This illustration dates to the 1870s and shows Whitworth's drilling machine. Sir Joseph Whitworth (1803-1887) was an English engineer, entrepreneur, inventor and philanthropist. 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 planing machines. The piece of work to be planed is firmly bolted down to the table, A, which moves upon the Ꮩ-shaped surfaces, running its whole length, and accurately fitting into correspon


This illustration dates to the 1870s and shows Whitworth's drilling machine. Sir Joseph Whitworth (1803-1887) was an English engineer, entrepreneur, inventor and philanthropist. 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 planing machines. The piece of work to be planed is firmly bolted down to the table, A, which moves upon the Ꮩ-shaped surfaces, running its whole length, and accurately fitting into corresponding grooves in a massive cast iron bed. The bevel wheel, of which a portion is seen at B, is keyed on a screw, which extends longitudinally from end to end of the bed. This screw works in nuts forming part of the table, and as it turns in sockets at the ends of the bed, it does not itself move forward, but imparts a progressive movement to the table, and therefore to the piece of metal to be planed. As this table must move backwards and forwards, there must be some contrivance for reversing the direction of the screw’s rotation, and this is accomplished in a beautifully simple manner by an arrangement which a little consideration will enable any one to understand. It will be observed that there are three drum-pulleys at C. Let the reader confine, for the present, his attention to the nearest one, and picture to himself that the shaft to which it is attached is placed in the same horizontal plane as the axis of the screw and at right angles to it, passing in front of bevel wheel B. A small bevel wheel turning with this shaft, and engaging the teeth of the wheel B, may, it is plain, communicate motion to the screw.


Size: 5190px × 3467px
Photo credit: © Ivy Close Images / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No

Keywords: 1800s, 1870s, 19th, british, century, industrial, joseph, machine, metal, planing, revolution, sir, standard, system, tools, whitworth, work