Established in 1856 by David E. Whiton in Stafford, Connecticut, the D. E. Whiton Machine Company was to manufacture a range of machine tools including centering machines, lathe chucks, drills, and gear cutting machines (some shown at the bottom of the page). Also, as something of a contrast and shown on this page, they made a typical-for-the-period, plain-turning (non-screwcutting) lathe intended for use by amateurs. This simple and economically-produced lathe design first came to the market in the early 19th century and was common to Europe and the U.S.A.The centre height was usually three to four inches with the ability to take 15 or 16 inches between centres. The slender, lightly-built headstock lacked a low-speed backgear and was of a light build with a smooth, polished front face, a flat top and waisted sides. The headstock spindle was often solid and ran in a single bearing at the front with the other end just supported against an adjustable, hardened centre. 
On all but heavier-duty types (which had flat-belt 'cone' pulleys), the headstock V-grooved pulley was not intended to use a V belt - it would be 1930 before they appeared on small machine tools - but a round leather "rope", often referred to as a "gut drive" (as in catgut).
Beds were also nearly all of the same type, having a flat top, narrow edges set at 90° and a slot down the middle that formed a dovetail location for the headstock and tailstock. Components, including a hand T-rest assembly and compound slide rest, were clamped to the bed by through-bolts that often ended in elegant, full-circle, oval-shaped handles. Virtually all the lathes, even smaller ones and those built down to a price had, bolted to the back of their beds, two brackets in cast iron - these being used to support the then-common rear-mounted wooden toolboard. A convenient fitting and now, of course, missing from modern small lathes, it was like the one fitted to this English Pfiel,
Not always available from other makers at the time, it seems that Whiton was able to provide a screw-feed compound slide-rest assembly - though this would have been an expensive extra and listed at up to an additional 50% on top of the basic lathe's price.
The two Whiton lathes shown below differ a little; the first has slender bed feet for mounting to a bench, while the second lacks the feet and instead has pairs of small lugs at each end of the bed enabling it to be bolted down to a  stand. A section of bed cut away in line with the headstock pulley to allow a drive rope to pass up from the rim of a flywheel confirms that this lathe would have been fitted to either the maker's treadle treadle-driven flywheel stand or a foot motor.
Among many contemporary makers who produced lathes of a similar design were, in the U.S.A., Adams Bros, Baldwin, and Briggs, and in England Gale, F.Pratt, J.Buck, Selig Sonnenthal, Jarratt, S.Holmes, Goodwin, George Hatch, Arthur Frith, and Pfeil - the latter a maker of better-than-usual quality examples..

A D.E.Whiton lathe for bench mounting that has survived in original condition complete with a Whiton-made 3-jaw chuck and what must be the  maker's compound slide-rest assembly

This example of a D.E.Whiton lathe differs from that at the top of the page - its bed lacks the slender feet of the bench model and instead has pairs of small lugs at each end of the bed to bolt it down to a stand. This is confirmed by a section of bed cut away in line with the headstock pulley to allow a drive rope to pass up from a treadle-driven flywheel.
The slide rest on this Whiton is from a later model of a precision plain lathe Visible in the picture - below the bed - are the clamps used to hold down the headstock, slide rest and tailstock.