Manufactured by Dignus Engineering of Orleans Road, Twickenham, Middlesex, the "DEC" screwcutting and gap-bed Dignus made a brief appearance in the early 1920s. Named after the Latin term for worthy, deserving and meritorious, in 1922 the company took a full-page advertisement in the 1922 Model Engineer Exhibition catalogue to list their Type A and Type B machines - both with a 3-inch centre height and with a  choice of either 9 inches or 19 inches between centres. Two other versions were also available, the A.G. and B.G. fitted with slow-speed backgear in the form of epicyclic reduction gears within the larger of the headstock cone pulleys.
Rather meanly, the headstock had only two speeds, though instead of what might have been an inadequate round-rope drive good sized flat pulleys were fitted allowing far heavier work to be attempted. Just a single swivelling slide rest was fitted, mounted on a bar fitted into a socket on the front of the saddle and locked by a bolt at the front. The carriage was driven by a leadscrew that ran down the centre of the flat-topped, 90-degree edged bed - but what arrangements were made for a dog-clutch is not known; it seems that one may not have been fitted making screwcutting an awkward procedure.
It is though that few examples of any type can have been sold - competition was stiff - and today examples are rare with only one coming to light during 2014.