The Rivett bench milling machine was laid out on lines not dissimilar to those of many others produced by American and European manufactures in the early part of the century. However, the Rivett was not only superbly made - and sold at a premium price - but included an unusual swivelling table.
Although most small milling machine makers offered their customers a choice of table feed, by screw, lever - or both - on the Rivett it was exclusively by lever feed, the makers claiming, with some truth, that,  "….. we do not put a screw feed on this machine. Experience tells us that the "FEEL" of a cut can be more readily detected though a lever than by a screw. We have these machines in our shop, cutting with saws 3/1000 inch in thickness and we have found it impracticable to use a screw feed on such work."
The miller was available in both "Plain" and "backgeared" versions, the latter (mounted on a more substantial base)having an arrangement of gears around the drive pulley not dissimilar to those provided on a backgeared lathe. The head (virtually identical to that fitted on the No.4 lathe) could be moved in and out by a screw, whose handle and graduated dial faced to the rear; although the travel of the head cannot have been large, no indication can be found of how the belt-drive mechanism was arranged to compensate for this.
The tilting table was fastened to the main horizontal slide and the rack feed arranged to pass through its mounting flange.
A shaft, which passed through the body of the miller from the rear, turned a pair of bevel gears, one of which surrounded a vertical screw which lifted and lowered the knee. On plain versions the knee feed appears to have been operated by a handwheel, whilst backgeared-equipped machines were fitted with a large handle.