South Bend, Indiana, 1933
Twin brothers John and Miles O'Brien founded their own machine tool company in South Bend, Indiana, in 1906 and went on to 
become the largest exclusive manufacturers of metalworking lathes in the world with customers in over 88 countries. Aided by the great popularity of John O'Brien's instructional booklet "How to Run a Lathe," South Bend lathes became especially popular in public schools and military training centers. Besides large, heavy lathes for industry, they developed and aggressively marketed an affordable nine inch precision lathe targeted at the home workshop and small repair garage.