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snitkawl is pretty close. Gap bed can have a removeable section in the headstock area (typical asian import) or can have a bed that slides towards the tailstock to open the gap (older heavy industrial style and far preferable as it does not lose alignment). The asian stykle machines have occasionally been found to be ground with paint under the removeable section, which causes the bed to be misaligned if the paint is removed. Unless you just HAVE to have a gap bed, you will be far better off with a lathe of larger swing. Engine Lathe.. technically, a lathe equipped with leadscrew and capable of cutting threads. Usually refers to a lathe of this capability and often a larger floor type. Most "metal lathes" you look at will be an engine lathe by definition. Toolroom lathe... ordinarily used to double the price of an engine lathe with supposed greater precision. In reality, has nothing to do with precision as all older lathes were of suitable tolerance to be used in a toolroom. This is by definition a lathe with reverse-to-leadscrew which allows threading without reference to a threading dial. A single-tooth engaging clutch on the leadscrew maintains the relative position of the leadscrew and spindle so the thread is re-entered at the same point upon re-engagement. If you find one, they can do threading work with amazing speed and have stops that can be set for threading to shoulders. Extremely nice feature to have. Gear head... Nearly EVERY lathe is belt driven from the motor. Most gear head lathes are belt drive to the clutch and/or transmission countershaft. The only one I can think of that is not belt-driven somewhere would be the Axleson, which is direct motor drive to the clutch. Gear head usually refers to the speed changes being made by shifting gears instead of a typical cone pulley and backgear arrangement. A huge advantage of a true gearhead is that they will usually be equipped with a clutch to engage the spindle, which also typically allows a braking action. This greatly reduces starting loads on the entire driveline and motor and also allows the drive to be disengaged for speed changes without stopping the motor. DO NOT work on the lathe or get hands and other body parts around the moving parts of the machine with the motor running as the clutch may grab or get bumped into engagement accidentally.
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