Historical Production Techniques

Illustrations depicting traditional methods like water mills and paper making, showcasing craftsmanship in various historical settings.

The interior of a water mill in 18th century France. Date: Circa 1760

The interior of a water mill in 18th century France. Date: Circa 1760

Paper Making, by Hand

Comparison of the old fire sprayers with Van der Heydens Slangenbrandspruit, Jan van der Heyden, 1685 - 1690 drawing Comparison between the operation and application of old fire sprayers and the new hose fire sprayers. Design for illustration in the fire spray book by Jan van der Heyden, 1690. Northern Netherlands paper. ink. chalk pen / brush fire-fighting. firemen. pails (fire-extinguishing equipment) Amsterdam

Men are working with picks and axes to make wheels for carriages and carts. Engraving by A.J. Defehrt after L.J. Goussier.

An engraving depicting a compositor making up a line of type. In his left hand is the composing stick, and in this, he places letters from the upper case for capital letters, and from the lower case for small letters. In the foreground is the frame of a chase in which four pages will be locked. On the left is a chase with the type secured in and correctly positioned with furniture. Dated 19th century

Woodcut engraving depicting a revolving crane for moving heavy weights. Illustrated by Agostino Ramelli - who was the first to illustrate a revolving crane.

Tobacco manufacturing of paris, engraving by a.jahandier

Weaving at Spitalfields, London, 1747 (1894). Artist: Unknown

An engraving depicting a baker kneading dough in a trough. This trough had a lid so that the dough could be covered and left to rise. Dated 19th century

A woodcut engraving depicting the raising of a large piece of timber using a rope and pulley, and a man-powered windlass with tooth and pinion and crown and pinion. Dated 17th century

Illustration depicting the interior of a potter's shop. Dated 19th Century

Illustration depicting a printer's workshop. Dated 18th century

Working on a Dutch flat bed press Date: 1600

Female silk worker, Spitalfields, London, 1833. Artist: Unknown

technics printing print shop with workers wood engraving by Abraham de Weerdt circa 1600,

Humphry Potter or the lazy genius

Workers weaving silk in China 1833

Making paper by hand by sieving pulp in forms. Engraving 1845.

Hand block printing cotton, Manchester, England. Engraving published Ongar, 1823.

An engraving depicting a man sawing a block of building stone. Dated 19th century

Cutting glass; London; England 1868

Joinery: a box-making workshop, with men at work (top), tools (below). Engraving by A.B. after Lucotte ?.

Potter at work at the Wedgwood factory, Etruria, Staffordshire, England. The potter's throwing wheel is being turned through a belt by the man turning the wheel at the left. From 'Scenes in England' by the Rev. Isaac Taylor, London, 1822. Hand-coloured engraving.

The Cabinetmaker's workshop. From 'Encyclopedie', Paris, c1751.

JIGGING MACHINE. Jigging is the practice of fishing with a jig, a type of fishing lure.

Soap-makers boiling soap in a factory. Man in coat and hat stacking soap in molds, another man pitching neat soap from a large vat of boiling animal fats and alkali. Woodblock engraving from The Book of English Trades, or Library of Useful Arts, F.C.& J. Rivington, London, 1821.

Hand making nails in the area of Dudley, Worcestershire (West Midlands) Mother works while child keeps warm near the forge. After the introduction of machine-made nails in 1830 this cottage industry,-which employed 50,000, went, into decline.

Furnace for production of sulphuric acid from nitric acid and sulphur dioxide.

Production of silk fabrics, application of a primer to give the silk a better sheen, Historical, digitally restored reproduction of a 19th century original, exact date unknown

An engraving depicting the alkali tanks in a soap factory. Dated 19th century

An engraving depicting a type of cider mill used in Ireland, for crushing apples for cider making. 1835

Interior of a craft workshop with two working men unknown

An engraving depicting a stereotype foundry. Dated 19th century

Potters workshop: one boy turns wheel for potter while a second breaks clay to correct size for articles being thrown, Royal Porcelain Works, Worcester, England. Engraving c1851.

A machine for lifting water. Engraving.

Man smoking a pipe while hand weaving a length of cloth. Engraving after Nicholas Chodowieki (1726-1801) 'the Hogarth of Germany'.

An 18th-century cider press in Devon, the wheel turned by a horse Date: 18th century

Engraving depicting a crofter's hut, with a Canadian box stove being used for both cooking and heating, near Salcots, North-West Territories. Dated 19th century

Making paper by hand. Engravingc1851.

Rolling steel for pens: Hinks, Wells & Cos factory, Birmingham. England 1851.

Bramah-type hydraulic press introduced by William Hale to fill his rockets 1855

A Dutch printing office Date: 1600

Fish-rearing house at Twickenham, 1864. 'Piscicultural establishment...constructed by Mr. Francis Francis, at Twickenham...At one end is a huge slate cistern, supplied from the main, and which contains 2500 gallons of water. The cistern is raised...from the ground; and from each end of this double rows of trays, containing the ova, are carried down, one below the other, in regular gradation to the ground, upon timber supports. Some sixty-six of these are now in use, and the apparatus contains at this time about ninety thousand eggs of salmon, salmon trout, great lake trout, common trout, and c

Woodcut engraving depicting a bookbinder's workshop by Jost Amman. Jost Amman (1539-1591) a Swiss-German artist. Dated 16th century

Engraving depicting men working on a jet in Whitby, Yorkshire. Dated 19th century

Interior of a gunpowder manufactory, and the instruments used. Etching by Bénard after L.J. Goussier.

Printing engravings from copper plates: two men inking the plates, another operating the press (top), equipment (below). Engraving by R. Benard after L.-J. Goussier.

Illustration showing Marc Isambard Brunel's machinery forblock cutting, used in Portsmouth Dockyards. 1866

Inmates of All Saints Workhouse in Hertford in England, grinding corn, engraving, 1836

Worker behind a lathe, Jan Gillisz. van Vliet, 1635 print A man behind a lathe. On the back wall chisels. In the foreground a spider wheel. Leiden paper etching / engraving turner in wood. spinning-wheel. tools, aids, implements ~ crafts and industries: chisel

Mixing and grinding ingredients for production of pottery in the mill room of a Staffordshire factory. Wood engraving c1851

Benjamin Franklin's (1706-1790) printing press. Engraving. Colorised.

Illustration of hemp being prepared to be threaded and twisted to make rope. Dated between 1751-1780

Manufacture of iron netting and implements used. Etching after L.J. Goussier.

This illustration dates to the 1870s and shows Nasmyth's Steam Hammer. James Nasmyth was a Scottish engineer who gained fame for his development of the steam hammer. He was co-founder of Nasmyth, Gaskell and Company manufacturers of machine tools. With the steam hammer, the steam is admitted below the piston, which is thus raised to any required height within the limits of the stroke. When the communication with the boiler is shut off and the steam below the piston is allowed to escape, the piston, with the mass of ironforming the hammer attached to the piston-rod, falls by its own weight. This weight, in large steam hammers, amounts to several tons; and the force of the blow will depend jointly upon the weight of the hammer, and upon the height from which it is allowed to fall. The steam is admitted and allowed to escape by valves, moved by a lever under the control of a workman.

Manufacture of iron wire and machinery used. Etching by Prevost after L.J. Goussier.

Taking a print, in a printmaker's workshop : one man is using the heavy hand press, while others are at work on plates. Date: 17th century

Silk manufacture: transferring yarn from the warping reel to a spool. From Denis Diderot: Eneyclopedie; Paris; 1751-80Silk manufacture: transferring yarn from the warping reel to a spool. From Denis Diderot: Eneyclopedie; Paris; 1751-80

Worker behind a lathe; Professions. A man behind a lathe. On the back wall chisels. In the foreground a spinning wheel.

Blacksmith hammering metal on an anvil in a smithy. Tools including mallet and tongs in front of the brick forge, and wrought iron products and railings on the floor. Woodblock engraving from The Book of English Trades, or Library of Useful Arts, F.C.& J. Rivington, London, 1821.

Carpenters; Professions. A carpenter processes a piece of wood with an ax. A second carpenter is behind a planer bench. On the back wall and on the ground many tools.

An engraving depicting the pan room of Fry's Chocolate factory, Bristol. Dated 19th century

Photo collection Government information service. Paper maker. undated

A woodcut engraving depicting a corn mill powered by an undershot water wheel. Dated 17th century

Woodcut engraving depicting a bookbinder's workshop by Jost Amman. Jost Amman (1539-1591) a Swiss-German artist. Dated 16th century

Coinage: interior view (a) coin press (b) various components of the coin press. Etching by Bénard after Lucotte.

Gassing or singeing cotton thread to remove loose fibres. Engraving, London, 1866.

Illustration depicting the process of bookbinding: guillotine for cutting millboard to size. Dated 19th century

Plate showing furnace with bellows for gold. Engraving from Denis Diderot, Jean Baptiste Le Rond d'Alembert, L'Encyclopedie, 1751-1757. Entitled Monnoyage (Minting).

early 19th century cottage industry: Coventry silk loom. England 1823,

An engraving depicting men working in a brewery. Dated 18th century

Farbik for canning, company Egrot in Paris, France / Farbik für Konserven, Firma Egrot in Paris, Frankreich, Historisch, historical, digital improved reproduction of an original from the 19th century / digitale Reproduktion einer Originalvorlage aus dem 19. Jahrhundert.

Engraving depicting a post-mill for grinding corn. Dated 17th century

Metals: interior view of a brass foundry, and manufacture of brass products. Etching.

The Paper Maker, 16th century. The Arts of the Middle Ages and at the Period of the Renaissance by Paul Lacroix, 1874

Inmates of All Saints Workhouse, Hertford, England, grinding corn in Herberts patent mill to produce flour for use in the workhouse. Able-bodied inmates had to carry out tasks necessary for the running of the institution. Engraving, London, 1836.

Wassermühle (Walkmühle)

Illustration depicting a scene within the C.T. Brock & Co's firework factory. The men are wearing nail-less safety boots which could cause no sparks, and the clothes they wear have no pockets so that no matches or anything else that might cause an explosion could be taken into the shed. Dated 19th century

An engraving depicting a Platen Press. The printer is shown inking the type with a roller. Dated 19th century

How the beer gets from the barrels in the cellar to the taps in the bar, thanks to carbonic acid gas in Hermann- Lachapelle's apparatus Date: circa 1880

Brewing, average one icehouse / Brauereiwesen, Durchschnitt eines Eishaus, Historisch, historical, digital improved reproduction of an original from the 19th century / digitale Reproduktion einer Originalvorlage aus dem 19. Jahrhundert.

Two women and a man are shown around 1901 using a screw press made of wood and metal gears to bind and rebind books.

Stamping mills powered by and overshot water wheel being used to crush ore to begin the process of extracting metal from the ore won from a mine. From De re metallica, by Agricola, pseudonym of Georg Bauer (Basle, 1556). Woodcut

Manufacture of needles. Etching by Mutlow after J. Farey.

Grinding flour using power generated from a water wheel

A man is hammering at a metal container on an anvil. Wood engraving.

Engraving depicting a Chinese tinker creating a draught for his portable forge by means of a cylindrical piston type of bellows. Dated 19th century

With respect and admiration, you must consider Deez 'plate, / the reason thereof dear youth, I will unfold you. Leaf with a major representations of a printing company (possibly from Laurens Jansz. Coster). Links two men with fonts, centrally a man who operates the printing press and to the right two men who are printed sheets to edit. On top Of only printed sheets about beams to dry. In the undermaster a caption in four columns. Numbered at the top right: No. 110.

An engraving depicting a brass factory: pouring molten brass from crucibles into iron moulds. Dated 19th century

Rag-and-chain pump being used to raise water from a mine. Two men are turning the drive-shaft on which is mounted a spur gear which transfers power to the pump by means of a lantern, D. Apart from the chain connecting the 'rags', almost all the material used in the mechanism is wood. From 'De re metallica', by Agricola, pseudonym of Georg Bauer (Basle, 1556). Woodcut.

Brickmaker shaping clay bricks in a mold next to a kiln. Bricks lay drying on a wheelbarrow. Woodblock engraving from The Book of English Trades, or Library of Useful Arts, F.C.& J. Rivington, London, 1821.

Little Giant, a hand-held woodwork drill made by Chicago Pneumatic Tool Company. Engraving 1907

Forge with bellows driven by an undershot water wheel through cranks, 1673. Artist: Unknown

Clock makers in Holland in the late 16th century. Detail from aan engraving by Philips Galle

George Agricola (1494-1555) . De Re Metallica, 1556. Book IX. Methods of smelting ores. A. Furnaces. B. Forehearths.

16th century cooper workshop. The Arts of the Middle Ages and at the Period of the Renaissance by Paul Lacroix, 1874

Circular planing machine used during the building of the Crystal Palace, London, 1851.

Illustration showing Heckling flax. The machines were belt driven and the power transmitted to individual machines through overhead shafts (line shafting). From The Pictorial Gallery of Arts, London, n.d. (ca 1851)

Soap boiler making soap in a factory. A man stirs a vat of boiling fat and ley, while another cuts the hardened soap with a copper wire in wooden frames. Handcoloured woodcut engraving from The Book of English Trades and Library of the Useful Arts, Tabart, London, 1810.

An engraving depicting a hand-powered hydraulic press: material to be compressed is placed on a plate which is raised and lowered by piston, c, which descends into a tank of water. The tank is connected to the force pump (left) using a leaden tube. When the pump handle is operated, water in the tank beneath C rises, so lifting the piston and compressing the bales. Joseph Bramah (1748-1814) an English inventor and locksmith who is best known for inventing the hydraulic press. Dated 19th century

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