An interesting treble geared H. Broadbent lathe

All, I have recently purchased a H. Broadbent (of Sowerby Bridge, Yorkshire) lathe, with a rather interesting treble geared headstock. The overall length of the lathe is 7' and I haven't yet measured the centre height or between centres but the largest diameter piece can be up to 22" diameter thanks to the treble geared faceplate. Something I had not seen before, however, an identical, if not slightly larger one had been posted by Tillage a couple of years back. So there are two at least. Interesting to see especially on such a small lathe. It needs work but had to be saved as I think could prove quite useful.

Also, thanks to Asquith, note the exceptionally course thread on the leadscrew and the mistake on the thread chart - the same wheels make a 1 and 2 tpi so something must be miscalculated there. I will add a picture below of this.

Thanks

Will,

Welcome to the forum. I'm glad you're bringing this to a wider audience.

It will be interesting to know how fast (slow!) the geared faceplate runs with a 'normal' lineshaft speed.

I wonder how common it was to have a 1 tpi capability on a lathe of that size? And what might a 1 tpi pitch be used for?

Incidentally, I can't take credit for spotting the thread chart anomaly - it was Peter S!

Thanks very much, good to start contributing!

Oh, yes, sorry about that mistake there! It was all in the same thread that it got lost! Sorry Peter S, I apologise for the mistake. Interesting nonetheless, maybe someone else might know about the lathe or have ideas on use. A big geared faceplate and course pitch has to have some specific use.

Attached picture of the threading chart for reference.

I did try to get some more information as to where it worked from the seller but sadly nothing is known before its previous owner other than it worked in Anglesey. And even that's up for debate.