Regarded when new as the finest quality, most accurate and reliable medium-sized toolroom lathe it was possible to buy, the early HLV had a narrower bed (just under 5-inches wide) than the later HLV-H - and numerous detail differences. Today, even the earliest examples of this classic lathe are, if in sound condition, highly sort-after and command high prices - unsurprisingly since the price new in the early 1950s was in excess of £1300.
Using elements of design seen in earlier Hardinge lathes, it even incorporated the "trademark" twin levers on the face of the headstock first seen on the Cataract-branded precision plain-turning lathes of the 1930s. However the bed, with its wide, flat top face and V-way edges was new - and a complete departure from its immediate predecessor, a machine that had used a split-height bed with the tailstock running on a central bevel and the carriage on conventional ways at front and back.
All HLV and HLV-H models were fitted with a mechanical, expanding-and-contracting pulley variable-speed drive system - with the very earliest HLV type (as shown below) having the speed changed by a hand-turned dial on the face of the stand together with a distinctive, vertically-disposed speed indicator that showed two ranges: a low from 125 to 1000 r.p.m. and a high from 375 to 3000 r.p.m.--a most useful spread. Later models were fitted with pulleys that were expanded and contracted by electric motors, the operation being controlled by a pus buttons with a speed-indicator column, mounted either on the face of the headstock or above it. The other essential HLV feature was also present on the earliest lathes: independent variable-speed drive to the carriage. The first examples manufactured had the speed-selector dial off-set towards the top of the control box with later types having it positioned centrally and the switches moved to the corners of the black-faced panel.
If any reader has photographs of a dismantled HLV (or HLV-H) the writer would be interested to hear from you..