Matt's Desk

Leyland & Barlow Shaper Machine (circa 1900)

Made in Manchester in the late 19^th or early 20^th century, this particular machine is branded under Buck & Hickman and only names the manufacturer via the inclusion of ‘LB’ in the main casting.

The shaper is simple in construction with no micrometer dials or other refinements, but looks to have had an easy life. Hand scraping marks are still visible on parts of the ways ,and other than a repair to a tooth on the rack mechanism, is free from damage.

Note the gear/ rack action of the hand lever, which differs from the lever mechanism used by many contemporaries, and indexed wheel for self-advancing. I made the pawl for engagement using an advertisement as reference.

With the use of a DTI and some fiddling, I used this shaper to cut gears for a reduction gearbox for a Mamod model steam engine. The labour of an arm workout (right side only) was made up for by the lovely ‘click’ sound of the clapper box. With the correct setup, an excellent surface finish can be achieved even with this most simple variant of a shaper machine: below is a replacement cast iron gib strip made for a Ward milling machine where the machine came into its own.