In the 1940's and 50's came several examples of the Westwell inventiveness, the most notable being the Portable rotary lathe (Patent numbers 913214 and 1130953). A device for accurately machining bearing journals on large rotating plant. This system, together with the insitu Boring, Grinding and keyway cutting techniques already employed, pioneered in-situ engineering. These developments propelled both Hotchkiss and Westwell from a well established and respected local businesses, to global companies.

Portable Rotary Lathes are available in sizes which allow the machining of journals from 75mm in diameter to 1 metre in diameter.
The machines can be split to enable both 'line shaft' bearing areas and 'open end' journals to be turned In-Situ.