Mechanisation Collection (page 6)

Stamping and roasting ore to extract metal, 1556. This technique was used to extract lead, copper, silver and gold. The mill is powered by a water wheel

Stocking frame workshop, 1750. Women winding and reeling the yarn, and a man working the knitting frame. From The Universal Magazine, London, 1750

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

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

Worsted manufacturing, c1845. A man, woman and small boy working a wheel for combing long staple wool into slivers for worsted manufacture

Carding, drawing and roving cotton, c1830. A carding engine (left) delivers cotton in a single sliver. The factory is operated by shafts and belting, which could be powered by water or steam

Weaving shed fitted with rows of power looms driven by belt and shafting, c1840

Matthew Boulton (1728-1809), English engineer and industrialist
Matthew Boulton, English engineer and industrialist. Works owner Matthew Boulton (1728-1809) and Scottish engineer and inventor James Watt (1736-1819)

Bells reaping machine, 1851. Artist: GH Swanston
Bells reaping machine, 1851. Scottish clergyman and inventor Patrick Bells (1799-1869) reaping machine of 1826 was the first successful reaping machine, but was not commercialised

Jacquard power loom, 1915. In 1801 the Frenchman Joseph-Marie Jacquard (1752-1834) invented a method of weaving intricate patterns by encoding them on punched cards

Sectional view of a German mine, 1556
Sectional view of a German mine showing the method of sinking shafts and driving horizontal galleries, 1556. A windlass is used to raise and lower men, materials and spoil

Draining a mine using a series of suction pumps powered by a water wheel, 1556. From De re metallica by Georgius Agricola. (Basel, 1556)

Richard Arkwright (1732-1792), British industrialist and inventor. Arkwright was the inventor of textile manufacturing machinery which included the first practical means of mechanical spinning using

Charles Babbages Difference Engine No 1, prototype calculating machine, 1824-1832. Artist: Joseph Clement
Charles Babbages Difference Engine No 1, prototype calculating machine, 1824-1832. English mathematician Charles Babbage (1791-1871)

Matthew Boulton, English entrepreneur, industrialist and engineer, 1809. English works owner Boulton (1728-1809) (front) and Scottish engineer and inventor James Watt (1736-1819)

Matthew Boulton and James Watt, British engineers and industrialists, 1871. Artist: J Moore
Matthew Boulton and James Watt, British engineers and industrialists, 1871. English works owner Matthew Boulton (1728-1809) (front) and Scottish engineer and inventor Watt (1736-1819)

Page from a Gutenberg Bible, 1455. Artist: Johannes Gutenberg
Page from the Gutenberg Bible, 1455. Johann Gutenberg (c1398-1468) is regarded as the inventor of movable type. In 1455 he produced the first large printed book, the Gutenberg Bible

Bank of furnaces, Lymington Iron Works, Tyneside, England, 1835. By this time the Nielsen hot blast process, invented in 1824, was in general use

Cotton manufacture: mule spinning, c1830. A self-acting mule of the type devised by Richard Roberts in 1825. Roberts spinning mule produced better yarn than any other machine

Spinning cotton with self-acting mules of the type devised by Richard Roberts in 1825 (c1835). These could be powered by water wheel or steam engine

Female typist, 1893

Patrick Bell (1799-1869), Scottish clergyman and inventor, 1868. In c1827 Bell invented a mechanical reaper which Cyrus McCormick later perfected

Potters workshop, c1860. A woman turns the wheel while a girl baller supplies the potter with lumps of clay of the correct weight for the next vessel to be thrown

Throwing an earthenware vessel, c1860. A belt-driven wheel of the type used at the Wedgwood and Copeland factories. The speed of the wheel is regulated by the boy raising or lowering a belt

Spinning Jenny, 1820. The Spinning Jenny was invented by James Hargreaves (c1720-1778) in 1764. On his original machine, a single wheel controlled eight spindles rather than the single spindle

Sectional view of Strutts model cotton mills, Belper, Derbyshire, England, 1820. Artist: William Lowry
Sectional view of Strutts model cotton mills, Belper, Derbyshire, England, 1820. Power was generated by the water wheel and distributed via a shaft and belting

Grinding needle points, Redditch, England, c1830. A grindstone driven by water or steam. Needle grinding was well-paid work but the lives of grinders were short owing to the inhalation of dust

Die-stamping the channel and eye position on needle wires, Redditch, England, c1835. The operation used a foot-operated 13.6kg hammer

Bellows operated by a camshaft powered by a water wheel, 1540. This application of the medieval invention of the cam enabled both bellows to be powered by the same water wheel

Bellows supplying draught to a smelting furnace, 1556. The bellows are operated by a camshaft powered by a water wheel (just visible at extreme right)

Page from Gutenbergs Bible, c1455. Artist: Johannes Gutenberg
Page from Gutenbergs Bible, c1455. Johann Gutenberg (c1398-1468) is regarded as the inventor of movable type. In 1455 he produced the first large printed book, the Gutenberg Bible

Forge with bellows driven by an undershot water wheel through cranks, 1673. From Theatrum Machinarum Novum by Georg Andreas Bockler. (Nuremberg, 1673)

Eli Whitneys (1765-1825) saw-gin for cleaning cotton, 1865. Whitneys cotton gin, patented in 1794, pioneered the mass production of cotton

Cross-section of Eli Whitneys (1765-1825) saw-gin for cleaning cotton, 1865. Seeds can be seen ejected (left), while cotton fibres are passing on the right

Saw gin for cleaning cotton being operated by barefoot black labourer, southern USA, 1865. An Eagle gin, an improved form of the cotton gin invented by Eli Whitney (1765-1825) in 1794

Rolling mill and forge powered by hot gases from a furnace, 1629. An idea proposed by Giovanni Branca in Le Machine. (Rome, 1629)

Sectional view of a mine showing shafts and galleries, 1556. At the surface of each shaft is a winch or windlass for raising and lowering loads

Smelting iron and hammering bars with a mechanical hammer, 1556. From De re metallica by Georgius Agricola. (Basel, 1556)

Reversible hoist for raising leather buckets from a mine shaft, 1556
Reversible hoist for raising leather buckets from a mine shaft powered by an overshot water wheel, 1556. A man in a hut at O opens and shuts water races to stop and start a double row of buckets

Crushing gold bearing ores in mills similar in principle to flour mills, 1556. At bottom left goats in a treadmill produce horizontal power which is transferred to a mill (A)

Steel production: a forge with bellows to produce draught, 1556. In the foreground bars are being hammered with a mechanical hammer

A Jacquard Loom, 1915. A power-operated development of Joseph Marie Jacquards (1752-1834) invention, showing swags of punched cards on which the pattern to be woven was encoded

Joseph Marie Jacquard (1752-1834), French silk-weaver and inventor

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

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