How did they do it? (Fit a tailstock key)?

[graham-xrf]

This is the line drawing from a 1935 SB parts list:
The key bore is indeed at an angle

Thanks Robert. That helps. I tracked down the list, because I suspected it has line drawings of everything - and it has.
There are some differences in the parts compared to to the lathe I have, but the fundamentals seem the same.

The more sobering information was that the price of the key part No. 286 was 20cents in 1935..
.. and the what they call the "Tailstock Spindle" - the quill - was a whole $4.00.

I gave the key a little smack. It seems it does not want to move. I shall leave it right where it is until the day I really mean to mess with it, if ever I need to.