Motorised Zyto
Rear view of the Zyto countershaft unit and motor arrangement as manufactured in 1939. Later versions were completely different with a redesigned, straight-edged chip tray, the motor mounted on a hinged plate and the countershaft carried on a pair of upswept arms.

Although the cast-iron legs and chip tray were retained, the motorised versions of the Zyto produced in the late 1940s and early 1950s were arranged in a completely different way to the pre-war versions. The motor was mounted on a hinged plate in line with the countershaft with the latter carried on a pair of upswept arms. If you have one of these lathes the writer would be interested to hear from you.

Tyzack Model F - 15/8" x 6"  - this was, in reality,  a Sheffield-built Flexispeed. When supplied, some were found to have a prominent "ZYTO" name cast into the front of the bronze apron while others were blank, with no identifying marks on any part of the lathe

The "Baby Zyto"  (2.125" centre height by 10" between centres) was an attempt to produce a really simple little lathe but, during the 1920s and 1930s, it was in competition with many others and, despite costing only £2: 7 : 6 against the £8 : 2 : 6 of its bigger brother,  few can have been sold and today is a very rare find. The

Larger Zyto
The 5" x 24" Zyto lathe was of conventional construction with a deep gap in the V bed, screwcutting with tumble reverse and a compact backgear system engaged by a lever which can be seen protruding below the faceplate. Power cross feed was fitted and the lathe was available for bench mounting (with a countershaft unit) or on the treadle stand illustrated; the saddle was T slotted. From its published description the lathe would appear to have been both well specified and equipped - and cost a little over three-times as much as the 3.375" model. The photographer obviously knew little about centre-lathe practice - witness the fully-forward position of the top slide. This lathe was also marketed using the IXL brand name and would almost certainly have been made by Ehrlich in Germany.

The same lathe but fitted to a stand with the motor enclosed within the left-hand cabinet leg. The drive to a flywheels was a fad of the 1930s and  resulted in a lathe was exceedingly slow to stop from high speeds.

A Flexispeed ZYTO complete with the comparatively rare maker's countershaft unit. This version was also available with the worm-drive fine feed as fitted to the similar Tyzack model - a type that could also be had with a longer headstock able to be fitted  with backgear. The Zyto with the worm-drive feed to the leadscrew is very rare but, finally, in 2022 one was found and is shown towards the bottom of the page.