Active in the 1940s and into the early 1950s, Metalclad was a firm based in Neath, Glamorganshire. They had their own foundry and were makers of iron castings and a variety of well-made and robust wood-working machinery including lathes, planers, spindle moulders, vertical borers, bandsaws and ripsaws. The only lathe known to have been produced was a very heavily-built model with a centre height of around 7 inches and able to accept up to 57 inches between centres. Styling - and the lathe was certainly out of the ordinary in this respect - was an odd mix of "American Streamline" and Art Deco, though what was in the mind of the designer in choosing this approach is unclear; more successful use of this sort of styling can be seen in examples of the very fine lathes made by the American Pacemaker Company.
Power came from a huge, 2 h.p. 3-phase motor mounted in the base of the headstock plinth with the drive passing upwards by belts direct to the headstock spindle - the arrangement including a handy, lever-operated brake.
Although threaded at both ends to allow bowl turning from the left-hand face, no attachment points or support for a T-rest were provided on the outer face of the plinth. The solution, as on Wadkin RS lathes, was to provide a separate floor-mounted plinth that would have allowed bowls of considerable diameter to be turned.
For metal-turning, a substantial compound slide rest was provided, the original toolpost being a very large one of the American 'lantern' type.
Having been absorbed into the ever-growing machine-tool group of George Cohen & Sons (later the 600 Group), by 1953 reduced demand for castings by Metalclad to short-time working in their foundry and, a little later, the end of all wood-working machinery production. Lathes of a similar type and of the same era included the Harrison Union Jubilee, the very similar Cooksley, Dominion, Milford, Wadkin BZL, Wadkin BXL, Oliver and Raglan..