Hank Winding Machine

Textile Industry

1897

Cop-reel hank-winding machine, made by Platt Brothers & Co. Ltd, Oldham, 1897.

Braiding Machine

Textile Industry

circa 1900

Braiding machine made around 1900, used at Croft Mill, Manchester.

Trademark printing block

Textile Industry

Trademark printing block, used to stamp cotton cloth, around 1900.

Lancashire Loom

Textile Industry

circa 1880

Lancashire loom, made by J. & R. Shorrock, Darwen, c.1880, and used at Pennington Mill, Leigh.

Bell from Liverpool Road Station

Liverpool & Manchester Railway

circa 1831

Bell from Liverpool Road Station, Manchester, c. 1831.

Hopper Feeder

Textile Industry

1949

Hopper feeder, made by Platt Brothers & Co. Ltd, Oldham, 1949, and used at Bank Top Mill, Oldham.

Intermediate frame

Textile Industry

1907

Intermediate frame, made by Platt Brothers & Co. Ltd, Oldham, 1907, and used at Roy Mill, Royton.

Logic door from Ferranti Mark 1* computer

Computing & Data Processing

1955

Logic Door from the Ferranti Mark 1* computer used by Avro (A. V. Roe) aircraft manufacturers at their Chadderton factory from 1956-1966. This Ferranti Mark 1* was also manufactured in Chadderton, at Ferranti’s Gem Mill site.

Platt Brothers Notice

Textile Industry

1899

Metal notice made by Platt Brothers and Co. Ltd, Oldham, c.1899 regarding working hours.

Architect's model of S&J Watts' warehouse

Textile Industry

1850-1856

Architecht's model of S & J Watts' warehouse, made around 1850.

Small printing forme representing Linotype set matter

Printing & Writing

1886

Small printing formes representing various phases of Linotype set matter.

Jacquard hand loom

Textile Industry

circa 1910

Jacquard hand loom, made by W. Archer, Bolton, around 1910.

Dissertation: Properties of Expanding Universes

Stephen Hawking Office

1966

Ph.D. Dissertation (thesis). Book with green cloth binding, titled (on spine):"Properties of Expanding Universes" by S.W. Hawking. Photostatic copy typescript. Cambridge (UK), 1966.

Glass Apple

Stephen Hawking Office

2016-2017

Glass apple made by Amlong Crystal and painted in green, blue, yellow, and red spots to represent the Cosmic Microwave Background radiation map of the universe. Presented to Stephen Hawking by Intel on his 75th birthday.

Ribbon loom with jacquard head

Textile Industry

circa 1900

Ribbon loom, made by T. F. Wilkinson & Co. Ltd, Coventry, c.1900. Fitted on the top with Jacquard head made by J. McMurdo Ltd, Manchester. Used at Cash's ribbon manufacturers in Coventry.

Millwright's measuring tool

Weighing & Measuring

around 1790

Millwright's measuring tool, made by W. Wright, Manchester, around 1790.

Textile mill safety notice forbidding workers to climb over the mule headstock

Archive

1900-1940

Textile mill safety notice forbidding workers to climb over the mule headstock, around 1900-1940.

Brush for cleaning textile mill machinery

Textile Industry

1880-1940

Hand held wooden brush, used for sweeping cotton dust from machines and floors in a textile mill.

Half-penny coin

Textile Industry

1806

George III penny coin, 1806, from New Mill at Murrays' Mills in Ancoats, East Manchester, found during the archaeological survey of the site.

Time Travellers invitation

Stephen Hawking Office

2013

Time Travellers Invitation titled: ‘A Reception for Time Travellers Hosted by Professor Stephen Hawking’. hand-pulled letterpress print (white on black background), printed at New North Press, London on a Victorian ‘Albion’ press in October 2013. Framed. A certificate of authenticity in a plastic sleeve is attached to its back.

Drawing frame

Textile Industry

1901

Drawing frame, made by Howard Bullough Ltd, Accrington, 1901.

Woollen shawl

Textile Industry

1880-1920

Woollen shawl, made around 1880-1920, typical of the type worn by women and girls working in Lancashire's textile mills.

Roving frame

Textile Industry

1927

Roving frame, made by Platt Brothers & Co. Ltd, Oldham, 1927, and used at Elk Mill, Royton.

Berry & Bentley Track Bicycle

Road Transport

1934

Track bicycle, made by Berry & Bentley, Manchester, 1934.

slotting machine

Hand and Machine Tools

1835

Slotting machine, made by Sharp Roberts and Co., Manchester, 1835. Constructed from cast iron on sort of arched frame design. Table with cross and front to back movements placed in middle with slotting arm above it. Three stepped pulley and hand wheel on drive cross shaft to gears on left with a secondary shaft working the slotting arm. Operating arms are missing from the cam to the rachet levers.

Dextralog selector box

Textile Industry

1975

Selector box made by Dextralog, around 1975, attached to textile looms by sensor leads.

Water frame spindle

Textile Industry

1800-1830

Wooden spindle, resembles the type used on a water frame, or could also have been used on a yarn winding machine, found at Murrays' Mills in Ancoats, during the archaeological survey of the site.

AVRO Shackleton Centre of Gravity Computer

Aeronautics

1950

AVRO Shackleton centre of gravity computer, made by AVRO, around 1950.

Carding engine

Textile Industry

1896

Carding engine, made by Asa Lees & Co. Ltd, Oldham, 1896 and used at Moorfield Mill in Shaw.

Eyeglasses with Sensor (test pair)

Stephen Hawking Office

2014

Custom-built communications system: Eyeglasses with tortoise-shell arms fitted with an infrared sensor wrapped in black tape, with long connector cable on its right side.

Votive intestine

Classical & Medieval Medicine

200-200

Votive intestine, terracotta, probably Roman, 200BC to 200AD

Syrup jar for syrup of roses

Medical Ceramic-ware

1745

Syrup jar, decorated in blue on white stylized foliage, labelled Si. rosat. solutiu (syrup of roses solutive), possibly from Veneto, North Italy, dated F.D. 1745

Half-penny coin

Textile Industry

1799

George III half-penny coin, 1799, from the fourth floor of Decker Mill at Murrays' Mills in Ancoats, East Manchester, found during the archaeological survey of the site.

Platt Brothers Notice

Textile Industry

1898

Metal notice, Platt Brothers and Co. Ltd, Oldham, around 1889.

Drawing frame

Textile Industry

1901

Drawing frame, made by Platt Brothers & Co. Ltd, Oldham, 1901, and used at Brooklands Mill, Leigh.

Carding engine

Textile Industry

Carding engine, designed by Richard Arkwright and used at Cromford Mill, Derbyshire, around 1800.

Trademark printint block

Textile Industry

1880-1910

Trademark printing block, used to stamp cotton cloth, around 1900.

Whitworth Planing Machine

Hand and Machine Tools

circa 1842

Planing machine, made by Joseph Whitworth & Co. of Manchester, 1842. Belt drive, three pullies, one loos in the middle, to drive the lathe in either direction. Table worked by the worm screw and nut. Parts of the automatic cross feed to the tool holder are missing, as is the original tool holder which probably was the reversing type. This machine was originally in the LNWR Crewe works, reputedly used for making horn blocks for axles. Presented by A Bebbington & Son, Culland Street Works, Crewe.

Spinning mule

Textile Industry

1927

Self acting spinning mule, made by Platt Brothers & Co. Ltd, Oldham, 1927 and used at Elk Mill in Oldham until September 1974 when mule spinning operations there ceased.

Oil can for oiling textile machinery

Textile Industry

1880-1940

Oil can, used to oil the moving parts of textile machinery.

Rolls-Royce 10 hp, two cylinder motor car

Road Transport

1905

10 hp two-cylinder Rolls-Royce motor car, Reg. No. AX148; Chassis No. 20162; produced by Royce Ltd., Cooke Street, Hulme, Manchester, 1905.

Trademark printing block

Textile Industry

1880-1910

Trademark printing block, used to stamp cotton cloth, around 1900.

Model of a Power loom for plain weaving

Textiles Machinery

1857

Model, scale 1:3, of a power loom for simple plain weaving made by Messrs. Sevill and Woolstenhulme, Oldham, Manchester, England, 1857. This loom gives the most elementary kind of weaving in which weft crosses over and under the warps alternately and was the type used extensively for calico weaving. There is an arrangement for stopping the loom automatically if the shuttle does not reach its box after each pick, and if the weft should break then a weft fork device which is normally balanced to rest on the unbroken thread falls and operates cut off machinery to stop the loom.

Scientific Publication: 'Spectrum of Wormholes'

Stephen Hawking Office

1990

Publication: ‘Spectrum of Wormholes’. Offprint from: Physical Review D, Vol. 42, No. 8, pp.2655-2663. [Brookhaven, NY: The American Physical Society,] 15 October 1990. Single-article booklet.

Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) Badge

Stephen Hawking Office

1982

Badge (medal) of Commander of The Order of The British Empire (CBE.), 1982, made by Thomas Fattorini Limited, in Birmingham. Shaped as a cross with a round gold centre and blue, roughly crown-shaped arms. The top arm connects to a crown to which the red ribbon attaches. The CBE medal was awarded to Stephen Hawking "for services to astronomical research."

Immesion suit blouse

Textile Industry

circa 1945

Blouse from an immersion suit, made by P. Frankenstein and Sons Ltd, around 1945.

Sample of concrete enhanced with graphene

Scientific Instruments & Research

2021

Sample of concrete enhanced with 0.1% graphene before compression strength testing. One of four test samples of concrete enhanced with graphene, tested at the Graphene Engineering Innovation Centre (GEIC), University of Manchester, by Dr Lisa Scullion, 2021. The testing process supported the development of a new industrial product, Concretene, produced by Nationwide Engineering, Wiltshire. Production of cement for concrete in the building industry is one of the leading causes of global carbon dioxide emissions. The addition of up to 1% of graphene strengthens concrete by around 30% compared to standard concrete, meaning significantly less is needed to achieve the equivalent structural performance, reducing carbon footprint and costs.

Head motif from Band on the Wall music venue sign

Creative Industries

1980-1982

Head motif from Band on the Wall music venue sign, installed on the building in about 1980 and in situ until refurbishment of the venue in 2004.

Votive intestine

Classical & Medieval Medicine

200-200

Votive intestine, terracotta, probably Roman, 200BC-200AD

Copper stomach warmer

Nursing & Hospital Furnishings

1851-1900

Copper stomach warmer, by Allen and Son, London, England, 1851-1900