Cast iron boring bar and boring head; square thread spindle; 5 spur wheels; Cast iron hand wheels and 2 cast iron pedestals, allegedly from the Bersham Works of John Wilkinson.
This boring bar is from the cylinder-boring mill constructed by John Wilkinson at his Bersham Foundry, c1775. The boring mill is of profound importance in the history of machine tools and and motive power. For the former, it represents the ability to manufacture artefacts (in this case, engine cylinders) in metal with unprecedented accuracy, foreshadowing subsequent developments in the history of machine tools. For the latter, the success of Matthew Boulton and James Watt's steam engine depended entirely upon the ability to main steam-tightness between the piston and the cylinder walls - for which an accurately bored cylinder was of critical importance. Without this object, the success of Boulton and Watt's epoch-making enterprise would have been called in to doubt.
Details
- Category:
- Hand and Machine Tools
- Object Number:
- 1913-172
- Materials:
- cast iron and wrought iron
- Measurements:
-
overall: 1500 x 1000 x 5300 mm (approximate)
- type:
- boring
- credit:
- Hydraulic Engineering Co. Ltd. (Chester)
Parts
8 1/4" diameter bearing pedestal with brasses an
- Materials:
- cast iron and brass (copper, zinc alloy)
- Object Number:
- 1913-172/2
- type:
- bearing pedestal
9 3/4" diameter bearing pedestal with brasses
- Materials:
- cast iron and brass (copper, zinc alloy)
- Object Number:
- 1913-172/3
- type:
- bearing pedestal