South Bend 9-inch Lathe Clones
For South Bend Spares click here - Handbooks and Parts Lists are also available
Blomqvist - Boxford - Hercus - Joinville - Moody - Purcell - Sanches Blanes
- Sheraton - Smart & Brown - Storebro Boffelli & Finazzi - Demco
Original 1934 9-inch Model 5 South Bend Home Page Accessories
South Bend 9-inch Home Page South Bend 9-inch Clones In the Factory
Copied by at least ten makers (illustrated below and on other pages) the South Bend 9" "Workshop" must be the most cloned lathe ever with examples being manufactured, adapted and developed in Argentine, Australia, Brazil, England and Sweden. Where more details have been found for particular manufacturers hyperlinks against each machine will take you to further pages. In England Boxford and Smart & Brown made examples, the latter as part of a wide range of machines but the former as their only lathe. Three examples were made in Australia in the years immediately following World War Two: the Hercus, Purcell and Sheraton. The most successful of these was Hercus, who produced a machine that was steadily developed to meet more modern requirements. Purcell was owned by Mr. William Crooks who, having bought the Purcell Engineering Company in 1940, expanded that company's range (previously marketed using the "Vanguard" label) to include smaller lathes and other machine tools. In addition to the South Bend copy the company also made other lathes of various sizes - and information about these is sought. Although production of Purcell lathes ceased around 1960, Mr Crooks also had an interest in a distribution company, Demco Machine Tools of Sydney who marketed the New Visby and Record brands. The Sheraton was made in Bayswater, Melbourne, from the early 1950s until 1981. The Sheraton "Conquest" was a geared-head version of the South Bend 10-inch whilst other, smaller lathes of a different design, the Cub and Cadet for example, were also manufactured. Sheraton had a very close relationship with Demco and leased most of their (usually Czechoslovakian TOS) machine tools from them; in turn Demco (the import agents for TOS) acted as agents for Sheraton lathes and sometimes badged them as their own, with all the Sheraton badging removed. It is likely that a version of the Sheraton was made badged "Demco" and sold as a top-of-the-range Model A with a larger spindle, screwcutting gearbox, power cross-feed and 4-step V-belt pulley drive. Reports from Australia suggest that one of the reasons for the demise of Sheraton was its move from what was described as a "...dingy, brick rabbit-warren old factory..." on Heidelberg Road to new premises some distance away. Many skilled workers, being unwilling to travel so far, took redundancy compensation and the company lost several key personnel. At some point the Sheraton concern was purchased by the UK-based 600 machine-tool group who also handled, through their Selson Company, the import of TOS lathes into the UK - as well as many other world-wide machinery interests.
Another copy, though somewhat developed, was the Moody, manufactured by Matthew Moody & Sons of Terrebonne in Quebec, Canada. This lathe had an 11-inch swing, a roller-race headstock, a much larger spindle bore and a number of detail differences. If you have a Moody, please make contact.
Even in Sweden, home to many makers of fine-quality machinery, the benefits of copying an established machine were recognised and both the Blomqvist and Storebro companies manufactured their own lightly-modified version until, it is believed, the early 1970s; a gearbox-equipped (Model A) Blomqvist can be seen at the bottom of this page and a changewheel (Model C) version of the Storebro here.
Although probably not produced in great numbers copies were also made in Brazil by Sanches Blanes S.A. (with machine labels marked: Industria de Maquinas Ferramentas. Ribeiraopires SP Industria Brasileira) and by a company of which little is known "Usina Metalúrgica Joinville S.A." at Joinville city, Santa Catarina State. The latter machine exhibited far more significant changes to the original than any other clone with adjustable bronze headstock bearings and an entirely novel design of apron. If any reader can help with details of the Joinville company the writer would be pleased to hear from them.
Brazil was also home to yet another version, a rather well-developed machine and manufactured by Boffelli & Finazzi