Nameplates on Pittler lathes

There are a number of variations of the nameplates used on Pittler lathes and they can give you some idea of when it was made. Starting with the earliest ones from the INVENTION factory dating from 1889-1895. We next see a different one which came after the company went public in 1895, it changed it's name to "Leipziger Wekzeug-maschinenfabrik Atkiengesellschaft vorm W.von Pittler". The INVENTION factory was expanded to it's limit with even the outside courtyards being roofed over and work continued there for the time being. In 1899 the company moved to it's huge purpose built factory in Leipzig-Wahren. Lathes plated with the new factory district address at Wahren seem to be practically unknown in the UK but are common all over other parts of Europe. The new design for the headstock and tailstocks dating from c.1900 are seen in G.Adams plated lathes and are absolutely identical. Clearly this must be evidence that GEORGE ADAMS and the PITTLER COMPANY removed the German plates and replaced them with their own. I don't think for one minute that Adams commissioned lathes from others well known makers stipulating that they had to be plated George Adams.

We begin to see GEORGE ADAMS plated Pittler lathes and also lathes plated as ADAMS BUTLER & Co of Loveday Street Birmingham from around - 1899-1902. Lathes often appear with no Pittler makers plate other than that of a tool retailer. I've seen B2 lathes badged as BUCK & RYAN, BUCK & HICKMAN and several others but we can be certain they had no hand in the lathes construction. See the interesting advert and a plate from a long bed B2 bearing the plate of Johannes Schulz, Berlin, it's doubtful they would have made all the identical castings, Pittler had their own dedicated factory for castings by this time so they were fully self contained. So we presume Schulz machined and assembled castings provided by Pittler.

An early Plate from the Invention factory 1889-1895 before it changed it's name and went public in 1895

The Plate from my B2 after the company went public and changed it's name but still made in the Invention factory

My C3 plate, also made in the former Invention factory

A seemingly short lived collaboration between George Adams and a Mr Butler who was G.Adams shop manager around 1899 -1902

This company, part owned by George Adams disappeared around 1902/3 according to Grace's guide.

A plate from when George Adams was the proprietor and therefore the owner of the Pittler company, post 1900 but particularly curious when the 1901 catalogue also lists him as the owner of the business instead of von Pittler.

Not a plate but an interesting advert showing that Johanne Schulz also made Pittler lathes in Berlin after the Pittler factory began concentrating on making Capstan lathes from 1909 . The lathe featured is clearly not a Pittler however.

A plate from a rare Pittler long bed B2 which has an adjustable bed support fitted in a T slot in the bed casting. it has the same horizontal power feed lever design as the output from the Wahren factory but assembled in Berlin by Johanne Schulz around 1909. It gives no mention of Pittler however.

A plate from a large engineering Pittler lathe made by Sondermann and Stier at their factory at Chemnitz. It shows W.v Pittlers Patent No 85 and and the production number 8530, unusually the date 1895 is also stamped on.

A plate from a B2 made at the new factory in Wahren in 1908. The lathe has the same variations as those sold plated as George Adams in the UK. This must prove that the German plates were removed on UK imports and replaced by George Adams with his own plates.

A George Adams plate on another make of lathe, this one on a Ehrlich made in Chemnitz, Germany, This proves beyond doubt that George Adams imported and rebadged lathes and other machine tools and had no manufacturing capacity in any shape or form .

A plate from a C3, made at the new factory at Wahren. The lathe has the new design variations so probably made around 1903-

A photo from the new factory at Wahren in 1900 still shows the design of C3's dating from 1894 on the production line. Based on this it's possible they continued for a year or two before the new designs were introduced. c.1904 ?

A B2 with a BUCK & RYAN plate, was it made by them? most definitely not, like George Adams they were purveyors of tools but no evidence of manufacturing.

Another BUCK & RYAN plate on a B2, this was probably added to all kinds of machinery

Note the wonky eneven lettering made by hammer and punch! This believe it or not is claimed by Lathes.co to be proof that Milnes made Pittler lathes.

A plate from a B2. From 1891 to 1901, the factory at 14, Rue des Croisades in Brussels, was operated by Martin H. Rumpf, under the name of "Le Progrès Industriel" which manufactured the sewing machine L'Incomparable ", after buying back the patent from Wilhelm von Pittler.

A Rumpf plate fitted on the back of a Pittler B2 headstock

A George Adams plate which says" PITTLER LATHE" but does not mention " THE PITTLER COMPANY" or that he is the actual owner of it. Presumably a later one when the von Pittler was no longer involved in the business.

A plate from a B2 No1 on a trumpet Pedestal lathe from the Invention factory between 1889 and 1895