Page 2: 16-inch Heavy Duty Model "A",
16-inch 'Engine' Lathe "AA" and 16-inch New Model "B"

Page 3: 16-inch Toolroom Model "B",
20-inch 'Sliding Gear Head', 
and 20-inch 16-speed 'Sliding Gear Head'

Shown on this page and following pages, are Reed-prentice lathes as manufactured from the 1930s into the 1940s. Models covered include the 12-inch Precision Toolroom, the Model "B" 14-inch Toolroom with screwed and taper spindle noses, the 16-inch Heavy-duty 16-speed, the 16-inch Model "AA" Engine lathe, the 16-inch "New" Model B, the 16-inch Model B Toolroom, the 20-inch 'Sliding Gear Head",  the 20-inch 16-speed "Sliding Gear Head",
Based inWorcester, Mass, the F.E.Reed Company of Worcester, Mass. Was, at one time, a prolific manufacturer of machine tools but it was for their enormously wide range of ordinary and specialist lathes that they became best known.
Frederick E. Reed worked for Wood & Light Co., a maker of iron-working machinery and power-transmission equipment. In 1875 he bought an interest in the A. F. Prentice & Co. and, just a couple of years later, purchased the entire company and operated it under his own name.
Reed then oversaw a period of rapid expansion to become became one of the largest makers of machinists' lathe makers in the world. In 1891 his foreman, John R. Black, became a partner and the firm added "& Co." to the name.
At its peak, around 1912, the company employed over 1,000 workers and their iron foundry was supplying castings to other Worcester-area machinery makers including L. Robbins and P. Blaisdell & Co.
Information Sources
We have seen an undated 24-page catalog for F. E. Reed & Co. that must post-date 1891, although the machine designs look somewhat older. The catalog is of lathes: primarily engine and chucking lathes, but also "hand lathes" for woodworking. The hand lathes were available in 9", 11", 14", 16", and 26" swing, with cast bed and legs. The 9" and 11" sizes were available in bench mount. The following information is from Charles Nutt's 1919 work, Worcester and Its People, and was supplied to us by Don Rogers.  At the age of 17, F. E. Reed went to work for the Wood & Light Co. This company, est. in 1848, made iron working machinery as well as pulleys, shafting and hangers. He wound up in the drafting room and did some bookkeeping. In 1875 he bought an interest in the A. F. Prentice Co. that manufactured an improved upright drill, hand and foot powered lathes and special order machinery. In 1877 he bought the entire company and renamed it the F. E. Reed Co. In 1890 John Black became a partner and worked until he retired in 1909.
In 1877 the company employed 6 men and produced about 150 machines a year, in 1912 he owned 8 buildings, employed a thousand men and produced two thousand machines a year. Mr. Reed retired in 1912 and the Reed-Prentice Co. was formed which took over management of the Prentice Bros Co. , The F. E. Reed Co., the Reed Foundry Co., and The Reed-Curtis Machine Screw Co. This corporation had a capitalization of $2,000,000. Mr. Reed remained as director. He died in 1917.