The Coltech Centre Lathe was first patented in 1937 and was designed and manufactured at Collingwood Technical School.

As part of an Australian Federal and State Government program, in 1937 Collingwood Technical School received significant grants of £11,000 to participate in the Youth Employment Scheme. This considerable sum was a cash injection into practical training and was in response to the ongoing hardships and unemployment still experienced in the community from the Great Depression (1929 - 1932).

Collingwood Technical School set to task and developed the renowned Coltech Centre Lathe. Shortened from the school name, it was a 5.25” swing lathe designed at the school by teachers. It had over seventy components and because of this, it became a useful training exercise for students to put it together.

The ‘Coltech’ also found applications in ammunition manufacture for the duration of World War II (1939-1945). As part of the Defence program, the lathe was manufactured in substantial numbers with component parts being made at many technical Schools in Victoria. It was enlarged to 6” and twelve were used by the Ammunition Factory at Footscray, to ream dies for the making of bullet cartridge cases.

Design drawings for constructing the ‘Coltech’ were sent to the Central Drawing Office in Maribyrnong where it was also modified and drawings were supplied to other states and New Zealand [1].

[1] G. Eraclides, V. Achia, Book History of NMIT Version 7 – with Edits, Northern Melbourne Institute of TAFE (NMIT), Melbourne, 1 July 2015, pp. 40-41.