I’ve always been surprised how hard it is to find Joseph Moxon’s “Mechanick Exercises” in the public domain. A few years ago I stumbled on a link from that HathiTrust and totally forgot about it.
While doing some research on S.W. Silver (makers of campaign furniture), I stumbled on HathiTrust again.
If you don’t have a copy of “Mechanick Exercises,” go here.
The link is for the section on joinery. To download the entire book for free as a pdf, look at the left rail of the page and click on the link “Download Whole Book.” A couple clicks later and the entire “Mechanick Exercises” from 1703 will be on your hard drive, with the plates intact.
— Christopher Schwarz
Now, I must say, that was a useful and much appreciated email.
The book downloaded without a hitch.
Thanks Chris
Marhk (AKA: Mark, before)
Quite ufeful,
fincerely,
fcribe6
Darn 17th century keyboards. 😉
Very ufeful indeed!
I’ve wanted to learn a new language for some time now.
Thank you!
I found my copy on Google Books which appears to be the same scan from the University of Michigan. But what I like about the HathiTrust version is that it includes a flowing text version instead of just the scanned images. Thanks for sharing the link!
Question on plate 5: What the heck is the machine in Figure 7? I read his explanation and the closest I can get to understanding it is that the machine assists in the making of moulding. Am I right?
The machine makes wave-form mouldings. Very cool scratched mouldings that are rare today.
Download this pdf about a professor who built one.
Oh wow, those are wicked cool! Thanks for the pdf and, as always, the great information. Much appreciated.
Most appreciated Chris, thank you very much!!
Interesting that so many of the words we spell with an “s” is written with an “f” instead. I was totally lost until I figured that out. I mean what dose “fquare the ftoke on the firft fide with the plane rank-fet to make it ftraight.” Replace the “f” with “s” and it becomes clear.