First produced in the late 1950s and manufactured until the late 1960s. the Murad Bormilathe (provisional Patent 18077/59) was an unusual machine; the headstock and No. 3 Morse taper tailstock were each mounted on independent vertical slides and capable of adjustment to give a centre height of between 3.5 and 7 inches. Backgeared and screwcutting with cast-iron clasp nuts to the 0.75" diameter, Acme-form leadscrew the lathe, could accommodate just 10" between centres and, by replacing the cross slide with a 7" x 8.375" boring table, could also be used for horizontal milling - the milling arbor being helped by a 3 Morse taper in the spindle nose complete with drive slots. Few accessories were available but included a sawbench attachment and various sizes of faceplate.
The spindle ran on pre-loaded angular-contact bearings and had a bore of 0.78"; the bearings had no obvious means of lubrications and must have been grease-filled "for life" when new.
The electric motor, a special "Bronson" unit (built in the Murad factory) was made for the Bormilathe and featured a swinging bracket on the end designed to keep the belt tension correct as the headstock was elevated. It was available as either a standard single-speed model or (at considerable extra cost) with an integral gearbox with three ratios of 1:1, 1:2 and 1:3; with this type fitted, and in conjunction with belt changes and backgear, a total of  twelve spindle speeds were available between 44 and 1750 r.p.m. With the motor set to the 1:1 ratio spindle speeds were 132, 328, 700 and 1750 rpm; at 2:1 the speeds became 66, 164, 350 and 875 rpm and at 3:1 they changed to 44, 109, 233 and 583 rpm. The expensive Bronson motor was also offered by the Murad Company as a separate item to drive other small machine tools.
A Bormilathe was taken on the Sir Vivian Fuchs's Trans-Antarctic Expedition and numbers were employed in the workshops of the UK Atomic Energy Authority and various universities. Murad also made two models of a conventional small lathe of 5-inch centre height (with car-type "Thinwall" white-metal bearing shells in the headstock) the Cadet and Antarctica, but was better known for their range of  small capstan lathes. If anyone has an example of the conventional 5-inch lathe, or a Murad Capstan, the writer would be interested to hear from them.
Mr Wadia Murad was, by all accounts, an interesting person, widely gifted in engineering matters and with several inventions to his name. His original factory was in Watford and his second (with permission granted from the Ministry of Supply in 1946) in Stocklake, Aylesbury; from there a final move was made to an industrial development area in remote Sheppy. During the Second World war he laid down plans for a Murad car, roughly along the lines of a large English Humber with an engine of Murad's own design and execution - of which only one example was built. By the late 1970s a combination of industrial recession and a particular downturn in the market for small capstan lathes led Murad to advertise his concern for sale in October 1980. Unfortunately there were no takers and the company closed. When the Sheppey factory was being cleared in the early 1980s the prototype car and boxes of parts and plans came to light. Fortunately the plans were saved from the demolition men's fire by, literally, the snatch of a hand and secured for safe keeping. .