Closely modelled on the fabulous American Monarch 10EE toolroom lathe - a machine introduced during the late 1930s and still in production today (2009) - the beautiful CVA was made in England from the 1940s until the late 1980s - when they were still available from the then manufacturers H. Cole & Sons of Curtis Road, Dorking, Surrey for £28,700, plus another £2960 for the taper turning unit. It always was an expensive machine and, even from 1948 to 1953, sold for between £700 and £1000 depending upon equipment - a sum that would, at the time, have bought a decent house in the better parts of any UK city. For its final form Coles proposed the fitting of a CNC control system;  however, only very limited numbers can have been made and the one installed in the Trowbridge college during the 1980s was not up to contemporary standards and lacked power.
Constructed as an uncompromisingly accurate and finely detailed machine tool the original CVA occupied about the same floor space as a Colchester Student but, with its cast-steel stand, weighed over three times as much. So confident were CVA in the rigidity of the machine that the stand's three floor-mounting points (two pads at the headstock end and one at the tailstock) had no provision to mount  anti-vibration pads - however, if a machine was to be (unwisely) installed on other than a level floor, the makers advised that it be packed up with metal shims.
To insulate the headstock spindle from vibrations associated with gear drive, the electric motor, spindle-speed gearbox and clutch unit were remotely mounted inside the base of the machine - and drove the headstock through multiple V belts on early versions and, for greater smoothness, a flat belt on later models. Three different ranges of twelve spindle speeds were offered: Range A gave 25 to 1645 r.p.m, Range B 29 to 2220 r.p.m and Range C (at extra cost) 40 to 3100 r.p.m.
When sliding and surfacing feeds were selected (by individually clutched levers on the apron face  - another beautiful touch) the drive, as on some Lorch and Schaublin lathes, was transmitted not through the screwcutting gears but by belt to a separate gearbox. This allowed not only much finer feeds to be provided, especially at high spindle speeds but also prevented the transmission of "gear marks" to the drive - as well as saving wear and tear on the screwcutting mechanism.
Taper turning, of a unique design, incorporating adjustable ball bearings to the slides and the ability to set tapers to within one minute of arc, was fitted as standard - and, because it incorporated a telescopic screw, it was possible to use the cross slide with the taper turning engaged.
A "post-production" CVA appears to have been made in very limited numbers, possibly during the early 1980s. These lathes featured a massive 10 hp DC motor, with a complicated control system, driving through a expanding and contracting pulley system, the movements of which were chain driven from a 0.5 hp electric motor. The top speed was 3000 rpm. Click HERE to see this machine.
Because of its standard-fit clutch the standard CVA is one large lathe which works well when converted to single-phase electrics - and numbers are now finding a second life employed in the private workshops of those model and experimental engineers who appreciate being able to use a precision lathe originally constructed without regard to cost.
For a fuller explanation of how the CVA was originally conceived and developed see the American monarch 10EE section of the archive.