Abstract: A gantry loader comprising a horizontally disposed support beam, a railway rail secured to the support beam, the rail including a head, a loader assembly including a carriage selectively displaceable along the beam, the carriage having a first pair of wheels for rollingly engaging the face of the rail head, a second pair of wheels for rollingly engaging one projecting portion of the head, a third pair of wheels for rollingly engaging the other projecting portion of the head, each of the third pair of wheels including a peripheral step selectively facing the first pair of wheels and having a beveled side wall surface, the third pair of wheels being selectively displaceable from a retracted position remote from the rail to an advanced position whereat the base and the beveled side wall surface of the step engage the other projecting head portion, and means for selectively maintaining the third pair of wheels at the advanced position.

Abstract: A cylindrical grinding machine comprising means for supporting a workpiece for rotative displacement about the axis thereof, a grinding wheel assembly including at least one grinding wheel and means for rotatively displacing the grinding wheel about the axis thereof, means for advancing the grinding wheel to a selected first position whereat further advancement of the rotating grinding wheel will effect stock removal from a rotating workpiece, a workrest jaw, means for advancing the workrest jaw along a predetermined path from a retracted position to a forward position where the workrest jaw non-deflectively contacts the rotating workpiece, means for advancing the grinding wheel from the first position and conjointly advancing the workrest jaw along the predetermined path, from the forward position at predetermined rates of advance to advanced positions substantially equidistant from the non-deflected axis of the rotating workpiece, and means for locating the workrest jaw at any selected position, along the p