Besides being available for bench mounting, with a conventional countershaft, Pultra lathes were often supplied fitted to an underdrive cabinet stand - the "Mardrive". This very heavy unit was, in reality, a beautifully made industrial sewing and wire-winding machine cabinet, suitably modified by its Stockport (Cheshire) makers for lathe use. As Stockport is adjacent to Manchester, where the Pultra lathe was manufactured, this was a happy coincidence.
The stand housed a multi-speed, all-V-belt-drive countershaft unit (part A.890a) neatly in its left-hand compartment, with a foot pedal positioned between the stand pedestals to operate a motor-mounted combined clutch and brake unit. Although this choice of stand might seem strange, it was actually a very sensible choice, for, if you have ever examined industrial sewing or wire-winding equipment, you will be aware that, due to the daily hammering it suffers at the hands of piece-work operators, everything has to be every bit as well made as the finest precision machine tools. As many Pultra lathes were equipped with a bed-mounted capstan unit, a cut-off slide, and a lever-action collet closer for production work, they, too, would have been subjected to continuous, heavy use.
The Mardrive cabinet for the Series 15 was given the part code M.812/15 and for the 1750 and 1770 lathes M.812/17.
If you have a Mardrive stand and parts are missing - or you are uncertain of its construction - the following photographs will, I hope, be useful.