Made by the Johnston Manufacturing Company of Arlington, New Jersey in the United States, the Johnston "Monitor Nine" lathe appears to have been currentduring the early years of the 1920s. Just a single advertisement has been foundfor the comoany, a tiny lineage placement on page 24 in the Popular Mechanics magazine for February 1922 - reproduced at the end of the page
With a swing of 91/2" and admitting some 18 inches between centres, the Johnston was of a sound specification with a 3/4" bore spindle, backgear, screwcutting, tumble-reverse drive to the fine-pitch leadscrew, reduction gearing to the carriage handwheel drive and a full compound slide-rest assembly. Fitted with V and flat ways, the bed was of a good depth and supported on cast-in feet in a style typical of the time. Arranged with T-slots in each of the four wings to make it usable as a boring table, the saddle had equal-length wings to the right and left of the centrally-positioned and hence well-supported cross slide. Because the bed ways ran past the front and back of the headstock, the cutting tool could still be run right up to the spindle nose without having to advance the swivelling tool slide beyond its normal position.
Typical of its time, the headstock was open at the front with the cap-secured, bronze bearings for the spindle being carried on the usual posts of semi-rectangular form.
Happily, the sole-surviving known example of the Johnston is complete with what must be both its original 3-jaw chuck (with sunken, squared-headed jaw screws) and the flat-belt drive, clutch-equipped, remote countershaft. Although the countershaft would have been intended for wall or ceiling mounting, in this case the owner has mounted it nearly behind the lathe, the clutch being operated by a length of wood connected to the sliding horizontal engagement rod. Also with the lathe is a full complement of changewheels - including some remarkable large-diameter ones cast in the form of a material-saving, spoked design. If you have a Johnston lathe, the writer