Quote from: johnsironsanctuary on January 13, 2012, 01:43:07 PM
Here is an interesting version. A little bit pricey.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Antique-Treadle-Woodworking-Combination-Machine-Lathe-Scrollsaw-Table-Saw-/230728283307?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item35b87a34ab

It's the first ShopSmith!!!

A couple of random thoughts here.  The braces on this saw look very much like the braces used on some of the old wood wheel barrows, and the red color of the paint is consistent with many of these barrows.  One might look into manufacturers of wheel barrows, who might have made other tools.

I also notice that the peddles look like actual bicycle peddles, and wonder if they weren't made by a bicycle manufacturer -- the early bicycles, post great wheel bikes, had numerous wooden components, including the peddle proper and the wheels.  These might have been parts bought by the saw manufacturer from a bike maker./

Ditto, another thing I notice here, the cranks are seperate pieces. This was normal for great wheel bicycles because the through shaft had to be seperate, the cranks were attached after. Some time after sprockets , manufacturers started using single forged shafts that included the crank part.....

If the pedals are after the start of the sprocket era, they aren't long after...

>the red color of the paint is consistent with many of these barrows

Unfortunatly, it is also consistant with a lot of wood farm machinery....
One of the hardest things to find information on is the color of old machines, the photographs, if you are lucky enough to have one, and not an engraving, are generally black and white, and it doesn't seem to have occurred to anyone that 100 years later we might wonder what color was that thing anyhow?

Do the pedals have ball bearings in them?

I emailed a link to this post to the guy with the pedal saw collection that I posted above. He had no idea who made it, but thought it was really cool.
Wrenchguy, where are you located. The were hundreds, if not thousands of small manufacturers and most of their sales were regional. You might want to spend some time at your public library or historical society. Is there an annual thresheree in the neighborhood? Putting it on display would be fun too. Your state historical society may be of some help too. Unless some picker hauled it in before you got it, I'll bet it was made within a hundred miles of you.

The pedals do have bearings, yea i know there were hundreds making 'em, but this one has tobe of potential high volume company with these finely cast parts.  these had to patterned up for large quantities.  I think this is what happened,  This contractor for maybe sears or monkywards and or larger hardware houses got started making some and then electric motors came onto the market, pedal power slowly dies and became obsolete.  Made of wood it didn't last left to rot, not like most of the others were made of cast iron and not this big.  I don't have time for running around doing library research.  Thats what the internet is for.  Thanks for all your comments, the quest continues.  I'm located in nw indiana, if in the area stop by and we could hoist a couple and kick something laying around here.

Quote from: rusty on January 14, 2012, 11:35:19 AM

Ditto, another thing I notice here, the cranks are seperate pieces. This was normal for great wheel bicycles because the through shaft had to be seperate, the cranks were attached after. Some time after sprockets , manufacturers started using single forged shafts that included the crank part.....

If the pedals are after the start of the sprocket era, they aren't long after...

>the red color of the paint is consistent with many of these barrows

Unfortunatly, it is also consistant with a lot of wood farm machinery....
One of the hardest things to find information on is the color of old machines, the photographs, if you are lucky enough to have one, and not an engraving, are generally black and white, and it doesn't seem to have occurred to anyone that 100 years later we might wonder what color was that thing anyhow?

Do the pedals have ball bearings in them?

The better bikes are still made with the cranks separate from the shaft.  But the wood pads on the peddles are probably significant. 

I know that red paint was consistent with a lot of wood farm machinery, but not the only color.  There was a rather nasty shade of orange used
on some.  I think red was somewhat more common among the wheel barrows.  It was Monkey Wards' favorite wheel barrow color from what I've seen.

The crank ends and pedals are pretty ordinary. The cranks are exactly the same as nearly all 10 speeds and the pedals? Well I have some white pedals just like them NOS from the 50's or 60's, still in the bag.

  What is not usual is that wheel. That is no part of a bicycle or wheelbarrow wheel.  If you pinned down the wheel you'd have the time and place.

I am pretty sure the droopy wood brace on the front went to the seat carriage. If you straighten it out, its just about the right height.
 
  yours Scott

You guys do realize the wheel is cast iron (flywheel)  my guess weighing 40/50 lbs.  Its unique to this machine and part of the cast iron parts package.  What we think as part of the seat carriage held level is 38" off the floor.  One would need a stool or ladder to get on that thing.   The table is 50" up off the floor.  Someone pm'd me about thinking that this was built for factory production work and not really available to private hobbiest.  Most castiron framed ones i seen look tobe on the small side and somewhat lightweight for production work.  The quest continues.

Where did you but it?  My family has a house in Moneta, Va....  at this tiny antique store in the middle of nowhere,  I saw a "pedal powered"  jigsaw....  looked somewhat like that.....  Each summer I went to the little store.  Year after year it was still there.  I felt like a little kid who passed by the same store window every day.....  it had the toy gun he always wanted.... 
      Eventually, it sold.  I suppose that is good; I don't know how many more years I could "hold out" before I bought it!!!!!  I wound up becoming good friends with the guy who owned the store.  I've found a lot of elderly, lonely, bored ...  some combination...  own antique stores.  So, it's no surprise I talk with them for hours!  And it's no surprise that I'm always happy to see them!
     Well, I better shut up....  although, I'll have to write about antique stores under "general discussion" ...
cheers,
bird

I got it at a east central illinois tractor show swap meet. thanks

bumped for any new members that might know about it. thanks.

To me it looks like a shop or farmer made from part of a old saw and more modern stuff depression era. We could pick it apart piece by piece, I have a few pedal and treadle tools around here, when I'm in better working order been known to make parts for them. I've got pics of them on the net somewhere? 2 am and back spams mind isn't 100% hope I didn't time out looking for them.
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/exak576j7cxeq/Pedal%20n%20treadle%20machines 

No idea who made it, but I'll echo the thoughts of others and say that its about the neatest thing I've seen in a long time.

Has anyone searched old Popular Mechanics, or Mechanix Illustrated issues for something similar?

Quote from: oldgoaly on January 16, 2014, 02:23:30 AM
To me it looks like a shop or farmer made from part of a old saw and more modern stuff depression era. We could pick it apart piece by piece, I have a few pedal and treadle tools around here, when I'm in better working order been known to make parts for them. I've got pics of them on the net somewhere? 2 am and back spams mind isn't 100% hope I didn't time out looking for them.
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/exak576j7cxeq/Pedal%20n%20treadle%20machines

I agree It is possibly home made. 19th century. 

Manufacturing used jig saws in aviation a lot.  I think your saw predates flight.

Chilly