Unimat  History Page
     An eclectic collection of Unimat information and  ephemera.

This page has been a long time coming. Any suggestions or information you would like to add.  Let me know. Thanks to all who provided material. 
  As noted  eleswere on this web site.  Tony Griffiths in the  U.K. along with Cary  Stewart have documented Unimat machine changes in pictures and  comments.                                                For that info. Visit his site       http://www.lathes.co.uk/           Look under  Emco /  Unimat                   
 I am going to concentrate on  Vintage paper materials;  flyers, price lists,  accessory catalogs / ephemera..
Circa, 1956  Popular Mechanics, full page ad.  Note:  distributor name,  early tags also showed  Edelstaal  Amsterdam.            Credit, Cary Stewart
Circa, 1956   Note:  Rectangle taper key for head alignment , cast-in chip pan base and  Black Krinkle  paint. These machines have a wonderful look and feel.          Credit,  Rod Gray  South Africa
Note:  Post  war ( WWII ) Manufactures / Industrial designers  were fond of  using  Krinkle paint, Hammered  paint  and Japanning finishes  on their  products.  They define this period.
DF. 2024
Circa, 1974  Walthers  Model Railroad Catalog                                                            Everyone was selling  the Unimat!                                               
Here is very early  Edelstaal  Amsterdam  Tag      Credit;   Juan C  Pepper,  Peru.  His Fathers  Unimat, Circa 1950
This came with  my  Sears Unimat.  Reg. No.  is serial # on lathe tag .  More Sears info. below.
Circa, 1970 American Edelstaal Accessory  Catalog       
                     Everyone  can use that  4" combo with center head                                         Love that Bending Brake!
Circa, 1973 American Edelstaal Accessory   Price List                      Interesting to note:  Machine price  is same 1956 thru Mid 70's $199.50           
Long Page  /  Good Stuff
Circa,   Mid   1970's    Yes, there was a time when you could stop at any  Sears tool department and buy  Unimat machines , parts and accessories.    
If your  Machine is marked with   736.21410,  it  is a Sears Unimat.  Made in Austria by  Emco,  just like all other  Unimat Sl models.  Also interesting to note.  On that tag you will find stamped  serial  number.  I believe these are  the only  serial numbered machines.

Please have a look at these other pages of interest on my Unimat web site:
Circa Early  70's   Edelstaal, the North American Distributor.                           Sold this  neat  American Made, Tool Cutting System. 

It is a well thought out system with easy to sharpen  preshaped  inserts.   Inserts were offered in Carbide, High speed M-2 steel / vanadium / tungsten and High Speed T-15  steel / cobalt/  tungsten.
These were popular with the early users who had all the accessories.
Some basic  Unimat  information.
All Unimat models  DB, DB200, SL, SL1000  ( I refer to this model as  the Unimat DB/SL ) are in simple terms the same machine. Just a manufacturing progression over the years of production. That said, there were changes , again refer to  Tony Griffiths  Lathe site to view those changes ( see above ).

All machines Unimat DB/Sl and  Unimat-3 were made in  Austria by  Emco Machine.
The  tags on the machine may or may not reflect this.
They usually indicate the  distributor.

Edelstaal was the North American distributor. ( The information I received was that. The Edelstaal family was directly related to the family that owned the  Emco factory in  Austria ).
They had  different addresses over the years, some are:
American Edelstaal  ( Amsterdam ) Inc.  Unimat Division  350 Broadway NY 13, NY.
American Edelstaal Inc.  350 Broadway NY 13, NY.
American Edelstaal Inc.  1 Atwood Ave Tenafly NJ 
Canadian Edelstaal  47 Granger Ave  Scarborough Ont 

B Elliott Machinery Ltd   Victoria  Road London, was the sole  U.K. distributor  ( early )

Internatio-Rotterdam S.A.   Johannesburg, Capetown, Durban.  South Africa distributor

Very early tags indicated  Edelstaal  N.V. Amsterdam, Alleen Importeur Voor Nederland  ( Only Importer for the Netherlands )

The  Unimat DB/Sl was first manufactured post WWII in  1947,  not distributed here until mid 1950's. Stayed in production until 1977.   Probably  300,000 to 400,000  units were made .     
The Unimat-3 went into production in 1976 as a replacement for the DB/Sl model. The Unimat-3 went out of production in early 1990. 
Unimat DB/Sl
Unimat-3
To print pages. Pages are jpeg pictures.  Right click on page - View image - print preview - adjust size and print.  For each page.