The George Adams 21/2" centre height Precision Lathe was a beautifully made little machine and has been a machine sought after by generations of amateur machinists - especially clockmakers - keen to get their hands on a genuinely high-quality product. The lathe was made for a considerable length of time, from approximately 1900 until the mid 1930s, and had a bed of typically English pattern, being flat on top and having the location for the headstock, carriage and tailstock formed by vertical flat shears between the two bed ways. An unusual feature was the mounting of the two bed feet - they were simply bolted to rather ugly-looking lugs formed at each end of the bed casting. However, being finely machines on both top and bottom surfaces - and located on the machined underside of the bed - the feet added to the bed's stiffness.
Like all "Precision" George Adams lathes, the headstock of the 21/2" followed the well-established pattern for a high-quality "Bench Lathe" of having bearings made from opposed , hardened steel cones that closed down on similar hard cones fastened to or formed as part of the spindle. Provided a supply of clean oil was maintained, this type of bearing proved capable of almost infinite life - some American lathes  (by Stark and Wade) having successfully absorbed over fifty years of commercial use without failure. The headstock spindle (or mandrel as it was then called) accepted a hardened, tapered insert that took standard 8mm collets. This insert can, incidentally, be hard to see, being a very close fit within the 7/8" diameter, 20 t.p.i nose, and must be removed if use of the full diameter of the headstock spindle is required.
The 3-step cast-iron pulley was designed to be driven by a round leather rope - or "gut" in popular contemporary parlance - and, whilst the method of locking it to the spindle was somewhat over-engineered, it was a  delight to the engineering connoisseur: the smaller end of the pulley was turned parallel for a short distance and slotted with four equally-spaced slits; a large clamping ring was slipped over the slotted section and tightened by four screws until it closed down onto the spindle - the arrangement can clearly be seen in the pictures below.
Equally neat, though not unique - it was also used by Rivett - was the method of securing the "balanced" ball-ended handles on the very long-travel compound slide rest; a long screw, with its slotted head moulded so as to blend in with the end of the ball, passed right down the stem of the cross piece to engage with the end of the feed screw. The feed screws themselves were 25 t.p.i. and the brass micrometer dials, finished, on early examples, with a double rim and traditional "rope" knurls, engraved with divisions of 0.002". The compound-slide changed over the years with some being in proportion to the rest of the machine (with the expected lengths of travel) whilst other were noticeably different with considerably longer cross slides and more modern-looking micrometer dials. Unfortunately the top slide - which on all models had at least  useful 3 inches of movement -  had no degree marking for its swivel settings; and, equally disappointing for a quality lathe (though in line with later Schaublin practice), was the use of a long horizontal slot in the tailstock casting to act as a clamp for locking the (short) No. 1 Morse-taper barrel. The danger of the casting being over tightened, and broken off, was mitigated against (to some extent), by the provision of two adjustable stop screws that passed through the slot - one at each side of the clamping screw. The general arrangement of the tailstock slit can be seen in the third picture below.
A wide variety of accessories was available for the lathe enabling it to be used for grinding, screwcutting, milling and light production work.

Screwcutting attachment driving, in traditional quality-lathe style and through a splined shaft, the top slide.

The maker's lever-action toolpost grinding attachment fitted neatly into the cross-slide T slot. The unit was very well built and incorporated a oil-bath gearbox to increase the wheel speed. Driven from an extension of the lathe countershaft the gearing allowed a work piece in the chuck to run at a modest 350 rpm whilst the grinding spindle rotated in the opposite direction at up to 12,000 rpm.

George Adams geared Toolpost Grinder - an expensive accessory at over half the cost of the standard lathe.

GA 21/2F Precision Manufacturing Lathe. The Model F was supplied with a capstan unit mounted on the tailstock and a double-toolholder cross slide for forming and parting-off work.
The headstock was specially constructed to accept collets of a much greater-than-standard capacity - 11/16" in the nose and 9/16" pass-through - however, to achieve this within the confines of a 2.5" centre height and transmit enough power to make the enterprise worthwhile, the large-bore spindle had to run in such massive bearings that only a single wide pulley could be accommodated between them.

The Capstan tailstock  that could be fitted to all GA 21/2 lathes. The barrel had a hole of unspecified taper into which a single tool could be inserted. A rotating stop provided an accurate depth location for each rotation of the handle - with the tool being automatically ejected at the end of the stroke.

The simple Forming and Parting Single Slide which attached to the cross slide of the compound rest.