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The South Bend 9" "Workshop" lathe was copied by at least nine makers - and illustrated below and on other pages are examples of the machine as developed in Australia, Brazil, England and Sweden. Besides the machines for which illustrations exist there was the Australian Purcell, made by Mr. William Crooks who, having bought the Purcell engineering company in 1940, turned to the manufacture of small lathes and other machine tools. In addition to the South Bend copy the company also produced other lathes of various sizes - and information about these is sought. Although production of Purcell lathes ceased around 1960, Mr Crooks also owned a distribution company, Demco Machine Tools of Sydney, a firm still in business. The Sheraton was another Australian South Bend copy, made in Bayswater, Melbourne, from the early 1950s until 1981 - spares for these machines might be available from Robbie Rogers of 36, Sydney Road, Bayswater, Melbourne. The Sheraton "Conquest" was a geared-head version of the South Bend 10-inch whilst other, smaller lathes of a different design, the Cub and Cadet for example, were also manufactured. Sheraton had, apparently, a very close relationship with Demco and leased most of their (usually Czechoslovakian TOS) machine tools from them; in turn Demco (the import agents for TOS) acted as agents for Sheraton lathes. Reports from Australia suggest that one of the reasons for the demise of Sheraton was its move from what was described as a "...dingy, brick rabbit-warren old factory.." on Heidelberg Road to new premises some distance away. Many skilled workers, being unwilling to travel so far, took redundancy compensation and the company lost several key personnel. At some point the Sheraton concern was purchased by the English-based 600 machine-tool group who also handled, through their Selson Company, the import of TOS lathes into the UK - as well as many other world-wide machinery interests. Even in Sweden, home to many producers of fine-quality machinery, the benefits of copying an established machine were recognised and both the Blomqvist and Storebro companies manufactured their own lightly-modified version until, it is believed, the early 1970s; a gearbox-equipped (Model A) Blomqvist can be seen at the bottom of this page (and further Blomqvist coverage here) and a changewheel (Model C) version of the Storebro here. Although probably not produced in great numbers copies were also made in Brazil by Sanches Blanes S.A. (with machine labels marked: Industria de Maquinas Ferramentas. Ribeiraopires SP Industria Brasileira) and by a company of which little is known "Usina Metalúrgica Joinville S.A." at Joinville city, Santa Catarina State. The latter machine exhibited far more significant changes to the original than any other clone with adjustable bronze headstock bearings and an entirely novel design of apron. If any reader can help with details of Joinville company the writer would be pleased to hear from them. Further details of the standard American 9-inch "Workshop" South Bend 9-inch lathes and its clones can be found here..
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