The Arrow shaper of the 1920s and 1930s was an unusual machine with a large spring mounted at the rear of the base casting that, the maker's claimed ingeniously and incorrectly, "absorbs 50% of labour required by the operator".
The stroke of the ram was 9 inches, the automatic traverse of the head 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 to a large workpiece for use as a keyway slotter.