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Atlas 9-inch & "Metalcraft" Lathe - page 1 of 2, 3 & 4
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A copy of the maker's handbook is available for the 9-inch Atlas/Metalcraft

Notable as the world's first lathe with an integrated all-V-belt drive system the Atlas manufactured and Craftsman-badged  9-inch "compound-drive" has also been discovered as the "Metalcraft ". A U.S. patent, number 1909522, was granted on May 16th 1933 to one Mr. James G. Collins - but assigned to the Atlas Press Company of whom, presumably, he was an employee. Sold through the Sears mail-order company as the Craftsman "Metalmaster" both this and the "Metalcraft" had straight-sided box-type bed feet identical to those shown in the patent drawings - and quite different to the splayed feet shown in the early Atlas catalogues.
If any reader has details of how these machines were marketed - especially the "Metalcraft" for which separate catalogs must have been prepared -  the writer would be very pleased to hear from you.
More pictures of the early 9-inch lathe here, and here

A remarkably fine and original early Atlas 9-inch Atlas--only the ball on the belt-tensioning lever appears to have been modified

A tailstock-end view showing the very light leadscrew bearing-support bracket. So fragile was this component that it often snapped off - in a usefully sacrificial way - when the carriage was accidentally run into the chuck or tailstock

On its introduction in 1932 the lathe caused a sensation - instead of flat-belt drive from a clumsy wall-or ceiling mounted countershaft and motor, here was the world's first with a neat, built-on countershaft unit and all-V-belt drive. An arrangement (in a simpler form) since much copied and still in use today

Details of the "compound" belt drive and how it operated can be found on the Atlas 9-inch home page here



More pictures of the early Atlas 9-inch here