Advertised as being available with either a 4 or 5-inch centre height - and with beds 3 ft 6-in or 4ft. 6-in long (giving between-centres capacities of around 22 and 34 inches respectively) - the machine shown on this page is an example of the (very rare) first-ever commercially-produced Drummond lathe. Resembling in many ways the later and far more common 5-inch Drummond "double-height bed" model it carries a badge of a design also used on the Mk.1 Drummond hand shaper - an oval screwed-on plate in bronze. Like the other equally-rare 4-inch Drummond of the same era, this lathe is also in Australia, leading further credence to the idea that, when Arthur Drummond visited the county in the early years of the 20th century, he took several machines, possibly prototypes, with him. The lathe certainly presents sufficient design and styling clues to be sure that it was constructed (probably as a development model) between 1900 and 1902 - both "Australian" machines having a distinctly late-Victorian appearance. In addition the version shown here is of rather old-fashioned appearance for its time having a carriage and compound slide rest could have come from 25 years earlier. Of typically English construction - with flat tops and 60-degree edges to guide both saddle and tailstock - the bed was unusual in separating the duties at two different heights, the upper for the tailstock and the lover for the carriage. The aim of the designer was to provide a very large gap, capable of allowing the saddle to travel, fully supported, right up to the faceplate; there was no gap piece to remove and so no weakening of the bed when turning the largest diameters. Although the resulting gap was indeed deep, there was still little metal left beneath it and, in addition, to further weaken the assembly, the bed tapered in depth as it approached the tailstock end. One element of the Drummond's design that had began to fall out of use by the late 19th century was the method of taking the spindle end thrust on a plate outboard of the left-hand headstock bearing. A serious disadvantage of this system was that most makers fitted a solid spindle and, although some persisted with it - by redesigning to allow a hollow shaft - by 1914 it was no longer in use. Another old-fashioned feature of the machine was the backgear, where the square-frame bronze bearings were held in slotted lugs and simply slid into place, being located either into or out of mesh by vertical pins. Each bearing also carried its own small pin, engaged in a slot cut into the top section of the lug, that prevented the assembly from falling to the floor when put in the disengaged position.
Screwcutting was by changewheels and, because a full-nut (that could not be disengaged) was used to grip the 4 t.p.i. leadscrew, a particularly neat and effective dog clutch was incorporated. The clutch was built into a sleeve that surrounded the left-hand end of the leadscrew and had a thread cut into its outer surface. As the whole assembly rotated engagement and disengagement was by a bronze lever, pivoting from a point below the leadscrew, with a rack - that fitted into the thread - cut into its quadrant-shaped end .
With a general appearance very similar to that used on the 31/2 " flat-bed of 1902/04 the tailstock was of an unusually heavy pattern; it was fitted with a No. 2 Morse spindle and had large V-shaped ways for the top section to set-over on the sole plate. On their introduction in the UK the lathes came equipped as standard with a faceplate, drive plate, travelling steady with 3 hardened jaws, a hand-rest with two sizes of T, two hardened steel Morse centres a driving belt and spanners. The short-bed model was offered at £18 : 10s : 0d and the longer at £25 : 0s : 0d.
Additional pictures here