Badged as the "Junior", this is a 3" x 12" Portass lathe from the 1920s or early 1930s. However, because non carry a Portass badge, uncertainty exists as to whether this model was ever offered under the company's own name - or sold only though a third party: for example, by a large tool distributor, a Department store (Gamages in London marketed an almost identical model with their own name cast in) or even as part of another lathe manufacturers' range. Of a simpler, much cheaper plain-turning type, the "Junior" was identical in general form to the Portass sold as a backgeared and screwcutting Zyto, even to the single swivelling top slide - though without a T-slotted top to the saddle. At least two versions appear to have been made (Portass were particularly adept at mixing up castings and fittings): one with the top of the bed having two separate ways and another with an entirely flat top. Although, at a glance, looking to be identical, the beds were cast from different patterns and, with the possible exception of the headstock spindle, bearings and pulley, every fitting was different..