A conventional, heavy (2600 kg/5700 lb) "Universal" horizontal milling machine, the Simplon UF had its base and internally ribbed column cast in a Meehanite iron, the fine grain structure of which promised superior strength, minimum friction on the slides and resistance to wear. Also in Meehanite, the knee was a robust, one-piece, box-type casting designed to have as large a surface area as possible to support the saddle and so reduce vibration and flex. Fitted as standard was a 1400 mm x 310 mm (55.1" x 12.2") table able to be swung 45° each side of central and with three 16 mm (0.625") T-slots on a spacing of 55 mm (2.2"). Table travels under power (using a 2 h.p. motor flange-mounted against the knee's left-hand face) were 1040 mm (41") longitudinally, 325 mm (12.75") in traverse and 480 mm (18.875") vertically. By hand the travels were slightly longer being, respectively, 1060 mm (41.75"), 345 mm (13.625") and 500 mm (19.625"). The table's horizontal hand-driven feed was by a full-circle handwheel on the left-hand end of the table together with a second full-circle wheel positioned horizontally and facing forwards towards the right-hand side of the saddle. For traverse and vertical movements a  pair of sockets on the front of the knee took a detachable crank handle. Selected by a single dial-type, direct-reading control on the front face of the heavy, very deep, box-form knee, twelve rates of power feed were provided ranging from 18 to 620 mm/min (0.75" to 24.375") for the longitudinal and across and at half those rates vertically. Rapids, working through a multi-disc clutch and controlled by a long lever pivoting from the knee's right-hand face, were included as part of the ordinary specification having a rate of 2500 mm (98.5") per minute horizontally and in traverse but, for safety and finer control, at half that rate vertically. All gears in the power-feed drive system were in a heat-treated, case-hardened, nickel-chrome steel and lubricated by an oil bath.
Driven by 7.5 h.p motor the Cr-Ni-Mo spindle ran in adjustable taper-roller bearings, carried an ISO 50 nose and could be moved so that its centre line was a maximum of 510 mm (20.125") away from the table. Controlled by a combination of a direct-reading dial and lever on the right-hand face of the main column, twelve speeds were available that spanned 25 to 2000 r.p.m. or, as an option, 32 to 2000 r.p.m. - though some machines have been found marked 25 to 1500 r.p.m.
Supplied as part of the standard equipment was a plain, non-quill-feed vertical head driven from the horizontal spindle with step-up gearing that gave speeds 25% faster than the horizontal. The head was permanently fitted to a swing-arm carrier that allowed it to be mounted and removed with the minimum of effort.
Supplied as part of the standard specification were the following:  a complete electrical installation, a horizontal cutter-holding arbor, a hand-crank lever for the traverse and vertical feeds, a set of spanners and an instruction book. The usual range of extra was listed including induction hardened ways, a slotting head, a universal vertical head, various diameters of cutter-holding arbor, micrometer boring heads, optical positioning systems (these models came before the easy availability of Digital read-outs), standard and universal dividing heads, rotary tables in several sizes, inclinable supplementary tables, an assortment of machine vices, guideway guards and a work lamp..