Manufactured in the town of Varnamo, Sweden - once the home of well-known lathe makers Storebro Bruks Aktiebolag - the Prema range of shapers shown below and on the page and flowing page, was made from the 1950s until the1970s.
Smallest in the range was the Model 01, this being mounted on a heavy, cast-iron base with a footprint of 830 x 405 mm with a small storage cupboard on one side and a door on the other to allow access to the motor, drive pulleys and clutch.
Mounted inside the stand was a 1 h.p., 1400 r.p.m., 3-phase motor that drove, using a V-belt running over 2-step pulleys, to a clutch attached to a two-speed gearbox - the drive being oil-immersed for lubrication. The gearbox held gears in a tempered nickel-chrome steel with the shafts running in SKF ball races, the arrangement giving the 275 mm travel, V-guided ram, four stroke rates of 60, 80, 110 and 150 per minute. At extra cost, the makers could supply a mechanism that allowed the stroke length to be adjusted while the machine was running. Carried on the end of the ram was the usual kind of tool slide fitted with a hinged clapper box; the slide travel was 85 mm and the assembly could be tilted through 60° each side of central with a degree scale engraved into the outer face of the supporting flange.
Machined on all sides and arranged so the front section could be easily removed, the 280 x 175 mm by 190 mm high box table carried three T-slots on its top surface, two on the right-hand faces and the left-hand face machined with a vertical Vee-groove in which a round workpiece could be located - four plain holes being provided to allow the job to be clamped down. Supported at the front on a single post, the base of which slid across a machined surface, the table could be swivelled through 45° each way from horizontal and driven under power both horizontally and vertically - travel in the former case being 335 mm and in the latter 225 mm. Fitted as part of the standard equipment was a rather deep, swivel-base machine vice with 135 mm wide and 45 mm deep jaws and a maximum opening capacity of 100 mm.
One interesting option on the No. 01 was a slotting attachment with a ram travel of 125 mm. The entire unit was used in place of the normal ram and driven from the shaper's crank arm and had the facility (using slotted mounting holes) for the vertical ram to be set up to  10° from the vertical, so allowing it to cut bevelled holes and slots. Other makers also offered similar attachments, including Invicta in the UK and Rhodes in the United States with their "Convertible" model.
Equipped with its electric motor and control gear, the Prema Model 01weighed around 530 kg and stood 1300 mm high. If you have a Premo shaper, the writer would be interested to hear about it.
Prema ShapersNo. 03 and No. 04 on this page