Not one of the better-known Japanese machine tool companies, Herter lathes appear to have been aimed at both general-purpose and repair workshops and, in the larger models, as a more serious type for use in machine shops. Little is known of their range, with sales in the USA during the 1960s handled by what must have been a Japanese-owned Company, Diversified Tools & Equipment Co., as this was a Division of Herter Enterprises, Inc. When active, the distributor was based at 1201-09 N. Alameda Street in Compton, California 9020.
Of the two models so far identified, the 17.75-inch swing and 51-inch between centres JH-1752 was the larger of the two, a powerful, lathe with a 5 h.p. and several features that promised a long and trouble-free life.
Flame hardened, the bed was 12.625" wide, 12.5 inches deep and fitted as standard with a gap that allowed a job 25.25 inches in diameter and 8 inches deep to be turned on a faceplate. The expected separate flat and V-ways were provide for the tailstock and carriage with, for the latter (like other Japanese lathes of the time) the front V being given a wide outer surface to absorb wear and a more steeply-angled steep back way to take thrust - though proof of the effectiveness of this once-popular arrangement is difficult to find.
A 5 h.p., 1800 r.p.m. motor was fitted that gave twelve seeds from 40 to 2070 r.p.m. - the initial drive being by five B-section V-belts. Stop and start of the motor was by a "third-rod" system with two operation levers, one positioned just to the right of the screwcutting gearbox and the other pivoting from the right-hand face of the apron. For added operator safety and to speed up the stopping of heavy jobs, a brake of the automobile drum-type was fitted, its operation being by a long foot pedal positioned along the centre section of the stand. Rather oddly, the motor start and stop buttons were positioned at the tailstock end of the bed.
Well supported, the dynamically balanced spindle ran in three bearings; the front and back being of the Timken precision type and the centre a double row angular contact ball-race type. Lubrication was by a pressure pump of the Trochoid (micro annular type) that supplied filtered oil to all parts of the headstock.
Both the cross and top slide were fitted with easily-adjusted tapered gib strips with the feed screws hardened and ground - though if oil-bath lubrication and the provision for taking up slack were provided is not known.
Fully enclosed and with control by three levers, the screwcutting and feeds gearbox drove a 1.25" diameter, 4 t.p.i. leadscrew and generated 28 metric pitches from 0.5 to 10 mm and 32 inch from 4 to 56 t.p.i. The 32 longitudinal carriage power feeds ranged from 0.00345 to 0.0156 inches per revolution of the headstock spindle and the power cross feed from 0.00086 to 0.0044".
The smaller model, the JH-1336, had a swing of 13.6 inches, took 36 inches between centres and, fitted with a 2 h.p., 1800 r.p.m. motor, had variable speeds through a pair of opening and closing pulleys fitted not with the usual extra-wide type of belt, but a standard one in a B section. Even so, the makers quoted not a range of speeds, but twelve individual ones of 40, 100, 165, 260 610 and 1035 r.p.m. in low gear and 80, 200, 330, 520, 1220 and 2070 r.p.m. in high.
In other words, the two lathes were aimed at the same market segment as the Colchester Triumph 2000 (Clausing 1830) and a Colchester Master (Clausing 713-inch).
Herter also made chucks, rotary tables, indexing attachments, machine vices - and a vertical, ram-head milling machine. The full specification of the lathes is given below.
If you have a Herter machine tool, the writer would welcome a set of photographs and your comments on how it performs..