Trading under the names "F.Lorch", "L.S.& Co." and "Lorch, Schmidt & Co." Lorch was a German company renowned for its wide range of precision lathes and other high-quality watch-making machines and tools.  What the marketing philosophies were with regard to the three different "brands" is not known with seemingly identical lathes being badged simultaneously with different labels - though after WW2 the "Lorch, Schmidt & Co." label was abandoned. Over the years each of the three names was given to many different types of machine - from tiny watchmaker lathes through small and medium-sized plain-turning bench lathes (not dissimilar to the American Stark and similar makes) to backgeared and screwcutting models. The latter type, with centre heights from 4 to 6 inches (100 to 150 mm) were often listed in catalogues under the Lorch Schmidt heading. Although the larger lathes evolved steadily to follow other makers - more massive castings, heavier headstocks and the ability to taker deeper yet more accurate cuts - the smaller lathes had almost finished their development by 1910. A comparison with Lorch lathes made in the first decade of the 20^th century with those produced in the early 1950s will show surprisingly few changes: apart from some cleaning up of details, larger micrometer dials,  built-on countershaft units and integrated electrical switch gear there was simply no need to alter them, so well had the originals been designed and constructed. Unfortunately, the result has been a bewildering variety of types and sizes  - sometimes designated only by the particular design or size of the compound slide rest, or headstock - or combination of such feature. It was also possible for customers to specify their own particular requirements of collet capacity, lever or screw-feed slide rests, screw, lever or capstan-driven tailstock barrels, thread-cutting or thread-chasing equipment, etc., and so create a unique machine for their particular purposes. With such a plethora of models to choose from identifying a particular Lorch model without access to a range of reference resources can be very difficult and, just to confuse matters further, the factory almost never fitted Type or Model name plates to any of their products.
Although comparatively rare in the UK - these were very expensive machines when new and usually confined to professional users in experimental and similar workshops - they are relatively common in continental Europe and greatly sought after not only for their inherent mechanical beauty but also because, even today, their superior design and quality of construction makes them a useful machine.
Featured at the top of this page is a backgeared and screwcutting 5" x 24" Lorch Schmidt Model C11 - a design with its origins in the mid 1890s and made, in a steadily-developed form, into the 1930s. Whilst early versions of the lathe (and some examples of a contemporary but smaller 4-inch centre height model), had the headstock spindle end thrust taken against a plate (supported on two studs) that completely closed its end, later types (from around 1895) had the plate open (to allow a hollow spindle) and then, with a complete redesign of the thrust arrangements (which could have been as late as the 1920s), a completely open spindle - in the manner of a modern machine.
Like many lathes of its era the front face of the headstock bull wheel was drilled with a ring of holes for dividing purposes but, unusually, both headstock back gears are covered--in this case with unusually narrow, intricately-cast cast-iron guards.
Lorch were a conservative company, and many of their lathes changed little over the years with even the overly-ornate, Victorian-era stands still found on lathes built in the first two decades of the 20th century. Should you have a lathe branded "Lorch Schmidt" of any age, or any sales literature for the maker, the writer would be pleased to hear from you.

A fabulous Lorch Schmidt 6-inch precision lathe Model C11-No. 1 from circa 1910 (built 1905--1925 approximately). Both power sliding and surfacing was fitted, driven from a separate shaft coupled to a 3-step flat-belt drive from the headstock spindle. 9 rates of sliding feed were available from 0.007 mm to 0.5 mm per revolution of the spindle. For very coarse pitches, or spirals, the shaft could also be driven from the changewheels. For its time the 3 V-way bed was unusually wide and deep; it could be supplied straight as the "Lathe No. 1" (410 kg) without a gap and admitting 40 inches (600 mm) between centres or as the "Lathe No. 2" (510 kg) in which a rather shallow 3-inch (75 mm) deep gap was fitted and the between-centres capacity increased to 40 inches (1000 mm). In 1910 the lathe cost £171 : 5S : 0d as a straight-bed model and £178 : 2S : 0d with a gap - equal to about £12,485 in 2007.

No guards on the changewheels - as was common at the time--but the backgears are guarded. The tumble reverse mechanism was contained inboard of the left-hand headstock bearing where it was better supported. A further benefit of this arrangement was, with just a single gear protruding from the mechanism, the closeness of the changewheel bracket to its (elegantly-shaped) support bracket. The small 3-step pulley on the end of the headstock spindle was to allow the option of a belt drive to the leadscrew.

Like many precision lathes at the time the elegantly shaped plain-bearing headstock was not as rigid as it might have been if shaped in a more brutal, rectangular fashion.

Tailstock with off-set on the sole plate for turning slight tapers.  The unit was locked to the bed not by a loose bolt but by an eccentric cross shaft with a permanently-attached lever at the back. The hollow boss at the front of the casting would originally have held a dipper rod and a supply of white-lead for application to the morse centre. Note the leadscrew bracket - bolted to the end of the bed and adjustable for perfect alignment.

A Lorch Schmidt backgeared and screwcutting lathe as illustrated in the  Lorch catalogue for 1912 and a French dealer's from 1910. The lathe was available in two versions: the 100 mm x 650 or 1100 mm Type AB and the 120 mm x 1100 mm or 1500 mm B-11. By 1912 the specification would have been dated -  with indications of a Victorian-era design including: a perfunctory saddle and coarse-pitch leadscrew, the carriage traverse by a crank handle direct to a bed-mounted rack with no intermediate gearing; spindle end thrust taken on a plate outboard of the left-hand spindle bearing and the tiny micrometer dials. The AB and B-11 Series lathes are easily recognised by their flat rather than V-way beds.

Lorch Model AB 100 mm x 660 x 1000 mm circa 1900. Lacking backgear guards and fitted with round-rope "gut" drive this is an earlier version of the lathe in the photograph below. 0.5" (12.5 mm) hole in spindle and mounted on a Lorch stand with overhead drive complete with a power take-off to drive a toolpost-mounted milling or grinding  slide. Note the extensive selection of screwcutting changewheels - a set often comprising 24 or more gears.

Elegant but lightweight cast-iron legs that would have originally carried a treadle-flywheel drive assembly. The extensions to the rear were for mounting the traditional rear tool board. It appears that this antique design of stand, with a few minor modifications, may have continued in production until the 1920s.