Copied by at least twenty-two makers (illustrated below and on other pages) the South Bend 9" "Workshop" must be the most cloned lathe ever with examples being manufactured, adapted and developed in Argentine, Australia, Brazil, England, France, Sweden and Taiwan. Where more details have been found for particular manufacturers hyperlinks against each machine will take you to further pages. In England three firms made copies: Ace,  Boxford, and Smart & Brown - the latter as part of a wide range of machines but the former two as their only smaller and proper screwcutting lathe. Four known (and possibly a sixth unknown) were made in Australia in the years immediately following World War Two: the Hercus, Purcell, Sheraton and Parkanson (should any reader have an example of the latter, the writer would be interested to hear from you) The most successful of these was Hercus, who produced a machine that was steadily developed to meet more modern requirements. Purcell was owned by Mr. William Crooks who, having bought the Purcell Engineering Company in 1940, expanded that company's range (previously marketed using the "Vanguard" label) to include smaller lathes and other machine tools. In addition to the South Bend 9-inch copy the company also made a wide range of other lathes of various sizes - and information about these is sought. Although production of Purcell lathes ceased around 1960, Mr Crooks also had an interest in a distribution company, Demco Machine Tools of Sydney who marketed the New Visby and Record brands. The Sheraton was made in Bayswater, Melbourne, from the early 1950s until 1981. The Sheraton "Conquest" was a geared-head version of the South Bend 10-inch while other, smaller lathes of a different design, the Cub and Cadet for example, were also manufactured.  Sheraton had 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 and sometimes badged them as their own, with all the Sheraton badging removed. It is likely that a version of the Sheraton was made badged "Demco" and sold as a top-of-the-range Model A with a larger spindle, screwcutting gearbox, power cross-feed and 4-step V-belt pulley drive. 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 UK-based 600 machine-tool group who also handled, through their Selson Company, the import of TOS lathes into the UK - as well as having many other world-wide machinery interests.
Another copy, though somewhat developed, was the Moody, manufactured by Matthew Moody & Sons of Terrebonne in Quebec, Canada. This lathe had an 11-inch swing, a roller-race headstock, a much larger spindle bore and a number of detail differences. If you have a Moody, please make contact.
Even in Sweden, home to many makers of fine-quality machinery, the benefits of copying an established machine were recognised with three makers involved in making copies: the not-uncommon Storebro and Blomqvist and the much rarer Asbrinks from the city of Malmo. Only one Asbrinks has come to light - and that in Liverpool, England (could it have been smuggled off a Swedish ship? Such goings-on were not unknown in port towns...). If you have an Asbrinks, please do contact the writer
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 the Joinville company the writer would be pleased to hear from them.
Brazil was also home to yet another version, a rather well-developed machine and manufactured by Boffelli & Finazzi.
Unsurprisingly, the Taiwanese also made a version (though not really a copy), this being highly modified and including a number of unusual features. It was marketed in the USA as the "Select", in South Africa as the  Fragram LHB 108 but in other markets as the David 600 and also under its makers name, Lin Huan.
Four other mysterious examples are the NSTC (shown below), this apparently being an American-made example but about which nothing is known; the (presumably) French-made UFP; a version discovered in South Africa without any branding and sufficiently different to all the other clones to be recognised as a unique model and, most remarkable of all, a geared-head version of the South Bend 9-inch (also pictured below) - which may or may not be a "UFP"
Incredibly, the lathe continued in production into the 21st century with an improved copy of the late Model 10K (from the 1950s) being built in China and sold by Grizzly.


Hercus is an Australian built version of the South Bend 9 inch "Workshop" lathe; the machines were in production, as the 200 Series, with a 10" swing and able to pass 26 mm (1") through the spindle bore, until 2001. As may be seen, although the styling has been largely "squared off", the tailstock and top slide were still definitively, and charmingly, South Bend in appearance. The most significant changes were the neat, built-on 16-speed countershaft unit and the enclosure of  it, and the changewheels, to modern safety standards.
Production of Hercus machine tools began in the 1940s and it instructive to note that the firm's founder, Mr. F.W. Hercus, wrote to the British press in 1954 (but without revealing that he was a machine-tool manufacturer) outlining the Australian Customs' requirements for immigrants bringing their own model-engineering tools with them. He also pointed out that, whilst it took sixteen weeks' work  in England, at £7 per week, to buy a Model C South Bend, in Australia an "equally good" copy  could be bought with just ten weeks' wages. More Hercus information can be found HERE

The English Smart & Brown "Sabel"  4.5" x 18". This was a beautifully-made copy of the South Bend  9-inch - but with a more fully enclosed headstock  (somewhat along the lines of the South Bend "Light Ten"), and a re-designed spindle assembly with larger bearings, a fractionally larger bore and the nose thread increased from 1.5-inch to 1.75-inch t.p.i. . The lathe was offered on a large sheet-metal cabinet stand with a superbly engineered if rather over-deep countershaft unit. It was available without the screwcutting gearbox in two other versions: the "SAB", which retained the power cross feed apron, and the "S"  (presumably for Standard) which did not. Various numbers of spindle speeds and speed ranges were offered, but most lathes appear to have been supplied with a 16-speed drive unit which spanned 45 to 1200 rpm. As an example of the wonderful attention to detail (although some spoilt-sports would call it neglectfully-wasteful over-engineering) instead of just bolting the Dewhurst reversing switch to the face of the stand it was mounted on the headstock - tucked away at the back and operated by a cross shaft from a chrome-plated bronze lever mounted on the front face. To guild the lily the end of the cross shaft carried a large gear in bronze which acted on another small bronze gear fastened to the spindle of the switch..
Although spares are no longer available for this range of  S & B lathes, most Boxford and South Bend parts and accessories will fit, providing a cheap and easily route to restoration. "Sabel" was the name of the original S & B works in Biggleswade, Bedfordshire, England.
(A comprehensive handbook and a set of 50 original sectional drawings are available for this model)

Oddest of all South Bend 9-inch "clones" must surely be this geared-headstock version, two of which were advertised in Europe during 2014. Nothing is known of the maker - though one it could be Taiwanese in origin - or even the French-built the UFP. If any reader has an example of this type the writer would be interested to hear from you