Hardly a lathe in the conventional sense, more a "speed lathe" designed for simple jobs such as short turning, chamfering, undercutting or facing, etc. the robust Whippet was made by the Edgwick Division of the large Alfred Herbert Group during the 1950s.
Rather like a Rindis denuded of its accessories, the Whippet was based on a heavy cast-iron column holding a 1.375" bore spindle running in precision class pre-loaded ball bearing driven from a motor held within the base. Two drive systems were offered: a 1 h.p. 4-speed rotor stator unit that gave a range of 8 speeds (4 on the motor and two on a double V-belt pulley) of 280, 440, 600, 910 in low range and 710, 1130, 1540 and 2340 r.p.m. in high. The alternative was a 3/4 h.p. single-speed motor that gave four speeds through a 4-step V-pulley of either 330, 545, 905 and 1480 r.p.m. or alternatively (if ordered at the time) 440, 730, 1220 and 2000 r.p.m. The V-belts, which run up the back of the lathe, were covered by a hinge-open guard with a detachable chip tray fitted at the front.
On the front face of the main column was a removable, bolt-on bed section with Vee and flat ways that could hold either the compound slide rest from a Smart & Brown Model L precision plain-turning lathe or a single lever-operated cut-off and forming slide with adjustable front and rear toolposts and stops - the centre height being 9.75". Naturally, both fittings could be supplied, as could, for the 5" diameter spindle end flange (fittings just bolted on), a 3-jaw Burnerd chuck, an air-operated chuck or a 1.25-inch capacity collet chuck with lever operated control.
With the bed bracket removed, a machined face was revealed (with an alignment tenon slot) onto which could be fitted special brackets of fixtures to suit a particular job..