Manufactured during the late 1940s and early 1950s by Officine Meccaniche ed Aeronautiche of Turin, Italy and distributed in the UK by B.Elliot & Co. Ltd. of London, the "Cabiati Mario" TPR1 was a simple but well-built short-bed, plain-turning lathe. While very similar in design to the English Rindis - a genuine multi-function machine able to be equipped with an almost bewildering range of accessories - the Cabiati was very much simpler with accessories restricted to screw and lever-action compound slide-rest assemblies, a slide-rest mounted 5-tool capstan head and a special tailstock. However, both were very compact and adaptable and intended, ideally, to be used for smaller work and simple productions runs alongside larger machines.
Heavily constructed, the Cabiati had its headstock and bed cast as one piece, the latter with a V at the front and a flat at the rear. It seems that two forms of bed were made; one for lighter work with plain faces front and back and a more robust version, this having two strengthening ribs along the faces, set one above the other and tapering down from the headstock to tailstock. The bed was bolted to an equally heavy cast-iron stand that held the motor, countershaft and a standard-fit, 0.5 h.p. electric-pump coolant unit.
With a centre height of 127 mm and a between-centres capacity of 400 mm, the Cabiati had a through-collet capacity of 14 mm with the spindle, also threaded on its nose, made from a heat-treated, ground-finish chromium-nickel alloy steel. The front bearing was a tapered bronze bush while at the rear a double ball race was used that also took end thrust. Lubrication of the front spindle bearing was by capillarity, oil being drawn up from a reservoir by a wick and fed into the bearing through a slot. The maker's claimed that the bearing was made of a special material (presumably an "Oilite" type) that gave it a "grande porosita" (great porosity) and so allowed it to remain "completamente impregnata d'olio ed assicura una costante lubrificazione al mandrino" i.e. completely impregnated with oil and so ensuring constant, uninterrupted lubrication. If your Cabiati Mario leaks a little oil past the spindle seals, don't worry, the makers realised that this would happen and provided, at the back of the headstock, a small drain hole.
A lever-operated collet attachment was fitted as standard, although this, being mounted in the centre of the spindle instead of outboard as usual, was of a somewhat unusual arrangement. However, as the machine was intended be employed on production work, the design allowed the operating lever - positioned in the middle of the headstock -  to be placed close to the operator's working position. Another feature of the spindle assembly designed to help repetition use, was the incorporation of an electrical control system; this was operated by a pair of cams and a contactor that allowed an instantaneous reverse of the motor to be made.
Drive came from a large-frame, 2-speed, 1.3 h.p. 2800 r.p.m. motor mounted beneath the headstock that drove, via a V-belt, to an intermediate countershaft. From the countershaft to the headstock a second V-belt, running over a 3-step pulley, took the drive to a matching pulley overhung on the end of the headstock spindle. Hence, lacking a slow-speed backgear, spindle speeds were on the high side, being 400, 560, 790, 1100, 1580 and 2200 r.p.m. All the electrical equipment - the push-button, no-Volt safety-release starter and main and coolant switches - were all provided by the German company Klockner - a sensible decision by the makers considering the dire state of the less-than-reliable electrical systems fitted to Italian motorcycles and cars of the same era..
When equipped with different accessories, the model name was changed, these being listed, variously, as the TTR1, ATR2, ATR3, ATR4, ATR5, ATR6, ATR7, ATR8, ATR9, ATR10, ATR11, ATR12, ATR13, ATR18, ATR 14/1, ATR 165/11, ATR 16/18 and ATR 17/36.
The makers were proud of the lathe, its durability and finish and proclaimed that, "The utmost care has been taken in the choice of materials and precision of machining, with tempered and ground chromium-nickel alloy steels used for the main spindle, pins and other stressed parts and with lids, caps, bowls and pulleys in cast aluminum. The spindle runs smoothly and silently and the controls are light are easy to use. The aesthetics of the machine's appearance - and its external presentation - have been carefully detailed and designed to withstand long use. The cast iron parts are sandblasted and painted in a special resistant coating and the operating levers and their connections and controls, the tools and tool holders are all nicely finished with chrome plating of the knobs and other small parts."
La massima cura e stata posta nella scelta dei materiali e nella precisione di lavorazione. Acciai in lega al Cromo-Nichel cementati, temperati e rettificati sono impiegati per ii mandrino principale, perni ed altri pezzi che per gli sforzi cui sono sottoposti piu facilmente tenderebbero a logorarsi. Accoppiamenti precisi tra i vari elementi eliminano ogni gioco, pur consentendo dei movimenti dolci ed una rotazione assolutamente silenziosa de! mandrino. Coperchi, cuffie, vasca e pulegge sono fuse in alluminio. Anche la presentazione esterna de! tornio e molto curata in tutti i particolari; verniciatura resistente delle parti in ghisa ed in alluminio e degli attacchi delle leve di manovra, sabbiatura dei ,portautensili, cromatura dei pomoli, oltre a migliorarne l'estetica contribuiscono alla buona conservazione della macchina.
The lathe was just over 1000 mm long, 480 mm wide and weighed around 370 kg depending upon the accessories mounted. The company, as it had a background in aviation, used as its badge a pair of stylised wings attached to the combined letters C and M. 
Do you have a lathe manufactured by Cabiati Marion ? If so, the writer would be delighted to see photographs.
Hai un tornio prodotto da Cabiati Marion? In tal caso, lo scrittore sarebbe felice di vedere le fotografie.