Our previous post made mention of the Mechanics' Magazine,
Museum, Register, Journal and Gazette (1823-55). Carrying the motto "knowledge is
power" the Mechanics' Magazine was the first of many low cost, weekly
publications aimed at a new readership – the largely self educated artisans who
were charged with the operation, maintenance and especially improvement of the
machines on which the industrial revolution relied. These magazines became a
clearing house for patents, ideas, speculations and enquiries, and were to a considerable
extent written by their readers.
Most issues featured illustrations, labelled diagrams or
sketches produced from simple woodcuts, usually on the title page. Inside the
issue the "inventor" contributed a detailed description of their
machine, prototype or idea.
Below is a small selection of illustrations from the 1820s
and '30s, taken from the covers of the Mechanics' Magazine and other similar pioneering
journals in our collection. As with all of our posts, you can view a larger version simply by clicking on the image.
Dredging Machine on the River Clyde, from the Glasgow
Mechanics' Magazine, No XXXIX, 25th September, 1824, p 145
Locomotive
Engine on the Cog-Wheel Principle, from the London Mechanics' Register, No 15,
February 12, 1825, p 225.
New Patent Steam Coach, from the Mechanics' Magazine,
Museum, Register, Journal, and Gazette. No. 112, October 15, 1825, p 433.
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