Post
#65 shows the lathe is labelled as "Elliot-Willson". From
http://www.lathes.co.uk/willson/index.html -
"The Company [Wilson] went public in 1947, with Albert Kitchen as chairman, and were absorbed into the large Elliot Machine Tool Group in 1966."
Seems likely to me that the machine was produced after the merger as it has the combined name. So late 1960's or after.
Craig
So I think @trivn you are mostly correct. Perhaps this is the perfect place to expound on the details of this lathes history as far as I know.
The lathe must have been manufactured in the UK. From purchase receipts for the lathe that were given to me the lathe was sold new to the West Park Secondary School in St. Catharines by the dealers Moore Brothers Machinery Company. This dealer company ceased to exist around 1981 so the transaction must have happened before then and as pointed out after the 1966 merger of the Elliot and Wilsson companies. My rough guesstimate was about 1970.
Presumably the lathe was used in the schools machine shop training classes. It was taken out of service and purchased by Joseph Voght in 1993. Mr. Voght worked as a machinist at General Motors in St. Catharines in their toolroom department. He bought it when he was about 62 near or at retirement and used it as a hobby lathe. It was sold to me by his son Thomas, his father is now in a long term care home.
With respect to how the old 1/2-12 BSW got there? Google tells me the UK went metric in 1965. I'm guessing some companies may have continued using old stock materials and tools for some time after that. Just a guess.