Gray & Son London

An English lathe, made from the late 1920s until the early 1950s, the Grayson was manufactured by E.Gray & Son of 18-20 Clerkenwell Road, London, E.C.1. 

The company was established in 1822. The firm marketed at least two sizes of lathe: a rather light and now rare 3-inch centre-height machine and the much more robust and common 3.5" x 18" model illustrated above.

As was common with English machines of this type there was a degree of cross-fertilisation between makers: the smaller of the two lathes being a re-badged Randa (also made in London) whilst the larger model (with all-V-belt drive and other small improvements) was adopted during the early 1950s by the Cranville company as their CSL2 and also badged as a Warwick for sale by the Victa Company and as the "London" for an unknown distributor.

This lathe established a reputation as a an all round practical tool giving long and accurate service.

It has adjustable bearing and a large bore hollow mandrel.

Lathe swing 7 in. over the bed, 10 in over the gap, with morse # 2 tapered centres.

A 1 1/2 Hp motor is recomended for driving this lathe, but as you can see on the front page of the book " The Simple Lahe " a treadle stand can be suplied for this lathe.

Source; The simple lathe.