Early automatic lathe

This lathe, which was manufactured in about 1890 by Ludwig Loewe & Co, of Berlin, is evidently based on the automatic lathe invented by C. M. Spencer in 1873.

The motions are derived from a camshaft below the spindle. The cam drum at one end has fixed strips which open and close the collet and advance the stock up to a positioning stop. The stop is brought forward for this purpose or withdrawn when machining takes place by the socalled protean cam with adjustable strips which is situated at the other end of the shaft. There are also two cams which move the cross-slides back and forth. These carry the tools for forming and parting off. The machine is thus capable of turning small parts automatically from bar stock.