A Brief History of Geometric Lathes
Tuesday, March 17, 2015
After reading our post on rose engine lathes,
you were hooked; you needed to know more about ornamental turning and the
machines that create decorative pieces. We have the information you’ve been
craving with more on lathes that make tiny knick-knacks with embellishments. Rose
engine lathes are used to create compact mirror cases, knobs, buttons and small
boxes, among other things, but there are other decorative pieces that are
created through ornamental turning. Hobbyists, dedicated woodworkers or those
just wanting to learn more can all benefit from understanding what smaller
lathes can create.
A rose engine
lathe is a type of geometric lathe. Specifically, while rose engine lathes are
used to make detailed, smaller items, it still falls under the category of a
geometric lathe. As you may have guessed, a geometric lathe isn’t used to make
heavy-duty machine parts and other tools. Rather, geometric lathes are used to
make ornate patterns (does the word "geometric" ring any bells?) on a variety
of items. Haven’t heard of this type of lathe? Perhaps you’ve heard it go by
another regularly used moniker, a guilloché lathe.
Guilloché
specifically refers to an engraving technique that has a repetitive design or
pattern — oftentimes this pattern is overlapping spirals — mechanically
engraved into an underlying material of some kind. While this term is used in
reference to geometric lathes, it wasn’t always so; guilloché is a term
generally used in architecture to describe similar spiral patterns that are
seen on or in an edifice’s design. If the spelling wasn’t enough of a hint, the
guilloché technique started in France during the 1700s. The commonly accepted
history of this term comes from a French engineer, Guillot, who is said to have
invented a turning machine to create such patterns. However, this story may not
be one for the history books, because despite research, there is no first name
attributed to this French engineer, nor any specific date for his invention. It
looks like Guillché may join George Washington and his cherry tree in historic
folklore.
Now that you have
more of a basic understanding of what a geometric lathe is used for, it may be
good to know what they can make (and have made). While lathes designed for
ornamental turning can use wood, bone, ivory and metals to produce works,
geometric lathes primarily use paper. Yes, the flimsy stuff essays are printed
on, the paper towel used to wipe your hands in the restroom and what receipts
that you discard almost immediately are made of, but they’re not meant for
geometric lathes. This lathe uses paper as the underlying material for the
guilloché technique in order to print patterns on bank notes and postage
stamps. Why is there such a specific niche for geometric lathes? Well, as the
history has it, during the nineteenth century, this machine was made to prevent
forgery in postage stamps and bank notes in parts of Europe. Yes, apparently
creating fake postage stamps was a rampant enough of a problem that swirled
designs and complex patterns were incorporated into European countries’ postage
stamps and currency so people couldn’t make forgeries easily.
While the thought
that first comes to mind for most when picturing a lathe and its products tend
to be those in industrial settings, that’s not always the case. Smaller lathes
do exist and have been turning a variety of products for centuries. Ornamental
turning may not be as widely popular for producing practical items, but this
technique still creates many common objects. And each of those objects comes
from a different lathe within the ornamental category. Though JF Berns Company
specializes in machines and tools for metalworking, decorative pieces and the
machines that make them are alive and “turning.”
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