Automatic lathe, method for controlling the same, and device for controlling the same

An automatically operated lathe, comprising:

• a lathe bed;
• at least one spindle mounted on said lathe bed;
• at least one tool rest mounted on said lathe bed;
• a control device for controlling an operation of said at least one spindle and said at least one tool rest on said lathe bed;
• said control device including:
• an input section permitting an entering of each of a plurality of transfer position data required in a sequence of machining programs in connection with said at least one spindle and said at least one tool rest in a form of either one of two types of transfer position data, one of which is a cam-reference data directing a transfer position as a function of a cam rotation quantity and the other is a time-reference data directing a transfer position as a function of an elapsed time;
• and
• a processing section processing each of said plurality of transfer position data entered through said input section in the form of either one of said cam-reference data and said time-reference data, to thereby generate a control signal for controlling a relative feed motion between said at least one spindle and said at least one tool rest in said sequence of machining programs.