Introduced during 1959, the huge 9.75-inch centre height Willson "Mk. 2" was a quite different machine to the much smaller and very popular 7.5-inch Slant bed. Although listed with a nominal diameter capacity of 19.5 inches in diameter over the bed (the "swing") the makers claimed that a full 24 inches was possible and, as no gap was fitted, the box-section bed was a particularly rigid structure.
Spindle speeds, even for the time, were set on the low side, the standard maximum of the 18 supplied being just 580 r.p.m. - though there might have been an unlisted option to have these arranged to run from 21 to 1000 r.p.m. Drive, from a 10 h.p. motor, passed though a combined electromagnetic clutch/brake unit - all the better for the ease of starting and stopping of massive jobs.
Massively built, the tailstock was clamped to the bed by two bolts and carried a No. 5 Morse taper barrel.
Introduced alongside the "Big Slant-bed"  model was a very similar model the, "11-inch" - though this had a conventional level bed with a gap, mirrored apron controls and a cheaper mechanical rather than electromagnetic clutch/brake to the headstock spindle drive..