19th Century Machinery

Engravings of historical machines and engines, portraying the mechanics and structures of steam engines, thread winding machines, and telegraph systems.

The working parts of James Watt's double acting engine, 1866. Artist: Unknown

Model in metal to pump machine. Made of Järse Response Emil August Lundell.

The music recording melographer by M. Roncalli. Old 19th century engraved illustration from La Ilustración Artística 1882

Engraving depicting a bellows camera. a bellows is the accordion-like, pleated expandable part of a camera, usually a large or medium format camera, to allow the lens to be moved with respect to the focal plane for focusing. Dated 19th Century

Longitudinal trimmer machine for fabrics, produced by Craig & Co, Paisley, United Kingdom, illustration from L'Industria, Rivista tecnica ed economica illustrata, Milan, 1889.

N.N., fog signal station, Bülk. (From: Atlas to the magazine for Building, ed. V.F. Endell, Jg. 26, 1876.) (1876-1876): Views of steam siren. Stitch on paper, 29.6 x 45.7 cm (including scan edges) N.N. : Nebelsignal-Station, Bülk. (Aus: Atlas zur Zeitschrift für Bauwesen, hrsg. v. F. Endell, Jg. 26, 1876)

Skiopticon image from the Department of Photography at the Royal Institute of Technology. Use by Professor Helmer Bäckström as lecture material. Bäckström was Sweden's first professor in photography at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm 1948-1958.Donaldson's trichomatrical colorimeter. For more info see: Hilger brochure.

Babbage's Difference Engine. From Charles Tomlinson Cyclopaedia of Useful Arts, London, 1866.

Spinneret, vintage engraved illustration. Industrial encyclopedia E.-O. Lami - 1875.

Individual counter dial of the Hollerith Tabulator. From Park Benjamin Modern Mechanism, London and New York, 1892.

Apparatus for making beer, vintage engraved illustration. Magasin Pittoresque 1873.

Autographic telegraph invented by Thomas Alva Edison (1847-1931). Engraving.

Compound steam engine coupled to a Desroziers dynamo. Old 19th century engraved illustration from La Nature 1890

Engraving depicting a simple wind pump fitted to a well. Dated 19th century

Studies of a team. .

Apparatus for treating horse glanders and William Hyde Wollaston's reflective goniometer, to measure the angles of minute crystals with precision. Copperplate engraving after a drawing by J. Farey from Abraham Rees' Cyclopedia or Universal Dictionary of Arts, Sciences and Literature, Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme and Brown, London, 1814.

technics printing typesetting machine ""Linotype"" invented by Ottmar Mergenthaler (1854 - 1899) 1886 colour engraving circa 1890 private collection,

Burial of a freeman free man in his bed, vintage engraved illustration. From the Universe and Humanity, 1910.

Steamhammer. Nasmyth., attributed to C.M. Ferrier & F. von Martens, 1851.

Boiler or steam generator in the 19th century, digitally restored reproduction of an original from the 19th century

Liverpool Gas Works. Sectional view of gas works where, according to Muspratt, 'the purest gas in the kingdom is produced'. From Sheridan Muspratt 'Chemistry', London, 1860

An engraving depicting Thomas Savery's steam engine of 1699 used for pumping water from mines. Double furnaces (right) with boilers, whose steam passes to cylinders (p,p). It is next cooled, which causes a partial vacuum in p,p that sucks up water through pipe M. Thomas Savery (1650-1715) an English inventor and engineer. Dated 19th century

Dividing and cutting engines with diagonal motion. Copperplate engraving by Duncan after a drawing by J. Farey from Abraham Rees' Cyclopedia or Universal Dictionary of Arts, Sciences and Literature, Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme and Brown, London, 1812.

An engraving depicting Otto Rosenheim's apparatus for testing arsenic in the contents of the stomach by Marsh's reaction. Otto Rosenheim (1871-1955) a German Biochemist. Dated 19th century

Bergonie's apparatus for the treatment of obesity by electrical means. Even in 1930 the device cost 100 pounds. Date: 1930

Colt revolver. From Edward H Knight 'The Practical Dictionary of Mechanics', New York and London c1878.

Steam engine from the 19th century: Three-cylinder compound ship's engine, digitally restored reproduction of an original from the 19th century

Engraving depicting the use of a magnesium photographic flash light devised by attaching a rubber tube to the mouthpiece of a clay pipe, filling the bowl with magnesium and wrapping bowl with alcohol-impregnated cotton wadding. When the subject posed and was in focus the cotton was ignited and the tubing blown through to give a good flame. Dated 19th century

Raoul-Pierre Pictet (1846-1929). Swiss chemist and physicist. Liquefaction and solidification of hydrogen gas. Experiments done by Raoul Pictet in December 1877. Engraving by Ch. Baude. La Ilustracion Espanola y Americana, 1878.

One of the novel exhibits on display at the Schoolboys' Exhibition at the New Horticultural Hall, London in the Winter of 1928-9; a metal robot which explained the workings of the heart, lungs, stomach etc in mechanical form. The organiser of the exhibition, Mr Schofield, explained the apparatus saying, 'We are going to translate the body into the terms of something with which boys are familiar - the steam-engine.' Touch a button on the Robot and the 'heart' begins to beat, the 'lungs' g

Interior of the Zoological Museum and Laboratory and Anatomic Institute, former Statenkamer (Janskerkhof 2-3) in Utrecht: Anatomical Amphitheater.

Engraving depicting Louis Pasteur's method of observing sealed culture samples. Louis Pasteur (1822-1895) a French biologist, microbiologist and chemist. Dated 19th century

Labor Inspectorate Photo Collection. 6x6 Device measuring breathing resistance dust filters. October 1951

The spinning mule, a machine used to spin cotton and other fibres. From Le Savant du Foyer ou Notions Scientifiques Sur Les Objets Usuels de la Vie, published 1864

Skiopticon image from the Department of Photography at the Royal Institute of Technology. Use by Professor Helmer Bäckström as lecture material.

Printing: a three-quarter view of a Bacon & Donkins press, with a detail of the eccentric gearing. Coloured engraving by W. Lowry after J. Farey, 1819.

Engraving depicting a microfilter: filar position-Micrometre, the type in general use in the late 19th century. Dated 19th Century

An engraving depicting a gas making apparatus utilising super heated steam to aid the decomposition of tar and other products in gas retorts. Dated 19th century

An engraving depicting a ceiling fitment for burning acetylene gas to produce light. The Carbide lamp, or acetylene gas lamps, are simple lamps that produce and burn acetylene (C2H2) which is created by the reaction of calcium carbide (CaC2) with water. Dated 19th century

Engraving depicting a high-pressure screw-down tap by Guest & Chrimes

Reflecting telescope of 40 ft/12 m focal length, 1789. Built by William Herschel (1738-1822) the German-born English astronomer, this instrument was the largest in the world, had a 4 ft/1.2 m mirror. Herschel made observations with this telescope but made more use of a smaller 18 in/46 cm instrument. From 'The Edinburgh Encyclopaedia'. (Edinburgh, 1807-1829). Engraving.

Illustration depicting an apparatus for making ice, using ammonia salts and water. Dated 19th century

Bleaching: vats and cauldrons for bleaching cloth. Engraving by W. Lowry, 1804.

An engraving depicting the Adam's apparatus, for distillation (1801), widely used for producing spirit from wines. 1860

Milton Syer's 'Peckham' urinal Date: 1889

Railway telephone, illustration from L'Industria, Rivista tecnica ed economica illustrata, Milan, 1907.

Morse electric printing telegraph. Rear view of instrument showing roll of paper for recording messages and the transmitting key at C. D are wet cells (batteries) providing electricity Chromolithograph c1882

Engraving depicting Edison's incandescent light bulb fitted in a mining lamp. Shown at the International Electric Exhibition at the Crystal Palace.

Steam powered machine with superheater, side view, produced by R Wolff, Magdeburg, Germany, illustration from L'Industria, Rivista tecnica ed economica illustrata, Milan, 1902.

Steam jet engine demonstrating Newtyon's third law of motion - action and reaction. Engraving, 1747.

Engraving depicting a Carbide lamp, or acetylene gas lamps, are simple lamps that produce and burn acetylene (C2H2) which is created by the reaction of calcium carbide (CaC2) with water. Dated 19th century

Skiopticon image from the Department of Photography at the Royal Institute of Technology. Use by Professor Helmer Bäckström as lecture material. Bäckström was Sweden's first professor in photography at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm 1948-1958.etsmaskin, Axel Holmström, Sirius. (1911). Cross-sectional image.

Metal theodolite for surveying and measurement tasks, produced around 1890 by an anonymous manufacturer.

EDISON, Thomas Alva (1847-1931). United States scientist and inventor. Kinetoscope, invented by Thomas Edison in 1891. Engraving.

ASTRONOMIA. TEODOLITO DE DECLINACION. CONSTRUIDO POR ADAMS , LONDRES HACIA EL AÑO 1780. OBSERVA LA VARIACION MAGNETICA TERRESTRTE. MUSEO DE LA CIENCIA Y LA TECNOLOGIA. MADRID.

Typewriter, illustration from L'Industria, Rivista tecnica ed economica illustrata, Milan, 1891.

An engraving depicting Schanschieff's battery being used to power a table lamp and a miner's lamp. The battery plates were zinc and carbon and the liquid sulphate of mercury. Dated 19th century

Engraving depicting James Dewar's vacuum flasks. Sir James Dewar (1842-1923) a Scottish chemist and physicist. Dated 20th Century

England, Sir William Thomson's Siphon Recorder dated 1870

Telephone transmitter mechanism by Johann Philipp Reis, 1834 - 1874, German scientist and inventor

This illustration, which dates to 1876, shows the process of boring for petroleum at the time.

Egrot apparatus. Alcohol destillation. Gold medal. Exposition of Paris, 1878. Engraving by Victor Rose. La Ilustracion Espanola y Americana, 1897. Colored.

Special devices of the parts of the bicycle. Old 19th century engraved illustration from La Nature 1897

England, London, South Kensington, Science Museum, Alexander Bain's Chemical Telegraph Receiver dated 1850

Engraving depicting an adding machine designed by Blaise Pascal. Blaise Pascal (1623-1662) a French mathematician, physicist, inventor, writer and Catholic theologian. Dated 20th century

Historical theodolite

Astronomy: the Craig telescope on Wandsworth Common. Wood engraving, 1852.

Comb-making machinery. Copperplate engraving by Wilson Lowry after a drawing by J. Farey from Abraham Rees' Cyclopedia or Universal Dictionary of Arts, Sciences and Literature, Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme and Brown, London, 1820.

Back-outlet Flushing-rim Syphon Water Closet, the 'Monarch.', 1888, J.L. Mott Iron Works, New York. Publisher, J. L. Mott Iron Works. Plumbing equipment and supplies, catalogs, toilets, wood engravings

A splint for a broken limb. Etching by J. Bell.

First pneumatic machine running regularly, vintage engraved illustration. Magasin Pittoresque 1852.

An advert for the "Thorncliffe" cooking-range. Advantages includes great economy on fuel, perfection in cooking and plentiful supply of water. Dated 19th century

Sectional view of Colt revolver with, at E, the cylinder and revolving mechanism. From Edward H Knight 'The Practical Dictionary of Mechanics', New York and London c1878.

Skiopticon image from the Department of Photography at the Royal Institute of Technology. Use by Professor Helmer Bäckström as lecture material. Bäckström was Sweden's first professor in photography at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm 1948-1958.Camera lenses, Voigländer heliar.For more info See: Bäckström, Helmer. Photographic manual. Nature and Culture. Stockholm. 1942. p. 131.

Filippo Bonanni microscopes, 1660. Old 19th century engraved illustration from La Nature 1889

An engraving depicting a pneumatic drill, a tool used to break up rock and pavement. Dated 19th century

James Dewar's ( 1842-1923) inventor of the vacuum flask. Illustration of flask , insulation and leather casing, 1905.

Isaac Newton (1642-1727) English scientist and mathematician. Newton's reflecting telescope. Photograph

An engraving depicting King Gillette's safety razor with replaceable blades. Dated 20th century

This illustration dates to the 1870s and shows Whitworth's measuring machine. Sir Joseph Whitworth (1803-1887) was an English engineer, entrepreneur, inventor and philanthropist.2 In 1841, he devised the British Standard Whitworth system. Although he did not take on large developments such as railways and steamships, he produced the machine tools, which made these developments possible. Shown here is one of the measuring machines he devised. He used them to develop his own system of standard gauges, although standard gauges had been in use since 1825. Fig. 30 represents one of his measuring

Measuring the heavens and the earth. Instruments measuring horizontal and vertical angles have been commonly used in land surveying. For astronomy, it is convenient to be able to track the motion of a star or planet using only a single circular motion. It achieves this my mounting the telescope assembly on a circle which can be set parallel to the celestial equator.

Steam engine by James Watt (1736-1819) showing sun-and-planet gear converting up-and-down motion of beam to rotary motion for driving machinery. From card published London 1915. Chromolithograph.

Diagram of a Sperry bomb-sight O-1 used by the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) bombers in World War Two. By manipulating the various control knobs, the skilled bombardier not only brings the aiming mechanism into operation, but actually takes feeds the necessary data into the "mechanical brain" which makes allowances for such factors as altitude, speed, wind-resistance and drift, than computes them into an answer which automatically aims and releases the bombs accurately.

Colt revolver. Fig. 2 shows the breech disc, Fig. 3, the cartridge in section. From The Mechanics' Magazine, London, 1869

E. J. Marey: sphygmograph

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