email: tony@lathes.co.uk
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Storebro "South Bend 9-inch Copy"

Storebro Bruks Aktiebolag  Home Page

  A Manual and Parts List is available for this lathe.

The Author would very much like sight of
GK195 literature of all kinds
Storebro Bruks Aktiebolag Home Page   


Like that other Swedish-built South Bend 9-inch copy, the Blonqvist, the Storebro had a bed cast with integral feet. However, the rest of the lathe - apart from the engagement for the power sliding and surfacing feeds by a lever (instead of the usual screw-in-and-out star wheel) and the cast-in mounting for the electrical switch - was pure South Bend. It is not known if a version with a screwcutting gearbox was made but Models C (screwcutting by changewheels and all hand feeds) and Models B (changewheels and an apron that gave power sliding and surfacing feeds ) have been - and are shown below.
If any reader an provide additional data on this point, or owns a Storebro South Bend clone,  the writer would be pleased to hear from you.
Copied by at least eighteen other makers, other South Bend clones include: English ones by Smart & Brown, Boxford and Ace; the Australian Hercus, Sheraton, Purcell and Parkanson (the latter the brand name of Theo. Park & Son, Engineers ,Melbourne); the Swedish Storebro and Blomqvist; the Brazillian-made Sanches Blanes, Joinville and Boffelli & Finazzi and from Argentine the S.R.L. San Francisco (CBA), Industria Argentina. 
Continued towards the bottom of the page:

A Storebro fitted with a power-feed apron and screwcutting by changewheels - the equivalent of a South Bend Model B

Note, on this Storebro South Bend copy, the use on the apron of lever engagement for the
power sliding and surfacing feeds instead of the usual screw-in-and-out star wheel


The top-mounted oilers fed onto a felt pad set half-way up the bearing

Storebro Model C- immediately identifiable by the switch built into the headstock-end bed foot.
The aluminium headstock pulley suggests that this lathe has been converted to V belt drive.

The tailstock barrel locking clamp is arranged to pass horizontally below the shaft instead of vertically at the rear.


Continued:
Where more details have been found for particular manufacturers hyperlinks against each machine will take you to further pages. In England three firms made copies: AceBoxford, and Smart & Brown - the latter as part of a wide range of machines but the former two as their only smaller and proper screwcutting lathe. Four known (and possibly a sixth unknown) were made in Australia in the years immediately following World War Two: the Hercus, Purcell, Sheraton and Parkanson (should any reader have an example of the latter, the writer would be interested to hear from you) The most successful of these was Hercus, who produced a machine that was steadily developed to meet more modern requirements. Purcell was owned by Mr. William Crooks who, having bought the Purcell Engineering Company in 1940, expanded that company's range (previously marketed using the "Vanguard" label) to include smaller lathes and other machine tools. In addition to the South Bend 9-inch copy the company also made a wide range of other lathes of various sizes - and information about these is sought. Although production of Purcell lathes ceased around 1960, Mr Crooks also had an interest in a distribution company, Demco Machine Tools of Sydney who marketed the New Visby and Record brands. The Sheraton was made in Bayswater, Melbourne, from the early 1950s until 1981. The Sheraton "Conquest" was a geared-head version of the South Bend 10-inch while other, smaller lathes of a different design, the Cub and Cadet for example, were also manufactured.  Sheraton had a very close relationship with Demco and leased most of their (usually Czechoslovakian TOS) machine tools from them; in turn Demco (the import agents for TOS) acted as agents for  Sheraton lathes and sometimes badged them as their own, with all the Sheraton badging removed. It is likely that a version of the Sheraton was made badged "Demco" and sold as a top-of-the-range Model A with a larger spindle, screwcutting gearbox, power cross-feed and 4-step V-belt pulley drive. Reports from Australia suggest that one of the reasons for the demise of  Sheraton was its move from what was described as a "...dingy, brick rabbit-warren old factory..." on Heidelberg Road to new premises some distance away. Many skilled workers, being unwilling to travel so far, took redundancy compensation and the company lost several key personnel. At some point the Sheraton concern was purchased by the UK-based 600 machine-tool group who also handled, through their Selson Company, the import of TOS lathes into the UK - as well as many other world-wide machinery interests.
Another copy, though somewhat developed, was the Moody, manufactured by Matthew Moody & Sons of Terrebonne in Quebec, Canada. This lathe had an 11-inch swing, a roller-race headstock, a much larger spindle bore and a number of detail differences. If you have a Moody, please make contact.
Even in Sweden, home to many makers of fine-quality machinery, the benefits of copying an established machine were recognised and both the Blomqvist and Storebro companies manufactured their own lightly-modified version until, it is believed, the early 1970s; a gearbox-equipped (Model A) Blomqvist can be seen at the bottom of this page and a changewheel (Model C) version of the Storebro here.
Although probably not produced in great numbers copies were also made in Brazil by Sanches Blanes S.A. (with machine labels marked:
Industria de Maquinas Ferramentas. Ribeiraopires SP Industria Brasileira) and by a company of which little is known "Usina Metalúrgica Joinville S.A." at Joinville city, Santa Catarina State. The latter machine exhibited far more significant changes to the original than any other clone with adjustable bronze headstock bearings and an entirely novel design of apron. If any reader can help with details of the Joinville company the writer would be pleased to hear from them.
Brazil was also home to yet another version, a rather well-developed machine and manufactured by Boffelli & Finazzi.
Even the Taiwanese made a copy, though their version was highly modified and included a number of unusual features. It was marketed in the USA as the "Select" but in other markers under its makers name, Lin Huan.
Three other mysterious examples are the NSTC, apparently an American-made example but about which nothing is known, the (presumably) French-made UFP and, most remarkable of all, a geared-head version of the South Bend 9-inch  - which may or may not be a UFP - these lathes can be seen below..

The mysterious NSTC

Oddest of all South Bend 9-inch "clones" must surely be this geared-headstock version, two of which were advertised in Europe during 2014. Nothing is known of the maker - though one it could be Taiwanese in origin - or even the French-built the UFP. If any reader has an example of this type the writer would be interested to hear from you




email: tony@lathes.co.uk
Home   Machine Tool Archive   Machine-tools Sale & Wanted
Machine Tool Manuals   Catalogues   Belts   Books  Accessories

Storebro "South Bend 9-inch Copy"

  A Manual and Parts List is available for this lathe.

The Author would very much like sight of
GK195 literature of all kinds
Storebro Bruks Aktiebolag Home Page