Asquith
Diamond
- Joined
- Mar 3, 2005
- Location
- Somerset, UK
Some will be familiar with the work of Richard Roberts. He was one of the most influential British inventors and machine makers of the first half of the 19th century. Photos of his surprisingly modern-looking lathe here, bearing the date 1817:-
http://www.practicalmachinist.com/vb/antique-machinery-history/very-old-lathe-114230/
I recently visited Manchester's excellent Museum of Science & Industry (MoSI). The museum houses a Collections Centre where many non-displayed items are stored, and which is open to visitors at certain times of the week. It was closed when I went there, but fortunately a recent acquisition had been placed by a window and illuminated so that it could be seen by visitors. It was this ornamental turning lathe made by Richard Roberts.
This was a very pleasant surprise, especially as I was unaware of any other Richard Roberts lathes being in captivity, let alone on display. The lathe was probably made between 1817 and 1822.
I'll also start a separate thread on the Sharp, Roberts 1835 slotting machine now on open display at the museum.
Roberts’ first(?) 1817 planing machine has survived, but I suspect it wasn’t used on this lathe: the narrowness of the four flat horizontal ways suggests they were like that to minimise the amount of chipping, filing and scraping.
I’ll say a bit more about the background later, but I’m hoping that you will do the talking.
I’ll post more photos of the compound, as there are some curious features which I don’t understand.