Historical Engineering and Machinery

Engravings depicting various historic mechanical systems and tools used in manufacturing and construction, highlighting early industrial designs.

energy, water, turbines, combination turbine, longitudinal section, built by Germania machine factory, Chemnitz, wood engraving, late 19th century,
energy, water, turbines, combination turbine, longitudinal section, built by Germania machine factory, Chemnitz, wood engraving, late 19th century,
164 assets in this story
4220-21835094
JACQUARD LOOM First invented 1804 by J M Jacquard (1752-1834): this is probably a somewhat later modification. Date: 1804 and later
6145-55960717
Fig. XLV. Hydromylos simplex.. Bockler, Georg Andreas. Prints, Drawings, Design drawings. 1662. Rare Book Division. Mechanical engineering, Machinery, Mills and mill-work, Waterwheels, Millstones, Flour & meal industry
1746-29970499
A woodcut engraving depicting the raising of a large slab of stone and mortar using a rope and pulley. The power from the man at the crank wheel is transmitted through gearing, including crown and pinion (E, F) and worm and pinion (M, H). Dated 17th century
6145-50572737
Pl. 1. The fellow 'prentices at their looms , Weaving, Looms, Apprentices. William Hogarth (1697-1764). Prints
6145-52336689
Bookbinding and bookbinding machinery; piano manufacture. Knight, Charles, 1791-1873. Prints, Illustrations. 1858. Science, Industry and Business Library: General Collection. Art, Industrial arts, Pianos, Bookbinding, Musical instrument industry
1889-60415138
Steam powered pumps at the Chaillot fire station, Paris, France circa 1850. After a mid 19th century illustration
6145-50573711
Pl. 1. The fellow 'prentices at their looms , Weaving, Looms, Apprentices. William Hogarth (1697-1764). Prints
1788-34229
Plate showing bakers, oven and tools. Engraving from Denis Diderot, Jean Baptiste Le Rond d'Alembert, L'Encyclopedie, 1751-1757. Entitled Boulanger (Baker).
1746-21103025
Illustration from a book depicting how a steal hammer works. Dated 1913
6145-46718078
Press clips from the Swedish family journal Svea, illustrated weekly newspaper No. 57 page 452. In the locomotive workshop. After a chalkboard by Paul Meijehim, cut into wood of the artist.
6145-29261357
Manufacture of chains with various tools of the trade. Etching by A. B.
4409-17345956
Compositor setting type in printing frames and cases, 19th century. Woodblock engraving from the Penny Magazine, Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, 1833.
4443-9540
THE MANUFACTURE AND STORAGE OF GUNPOWDER
6145-46400245
Round water well with two acers to a pulley; Water wells. A street with a round well between two rectangular basins on an increase. There are two akers above the well, which are each attached to a winch via two pulleys. The print is part of an album.
4220-21832347
An 18th century glass-house - the glass-makers at work Date: 1747
6176-66096521
This illustration dates to the 1870s an shows an engineers workshop. Any visitor to it could not fail to be struck with the operation of the powerful Lathes and Planing Machines, by which long thick flakes or shavings of iron are removed from pieces of metal with the same apparent ease as if the machine were paring cheese.
6145-29266577
Processing of copper. Etching by Bénard after L.J. Goussier.
4409-20933710
Machines for silk manufacture: reeling, winding, throwsting, doubling and warping, 18th century. Copperplate engraving by Wilson Lowry after an illustration by J. Farey from Abraham Rees' "Cyclopedia or Universal Dictionary," London, 1816.
1746-19678769
Large water wheel driving machinery at Ashworths cotton mill, Turton, Bolton, Lancashire. Woodcut, London, c1845.
6145-30303721
Series Wiener Pictures, Wood cutter,
6145-29756122
The Fellow 'Prentices at their Looms (Industry and Idleness, plate 1) September 30, 1747 William Hogarth British. The Fellow 'Prentices at their Looms (Industry and Idleness, plate 1) 399838
1746-19631614
Mule-powered sugar mill with vertical rollers (top). Sugar mill with vertical rollers powered by overshot waterwheel (bottom) West Indies. Copperplate engraving, London, 1764.
1889-60422074
The rotative beam engine known as the Corliss Centennial Engine which supplied power to most of the exhibits at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia in 1876. After an illustration in Appletons'
1746-28993395
Line engraving depicting the washing of wool and the hanging to dry; in order for the wool to then be spun. Dated 18th Century
4220-20394661
OPIUM FACTORY AT PATNA, INDIA for the Chinese trade The stacking room, where the opium, made up into balls, is stacked awaiting transport Date: 1882
4409-48155204
Trades in Regency England: Greenland ship to Hull, broad-cloth manufacture and watchmaker. Sailship bringing whale blubber oil from Greenland to the port of Hull 61, weaver making broadcloth on a loom in a cottage in Leeds 62, and watchmaker at his desk in Lancaster 63. Woodcut engraving from Rev. Isaac Taylors Scenes of British Wealth, in Produce, Manufacture and Commerce, John Harris, London, 1823. Isaac Taylor was an English writer, artist, engraver and inventor 1787-1865.
4409-17345915
A worker using mechanical power to press paper in a mill. Handcoloured woodcut engraving from The Book of English Trades and Library of the Useful Arts, Phillips, London, 1818.
6145-29252325
Mining equipment. Etching by R. Bénard after L.J. Goussier.
6145-29275545
Implements used in quarrying of slate. Etching by Bénard.
1746-19632769
One of the earliest production lines: Armour Company's pig slaughterhouse, Chicago. Pigs which had walked up ramp to top of building slaughtered at (1) then went through various processes on the production line until they emerged as finished carcasses (13) Diagram published Leipzig 1895.
1746-29999086
An engraving depicting s chain of baskets, raising champagne from the caves (Champagne cellars), Pommery & Greno's champagne production at Reims, France. The disgorger removes the first cork and the deposit accumulated on it, after which the bottle is recorked and wired. 1889.
4048-7136
A gentleman points to the regulating system of the first Edison Electric Lighting Station at the Pearl Street in lower Manhattan in 1880's.
4048-5147
Statue of Liberty. Construction of the Statue of Liberty, showing the statue in scaffolding, man with the flame, man with the foot, and head-and-shoulders portrait of Frederic Bartholdi. Engraving ca. 1884
6145-29289154
A machine for washing and crushing ore. Etching by Bénard after L.J. Goussier.
6145-29288238
Textiles: two men weaving cloth on a loom. Woodcut.
1746-19625012
Inside the lantern of the fourth Eddystone lighthouse built on the Stone 13 miles South-east of Polperro, Cornwall, England. Built by the English civil engineer John Smeaton (1724-1792) beginning in 1756 it was in operation for 127 years. Engraving from 'The Sea' by F Whymper (London, c1890).
6145-29262427
Shoemakers: machinery used in the making of shoes. Engraving.
4048-7444
Irish Linen manufacture, 1781. Interior view of a mill where three men are engaged in winding, warping, and weaving yarn. At left a warping mill, invented in the late 17th century is used.
1746-19581880
Fontaine's safety cage for mine shafts. If the rope or chain suspending the cage broke a spring was released and levers were thrust into the guide rods, so stopping the cage from plunging to the bottom of the shaft. From 'Underground Life; or, Mines and Miners' by Louis Simonin (London, 1869). Wood engraving.
4220-20429248
Several diagrams demonstrating new building techniques involving steel and concrete. In the article, these techniques are given credit for increasing house-building by a large margin, and going towards solving the housing crisis of the time. Date: 1927
1746-29999539
Chain of buckets being used to raise water.
6176-66097368
This illustration dates to the 1870s and shows a blast furnace in Great Britain, where the enormous quantity of iron produced from clay ironstone was first obtained in the state of cast iron by the process of smelting. In this process the clay ironstone is roasted after having been broken up into lumps. When ready, the ore is then put in a blast furnace (seen here), a structure about 40 to 50 feet high and 12 to 17 fet in internal diameter at its widest part. At E is the crucible, the bottom of which is called the hearth, and is usually formed of infusible sandstone. A is the tympstone and abo
4409-17345601
Willem Jansen Blaew's new-fashioned printing press commonly used in Europe in the early 19th century. Woodblock engraving from the Penny Magazine, Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, 1833.
4443-75469850
Sections of the hardwares, Plates 66-D to 72-D, J.L. Mott Iron Works., 1884, New York. Plumbing, Equipment and supplies, Catalogs
6145-29251104
Textiles: men working at large fabric printing machines. Engraving.
1899-67416938
This illustration dates to the 1870s and shows a blast furnace in Great Britain, where the enormous quantity of iron produced from clay ironstone was first obtained in the state of cast iron by the process of smelting. In thisprocess the clay ironstone is roasted after having been broken up into lumps. When ready, the ore is then put in a blast furnace (seen here), a structure about 40 to 50 feet high and 12 to 17 fet in internal diameter at its widest part.
6145-29280898
Machinery: a steam-driven water mill. Coloured drawing, 1854.
4048-7443
Irish Linen manufacture, 1782. Interior view of a bleach mill where three men and a woman are washing, rubbing, glazing and boiling linen fabric. The factory system of organization for weaving took root in Ireland in the second half of the 18th century but continued to use the hand labor or artisans.
6145-45788486
Drying of the puddles in Schieland, Beoosten Rotterdam. Photo on cardboard of a drying (peeing at Rotterdam); dated, with inscription in pen: Nieuwerkerk a / d IJssel.
6145-59498963
Hand-pivot, brothers figee, 1885 photograph Photo of a crane, stuck on cardboard, in a red -lined framework with text below and above on which client and the like made for the port of Cheribon. Inscription; b. and o.: 'Gebr. Figee - Haarlem - Holland '. Haarlem paper. cardboard printing In the
4220-21903561
People at work in a field burning pyramids of wood to make charcoal. Date: Circa 1760
4443-75473661
Bidets, 1888, J.L. Mott Iron Works, 1888, New York, Publisher, J. L. Mott Iron Works, Plumbing Equipment and Supplies, Catalogs, Plumbing Fixtures, Wood Engravings
1899-18852546
After balling, the balls are taking to the Drying Room, where each is placed in an individual earthenware cup. The image shows men examining the balls, and puncturing with a sharp style those in which gas, arising from fermentation, may be forming'.
1746-19669313
Paper making, China: forming and drying sheets from pulp. Engraving c1810.
6145-29927968
NATIONAL MANUFACTURE / SPECIFIC MANUFACTURE OF KEED FOR BEAT / AND RAZORS OF STEEL
6145-30096303
New Year's wens of the Amsterdam gas lantern plugs for the year 1865; The gas boost of the city lanterns, at the residents of the city of Amsterdam.New Year's Wish from the Amsterdam Gas Lantern Plugs for the Year 1865. Central a Fresh in Two Columns. At the top of a Street in Amsterdam Broken up for the construction of the gas pipeline. Bottom two gas fitters. From The Gas Lantern Plug: J. Lingree.
6176-66098033
This illustration dates to the 1870s and shows a cupola furnace. This type of furnce was the primary method of melting that was used in iron foundries. Henry Bessemer was an English inventor and his invention of a steelmaking process was key to the production of steel from the mid 1800s to around 1950.
1899-19920538
Serie Industrieanlagen, Fleisch Extrakt Fabrikation, Fray-Bentos, Argentinien, Abdampfapparate / Series Industrial Plants, Meat Extract Fabrication, Fray-Bentos, Argentina, Evaporators, digital improved reproduction of a collectible image from the Liebig company, estimated from 1900, pd / digital verbesserte Reproduktion eines Sammelbildes von ca 1900, gemeinfrei.
1848-61314364
Historical drawing from the 19th century, technical equipment such as a fire ladder and a pump and a portrait of Captain Sir Eyre Massey Shaw, KCB, 1830 - 1908, chief of the Metropolitan Fire Brigade, the fire brigade of London, England, United Kingdom, around 1881, Europe
4443-75464218
Riggers fitting the mast for a derrick at the New Custom House, Louisiana, New Orleans., November 15, 1854. Building construction
6145-59590859
Printing presses, Langevin, After Le Gendre-Décluy, c. 1850 print Overview of thirty -three different printing presses, including a sheet press, a lithographic press and different book pressure presses. paper printing press. tools, aids, implements ~ crafts and industries: press
4408-2955
Celebrated Gillette Horse-Clipping Machines, Horses - Riding & Racing
6145-55183420
Demarest's flushing-rim washing-out water closet range. Plate 979-G.. text. Illustrations, Advertisements, Catalogs. 1877 - 1893. Science, Industry and Business Library: General Collection. Plumbing , Equipment and supplies , Catalogs
1746-19632487
Abel Pifre's solar-powered printing press, c1894. This used Augustin Mouchot's solar engine in which a mirror focused the Sun's rays onto a small boiler (patented in 1861). From 'Le Petit Inventeur', (Paris, c1927).