T class SubmarineInside a British submarine: complex details of the craft in which our underwater crews live and fight. A sectional view of a boat of the T class, showing how machinery, torpedoes
Horses pulling the ploughTwo heavy horses, pull a farmers plough through a newly cut cornfield. Painting by Malcolm Greensmith
Allis-Chalmers Company plant, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA, manufacturers of agricultural machinery such as tractors. Date: circa 1909
Advert for Ransomes lawn mowersAn advertisement for Ransomes lawn mowers, showing three different products available. Date: 1883
Cider pressingTower to crush the apples and old cider press in Normandy in northern France. Date: circa 1870s
Lizzie the munition war-worker in Sheffield, WW1Unofficially connected with Mr. Lloyd Georges department! The elephant munition-worker at Sheffield. Lizzie, a circus elephant was a familiar but incongruous sight on the cobbled streets of Sheffield
Heath Robinson Kitchen 3 of 4Heath Robinson Does Away with Servants - Patent Applied for by " The Sketch" in the Kitchen. A busy Kitchen, which is a typically Heath Robinson design, with a system of pulleys
Pea Apparatus by William Heath RobinsonAn interesting and elegant apparatus designed to overcome once for all the difficulties of conveying green peas to the mouth
A Decided Catch by William Heath RobinsonThe Whitebait cycle, an ingenious contraption necessitated by the exorbitant charges for hire of boats at the seaside this season
Bound to Draw by William Heath RobinsonAnother well-thought-out experiment in dentistry from Heath Robinson, the Gadget King and mastermind behind endless convoluted contraptions and silly ideas. Date: 1927
Heath Robinson Drawing Room 2 of 4Heath Robinson Does Away with Servants - Patent Applied for by " The Sketch" in the Drawing-Room. A family in the Drawing Room, which is a typically Heath Robinson design
A team of working horses at work in the fields ploughing. Painting by Malcolm Greensmith Date: circa 1980
The Engine Room at the Clement-Talbot Motor Works, LondonThe Engine Room at the Clement-Talbot Motor Works, Ladbroke Grove, North Kensington, London, alongside the Great Western Railway line and between Wormwood Scrubs
Overtime at a Christmas cracker factory by William Heath RobColour illustration by William Heath Robinson depicting one of his usual contraptions designed to solve the increase in demand for Christmas crackers during the forthcoming festive season
Mixing treated asbestos fibre, Heath Robinson machineEfficient plant for the successful mixing of treated asbestos fibre with cement. A drawing done by William Heath Robinson for Turners Asbestos Cement Co
Patent double action grinder for asbestos by Heath RobinsonA patent double-action grinder for mashing asbestos fibre - a drawing done for Turners Asbestos Cement Co by William Heath Robinson, renowned for his machines and convoluted contraptions. Date: c.1925
Bryant and May Match FactoryGirls feeding a machine at the Bryant & May match factory, in Bow, East London, at the time a tax on matches was being discussed in the budget. Date: 1916
Heavy shire horse pulls an old hay rakeA farmer and his heavy horse take a break from working to gather hay on a field. They stop to talk to another farmer and a young lady in white dress
Harvesting barley with a combine harvester, SuffolkHarvesting barley with a combine harvester on a farm in Suffolk, England
Fowlers Steam EngineFowlers patent engine and windlass for steam-ploughing
The Subzeppmarinellin by Heath Robinson, WW1 cartoonThe subzeppmarinellin for making sure of your enemy. All bases covered with this combined submarine and zeppelin from the imagination of William Heath Robinson during the First World War. Date: c.1916
Royal Wedding 1923 - Heath Robinson humourA Great Grand Stand. A comfortable suggestion for viewing future Royal Weddings by William Heath Robinson. An onlooker manages to balance a cosy armchair on top of a lamp post complete with rice
Ending in Smoke by Heath RobinsonAn ingenious smoke screen spreader for preventing embarrassing situations when the bathroom lock is out of order. Hilarious invention by the inimitable Heath Robinson allowing complete discretion for
Mill Workers - Spinning - Rochdale, Lancashire. Date: 1911
Caterpillar track steam engine by R. Hornsby & SonsThe first and original Caterpillar or walking engine made by R. Hornsby & Sons of Grantham. R. Hornsby & Sons grew into a major manufacturer of agricultural machinery, at their Spittle Gate Works
Trumpers Barbers - Mayfair, LondonBarbershop in Central London - Mayfair. G F Trumper & Sons. An elaborate belt-driven machinery above the mirror drives a head massaging brush. Established 1875
A simple device for removing a wartContrary to the title of this picture, a complicated and convoluted machine to help a sufferer remove a wart from his head
Lancashire Weaver / 1890SA weaver in a Lancashire cotton mill
Poster, Ransomes Lawnmowers, sold by Broughton & Wilks, Banbury. circa 1900s
Two young men sorting through a pile of scrap metalTwo young men, one in a top hat, the other in a bowler hat, sorting through a rather unpromising pile of scrap metal in a junk yard
Victorian inventions in The EngineerA page of patented engineering and industrial inventions from The Engineer magazine, 1856. Date: 1856
Steam hammer, details of piston and cylinderSteam hammer, front elevation and details of piston and cylinder
Heath Robinson Bedroom 4 of 4Heath Robinson Does Away with Servants - Patent Applied for by " The Sketch" in the Bedroom. A bedroom, which is a typically Heath Robinson design, with a system of pulleys
Crop-Spraying PotatoesA farmer uses horse-drawn machinery to spray main-crop potatoes with Bordeaux Mixture as a preventative against late blight, on an Essex farm near Rickling
Threshing MachineCombined Thrashing and Stacking Machine, by Wilkinson, Wright of Boston, Lincolnshire
BP employee opening the flow valvesA British Petroleum employee opens the flow valves of an oil plant in the Middle East (likely to have been in Iraq or Iran)
Cotton Weaving / LancsCotton weaving, Lancashire
Communist Factory WorkerA young man, the ideal of the heroic communist worker, working at a complicated piece of machinery in a cellulose paper factory in Balakhna, Russia
Advert, Glenfield & Kennedy Ltd, Kilmarnock, ScotlandAdvert for Glenfield & Kennedy Ltd, Kilmarnock, Scotland. 1905
Potato harvest, Rafta Farm, St Levan, CornwallMother and daughter (Pamela and Sandra Semmens) working on the potato harvest at Rafta Farm, St Levan, near Lands End, Cornwall. Date: 1970s
Fantastic Wooden Screw Olive Press - Kabyle People, AlgeriaAbsolutely Fantastic Wooden Olive Screw Press - Kabyle People, Algeria. The traditional Kabylian economy of the area is based on arboriculture (orchards and olive trees)
A Fountain Pen Repair Shop - Indianapolis, Indiana, USAA Fountain Pen Repair Shop - The Pen Shop - at 112 Monument Circle, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA Date: 1940
Great Crane at Woolwich Arsenal, south east LondonThe Great Crane at the Arsenal, Woolwich, south east London, used to lift sections of large guns
New Banting Bed for Reducing the FigureThe New Banting Bed for Reducing the Figure. Cartoon by William Heath Robinson
Whitneys Cotton GinWHITNEYs GIN Eli Whitneys gin of 1793 enabled separation of cotton fibre from its seeds to be done mechanically : this is a modified version in use
Tompkins upright rotary knitting machine 1875Tompkins American family company, showing upright rotary knitting machine. Date: 1875
Foden Tractor UX 9728Foden Tractor, regn. UX 9728, number: 13784. Built in 1932 by Edwin Foden, Sons and Co of Elworth Works, Sandbach, powered by a 6 Nhp compound steam engine. Date: 1970s
Sentinel DG4 Timber Tractor ARE195Sentinel DG4 Timber Tractor regn. ARE195, built in 1935 by the Sentinel Waggon Works in Shrewsbury, at a Bristol Steam Fair. Date: 6 May 1972