Manufactured in France by the company responsible for the very fine Vernier milling machines and lathes, Vernier SA, the Mini-Shape was built in three versions the 25, 28 and 30. All were exactly the same except for longer rams and, of course increased stroke lengths. As in the UK with the common Boxford shaper, most Mini-Shapes were to be found in schools, colleges and training establishments and were, surprisingly, still being produced in the 1970s.
Exceptionally well-made, beautifully finished and mounted on a robust, cast-iron stand, the MiniShape 25 shown on this and the following page weighed a substantial 455 kg.
Power came from a 1.3 h.p. 3-phase motor enclosed within a door-equipped compartment at the back of the base, the motor shaft being fitted with a gear and the drive direct to the to the ram and table feed mechanism. As a note of the machine's quality, the makers fitted a very effective - if noisy - pressure lubrication system, the oil also being directed to the ram ways.
Available with an optional rotating box table - as shown in the pictures below - the shaper had a maximum ram stroke of 270 mm - though the usable travel was, in reality, 260 mm - and a table with a cross feed of 305 mm and vertically of 200 mm. Supported at the front on a rectangular bar adjustable for height, the box table had three T-slots on its top face and, on the right-hand side, a V-groove and four wide slits to allow clamping studs and plates to be attached. The maker's standard vice was of generous proportions and fitted with a base on which it could be swivelled, the attachment to the table being through curved slots to allows a greater range of adjustment.
A useful eight rates of ram stroke were available, these being obtained by a set of pick-off gears - arranged in fixed pairs on fixed centres - and stored neatly on hooks on the inside face of a door in the cabinet's right-hand face; the gears gave rates of 32, 40, 50, 70, 85, 120, 145 and 180 strokes per minute. One option - not shown on the machine below - was a simple cam-and-rod operated tool lift  on the return stroke. Horizontal power feeds (in both directions) were fitted to the table as standard, the five rates varying from 0.1 to 0.5 mm per ram stroke with, at extra cost, an electrical cut-out when the table reached it travel limit. A pleasing refinement on the Vernier was that, instead of the expected exposed ratchet drive to the table, an enclosed one was used with a ball-ended control lever. Hand drive of the table was by a detachable, 4-dog crank handle, this also being used to both set the ram stroke and move it by hand - in every case the mounting shaft used was fitted with a spring-loaded "safety pin" that ejected the handle and so prevented it being left in place when the shaper was under power.
Able to be swivelled through 60° each side of vertical - the setting aided by the provision of an easy-to-read, white-on-black degree scale instead of engraved lines - the tool-slide had a maximum clearance to the table top of 200 mm and a travel of 70 mm - the feed screw and fitted with a zeroing feed micrometer dial graduated at intervals of  0.01 mm. The toolholder used was the type found on many shapers, an "American" pattern that could accept tools up to 22 x 12 mm.
Rather unusually, the makers fitted, as part of the standard equipment, a lifting eye screwed into the ram, a handle being provided to lock everything solid before use.