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Even in Sweden, home to many producers of fine-quality products, the benefits of copying an established machine were recognised and the well-established machine-tool makers Blomqvist produced their own version of the South Bend 9-inch until, it is believed, the early 1970s. Two models were available the "BS" and "SL". The former was a machine that followed the deign of the original South Bend very closely (but at the same time altered in almost every detail) with a 4-step V-belt drive from a rear-mounted countershaft. The "SL" was a more thoroughly reworked model fitted to an underdrive stand with a 2-speed electric motor and a swash-plate type variable-speed drive unit with a flat belt to an entirely new design of headstock. If you have an SL the writer would be pleased to hear from you. Two bed lengths were available that gave 600 and 1000 mm between centres, in both cases with a casting noticeably deeper than that on the original South Bend; the tumble-reverse lever was fitted with a quick-action spring-loaded indexing plunger through its end (instead of a bolt through the side) and the headstock spindle was increased in size to 17/8-inch diameter. Although early models of the Blomqvist had plain bronze headstock bearings, a combination of a roller race behind the chuck and a pair of ball races at the other end was employed on later versions. On the rear-drive model the countershaft was neatly fastened to the back of the bed and used a single, wide central bearing with the large driven pulley on one side and the 4-step V-belt drive headstock pulley on the other. Like the original South Bend, Blomqvist retained a V-pulley on the motor driving to a flat pulley on the countershaft - an apparent contradiction which actually worked well in practice. A simple but effective lift-up guard protected the spindle bull wheel so allowing, when it was raised, greater clearance for the operator to grasp and move the backgear release pin.
There is a strong possibility that the Blomqvist engineers, instead of obtaining a South Bend to copy, used an English clone, the Boxford: the saddle wings are not the light, rounded South Bend type but more like the much heavier Boxford pattern with flat and bevelled instead of rounded faces while the feed-screw micrometer dials are the larger type as used by Boxford from the early 1950s. The cosmetic appearance of the apron is, however, distinctly different to both the American and English versions having a raised section across its front face. While the front cover of the screwcutting box, with its cast-in guides to help locate the lever plungers, looks very different the internals on the Blomqvist below appear to have been copied from an English-threads version - the relative positions of the selector arms are not reversed left to right as they were on the  genuine "metric" South Bend and Boxford models. Further confirmation comes from the discovery that the lathe illustrated is fitted with a metric conversion changewheel set. The Boxford company, faced in the 1950s with a demand from schools and colleges for "all-metric" machines - and stuck no doubt with quantities of English components on their shelves and jigs and fixtures to produce them - supplied lathes with metric feed screws in the compound slide rest but an English gearbox driven by metric-conversion changewheels. It would seem that Blomqvist, even though situated in a country well used to metric measures, may well have copied this set up..

This Blomqvist appears to be fitted with a metric conversion changewheel set - thus, even for the home market, it would seem that the makers fitted an English-threads gearbox (the selection levers are disposed in the  English-pitch fashion) and an inch-pitch leadscrew.

The same, but different. The apron, whilst following exactly the South Bend layout, had a section across the front raised proud from the front edge of the saddle - itself a design modelled on the rather heavier pattern Boxford type with flat instead of rounded faces.

4-speed V-belt drive headstock. Before WW2 South Bend had also offered the option of a 4-speed V belt drive headstock together with a hardened spindle, but their catalogs entry hardly inspired the owners to choose it stating: "The flexibility of the flat leather belt and the ease with which the belt may be replaced are responsible for its wide popularity and use". However, in later editions they did concede: "The positive powerful drive of the V-belt makes it especially desirable for manufacturing operations and for use in shops handling work which requires volume in production".