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Packed first in a wooden box, with the inside milled to hold the various components, the original ManSon accessory kit was offered (in 1949) at $34.50. The wooden box was superseded, first, by a hardwood-lined, 6" x 4" plastic box and then a wood-lined metal case. Although it's impossible to be categorical as to what was included (the writer has received various testimonies concerning the contents and factory lists varied with some having pictures and others without) the first kit is known to have contained a steel-bodied 4-jaw independent chuck (stamped with the ManSon name and address), a collet-holding nose-piece to take the supplied four collets (in stress proof steel) of 1/32", 1/16", 3/32" and 1/8"; a 11/2" or 13/4"-diameter faceplate with eight tapped holes, a tailstock drill-chuck, two tailstock collets, one countersink centre drill, two lathe dogs (sizes 3/16" and 3/8"), two high-speed tool bits (ready sharpened and ground) and an Allen-wrench. The two centres, which appear in most collections, seem not to have a home in the kit and may have been supplied as part of the lathe's standard equipment; some are of identical length, others with one of the pair longer than the other. Similar kits, but with different ranges of accessories, were also produced. Depending on the date of manufacture, the 4-jaw chuck was also known to have been supplied in a larger size, with an aluminium body, but without any maker's identification. Relatively expensive, it appears from the numbers surviving that few can have been sold, but the Company did list all the items separately including two not in the kits, namely: test rods in Dural or brass 5/16" in diameter and 21/2" long with drilled centre holes; a tap and die set ($12.50) in either a metal or red cardboard case containing four taps and four dies sized 00-90, 0-80, 1-72 and 2-56, one tap and die holder, four bushings and one set-screw wrench. Should any reader have a different kit, or comments to make about the contents, the writer would be interested to hear from you..
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