A number of amateur and professional hand-drill manufactures have offered wood lathe attachments for their machines including Bridges in the United Kingdom and Bosch in Germany, the latter company even offering a particularly well-equipped, drill-powered multi-function machine, the Combi. However, almost certainly the first was Black and Decker, an American Company founded in 1910. Launched in the early 1950s, their first lathe (sometimes listed as the "Utility D7638) was cleverly and inexpensively built from red-painted, welded sheet steel stampings -  though later versions, notably the popular 24-inch between centres Model 944 (offered in blue and silver), were in die-cast aluminium.
The first model was of sound construction but not faultless, it being possible to separated the front section of the cradle holding the drill if too much force was applied to the holding screw. With all versions of the lathe, one or more faceplates were supplied, these being screwed onto into the drill spindle having first removed the chuck..