LOW←TECH MAGAZINE English

Hand Powered Drilling Tools and Machines

Wed, 15 Dec 2010 00:00:00 +0000

Various types of Millers Falls hand drills. Picture: [Old Tool Heaven](http://oldtoolheaven.com/)

Hand-powered devices have been used for millennia. However, during the last quarter of the 19th century a radically improved generation of tools appeared.

These tools took advantage of modern mass production machinery and processes (like interchangeable parts) and an increased availability in superior material (metal instead of wood).

One of the outcomes included an array of new drilling machines. These human-powered tools were not only a vast improvement over those that came before them, they also had many advantages in comparison to the power drills that we use today.

Drilling Holes

For most of human history, drilling a hole into whatever chosen material required an extensive amount of time and effort. The first crude drilling tool was the awl, a sharp stone, flint, copper or bone point that could be attached to a piece of wood. The awl was pressed against an object and then rotated by hand, much like a present-day screwdriver.

An alternative primitive method was the “hand drill” or “shaft drill”, where a stick was rotated between the palms. Abrasives such as sand could be used simultaneously to make this drilling method more effective. These were extremely labour-intensive tasks, especially when the material that had to be drilled was hardy, like stone.

In his study of ancient stone-working technology (see sources), Denys Stocks came to the conclusion that even with a bronze drill bit it took up to 5 hours to drill a tiny hole 1 centimetre deep in a hard stone like quartz. Drilling holes into hard stone was commonplace in ancient times, for example in construction work and the making of necklaces and bracelets, so it is not surprising that our forefathers were investigating more efficient drilling methods with fervour.

Strap drills, bow drills and pump drills

The first step toward mechanisation was the “strap drill” (also known as “cord drill” or “thong drill”), which offered an increased rotation speed of the drill bit. The tool consisted of a drill bit attached to a longer wooden shaft, which was rotated by wrapping a cord or leather strap once around it and holding the ends with one’s hands; by pulling in one direction and then the other, the shaft spun and drilled into the material. The top of the shaft rotated freely in a mouthpiece which was held between the user’s teeth to exert more downward pressure. The tool was also used to make fire, which is the reason why it is also known as a “fire drill”.

The strap drill was widely used, but was eventually superseded by the “bow drill”, which appeared at least 6,000 years ago in Egypt. Based on the cord drill, the difference was that the cord or strap, again wrapped once around the shaft, was tied to a bow. Holding the drill vertically and the bow horizontally, the user then moved the bow backward and forward - much like a cellist - to revolve the shaft.

The bow drill. Picture by [Rudolf Hommel](http://openlibrary.org/works/OL6821101W/China_at_work).

The pump drill. Picture by [Primitive Ways](http://www.primitiveways.com/Kahiko_workshops3.html)

The bow drill possessed two advantages over the strap drill: the shaft could be rotated at a higher speed, and as only one hand was needed to handle the bow, downward pressure could be exerted with the other hand instead of the mouth. Smaller bow drills were also used for dental care. The tool could be made from a few pieces of wood, a piece of string and a drill bit. A later improvement to the bow drill was the pump drill, which appeared in Roman times. It is similarly operated, except it functions by means of a downward instead of sideward movement. Sandor Nagyszalancy explains how it works in his book “Tools Rare and Ingenious”:

“Pump drills get their name from the way they’re used. Pumping the crossbar up and down causes a string to wind and unwind at the shaft, thus spinning a pointed bit that’s fastened to the end of the shaft back and forth. The thick, rounded section just above the bit serves as a small flywheel to keep the spinning motion going.”

Once more, the pump drill offered superior rotating speeds and more downward pressure. All these ancient drills were used in conjunction with a sharp drill point or with the help of abrasives (especially when drilling through stone). Pump and bow drills (which could not work without ropes and knots) are among the most successful tools ever made. Bow drills were still used in the western world at the end of the 19th century by carpenters for drilling small or delicate holes, whilst small pump drills are still sold today as a tool for jewellers.

Image: Drilling with a bow drill.

Bow and thong drills operated by several people

The Chinese were especially keen on the above drilling tools. They relied on bow, pump and thong drills up until the beginning of the twentieth century and never developed any of the drilling tools that will be discussed further below. Rudolf Hommel photographed some of the Chinese drilling devices in his book “China at work”. Chinese shipbuilders employed a larger version of the thong drill which was operated by two to three people. It was used for drilling the preliminary holes for the iron spikes which they utilized in ship construction. Henry Chapman Mercer describes the tool in his 1929 book “Ancient Carpenters' Tools”:

“To work the apparatus, the thong is twisted around the spindle, whereupon one man holds down the pivot handle, thereby pressing down the drill bit into the wood, while two other man, each grasping the thong by one of its terminal handles, or one man holding a thong-handle in each hand and pulling the thong to and fro, cause the drill to twirl back and forth, as with the common bow drill.”

The thong drill. Picture from \"[China at work](http://openlibrary.org/works/OL6821101W/China_at_work)" by Rudolf Hommel.

According to some historians, the Egyptians also made use of large bow drills operated by several people to make large holes (and to hollow out spaces) in their pyramids. Bronze hollow tubes of about 11 centimetres in diameter in conjunction with abrasives would have been used as a drill bit (“tube drills” or “core drills”), after which the remaining core is then carefully removed. Even larger holes could have been made by performing several drilling operations right next to each other, in a circular form. The core drill allows for larger holes without sacrificing drilling speed, because much less material has to be reduced to powder.

Denys Stocks conducted real-life experiments to see if this method could work, and succeeded. The results indicate that two drillers were required to push and pull a large bow, while a third person balanced a stone drill-cap on top of the shaft to exert downward pressure. Stocks achieved a drilling speed of 2 centimetres per hour in granite stone, and thinks the ancient Egyptians could have reached speeds of 12 cm per hour.

Whether or not the ancient Egyptians applied this technique remains open to debate, though. Archaeological remains of these tools have never been found, and unlike smaller drilling operations (common bow drills, stone drills to hollow out granite vases) these large-scale operations were only vaguely alluded to in wall paintings.

Augers, gimlets and reamers

Another very important invention from Roman times was the T-shaped auger (and the much smaller gimlet). Basically a long drill bit with a pair of wooden handles for rotating it. The tool looks a like an oversized corkscrew. Augers were used to drill large and/or deep holes in wood, for which the bow or pump drill was not very useful. They were applied by shipbuilders, bridgebuilders, millwrights, wheelwrights and the like.

A large auger. Picture: [Full Chisel](http://www.fullchisel.com/blog/))

In the Middle Ages augers were sometimes equipped with a breastplate on top for more drilling pressure - the user could rest the entire weight of his body on the pad. However, operating them was a tedious task. The Roman writer Vitruvius noted that the difficulty of the boring increased exponentially with the diameter of the hole. Apart from drilling holes, an auger was also used for “reaming” - enlarging an already existing hole.

The drilling action of the auger is based on the principle of leverage: the longer the handle, the greater the potential of applied force. Some augers and reamers were huge and had to be operated by several people. One example is the wheelwrights’ reamer, which was used to core the hub of a wheel in order to receive a metal bearing.

Augers. From \"A Museum of Early American Tools\", Eric Sloan, 1964.

This was again no easy task, because if the hole was not perfectly straight the wheel would hobble along on the axle. Augers and reamers were essential tools until the end of the 19th century. Eric Sloane describes (and illustrates) the use of the tool in his 1964 book “A Museum of Early American Tools”:

“Oddly enough, the experts have not decided just how these reamers were used. But I rigged up a wagon wheel on a wheelwright’s bench, then put a hooked reamer through the hub, which I had weighted with 75 pounds. With two men turning a very long detachable handle it worked nicely. With an ordinary reamer, a man exerts about half its weight downward; this can be bettered with a 75 pound weight plus the 25 pound weight of the tool itself.”

Pipe and pump augers

Another spectacular example was the pipe auger (and pipe reamer). These tools were used to bore water pipes from tree trunks. This kind of wooden water pipes was quite common in towns and smaller cities from the 15th to the 17th century, notes Maurice Daumas in “Histoire générale des techniques, tome 2” (illustration below, Maurice Dumas).

A pipe auger. From [Histoire générale des techniques, tome 2](http://www.abebooks.co.uk/search/sortby/3/an/Daumas+/tn/+Histoire+Generale+Des+Technique), Maurice Dumas.

Stephen Shepherd, author of the Full Chisel Blog, explains how the pipe auger is operated:

“This type of bit will follow the center of the tree (they selected good straight trunks of the appropriate diameter) so the hole will be centered. What is unusual about this arrangement is the very long shank and the interchangeable bits and reamers. Some pipe auger handles were segmented and lengths could be added as needed. The shanks were slightly longer than the logs being made into water pipes. Twenty feet (6 metres) is not an uncommon length.”

“There is a permanent set-up to do the work. Saw bucks or stantions to hold the log and smaller ones to hold the shank of the bit in the proper location. After the pilot hole is bored, the bit is changed out to a reamer to enlarge the hole. In order to facilitate the reaming, a rope is run through the hole and fixed to the hook on the end of the reamer. Now the work gets easy for the fellow twisting the handle as he no longer needs to push the auger, the fellow on the other end pulls the rope (also one with weights), pulling the reamer through the pilot hole enlarging the opening, as the handle is twisted.”

A pipe auger. Illustration by Stephen Shepherd, [Full Chisel Blog](http://www.fullchisel.com/blog/?p=112).

This took quite some time. In his 1751 “Encyclopédie”, Diderot writes that one man could bore a 5 cm diameter hole through 11.6 metres of pipe per day in alder or elm, but only 1.95 metres per day in oak. A similar method was used for boring the barrels of muskets and cannons, and for making wooden water pumps to get water up from wells or chisels.

Continuous versus reciprocating drills

The arrival of the auger did not nullify the bow and pump drills. Each had their advantages and drawbacks because they work in totally different ways. Firstly, with a bow or pump drill, downward pressure is applied by one hand, while with an auger it is applied by two hands. Second, the auger turns slowly in one direction, while the pump and bow drill work by quick reciprocating revolutions in both directions. The auger pares the wood into shavings as it goes down; the pump or bow drill pulverizes the wood into sawdust.

The result is that the auger is much better suited to drill large holes, but not useful to make holes in materials other than wood. On the other hand, pump and bow drills will only drill comparatively small holes (with the possible exception of the large Egyptian tools), but can be used for drilling holes in all kinds of materials that need to be pulverized instead of pared: stone, marble or metal, for example.

Medieval breakthrough: the hand brace

While augers remained essential tools for large diameter holes until the end of the 1800s, the Middle Ages brought an important drilling innovation when it came to somewhat smaller holes: the “hand brace” or “bitstock”. It introduced - for the first time in history - a drilling motion. Both bow drills and augers worked by means of intermittent rotations, and during the short pause in between turns the drill bit had the tendency to get stuck.

The U-shaped body of the brace solved this problem. The user turned the handle continuously while exerting downward pressure with the hand or the chest on the pad (some later braces, the cage-head braces, had a larger breastplate). Braces came in many different sizes, with lengths varying from 10 centimetres or less to tools almost half a metre long.

18th century wooden handbrace. Picture by David Stanley.

The earliest representation of the hand brace dates from 1425, when it appears on a painting by the Flemish artist Robert Campin. The oldest surviving brace was recovered from an English ship that sank in 1545. Hand braces have remained in use ever since, although they can be difficult to find today. From the 15th to the beginning of the 19th century, braces improved only moderately. Early wooden braces were made with bits permanently attached, while later models had crude mechanisms for interchangeable bits. The shape of the tool hardly changed, but there was an evolution in the materials used.

English hand braces. Source: [Hans Brunner Tools](http://www.hansbrunnertools.gil.com.au/).

Most medieval hand braces were made almost entirely out of wood (sometimes even a naturally curved limb of a tree) with some minor iron reinforcements, and - of course - an iron drill bit. Later models were heavily reinforced with metal plates. Some braces were very crude, while others may be considered works of art. The early 19th century “Ultimatum” braces made by William Marples, crafted from japanned ivory or exotic wood (ebony, rosewood) and decorated with engraved and polished brass sidings, were famous for their aesthetic appeal.

Modern hand powered drilling tools

The next revolution in hand powered drilling tools only occured at the end of the 19th century, with the arrival of much improved hand braces and a whole new class of drilling tools: geared drills and boring machines, which took over the heavy duties from augers. They were much more powerful and versatile than their predecessors, but unfortunately their success did not last long. Half a century later they were almost completely superseded by electric power drills. As a result, many people are not even aware of the existence of these remarkable tools.

A rare 1880 combination of hand brace and geared drill. Source: [Old Tool Heaven](http://oldtoolheaven.com/galleries/Backus/Backusgallery.htm)

In the overview of modern hand powered drilling tools that follows, I will focus almost exclusively on the products of one enterprise: the Millers Falls Company from New York. Although there were a few important competitors, notably Goodell Pratt and North Brothers, Millers Falls dominated the market in the US and their tools are generally regarded as the best. Moreover, since the US became the forerunner of early mass production techniques, these tools became an example for most European manufacturers too.

Cheap steel and interchangeable parts

The improvement of drilling devices was mainly the consequence of the arrival of cheap steel and the invention of interchangeable parts. Randy Roeder, author of a splendid website dedicated to Millers Falls Tools, summarizes the changes in two paragraphs, using the hand brace as an example:

“The braces being offered by American companies at this time were among the finest hand-powered boring devices ever mass produced. The braces of the 1930s would have been a dream come true for a woodworker a century earlier. In the early nineteenth century, most braces were made of wood and prone to breakage if too much torque was applied to them. The forged iron braces sometimes made by blacksmiths were better in this regard, but both types were plagued with mechanisms inadequate to hold a bit securely and incapable adjustment for variations in the size or shape of a shank.”

1872 patent premium model lever-type ratchet. Source: [Old Tool Heaven](http://oldtoolheaven.com/galleries/Backus/Backusgallery.htm).

One hundred years later, a brace with an adjustable Barber chuck [patented in 1859], mounted on a quality steel frame and fitted with a rotating sweep handle and ball bearing head was considered bottom of the line. Better models came equipped with a ratchet mechanism allowing the user to bore a hole without making a full rotation of the sweep. Some of the best braces were manufactured with all or part of the ratchet mechanism enclosed, or “boxed.” Premium models came equipped with chucks which allowed for bits with a variety of shanks to be used. Fit and finish, of course, played a role in determining the eventual cost of the tool. "

Hand and breast drills

Apart from the improvement of the centuries-old hand brace, a whole new range of drilling tools appeared - most notably, so-called geared drills. The earliest picture of a geared drill appears in 1816 and the first geared drill patent is from 1838. It is most likely that they originated in France, perhaps as late as the end of the 1700s. Geared drills finally offered metal workers an alternative to the 6,000 year old bow drill and the 2,000 year old pump drill. WK Fine Tools, a website dedicated to late 19th century drilling tools, explains:

“A geared drill transfers its power from a vertical hand cranked main gear to a horizontal pin gear spinning on a shaft connected to a bit holding device. Depending on the size ratio of main gear to pinion a greater number of revolutions could be achieved from one turn of the crank.”

Geared drills (also named “eggbeater drills” - see why) were initially made for drilling in metal, for which higher rotation speeds are a necessity. However, they were also used for drilling into soft wood, in which case the mechanical advantage simply led to easier drilling.

A 1922 breast drill. Source: [Old Tool Heaven](http://oldtoolheaven.com/).

Like hand braces, geared drills worked by continuous motion, but they offered the additional benefit of making the drill turn faster than the rate at which the crank is turned. Many models also offered the possibility of changing the bit rotation speed. Geared drills came in two varieties: “hand drills” and “breast drills”. Millers Falls Company started mass producing them in 1878 and remained market leader ever since. Randy Roeder explains the differences between the two types:

“Hand drills are generally fifteen inches or less in length, are best suited for drilling holes in wood and light metals, and are most effective when used by a worker whose body is positioned above a work piece. They work best when operated at high speed and are especially useful for accurately drilling small-sized holes without damaging delicate drill points.”

“Breast drills typically exceed fifteen inches and are topped by a concave plate that provides a surface which the user can lean against when boring a hole. Sometimes referred to as “chest drills,” “belly drills” or “knee drills,” these tools were indispensable in the construction industry, in blacksmith shops, in factories and in shops where rail cars were fabricated. Ruggedly built, the drills are useful for boring holes in iron, steel and extremely tough wood. Designed with the expectation that a worker would be putting a fair amount of body weight into a task, the breast drills are especially effective when used in a standing position, alongside the work piece.”

A breast mill. Source: [Old Tool Heaven](http://oldtoolheaven.com/breast_drills/featuredbd.htm)

Breast mills, even though they were human powered, could be very powerful tools. An example is the Millers Falls No. 13 breast mill pictured above, which was introduced in the mid-1880s. It had a driver that was six inches (15 cm) in diameter, which provided for a gear ratio of 4.5 to 1. This means that the drill bit spun 4.5 times faster than the user’s hand. Later models had even higher gear ratios. The No. 666, which was introduced in 1937, had a mechanical advantage of more than 7 to 1.

The breastplate replacing the knob did more than merely allowing the user to push his chest into the drill, notes Stephen Shepherd:

“It also freed his hands to turn the crank and hold an auxiliary handle on the pivot and opposite the crown wheel. The length of the arm to the turning knob varies from a knob mounted to the rim of the wheel, to a bar that extends beyond the wheel adding to the mechanical advantage.”

More than 200 different models

Hand braces and geared drills came in a surprisingly large variety. In 1915, the inventory of Millers Falls included 28 hand drills, 40 breast drills and 135 variations on the hand brace - especially the latter figure is remarkable considering the tool’s simplicity.

The Whimble Brace.

One example is the Whimble Brace, of which the catalogue description reads as follows: “Ship builders, bridge builders and others whose work requires an unusually powerful sweep will find this brace a strong, sturdy tool, capable of standing the rough use to which it is necessarily put”. Or take the “Corner Brace” (below), which was “the only practical tool for boring in corners and close to walls, and is indispensable to carpenters, bellhangers and plumbers”.

A corner braze.

Stationary use

Both braces and hand and breast drills could be mounted in special frames. The result was a hand powered “drill press”, “bench drill”, “post drill” or “beam drill”, which further improved the performance of the tools. An example is the mounted breast drill, which was presented in 1883 (called the “Universal Hand Drill Press”). The magazine ‘Carpentry and Building’ devoted an article to it:

“A steel frame is provided, in which the No. 10 breast drill may be used quite advantageously. The drill is held true by the frame, and the work is held firmly in place by the clamp shown in the engraving. The lever-feed provided by this arrangement may be operated by hand, or a weight may be employed, as may be preferred. The advantage of an attachment of this kind for use in connection with a breast drill is obvious.”

“Most of the work done by a tool of this character can be better performed with the drill mounted in the frame. When the breast-drill is used in the ordinary manner it very frequently requires heavy pressure, which is quite fatiguing to the workman. In the arrangement shown there is a leverage of five to one, which makes the feeding an easy matter. When work is required that cannot be done in the frame, the tool can be taken out in a very small space of time, and used in the ordinary way.”

Mounted breast drill, 1883.

A drilling machine.

Many different frames were available, and the same principle could also be applied to the hand brace (see the patent illustration below). Angular and ratchet drilling machines could be attached to broken machines and swung around so as to drill at a variety of angles (above, right). Apart from the advantages listed above, this arrangement also gave the operator the advantage of keeping one hand free. A variant of such a stationary hand powered tool was the “wood boring machine”.

[The wood boring machine](http://www.mjdtools.com/auction/graphics/a220540.htm).

This two-handed drill was the most powerful model the Millers Falls Company made, and was introduced in the 1860s. An adjustable model drilled at any angle, while the wooden base that holds the superstructure is a seat for the operator to sit on.

Stephen Shepherd used the machine and was impressed:

“The two hand cranks and gear mechanism makes this an aggressive drill, even with big twist bits. It easily bores big holes in timber. At the proper depth, the rack gear is moved to engage a gear and continuous turning of the hand crank pulls the bit out of the hole with the greatest of ease.”

A mounted hand drill.

A completely different hand powered drilling machine (not manufactured by Miller Falls) was especially designed for piercing through tough rocks. The “Ingersoll Hand Power Drill” is pictured and described in the 1892 encyclopedia “Modern Mechanism”:

“The spring is compressed by the lifting of the cross-head, and its recoil on release produces the blow, which is delivered dead on the stone without shock to the men. The spring ordinarily supplied for a drill to be worked by 2 men is compressed to 200 lbs, and produces with the momentum of the working rod and drill a blow of about 300 lbs.”

Ingersoll Hand Power Drill.

Continued availability

The continued availability of some hand powered drilling tools is at least as remarkable as their diversity. For instance, the Millers Falls No.2 hand drill, one of the company’s most popular eggbeater drills, was introduced as early as 1878 and could still be found (largely unchanged) in their 1981 catalogue - over 100 years after its introduction (see the picture of a 1903 model on the right, source). The No.2 hand drill even survived the introduction of the so-called Buck Rogers hand drill, its more radically designed modern looking cousin with enclosed gears, which appeared in the late 1940s and was discontinued by 1960. The No.2 is the most spectacular example when it comes to availability, but most other conventional models remained available for many decades, too.

Millers Falls No.2 hand drill. Source: [WK Fine Tools](http://www.wkfinetools.com/hUS-borTools/MillersFalls/tools/No2HD/mfHDNo2-intro-3.asp).

Nevertheless, the heydays of modern hand powered drilling tools were over fast, even before the 1920s began. While Millers Falls had 135 different models of hand braces in its 1915 catalogue, the number of braces in the catalogue had shrunk to 35 by 1938 and to 13 in 1949. Randy Roeder explains what happened:

“The growing preference for electric boring tools was making itself felt in the workplace, and it is plain that the market could no longer sustain a huge line of braces, many of them differing only slightly from another.* Oddly, the company continued to market breast drills into the 1980s. Although the drills were already an anachronism, competitors were so few that it had the market pretty much to itself.”

Buck Rogers Hand Drill.

The 1981 Millers Falls catalogue features only 3 braces, one hand drill and one breast drill. Today, new hand braces can still be bought, but they are rare. Breast drills have disappeared altogether - not one company sells them anymore (update: they are still for sale, see comments).

Pinnacle of drilling machinery

The interesting thing is that the drilling tools that appeared in the late 19th century were not only a vast improvement over earlier tools; they also have many advantages over their present-day successors, the power drills. Of course, as most modern products, power drills offer the advantage of convenience: merely pushing a button will do the job. But that luxury comes at a steep price.

Obviously, modern power drills are dependent on fossil fuels to generate the electricity for them to use. Any interruption in the electricity supply will render a power drill utterly useless. The simple operation of drilling a hole would then be impossible, which is quite remarkable since less than 100 years ago no electricity was needed to perform the job almost as quickly as today.

Hand drill in use, 1942.

Power drills are also dependent on fossil fuels for the manufacture of their materials (mostly plastics) and their electronic components, as well as for the mining of the resources to make these (rare earth metals included). Naturally, manually powered drills require energy for their manufacture, too. They are made almost entirely from iron and steel with nickel plating. But there is a crucial difference to consider here; even if we assume that the embodied energy of a hand drill is similar to that of a power drill, it has a much longer service life.

Maintenance and durability

Hand tools that were sold in the 1870s and saved from the junkyard by antiquarians or nostalgic craftsmen can still perform their tasks without any problem today, even when they were unused for decades - a bit of cleaning (using gasoline) was all that it needed. These tools were made to last. Furthermore, the continued availability of the same models for many decades guaranteed that spare parts remained available.

A hand powered drill hardly requires any maintenance to be kept in good shape. Oiling the tool from time to time suffices. After years of intensive use, they might need new wooden handles, but that’s all. An electric drill requires much more attention, because it consists of much more parts - and more delicate parts, too.

The electric tool must be opened periodically for cleaning and oiling to keep it running smoothly. The brushes should be inspected and replaced from time to time. Wiring and circuits should be checked. In the case of a corded drill, the cord is prone to damage. The machine has to be kept away from dust, rain and high temperatures. Etcetera.

The possibility of something breaking down is much higher than in the case of a hand powered tool. Since it is mostly cheaper and easier to replace a high-tech product than to repair it, this means that power drills won’t last 100 years or more. They will have to be manufactured again and again.

[All parts of a 1903 Millers Falls hand drill](http://www.wkfinetools.com/hUS-borTools/MillersFalls/tools/No2HD/No2-1903-Anatomy/mfHD-No2-1903-Anatomy-03.asp).

Even if it is maintained good and used for a long time, a cordless power drill will regularly need new batteries, again raising energy and material consumption, as well as dependency on a delivery infrastructure that might not always be there.

Silent, safe, flexible, forgiving

Even when disregarding energy and environmental issues, hand powered drills offer some real, practical advantages. They are rather silent, while power drills can produce up to 130 decibels of noise. Their independence from electricity and batteries also guarantees that you can use them anywhere you want for as long as you want, unhampered by cords that are always too short and batteries that never last long enough.

Manually powered drills are also much safer than power drills, and because of their lower drilling speeds and more direct control, corrections are much easier to make while drilling a hole (especially handy for clumsy people like me).Of course, the lower rotation speed can also be seen as the (only) drawback of a hand powered drill. They can do all the jobs that we now use power tools for, but for large and/or deep holes in hard materials this will cost more time and some exercise - and that’s enough for us to laugh at them. Exactly the same issue was found with human powered cranes.

Low-tech or high-tech?

We always compare simpler solutions like hand powered drills to modern, unsustainable machinery, and never to the tools that came before them. Hand powered drilling tools are indeed low-tech if you compare them to power drills. However, they are definitely high-tech when you compare them to bow drills, augers and crude wooden hand braces. The hand drills that we now disregard are products of the industrial revolution, and they should not be taken for granted. Efficient hand powered drills require good steel, mass production factories, and oil to keep their gears in shape.

Water powered drilling mill. Source: [Deutsche Fotothek](http://www.deutschefotothek.de/#%7Chome).

One last thing. It is important to note that this article only discusses the history of hand powered drilling tools and machines. From the late Middle Ages onwards, large scale drilling and boring was also performed by animal power, water power and wind power, requiring no human effort at all. See for example the water powered drilling mill above, which was used for boring water pipes as an alternative to the pipe auger that was described earlier.

Large-scale drilling operations became more important at the end of the 19th century, which led to a whole new range of machines equipped with steam engines and electric motors. No attempts to improve the existing water and wind powered boring machines with interchangeable parts and better materials were made.

References

19th century drilling tools:

Milles Fall Home Page (Old Tool Heaven) by Randy Roeder. General information as well as a description and picture of every Millers Falls drill tool ever sold including one-hand operated push drills which I have ignored here.
WK Fine Tools. In-depth information of Millers Falls drills and other drilling tools. There is a complete anatomy of the N0.2 hand drill to be found, as well as a broad overview of UK and US boring tools and their makers (including patent drawings of many tools).
Type study of the Millers Falls No.2 Eggbeater Drill by George Langford. More information, more links.
Full Chisel Blog has a great section on drilling tools.
Millers Falls Company catalogue 1904 at the Toolemera Blog.
Millers Falls Catalogues 1925 (or 1939), 1949 and 1981 at Rose Antique Tools.
Boring Tools, by Chuck Zitur.
1891 catalogue of breast drills and braces manufactured by H.S. Bartholomew.
1923 Goodell-Pratt Company catalogue.
1926 Yankee tools catalogue.
1930s Metabo tool catalogue.
The American Patented Brace Database.
American Mechanical Dictionary, Edward H. Knight, 1881
Modern mechanism; exhibiting the latest progress in machines, motors, and the transmission of power, Benjamin Park, 1892.

Ancient & medieval tools, general history:

A Museum of Early American Tools, Eric Sloane, 1964.
Tools Rare and Ingenious: celebrating the world’s most amazing tools, Sandor Nagyszalancy, 2004.
Art of Fine Tools, Sandor Nagyszalancy, 2000
Ancient Carpenters’ Tools, Henry Mercer, 1929
The history of woodworking tools, William Goodman, 1964
One Good Turn: A Natural History of the Screwdriver and the Screw, Witold Rybczynski, 2001
China at work, Rudolf Hommel, 1937
A study of the primitive methods of drilling, JD Mc Guire, Bulletin of the US National Museum, 1894
Drilling and boring tools, Encyclopedia Britannica, 1995 edition
Experiments in Egyptian Archaeology: Stoneworking Technology in Ancient Egypt, Denys Stocks, 2003
Histoire générale des techniques - tome 2: les premières étapes du machinisme, Maurice Dumas, 1964
Stone sarcophagus manufacture in ancient Egypt, Denys Stocks, 1999
The Theban tomb series, Nina & Norman de Garis Davies, 1943
Beads and bead making at Hierakonpolis, archaeology.org Roman Woodworking, Roger Bradley Ulrich, 2007
Woodworking tools, 1600-1900, Peter C. Welsh, 1966
Auglets, gimlets and braces, The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.
Indian pump mill, Historical Folk Toys (website)

How to tie the world together: online knotting reference books

Mon, 28 Jun 2010 00:00:00 +0000

Image: Different types of knots.

The sheer number and diversity of knots that was once in use would be bewildering to the modern city-dweller. About 4,000 different knots are described, ranging from the very simple to the extremely complex.

Not so long ago, each profession or trade had adopted the knots best suited to its requirements, and knotting was part of their daily lives. There are some good knotting reference books available online, and all of them are older than most of us.

Knots can be subdivided according to their general purpose: to attach a rope to another rope (fastening knots), to attach a rope to an object (hitches), to shorten a rope without cutting it (shortening knots), to form an enlarged end on a rope (ending knots), or to attach two rope ends together in such a way that they represent a smooth and even surface (splices).

In addition to these practical knots, there are many kinds of fancy knots used in ornamenting the ends of ropes, decorating shrouds of vessels, railing and similar objects (which will not be covered here). Below I will outline some basic knots and highlight remarkable examples of this technology.

Basic knot technology

Desirable features of most knots are that they may be quickly tied, easily untied and will not slip under strain. A number of terms are generally used when tying knots. The “standing” part of a knot is the principal portion, or longest part of the rope.

Image: A number of terms are generally used when tying knots.

The “bight” is the curved part, looped or bent while working or handling the rope in making the knot, and the “end” is that part used in forming the knot or hitch. All knots are begun by loops or rings known to mariners as “cuckolds’ necks”. These may be overhand or underhand. If the loose end of the rope is passed over the standing part and through the cuckold’s neck, the simplest of all knots, known as the “overhand knot” is made.

Image: All knots are begun by loops or rings known to mariners as cuckolds’ necks.

Image: The overhand knot is the knot everybody can make.

Fastening knots

With a bit more sophistication, much better knots can be made. The “figure eight knot” (commonly used to prevent a rope from running through an eye or ring or tackle block) is almost as simple as the overhand knot, and only a step beyond this is the “square knot”, which is one of the best all-round knots known. It is very strong, never slips or becomes jammed when being strained, and is readily untied. Beware of the “granny knot”, though, which looks very similar but is utterly useless. In spite of its versatility, however, the “square knot” is not always ideal.

Image: The square knot.

For example, it is not reliable when joining two ropes of unequal size together, because they will slip. In this case, the “open-hand knot” can be used. In joining small lines, the “weaver’s knot” is the best option, while the “fisherman’s knot” is valuable when it is important that the two lines may be drawn apart with just one pull.

Image: The open-hand knot.jpg

The “hawser knot” is the best to use when joining two stiff and heavy ropes and the “bowline knot” comes in handy to tie a horse or cow so that they will not choke themselves. For every possible application, our ancestors seem to have developed a suitable knot. Tools to be used in tandem with knots also exist: in a number of cases a toggle is used either to aid in making the knot or make it easier to untie it after a strain has been applied.

Image: The Monkey Chain.

Two distinct types of fastening knots are “ending knots” and “shortening knots”. Ending knots prevent the rope from unravelling - some form of an “artificial eye” is one way to do that. Shortening knots are useful when the rope is too long and where it is awkward to have the free ends hanging loose, or where the ends are in use and the slack must be taken up in the middle of the rope. Both types come in a wide variety and are also used extensively for their ornamental value.

Image: Ending knots prevent the rope from unravelling - some form of an “artificial eye” is one way to do that.

Splices

Thanks to knots, ropes can be made as long as you please - regardless of the length of the ropewalk. However, many times it is necessary to join two ends together in such a way that the union is as strong as the rest of the rope and still not too large and irregular to pass through a hole or pulley block.

Image: A splice.

The method of joining two ropes to meet the above requirements is called splicing. There are two general types of rope splices, known as the short splice and the long splice. The long splice is preferable since it is stronger and does not increase the volume of the rope at all. A well-made long splice cannot be distinguished from the rope itself after a few days use. Splices can also be applied to steel “wire ropes”.

Image: Splicing wire ropes.

Hitches

When fastening a rope to a stationary or solid object, instead of fastening rope ends together, another class of knots used are called “hitches”.

The diversity of hitches is overwhelming, with each knot designed to meet some special requirements. Some are designed for fastenings where the pull is continuous, others were invented to hold without slipping on wet timber, and others serve extremely well when a knot should be easily untied. The pro’s and con’s of specific hitches can be crucial knowledge in pertinent situations. The “blackwall hitch”, for example, has the interesting property that it holds more securely the greater the strain is, but it is unreliable if the rope is slack.

Other hitches are especially designed for certain objects. The “catspaw” is useful for hoisting with a hook. Others are suitable to hoist an open barrel (“sling for a cask”), and others are used in hoisting pipe, where no special clamp is available for attaching the hoisting tackle to the pipe (“pipe hitch”).

Image: A catspaw.

Image: Different types of hitches.

Handcuffs

There are hitches designed for attaching a rope to a ring, hitches used in tying up light packages, or hitches invented to form a seat for men to be lowered over cliffs or buildings. Many hitches will pull tighter the harder the strain, and are still easy to untie. The “tomfool knot” is used as a pair of very secure handcuffs. One of the most high-tech knots around is the “diamond hitch”, used to tie loads to pack animals. Full instructions of it can be found in this 1916 manual & this 1922 manual.

Image: The “tomfool knot” is used as a pair of very secure handcuffs.

Knots (and ropes) are fast on their way to become an obsolete technology.

References

Knots, ties and splices (1884)
Knots, splices and rope work: a practical treatise (1917)
The use of ropes and tackle (1922)
The Ashley Book of Knots (1944)
Knot charts (pdf)
International Guild of Knot Tyers.
Splicing wire ropes: 1 & 2.
Also of interest: History and Science of Knots, JC Turner & P van de Griend (1996). Free access in some libraries.

Lost Knowledge: Ropes and Knots

Mon, 28 Jun 2010 00:00:00 +0000

Image: Rope making.

Ropes and knots are among the most ancient and useful technologies ever developed by man, predating the wheel, the axe and probably also the use of fire. Today, they are fast on their way to become an obsolete technology.

The earliest fossilized fragments of ropes and knots date back 15,000 to 17,000 years, which makes the direct evidence of this technology much older than that of the axe (6000 BC) or the wheel (5000 BC). However, based on indirect evidence (perforated objects, wear marks on artefacts, bone needles, representations in art, etcetera), archaeologists believe that the use of ropes and knots dates between 250,000 and 2,500,000 years old.

Image: A perforated object.

Speculatively, this might even predate the use of fire (400,000 BC) and coincide with the first crude stone tools. It is interesting to note that modern apes have some very elementary skills at knotting and ropework, which suggests that the beginning of knot tying may well have preceded the evolution of the genus Homo.(source)

Few realize the importance that knots and cords have played in human history. It is remarkable that they are not even mentioned in otherwise great books on the history of technology. Yet, it is hard to find any important technology developed over the last 250,000 years that did not, in some way, make use of ropes and knots. Starting in prehistoric times, they were used for hunting, pulling, fastening, attaching, carrying, lifting and climbing.

Image: Hunting.

Some early examples of their applications are fishing nets, hunting traps, tying stones to sticks to make spears and harpoons, the construction of bows, building shelters, making baskets, fastening clothes, tying animals (and people), harnessing horses and oxen to chariots, and constructing rafts. Cordage of some kind, and the knots needed to make it work, have played a crucial role in the earliest technological development of man.

Hauling and lifting

With the rise of civilization, the ingenuity in the application of ropes and knots was expanded, used for the hauling of canal boats, the dragging of heavy stones along ramps, and the erection of large obelisks (first done by the ancient Egyptians), the development of cranes, lifting devices and catapults (kicked off by the Greeks and the Romans), the construction of enormous rope bridges and rope suspension bridges (which originated in China), the appearance of sailing vessels, and more.

The construction of the noose to hang people was another application of ropes that was invented by “civilized” people, as well as the ringing of church and monastery bells. Although other materials were involved, notably stone and wood, none of these technologies could have worked without ropes and knots. Apart from all these practical uses, ropes and knots also became an important decorative element, especially but not limited to Chinese and Celtic cultures.

Talking knots

Ropes and knots were also used as record keeping devices, best known in the form of the Peruvian “khipu” or “quipu”. The Inca civilization (1400 - 1530) made extensive use of them for accounting and census purposes - recording the contents of storehouses, the number of inhabitants, etcetera (picture credit and more info).

Image: talking knots.

A khipu consists of a long cord from which hang thinner ropes, sometimes just a couple, sometimes many hundred. These pendant cords are tied in a series of small knots. Originally, they were dyed in rich colors. Because the Inca’s, unlike other civilizations, appear to have lacked a written language, one hypothesis is that these bundles of knotted strings also contain narrative information and can thus be regarded as a form of writing (1 / 2 / 3). The khipu was probably developed in pre-Inca times, because less elaborate knotting recording devices already appeared in primitive societies in China and elsewhere (1 / 2 / 3 / 4).

The hardware: ropes

In rope making, four basic steps are identified: preparing the fibre, spinning the fibres together to form yarns, twisting the yarns in bunches to form strands, and winding the strands in rope (see the illustration on the right).

At each stage the twisting is performed in the opposite direction from the previous stage, in order to overcome the natural tendency for each yarn, strand or rope to unravel. Most ropes consist of three twisted strands (called a Hawser laid rope).

Image: From fibre to rope.

It is likely that the earliest “ropes” in prehistoric times were naturally occuring lengths of plant fiber, such as vines, followed by the first attempts at twisting and braiding these strands together to form the first proper rope in the modern sense of the word. This must have been a time-consuming process, more related to weaving plant fibers into mats and baskets than to later ropemaking methods (more info: 1, 2, 3 and 4).

For centuries afterwards, ropemaking remained a manual process, without the use of tools. It could be done alone, or by two people working together. In the latter case, one person held the two strands, one of them in his hand and the other tied to his big toe, while his companion standing some distance away twisted them together (source).

Image: Making bamboo ropes.

Another simple method was used in China when making bamboo ropes. Two workers on a high wooden tower corded bamboo strips which had been cut several metres long and hung down from the working platform so as not to become entangled, see the picture above left (source). The ancient Egyptians (from 4000 BC on) were the first to develop a special tool to assist the making of rope, using a hand held spindle (source). Much later, similar devices appeared in Europe and China (illustration above, right).

Ropewalks

International trade by sailing vessels skyrocketed in late medieval Europe and naturally, so did the demand for ropes. Sailing ships required rope for anchors and rigging (supporting the masts and managing the sails), and could easily carry with them 35 kilometres (around 20 miles) of rope. The arrival of larger sailing vessels (and the growing importance of the mining industry) meant there appeared a need for much longer, stronger and thicker ropes.

Image; A ropewalk.

This led to the construction of some of the most remarkable industrial workshops and buildings in history: ropewalk factories. Because the spinning of the fibres (illustration above, England, 1770) and the twisting of the yarns and strands (illustrations below) had to be done in a straight line, the length of the rope was set by the length of the workshop. This resulted in strange looking narrow buildings which were typically 350 to 450 metres (1150 to 1475 feet) long by the 18th and 19th centuries, a time when navigation and mining kept pushing the demand for ever longer ropes. One ropewalk factory in Australia at the end of the 19th century was 760 metres long (2500 feet, source).

Several (human-powered) machines were added to make the process more efficient (illustration below - note that the illustrator made the ropewalk look much shorter than it was). At the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, these were scaled up and converted to steam power. In Europe, the US and Australia, some ropewalks remained in operation until the middle of the 20th century, after being converted to be powered by electricity. In some “lesser developed” countries they are still being used.

Image: Rope making.

Image; The stages of rope making.

The ropewalk method - which was also in use in China - is very simple. Describing it is a little more difficult. I came across many lengthy and sometimes puzzling explanations, but the one I found in the book “Handbook of Fibre Rope Technology” makes it quite clear (the accompanying illustration comes from the same source):

“At one end, there is the jack, which has three hooks that can be rotated. At the other end, there is a carriage with a single, rotatable hook. In stage one, three sets of yarns are pulled off bobbins and are held along the length of the ropewalk.”

“In stage 2, an assistant turns the crank handle of the jack so that the yarns are twisted into strands by the rotation of the three hooks on the jack. Twist causes the lengths to contract, so that the carriage has to move along the ropewalk, under the control of the ropemaker.”

“In stage 3, the hook on the carriage rotates in order to twist the strands into the rope. In the usual mode of operation, the initial strand twist is made as high as possible without kinking. When the single hook on the carriage is released, the high torque in the strands causes the hook to rotate, and this, in turn, cause the three strands to twist together and form the rope. The ropemaker controls the production of the rope by continually pushing back its form of formation to give a tight structure. Meanwhile, the assistant continues to rotate the crank to make up for the loss of twist in the strands.”

Remaining Ropewalks

Most ropewalks were set up outdoors, sometimes underneath a wooden shelter. Some were housed in a brick or wooden building, which dates back to the beginnings of the 19th century.

The majority of earlier communities, irrespective of their size, had their modest ropewalk. Coastal towns, due to necessity, had several of them. For example: Boston (US) had 14 ropewalks in 1794, Plymouth (UK) had 14 of them in 1816 (source).

Image: Ropewalk machinery.

Ropewalks were mostly located outside the city or town, because of the fire risk they posed. In wooden structures especially, the combination of dried hemp and the open flames of the tarring vats was very risky (tar, made from pine trees, was used to make hemp cords more water-resistant).

Nothing remains of the smaller medieval ropewalks, nor of many later ropewalks in open air or in wooden buildings. However, some ropewalks housed in brick buildings are still intact. The ropewalk at Chatham Dockyard, UK, constructed in 1790 and the only one which is still producing rope commercially today (see these images) has an internal length of 346 metres (1,135 ft.). In the US, a 250 foot section of an early 19th century rope walk (the Plymouth Cordage Company Ropewalk) is preserved at the Mystic Seaport Museum in Connecticut.

Image: Rope making factory.

The largest rope walk still standing dates from 1666 and was in operation until 1867: “La Corderie Royale” in Rochefort, France. With an internal length of 374 metres (390 metres external length), it was the longest brick building of the 17th century (aerial view of it above, source) and could produce ropes with a length of up to 246 metres. (Twisting the strands into rope shortened the length of it, naturally. The final rope was about two thirds of the length of the yarns used.)

The software: knots

By themselves, ropes are essentially useless. They have to be tied to something (be it an object, another rope or to themselves) and therefore they need knots to function. A simple comparison would be that if ropes are considered the hardware, knots would be the software. While knotting technology must have been very simple in prehistoric times, it became a highly specialized art over time.

Image: A collection of knots.

Image: A big rope.

The sheer number and diversity of knots that was once in use would be bewildering to the modern city-dweller. About 4,000 different knots exist, ranging from the very simple to the extremely complex. Not so long ago, each profession or trade had adopted the knots best suited to its requirements, and knotting was part of their daily lives. Today, only campers, boy-scouts, climbers and sailors acquire some knowledge of this once imperative technology.

Image: Ship ropes.

There are two reasons for the demise of knotting. Firstly, many technologies that were once dependent on ropes and knots have disappeared. These are most notably sailing ships, but we have also stopped hauling canal boats and using pack trains or catapults (we have bombers and diesel engines now), as well as hundreds of more mundane tools and devices that once made use of ropes.

The demise of natural fibres

Secondly, the hardware has changed. From prehistoric times to midway the 20th century, ropes were made from vegetable fibres (and to a much lesser extent from animal fibres such as sinews and hairs). Egyptian rope was generally made of papyrus plants or date palm fibre. In Eastern Asia, bamboo, grasses, and coconuts were used.

Hemp, which use originated in China in the third millennium BC, became for many centuries the material of choice for rope manufacturing in Europe and, from the 17th century onwards, North America.

Image; Knotting techniques.

In 19th century Europe and North-America, hemp (and flax) were largely superseded by imported tropical fibres: mainly manila (made from the leaves of the abaca plant), but also coir (made from the shell of coconuts), sisal and henequen. Cotton and jute were also used to make (weaker and less durable) ropes.

Beginning in the second half of the nineteenthy century, many ropes made of natural fibres were superseded by “ropes” made of steel. Elevators, cranes and suspension bridges, for instance, are now fully dependent on steel “wire ropes”, while modern sailing yachts make use of steel wires. Gradually, wire ropes also supplanted natural fibre ropes for mining and mooring purposes.

Image: Steel wire rope.

Where “real” ropes are still used, for example in the fishing industry, for water sports equipment, parachutes, hot air balloons (illustration below) or for mountaineering (including industrial rope access), they are now almost always made out of synthetic materials, based on refined oil - a trend that kicked off in the 1950s. Today, the market for natural fibre rope has all but disappeared.

Image: Nets.

Polymer-based ropes are stronger and lighter than ropes made from natural fibres, naturally replacing them in no time. Nylon came out of the laboratory at the end of the 1930s, and today it is the most frequently utilized material for the production of ropes. Polyester and Polypropylene arrived on the market in the 1940s and the 1950s respectively - these materials are not as strong as nylon but much cheaper than natural fibre ropes.

Today we have - among many others - Kevlar, Technora, Twaron, Vectran, Zylon and Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene ropes (the latter are 10 to 100 times stronger than steel). Amazon books arrive in boxes tied together with adhesive tape, gadgets come in boxes held together by plastic strapping. The only natural fibre rope that I could find in my apartment was the cat-scratching post.

Of course, contrary to natural fibre ropes, the manufacturing of synthetic cordage requires expensive, high-tech (and at present digitalized) machinery.

Knot-holding ability

None of these new materials is compatible with knots. This speaks for itself in the case of steel wires, adhesive tape and plastic strappings, but the same goes for synthetic ropes: most have very poor “knot-holding ability” - this is why shoelaces are mostly still made of natural fibres. Knots have thus been replaced by an array of other fastening technologies, made out of plastic, steel or aluminium (illustration below).

Moreover, most natural fibre ropes sold today when compared to those sold one hundred years ago are of inferior quality, and are more likely to be made water-resistant by the use of biocides and chemical preservatives instead of using tar (source, pdf).

Image: Fastening technique.

Interestingly, natural fibres keep losing terrain to their synthetic alternatives. Manufacturing a wire rope is somewhat similar to making one from natural fibre: the individual steel wires are twisted into a strand, and these strands are again twisted around a core. Until recently, this core was made out of hemp, or another natural fibre, but these days this is becoming increasingly rare. Instead, steel or plastic (Polypropylene or PVC) cores are now commonly used. And if a hemp rope is still used as the core of a wire rope, it is impregnated with PVC (source).

Roped, wired, wireless

Synthetic fibres and steel might be stronger than hemp rope, but this progress comes with a price. Synthetic ropes release toxic fumes when they alight, they are not bio-degradable (which is why they don’t rot) and they cannot be recycled (some of them can in theory, but not nylon, which is the most used).

Natural fibre ropes, on the other hand, were extensively recycled throughout history, either for making new (lesser quality) ropes or to produce “oakum”, which was driven into the seams of wooden ships to render them water-tight.

Both steel and plastic ropes and wires are much more energy-intensive to produce than natural fibre ropes, and they are fully dependent on fossil fuels for their existence (steel could be produced by renewable energies, but in reality this does not happen). It also means that their cost is dependent on the price of oil, which is not the case for locally grown natural fibres.

In short, fastening technologies are now dependent on non-renewable sources, while natural fibre ropes and knots are not. This sounds familiar, because it is true for most of our modern technologies. Of course, because all our machines are adapted to stronger steel and plastic ropes we can’t go back to natural fibre ropes unless we adapt the machinery itself.

Image: A rope.

Image; Inca rope bridge.

While ropes have disappeared, our society has become ever more “wired” - the arrival of electricity and modern communications technologies around the turn of the twentieth century have brought with them an explosion of wires or, more correctly termed, cables (because they always consist of bundles of wires).

While I was wandering around my apartment in search of ropes, I had no trouble finding cables. In just one hundred years, we evolved from a “roped” society to a “wired” society. And more recently we seem to have entered the “wireless” age, with mobile phones, internet over the airwaves and - if we let the engineers have their way - wireless electricity. Since all these new applications keep pushing fossil fuel consumption up, it is a safe bet that before the 21st century is over, society will return to ropes, ropewalks and knots.

Additional sources :

How to tie the world together: Online knotting reference books
History and Science of Knots, JC Turner & P van de Griend (1996), free access in some libraries - Rope, Invention & Technology Magazine (1991)
Cordage and cordage hemp and fibres, Thomas Woodhouse (1919)
Handbook of Fibre Rope Technology, H.A. McKenna (2004)
The history of rope, Bill Fronzaglia (pdf) - Ropes and cordages (website)
Noeuds et brêlages (La Nature, 1889)
Corderie, Encyclopédie Diderot (1751-1772)
Corderie (Planches), Encyclopedie Diderot (1751-1772), better quality scans here.
How to build a ropewalk for ship models (diy)
More primitive technology
More articles on obsolete technologies.