Tool Gloat, New To Me Lodge & Shipley

[JCHannum]

I picked this up at an auction on Sunday. It is a genuine Lodge & Shipley, built in 1950.



It is, as they say, barn fresh, having been preserved with a mixture of dust, oil & grease. It is a Choremaster, L&S made these from 1947 to 1953. The name was sold to the Weber Manufacturing Company who continued to produce a version with a welded frame, doing away with the nice cast aluminum frame and heavy duty L&S construction. That is a B&S 2HP engine, they were also available with a Clinton engine.

[tattoomike68]

Is that the type of engine that draws air through the tank and runs on the fumes and not the liquid?

[rockrat]

Nice find Jim. Does it run? Will it be a used tool or a nice addition to your collection of things?

rock~

[JCHannum]

The engine has a normal carbuetor with a float bowl.

It doesn't run, and is currently in pieces being cleaned up and recommissioned. The engine is free & has compression, so it will run eventually. I intend to make a sulky for it for cruising the estate and engine shows.

[Bill Pace]

Dang, JC, you do make some finds... that thing is cute as a button!

[CCWKen]

That's a great find! I'm still being amazed at the post-war diversification of many companies. It was truly a country building period when companies weren't afraid to try new ideas. Wonder what ever happened?

And I thought my ragged D&B was a great find.

[TGTool]

A sulky, eh? So you skipped the motorized unicycle idea then? Too bad it's too small a wheel for the classic monocycle. But I note that it does come with a stand.

[JCHannum]

The style is actually relatively common, I have seen several different makes at the engine and tractor shows. I had not made the L&S connection however until I noticed it on this one. I had thought it would be kind of neat to have one and the L&S connection plus the attractive price was the decision maker.

It was a very versatile little gadget and there was a wide range of attachments available. This is the 1951 catalog for them;

http://www.simplicityva.com/choremaster/1951chore.html

After WWII, there was a large number of manufacturers offering powered gardening tools and the garden/lawn tractor came into being. There were lots of people who continued the Victory garden but were tired of pushing the Planet Jr cultivators and plows and wanted something easier and lots of excess manufacturing capacity looking for a market.

[Cecil Walker]

Great find JC!!!! and i have no doubt that it will be in perfect running condition shortly.

Cecil