Early wheelwright's lathe (including loose parts)

This lathe forms part of the equipment exhibited in the museum's reconstruction of a wheelwright's shop. It came from Barley, Herts, where it was used until 1949 by four generations of wheelwrights for turning the elm hubs of waggon wheels. The lathe was driven by an assistant who turned a crank handle attached to a flywheel 6 ft 6 inches in diameter mounted in a stand 8 ft away from the lathe. A pulley is bolted to the flywheel and drives by means of a rope the pulley on the lathe mandrel.