Lathes.co.uk Home Page      Machine Tool Archive     Machine Tools For Sale & Wanted
E-MAIL   Tony@lathes.co.uk

The "David" Lathe

The 21/2" x 6" David lathe was manufactured by Irwin & Jones of 4, Westmoreland Buildings, Aldergate Street, London, E.C.1 and advertised for a short time in the mid 1920s. Of very simple, plain-turning design the lathe echoed those used by watchmakers in having a cantilever form bed with a swivelling compound slide rest held down by a through-bolt and handwheel. Surprisingly, the headstock pulley was for a flat belt, when contemporary practice for such small machines was a round leather "gut" rope. The 3/8" bore spindle ran in twin split plain bearings, no doubt formed from the cast iron of the headstock, whilst the tailstock was the most basic of lever-action types. No. 1 Morse centres were used - competing lathes from Portass could only stretch to an inadequate No. 0 - and the makers also offered a compact and cleverly-designed treadle stand that resembled those offered by, amongst others, the makers Pittler "Pattern B", EXE 21/2" and JR lathes.
In 1924 the makers were asking £3 : 17s : 6d for the bench model and an extra £2 : 15s : 0d for the stand assembly, making a total of £6 : 12s ; 6d. ready to run. As a comparison the contemporary Portass "Portalathe", a machine of similar specification, and also mounted on a treadle stand (though of very simple construction), was £4 : 10s : 0d, a significant 32% less. Although having less capacity, the Portass enjoyed the advantage of a gap bed and a carriage hand-driven along the bed by a leadscrew.
If you have a David lathe, the writer would be interested to hear from you.

The David lathe as it appeared in January, 1924