South Bend Lathes pre-1920  South Bend Lathes 1920-30

South Bend Model 5 - Earliest of the 9-inch "Workshop" Lathes

First Ever Model 5 Catalog - the original "mention" of the 9-inch

South Bend 9-inch "Workshop" Lathe  South Bend 9-inch Catalogs

South Bend Lathe Accessories

8-inch & 9-inch Junior & Model R   8-inch and 9-inch Junior Lathes Photographic Essays

Historic, very early 1910 South Bend 10-inch  Series 20 Toolroom Lathe - Superbly Restored

South Bend Heavy Ten - an overview   South Bend Heavy 10 from 1961 and 1991 Models

South Bend Heavy Ten Specification Catalogs   South Bend 10-K Light Ten

South Bend G-26-T   South Bend Silent-chain Drive Lathes

South Bend Lifted-Centre-Height Lathes

Copies and Clones of South Bend Lathes:
Boxford, Ace, Blomqvist, Smart & Brown, Purcell, Sheraton, Hercus, Sanches Blanes

Special Factory Production Machines   South Bend Factory   Making the South Bend

South Bend Users' Group   How old is my South Bend Lathe? The Rarest South Bend Lathe

South Bend Shapers    Rebuilding a 1952 South Bend 13-inch (large PDF)

By 1918 the South Bend Lathe Company, having been in operation for twelve years, had produced over 17,000 lathes, was employing 350 skilled workers - and had become known world-wide as an exporter of decently-made, well-specified lathes. Naturally, very early models are now rare, with only very occasional examples coming to light such as this very fine 1910 model.
As production increased - and driven by the needs of World War One, parts were machined in batches of 100 (and lathes built in sets of 25s) and so jigged that at least those 100, and sometimes more, had spares that were completely interchangeable. Surprisingly, the leadscrews and racks were purchased from an outside supplier, a specialist in that type of precision work, and none of the lathes (unlike those from competitors) was available with a screwcutting gearbox.
In 1918 South Bend's smallest machine was the 13" and from there the range rose in size with models of 15", 16", 18",  21" and 24". All the lathes up to the 18" looked remarkably similar, but the two largest were of more-obviously heavy construction and mounted on very substantial, box-like columns instead of legs. The entire range, including the massive 24" lathe, could be fitted with headstock, tailstock and toolpost raising blocks, (an option that continued into the 1930s) and all were available in a choice of five bed lengths and with a gap if requested; in the latter case the ordinary Model Number was prefixed by the digit 1.
The very longest of the 21" and 24" lathes, with between-centres capacities of  8 to 12 feet, were supplied with a supporting column under the centre of the bed..