Old Machine Press – New Memories of Old Machines

Throughout history, various mechanical marvels have fallen by the wayside, the worthiness of some failing to become even a footnote. Some machines were popular at first but were doomed to obsolescence. Others never found a market. Some were too technologically advanced to be built, and some were just bad ideas. These marvels were all unique and hold a special place in the history and evolution of technology. These machines deserve to be remembered, and it is the quest of Old Machine Press to inspire new memories of these old machines.

Unless otherwise specified, all articles on this site are written by William Pearce and are of fair use for non-commercial and educational purposes provided credit is given that includes the original “Source” credit within the article as well as image credit (when given). Old Machine Press is not affiliated with or endorsed by any of the companies or organizations mentioned on the site. We do not sell any equipment or parts for any equipment.

William Pearce’s interest in aviation began at a very young age when he lived at a fly-in community with his parents. William is a mechanically minded individual whose primary interests are aircraft piston engines, World War II aircraft, and air racing. Over the years, he has amassed a large literature collection on aviation. William is a graduate of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, a member of the Aircraft Engine Historical Society, and a former crew member for a record-setting air racer. William lives on California’s central coast with his wife and children.

Images: Most of the images on this site come from the internet and are images that have been reproduced countless times. Effort is given to credit modern images. All images on this site exist for educational purposes and are not offered for sale. Any image can be saved from this site. Old Machine Press does not hold the copyright to any images. Please contact us if you have any concerns regarding an image on this site.

Conversions: Converted units are not rounded. This enables the reader to easily deduce the original value and ensures the accuracy of future conversions. For example, when a value such as 16,404 ft (5,000 m) is given, 5,000 m is the original value and 16,404 ft is the conversion. Should 16,404 ft be copied elsewhere, it will readily convert back to 5,000 m.

Horsepower: There is a 1.387% difference between horsepower (hp) and metric horsepower—1,000 hp is 1,013.87 metric hp. Metric horsepower is cheval-vapeur (ch: French), Pferdestärke (PS: German), Cavalli Vapore (CV: Italian), and many others. For modern use, the various metric horsepower units have been replaced by a different unit: the kilowatt (kW). In many older texts, it is not clear if the values given are true hp, or if they were originally ch, PS, CV, etc. Because of this and the general confusion that can arise with small conversion factors, all power values on this site are simply listed as “hp” and include the kW value. This means that some values are technically off by 1.387%, but that level of accuracy is beyond what was obtainable by the original machinery used to measure power output. In other words, debating whether an engine built in 1925 produced 1,000 hp (1,014 metric hp) or 1,000 metric hp (986 hp) is rather pointless, considering it is doubtful the engine made exactly 1,000 “power units” and that its measured output would undoubtedly change more than 1.387% if the engine were run on a different dyno.