Patent ID: 7874234

Claim:
A lathe for turning a workpiece in order to carry out an operation to shape said workpiece in a desired manner, a horizontally-extending lathe bed including elongate, rigid bed-rails extending along an elongate beam support having a longitudinal axis, said bed-rails being provided on and extending along the length of said beam support; lathe support members arranged at opposite ends of said lathe bed and supporting said opposite ends, said lathe bed being pivotally mounted on said support members for pivotal movement between an upright position where said bed-rails are on top of said beam support and a sideways position where said bed-rails extend along one side of said beam support; a drive unit mounted on said lathe bed; a headstock unit on which said workpiece can be mounted, said headstock unit being mounted on said lathe bed and having a headstock connective to said drive unit so as to be rotatable by said drive unit during operation of said lathe; a tailstock unit for supporting said workpiece when said workpiece is mounted on the headstock unit, said tailstock unit being mountable for selective sliding movement on said bed-rails; and a toolrest arrangement for mounting on said bed-rails intermediate said headstock and tailstock units, said toolrest arrangement including a toolrest member for supporting a lathe tool during said shaping operation, wherein said lathe can be used to carry out a lathe operation on said workpiece when said lathe bed is either in said upright position or in said sideways position.