Seneca Falls "Star" lathes were made at Seneca Falls, in New York State, U.S.A. with one of the earliest examples to find popularity being both the little 3-inch centre height "Gem" of 1889 and much better specified treadle-driven backgeared and screwcutting model of the same era. The machines were not distinguished by any particular feature, nor did they attempt to market any unusual or out of the ordinary designs indeed, the company claimed in its literature the modest and achievable aims of "Quality, Economy, Service". Although unexciting in concept they were, nevertheless, honestly constructed from good-quality materials and achieved great popularity both in the USA and abroad, with numerous examples being exported world-wide; it is not an uncommon machine in the UK although most of the examples encountered there have been the smaller ones made just before and after 1900.  Various patents were taken out by the company and some of the lathes carried the appropriate numbers cast into their beds; patent dates known (there are others, as yet undocumented) include:
June 30, 1885. August 20, 1889. November 5, 1895. February 25, 1896. April 14 1896. December 22, 1896. December 1, 1908.  April 6 and May 18, 1909. January 11, 1910.  June 20, 1911. February 4, 1913.  February 9, 1915. November 14, 1917.  November 19, 1918 and May 11, 1920.
American readers may well come across examples of wood lathes made by Seneca Falls sold under the "Crown" label or, even more rarely, as metal-turning lathes marked "Handy Lathe"; the latter were very short-bed machines

A standard Seneca Falls Star 10", 12" and 14" lathe of the mid 1920s with screwcutting by changewheels and power cross feed.
This range of smaller lathes was available for bench mounting or on floor legs with and without a chip tray -whilst and the 10" and 12" lathes could also be supplied fitted with a treadle drive.
The headstock spindle, of  60-65 carbon crucible steel and finish ground, ran in hand-scraped bearings fitted with oil-thrower rings. Some, if not all spindles, were fitted with a spigot behind the thread to more securely locate the fittings screwed on to it - by no means a common precaution at the time.
The backgear assembly could be engaged without having to use a spanner, and the large cone-drive  pulley was finish turned on the inside and correctly balanced for smooth running at higher speeds.
The saddle, which ran on the usual American pattern inverted-V bed, was fitted with keeper plates (or "gibs") at both front and rear. The cross-slide was fitted with an adjustable stop and its screw fully covered and fitted with a rather small, but zeroing, micrometer dial.
Whilst many makers of even quite large lathes were content to fit a tumble-reverse mechanism driven from a gear on the end of the headstock spindle, and to run the reversing gear train on pins having support on one side only,  Star positioned the reversing drive to the leadscrew underneath the left-hand end of the headstock spindle, allowing a slightly more rigid assembly to be created. The appearance of the round-headed tumble-reverse control lever and its slot were surprisingly like that fitted to the English Drummond lathe.
The changewheels had rounded edges to guard the operator's hands and their full guarding included a door fitted with pegs to hold spare gears neatly in place. The changewheels were fitted with "retained" split-spring washers which enabled the gears to be slipped on and off quickly when changing the screwcutting ratio.
The leadscrew was slotted and acted as a power shaft. A bronze worm wheel, carried on the apron, was fitted with an internal key which engaged with the leadscrew slot and provided a power take-off for sliding and surfacing feeds. The selection and clutch engagement of feeds was controlled by two "star" shaped handwheels on the apron front.
Like a South Bend all small screws, nuts and other components, which might be bruised in the course of routine maintenance were case hardened to protect their appearance.
Standard equipment consisted of both large and small faceplates, two centres, fixed and travelling steadies, changewheels for screwcutting, a drop-forged tool-post wrench and a countershaft assembly.
If you are restoring one of these lathes you might like to know that they were finished with: " …five coats of filler and oil-proof paint leaving a smooth, easily cleaned surface."..