Lathe assembly benches circa 1933. In this picture 9-inch compound drive V-belt drive lathes are being put together, possibly in groups of twenty at a time, at individual work-stations. With manufacture of this model only underway for a year no production line had yet been installed and building lathes required the fetching and carrying of parts and the lifting away of complete units. Each workstation was illuminated by a single bulb.

By the time the first 10-inch lathes were in production a simple chain-driven assembly line had been installed.
Note the "wall-of-glass" windows, a feature of many factories until the arrival of improved electric lighting.

Another view of the same early 10-inch lathe production line.

By 1936 the factory was a busy place with several production lines as well as stations where individual machines were built up before being attached to their cast-iron stands

Line shafting and vertical flat belts dominated the main Atlas machine shop where parts for a wide variety of machines were manufactured in-house.

Another section of the machine shop. Although full-depth windows run along the whole length of one wall a single light was also hung over  each machine tool.

A standard Atlas drill press head fitted to a robust base and used to drill balancing holes in the headstock and countershaft pulleys.

An artist's impression of the factory in 1936/37. The picture below shows that by 1939/40 extensions had been added to the front and both ends of the building.