Taylor cutting-off machines were unique in that, instead of the stock revolving it was held stationary and the cutter head made to rotated around it. This had an immediate advantage in that the head did not need to be stopped; the cutters could be backed off, the stock slid through the hand, foot or air-operated vice by hand or under power and the next cut taken immediately. Made in several sizes each had a heavy iron casting formed the machine's main body and the cutter head, carried on a hollow cast-iron spindle, ran in massive spit bronze bearings. The cutters were held in slides fitted with adjustable stops and could be slid into and out of their cutting position by a toggle-mechanism similar to that used to open and close collets in a capstan lathe. 
For tube work the two high-speed steel cutter blades were formed as parting-off blades used in a lathe with side relief to ensure that only the front edge cut and space was left for swarf to clear. In addition the blades were off-set relative to each other so that each cut only part of the width and consequently left more space for swarf (that "expands" as it is generated) to clear. For cutting bars one blade was made with a vee point the other with a straight edge formed 1/16" higher that the general section of the cutter. The vee-point tool was set to lead  by about half the depth of the vee so that the chip removed by the opposite cutter was split into two to prevent chip jamming. As a further refinement the pair of blades shared a common tension chain to ensure that they automatically centred on the job. To provide top rake both cutters were set in the cutter slides at an angle of 25 degrees to the direction of traverse - and thus only required grinding on their front ends to match the setting gauge supplied with each machine. An adjustable roller guide was positioned immediately outside the vice to guide stock centrally into the vice.
Like many contemporary machine tools, the original models were driven by flat belts but later machines, following general developments in the field, used built-on motors together with V-belt pulleys.