1929 Clipper - the most basic of the 1920s lathes with a single-speed, babbit bearing headstock- and 'fresh-air' tailstock. The centre height was 5.5" and, depending upon how brave you were, and what timber you had to hand from which to fabricate the bed, the distance between centres could be as great as you wished. Even today this method is still a valid way of constructing a large wood-turning lathe at minimum cost, the Conover Company in the USA being a recent example.
The spindle was 1 inch in diameter and threaded to take a faceplate; although a "socket" was provided for a centre, its specification is unknown. The rear of the spindle was threaded to allow a circular saw or grinding wheel to be mounted between two flanges. The lathe came complete with one drive centre, a faceplate, an adjustable chisel rest and weighed - despite the tailstock - a respectable 60 lbs. The cost, in 1929, was $15.50.

1929 Progress - with a much heavier headstock (though hardly improved tailstock) this 13-inch swing lathe had a 13/16" diameter spindle carrying two pulleys (of 6 and 4 inches in diameter) driven by a 11/2" wide flat belt.
With the lathe was a complete fast-and-loose countershaft unit - that allowed the motor to be left running when the belt was shifted, by the belt forks, from the drive to the free pulley. The lathe and countershaft had a shipping weight of 130 lbs - and cost $38.

1929 Wood-lathe 2-speed countershaft with fast-and-loose pulleys.

1930 "Peerless". Probably made by the Sypher Manufacturing Company of Toledo, Ohio, this was an interesting attempt to market a self-contained motorised wood lathe. The swing was 12" and the  capacity between centres 36"; the motor, an ordinary single-speed, 1/3 hp, 110 volt AC unit that ran at 1750 rpm unit, carried a faceplate and centre on its spindle. The bed was made from cheap, angle-steel sections and carried the simplest-possible kind of tailstock and toolrest. The lathe was priced at $33 - which included a freight charge to anywhere in the USA.
Sypher's own electric-motor headstock lathe had a better toolrest, a proper tailstock with a screw-feed, self-eject barrel and, considering the mass of the machine, a more conservative swing of 7.75" - strangely however, the motor was less-well supported and the machine cost $12 more than the "Peerless".

1930 "Challenger Home Workshop"
Build in the depths of the Great Depression, and only available as part of the $85 "Challenger Home Work Shop",  the wood lathe above was yet another minimalist Sears production that used as little material as possible to do the greatest amount of work.
Whilst the 8-inch saw bench and 4-inch planer appear to have been robustly constructed, the 6-inch swing 3-speed lathe was very lightly built with both the headstock and tailstock unbraced and clamped down by single bolts to the rails of a simple angle-steel bed. Note, however, that the drive was by V belt to an overhung pulley - the first time a V belt had been used on a Sears lathe - and quite possibly its first use ever on an amateur machine tool.

1932 "Driver"
Built on an angle-steel bed with cast-iron headstock, tailstock and toolrest (and with an overhung drive pulley) this was a very small lathe - so tiny that, conveniently, the advertising literature failed completely to mention its dimensions and gave instead the weights of the individual components: the bronze-bushed headstock 2 lbs 4 ozs, tailstock 2 lbs 8 ozs, bed 7lbs, toolrest 2 lbs and the two 4-step pulleys 1 lb each.
The price, including carriage, was $6.65. That was cheap - even in 1932 - but less expensive and even smaller lathes were to come …..

1932 "Driver Heavy Duty"
The last wood-turning lathe manufactured by Sears before the introduction of the "Craftsman" range, this (remarkable for its era) "Driver Heavy Duty" was built with a self-contained, 4-speed, V-belt drive motor-platform behind the headstock.
With a 12 inch swing , a capacity of 30 inches between centres and a shipping weight of 78lbs (without a motor) this was a much more substantial affair than its junior brother, shown higher up the page. The 42 inch long bed (which was 4.5" wide and 2.5" deep) was constructed from angle steel and carried a headstock, toolrest and tailstock in cast iron. The headstock, (unusually for a wood lathe of any age or type) was fitted with Timken taper-roller bearings. The price was $39.50.