Thought to be the earliest example found, the first Hercus horizontal miller incorporated a neat, built-on 16-speed all-V-belt drive (at a guess from 20 to 800 rpm) with a "backgeared" spindle that appears to have used (unsurprisingly) not only South Bend lathe gears assembly but also the same gear-guard covers. as well. Whether a 1.5" x 8 t.p.i South Bend spindle nose was employed as well is unconfirmed. While the machine was of entirely conventional construction one notable point was the generous traverse movement achieved by an unusually long (and suitably wide) slide. A vertical head was also available and possible other accessories as well. However, this first type is rare and the type more commonly found, No. 0, was built in two versions, the Mk. 1 and Mk. 2 with the latter recognisable by its 3-slot table (earlier models having only two) and 16 speeds that spanned a more useful 85 to 20100 r.p.m. in contrast to the earlier and rather limited range of 8 from 95 to 1140 r.p.m. A specification sheet for the hercus No. 0 milling machine is at the bottom of the page.
If you have a Hercus miller, or any information about them, the writer would be interested to hear from you..