The Graduate wood turning lathe, long regarded as the Rolls Royce of wood lathes, and before it the Jubilee, are lathes with a pedigree.  This is a brief history of the Graduate lathe and how it got off the ground and went on to become one of the classic lathes of our time.  The Graduate was the third machine that continued a line of pedigree lathes designed and manufactured by T S Harrison & Sons Ltd of Heckmondwike, a company that was set up in 1898.
Tom Harrison began in business producing patterns on a lathe to replace worn and broken parts for the local mills.  There were many in the area in those days.  He later decided that as well as making the patterns, he may as well produce the castings and machine them too.  The first wood turning lathe that he produced was the L1A.  This was a treadle lathe that could be purchased with a centre height from 3 1/2” to 6” with 24” between centres and a spindle nose of 7/8” x 12tpi, and a No 1MT at the headstock and tailstock.
Designed primarily for turning non-ferrous metals with option of turning wood.  Hospitals were one of the main customers for these lathes.  Patients made articles whilst at the same time building up torn and twisted leg muscles.  Although it was possible to purchase a motorised version of the L1A, in the 1940’s the then management decided to replace it and in 1948 (jubilee of the company) the Jubilee wood lathe was born.  Quite different from the old treadle lathe.  It was already beginning to look like the Graduate and along with various modifications to the centre height, spindle size and Morse tapers it eventually became the Graduate around the mid 60’s.  Because of possible transmission of vibration from the motor to the work piece, it was decide that all the major components would be made from castings which made the lathe heavier and more resilient.  
The Graduate name came about from a challenge issued by the Managing Director, Mr B. E. Cash to the employees to give the prototype a name.  As most of the business was now directed at the education market, it wasn’t long before the first Graduate lathe was born and delivered to the customer.
Frank Pain, a demonstrator for the company, was a nationally famous wood turner and went on to write many books about wood turning.  Naturally he used the Graduate lathe as his role model and for illustrating his books.
There were a number of attachments available for fitting to the lathe, among them being a compound slide, a sawing attachment and a lever operated tailstock.  The drawing and part numbering system used for the Graduate carried on in the same style that had originated with the Jubilee lathe, they were all prefixed with “JL”