Automatic ball turner

The automatic ball turner, or perhaps a better description would be a powered circular feed, was an accessory that was supplied as standard to some of the earlier C3 lathes. Later versions, (post1900) under George Adams ownership sold these parts as extras. The ball turner runs via a mechanism powered by a universal joint which was also supplied with the lathe. A keyway slot allows the rod to move and extend through the spur gear to suit the position of the cross-slide and whatever attachment is fitted. The word automatic is somewhat of a misnomer, it actually refers to the ability to automatically stop rather than it being able to turn a ball automatically. This was primarily intended for factory production work where one man could tend to a number of machines in a row, the auto stop on each lathe allowed him to move back and forth resetting the mechanisms and advancing the cut each time........... See Youtube video

The lathe set up to turn the maximum sized ball on the C3 which is 2 inches, the Pittler catalogue says the maximum is 3 1/2" but the cross- slide cannot possibly retract the tool far enough back to cut a ball anywhere near this size. The side of the circular saddle casting is marked in degrees and the setting for ball turning is zero.

Above is a close up of the power mechanism for the ball turner. The worm wheel is fitted on the end of the cross-slide shaft, directly above it is a collar which can be set to trip the lever to disconnect the drive at any given point. This is the automated part of the ball turner, it cannot turn a ball unattended.

Above: The ball turning attachment fits onto the side of the saddle casting using two large bolts, both the trip lever and activation lever can be seen here. Later versions of the C3 from the new Wahren factory have a much shorter activation lever which makes sense as it does appear to be somewhat overlong