In the 1920s, and by now trading under the Heeley name, Portass turned its attention to building bodies for the car, lorry, ambulance and bus markets but, as these had become an increasingly "in-house" activity for the chassis manufactures, Portass diverted into the manufacture of small machine tools for the hobby and light-industrial market.
Following the founder's death in 1924 (and almost certainly at the point where diversification into machine tools was taking place), the business was split between his sons Fred and Stanley. Fred ran "F. W. Portass", a company that concentrated exclusively on tiny lathes and shapers badged as "Adept", while Stanley made only larger machines with his business eventually becoming, around 1953 (or earlier), "Charles Portass & Son". Stanley was based by the river Sheaf in the "Buttermere Works" (the building still stands, in Buttermere Road, off Abbeydale Road, near Millhouses) while F.W.Portass was located in Sellers Street - again off Abbeydale Road, but a mile closer to the city centre.
Educational and light engineering machine tool companies took up some of the slack from the larger concerns that were struggling to keep production going. The government had created a new market in 'machining' classes for the fourteen and fifteen year-olds. Each school required a machining instructor/teacher and a workshop equipped with all the expected machine tools. These teachers soon became famous for having less than the right number of fingers, either from before starting out as a teacher or after. Shop safety was a repeatedly underlined part of the curriculum. Local education authorities started to insist that machine tools be supplied with enclosed drive motors and gears. 'Practical' young lads learnt a new respect for precision and calculation. For those that grasped the principles of machining might even get to use a 'proper' machine like the Drummond M-type or Colchester 'Master' lathe.
The wider world awaiting
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