"A cantilever bed, sir? Most certainly, here we have the world's largest and believed to have been built in Germany."
Mounted on a very heavy cast-iron plinth formed as one with the bed and with a bolted-on headstock, the origin of this plain-turning (non-screw cutting) unusual lathe is a mystery.
Drive comes direct from a large-frame motor held inside the cabinet leg, power being transmitted to the headstock over 4-step V-pulleys using an "A" section belt. Clearly engineered for some special purpose, the headstock spindle carries, on its left-hand side, a second twin V-belt pulley with, between that and the driven pulley, a dog clutch controlled by a lever on the headstock's front face. No backgear is fitted, so only higher speeds are available; the compound slide rest is of the quite ordinary, screw-feed type with micrometer dials.
Further details are awaited from the lathe's new owner.