Early Machine Shop

A machine shop is a shop in which machines are used to make other machines. Machine shops will have drill presses, lathes, planers, milling machines, and grinders, plus hand tools for shaping metal. Smaller shops will just make parts, but bigger shops will have erecting floors where things like whole steam engines can be assembled. A typical "job shop" makes all sorts of different things, and has machines grouped by function, i.e., all the lathes together, all the drill presses together, etc.

Here we see skilled machinists using lathes (on the right) and drill presses (on the left) to produce auto parts around 1900 in the Autocar Company, Ardmore, PA.

 
Images: From the Collection of The Henry Ford. 1) P.41.49.2.3

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