Of a design introduced in the 1890s, the Telco was either a re-branded Boley, or copies. The German version was stamped with the insignia "Patent G.Leinen", the bed having a semi-circular base but a triangulated "bevelled" top section, this locating the headstock, slide rest and tailstock. Advertised alongside the contemporary and already very successful WW (Webster Whitcombe) and "Geneva" versions by Boley, it was not a design that caught on and would vanish from later Boley publicity material. However, it must have excited some interest, for the lathe has also been found in badge-engineered form with one example confirmed as the Rawco and the other as the "Telco", distribution being by Bannister Bros. of Hockley Hill in Birmingham. At least two other versions are believed to have been made (or re-branded) in Europe, but details are uncertain. It's possible that the British-made Telco was produced during WW1 when, obviously, supplies of German-made equipment were unavailable. The Telco was almost identical to the Boley, though with a number of as-yet un-catalogued, minor modifications. One has been found equipped with a beautifully made dividing head which, though not of the horological pattern, was perhaps intended for the engraving of radial lines on the faces of mechanical instruments. One example of the "Telco" examined was found marked "T. C. & M. Co. Ltd" together with what may have been a serial number: "210" while another was found in fitted box with a badge proclaiming "The Clerkenwell Lathe" The overall length including the headstock draw-bar thumb wheel was 320 mm, the bed length 273 mm, the centre height 42 mm (with a second bed, equipped with a gap able to take work 144 mm in diameter) and the capacity between centres approximately 156 mm. The spindle accepted standard G.Boley 6.5 mm collets and all threads - with the exception of those on the various clamps (holding parts to the bed) and the tool post - were a mixture of fine and coarse metric. Oddly, the clamp screws appear to have been either 10 x 24 UNC or 3/16" x 24 t.p.i. Whitworth.
Like the Boley (and many other lathes of this type) the Telco had the face of its largest headstock pulley drilled with 4 rings of holes and a spring-loaded indent arm that allowed the spindle to be indexed though a large number of divisions.