Factory Worker Collection (page 6)

Industrial laboratory at Thomas Firth & Sons Norfolk Works, Sheffield, c1900. Thomas Firth & Sons Ltd was founded c1840 by Mark Firth

Interior, Thomas Firth & Sons Norfolk Works, Sheffield, c1890. Twelve men, each with a work station facing a window, hand-cutting files from blanks of crucible steel

Needle making workshop, 1751-1780. Cutting needle lengths from steel wire (1), flattening the end (4), stamping the eye (2), punching the eye (3), filing the eye and pointing the end (7)

Child factory workers, 1814. Artist: Robert Havell
Child factory workers, 1814. Two children in aprons, carrying baskets. Behind them is a textile mill where they work. Plate XXXVI from The Costume of Yorkshire illustrated by a series of forty

Glass manufacturing, 1760. Making crown glass by blowing (left) and plate glass by casting (right). Glass workers were susceptible to cataracts caused by the glare of the furnace

Grinding and polishing plate glass, 1760. From The Universal Magazine London 1760

Weaving shed fitted with Jacquard power looms, c1880. French silk-weaver and inventor Joseph Marie Jacquard invented a loom which used a punched card system to weave complicated patterns in textiles

Women securing bristles in brushes using Woodburys machine, late 19th century. The machines, invented in America around 1870, are set up by the windows for maximum natural light

Women workers in a carpet factory, c1895. Electric lights with incandescent bulbs hang over each loom to supplement natural lighting and enable the working day to be extended

The Railway Carriage Companys works, Oldbury, West Midlands, 1869. The forge, showing the mass production of components at about 40 identical forges

Pen grinding room, Hanks, Wells & Cos factory, Birmingham, West Midlands, 1851. More than 50 women sit at individual grindstones finishing metal pen nibs

Glass cutters at their wheels, c1870. The vessel to be cut is held against a rotating wheel powered by steam through belt and shafting

Blowing cylinder or sheet glass, c1860
Blowing cylinder, sheet or window glass, c1860. This method of making sheet glass was introduced into England by Robert Lucas Chance in 1832

Scene in a Staffordshire pottery factory, c1851. Mixing and grinding ingredients for the production of pottery in the factorys mill room

Woman armaments worker, World War II, 1940. A woman in a tank factory being instructed in the use of a metal power drill

The Factory Children, 1814. Artist: George Walker of Seacroft
The Factory Children, 1814. Boy and girl employees walk to work carrying the days food in baskets. In the background is a typical West Riding mill for wool or cotton

Avis, from French Political posters of the Paris Commune, May 1871

Ouvriers, from French Political posters of the Paris Commune, May 1871

Edge-tool industry, 1751-1777. A print from the Encyclopedie, ou Dictionnaire Raisonne des Sciences, des Arts et des Metiers by Diderot & d Alembert, 1751-1777. Private Collection

Interior of a Printing Works, 1751-1777. A print from the Encyclopedie, ou Dictionnaire Raisonne des Sciences, des Arts et des Metiers by Diderot & d Alembert, 1751-1777. Private Collection

Shoe tree makers, 1751-1777. Artist: Denis Diderot
Shoe tree makers, 1751-1777. A print from the Encyclopedie, ou Dictionnaire Raisonne des Sciences, des Arts et des Metiers by Diderot & d Alembert, 1751-1777. Private Collection

Interior of a Printing Works and Plan of a Press, 1751-1777. A print from the Encyclopedie, ou Dictionnaire Raisonne des Sciences, des Arts et des Metiers by Diderot & d Alembert, 1751-1777

Interior of a Printing Works, wetting room, 1751-1777. A print from the Encyclopedie, ou Dictionnaire Raisonne des Sciences, des Arts et des Metiers by Diderot & d Alembert, 1751-1777

Interior of a Printing Works, type setting, 1751-1777. Artist: Denis Diderot
Interior of a Printing Works, type setting, 1751-1777. A print from the Encyclopedie, ou Dictionnaire Raisonne des Sciences, des Arts et des Metiers by Diderot & d Alembert, 1751-1777

Jacquard loom, with swags of punched cards from which pattern was woven, 1876

Man operating machine punching cards for Jacquard looms, 1844
Man operating machine punching cards for Jacquard looms. A total of 400-800 was normal, but sometimes 24, 000 were worked. From George Dodd The Textile Manufactures of Great Britain. (London, 1844)

Preparing punched cards for a Jacquard loom, 1844. The loom had a card for each weft thread of pattern. A total of 400-800 was normal, but sometimes 24, 000 were worked

Phoenix Iron and Bridge Works, Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, 1873
Putting ball of white-hot iron into a rotary squeezer to remove the slag and cinder, and force the metal into the shape of a cylinder or bloom

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