Denbigh Engineering were based at Horseley Heath, Tipton, in Staffordshire, England and were probably better known for their extensive range of large drilling machines rather than millers.
The "C" Type Miller, the one most commonly found second-hand in the UK (although the "D" type was also popular) was designed to compete at the less-expensive end of the market, as its strictly functional appearance would confirm; to save money, early versions were even bereft of a table-feed micrometer dial, though, thankfully, this was included as standard on later machines.
Several models were available, all constructed around the same basic column: the "C1" and "C2" models had tables with a working surface of 34" x 10" with a 22.5" travel whilst the "C3" and "C4" had tables some 12" longer - but no wider - and a longitudinal travel of 34.5". The tables could be supplied either fixed or with a pivoting motion allowing an angle of 45 degree either side of the centre line - in the latter case the table travel was increased by 2" for all models - and the machine described as a "Semi-Universal". The cross feed on all models was 7.5" and the vertical adjustment of the knee 16" on the small-table models - and 18" on the larger.
Early machines had over arms 33/8" in diameter, later machines, from around 1956, were fitted with ones some 5/8" larger.
The drive system employed two endless chrome-leather-faced plastic flat belts; one, 3" wide, ran from the standard-fit 3 hp 940 rpm motor to a ball-bearing countershaft in the base of the miller whilst the other, 2.5" wide, ran from the countershaft up to the 3-step cone pulley which drove the taper-roller bearing No. 4 Morse taper horizontal spindle.
The whole of the countershaft system was balanced against two large springs and could be slackened and lifted to aid belt-position changes by the action of two levers at the rear of the machine. To obtain usefully slow and powerful speeds the No. 4 Morse taper, nine-speed, taper-roller bearing spindle was given a lathe-like "double-back gear", running on ball bearings. Power feed to the table - which worked only in one direction - was derived from a chain drive on the main spindle to a 4-speed gearbox mounted on the right-hand side of the column. Spindle speeds for all versions of the Model C were the same: with back-gear set in its first position: 13, 25 and 51 rpm were available and in its second position: 36, 71 and 143 rpm. Without back-gear the speeds rose to 100, 200 and 400 rpm - hardly fast, but just about adequate …..