Bought new by the London Rubber Company (Makers off "Durex" condoms) in February 1942 this Dreadnought spent its early years turning moulds for  - well, what do you think - until it passed to a Nottingham engineering company and then, in 1954, to its present owner, Neale Chaplin. On its purchase evidence of a hard life to light and Mr. Chaplin set about a comprehensive rebuild - a restoration that also involved some careful modifications to overcome a number of the limitations inherent in the original design.
Although modestly priced when new the Dreadnought was an honestly-built, accurate machine and, whilst the finish may have left something to be desired, the basis was there for an impecunious but skilled owner to develop a much-improved lathe.
Notable on the machine below are a rugged but neatly-constructed hinged V-belt drive countershaft unit; drip-feed spindle-bearing oilers; a beautifully made T-slotted cross-slide large enough to be used as a boring table (note the closely-spaced gib-strip adjustment screws and three locks); a hugely extended cross-slide end bracket and feed screw (with a much bigger micrometer dial) to give increased travel and so make better use of a vertical milling slide; quick-set and 4-way rear toolposts (the latter essential for easy parting off on a small lathe); an adjustable carriage stop, coolant equipment, a Myford thread-dial indicator and, the crowning glory, an expensive Burnerd "Grip-tru" precision 3-jaw chuck.