A very similar machine to that offered by the once very well-known but oddly named Bond's O' Euston Road, actual manufacture of the Pool horizontal miller would have been subcontracted to Slack and Parr of Kegworth (or another of the many small engineering companies in the area to the north and east of Derby). A simple, 108 lb device intended for use by model engineers, it was designed to sit on the front edge of a workbench so that the vertical feed screw for the knee did not have to pass downwards though the bench top. Even so, it was still necessary to make a small cut in the edge of the bench to accommodate a stiffening rib on the back of the knee casting. The table, with a ground top, appears to have varied in size, some being a useful 14 inches long and 5.125 inches wide, while others were the same length but rather narrow at just 3.75-inches. Travel was between 9 and 10.5 inches longitudinally, a traverse of 2.25 to 4 inches and a vertical rise and fall of 7 inches. None of the table's feed screws was fitted with a micrometer collar - though both the X and Y axis could be locked
Spindle bearings were in bronze, with that at the front tapered (1.75 inches long and from 1.125 to 1-inch in diameter) and capable of adjustment - while the more lightly loaded rear was a parallel bush 1-inch in diameter and 1.5-inches long.  Bored with a No. 2 Morse taper, the spindle nose was hollowed out to a diameter of 3/8" for its full length. The round, ground-finish overarm was 1.125-inches in diameter and the drop bracket carried a plain 3/8-inch diameter bush to fit the end of the 5/8-inch diameter and 4.75-inch long arbor.
Originally supplied with a 1-inch wide, 3-step flat-belt pulley with diameters of 5-inches, 4-inches and 3-inches a change was made to a much-superior system using double A-section V-belts - though whether the machine's light-weight construction could handle such an efficient power transmission is open to doubt. The miller came without a countershaft as part of the standard equipment, though the makers did offer a particularly well-built assembly with a swinging plate for belt-tension adjustment. The miller was approximately 19.5 inches high, 19-inches wide and 21.5-inches front to back. Although the weight, according to the catalogue, was 108 lbs., some owners report that it seems rather less and it is entirely possible that the machine was built up using parts sourced from various foundries and machine shops and would, as a consequence, have differed from batch to batch.
Built in at least two versions the original type can be recognised by a curved end to the overarm and, usually but not always, with the words "Pools Nottm." arranged around the hole through which the overarm protruded. A later model, identical to that offered by Bonds, had a separate drop bracket clamped to the end of the overarm and either the maker's name cast into the main body of the machine or a badge riveted on.
Although a simple device, by the end of its production run the Pool miller was no bargain - being offered, in 1965, for £69 : 3 : 6d. an amount only £1 : 11 : 6d under that required to purchase a Myford ML7 lathe, an altogether much more complex piece of machinery.
The Pools millers must, judging by the considerable number surviving, have sold in reasonable numbers and should any reader have one that differs from those shown below, the writer would be interested to hear from you.

A later version of the Pools Miller with a separate drop-bracket on the overarm - a machine that was, in essence, identical to the Bonds miller shown here

A later Pool miller (identical to that offered by Bonds) with a separate drop bracket clamped to the end of the overarm and either the maker's name cast into the main body of the machine or a riveted-on badge.