Hal Tuesday, November 27, 2001: And here, below, I begin the republication of my work on "Handwerke und Künste in Tabellen" TRADES AND ARTS Acknowledgements The production of this ambitious translation would not have been possible without the assistance of many individuals. Had it not been for the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation's commitment to the preservation of historic trades, the translator would never have been exposed to Handwerke und Kuenste. The acquisition of a microfilm copy from the Butler Library of Columbia University by the Central Library of Colonial Williamsburg gave the translator access to the material. The translator is indebted to the following persons for their guidance and support during the making of these transalations and the related projects that have been derived from Handwerke und Kuenste. David Munn provided the greatest single impetus for the production of this volume through his gift to the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation which funded the rough translation of the first six of the seven translations included in this volume. Sven Dan Berg, Jr., John Caramia, Michael Kipps, Kenneth Schwarz, and Earl Soles, Jr., exerted considerable influence during the formative stages of this work. The staff of the Colonial Williamsburg Research Library rendered indispensible aid with unfailing patience; particulary Elizabeth Ackert, Susan Berg, Collen Harris, John Ingram, and Mary Keeling. My colleagues in the Department of Conservation at Colonial Williamsburg deserve particular mention for their interest and advice; particularly, F. Carey Howlett, J. P. Mullen, and John Watson. Great assistance was rendered by Harry C. Kahn, III by way of his thorough proof-reading of much of this work and by Thomas McGeary of Champaign, Ilinois for his assistance in tracking down often elusive reference sources. Finally, the appearance of this collection of translations would not have occured with out the good offices of Jay Gaynor, Curator of Mechanical Arts at the Department of Collections of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. Financial support for the Scientific Instrument Maker translation was provided by the late Emil Pollack of The Astragal Press. The translator owes the largest debt, however, to his family for their patience, support, advice, not to mention materials and proof-reading; Harold B. Gill, Jr., Margaret S. Gill, Melissa D. Gill, and, particulary, his ex-wife, to whom this volume is gratefully dedicated, Heather Ann Hakel Gill. PREFACE: Presented in this volume are ten translations from Handwerke und Kuenste. Initiated by Peter Nathanael Sprengel during his tenure at the Realschul of Berlin in 1767, this handbook on the trades and arts was continued by his successor, Otto Ludwig Hartwig. The English translations contained in this collection are Hartwig's product taken from the fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth volumes of the seventeen volume encyclopedia. Although Handwerke und Kuenste touches upon well over one hundred trades, this collection deals with those relating to metal work with the primary focus being those trades that deal with the working of iron. The first article is a brief description of a particular iron refinery on the outskirts of Berlin, an iron works at Neustadt-Eberswalde. This basic introduction to the material leads into an over view of the blacksmith's trade including the work of the farrier and armorer. Succeeding this is a lengthy and technically detailed discussion of locksmithing which closes with a brief look at decorative wrought iron work. Next, a short and direct discussion of the toolsmith's trade is given. The fifth and sixth selections are bound thematically by their focus on the manufacture of cutting instruments. They are the discussions of the cutler's trade and the surgical instrument maker's trade. The latter offers a piece by piece description of the anatomical dissection kit, surgeon's bandaging kit, and, finally, a look at the instruments required for the delicate operation of trepanning. The final and most lengthy section is the discussion of the trade of the "Mechanicus" or scientific instrument maker. Appended to this on-line version are three further chapters dealing with Spur making, Sword furbishing and cutlery, and Windlass or Jack making. The information in each section is arranged into a introduction to the trade, its materials, its tools, and then its products and their method of manufacture. Each closes with a brief discussion of the guilds and their requirements for apprentices, journeymen, and masters. This arrangement was expedient since the original book was designed to acquaint the apprentice with the trade in order that he might be in a better position to choose his career with success. The information contained was gathered by the editors by interviews conducted in the workshops in and around Berlin. In this way, it was hoped that the most practical textbook yet produced for instruction on the trades could be produced. The first two volumes produced by Peter Sprengel are extremely spare treatises delivered in a rigid outline form. The succeeding fourteen volumes are a great deal more detailed and their chapters are grouped together by trade type. If it was produced today, this might seem a mundane or pedestrian publication but, as Peter Sprengel pointed out in the preface to the first volume, one would be quite mistaken to believe that a well established system was in place by which an informed choice could be made regarding one's career in eighteenth-century Prussia. In other words, Handwerke und Kuenste was revolutionary in 1767. It was not alone, however. The towering effigy of Diderot and his great encyclopedia, a symbol of the Age of Enlightenment, will come to mind when one thinks of technical encyclopedias from the eighteenth century. Diderot and the Encyclopediests efforts were mirrored by the French Academy of Arts and Sciences' Descriptions des Arts et Metiers. In fact, Sprengel drew on this last work via its German translation Schauplatz des Kuenst und Handwerke. These authors did not work in a vacuum. Even Diderot's monumental achievement began as a French translation from the English Cyclopedia by Ephraim Chambers. These works' interdependence is one reason that Handwerke und Kuenste is more than just a milestone in industrial education. For historians of technology, economy, and particularly of society, Handwerke und Kuenste provides a window on Europe at the dawn of the industrial revolution. In a very direct way, it allows the reader to sit inside of the classroom in the Realschul at the close of the the third quarter of the eighteenth century. At the outset of his work, Peter Sprengel referred to his "enlightened century," contrasting that term with the state of preparedness of Prussian youth for the challenges of the rapidly changing world of industry, his purpose being to augment this preparedness by means of a textbook worthy of the times and the result was exceptional. Although Handwerke und Kuenste was contemporary to Diderot and Alembert's Encyclopedie, it is unique for its detailed descriptions of the state of technology. Sprengel and Hartwig took their observations directly from the workshops into the classroom, providing an immediacy that is not attained in any of the contemporary writings to which this translator has had access. Even more striking is the consistant high quality of the detail in the narrative throughout the broad scope of the work, for, even though the present collection provides only seven treatises, the entire seventeen volume work covers in excess of one hundred and fifty occupations. Therefore, taken as a whole, Handwerke und Kuenste may well make a larger contribution to the understanding of eighteenth-century technology than any other source available. The events that surround these treatises included the initial upsurge of the technology that drives our culture today. What can be gathered from the reflections of these teachers of 220 years ago, can tell us a great deal about how we have arrived at this point today. It can give us insight into the driving forces that propelled us from an agrarian society to an industrial one. Handwerke und Kuenste also offers an understanding of the humanist philosophy that charged the inhuman energy of the Industrial Revolution with enthusiasm, optimism and even cathartic exhiliration as it gained momentum. Hartwig and Sprengel were infused with the confidence that their project would allow every apprentice to achieve the greatest happiness that his potential allowed and, by extension, that industry could produce the greatest happiness for humanity. The old German adage is "Arbeit macht das Leben suess" or "Work makes life sweet." More than that, Sprengel implies that informed choices make the adage a reality. Here he provides the information. One can only imagine the impact that it had on the workers of his time. If, as another adage goes, "Knowledge is power" then Sprengel and Hartwig empowered a generation or more of Prussian youth. Those youths undoubtedly included many who were instrumental in making Germany an industrial power rivalling England in the nineteenth century. Some of the most enduring effects are those wrought through education. So it is that in many areas, these translations will offer an education; a small window through which to peer. The room within, if entered, offers more windows and thus the opportunities for exploration are endless. It is the translator's hope that the offerings within this cover will open windows and will give rise to more discovery and greater understanding. If nothing else, the novelty of these very open descriptions of processes and products emanating from proto-industrial workshops of eighteenth-century Prussia may create a particular delight for the antiquarian, the historian, the tradesman, or any reader with patience and imagination. Harold // 2:28 PM ______________________ Here I preserve an old translation that I worked on some time ago. Von denen Gewehrfabriken Copyright: Harold B. Gill, III; 1991 Harold B. Gill, III: translator October 20, 1991 Introduction to Translation of Vollstaendige Abhandlung von denen Manufacturen und Fabriken, Zweiter Teil, welcher alle einzelne Manufacturen und Fabriken nach der Eintheilung ihrer Materialen abhandelt. Von Johann Heinrich Gottlob von Justi, Konigl. Grossbittanischen Bergrathe und Ober-Policei-Commissario, wie auch Mitglied der Konigl. Grossbrittanischen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften daselbst. Koppenhagen, Auf Kosten der Rothenschen Buchhandlung. 1761. Viertes Haupstueck "Von denen Gewehr Fabriken" The translator of this discussion of the arms factory in Europe first became aware of its existence during the translation of sections of Handwerke und Kuenste by Peter N. Sprengel and Otto L. Hartwig which dealt with the iron works at Neustadt-Eberswalde near Berlin and with the trade of locksmithing. Sections on Gunsmithing and Gunstocking published in The Journal of Historical Armsmaking Technology, Volume III in June, 1988 had first brought my attention to Handwerke und Kuenste which is an invaluable compilation of contemporary descriptions of eighteenth century trades practices. The account of the Gun Factory from that source published in the fourth volume of The Journal of Historical Armsmaking Technology is complimented by this translation presented here which predates Handwerke und Kuenste by about a decade. The nature of the two works are different in purpose. Whereas Sprengel's avowed intention was to document matters pertaining to the trades so that young men embarking on their careers could make informed decisions, von Justi seems to be writing to provide a base of understanding of the philosophy and history of various manufactures. He appeals to logic to illustrate the necessity of the factories, harkening back to the Roman Empire to show the dependence of the state upon her arms factories, for example. In the same illustration, von Justi throws a light on the origin of the practices of the guilds. Along with this interest in providing a sound foundation in the cause of industry, in this chapter von Justi also probes into the particulars of the process of producing Damascus steel, not just to treat the subject of what is known and actually done in Germany at the time as Sprengel and Hartwig would later, but rather he delves into speculating about the hitherto mysterious processes that produce its remarkable properties. Certainly he is not giving us insights of which we are not aware scientifically speaking, but, of more importance, he tells us what he understands. This is important not only in giving us insight into what were the eighteenth century man's understanding of manufacturing processes, but also we are allowed to gain an understanding of the way in which the intellectual world viewed the material world in general. Too often the the aspects of the historical record are studied in a vacuum; apart from the pull and tug of the various factors that shape their form and steer their course through time. This oversight is surely as fatal to the understanding of the historical record as ignoring the moon is fatal to understanding the tides. Writers such as Johann Heinrich Gottlob von Justi cause us to look at the moon to show us the tides and thus give us a greater appreciation and understanding of those processes and products that we are so interested in studying. The translation of this small part of Vollstaendige Abhandlung von denen Manufacturen und Fabriken is one lesson in a series of lectures that von Justi stands poised to deliver dealing with philosophical, economic, political, and technical aspects of the manufactures and factories of Europe in the mid eighteenth century. This is all the more exciting since the time from which these lectures are given is a major turning point in the history of technology; a time when the industrialization of Europe was in its infancy; a time that became a major demarcation in the history of mankind. The multi-faceted interests of von Justi are reflected in the wide ranging narrative on arms factories and suggested strongly by his string of titles and posts in the British government. Such a variety of experience contributes greatly to the depth of understanding that can be imparted by the author. It is to be hoped that the deficiencies of the translator will not greatly detract from the benefit that is to be garnered from this source. Complete Essay of the Manufactures and Factories. Second Part, which treats all individual manufactures and factories according to the classification of their materials. by Johann Heinrich Gottlob von Justi Royal British Counsellor of Mines and Supreme Police Commisioner, also Fellow of the Royal British Society of Science. Copenhagen At the Expense of the Rothenschen Book Store 1761 page 370 Fourth Chapter "About the Arms Factory" The state has an army for its defense and these require weapons. For the purpose of defense, it would agreeably trade a good industry even with these rules, if it found it were of importance that it could purchase these weopons from another country. It could happen for a time, which would amount to nothing for it (the State), just as it lets money go to foreign countries in a needless fashion, and nourishes the subjects of a foreign state that could become its enemy. Besides, the private citizens want many guns as well. Every well-to-do citizen wants to have his fire-arm and each bedecks himself with a sword just as though every one is ready to cut the throat of his fellow citizen; although the foolishness of carrying guns for ornamentation is already diminished greatly because it is now no advantage to being able to carry a sword. One one deprives the foolishness of the motive of frovolity and superiority, then it will, of itself, become reasonable. In the meantime, the market for weapons among the private citizens is still very great and the arms factories in this country are all the more indespensible. All these basic reasons also have illuminated the eyes of the government sufficiently. Today, there is scarcely a country of middling size that does not have its page 371 arms factory and Germany has borne in it as many as other European empires. Potsdam, Herzberg, Dresden, Suhla, Solingen, Luttich, and so many other cities provide very good weapons from their factories. If it is always necessary to construct factories in large cohesive arrangements, then it is most necessary with the arms factories. The weapon consists either of many pieces, or else must be the result of many operations invlved in making it. Long experience has shown that the operations, particularly in the fire, take place much more speedily and handily if a few workers not as such and others perform those particular operations and work hand in hand as it were. Besides the work can be facilitated very greatly in these arms factories by means of machines and other measures that are not part of an individual master's business. The state can also be all the more assured of the quality and uniformity of weapons for their armies if all is done uder one and the same supervision. Also this has been examined; the arms factories everywhere have been constructed as large institutions. If at a few places, there is no single unified institution, then each master applies himself principly to only the same particular operation and there are publishers or sales people who assemble the individual parts and can make complete weapons from them. The necessity page 372 of large arms factories has been recognized by the Romans and other people of antiquity. The Romans had an arms factory of very great extent at Trier in Germany and they appear to have coupled with it a certain type of secrecy because the armourers working there were bound for life. To this end, these armourers would be branded with certain distinguishing marks and the admission into their guild occured with manifold, and partly ridiculous, ceremonies with which the source of those ceremonies and practices of the craftsmen apparently can be found. There are very many types of weapons. One can separate them into two main categories, however, namely the firearms and slashing or stabbing weapons. In a broad sense, the cannons, mortars, all types of crude ordnance are understood to be included among the firearms. However, because we have already dealt with ordnance foundry work in the previous chapter, thus here are only the firearms in a narrow sense, or the text about the small firearms which include rifles, muskets, fowling pieces, and pistols. To the other class of slashing and stabbing weapons belong sabers, broad swords, and other swords, bayonets, daggers, spontoons, halberds HELLEPARDEN, halberds KURZGEWEHR, lances, pikes, and the like. We will mention the most important of each major type. Page 373 The quality of a fire arm comes from very many different particulars. Not only must the best and most malleable iron be taken for it, so that it not only receives no cracks during the boring, but also that it endures the boring without the barrel coming out too thick and consequently too heavy and unwieldy. Nevertheless, the barrel also must not be in danger of blowing up in spite of having a moderate weight. The boring must especially happen with accuracy most of all because and unevenness and flaw inside will make the entire gun incapable of being aimed. The breadth of the muzzle must have an exact relation with the length and thickness of the barrel if a weapon is to shoot well appropriately to its final purpose. There is no doubt that this cannot be conveyed by such certain and indubitable principles as the mathematical theorems themselves are which one must apply here. Only in this perhaps most of the flaws show up in the firearms of the army because those who determine the caliber and structure of the firearms for the army seldom possess the knowledge and insight beyond that necessary so good soldiers want them anyway. In regard to the lock, the quality of a firearm depends principly upon the quality of the spring which is certainly made from the best steel, but must not be hardened to the most extreme degree because it would otherwise would very easily break Page 374 so they must be neith too strong in operation nor, indeed, too flexible and soft. In the same way the frizzen must be worked from the best well hardened steel and not worked coarsely and clumsily. The readiness of a weapon to fulfill its final purpose is attained through the ease with which the cock strikes the frizzen. In this regard, the gun stocker can contribute very much to the perfection of a firearm in that he can join and position all the pieces in such a form that they have their most suitable relation to each other for their final purpose. From this one easily sees that in no country could there occur natural, or otherwise insurmountable, obstacles which would prevent complete and effective weapons from being manufactured therein. Every country, if it merely applies the necessary attention can make perfect malleable iron and the best steel as I have puroclaimed in the preface and have shown sufficiently in the foregoing articles of this section. The nature of the water is no obstacle to this. The water can have no other influence in the manufacture of a good weapon in so far as that it will be needed for the quenching of the steel and the minute quantity which will be needed for that can easily be made by salts and other ingredients skillfully added to it. Those cities and countries page 375 which are famous for their particularly good weapons also have, not only the natural quality of their water, but also the industry, the attention, and ability of their workers to thank, which is encouraged solely by the attention and insight of the directors of such a factory. However, in order for a country to establish the reputation for making beautiful weapons, then it comes not only from the perfection of the weapons of the army and other good common rifles and guns, but also one must trouble himself to manufacture weapons which have complete perfection and external beauty in them which the skillfullness and the wit of other countries have devised. All that the Spanish shot guns FLINTEN particularly possess, that give the locks of Paris, Sedan, and Mastricht a higher value, that has made the enthusiast so covetous of the rifles of various Italian masters, as well as all other external decorations such as the inlaying of silver on the locks and barrels must be duplicated in each weapons factory and new inventions could be added to this if the directors of such factories have regard and peculiar insight in this matter understanding the experience of the skilled minds among their workers and know to encourage such experienced workers. page 376 What the second class entails, concerns namely the slashing and stabbing weapons, thus the manufacture of the same finds no fewer difficulties, because with those of most varieties, as, for example, the spontoons, broadswords, halberds, and bayonets, come from nothing more than good iron and the usual form of the same that can always be copied by mediocre workers. Then most of these weapons will be made merely from iron and, when it comes to high heat, hardened in a good quench water which is nevertheless unnecessary but once for many. The sabers, broadswords, and swords alone provide that the entire piece, or at least their edge be made of steel. Because it is always of great advantage in such side arms that their cutting edge is made of excellent steel so that, in spite of its great hardness nevertheless it is not so brittle as to break as soon as it is driven with force onto a hard substance. This is especially important for the sabers of the cavalry who must perform their principal actions with the sword, and consequently must have the same necessarily in the most practical soundness. Among all sabers to this time unquestionably, the damaskened ones claim the superiority on account of their extraordinary hardness and durabitlity in which they do not have the disadvantageous brittleness with their great hardness with which one can cut through common iron like brass and never fracture when they meet a hard page 377 hard substance with great force. They are particularly recognizable in that they appear like a flame or like waves of water, and, as it were, they appear to be welded together from two different metals; one white and one black, that have not yet completely alloyed with each other. These flames or different veins of metal are not merely on the upper surfaces of the metal, rather they extend throughout the body of the blade and one can grind as deeply thus showing always the two different veins. When there are workers among us who also create this damaskening artificially by means of lime and acid, then this is nothing more than a miserable fraud so that only the upper surface of the blade gives the a genuine appearence and is not durable after all in that the presumed beautiful damskening is lost entirely in a few years. The chief value of the Damascus blades, namely the uncommeon hardness, yet, with that, the lack of all brittleness is not to be met with in these fraudently created blades and thus many of our workers have counterfeited, thus they could not come upon the mark of those armourers at Damascus and other Turkish cities. The famous chemist of steel has lectured on the supposition of the manufacture of the Damascus blades that is not improbable. page 378 He contends that they are manufactured from half steel and half iron in which one has wound the iron and steel together hot and in various manners welded them together. At least, if one ensnares the iron and steel, thus the differing waves and flames result throughout the whole mass of metal tat completes the finshed appearence the damaskening possesses. This conjecture is quite probable. The mixture of iron with steel makes the abscence of brittleness understandable, which is the greatest advantage of the Damascus blades; thus, similarly it is not improbable that the welded in steel can impart some of its hardnews to the combined iron. If the Damaskening worker has only hard water in which to quench his blades, that is more advantageous than the other types that are familiar to us, thus one also comprehends how the great hardness of these blades can arise. Meanwhile, this is all notheing other than a conjecture. The best theory of this type and manner of these and every operation and preparation has very often only failed, when one has finally learned everything with certainty. In the deed, we know nothing positively about the mode and manner in which the Damascus blades are manufactured. This is not the sole point of our ignorance that we must lament in the manufactures, factories, and commercial establishments of the Orient and from their authentic account, page 379 our knowledge as well as our profit would be increased. Because the praise-worthey Dane, Friedrich, at this time has sent a delegation of learned men to the Orient for the gathering of intelligence, it is very much to be hoped that one would have been commissioned to collect and authentic record on account of the many works and products of the Orient and they are allowed to be instructed to this end by a man who knows what in this is yet wanting in our understanding. I very much doubt that it would fall to us hard or impossible to give our sword blades at least an equal hardness without all brittleness and the Damascus blades have. Only the educated think little about such discoveries and our mechanical workers lack a speculative nature. Apparently often the repeated welding in of the steel would contribute very much more towards the loss of brittleness. This is easily comprehended. The nature of steel consists of the frequently burned substance that is introduced into the steel. This new component will be introduced on all sides and set between the iron parts; must in a natural way detrimentally decrease the adherence of the iron parts and brittleness is produced. Only when the steel has been welded into itself often, then one easily sees, that this must promote the restoration of the formen adherence of the components very greatly. page 380 Herr Lauraeus in the Journal of the Royal Swedish Academy of Science holds that this frequent welding together of the steel is advantageous for still another reason, namely because the steel has veins of different varieties and for that reason, when it is drawn out thinly, it is easily bent and throws fractures. Nevertheless, those that look into this chapter will not be vexed to read his word itself with which this chapter will close. " I take four equal bars of steel and weld them together completely without any iron added, allow them to be drawn out to a thumb's thickness, heating them afterward, grasp them on each end with tongs, and wind them around as much as I can; stretch them out again so that they are as thick as they were before, fold them four times together again, weld them a second time, forge them out, wind them again as the first time, and proceed in such a manner a third time as before and then the work is complete, so that they can be used for various edges and cuts and afterwards be forged has need for various things. The reason of the winding is because the steel has veins of different types of which some stretch out, others pull together, from which follows that the steel retracts together on hardening or extends and consequently becomes bent or throws a bulge, which later is difficult or impossible to straighten and can be brought again into the proportion so the veins are parted by the winding round about the malleable so that they are not easily bent in the hardening or so difficult to straighten and restore." Harold // 2:26 PM ______________________
And here, below, I begin the republication of my work on "Handwerke und Künste in Tabellen" TRADES AND ARTS Acknowledgements The production of this ambitious translation would not have been possible without the assistance of many individuals. Had it not been for the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation's commitment to the preservation of historic trades, the translator would never have been exposed to Handwerke und Kuenste. The acquisition of a microfilm copy from the Butler Library of Columbia University by the Central Library of Colonial Williamsburg gave the translator access to the material. The translator is indebted to the following persons for their guidance and support during the making of these transalations and the related projects that have been derived from Handwerke und Kuenste. David Munn provided the greatest single impetus for the production of this volume through his gift to the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation which funded the rough translation of the first six of the seven translations included in this volume. Sven Dan Berg, Jr., John Caramia, Michael Kipps, Kenneth Schwarz, and Earl Soles, Jr., exerted considerable influence during the formative stages of this work. The staff of the Colonial Williamsburg Research Library rendered indispensible aid with unfailing patience; particulary Elizabeth Ackert, Susan Berg, Collen Harris, John Ingram, and Mary Keeling. My colleagues in the Department of Conservation at Colonial Williamsburg deserve particular mention for their interest and advice; particularly, F. Carey Howlett, J. P. Mullen, and John Watson. Great assistance was rendered by Harry C. Kahn, III by way of his thorough proof-reading of much of this work and by Thomas McGeary of Champaign, Ilinois for his assistance in tracking down often elusive reference sources. Finally, the appearance of this collection of translations would not have occured with out the good offices of Jay Gaynor, Curator of Mechanical Arts at the Department of Collections of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. Financial support for the Scientific Instrument Maker translation was provided by the late Emil Pollack of The Astragal Press. The translator owes the largest debt, however, to his family for their patience, support, advice, not to mention materials and proof-reading; Harold B. Gill, Jr., Margaret S. Gill, Melissa D. Gill, and, particulary, his ex-wife, to whom this volume is gratefully dedicated, Heather Ann Hakel Gill. PREFACE: Presented in this volume are ten translations from Handwerke und Kuenste. Initiated by Peter Nathanael Sprengel during his tenure at the Realschul of Berlin in 1767, this handbook on the trades and arts was continued by his successor, Otto Ludwig Hartwig. The English translations contained in this collection are Hartwig's product taken from the fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth volumes of the seventeen volume encyclopedia. Although Handwerke und Kuenste touches upon well over one hundred trades, this collection deals with those relating to metal work with the primary focus being those trades that deal with the working of iron. The first article is a brief description of a particular iron refinery on the outskirts of Berlin, an iron works at Neustadt-Eberswalde. This basic introduction to the material leads into an over view of the blacksmith's trade including the work of the farrier and armorer. Succeeding this is a lengthy and technically detailed discussion of locksmithing which closes with a brief look at decorative wrought iron work. Next, a short and direct discussion of the toolsmith's trade is given. The fifth and sixth selections are bound thematically by their focus on the manufacture of cutting instruments. They are the discussions of the cutler's trade and the surgical instrument maker's trade. The latter offers a piece by piece description of the anatomical dissection kit, surgeon's bandaging kit, and, finally, a look at the instruments required for the delicate operation of trepanning. The final and most lengthy section is the discussion of the trade of the "Mechanicus" or scientific instrument maker. Appended to this on-line version are three further chapters dealing with Spur making, Sword furbishing and cutlery, and Windlass or Jack making. The information in each section is arranged into a introduction to the trade, its materials, its tools, and then its products and their method of manufacture. Each closes with a brief discussion of the guilds and their requirements for apprentices, journeymen, and masters. This arrangement was expedient since the original book was designed to acquaint the apprentice with the trade in order that he might be in a better position to choose his career with success. The information contained was gathered by the editors by interviews conducted in the workshops in and around Berlin. In this way, it was hoped that the most practical textbook yet produced for instruction on the trades could be produced. The first two volumes produced by Peter Sprengel are extremely spare treatises delivered in a rigid outline form. The succeeding fourteen volumes are a great deal more detailed and their chapters are grouped together by trade type. If it was produced today, this might seem a mundane or pedestrian publication but, as Peter Sprengel pointed out in the preface to the first volume, one would be quite mistaken to believe that a well established system was in place by which an informed choice could be made regarding one's career in eighteenth-century Prussia. In other words, Handwerke und Kuenste was revolutionary in 1767. It was not alone, however. The towering effigy of Diderot and his great encyclopedia, a symbol of the Age of Enlightenment, will come to mind when one thinks of technical encyclopedias from the eighteenth century. Diderot and the Encyclopediests efforts were mirrored by the French Academy of Arts and Sciences' Descriptions des Arts et Metiers. In fact, Sprengel drew on this last work via its German translation Schauplatz des Kuenst und Handwerke. These authors did not work in a vacuum. Even Diderot's monumental achievement began as a French translation from the English Cyclopedia by Ephraim Chambers. These works' interdependence is one reason that Handwerke und Kuenste is more than just a milestone in industrial education. For historians of technology, economy, and particularly of society, Handwerke und Kuenste provides a window on Europe at the dawn of the industrial revolution. In a very direct way, it allows the reader to sit inside of the classroom in the Realschul at the close of the the third quarter of the eighteenth century. At the outset of his work, Peter Sprengel referred to his "enlightened century," contrasting that term with the state of preparedness of Prussian youth for the challenges of the rapidly changing world of industry, his purpose being to augment this preparedness by means of a textbook worthy of the times and the result was exceptional. Although Handwerke und Kuenste was contemporary to Diderot and Alembert's Encyclopedie, it is unique for its detailed descriptions of the state of technology. Sprengel and Hartwig took their observations directly from the workshops into the classroom, providing an immediacy that is not attained in any of the contemporary writings to which this translator has had access. Even more striking is the consistant high quality of the detail in the narrative throughout the broad scope of the work, for, even though the present collection provides only seven treatises, the entire seventeen volume work covers in excess of one hundred and fifty occupations. Therefore, taken as a whole, Handwerke und Kuenste may well make a larger contribution to the understanding of eighteenth-century technology than any other source available. The events that surround these treatises included the initial upsurge of the technology that drives our culture today. What can be gathered from the reflections of these teachers of 220 years ago, can tell us a great deal about how we have arrived at this point today. It can give us insight into the driving forces that propelled us from an agrarian society to an industrial one. Handwerke und Kuenste also offers an understanding of the humanist philosophy that charged the inhuman energy of the Industrial Revolution with enthusiasm, optimism and even cathartic exhiliration as it gained momentum. Hartwig and Sprengel were infused with the confidence that their project would allow every apprentice to achieve the greatest happiness that his potential allowed and, by extension, that industry could produce the greatest happiness for humanity. The old German adage is "Arbeit macht das Leben suess" or "Work makes life sweet." More than that, Sprengel implies that informed choices make the adage a reality. Here he provides the information. One can only imagine the impact that it had on the workers of his time. If, as another adage goes, "Knowledge is power" then Sprengel and Hartwig empowered a generation or more of Prussian youth. Those youths undoubtedly included many who were instrumental in making Germany an industrial power rivalling England in the nineteenth century. Some of the most enduring effects are those wrought through education. So it is that in many areas, these translations will offer an education; a small window through which to peer. The room within, if entered, offers more windows and thus the opportunities for exploration are endless. It is the translator's hope that the offerings within this cover will open windows and will give rise to more discovery and greater understanding. If nothing else, the novelty of these very open descriptions of processes and products emanating from proto-industrial workshops of eighteenth-century Prussia may create a particular delight for the antiquarian, the historian, the tradesman, or any reader with patience and imagination. Harold // 2:28 PM
Here I preserve an old translation that I worked on some time ago. Von denen Gewehrfabriken Copyright: Harold B. Gill, III; 1991 Harold B. Gill, III: translator October 20, 1991 Introduction to Translation of Vollstaendige Abhandlung von denen Manufacturen und Fabriken, Zweiter Teil, welcher alle einzelne Manufacturen und Fabriken nach der Eintheilung ihrer Materialen abhandelt. Von Johann Heinrich Gottlob von Justi, Konigl. Grossbittanischen Bergrathe und Ober-Policei-Commissario, wie auch Mitglied der Konigl. Grossbrittanischen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften daselbst. Koppenhagen, Auf Kosten der Rothenschen Buchhandlung. 1761. Viertes Haupstueck "Von denen Gewehr Fabriken" The translator of this discussion of the arms factory in Europe first became aware of its existence during the translation of sections of Handwerke und Kuenste by Peter N. Sprengel and Otto L. Hartwig which dealt with the iron works at Neustadt-Eberswalde near Berlin and with the trade of locksmithing. Sections on Gunsmithing and Gunstocking published in The Journal of Historical Armsmaking Technology, Volume III in June, 1988 had first brought my attention to Handwerke und Kuenste which is an invaluable compilation of contemporary descriptions of eighteenth century trades practices. The account of the Gun Factory from that source published in the fourth volume of The Journal of Historical Armsmaking Technology is complimented by this translation presented here which predates Handwerke und Kuenste by about a decade. The nature of the two works are different in purpose. Whereas Sprengel's avowed intention was to document matters pertaining to the trades so that young men embarking on their careers could make informed decisions, von Justi seems to be writing to provide a base of understanding of the philosophy and history of various manufactures. He appeals to logic to illustrate the necessity of the factories, harkening back to the Roman Empire to show the dependence of the state upon her arms factories, for example. In the same illustration, von Justi throws a light on the origin of the practices of the guilds. Along with this interest in providing a sound foundation in the cause of industry, in this chapter von Justi also probes into the particulars of the process of producing Damascus steel, not just to treat the subject of what is known and actually done in Germany at the time as Sprengel and Hartwig would later, but rather he delves into speculating about the hitherto mysterious processes that produce its remarkable properties. Certainly he is not giving us insights of which we are not aware scientifically speaking, but, of more importance, he tells us what he understands. This is important not only in giving us insight into what were the eighteenth century man's understanding of manufacturing processes, but also we are allowed to gain an understanding of the way in which the intellectual world viewed the material world in general. Too often the the aspects of the historical record are studied in a vacuum; apart from the pull and tug of the various factors that shape their form and steer their course through time. This oversight is surely as fatal to the understanding of the historical record as ignoring the moon is fatal to understanding the tides. Writers such as Johann Heinrich Gottlob von Justi cause us to look at the moon to show us the tides and thus give us a greater appreciation and understanding of those processes and products that we are so interested in studying. The translation of this small part of Vollstaendige Abhandlung von denen Manufacturen und Fabriken is one lesson in a series of lectures that von Justi stands poised to deliver dealing with philosophical, economic, political, and technical aspects of the manufactures and factories of Europe in the mid eighteenth century. This is all the more exciting since the time from which these lectures are given is a major turning point in the history of technology; a time when the industrialization of Europe was in its infancy; a time that became a major demarcation in the history of mankind. The multi-faceted interests of von Justi are reflected in the wide ranging narrative on arms factories and suggested strongly by his string of titles and posts in the British government. Such a variety of experience contributes greatly to the depth of understanding that can be imparted by the author. It is to be hoped that the deficiencies of the translator will not greatly detract from the benefit that is to be garnered from this source. Complete Essay of the Manufactures and Factories. Second Part, which treats all individual manufactures and factories according to the classification of their materials. by Johann Heinrich Gottlob von Justi Royal British Counsellor of Mines and Supreme Police Commisioner, also Fellow of the Royal British Society of Science. Copenhagen At the Expense of the Rothenschen Book Store 1761 page 370 Fourth Chapter "About the Arms Factory" The state has an army for its defense and these require weapons. For the purpose of defense, it would agreeably trade a good industry even with these rules, if it found it were of importance that it could purchase these weopons from another country. It could happen for a time, which would amount to nothing for it (the State), just as it lets money go to foreign countries in a needless fashion, and nourishes the subjects of a foreign state that could become its enemy. Besides, the private citizens want many guns as well. Every well-to-do citizen wants to have his fire-arm and each bedecks himself with a sword just as though every one is ready to cut the throat of his fellow citizen; although the foolishness of carrying guns for ornamentation is already diminished greatly because it is now no advantage to being able to carry a sword. One one deprives the foolishness of the motive of frovolity and superiority, then it will, of itself, become reasonable. In the meantime, the market for weapons among the private citizens is still very great and the arms factories in this country are all the more indespensible. All these basic reasons also have illuminated the eyes of the government sufficiently. Today, there is scarcely a country of middling size that does not have its page 371 arms factory and Germany has borne in it as many as other European empires. Potsdam, Herzberg, Dresden, Suhla, Solingen, Luttich, and so many other cities provide very good weapons from their factories. If it is always necessary to construct factories in large cohesive arrangements, then it is most necessary with the arms factories. The weapon consists either of many pieces, or else must be the result of many operations invlved in making it. Long experience has shown that the operations, particularly in the fire, take place much more speedily and handily if a few workers not as such and others perform those particular operations and work hand in hand as it were. Besides the work can be facilitated very greatly in these arms factories by means of machines and other measures that are not part of an individual master's business. The state can also be all the more assured of the quality and uniformity of weapons for their armies if all is done uder one and the same supervision. Also this has been examined; the arms factories everywhere have been constructed as large institutions. If at a few places, there is no single unified institution, then each master applies himself principly to only the same particular operation and there are publishers or sales people who assemble the individual parts and can make complete weapons from them. The necessity page 372 of large arms factories has been recognized by the Romans and other people of antiquity. The Romans had an arms factory of very great extent at Trier in Germany and they appear to have coupled with it a certain type of secrecy because the armourers working there were bound for life. To this end, these armourers would be branded with certain distinguishing marks and the admission into their guild occured with manifold, and partly ridiculous, ceremonies with which the source of those ceremonies and practices of the craftsmen apparently can be found. There are very many types of weapons. One can separate them into two main categories, however, namely the firearms and slashing or stabbing weapons. In a broad sense, the cannons, mortars, all types of crude ordnance are understood to be included among the firearms. However, because we have already dealt with ordnance foundry work in the previous chapter, thus here are only the firearms in a narrow sense, or the text about the small firearms which include rifles, muskets, fowling pieces, and pistols. To the other class of slashing and stabbing weapons belong sabers, broad swords, and other swords, bayonets, daggers, spontoons, halberds HELLEPARDEN, halberds KURZGEWEHR, lances, pikes, and the like. We will mention the most important of each major type. Page 373 The quality of a fire arm comes from very many different particulars. Not only must the best and most malleable iron be taken for it, so that it not only receives no cracks during the boring, but also that it endures the boring without the barrel coming out too thick and consequently too heavy and unwieldy. Nevertheless, the barrel also must not be in danger of blowing up in spite of having a moderate weight. The boring must especially happen with accuracy most of all because and unevenness and flaw inside will make the entire gun incapable of being aimed. The breadth of the muzzle must have an exact relation with the length and thickness of the barrel if a weapon is to shoot well appropriately to its final purpose. There is no doubt that this cannot be conveyed by such certain and indubitable principles as the mathematical theorems themselves are which one must apply here. Only in this perhaps most of the flaws show up in the firearms of the army because those who determine the caliber and structure of the firearms for the army seldom possess the knowledge and insight beyond that necessary so good soldiers want them anyway. In regard to the lock, the quality of a firearm depends principly upon the quality of the spring which is certainly made from the best steel, but must not be hardened to the most extreme degree because it would otherwise would very easily break Page 374 so they must be neith too strong in operation nor, indeed, too flexible and soft. In the same way the frizzen must be worked from the best well hardened steel and not worked coarsely and clumsily. The readiness of a weapon to fulfill its final purpose is attained through the ease with which the cock strikes the frizzen. In this regard, the gun stocker can contribute very much to the perfection of a firearm in that he can join and position all the pieces in such a form that they have their most suitable relation to each other for their final purpose. From this one easily sees that in no country could there occur natural, or otherwise insurmountable, obstacles which would prevent complete and effective weapons from being manufactured therein. Every country, if it merely applies the necessary attention can make perfect malleable iron and the best steel as I have puroclaimed in the preface and have shown sufficiently in the foregoing articles of this section. The nature of the water is no obstacle to this. The water can have no other influence in the manufacture of a good weapon in so far as that it will be needed for the quenching of the steel and the minute quantity which will be needed for that can easily be made by salts and other ingredients skillfully added to it. Those cities and countries page 375 which are famous for their particularly good weapons also have, not only the natural quality of their water, but also the industry, the attention, and ability of their workers to thank, which is encouraged solely by the attention and insight of the directors of such a factory. However, in order for a country to establish the reputation for making beautiful weapons, then it comes not only from the perfection of the weapons of the army and other good common rifles and guns, but also one must trouble himself to manufacture weapons which have complete perfection and external beauty in them which the skillfullness and the wit of other countries have devised. All that the Spanish shot guns FLINTEN particularly possess, that give the locks of Paris, Sedan, and Mastricht a higher value, that has made the enthusiast so covetous of the rifles of various Italian masters, as well as all other external decorations such as the inlaying of silver on the locks and barrels must be duplicated in each weapons factory and new inventions could be added to this if the directors of such factories have regard and peculiar insight in this matter understanding the experience of the skilled minds among their workers and know to encourage such experienced workers. page 376 What the second class entails, concerns namely the slashing and stabbing weapons, thus the manufacture of the same finds no fewer difficulties, because with those of most varieties, as, for example, the spontoons, broadswords, halberds, and bayonets, come from nothing more than good iron and the usual form of the same that can always be copied by mediocre workers. Then most of these weapons will be made merely from iron and, when it comes to high heat, hardened in a good quench water which is nevertheless unnecessary but once for many. The sabers, broadswords, and swords alone provide that the entire piece, or at least their edge be made of steel. Because it is always of great advantage in such side arms that their cutting edge is made of excellent steel so that, in spite of its great hardness nevertheless it is not so brittle as to break as soon as it is driven with force onto a hard substance. This is especially important for the sabers of the cavalry who must perform their principal actions with the sword, and consequently must have the same necessarily in the most practical soundness. Among all sabers to this time unquestionably, the damaskened ones claim the superiority on account of their extraordinary hardness and durabitlity in which they do not have the disadvantageous brittleness with their great hardness with which one can cut through common iron like brass and never fracture when they meet a hard page 377 hard substance with great force. They are particularly recognizable in that they appear like a flame or like waves of water, and, as it were, they appear to be welded together from two different metals; one white and one black, that have not yet completely alloyed with each other. These flames or different veins of metal are not merely on the upper surfaces of the metal, rather they extend throughout the body of the blade and one can grind as deeply thus showing always the two different veins. When there are workers among us who also create this damaskening artificially by means of lime and acid, then this is nothing more than a miserable fraud so that only the upper surface of the blade gives the a genuine appearence and is not durable after all in that the presumed beautiful damskening is lost entirely in a few years. The chief value of the Damascus blades, namely the uncommeon hardness, yet, with that, the lack of all brittleness is not to be met with in these fraudently created blades and thus many of our workers have counterfeited, thus they could not come upon the mark of those armourers at Damascus and other Turkish cities. The famous chemist of steel has lectured on the supposition of the manufacture of the Damascus blades that is not improbable. page 378 He contends that they are manufactured from half steel and half iron in which one has wound the iron and steel together hot and in various manners welded them together. At least, if one ensnares the iron and steel, thus the differing waves and flames result throughout the whole mass of metal tat completes the finshed appearence the damaskening possesses. This conjecture is quite probable. The mixture of iron with steel makes the abscence of brittleness understandable, which is the greatest advantage of the Damascus blades; thus, similarly it is not improbable that the welded in steel can impart some of its hardnews to the combined iron. If the Damaskening worker has only hard water in which to quench his blades, that is more advantageous than the other types that are familiar to us, thus one also comprehends how the great hardness of these blades can arise. Meanwhile, this is all notheing other than a conjecture. The best theory of this type and manner of these and every operation and preparation has very often only failed, when one has finally learned everything with certainty. In the deed, we know nothing positively about the mode and manner in which the Damascus blades are manufactured. This is not the sole point of our ignorance that we must lament in the manufactures, factories, and commercial establishments of the Orient and from their authentic account, page 379 our knowledge as well as our profit would be increased. Because the praise-worthey Dane, Friedrich, at this time has sent a delegation of learned men to the Orient for the gathering of intelligence, it is very much to be hoped that one would have been commissioned to collect and authentic record on account of the many works and products of the Orient and they are allowed to be instructed to this end by a man who knows what in this is yet wanting in our understanding. I very much doubt that it would fall to us hard or impossible to give our sword blades at least an equal hardness without all brittleness and the Damascus blades have. Only the educated think little about such discoveries and our mechanical workers lack a speculative nature. Apparently often the repeated welding in of the steel would contribute very much more towards the loss of brittleness. This is easily comprehended. The nature of steel consists of the frequently burned substance that is introduced into the steel. This new component will be introduced on all sides and set between the iron parts; must in a natural way detrimentally decrease the adherence of the iron parts and brittleness is produced. Only when the steel has been welded into itself often, then one easily sees, that this must promote the restoration of the formen adherence of the components very greatly. page 380 Herr Lauraeus in the Journal of the Royal Swedish Academy of Science holds that this frequent welding together of the steel is advantageous for still another reason, namely because the steel has veins of different varieties and for that reason, when it is drawn out thinly, it is easily bent and throws fractures. Nevertheless, those that look into this chapter will not be vexed to read his word itself with which this chapter will close. " I take four equal bars of steel and weld them together completely without any iron added, allow them to be drawn out to a thumb's thickness, heating them afterward, grasp them on each end with tongs, and wind them around as much as I can; stretch them out again so that they are as thick as they were before, fold them four times together again, weld them a second time, forge them out, wind them again as the first time, and proceed in such a manner a third time as before and then the work is complete, so that they can be used for various edges and cuts and afterwards be forged has need for various things. The reason of the winding is because the steel has veins of different types of which some stretch out, others pull together, from which follows that the steel retracts together on hardening or extends and consequently becomes bent or throws a bulge, which later is difficult or impossible to straighten and can be brought again into the proportion so the veins are parted by the winding round about the malleable so that they are not easily bent in the hardening or so difficult to straighten and restore." Harold // 2:26 PM
