ARCHIVEJapanese Machine Tool Archive

Chapters

We are adding the lineage of one type of machine per chapter. Chapters 1–3 are available now.

Cross-cutting views (coming soon)

⌛Key events (mini timeline)

Key events from Chapters 1–3 that help you follow the story. Numbers refer to the sources below; a "frame" is a page in the National Diet Library Digital Collections.

1. May 1889Meiji 22Ikegai Shotaro founds the Ikegai Works in Shiba Kanasugi, Tokyo (May), starting in a rented shop with two English-type lathes. At the end of the year he and his younger brother Kishiro build English-type 9-foot lathes for their own use. The oldest surviving Japanese-made powered lathe (Mechanical Engineering Heritage No. 53, National Museum of Nature and Science)[1][2, frame 45][2, frame 25][3, frame 26][4]
2. 1905Meiji 38Ikegai builds an American-type lathe to Francis's specifications and begins volume production of the "Ikegai standard lathe" (until then mostly English-type). It also tried producing about 30 a month[5, frame 65][4][3, frame 43][3, frame 44]
3. October 1921Taisho 10The Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce holds Japan's first machine tool exhibition in Osaka (126 exhibitors). First prizes for lathes include Ikegai's Type GC and Niigata's geared American-type lathe. Domestic machines cost about half to 80% of the price of imported ones[2, frame 46][3, frame 49][3, frame 57]
4. 1930Showa 5On an order from the Kure Naval Arsenal, Okamoto completes the Type ASG-2, the first spur gear grinder made in Japan. Max. pitch diameter 500 mm, module 8. Thirteen are built by the end of the war, and Okamoto goes on to become a full-line grinder maker[6][7]
5. 1938Showa 13Machine Tool Manufacturing Industry Act (Act No. 40, promulgated in March). Companies meeting conditions such as 200 or more machine tools in one plant were designated licensed companies, including Ikegai, Niigata, Tokyo Gas & Electric Industry and Okuma (Okuma in July)[8][9, frame 22][3, frame 71][3, frame 72][3, frame 75]
6. 1956Showa 31Temporary Measures Act for the Promotion of the Machinery Industry. Under the basic rationalization plan, machine tool makers renewed their equipment. Output rose from 3.7 billion yen in 1955 to 15 billion yen in 1957[3, frame 110][10, frame 18]
7. March 1956Showa 31Okuma's Type GPB cyclic cylindrical grinder is completed. It performs roughing, finishing and sizing in one continuous cycle and draws attention at the 2nd Osaka International Trade Fair. With the non-circular plain bearing, about 700 are built by 1969 (Mechanical Engineering Heritage No. 59)[11, frame 72][11, frame 66][12]
8. February 1957Showa 32The Tokyo Institute of Technology's Precision Engineering Laboratory succeeds in building a prototype NC lathe, the first NC lathe in Japan: a converted hydraulic copying lathe with simultaneous two-axis control[2, frame 75][13, frame 34]
9. March 1958Showa 33Makino develops the K series of vertical milling machines and Japan's first NC milling machine. The NC unit is Fuji Tsushinki's first commercial unit[14][15][16]
10. April 1958Showa 33Okuma's Type LS practical high-speed lathe (design begun in 1956). Unveiled at the Osaka International Trade Fair in April and put into production at 30 a month; an assembly conveyor was completed in 1962. Over 30,000 built in total[17][11, frame 65][11, frame 74][11, frame 77]
11. 1960Showa 35A Hitachi group develops an NC universal machine tool with a two-arm ATC (8 tools): Japan's first machining center. In-house NC unit HIDAM-43, probably the first ball screws on a Japanese NC machine, and magnetic-tape NC. Exhibited at the Tokyo International Trade Fair the following year, 1961[2, frame 92]
12. 1962Showa 37At the 1st Japan International Machine Tool Fair, OM Ltd. exhibits an NC vertical lathe: a vertical turret lathe carrying the first unit of Fuji Tsushinki's (now Fujitsu) NC unit 207A, with electro-hydraulic pulse motors turning ball screws. It is described as "Japan's first NC vertical lathe"[18][19][20, frame 4][20, frame 16]
13. October 1964Showa 39At the 2nd Japan International Machine Tool Fair, Okuma exhibits the Type GCS-N numerically controlled cylindrical grinder with its own NC unit, the OSP200. It draws attention as an NC unit developed by the machine maker itself[11, frame 81][11, frame 84][11, frame 86]
14. 1966Showa 41Ikegai Tekko, Hitachi Seiki, Makino Milling Machine, Yasda and others exhibit machining centers at the Japan International Machine Tool Fair. Strictly speaking, some had no ATC, but it marked the start of the MC era[2, frame 92]
15. 1967Showa 42NC lathe production: 8 units in 1967 → 66 in 1968 → 282 in 1969 → 589 in 1970 → 1,459 in 1973 (JMTBA statistics)[21]
16. September 1968Showa 43Yamazaki Iron Works completes its first NC lathe, the "Mazak Turning Center (MTC)". Launched at 7.3 million yen per unit, with a simple NC based on the FANUC 260[22][21]
17. 1970Showa 45Yamazaki Iron Works' NC lathe MTC-2500R (serial no. 200; FANUC 240, paper tape, electro-hydraulic pulse motors), the first Japanese NC lathe exported to the United States. Brought back to Japan in 2008 and designated Mechanical Engineering Heritage No. 126 in 2024[23][22]
18. 1972Showa 47The era of CNC with built-in computers begins. Fujitsu's NC division becomes independent as Fujitsu FANUC and announces a CNC, and Okuma releases its own CNC (OSP2000). From this year on, Japan's machine tool exports consistently exceed imports[15][16][24][25][26]
19. October 1977Showa 52Toyoda Machine Works' CBN production cam grinder receives the 12th Japan Society for the Promotion of Machine Industry Award[9, frame 78]
20. 1978Showa 53Mori Seiki's NC lathe SL-2. An integrated design with the NC unit built into the machine, it sold about 2,500 units in nine years and became the basis of the SL series[27]
21. 1981Showa 56NC machines exceed 50% of machine tool output by value. For lathes the NC ratio exceeds 70%, and NC lathe output peaks at 161.3 billion yen[10, frame 21][10, frame 46]
22. 1982Showa 57Japan's machine tool output overtakes that of the United States to rank first in the world, a position it held for 27 years until 2008[10, frame 9][10, frame 22][26][28]
23. April 1983Showa 58Yamazaki Iron Works completes the multitasking machine "SLANT TURN 40N ATC Mill Center"[22]

Full Chapter 1 timeline (all events) →

Full Chapter 2 timeline (all events) →

Full Chapter 3 timeline (all events) →

🔎How to find primary sources

Most of the sources used in this archive can be viewed by anyone. Searching by maker name, model name and year is the quickest route.

• Confirm years with two or more sources. Company histories, Mechanical Engineering Heritage records and maker histories often differ by a year for the same machine (depending on whether they give the start of design, completion, announcement or launch). In this archive the text states which year is meant.
• Do not take wartime sources at face value. Much of what was written then was propaganda, so we check the figures against statistics and studies compiled after the war.
• For "Japan's first", check what it was the first of. A research institute's prototype, a maker's first product and a first export are different events.

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