Machinery Collection

Horses pulling the plough
Two heavy horses, pull a farmers plough through a newly cut cornfield. Painting by Malcolm Greensmith

T class Submarine
Inside a British submarine: complex details of the craft in which our underwater crews live and fight

Pea Apparatus by William Heath Robinson
An interesting and elegant apparatus designed to overcome once for all the difficulties of conveying green peas to the mouth

Heath Robinson Kitchen 3 of 4
Heath Robinson Does Away with Servants - Patent Applied for by " The Sketch" in the Kitchen

A Decided Catch by William Heath Robinson
The 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 Robinson
Another 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 4
Heath Robinson Does Away with Servants - Patent Applied for by " The Sketch" in the Drawing-Room

Wartime poster, Britain Expects that you too, this day, will do your duty. Suggesting that civilians as well as soldiers have a role to play in the war effort. 1940s

A team of working horses at work in the fields ploughing. Painting by Malcolm Greensmith Date: circa 1980

Heavy shire horse pulls an old hay rake
A farmer and his heavy horse take a break from working to gather hay on a field

The Engine Room at the Clement-Talbot Motor Works, London
The Engine Room at the Clement-Talbot Motor Works, Ladbroke Grove, North Kensington, London

Bryant and May Match Factory
Girls 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

Fowlers Steam Engine
Fowlers patent engine and windlass for steam-ploughing

Mixing treated asbestos fibre, Heath Robinson machine
Efficient plant for the successful mixing of treated asbestos fibre with cement

Patent double action grinder for asbestos by Heath Robinson
A 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

The Subzeppmarinellin by Heath Robinson, WW1 cartoon
The 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

Ending in Smoke by Heath Robinson
An ingenious smoke screen spreader for preventing embarrassing situations when the bathroom lock is out of order

Overtime at a Christmas cracker factory by William Heath Rob
Colour 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

Poster, Ransomes Lawnmowers, sold by Broughton & Wilks, Banbury. circa 1900s

Mill Workers - Spinning - Rochdale, Lancashire. Date: 1911

Royal Wedding 1923 - Heath Robinson humour
A Great Grand Stand. A comfortable suggestion for viewing future Royal Weddings by William Heath Robinson

Victorian inventions in The Engineer
A page of patented engineering and industrial inventions from The Engineer magazine, 1856. Date: 1856

Caterpillar track steam engine by R. Hornsby & Sons
The 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, London
Barbershop 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 wart
Contrary to the title of this picture, a complicated and convoluted machine to help a sufferer remove a wart from his head

Harvesting barley with a combine harvester, Suffolk
Harvesting barley with a combine harvester on a farm in Suffolk, England

Threshing Machine
Combined Thrashing and Stacking Machine, by Wilkinson, Wright of Boston, Lincolnshire

Two young men sorting through a pile of scrap metal
Two 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

Lancashire Weaver / 1890S
A weaver in a Lancashire cotton mill

Steam hammer, details of piston and cylinder
Steam hammer, front elevation and details of piston and cylinder

Heath Robinson Bedroom 4 of 4
Heath Robinson Does Away with Servants - Patent Applied for by " The Sketch" in the Bedroom

BP employee opening the flow valves
A British Petroleum employee opens the flow valves of an oil plant in the Middle East (likely to have been in Iraq or Iran)

Crop-Spraying Potatoes
A 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

Cotton Weaving / Lancs
Cotton weaving, Lancashire

Whitneys Cotton Gin
WHITNEYs 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

Advert for Ransomes lawn mowers
An advertisement for Ransomes lawn mowers, showing three different products available. Date: 1883

Foundry, Dinorwig Slate Quarry, North Wales
General view of the foundry at Dinorwig (or Dinorwic) Slate Quarry, near Llanberis, North Wales, with two men at work

Potato harvest, Rafta Farm, St Levan, Cornwall
Mother 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, Algeria
Absolutely Fantastic Wooden Olive Screw Press - Kabyle People, Algeria

In front and behind the scenes at the Coliseum, London
A great stage and a great curtain: in front and behind the scenes at the Coliseum, London. Top centre: a diagrammatic view of the revolving stage

A Fountain Pen Repair Shop - Indianapolis, Indiana, USA
A Fountain Pen Repair Shop - The Pen Shop - at 112 Monument Circle, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA Date: 1940

Great Crane at Woolwich Arsenal, south east London
The Great Crane at the Arsenal, Woolwich, south east London, used to lift sections of large guns

New Banting Bed for Reducing the Figure
The New Banting Bed for Reducing the Figure. Cartoon by William Heath Robinson

Govan Ironworks, Glasgow
Charging a blast furnace at Govan Iron Works in Glasgow

Cetus Star Map
Cetus (sea monster) and chemical factory and electrical machinery constellation

Warping Room, Cotton Mill, Wigan
Girls surrounded by machinery in the warping room at a cotton mill in Wigan, Lancashire. Date: Date unknown

Advert, Glenfield & Kennedy Ltd, Kilmarnock, Scotland
Advert for Glenfield & Kennedy Ltd, Kilmarnock, Scotland. 1905

Allis-Chalmers Company plant, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA, manufacturers of agricultural machinery such as tractors. Date: circa 1909

Tompkins upright rotary knitting machine 1875
Tompkins American family company, showing upright rotary knitting machine. Date: 1875

Foden Tractor UX 9728
Foden 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

Cider pressing
Tower to crush the apples and old cider press in Normandy in northern France. Date: circa 1870s

Sentinel DG4 Timber Tractor ARE195
Sentinel DG4 Timber Tractor regn. ARE195, built in 1935 by the Sentinel Waggon Works in Shrewsbury, at a Bristol Steam Fair. Date: 6 May 1972

McLaren Ploughing Engine BD5504
McLaren Ploughing Engine, regn. BD5504, number 1552, Hero. Built by J&H McLaren & Co. at Hunslet in 1919, powered by a 16 Nhp compound steam engine. Date: 1970s-1980s

Burrell General Purpose Traction Engine TA369 Red Gauntlet (msn 3798) at the 1959 Andover Steam Fair

A very early type of railway signal by W Heath Robinson
A very early type of railway signal now rarely to be seen - an example from Railway Ribaldry, drawn by William Heath Robinson and commissioned by the Great Western Railway to mark their centenary

Lizzie the munition war-worker in Sheffield, WW1
Unofficially connected with Mr. Lloyd Georges department! The elephant munition-worker at Sheffield

Amoskeag Corporation, Manchester, New Hampshire, USA
Weave room in No. 11 Mill (a textile mill) of the Amoskeag Corporation, Manchester, New Hampshire, USA. Date: 1911

Alec James of Arsenal in the gym
Arsenal player Alec James tries out the Vita Gymno Frame in the Gym at Arsenals Highbury Football Ground

Communist Factory Worker
A young man, the ideal of the heroic communist worker, working at a complicated piece of machinery in a cellulose paper factory in Balakhna, Russia

H. M. S. Pincher - Algerine-Class Fleet Minesweeper
H.M.S. Pincher (J294 - later M294) - Algerine-Class Fleet Minesweeper fitted with Turbine propulsion machinery - commissioned in 1943, built by Harland and Wolff, Belfast. Date: circa 1950s

Industrial Revolution. England. Mining. Nineteenth-century engraving

A Lincolnshire Handicap by Heath Robinson
A race between cranes at the test ground of excavation specialists, Ruston-Bucyrus, who commissioned the ingenious Heath Robinson to draw a number of comical engineering drawings for a booklet

Man at work in Harris Tweed mill
Man at work in a Harris Tweed mill. Date: 1920s

Scouts with a Rolls-Royce engine
A group of Scouts looking at a Rolls-Royce Merlin engine. 1940s

J Nasmyths patent steam hammer, front elevation

Automatic speed regulator

Coal Mine Machinery
Improved Machinery for working Coal Mines - devices for conveying the coal along the galleries and up the shafts

James Chadwick cotton mill, Lancashire
Finishing : pulling down cloth at James Chadwick & Co, Lancashire

Flour Mill 1930S
A miller at work among the cogs and machinery of an old mill, crushing wheat grain to make flour. Date: 1930s

A London knife grinder on the street
A London knife grinder at work on the street

Marshalls Flax Mill, Leeds, Yorkshire 1843
Drawing heckled flax at Marshalls Flax Mill, Leeds. Female workers operate machines to create an even strip from the flax fibres that have previously been heckled, 1843

Expert grinder at Wilkinson Sword Works, WW1
Expert grinder at Wilkinson Sword Works, working on a new bayonet during the First World War. 1914-1918

Sentinel Wagon Pendle Lady GT 2827
Sentinel DG6P Type Wagon, regn. GT 2827, number 8590, Pendle Lady. Built in 1931 by the Sentinel Waggon Works in Shrewsbury. Date: 1960s-1970s

Engraving of Newshams fire engine, patented in 1725. Date: 1725

The Wilton Royal Carpet Factory
Shearing and Finishing Wilton Pile Carpet at The Wilton Royal Carpet Factory, Wilton, Wiltshire Date: circa 1903

Cabinet Makers in Shoreditch
A man guides a piece of wood through a large saw at a cabinet makers in Shoreditch, London. 1940s

Firemen at Chipping Norton Workhouse, Oxfordshire
Firemen stand in a burnt-out section of the Chipping Norton workhouse in Oxfordshire following a fire on 19 March 1911. Sewing machines and cotton reels amongst the debris indicate a sewing room

Wool factory in Bradford, Yorkshire
Scene at a wool factory in Bradford, Yorkshire -- drawing wool at Fosters Mill

Cotton Carding Machinery
Interior of cotton mill: girls and women tend carding, drawing and roving machinery

Front Page of The Engineer
Front page of The Engineer, a mid-19th century British periodical devoted to reporting on inventions and industrial and scientific advancements. Date: 1856

The Weighing Office at the Bank of England. Sovereign Weighi
Engraving of elaborate machinery used for weighing gold coins, to ensure that the coins weight is exactly right

Finishing of the manufacture of the Atlantic Telegraph Cable
Completion of the Atlantic Telegraph cable as the last inch of cable passes through the machinery of Messrs Glass and Elliott at Morden Whard, East Greenwich

Ivory Workshop
A man prepares an ivory tusk in his workshop

Steam Book Press / 1877
Steam printing press machinery for printing books - reading a page which has just come off the machine

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