Nothing  is known of the background to the Keen lathe, except that it was probably made in Australia during either the 1930s or 1940s (by yet another "forgotten" manufacturer) and obviously aimed at the amateur market. Of approximately 4-inch centre height, and 16 inches between centres, its general appearance was not dissimilar to that of the English Drummond M-Type lathe as built from 1930 to 1942. However, although the arrangement of its cantilever bed may have been almost identical, in almost every other respect the Keen was entirely different: the headstock was of lighter construction carrying simple split-type bearings with the spindle running direct in the cast iron of the headstock (but, incredibly for a cheap lathe, with some examples found equipped with helical backgears); carriage and tailstock were guided along the bed by vertical ways formed between the front and back ways; a geared-down drive was used between carriage handwheel and bed rack - and there were "full" instead of "half" clasp nuts gripping the leadscrew. The bed was straight, with apparently no option of a gap, and clamped down to the bench by just two bolts, one at each end on the centre line of the foot. Examples of the lathe have been found both with and without backgear and screwcutting, thus showing it was possible for the impecunious to purchase a basic version or for the better healed to choose a more fully-equipped model.
The changewheel bracket was in the form of a forked arm, showing that the designer appreciated the easy with which this allowed both compound-drive fine-feed to be set up and variety of pitches easily generated.
If you have a Keen lathe, any Keen sales literature or know anything of the company the writer would be very interested to hear from you.