A previously unknown maker, this "Boidon" lathe was found in England - though where it was made is not known. Like most of its type, the centre height would have been between 3.5 and 4 inches and the capacity between centres from 15 to 20 inches. Dating this class of lathe is not easy, for many remained largely unchanged over several decades, though in this case, as the headstock spindle was fitted with a 3-step, V-belt pulley, it must have been made post-1930, the date when this type of belt first became widely available. The appearance of the Boidon does not remind the writer of any other make, and while a previous owner might have applied the badge, its odd name and the spacing of the distorted letters suggest that the manufacturer applied it.
The origin of this simple but effective "bench precision" type (as it's often known) goes back to the Stark Company of the USA in 1862 and their "Toolmaker" lathe. The Stark was a machine intended for one-off precision jobs by a skilled turner and always set up with a compound slide and tailstock both controlled by screws - and usually with a simple draw tube for holding collets in the headstock spindle. The same lathe could then be adapted to perform as a "Second-operation" or "Finishing" machine, the transformation involving lever-feed controls to the slide rest, tailstock and collet closer. Set up like this, the lathe was intended to be part of a production process where simple parts could either be modified or finished. The final and most complex arrangement was the "Production" or "Capstan" type - this being fitted with a bed-mounted 6-station indexing capstan unit and, according to the particular job being tackled, either lever or screw-operated slide rests (or a combination of those) and a quick-action collet closer. By the simply changing the fittings mounted on the bed, any version (or combinations of versions) could be assembled in minutes and pressed into service with a minimum loss of time..