Oliver No. 33 Faceplate Lathe with its portable tool rest, able to be positioned for work on both left and right-hand faceplates.

Although the Oliver No. 33 Faceplate Lathe was advertised as being especially suitable for use in pattern shops, having the capacity to turn large and heavy work at the appropriate speed, its weight (2400 lbs) and specification (the drive system was designed to be as convenient and as time-saving as possible to use) would have made it a valuable tool in any professional woodworking shop.
The stand was constructed from heavy, fabricated steel pressings with the drive system completely enclosed under sheet-steel covers.
The headstock spindle was 2.75 inches in diameter and ran in a roller bearing against the larger, 24-inch diameter faceplate, and in a ball race at the end carrying the smaller faceplate; the larger faceplate could also be used as an "adapter" plate, able to mount "spiders" in which oversize patterns - of up to 6 feet in diameter - could be held. The makers advised that the spiders could be home made, or provided by them from stock.
The drive system consisted of a two-speed 3hp/6hp motor mounted at the rear of the machine on an inclined V slideway - along which it could be induced to move under the influence of a screw thread, controlled by a handwheel on the front face of the stand. Moving the motor caused a pair of expanding and contracting pulley to  open and close simultaneously, so varying the speed infinitely between a minimum of 140 and a maximum of 600 rpm. The input drive pulley, mounted just below inboard faceplate, drove into the cabinet through a Reynolds of Manchester combined clutch and (very helpfully, bearing in mind the weight of a 6-foot diameter pattern) brake assembly. The final drive up to the headstock spindle was by a  Reynolds chain.
A separate, loose, floor stand was provided on which to mount the tool rest but, unlike the versions provided with much heavier-duty wood lathes, this did not have

Drive side of the Oliver No. 33 Faceplate Lathe showing the expanding and contracting pulley system - and the inclined V ways upon which the two-speed, 3 hp/6 h.p. motor was induced to slide by the action of a screw thread, controlled by a handwheel on the front face of the stand.