An old engraving of a Victorian pantograph. It is from a book of the 1880s. Originating in the 1600s, this ‘scissor’ device is a mechanical drawing instrument. A pantograph is a mechanical linkage connected in ‘parallel motion’ so that the movement of one pen, in tracing an image, produces identical movements in a second pen. Here a drawing of a steam crane is being reducing in size onto a blank piece of paper. A drawing is traced by the first point. By adjusting the linked rulers, an identical, enlarged, or miniaturised copy will be drawn by a pen fixed to the other arm.
An old engraving of a Victorian pantograph. It is from a mechanical engineering book of the 1880s. Originating in the 1600s, this ‘scissor’ device is a mechanical drawing instrument. A pantograph is a mechanical linkage connected in ‘parallel motion’ so that the movement of one pen, in tracing an image, produces identical movements in a second pen. Here a drawing of a steam crane is being reducing in size onto a blank piece of paper. A drawing is traced by the first point. By adjusting the linked rulers, an identical, enlarged, or miniaturised copy will be drawn by a pen fixed to the other arm. Similar forms of duplication can be used in areas such as sculpture, minting, engraving, and milling. Modern versions of the device are sold as toys. The pantograph pattern can be found in extension arms for wall-mounted mirrors, temporary fences, scissor lifts, and other scissor mechanisms such as the pantograph used on electric train locomotives and trams.
Size: 3071px × 3133px
Photo credit: © M&N / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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