from Top to Bottom: Large Forming Wheel, Bearing/Oil Cup, "A"-Frame Tower and Sprocket (16T).

If you look at the photo of the gentlemen working, the heal of the left-hand/thumb pad is resting against the outside of the stationary "A"-Frame Tower.

I suspect that the cut-off man has extended his index and middle fingers around the oil-cup.

All he would have to do is "pull the trigger" to make the cooled marble drop.

Sincerely,

John McCormick

"Shamrock Marbles"

Link to comment
Share on other sites

24_apr_mfc_6.jpg

This is the tool referred to in the court documents. Found in the MFC factory basement on 27 April 2008. There was a wooden handle on the end originally - the two pieces rusted apart. I have the handle as well. Will try to get a better photo of the entire item tomorrow.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now

×
×
  • Create New...