Like many other European and Russian makers the English firm of Alexander copied the original German Deckel FP! Universal Toolroom Miller - itself a development of earlier Maho and Thiel millers. When equipped with a universal tilting table - and fitted with the many accessories produced for it - the Alexander was a most versatile and adaptable unit, capable of  tackling an impressive range of tasks. The company called their machine the "Master Toolmaker" and, as their advertising literature claimed, it really was: "The machine for the awkward job" .
Unlike a conventional  milling machine, where the table can be moved in and out, the Alexander was fitted with a traversing head with a maximum travel of 57/8". Both the vertical and horizontal sockets took a No. 4 Morse taper and were provided with an adaptor able to accept spring collets up to 11/16" bore. For the English market the drive motor was an usually massive 1.5 hp 1425 rpm, single-speed 3-phase unit, mounted on an adjustable supporting bracket at the rear base of the main column. A two-speed motor was an option, but seems to have been rarely fitted. The motor (usually) drove up to the spindle gearbox, with its hardened and ground gears, through two matched-length "B" section V belts, each 56" long. With the single-speed motor 6 horizontal spindle speeds were available - 120, 190, 300, 475, 750 and 1200 rpm whilst the two speed motor extended the range to a more useful 60, 95, 120, 150,190, 235, 300, 375, 475, 600, 750 and 1200 rpm.
The "vertical table" had a clamping area of 73/4" by 215/8", with 97/8" of horizontal travel and 115/8" of vertical. Fitted to the vertical table was either a plain table of 231/2" x 81/4", or what the maker's described as an "Angular Table", which was available in two sizes with clamping areas of 103/8" x 171/4" - or 103/8" x 24". The Angular Table, which made the machine so versatile, could be tilted horizontally 30 degrees either side of zero, vertically 45 degrees either side of zero - and also vertically towards and away from the machine column by 30 degrees in either direction. The distance from the centre of the horizontal spindle to the table face was 115/8".
Able to be moved under power both horizontally and vertically the table was fitted with adjustable stops which automatically disengaged the drive. The drive, controlled by a single "joy stick" lever, gave six different rates of feed in each direction. The power was fed through a simple "gearbox", with the ratio changed by the operator arranging 4 sets of "pick-ff" (paired) gears in a housing built into the right-hand side of the column. It is known that the gears included (possibly amongst others): 19T, 27T, 35T, 45T, 55T, 65T, 73T and 81T. The gears, which had face drive dogs to engage with the fixed gears, were slipped onto fixed studs to give the desired rate of feed with a mild-steel shear pin hidden beneath a spring cover just inboard of the lower gear.
A word of warning about the Alexander vertical head: this was fitted with a 39-tooth 21-degree pressure angle gear whilst Deckel appear to have used the same gear, but with a rather old-fashioned specification of 14.5 degrees. Running the gears together is not recommended.
Further details of the Master Toolmaker can be found under the Deckel section of the Archive - and particulars of the useful Alexander/Deckel tool and cutter grinders here