Sepia Saturday 189: strange contraptions
A lot of machines used in previous centuries would be seen as contraptions these days, and the topic reminded me of this photograph from the Alexander Turnbull Library in New Zealand , which was taken at my 3x great uncle's sawmill in Invercargill in the 1880s. The machines in those times were not only weird but also downright dangerous, with no health and safety regulations to protect the workers back then. One of William Cruickshank's own daughters lost a finger in an accident while working in her father's mill. Prior to this William and his brother Adam (my 2x GGF) established the first flax mill in that part of NZ.
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| Man working at balling machine at W Cruickshank's sawmill, Invercargill. Natusch, Sheila Ellen, 1926- :Photographs of Southland families and carte de visite albums. Ref: 1/2-066218-F. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. http://natlib.govt.nz/records/22530174
Another machine I've had occasion to investigate relates to the printing industry. The occupation of my ancestor John Daw is recorded in the censuses from 1841 onwards as that of machine ruler, or sometimes as account book manufacturer's assistant, so I was interested to hear from P Herrington in England that :
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" [The trade of a Machine Ruler] "was very closely linked to printing.The printer, obviously, put the words on the paper; whereas the ruler put the lines on ledgers, cash books, record cards, invoices, statements, minute books, analysis paper, graph paper etc, etc.
The trade grew out of the production of music score sheets which were originally drawn with multi nibbed pens producing the necessary lines in one sweep. The first mechanical method involved using a rod fitted with discs which transferred ink from a feed roller to the paper as it passed underneath.
This method was not suitable for ledgers though and so the Pen ruling machine was developed which produced the lines by means of brass pens held in a slide which stretched across the bed of the machine. The machines were made mainly of beech since the drying time for the ink required the paper to be carried on a very long continous canvas within the machine and wood eliminated the risk of any expansion in hot weather."
Mr Herrington kindly sent me the following photograph, which comes from p. 6 of a publication by printing machine manufacturers
Waite and Sheard, of Honley nr. Huddersfield :
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The model used by John Daw would probably have been an earlier one, but you get the picture.
By the way, if anyone is ever in the vicinity of Chiltern in Victoria, near the NSW border, the old Federal Standard Printing Works and Office there is well worth a visit. It's operated by the National Trust, and for a gold coin donation you get a very interesting talk and demonstration by enthusiastic retired printers of how the machine operates. It dates from 1859 when the Federal Standard was first published after gold was discovered in the area and continued until 1969. Open on the second weekend of every month.
10 comments:
This was absolutely fascinating. I had never thought about how rules were set. I'm familiar with hot metal typesetting and the huge Heidelberg presses, but never anything like what you've shown. Learn something new everyday! Thank you!
Oddly, the chap that I used to deal with in the bank in Malvern's name was John Daw!
Fascinating. I will try to get to Chiltern on the way to see family in Vic sometime.
Was that Malvern in Melbourne or in the UK? My John Daw lived in Westminster in London in the 19th century, but I'm in touch with someone whose husband was a Daw in Tewksbury. One of John's sons was George Henry Daw, co-founder of the well-known gun manufacturing company Whitton and Daw. What seems strange to me is that both John and his brother were apprenticed to their uncle who was a glover, but somehow they both later became involved in the printing trade, which dooesn't seem to have much relationship with the occupation of gloving!
Yes, do visit if you can. Chiltern is one of my favourite Victorian heritage towns, with lots of interesting historical attractions, and a very interesting museum containing plenty of contraptions and other paraphernalia, not to mention an excellent bakery for a morning or afternoon tea break.
Those mill machines were highly dangerous. There's a TV series currently running in UK called The Mill, and in the first episode a young lad loses an arm!
Welcome to Sepia Saturday Jo; I hope you'll enjoy visiting the other contributors, who are such a kind bunch they're sure to come and comment on your post too. For future ref. you need to copy and paste the URL of your actual post into Mr Linky, otherwise later visitors land on the wrong post. You get this by clicking on the title of your post then copying it from the browser.
Marilyn (co-admin)
An apprentice printer would have needed to be interested in mechanics! It looks so complicated.
Oh I didn't know there was one in Melbourne. UK, yes.
I agree Jo. Chiltern has some wonderful antique shops too. The old pharmacy is definitely worth a visit.
Until the last decade, not many saw millers had all their fingers.
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