Of an unusual design the Arrow shaper appears to have been manufactured during the 1920s and 1930s. One feature - surely unique - was a large coil spring mounted longitudinally at the rear of the base casting that, the maker's claimed ingeniously and incorrectly, "absorbs 50% of labour required by the operator".
With a ram stroke of 9 inches, the head could be automatically traversed sideways 11 inches in either direction; the table's working surface was 10" x 6" and the travel of the swivelling and degree-graduated tool-box 31/2". The maximum height of work that could be accommodated on the table was 55/8". A 2-inch diameter hole was cored through the bed to allow shafts to be machined and the whole unit could be removed from the base casting, fitted with clamps and bolted or clamped in some way to a large workpiece for use as a keyway slotter.