Machine for reproducing sculpture

Made:
1826 in England
inventor:
Benjamin Cheverton
Cutters Spanners for machine assembly and adjustment Machine for reproducing sculpture, by Benjamin Cheverton, 1826 Machine for reproducing sculpture, by Benjamin Cheverton, 1826 Cutters Machine for reproducing sculpture, by Benjamin Cheverton, 1826 Machine for reproducing sculpture, by Benjamin Cheverton, 1826 Spanners for machine assembly and adjustment Machine for reproducing sculpture, by Benjamin Cheverton, 1826 Spanners for machine assembly and adjustment Alabaster workpiece Cutters Cutters Machine for reproducing sculpture, by Benjamin Cheverton, 1826 Cutters Machine for reproducing sculpture, by Benjamin Cheverton, 1826 Machine for reproducing sculpture, by Benjamin Cheverton, 1826 Cutters Large plaster bust of Diomedes. SCM - Hand and Machine Tools Large plaster bust of Diomedes. SCM - Hand and Machine Tools Large plaster bust of Diomedes. SCM - Hand and Machine Tools Large plaster bust of Diomedes. SCM - Hand and Machine Tools Large plaster bust of Diomedes. SCM - Hand and Machine Tools Large plaster bust of Diomedes. SCM - Hand and Machine Tools Large plaster bust of Diomedes. SCM - Hand and Machine Tools Machine for reproducing sculpture, by Benjamin Cheverton, 1826

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Cutters
Science Museum Group
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum

Spanners for machine assembly and adjustment
Science Museum Group
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum

Machine for reproducing sculpture, by Benjamin Cheverton, 1826
Science Museum Group
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum

Machine for reproducing sculpture, by Benjamin Cheverton, 1826
Science Museum Group
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum

Cutters
Science Museum Group
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum

Machine for reproducing sculpture, by Benjamin Cheverton, 1826
Science Museum Group
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum

Machine for reproducing sculpture, by Benjamin Cheverton, 1826
Science Museum Group
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum

Spanners for machine assembly and adjustment
Science Museum Group
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum

Machine for reproducing sculpture, by Benjamin Cheverton, 1826
Science Museum Group
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum

Spanners for machine assembly and adjustment
Science Museum Group
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum

Alabaster workpiece
Science Museum Group
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum

Cutters
Science Museum Group
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum

Cutters
Science Museum Group
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum

Machine for reproducing sculpture, by Benjamin Cheverton, 1826
Science Museum Group
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum

Cutters
Science Museum Group
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum

Machine for reproducing sculpture, by Benjamin Cheverton, 1826
Science Museum Group
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum

Machine for reproducing sculpture, by Benjamin Cheverton, 1826
Science Museum Group
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum

Cutters
Science Museum Group
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum

Large plaster bust of Diomedes. SCM - Hand and Machine Tools
Science Museum Group Collection
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum

Large plaster bust of Diomedes. SCM - Hand and Machine Tools
Science Museum Group Collection
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum

Large plaster bust of Diomedes. SCM - Hand and Machine Tools
Science Museum Group Collection
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum

Large plaster bust of Diomedes. SCM - Hand and Machine Tools
Science Museum Group Collection
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum

Large plaster bust of Diomedes. SCM - Hand and Machine Tools
Science Museum Group Collection
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum

Large plaster bust of Diomedes. SCM - Hand and Machine Tools
Science Museum Group Collection
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum

Large plaster bust of Diomedes. SCM - Hand and Machine Tools
Science Museum Group Collection
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum

Machine for reproducing sculpture, by Benjamin Cheverton, 1826
Science Museum Group Collection
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum

Machine for reproducing sculpture, by Benjamin Cheverton, 1826

This machine, designed and used by Benjamin Cheverton, is of very considerable interest in the history of the mechanical reproduction of sculpture, which subject attracted the interest of a range of notable mechanicians during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries - including James Watt, whose workshop is dominated by the pair of sculpture-copying machines which he constructed. This machine, which owes much to Isaac Hawkins who worked with Cheverton, surpasses Watt's machines, being more able to readily produce pieces 'in the round' and to under-cut, allowing it to manufacture pieces in the round, rather than copying medallions and other relatively two-dimensional pieces. This was due in large part to its novel design, placing both follower and cutter on a rigid yet flexible pivoting pantograph, and with an ingenious flexible drive to ensure that motion was always conveyed to the rotary cutter no matter its position. The machine would most likely have been treadle-operated in a similar way to contemporary lathes, and the rotation of both original and copy by exactly similar amounts was ensured by both being placed on two index-plates engaging with a single central pinion to ensure rotation was in the same direction.

Details

Category:
Hand and Machine Tools
Object Number:
1924-292
Materials:
cast iron, wrought iron, oak (wood) and plaster
Measurements:
overall: 245 cm x 150 cm x 74 cm,
type:
machine
credit:
Shrewsbury, J.B.

Parts

Wooden trestle to support iron bed of sculpture copying machine by Benjamin Cheverton

Wooden trestle to support iron bed of sculpture copying machine by Benjamin Cheverton

Wooden trestle to support iron bed of sculpture copying machine by Benjamin Cheverton, 1826

Materials:
oak (wood)
Object Number:
1924-292/1
type:
trestle
Iron bed for sculpture copying machine by Benjamin Cheverton

Iron bed for sculpture copying machine by Benjamin Cheverton

Iron bed for sculpture copying machine by Benjamin Cheverton, 1826

Materials:
cast iron
Object Number:
1924-292/2
type:
bed for sculpture copying machine
Workpiece spindle with click plate

Workpiece spindle with click plate

Workpiece spindle with click plate, chuck and wooden platen

Materials:
cast iron and wrought iron
Object Number:
1924-292/3
type:
spindle
Pattern spindle with click plate & 3 dogs

Pattern spindle with click plate & 3 dogs

Pattern spindle with click plate & 3 dogs

Materials:
cast iron and wrought iron
Object Number:
1924-292/4
type:
spindle
Pantograph with cutter and flexible drive

Pantograph with cutter and flexible drive

Pantograph with cutter and flexible drive and pulley frame

Materials:
bronze , steel and wrought iron
Object Number:
1924-292/5
type:
pantagraph
Wooden gantry and piece of board

Wooden gantry and piece of board

Wooden gantry and piece of board of unknown purpose

Materials:
bronze , wrought iron and steel
Object Number:
1924-292/6
type:
gantry
Collection of small items including weights and chuck plate

Collection of small items including weights and chuck plate

Small items: small chuck plate; two lead weights; boxwood probe broken into 3 pieces; steel tube (purpose unknown); alabaster workpiece

Materials:
bronze , wrought iron and steel
Object Number:
1924-292/7
type:
weights and chuck plate
Vertical wooden machine support

Vertical wooden machine support

Vertical wooden machine support with one steel bracket (connects to /1 trestle). Probably not original

Materials:
plaster and alabaster
Object Number:
1924-292/9
type:
support
Cutters, feeler probes for tracing on master sculpture and spanners for machine assembly and adjustment

Cutters, feeler probes for tracing on master sculpture and spanners for machine assembly and adjustment

Cutters, feeler probes for tracing on master sculpture and spanners for machine assembly and adjustment, mounted in fitment tray

Materials:
mahogany (wood) and steel (metal)
Object Number:
1924-292/10
type:
cutters