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Of German origin this length 110 mm centre height by 850 mm between centres backgeared and screwcutting lathe looks to have been made before 1850. It was found in Nürnberg, a city with a long tradition in metal crafts and the earliest industrialised town at Bavaria. In keeping with its era the carriage has two drive systems, one for screwcutting and the other for fine feeds. Screwcutting and faster feeds worked through conventional changewheels and a front-mounted leadscrew, while fine feeds were generated by a rear-mounted shaft - driven first through a pair of bevel gears, then a worm-and-wheel and finally by a pair of gears at the tailstock end of the bed across to the leadscrew. Although only one belt-driven headstock speed was provided, the original line shafting would have offered several more. All fastening on this lathe were English Whitworth, German industry not changing over fully to the metric system (and then only on smaller fastening) until the early years of the 20th century.
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