Rather less well known than other American builders of smaller lathes, the American Machine & Tool Co. of Pennsylvania, Inc. was based in the town of Royersford, 32 miles northwest of Philadelphia. Founded in 1928, it appears that their products - a range of home-shop woodworking machines began to appear including table saws, planers, routers, wood lathes and drill presses. In 1947 advertisements began to appear in such general-circulation magazines as Popular Science and Popular Mechanics and this might have been the point at which their metal-turning lathes were introduced. The company also used other names in its marketing efforts including Marcus-Pollak, Plana Centric (referring to a patented tilting saw table) and Yolands Precision Tool Co. They also built machines for sale through Sears, Roebuck & Co., these having a number prefix of "149", and also Amco (or Ammco?).
With a centre height of six inches and admitting around 24 inches between centres, the company's metal-turning lathe was offered in four versions, all based on the same bed, headstock, carriage and tailstock and each equipped with a robust, built-on countershaft unit with all-V-belt drive. Two models were of a reduced specification, the backgeared and screwcutting Type 47-D at $82.50 and the stripped-down, plain-turning Type 47-C at just $57.50 -  both having a No. 2 Morse taper in the headstock spindle and six spindle speeds. The 47-C. while it lacked backgear and screwcutting, had all the mounting points ready machined so that an owner was able, as funds permitted, to bring the lathe up to the standard of the 47-D.
The other pair of lathes, the 47-A for bench mounting and the 47-B carried on cast-iron legs, were of identical specification but advertised as being of a rather better standard. Fitted with a No. 3 Morse taper, the headstock spindle had twelve spindle speeds and, fitted to the tailstock, was a rather small tool and collet tray. All the company's lathes were advertised as being made from "grey iron and steel" - obviously a dig at Atlas machines with their many die-cast parts - and the full specifications are reproduced in the catalog extracts below.
A decent range of accessories was offered including a taper-turning attachment, draw-in collets, a milling slide with integral vice, an adjustable thread depth stop, brass collets to fit inside a No.2 Morse taper adapter sleeve, a thread-dial indicator, a range of Morse taper arbors to carry milling cutters and a machine lamp
The metal-turning AMT lathe is rare; if you have one (or any company literature, the writer would be pleased to hear from you.