For many decades, until supplanted by the name "Mastif" in the 1970s, "Mascot" was often the name given to the largest general-purpose Colchester lathe made. However, while versions of the mascot made from the late 1920s onwards were generally listed with a centre height of 8 or 8.5 inches,, the example below is more likely have been only 6, or 6.6, and an alternative to a contemporary 6-inch Colchester that was to become known as the "Master". Interestingly, the lathe illustrated is fitted with a bronze badge showing that it was supplied to, or in the care of, the R.N.A.S. - the Royal Naval Air Service, the air arm of the Royal Navy and so named from its inception in 1914 until 1918 when it was merged with the Army's Royal Flying Core to become the Royal Air Force. As 1914 to 1918 is, of course, when WW1 took place, because the lathe is fitted with treadle drive there is a chance that it was once installed on a ship, it's independent power source when a ship was crippled - a couple of lowly ratings working the foot plate - giving them a chance of completing repairs and carrying on in action, rather than in a lifeboat. The lathe was also available from the factory in a modified form, a floor-mounted motor being used to drive the treadle flywheel via an extra step fitted outboard of the largest. Although the self-contained motor drive was the most modern way of proceeding, it did raise the of the basic model from £70 to £117, an increase of some 67% and today (in the second decade of the 21st century) about £12,400. However, as shown below, the lathe is run from more traditional (old-fashioned) line shafting - an overhead countershaft system of some complexity able to drive several machines from one motor. As there was no electrical control on the lathe, and to speed up work, the operator was able to start and stop the spindle by the use of a lever-operated striker that moved the drive belt from a "loose" pulley - so named as it spun freely on its supporting shaft, to one named a "fast" that engaged the 3-speed drive to the spindle. The particular arrangement used included a second fast pulley, mounted to the other side of that used to drive the lathe, that could have been used - in combination with an auxiliary countershaft - to drive another machine tool - a large drill, milling machine or shaper for example. One serious disadvantage of the belt-drive system employed was the lack of a break with heavy jobs run at speed talking ages to slow down. It was not unknown for some operators to employ a plank, levered against the chuck, to compensate for this design oversight….
Heavily built, the Mascot had its 8-inch wide and 6-inch deep bed cast with an integral chip tray, the result being much-improved rigidity especially as the lathe was supplied, in standard form with a detachable gap section of considerable size.
While drive to the leadscrew for screwcutting was by changewheels (screwcutting gearboxes being introduced on the range a few years later) the sliding and surfacing feeds were independently driven by a flat belt over a 2-step cone pulley, the design somewhat limiting the power able to be transmitted and restricting the number of feed rates to just two. However, although the system was sold by the makers as having the advantage of not wearing out the leadscrew by using it to generate the sliding and surfacing feeds, an alternative, simple and economical arrangement had been in use for some time, a leadscrew with a slot machined along its length that carried a sliding key to turn worm and wheel gearing inside the apron.
Like many contemporary makers of lathes, Colchester arranged the saddle with its top machined flat and incorporating T-slots, the idea being to provide a boring table and so extend the machine's versatility..

An overhead countershaft system - of some complexity - was used to drive the Mascot, the operator able to start and stop the spindle by the use of a lever-operated striker that moved the drive belt from a "loose" pulley - so named because it spun freely on its supporting shaft, to one named "fast" (fastened to the spindle) that engaged the 3-speed drive. The arrangement included a second fast pulley, mounted to the other side of the one used to drive the lathe, that could have been set up - in combination with an auxiliary countershaft - to drive another machine tool - a large drill, milling machine or shaper, for example.