The writer when a lad serving his apprenticeship cut on a lathe with a feed screw of 1/2-inch pitch a groove in a 1 1/2-inch shaft to a depth of 1/4 inch, which had one turn in 3 feet 6 inches.

The method adopted was to use six change wheels and drive the feed screw with a pulley fixed to the side of the wheel on the screw. There was an open and cross belt on the countershaft, so that the motion could be reversed. Another belt ran from the countershaft to the pulley on lathe feed screw. The nut engaging the lathe saddle was not taken out of gear with the feed screw, but the saddle was run to and fro by reversing the motion of the screw.