Evans lathes of this pattern were fully equal in quality and design to those of Holtzapffel, and in fact were competitive enough to cause much disharmony between the firms. The Evans family have never been fully investigated, but recently an advertisement by W.J. Evans in the 'English Mechanic' for March 19 1869 has been noted. It is also known that lathe number1242 is by J.H. Evans, the last of the family in the business. It would therefore appear that this lathe dates from about 1870. Both lathes also have the unusual arrangement of the traversing mandrel screw apparatus referred to in the description. Instead of the usual eccentrically mounted star half-nut, this has six separate cresent-shaped half-nuts with tails to mount in a slot in the front pillar of the double pillar thrust device.
The following chucks are included: Ellipse with cam ring, Rectilinear, Dome or Spherical, Eccentric signed J.H. Evans, Large Universal, 25 assorted brass work chucks (cup, prong, etc.). 2 Four-jaw independent, 2 Three-jaw self centring, 2 two-jaw, large quantity of wood and wood-spring.