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That Was the Year That Was – 1979
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Image by brizzle born and bred
1979 For the first time in history in 1979 a woman Margaret Thatcher is elected Prime minister in the UK. As technology becomes smaller Sony released the Walkman a worldwide success costing 0 which at that time was a significant amount of money. Also the first Snowboard is invented in the USA. The bombing by the IRA in England continues with Lord Mountbatten and three others assassinated. Following the return of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini Iran becomes an Islamic Republic and 63 Americans are taken hostage in the American Embassy in Tehran on 4th November.

1979 the Britain Thatcher Inherited

The Conservative Party appointed her as their leader on 11 February 1975. She was the first woman to head a British political party, and went on to become the country’s first female Prime Minister in 1979.

Britain wasn’t a country gagging for modernization in 1979 so much as one in a state of nostalgia-tinged denial: a country still traumatized by the retreat from empire and the loss of its global economic clout, symbolized by its humiliation at the hands of the International Monetary Fund three years earlier. A generation on, and the political and economic debate is still tinged as much by the nostalgia as the modernization.

In the “Winter of Discontent” in 1979, almost half of the hospitals in the U.K. were accepting only emergency patients. Household rubbish collection stopped. Petrol shortages loomed as flying pickets of transport workers blocked refineries. And it was the coldest winter in 20 years to boot.

One of Margaret Thatcher’s first political battles after becoming Prime Minister in 1979 was with the unions and Red Robbo in Birmingham.

The British Leyland era at Longbridge became a byword for wildcat walkouts, union militancy and industrial chaos – and helped clear the path to political power for Margaret Thatcher. Just two years after the arrival of hardliner Michael Edwardes, the diminutive South African car chief who took on Red Robbo and the unions at Longbridge, she was voted in as Britain’s first woman Prime Minister. The former Communist works convenor was drummed out of Longbridge after 38 years in November 1979 – within six months of Thatcher’s ascent to power.

The mood of the country had changed dramatically.

Robinson was sacked by BL for putting his name to a pamphlet that had criticised the BL management. A strike ballot opposing the dismissal was held but was thrown out by an overwhelming 14,000 against to just 600 in favour. It was the end of the road for Red Robbo at Longbridge and a watershed in industrial relations in the West Midlands car industry. Significantly, in her memoirs, Thatcher later described Robinson as a ‘notorious agitator’.

The BBC had once claimed that between 1978 and 1979 Robinson was credited with causing 523 walkouts at British Leyland, costing an estimated £200 million in lost production. The BL-style disruption had spread across the nation, and the so-called Winter of Discontent in 1978-79 saw 29.2 million working days lost, with bodies left unburied following a gravediggers’ strike and uncollected rubbish piled high in the frozen streets, when dustbin workers walked out.

It was in that climate of lingering industrial chaos that Margaret Thatcher came to power the following spring.

In his last newspaper interview at the time of the closure of MG Rover in April 2005, Robinson, who is now in his 80s, told the Mail: “Edwardes wanted to reduce it to a small motor company and closed 13 factories, but he never made a profit. “I grew up with the company, joining as a toolmaker at 14 in 1941 and loved my time, both as an ordinary worker and then convenor. “But when Edwardes took over the writing was on the wall. Shutting plants down was not the way to go.”

He described his Red Robbo tag as a badge of honour.

The backdrop to the industrial climate which saw Sir Michael Edwardes – and his spiritual political leader at Number 10, Mrs T – defeat Red Robbo is described in Gillian Bardsley and Colin Corke’s history of the famous Birmingham car factory, Making Cars at Longbridge. The authors wrote: “The formation of British Leyland in 1968 created the fourth biggest motor manufacturer in the world, a formidable player in terms of jobs, finance and exports, something no Government could afford to ignore.

“BL dominance of the home market evaporated as Ford strengthened and imports grew in volume, including the rapidly improving products of Japan.

“The company changed its name to Rover Group in 1986, officially banishing the last vestiges of British Leyland, though it would prove more difficult than this to wipe these words from the British consciousness. “Margaret Thatcher, the Conservative Prime Minister elected in 1979, would certainly not be fooled by a change of name. Nevertheless in 1988 she sold the Government’s unwanted shareholding in Rover Group to British Aerospace.”

Lord Kumar Bhattacharyya, head of the WMG manufacturing arm of Warwick University, who was an industrial adviser to Mrs Thatcher for much of her period in office, said: “She came to the fore at a time when the perception of Britain as an economic entity was very low.

“I can’t think of anyone else in recent history who was so single-minded in her determination to turn Britain round. Today we are enjoying the fruits of what she put in place. “She gave power to young people and the working class. She ensured that Britain escaped the image of being strike ridden and suffering a lack of competitiveness.”

All had disappeared forever by the time Mrs. Thatcher left the stage in 1990, many of them succeeded by privatized versions of the same companies that have come to be every bit as bitterly resented, for various reasons.

1979

Population: 56.27 million

Gross domestic product: £199.22bn

Average household income per week: £248.96

Average house price: £83,169

Life expectancy: men, 70.33 years; women, 76.41 years

Britain in 1979

The average house cost £13,650, and inflation was 17%. Sony launched a portable cassette player called a Walkman, marketed in the US at 0, and McDonalds introduced Happy Meals. Mother Theresa won the Nobel peace prize, China ordered its citizens to have no more than one child, and smallpox was eliminated.

Britain’s trade unions entered 1979 in a state of deep discontent at Jim Callaghan’s attempt to control soaring inflation by limiting pay. But while graveyards were locked and civic squares piled high with uncollected rubbish, popular culture offered merciful release. Britons watched home-grown favourites Are You Being Served and Last of the Summer Wine, and indulged in the comparative glamour of American imports Dallas and Charlie’s Angels . For most of 1979 they were unable to read the Times, which did not appear for almost a year owing to an industrial dispute.

The Clash released London Calling and Pink Floyd released The Wall, while Off the Wall became Michael Jackson’s breakthrough solo album. 1979 was also the year the performer had what is thought to be his first cosmetic surgery, after breaking his nose while dancing.

The release of the Sugarhill Gang’s Rapper’s Delight in October 1979 was credited with heralding the birth of hip-hop. Sid Vicious died of a heroin overdose while on bail for the murder of his girlfriend Nancy Spungen. Kramer vs Kramer was the year’s top-grossing movie in the US, and Alien and Apocalypse Now were also in the top 10, with The Muppet Movie.

Punk and new wave dominated the music scene, with Ian Dury & The Blockheads’ ‘Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick’ and Blondie’s ‘Heart Of Glass’ two of the year’s first number one singles. Joy Division’s debut album Unknown Pleasures – an aptly dark, brooding picture of despair – was released in June. Amid the gloom, the television schedules were packed with what would become Britain’s most affectionately remembered comedy series. New episodes of Fawlty Towers, Yes, Minister, Terry and June, Minder, and To The Manor Born were all screened throughout the year. The two Hollywood blockbusters Alien and Mad Max proved hits in cinemas, propelling their stars Sigourney Weaver and Mel Gibson into the 1980s A-list.

1979 was a unique year for Top of the Pops, which saw the show record its highest audience of 19 million viewers and in which physical format singles sales hit an all-time high of 79 million. 1979 is maybe the most diverse year ever for acts on Top of the Pops with disco at its peak, new wave, 2 Tone, reggae, rock, folk and electro records all making the top five.

Original interviews with Gary Numan, Nile Rodgers, Woody from Madness, Jah Wobble, Chas and Dave, Janet Kay, Linda Nolan, Jim Dooley, Secret Affair, the Ruts, Legs and Co and many others tell the story of an exceptional year.

In the year that the ‘winter of discontent’ saw continuing strikes black out ITV and TOTP reduced during a technicians strike to a narrator introducing videos, the show also found itself the site of conflict backstage. TOTP’s old guard of 70s MOR acts had their feathers continually ruffled by new wave bands, as the Skids spat at the Nolan Sisters backstage and Generation X urinated off the roof onto the Dooleys.

Elsewhere in the corridors of TV Centre, in preparation for playing their single Death Disco, Public Image Ltd demanded their teeth were blacked out in make-up to appear ugly while Gary Numan remembers the overbearing union presence which prevented TOTP artists moving their own microphones without a union technician and the Musicians Union trying to ban him from the show for his use of synthesizers.

The most popular musical styles of 1979 were 2 Tone, reggae and disco. The latter saw Nile Rodgers, the man of the year, score four hits with Chic as well as writing and producing a further four hits with Sister Sledge, Sheila B Devotion and Sugarhill Gang, who appeared with what would prove to be the first ever rap hit.

Jamaican and UK reggae artists scored continual hits through the year and then watched as the Police notched up three hits with white reggae and the label 2 Tone revived the 60s reggae style known as ska. In November, in what is remembered as the 2 Tone edition, all three of the label’s new acts – Madness, Specials and Selecter – appeared on one historic night and took the show by storm, with Madness capping off their performance of One Step Beyond by leading a ‘nutty train’ conga through the studio.

The Murder of Earl Mountbatten

2015 – The Irish police have been accused of failing to fully investigate IRA terror suspects responsible for the Mountbatten killings in 1979, along with other terror attacks. A Westminster source has made clear his suspicion that the Irish authorities were fully aware of who caused the death of Earl Mountbatten of Burma, the Queen’s cousin. But the source continued that the motivation to investigate past terrorist attacks had dissipated following the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998.

The agreement gave those suspected of attacks an amnesty, the source told the Sunday Telegraph, in a secret deal for peace. The source added that ‘of course’ the Irish knew who had committed the murders, as they were ‘very good at gathering intelligence’ but were not successful when it came to taking the cases to court.

The revelations have emerged in the lead up to the ground-breaking first official visit by the Prince of Wales – the murdered Earl’s great-nephew – to the site of the attack, to be made this week. Prince Charles will visit the scene of the murder in the fishing village Mullaghmore, Co Sligo, as part of a four-day tour of the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.

Only one man has ever been convicted over the Mountbatten killings, the now 67-year-old bomb-maker Thomas McMahon. But as he was 70 miles away in police custody – and therefore unable to detonate the bomb – when the boat was blown up it is clear that at least one accomplice managed to escape justice. A bomb packed with 50lb of explosives was stashed aboard the Earl’s boat, Shadow V, in August 1979.

The bomb was detonated when the boat was about 200 yards from Mullaghmore harbour, as it was being taken out to sea. It is certain that the bomb was detonated by an accomplice keeping watch, and not by an automatic timer, because it was not certain when the group of passengers would board the boat. Two teenage boys were also killed in the explosion, the Earl’s 14-year-old grandson Nicholas Knatchbull and 15-year-old Paul Maxwell, a local boat hand.

The 83-year-old Dowager Lady Brabourne – who was also aboard the boat – died from shock and internal injuries the day after the attack. Mountbatten’s daughter Lady Brabourne and her husband Lord Brabourne were both injured but survived the blast, as did their son Timothy, Nicholas’ twin brother. McMahon served 18 years before being released in 1998 under the Good Friday peace agreement. But a spokesman for the Irish police – known as the Garda – has insisted that the case remains open while urging any members of the public who may have information about the killings to come forward.

Onlookers have insisted that the Westminster sources claims, along with the upcoming visit of Prince Charles, should inspire a renewed urgency within the investigation.

The source insisted that the Garda was in fact aware of names of those suspected of carrying out the Mountbatten bombing, as well as other terror attacks. But he continued that they failed to act on that knowledge as a result of an ‘amnesty’ struck up as a result of the Good Friday Agreement, signed by the British and Irish governments.

IRA suspects received what have become known as ‘comfort’ letters from the British government, it has previously been revealed. The letters reassured suspects who had not yet been prosecuted and were ‘on-the-run’, that they were not being pursued for any specific offence. The ‘comfort’ letter controversy emerged after the trial of John Downey collapsed last year. Downey had been charged with the murder of four soldiers in the Hyde Park bombing in 1982, but had received a ‘comfort’ letter while he was on the run.

The source insisted that as a result of this covert amnesty, the authorities did not pursue those suspected of carrying out these notorious attacks. Although Charles’ visit comes 36 years after the bombing, it is believed that he has wanted to visit the village for some time. The Prince of Wales – accompanied by the Duchess of Cornwall – will arrive on Tuesday, when they fly to Galway for a reception at the city’s university to celebrate the area’s links with Britain.

They will later attend a private dinner hosted by the Irish president, Michael D. Higgins, in Lough Cutra Castle in South Galway. On Wednesday they will attend a service of peace and reconciliation at Drumcliffe church in Sligo.

Car bomb kills Airey Neave

Shadow Northern Ireland Secretary Airey Neave killed by a car bomb as he left the House of Commons car park. The bomb, said to be highly sophisticated, exploded as Mr Neave began driving up the exit ramp shortly before 1500GMT. Emergency services were on the scene in minutes. The 63-year-old Conservative MP, known for his tough line on anti-IRA security, was taken to Westminster Hospital where he died from his injuries. So far two groups, the Provisional IRA and the Irish Natonal Liberation Army, have claimed they carried out the killing.

It is not yet known when the bomb was attached to his car but investigators believe a timing device and trembler – which detonates the bomb through movement – were used to ensure the bomb went off as Mr Neave was leaving the Commons. The area around Parliament Square was immediately closed as police began a full-scale search of the premises. Despite increased threats to the safety of MPs not all cars are checked fully as they enter the car park. Gilbert Kellard, assistant commissioner of the Metropolitan Police said Mr Neave was aware of the dangers and was "happy and content" with his security.

Conservative leader Margaret Thatcher led tributes to Mr Neave saying: "He was one of freedom’s warriors. Courageous, staunch, true. He lived for his beliefs and now he has died for them." Prime Minister James Callaghan said: "No effort will be spared to bring the murderers to justice and to rid the United Kingdom of the scourge of terrorism."

The killing is thought to have been timed to coincide with the start of the election campaign which was announced yesterday. Mr Neave was a close adviser to Mrs Thatcher, he led her campaign to become the Conservative Party leader and headed her private office.

Teacher dies in Southall race riots

A 33-year-old man has died from head injuries after a bloody battle broke out between police and demonstrators in Southall. The fighting began when thousands of protesters gathered to demonstrate against a National Front campaign meeting. The extreme right-wing organisation had chosen Southall Town Hall to hold its St George’s Day election meeting. The area has one of the country’s biggest Asian communities.

Police had sealed off the area, and anti-racism demonstrators trying to make their way to the town hall were blocked. In the confrontation that followed, more than 40 people, including 21 police, were injured, and 300 were arrested. Bricks and bottles were hurled at police, who described the rioting as the most violent they have handled in London. Among the demonstrators was Blair Peach, a New Zealand-born member of the Anti-Nazi League. A teacher for special needs children in east London, he was a committed anti-racism activist.

During an incident in a side street 100 yards from the town hall, he was seriously injured and collapsed, blood running down his face from serious head injuries. He died later in hospital. Witnesses said his injuries were caused by police baton blows. Martin Gerrald, one of the protestors, was nearby Mr Peach at the time. "Mr Peach was hit twice in the head with police truncheons and left unconscious," he said. "The police were wielding truncheons and riot shields. It was a case of the boot just going in – there was no attempt to arrest anybody."

Another witness, 24-year-old Parminder Atwal, took the injured teacher into his house and called an ambulance. He said, "I saw a policeman hit a man on the head as he sat on the pavement. The man tried to get up, fell back and then reeled across the road to my house." The Anti-Nazi League claim Mr Peach bore the brunt of a "brutal" and "excessively violent" police baton charge.

A spokesman for Scotland Yard said it was impossible to comment on the death until a full-scale inquiry had been completed.

Thorpe cleared of murder charges

Former Liberal Party leader Jeremy Thorpe has walked out of the Old Bailey a free man, after a jury cleared him of the attempted murder of Norman Scott.
Mr Thorpe, who resigned as leader in 1976 amid allegations that he had had a homosexual affair with Mr Scott, hailed his acquittal as "a complete vindication".

Mr Thorpe and three other men were charged with conspiracy to murder, after the bungled assassination attempt of Mr Scott on a deserted moor in Southern England.

All were found not guilty. It took the jury 15 hours of deliberation spread over three days to reach its verdict. Mr Thorpe was also acquitted on a charge of inciting one of his co-defendants, David Holmes, to murder Mr Scott.

The trial lasted 31 days but Mr Thorpe’s ordeal began when he was charged last August. Although he was found not guilty, the case has probably ruined Mr Thorpe’s political career. As the verdict was read out he sat motionless. Afterwards he leant over to give his wife a long kiss.

Speaking later he said: "I have always maintained that I was innocent of the charges brought against me and the verdict of the jury, after a prolonged and careful investigation by them, I regard as totally fair and a complete vindication."

He added that he would be taking "a short period of rest" away from the glare of publicity.

Jeremy Thorpe’s political career was indeed ruined by the case.

Mr Thorpe had risen to prominence in 1967 when he became leader of the Liberal Party, but stepped down in 1976 as Norman Scott’s allegations about their relationship surfaced. At the May general election, shortly before the trial began, the voters of north Devon threw him out of the Parliamentary seat he had held for 20 years.

In 1999, two decades after disappearing from public life, Mr Thorpe published his memoirs in which he asserted that he never had any doubt about the acquittal of all the defendants on trial. Not long after the trial, Thorpe was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease and retired from public life. For many years, the disease was at an advanced stage. In 1997 he visited the Liberal Democrat party conference, where he was given a standing ovation, and he attended the funeral of Roy Jenkins in 2003.

In 1999, Thorpe published his memoirs, In My Own Time, describing key episodes in his political life. He did not shed any light on the Norman Scott affair and never made any public statements regarding his sexual orientation.

On 4 December 2014, Thorpe died at his home in London of Parkinson’s disease, aged 85.

David Steel, who succeeded him as party leader, said: "He had a genuine sympathy for the underprivileged – whether in his beloved North Devon where his first campaign was for ‘mains, drains and a little bit of light’ or in Africa, where he was a resolute fighter against apartheid and became a respected friend of people like President Kaunda of Zambia."

1979 The Yorkshire Ripper Murders

4 April – Josephine Whitaker, a 19-year-old bank worker, is murdered in Halifax; police believe that she is the 11th woman to be murdered by the Yorkshire Ripper.

Police found in the wounds of Josephine Whitaker traces of milling oil used in engineering shops. Unfortunately, they also found traces of a similar oil on one of the envelopes from Sunderland sent by a man claiming to be the Ripper, but who turned out to be a hoaxer. This gave the letters an added credibility to the claims contained in them. They also found pinhead traces of metal particles in Josephine Whitaker’s wounds (possibly from when Sutcliffe sharpened the screwdriver into a bradawl). The police thought the killer might be a skilled machine tool-fitter, or an electrical or maintenance engineer, or a skilled or semi-skilled worker with engineering or mechanical connections.

2 September – Police discover a woman’s body in an alleyway near Bradford city centre. The woman, 20-year-old student Barbara Leach, is believed to be the 12th victim of the mysterious Yorkshire Ripper mass murderer.

Barbara Leach’s roommates were concerned when she still had not returned late Sunday night and called the police. The following day at 3:55 pm, while engaged in a police search of the area to find the missing student, Police Constable Simon Greaves found her body where Sutcliffe had hidden it in Back Ash Grove, about 200 yards from where she had left her friends. Her wounds, similar to the wounds received by Josephine Whitaker, clearly indicated to the police that the Yorkshire Ripper had struck again, and as in the previous murder, not in a red-light area.

1979 Timeline

5 January – Lorry drivers go on strike, causing new shortages of heating oil and fresh food.

10 January – Prime Minister James Callaghan returns from an international summit to a Britain in a state of industrial unrest. The Sun newspaper reports his comments with a famous headline: "Crisis? What Crisis?"

15 January – Rail workers begin a 24-hour strike.

22 January – Tens of thousands of public-workers strike in the beginning of what becomes known as the "Winter of Discontent".

1 February – Grave-diggers call off a strike in Liverpool which has delayed dozens of burials.

2 February – Sid Vicious, the former Sex Pistols guitarist, is found dead in New York after apparently suffocating on his own vomit as a result of a heroin overdose. 21-year-old London-born Vicious (real name John Simon Ritchie) is on bail for the second degree murder of his girlfriend Nancy Spungen, who was found stabbed to death in a hotel room on 12 October last year.

9 February – Trevor Francis signs for Nottingham Forest in British football’s first £1 million deal.

12 February – Over 1,000 schools close due to the heating oil shortage caused by the lorry drivers’ strike.

14 February – "Saint Valentine’s Day Concordat" between Trades Union Congress and Government, The Economy, the Government, and Trade Union Responsibilities, marks an end to the "Winter of Discontent".

15 February – Opinion polls show the Conservatives up to 20 points ahead of Labour, whose popularity has slumped due to the Winter of Discontent.

22 February – Saint Lucia becomes independent of the United Kingdom.

1 March – Scottish devolution referendum: Scotland votes by a majority of 77,437 for a Scottish Assembly, which is not implemented due to a condition that at least 40% of the electorate must support the proposal.

Welsh devolution referendum: Wales votes against devolution.

Conservative candidate David Waddington retains the seat for his party in the Clitheroe by-election.

National Health Service workers in the West Midlands threaten to go on strike in their bid to win a nine per cent pay rise.

17 March – Nottingham Forest beat Southampton 3-2 at Wembley Stadium to win the Football League Cup for the second year running.

18 March – An explosion at the Golborne colliery in Golborne, Greater Manchester, kills three men.

22 March – Sir Richard Sykes, ambassador to the Netherlands, is shot dead by a Provisional Irish Republican Army member in The Hague.

28 March – James Callaghan’s government loses a motion of confidence by one vote, forcing a General Election.

29 March – James Callaghan announces that the General Election will be held on 3 May. All of the major opinion polls point towards a Conservative win which would make Margaret Thatcher the first female Prime Minister of Britain.

30 March – Airey Neave, World War Two veteran and Conservative Northern Ireland spokesman, is killed by an Irish National Liberation Army bomb in the House of Commons car park.

31 March – The Royal Navy withdraws from Malta.

April – Statistics show that the economy shrank by 0.8% in the first quarter of the year, largely due to the Winter Of Discontent, sparking fears that Britain could soon be faced with its second recession in four years.

4 April – Josephine Whitaker, a 19-year-old bank worker, is murdered in Halifax; police believe that she is the 11th woman to be murdered by the Yorkshire Ripper.

23 April – Anti-Nazi League protestor Blair Peach is fatally injured after being struck on the head probably by a member of the Metropolitan Police’s Special Patrol Group.

1 May – The London Underground Jubilee line is inaugurated.

4 May – The Conservatives win the General Election by a 43-seat majority and Margaret Thatcher becomes the first female Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Liberal Party leader Jeremy Thorpe is the most notable MP to lose his seat in the election. Despite losing the first General Election he has contested, James Callaghan is expected to stay on as leader of a Labour Party now in opposition after five years in government. Among the new members of parliament is John Major, 36-year-old MP for Huntingdon and Thatcher’s successor.

8 May – Former Liberal Party leader and MP Jeremy Thorpe goes on trial at the Old Bailey charged with attempted murder.

9 May – Liverpool win the Football League First Division title for the 12th time.

12 May – Arsenal defeat Manchester United 3-2 in the FA Cup final at Wembley Stadium, with Alan Sunderland scoring a last gasp winner in response to two United goals inside the last five minutes which had seen the scores level at 2-2.

15 May – Government abolishes the Prices Commission.

21 May – Elton John becomes the first musician from the west to perform live in the Soviet Union.

Conservative MPs back Margaret Thatcher’s proposals to sell off parts of nationalised industries. During the year, the Government will begin to sell its stake in British Petroleum.

24 May – Thorpe Park at Chertsey in Surrey is opened; it becomes one of the top three most popular theme parks in the country.

25 May – Price of milk increases more than 10% to 15 pence a pint.

30 May – Nottingham Forest F.C. defeat Malmö FF, the Swedish football league champions, 1-0 in the European Cup final at Olympiastadion, Munich. The only goal of the game is scored by Trevor Francis.

7 June – European Parliament election, the first direct election to the European Parliament; the turnout in Britain is low at 32%. The Conservatives have the most MEPs at 60, while Labour only have 17. The Liberals gain a 12.6% share of the vote but not a single MEP, while the Scottish National Party, Democratic Unionist Party, Social Democratic and Labour Party and Official Ulster Unionist Party all gain an MEP each.

12 June – The new Conservative government’s first budget sees chancellor Geoffrey Howe cut the standard tax rate by 3p and slashing the top rate from 83% to 60%.

18 June – Neil Kinnock, 37-year-old Labour MP for Islwyn in South Wales, becomes shadow education spokesman.

22 June – Former Liberal Party leader Jeremy Thorpe is cleared in court of the allegations of attempted murder which ruined his career.

5 July – The Queen attends the millennium celebrations of the Isle of Man’s Parliament, Tynwald.

12 July – Kiribati (formerly Gilbert Islands) becomes independent of the United Kingdom.

17 July – The athlete Sebastian Coe sets a record time for running a mile, completing it in 3 minutes 48.95 seconds.

23 July – The government announces £4 billion worth of public spending cuts.

1 August – Following the recent takeover of Chrysler’s European division by French carmaker Peugeot, the historic Talbot marque is revived for the range of cars previously sold in Britain as Chryslers, also taking over from the Simca brand in France.

9 August – A nudist beach is established in Brighton.

10 August–23 October – The entire ITV network in the UK is shut down by a technicians’ strike. But Channel Television remains unaffected.

14 August – A storm in the Irish Sea hits the Fastnet yacht race. Fifteen lives and dozens of yachts are lost.

Disgraced ex-MP John Stonehouse is released from jail after serving four years of his seven-year sentence for faking his own death.

24 August – The Ford Cortina receives a major facelift.

27 August – Lord Mountbatten of Burma, his nephew and a boatboy are assassinated by a Provisional Irish Republican Army bomb while holidaying in the Republic of Ireland, the Dowager Lady Brabourne dying the following day in hospital of injuries received. He was an admiral, statesman and an uncle of The Duke of Edinburgh.

Warrenpoint ambush: eighteen British soldiers killed in Northern Ireland by IRA bombs.

30 August – Two men are arrested in Dublin and charged with the murder of Lord Mountbatten and the three other victims of the bombing.

2 September – Police discover a woman’s body in an alleyway near Bradford city centre. The woman, 20-year-old student Barbara Leach, is believed to be the 12th victim of the mysterious Yorkshire Ripper mass murderer.

5 September – The Queen leads the mourning at the funeral of Lord Mountbatten of Burma.

Manchester City F.C. pay a British club record fee of £1,450,000 for Wolverhampton Wanderers midfielder Steve Daley.

8 September – Wolverhampton Wanderers set a new national transfer record by paying just under £1,500,000 for Aston Villa and Scotland striker Andy Gray.

10 September – British Leyland announces that production of MG cars will finish in the autumn of next year, in a move which will see the Abingdon plant closed.

14 September – The government announces plans to regenerate the London Docklands with housing and commercial developments.

21 September – A Royal Air Force Harrier jet crashes into a house in Wisbech, Cambridgeshire killing two men and a boy.

25 September – Margaret Thatcher opens the new Central Milton Keynes Shopping Centre, the largest indoor shopping centre in Britain, after its final phase is completed six years after development of the huge complex first began.

October – Statistics show a 2.3% contraction in the economy for the third quarter of the year, sparking fresh fears of another recession.

11 October – Godfrey Hounsfield wins the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine jointly with Allan McLeod Cormack "for the development of computer assisted tomography".

23 October – All remaining foreign exchange controls abolished.

27 October – Saint Vincent and the Grenadines gains independence.

28 October – Chairman Hua Guofeng becomes the first Chinese leader to visit Britain.

30 October – Martin Webster of the National Front is found guilty of inciting racial hatred.

November – British Leyland chief executive Michael Edwardes wins the overwhelming backing of more than 100,000 of the carmaker’s employees for his restructuring plans, which over the next few years will result in the closure of several plants and the loss of some 25,000 jobs.

1 November – The government announces £3.5 billion in public spending cuts and an increase in prescription charges.

5 November – The two men accused of murdering Lord Mountbatten and three others go on trial in Dublin.

9 November – Four men are found guilty over the killing of paperboy Carl Bridgewater, who was shot dead at a farmhouse in the Staffordshire countryside 14 months ago. James Robinson and Vincent Hickey receive life sentences with a recommended minimum of 25 years for murder, Michael Hickey (also guilty of murder) receives an indefinite custodial sentence, while Patrick Molloy is guilty of manslaughter and jailed for 12 years.

11 November – Last episode of the first series of the sitcom To the Manor Born on BBC1 receives 23.95 million viewers, the all-time highest figure for a recorded programme in the UK.

13 November – The Times is published for the first time in nearly a year after a dispute between management and unions over staffing levels and new technology.

Miners reject a 20% pay increase and threaten to go on strike until they get their desired pay rise of 65%.

14 November – Vauxhall launches its first-ever front-wheel drive car – the Astra range of hatchbacks and estates – to compete in the growing family hatchback sector. It replaces the traditional rear-wheel drive Viva saloon, which had been produced in three incarnations since 1963. Initial production of the Astra will take place at the Opel factory in West Germany, with production set to be transferred to Britain by 1981.

15 November – Minimum Lending Rate reaches an all-time high of 17%.

Art historian and former Surveyor of the Queen’s Pictures Anthony Blunt’s role as the "fourth man" of the ‘Cambridge Five’ double agents for the Soviet NKVD during World War II is revealed by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in the House of Commons; she gives further details on 21 November.

21 November – Six months after winning the General Election, the Conservatives are five points behind Labour (who have a 45% share of the vote) in an MORI opinion poll.

23 November – In Dublin, Ireland, Irish Republican Army member Thomas McMahon is sentenced to life in prison for the assassination of Lord Mountbatten.

4 December – The Hastie Fire in Hull leads to the deaths of 3 boys and begins the hunt for Bruce George Peter Lee, the UK’s most prolific killer.

7 December – Lord Soames appointed as the transitional governor of Rhodesia to oversee its move to independence.

10 December – William Arthur Lewis wins the Nobel Prize in Economics with Theodore Schultz "for their pioneering research into economic development research with particular consideration of the problems of developing countries".

Daredevil Eddie Kidd performs an 80 ft jump on a motorcycle.

14 December – Doubts are raised over the convictions of the four men in the Carl Bridgewater case after Hubert Vincent Spencer is charged with murdering 70-year-old farmer Hubert Wilkes at a farmhouse less than half a mile away from the one where Carl Bridgewater was murdered.

The Clash release post-punk album London Calling.

20 December – The government publishes the Housing Bill which will give council house tenants the right to buy their homes from the following year. More than 5 million households in the United Kingdom currently occupy council houses.

Inflation rises to 13.4%.

The largest number of working days lost through strike action since 1926.

Dame Josephine Barnes becomes first woman president of the British Medical Association.

The first J D Wetherspoon pub is established by Tim Martin in the London Borough of Haringey.

The band Spandau Ballet begin to play under this name.

Scottish Gaelic service Radio nan Eilean established in Stornoway.

New plant species, Senecio eboracensis, the York groundsel, is discovered.

A record of more than 1.7 million new cars are sold in the United Kingdom this year, with the best selling car, the Ford Cortina, selling more than 190,000 units. Ford Motor Company enjoys the largest share of the new car market, following in second place by British Leyland, the former Chrysler Europe brands (now owned by Peugeot) in third place, and Vauxhall in fourth place. Foreign brands including Datsun, Renault and Volkswagen also prove popular.

1979 in British music

23 February – Dire Straits begin their first American tour, in Boston.

27 March – Eric Clapton marries Patti Boyd, ex-wife of Clapton’s friend George Harrison.

31 March – In the Eurovision Song Contest, UK representatives Black Lace finish 7th.

2 April – Kate Bush begins her first and, to date, her only live tour.

6 April – Rod Stewart marries Alana Hamilton.

1 May – Elton John becomes the first overseas pop music artist to perform in Israel.

2 May – The Who perform their first concert following the death of drummer Keith Moon. The band performed with new drummer Kenney Jones.

11 August – Led Zeppelin play their last ever British concert at Knebworth in Hertfordshire.

21 August – Cliff Richard achieves his tenth UK No.1 and the first for over 11 years.

August – Brotherhood of Man members Martin Lee and Sandra Stevens marry.

26 November – Bill Haley & His Comets perform at the Drury Lane Theatre in London in a command performance for The Queen. This was Haley’s final recorded performance of "Rock Around the Clock".

The Welsh Philharmonia becomes the Orchestra of Welsh National Opera.

Richard Rodney Bennett becomes a resident of New York City.

Arthur Oldham founds the Concertgebouw Orchestra Chorus in Amsterdam.

Number one singles

"Y.M.C.A." – Village People
"Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick" – Ian Dury and the Blockheads
"Heart of Glass" – Blondie
"Tragedy" – Bee Gees
"I Will Survive" – Gloria Gaynor
"Bright Eyes" – Art Garfunkel
"Sunday Girl" – Blondie
"Ring My Bell" – Anita Ward
"Are ‘Friends’ Electric?" – Tubeway Army
"I Don’t Like Mondays" – The Boomtown Rats
"We Don’t Talk Anymore" – Cliff Richard
"Cars" – Gary Numan
"Message in a Bottle" – The Police
"Video Killed the Radio Star" – The Buggles
"One Day at a Time" – Lena Martell
"When You’re in Love with a Beautiful Woman" – Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show
"Walking on the Moon" – The Police
"Another Brick in the Wall Part II" – Pink Floyd

1979 in British television

2 January – BBC2 broadcasts the first in Michael Wood’s groundbreaking history documentary series, In Search of the Dark Ages.

28 January – Thomas & Sarah, a spin-off of Upstairs, Downstairs premieres on LWT. It runs for only one series.

24 March – Tales of the Unexpected, an Anglia Television series based on the short stories of Roald Dahl, makes its debut on ITV.

3 May–4 May – BBC1 and ITV broadcast coverage of the 1979 General Election. The election is won by the Conservatives and sees Margaret Thatcher become the first female Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

6 August – Technicians at Thames Television go on strike following a long-running dispute.

10 August – The whole of the ITV network except the Channel Islands is affected by a technicians’ strike for eleven weeks.

27 August – Lord Mountbatten was murdered by IRA bombers. His death set a record audience for a news bulletin, as 26 million viewers watched the coverage on BBC1.
Strike action at ITN led to the record viewing figures.

2 September – Subtitling of television programmes on Ceefax begins.

25 September – Robin Day presents the first edition of the long-running political debate programme Question Time on BBC1. The programme continues to air to the present day.

24 October – On ITV’s first night back on the air after the strike, Quatermass, the fourth and final serial featuring Professor Bernard Quatermass, begins its run on the network.

11 November – Last episode of the first series of the sitcom To the Manor Born on BBC1 receives 23.95 million viewers, the all-time highest figure for a recorded programme in the UK.

1 December – BBC2 unveils the first computer-generated television presentation symbol in the world. US broadcaster NBC unveils their first computer-generated symbol later that year.

BBC1

18 January – Blankety Blank (1979–1990, BBC1 1997–1999, ITV 2001–2002)
18 February – Antiques Roadshow (1979–present)
9 June – The Paul Daniels Magic Show (1979–1994)
25 September – Question Time (1979–present)
30 September -To the Manor Born (1979–1981, 2007)
Shoestring (1979–1980)
24 October – Terry and June (1979–1987)

BBC2

28 September – Friday Night, Saturday Morning (1979–1982)
16 October – Not the Nine O’Clock News (1979–1982)

ITV

3 January – The Book Tower (1979–1989)
6 January – Dick Turpin (1979–1982)
14 January – Thomas & Sarah (1979)
25 February – Worzel Gummidge (1979–1981)
11 March – Agony (1979–1981)
24 March – Tales of the Unexpected (1979–1985; 1987–1988)
15 April – End of Part One (1979–1980)
10 July – Sapphire & Steel (1979–1982)
12 July – Shelley (1979–1992)
25 September – Once Upon a Time (1979–present)
29 October – Only When I Laugh (1979–1982)
Minder (1979–1994; 2009)

Image from page 803 of “Knight’s American mechanical dictionary : a description of tools, instruments, machines, processes and engineering, history of inventions, general technological vocabulary ; and digest of mechanical appliances in science and the ar
household tooling made in china
Image by Internet Archive Book Images
Identifier: knightsamericanm02knig
Title: Knight’s American mechanical dictionary : a description of tools, instruments, machines, processes and engineering, history of inventions, general technological vocabulary ; and digest of mechanical appliances in science and the arts
Year: 1882 (1880s)
Authors: Knight, Edward H. (Edward Henry), 1824-1883
Subjects: Industrial arts Mechanical engineering
Publisher: Boston : Houghton, Mifflin and Company
Contributing Library: NCSU Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: NCSU Libraries

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Text Appearing Before Image:
See Pillow-block. b. The socket of apivot. An ink orstep. 2. {ShiphuikUng.) Ablock of wood on whichthe inner end of the Pillows.bowsprit rests. 3. (Fabric.) A kind of fustian havingleaved twill. 4. A cushion for the head. The ancient Egjptians used a head-rest for a pillow (6), verysimilar to that now used in China and called a head-stool, orrather by its equivalent in Chinese. It looks uncomfortable,but no doubt was preferred to our kind of pillow in a hot cli-mate. These Egyptian head-rests are mentioned by Porphyry. Theywere maiie of wood or alabaster. They are still used in China,Japan, Abyssinia, Ashantee, and Otaheite. Wood, stone, andearthenware are the modern as they were the ancient materials.They are from 4^ to 10 inches high. Many of them are preserved in the British Museum. One ofwood, 6i inches high, and inscribed with the name and titlesof Mas-khar-hao. Another of arragonite, 6| inches high, witha fluted column, and the name and titles of Atai in front. Fig. 3724. four-

Text Appearing After Image:
a, base. d, pillow. PiUow-Block. b, pedestal.€, cap. c, pedestal-corer. PILLOW-BLOCK. 1705 PIN. Others might be cited. It appears to have been a regular pieceof household furniture. The Egvptians were not ignorant of the use of soft pillows.A cushion with a linen cover and filled with the feathers ofwater-fowl is preserved in the British Museum. Michal, when she sought to save her husband David from thefury of her father Saul, took an image and laid it in the bed,piilo^ving its head upon a bolster of goafs hair covered with acloth Cushions and pillows are common in the East, formed ofsheeps fleeces or goat-skins stuffed with cotton. Pillow-block. (Madiin-ert/.) An iron emdleor bearing to hold the boxes or brasses wliich form ajournal-bearing for a shaft or roller. Pillow-lace. A lace made with bobbins or pirnsu[H)n a pillow. Bobbbi-lac^. It was originally made of silk or tbreid woven into a netwitli hexagonal or octagonal meshes. Afterw.iid, it ivae orna-meated with a thicker taread

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Nice Injection Molding Blog photos

Nice Injection Molding Blog photos

Some cool injection molding blog images:

Home Office – My Desk – Old 2005
injection molding blog
Image by fensterbme
UPDATED: This photo is over five years old and is out-dated. If you are interested in seeing what my half of our office looks like Click Here. I’ve switched almost entirely over to Mac and things are a lot simpler overall.

Old Description of Office as it Was in 2005:
I spend a lot of time here. It’s my half of our home office (my wife has the other half). I work out of my house about 40% of the time, and my wife works out of the house in the evenings and weekends. We both work a good bit… so we are in this room more than any other in our house.

Anyways, my side of our office is filled with tech stuff. I have two large tower cases (one is a server, the other is my desktop), my work laptop, my personal laptop and my Macinotsh G4.

These machines connect to another group of computers in my basement (I have six runs of CAT5e cabling between my 2nd floor office and basement). I run my firewall (Smoothwall), two test linux systems, and another Windows XP machine running next to my music/audio stuff, all out of my basement to avoid the complete geek overrun of the office. In fact soon the server and desktop machines will also move to the basement and into a custom rack enclosure (along with my other mess of boxes downstairs) I will then build another AMD dual core system to be my desktop computer. As my current desktop is headed to be a virtualization server (VMWare) which will act as a test bed /home lab for me.

All the fast stuff connects via gigabit ethernet (Server, Main Desktop, G4 Macintosh, downstairs XP machine and my wife’s HP nc8230 laptop), the other stuff has to stay in the slow lane with fast ethernet connections, or wireless connections if I feel like walking about.

Click here to see a photo of our book case on the other side of the room.

Here is a link to the photo of my real office which isn’t nearly as exciting.

NOTE: This photo made it into Flickr’s ‘Explore" as one of the top five hundred most interesting photos on a particular day. You can see all of my photo’s that have made it into the Flickr Explore pages here.

Nice Plastic Mould Made In China photos

Nice Plastic Mould Made In China photos

A few nice plastic mould made in china images I found:

Image from page 402 of “China : a history of the laws, manners and customs of the people” (1878)
plastic mould made in china
Image by Internet Archive Book Images
Identifier: chinahistoryofla02grayuoft
Title: China : a history of the laws, manners and customs of the people
Year: 1878 (1870s)
Authors: Gray, John Henry, 1828-1890 Gregor, William Gow
Subjects: China — Social life and customs
Publisher: London : Macmillan
Contributing Library: Robarts – University of Toronto
Digitizing Sponsor: MSN

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Text Appearing Before Image:
garded as a proof of a hostile disposition.On passing through the streets, however, the Chinese began tomake remarks, and to call out one to another, Beware ofthat foreigner, he will club some of you I As my friend hada habit of swinging his stick about when walking, the excite-ment increased as we progressed. Eventually a large crowdgathered, and becoming exceedingly angry, attacked us, andforced us to seek refuge in a pottery, whence we were witliditficulty conveyed through back streets to our boat. In various parts of China the manufacture of fiat clay tiles,which resemble flags, is carried on. At Pak-hin-hok, nearCanton, and at other places in the vicinity, these tiles are madein large quantities. The plastic clay of which they are formedis brought to Canton from the neighbouring counties or districtsof Toong-koon and Pun-yu respectively. As rivers and creeksare the highways of Kwang-tung, the clay is conveyed to thetile-yards i)i Pak-liin-hok in boats. It is ])ih^(l up in stacks.

Text Appearing After Image:
xxviii.] TILF:S AND BRICKS. 245 from which it is taken as roquired, and placed on a threshing-floor to be kneaded or tempered by being trodden by the feet.Tiles are made of the clay thus tempered by means of moulds,according to the size and pattern required. The kilns in whichthe tiles are baked are very large, and the process of bakinge>vtends, I believe, over nine or ten days. They are not removed,however, from tlie kihi until the sixtli day after the fire isextinguished. In many parts of this vast empire bricks are now, and forcenturies past have been, made in great numbers. They aremade in the following manner: the surface soil, or encallow, asit is termed by brickmakers, is first removed. The clay is thentempered or kneaded by the feet of buffaloes, which for this pur-pose are led or driven over it by bo}s, backwards and forwardsfor several hours. At the town of You-tou, however, which isnear Woo-see Hien, the clay is trodden Ijy men. In Persia also,I may observe in passing, a

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Cool China Inner Part Mould images

Cool China Inner Part Mould images

Some cool china inner part mould images:

Image from page 166 of “The manufacture of rubber goods : a practical handbook for the use of manufacturers, chemists, and others” (1919)
china inner part mould
Image by Internet Archive Book Images
Identifier: manufactureofrub00heil
Title: The manufacture of rubber goods : a practical handbook for the use of manufacturers, chemists, and others
Year: 1919 (1910s)
Authors: Heil, Adolf Esch, W. (Werner), b. 1878 Lewis, Edward W. (Edward Watkin)
Subjects: Rubber Rubber industry and trade
Publisher: London : C. Griffin & Company
Contributing Library: Claire T. Carney Library, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth
Digitizing Sponsor: Claire T. Carney Library, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth

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Text Appearing Before Image:
ulcanised in French chalk, and subsequently cut to the 1 See also the article , Kombinierte hydraulische Kesselpresse Id theGummi-Zeitung, 1905, vol. xix. p. 1001. MANUFACTURE OF SOFT-RUBBER ARTICLES. 155 proper size by means of an eccentric punch, holes being at thesame time punched in them. The matrix which holds the knifeand the punch can be adjusted to take all sizes. One man canpunch on an average 8000 flat pedals in a day. Curved brake-rubbers with a hard-rubber inner layer are run on the machine inthe two different qualities, joined together by means of solution,cut up into pieces of the proper size, and vulcanised in Frenchchalk. The curved surface is buffed into shape on the lathe, bymeans of a shaped emery-wheel. Complicated rubbers must bemade up and vulcanised in moulds. Solid bicycle-tyres are run on the tube machine and then vulcan-ised in moulds (fig. 70) under the hydraulic vulcanising press, endlesstyres being made in suitable closed moulds, as also are cushion tyres.

Text Appearing After Image:
Fig. 70. Perambulator tyres are also machined, and are then joined up andvulcanised in chalk in the open, or in moulds under the press. 9. Manufacture of Soft-Rubber Surgical Goods, etc.—The manu-facture of air-cushions, water-cushions, mattresses, hot-water bottles,and also of gas-bags, constitutes another department of the industry,to which it is now proposed to direct the readers attention. The three chief factors for success in this branch are: (1) clean,dense mixings, free from grit; (2) calendered sheet of uniformthickness, and fabric closely proofed; (3) careful hand labour. The mixings in most frequent use are white ones. For cushions, e.g., the following mixings may be recommended:— Mozambique . 10,000 gras. China-clay 3,500 gms Sulphur . 1,200 „ Ceresin . 200 „ Zinc white . . 6,500 ,, Magnesia usta. 200 „ The mixing is in part run into lengths of doubled sheet on thecalenders, and made up into cushions with cloth-impression; and in 156 RUBBER MANUFACTURE. part made

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Image from page 131 of “Illustrated catalogue of the remarkable collection of ancient Chinese bronzes, beautiful old porcelains, amber and stone carvings, sumptuous eighteenth century brocades, interesting old paintings on glas and fine old carpets, rugs
china inner part mould
Image by Internet Archive Book Images
Identifier: illustratedcatal00yama
Title: Illustrated catalogue of the remarkable collection of ancient Chinese bronzes, beautiful old porcelains, amber and stone carvings, sumptuous eighteenth century brocades, interesting old paintings on glas and fine old carpets, rugs and furniture, from ancient palaces and temples of China comprising the private collection of a Chinese nobleman of Tien-Tsin
Year: 1914 (1910s)
Authors: Yamanaka & Company Carroll, Dana H
Subjects: Art objects, Chinese Art, Chinese
Publisher: New York, American art association
Contributing Library: New York Public Library
Digitizing Sponsor: MSN

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with acool but rich, luxuriant and brilliant green glaze, with fine andall-pervading crackle, the glaze applied also to the inner part ofthe foot, and in lighter tone covering the interior of the vessels.The color, infrequently met with in the multiplicity of Celestialgreens, is known to the Chinese as watermelon-green. Height, iy^ inches. 234—YRrrERs Brish-hoi.df.r (Cliien-hnig) Cylindrical, in the form of a section of a bamboo tree of smalldiameter and glazed in a delicate yellow-brown or tan color;upper and lower edges finely pricked in imitation of the bamboofiber. Ornamented under the glaze with relief modelings ofShou-lao with attendants and a spotted stag and flying bats. Hrif/ht, 4% inches. 235—MoTTEED Lapis-isi.ie Ovoid Bowi, (Cliien-hing) Exterior and interior covered with a glaze of speckled or mottledlapis-blue, infrequently found. Dkimcler, iY^ inches. 236—Short Bottle-shaped ^.ASE {Kniig-hsi) Witli thickened, protruding, molded lip Covered witli a uniform minutely

Text Appearing After Image:
and low foot. iellia-1crackled. camellia-leaf green glaze HiUjht. 514 Inches. 237—Rose-di-Baery Coupe ( Yung Cheng) Modeled in low form on a short circularfoot, its brief body expanding or bulbousand finishing with a wide mouth. Purewhite, dense, resonant porcelain, investedwith an even, smooth glaze of the meltcd-rose hue with lavender-pink suggestionswhich is known as rosc-du-Barrif. IikiiixIi r. A:% inches. 238—Roiiixs-EGc: Souffle Gallipot (Chicn-liiiig) Bulbous body with full shoulder, thecontour slightly recurving at the foot. Covered with a char-acteristic robins-egg sonfjic glaze, in which the malachite tone predominates. UeKjht. 6/, inches. 239—Irox-rist :Iktai.li(-luster Vase (Chien-hiiig) In inverted-pear sha))e on a narrow foot which a thickened glazemakes slightly bulbous, and having a short neck witli a whiterinL Covered with a glaze in the rusty hue of disintegratingiron, with innumerable metallic fleckings, the rust-brown glazecontinued on the interior of the ne

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Cool China Once Used Mould images

Cool China Once Used Mould images

Check out these china once used mould images:

Image from page 708 of “American cookery” (1914)
china once used mould
Image by Internet Archive Book Images
Identifier: americancookery19unse_4
Title: American cookery
Year: 1914 (1910s)
Authors:
Subjects:
Publisher: New York [etc.] : Whitney Publications [etc.]
Contributing Library: Boston Public Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Boston Public Library

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DISHES THAT MEN LIKE WE are always looking for dishes that will please the masculine taste — dishes which once eaten oftenreappear by special request. In these Perfection Salad and Snow Pudding recipes you willfind such dishes, for they have won universal favor with the men wherever they have been served —and I know they have been favorites in my own home for years. Not only will the masculine members of your family appreciate these dishes, but you will likethem too, because they are easy to make and may be made with syrup in place of sugar, when thatprecious article soars in price or is impossible to get.

Text Appearing After Image:
PERFECTION SALAD 2 cup sugar or Yt cupful of syrup 1 teaspoonful salt 1 cup cabbage, finely shredded Yi cup mild vinegar2 cups boiling water2 cups celery, cut small2 tablespoonfuls lemon juice 14, can sweet red peppers orfresh peppers finely cut 1 envelope KNOX SparklingGelatine Yl cup cold water Soak the gelatine in cold water five minutes; add vinegar, lemon juice, boiling water, sugar and salt; stir until dissolved.Strain and when beginning to set add remaining ingredients. Turn into mold, first dipped in cold water, and chill. Serveon lettuce leaves with mayonnaise dressing, or cut in dice and serve in cases made of red or green peppers; or the mixturemay be shaped in molds lined with pimentoes.In my recipes no special molds are required; — any vegetable, china or glass dish will mold them nicely. NOTE: Use fruits instead of vegetables in the above recipe and you have a delicious fruit salad. SNOW PUDDING Yi envelope KNOX Sparkling Gela- s/i cup sugar or tine % cup of syrup i c

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I use scrap wood. I use anything that doesn’t burn in the wood stove
china once used mould
Image by Jim Surkamp
Pots Thru Time With Joy Bridy – This is local clay dug up from around the foundation of my house and I’m going to process it in this old bath tub, and before I process it, I break it up in little pieces and screen it through some hardware cloth, which helps to get any stones, weeds, detritus out of it. This clay does not have high plasticity which means it is a little harder to work with. plasticity definition: Capable of being formed into a shape or moulded without cracking. It might break and crack as I work with it, but that’s probably what I like about it. It adds character, instead of plasticity. It’s also reddish brown stoneware, not real white like a porcelain and not super iron-rich. It won’t be black sort of an orangish color when it’s fired. It will have some porousness. I fire it to a high enough temperature that it’s useful as functional ware as well as sculptural. This clay is also local clay and I’ll break it up into small marble-size pieces and slake it down in water in which I’ll run my hands through it for about ten or fifteen minutes (per) each bucket to get any rocks and stones and grass out. Then I’ll process this clay – once it’s wet – by drying it out slowly on top of bed sheets in the sun – so it’s a nice working consistancy. After I make the pieces I bisque fire them once. Then I’ll glaze and fire them in my wood kiln. (This is my wood kiln here). This is my wood kiln. I designed and built it five years ago. It’s a very old and traditional style and it’s fueled one hundred per cent with wood. I don’t know what the process would have been in the early eras of Weis pottery – if they would have used wood (They used wood and they used groundhog kilns). Ahh groundhog kilns are the type of kiln that I’m trained in. They tend to be long and flame-like, and very low and in the ground; and they fire for a similar amount of time as this kiln. When I fired this kiln, it fires for three days around the clock and Weis pottery would have done a very similar thing. Once you start a firing, you can’t leave it alone. You have to stay with it the whole time. Pots fill the chamber all the way up to the top, from the side wall, all the way up to the bagwall which you can see on the inside. The flame comes in from the fire box into the ware chamber, brings heat and ash and deposits- ash on the pots – leaves flame markings on the pots – then leaves through the exit flues into the chimney and straight up. My kiln reaches 2400 degrees, which is a high, (for) stoneware temperature. Traditionally, I think, kilns were fired a little cooler, probably 2000-2100 degrees. But wood can reach any temperature you would like depending on your combustion zone, your ware chamber, and your chimney. A fifth generation potter Davis P. Brown observed: “Speaking of firing, lots of people think red’s HOT. Red-hot ain’t even hot; when it’s HOT and you look in them, it’s like looking into the sun.” I use scrap wood. I use anything that doesn’t burn in the wood stove and anything that I would burn in a bonfire. So lots of limbs. The skinny limbs have the most minerals so you get the most interesting deposits and they allow for the most flexibility in gaining heat. And it’s all scrap. (I did some research, Joy, showing the data about the Weis’ pottery operation in 1850. And they reported that they spent seven hundred period dollars for a year’s work and they used six hundred cords of wood and a whole lot of lead. what does that signify to you, as a potter?). Six hundred cords of wood is a lot of wood! For me a cord of wood is eight foot by eight foot by four foot, and in a firing I go through maybe two cords of wood. With the groundhog style kiln, they were very inefficient. So they were stoking wood constantly and a lot of that fuel was leaving the kiln as smoke. Nowadays we know a little more on how to capture that fuel better. “A,” it tells me that we had a lot of wood in this area. Six hundred cords of wood is a huge amount of wood. And “B,” the lead is interesting because a lot of our local clays makes a really wonderful “slip,” that also makes a glaze on the inside of the pot. (A slip?) A slip is like a watered down clay. So a “paint” or a “glaze.” A lot of people use the terms back and forth. It would be what you would glaze with. So if they were using lead, it would be very bad for their health. They probably didn’t live long. and “B” it’s expensive. Even then it was expensive, but it was what people thought they needed to do. Nowadays we know that we can use all these natural things, and the styles that I work in are much more akin to what the Weis potters could have been doing in that I use a lot of local clays. I mix my glazes out of ashes and clay bodies. So I have a very low overhead compared to what they did in that I’m not buying any lead, I’m not buying any expensive colorants that they would have done. My studio is similar to the way they would work in that I have a closed system. My water comes from a rain barrel. I don’t have any running water. My kiln is fired with wood. I don’t fire a gas kiln which a lot of people do nowadays. And my clay is closed-cycle: whatever clay comes into my studio I keep recycling until it turns into pots. And, anything I don’t like I “slip” back down and make clay out of it again, which would have been a practice during their time. So everything stays within the studio. (So in many ways, you’re doing a traditional method that the Weises did, but with greater efficiency). It may have been an aesthetic choice for them in that they chose to do specifically what they were doing. As it is now, I could use a very expensive overhead, using porcelain from China and Europe and using glazes that I buy pre-mixed that have expensive rare earth elements in them. But I prefer the more elementary approach in that I like using clay. I like the variables that come into play with wood firing, and with using ash glazes and with mixing a lot of my own ingredients. This my kiln. This is the firebox of my Bourry box wood kiln. It’s different from a groundhog style in that the groundhog style kilns would have been in the ground. You would have had to crawl to get in them. You would have entered only through the front through a very small opening and had to load everything while on your knees. This is the front. This is the fire box. This is where the fire starts. I load it through the ware chamber door which then gets bricked up with rows of bricks. This side is the firebox where the actual fire occurs, and it starts in the bottom. Once the fire hits about eleven hundred degrees, I can close up this door. (How long does that take Joy?) . It takes a day and a half. Then I can open the side-stoking doors on both sides and start stoking across the top, which allows me to reach a temperature of twenty-four hundred degrees inside the chamber. It’s hotter in the firebox, but that’s the chamber temperature. (What type of design is this called?) This is called a “bourry” box – B-O-U-R-R-Y. It’a an Australian design. What it does – it’s a very efficient, wood-burning kiln because the wood is burning up here and the coal bed is down below. Air comes in. It burns the wood, but then all the smoke and the waste products that would be going up the chimney burn off over the coal bed. So I get what we refer to as a “double burn cycle:” getting heat during the first burn of the wood and extra heat as the smoke and gasses burn off. So it’s very efficient. I get no smoke and no waste product in that way, and I use half as much wood that I would in a kiln of this size without the Bourry box fire. It’s a crossed-dressed kiln because the fire box is here and then everything goes up into the chamber and then back down across from the firebox. It’s more to the flame pattern. Groundhog kilns are often called updraft although they are kind of a hybrid, because if you imagine a flame-shaped kiln it’s also going uphill. So your firebox is down below and you’re stoking the wood, and then the kiln goes up and the chimney’s at the top. So it has a little different pull to it. The chimney is always the engine of the kiln. It’s always what’s pulling the heat and flame through the kiln. This is called “wedging” the clay and what it does is it increases plasticity, which means that as you’re working with it, it will stretch a little easier. It also removes air bubbles and makes it smoother to work with in general. Every piece I make has to go across the wedging board. (This is the process they would do back in the 1800s?). This is as old as it gets: with a heavy round wheel at the bottom and a small light round wheel at the top. It’s been done in every culture across the globe. My rims are probably thin compared to theirs (Weises), because I’m used to a more contemporary look and feel. Theirs probably would have been a little beefier, easier to grab, easier to use. (Somebody made the comment that they were like the fiesta ware of their period) um-hm. Yeh. That’s all they had. And they’re all remarkably similar no matter where you go, especially in the Appalachian foothills. If you did/do the kick wheel, you can’t be in a hurry. This would have been a relative of a classic crock form, which would have been useful in every kitchen across the county during the years the Weis family was in operation. It would have been their bread and butter literally. And their tools would have been extremely similar: a wooden stick, some kind of sponge. Something with a point just in case. And for decoration: a fingernail; everybody would have their decoration around here (side of crock), seems to have been some fingernail marks. We can do another one on the electric. This is starting to center the clay on the wheelhead, and before I can actually make the piece, the clay has to be in the center of the wheel completely. These are all different techniques that help make that happen. This is called wedging on the wheel, where I squeeze it up and then lean it back down, and it also helps to align the particles. I have a modern-day wheel here. This is an electric wheel, which is silent, which is really nice. I center the clay if it comes closer to the starting shape that I want. And the first thing that I do to actually throw the pot is called “opening.” I sink my thumbs into the middle and start to create the “inside” versus the “outside.” Now I’m setting the bottom. Without compressing the clay, you end up getting cracks and flaws in the bottom. Using the pressure of my fingers against the wheelhead, compressing the clay between the two makes for a strong, useful pot. Next, I’ll actually pull up the walls of the vessel. This is the part that looks fun – and IS fun. As the pot gets closer to the form that I want, I fine-tune it with different tools. All of them could have been used in any era. This a wooden rib, and, again, it compresses the clay particles. What I’m looking for is a wall that’s even – thin, but not too thin. I want it to be sturdy when it’s used, but not too heavy. So I dance in between thin versus sturdy. At this point where the wall feels good, that I start to think about the form. I find one of the most important parts is the rim. It has to look good, but it also has to be compressed, because it is very common to bang it on a kitchen sink and it would chip if it wasn’t compressed very well. So it’s important to spend a little extra time, making sure that functional pots actually work. (Is that maybe why the Weises had kind of a strong lip?) Yes. A little extra clay at the foot, because that’s also a spot. I’m lucky enough to come out of the tradition of functional pottery throughout history, when I was in Pennsylvania I used to visit the groundhog kiln sites there. What became of the Wise family? Wrote Mary Bedinger Mitchell of her early years in Shepherdstown in the 1850s: “The town was thriving. There was a brick kiln and a very interesting primitive manufactory of the glazed crocks or earthen pots so much in use. It was carried on by an old man in the old house and had quite a medieval flavor.” After the Weis men would dig up and load the low-plasticity, red-burning clay on the outer bend in the Potomac nearby, they would bring it by wagon back to their worksite. To children like Mary the clay mill “was of absorbing interest, and they hoped for a ride on the long wooden shaft or tongue, to which the gentle horse was hitched along going round and round in a prescribed circle, as it patiently ground the clay into a fine smooth powder. A stone burr working on the same principle as a flour mill did the work. Time progressed and tastes changed in favor of the blue glazed crocks and jugs and the Weis manufactory went into a long, slow decline through the rest of the 19th century, the family finally selling their home to George Beltzhoover. Ever faithful at St. Peter’s Lutheran Church, William Weis’ burial site was graced with a stunning urn – so stunning that vandals threatened it. So, today the urn and Weis’ pots bear witness on a secure shelf at St. Peters, just as others bear witness at the Shepherdstown Historic museum, The County Visitors Center, the Jefferson County Museum, and there is the effort to preserve their memory by Pam and Ren Parziale. To this their traditional skills are also kept fresh by Joy Bridy in her modern pottery, but also keeping the ways of the Weises close at hand, literally.

Thanks to Joy Bridy at joybridy.com

Made possible with the generous, community-minded support of American Public University System (apus.edu)

Researched, written, produced by Jim Surkamp.

Primary References:

Weis Pots courtesy St. Peter’s Lutheran Church, Shepherdstown, WV; Jefferson County Museum, Charles Town, WV; and Historic Shepherdstown Museum.
wikiclay.com
heat-work.blogspot.com
ceramica.wikia.com
wvculture.org
wikipedia.org
nlm.nih.gov
studiopottery.com
wvgeohistory.org

Barber, E. A. (1893). “The Pottery and Porcelain of the United States.” New York, NY: G.P. Putnam’s & Sons.

Bourry, Emile; Wilton P. Rix. (1901). ”Treatise on Ceramic Industries: A Complete Manual for Pottery, Tile and Brick Works.” London, UK: Scott & Greenwood & Co.

POTTERY-EARTHENWARE-KILN-TOOLS
Encyclopédie, ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers (Encyclopaedia, or a Systematic Dictionary of the Sciences, Arts, and Crafts). 1751. edited by Denis Diderot and Jean le Rond d’Alembert Paris, Fr: André le Breton, publisher.

Kenamond, A. D. (1963). “Prominent Men of Shepherdstown, 1762-1962.” Charles Town, WV: Jefferson County Historical Society.

Mitchell, Mary B. “Memories.” edited by Nina Mitchell. Shepherd University Library.

Moler, Mrs. M. S. R.(1940). “George Weis and His Pottery.” Magazine of the Jefferson County Historical Society Vol. 6. pp.16-17.

Morton, Clyde D. (1987). “The Weis Pottery and the Genealogy of the Potters.” Magazine of the Jefferson County Historical Society Vol. 52. pp. 48-55.

Parziale, Reynolds and Pamela. (1981). “Pottery in the 1800s. The Weis Pottery, Shepherdstown, West Virginia.” Magazine of the Jefferson County Historical Society Vol. 47. pp. 23-29.

Rice, A. H.; John Baer Stoudt. (1929). “The Shenandoah Pottery.” Strasburg, VA: Shenandoah Publishing House, Inc.

Sanderson, Robert; Coll Monigue. (2000). “Wood-fired Ceramics: Contemporary Practices.” Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press. pp. 10-14.

Sweezy, Nancy. (1994). “Raised in Clay: The Southern Pottery Tradition.” Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press.

Timbrell, John. (2005). “The Poison Paradox: Chemicals as Friends and Foes.” Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. Print.

Weaver, Emma. (1967). “Artisans of the Appalachians.” Photos by Edward L. Dupuy. Asheville, North Carolina: Miller Printing Co.

1860 U.S. Federal Census – Population – National Archive and Records Administration (NARA).

William Weis’ burial site was graced with a stunning urn
china once used mould
Image by Jim Surkamp
Pots Thru Time With Joy Bridy – This is local clay dug up from around the foundation of my house and I’m going to process it in this old bath tub, and before I process it, I break it up in little pieces and screen it through some hardware cloth, which helps to get any stones, weeds, detritus out of it. This clay does not have high plasticity which means it is a little harder to work with. plasticity definition: Capable of being formed into a shape or moulded without cracking. It might break and crack as I work with it, but that’s probably what I like about it. It adds character, instead of plasticity. It’s also reddish brown stoneware, not real white like a porcelain and not super iron-rich. It won’t be black sort of an orangish color when it’s fired. It will have some porousness. I fire it to a high enough temperature that it’s useful as functional ware as well as sculptural. This clay is also local clay and I’ll break it up into small marble-size pieces and slake it down in water in which I’ll run my hands through it for about ten or fifteen minutes (per) each bucket to get any rocks and stones and grass out. Then I’ll process this clay – once it’s wet – by drying it out slowly on top of bed sheets in the sun – so it’s a nice working consistancy. After I make the pieces I bisque fire them once. Then I’ll glaze and fire them in my wood kiln. (This is my wood kiln here). This is my wood kiln. I designed and built it five years ago. It’s a very old and traditional style and it’s fueled one hundred per cent with wood. I don’t know what the process would have been in the early eras of Weis pottery – if they would have used wood (They used wood and they used groundhog kilns). Ahh groundhog kilns are the type of kiln that I’m trained in. They tend to be long and flame-like, and very low and in the ground; and they fire for a similar amount of time as this kiln. When I fired this kiln, it fires for three days around the clock and Weis pottery would have done a very similar thing. Once you start a firing, you can’t leave it alone. You have to stay with it the whole time. Pots fill the chamber all the way up to the top, from the side wall, all the way up to the bagwall which you can see on the inside. The flame comes in from the fire box into the ware chamber, brings heat and ash and deposits- ash on the pots – leaves flame markings on the pots – then leaves through the exit flues into the chimney and straight up. My kiln reaches 2400 degrees, which is a high, (for) stoneware temperature. Traditionally, I think, kilns were fired a little cooler, probably 2000-2100 degrees. But wood can reach any temperature you would like depending on your combustion zone, your ware chamber, and your chimney. A fifth generation potter Davis P. Brown observed: “Speaking of firing, lots of people think red’s HOT. Red-hot ain’t even hot; when it’s HOT and you look in them, it’s like looking into the sun.” I use scrap wood. I use anything that doesn’t burn in the wood stove and anything that I would burn in a bonfire. So lots of limbs. The skinny limbs have the most minerals so you get the most interesting deposits and they allow for the most flexibility in gaining heat. And it’s all scrap. (I did some research, Joy, showing the data about the Weis’ pottery operation in 1850. And they reported that they spent seven hundred period dollars for a year’s work and they used six hundred cords of wood and a whole lot of lead. what does that signify to you, as a potter?). Six hundred cords of wood is a lot of wood! For me a cord of wood is eight foot by eight foot by four foot, and in a firing I go through maybe two cords of wood. With the groundhog style kiln, they were very inefficient. So they were stoking wood constantly and a lot of that fuel was leaving the kiln as smoke. Nowadays we know a little more on how to capture that fuel better. “A,” it tells me that we had a lot of wood in this area. Six hundred cords of wood is a huge amount of wood. And “B,” the lead is interesting because a lot of our local clays makes a really wonderful “slip,” that also makes a glaze on the inside of the pot. (A slip?) A slip is like a watered down clay. So a “paint” or a “glaze.” A lot of people use the terms back and forth. It would be what you would glaze with. So if they were using lead, it would be very bad for their health. They probably didn’t live long. and “B” it’s expensive. Even then it was expensive, but it was what people thought they needed to do. Nowadays we know that we can use all these natural things, and the styles that I work in are much more akin to what the Weis potters could have been doing in that I use a lot of local clays. I mix my glazes out of ashes and clay bodies. So I have a very low overhead compared to what they did in that I’m not buying any lead, I’m not buying any expensive colorants that they would have done. My studio is similar to the way they would work in that I have a closed system. My water comes from a rain barrel. I don’t have any running water. My kiln is fired with wood. I don’t fire a gas kiln which a lot of people do nowadays. And my clay is closed-cycle: whatever clay comes into my studio I keep recycling until it turns into pots. And, anything I don’t like I “slip” back down and make clay out of it again, which would have been a practice during their time. So everything stays within the studio. (So in many ways, you’re doing a traditional method that the Weises did, but with greater efficiency). It may have been an aesthetic choice for them in that they chose to do specifically what they were doing. As it is now, I could use a very expensive overhead, using porcelain from China and Europe and using glazes that I buy pre-mixed that have expensive rare earth elements in them. But I prefer the more elementary approach in that I like using clay. I like the variables that come into play with wood firing, and with using ash glazes and with mixing a lot of my own ingredients. This my kiln. This is the firebox of my Bourry box wood kiln. It’s different from a groundhog style in that the groundhog style kilns would have been in the ground. You would have had to crawl to get in them. You would have entered only through the front through a very small opening and had to load everything while on your knees. This is the front. This is the fire box. This is where the fire starts. I load it through the ware chamber door which then gets bricked up with rows of bricks. This side is the firebox where the actual fire occurs, and it starts in the bottom. Once the fire hits about eleven hundred degrees, I can close up this door. (How long does that take Joy?) . It takes a day and a half. Then I can open the side-stoking doors on both sides and start stoking across the top, which allows me to reach a temperature of twenty-four hundred degrees inside the chamber. It’s hotter in the firebox, but that’s the chamber temperature. (What type of design is this called?) This is called a “bourry” box – B-O-U-R-R-Y. It’a an Australian design. What it does – it’s a very efficient, wood-burning kiln because the wood is burning up here and the coal bed is down below. Air comes in. It burns the wood, but then all the smoke and the waste products that would be going up the chimney burn off over the coal bed. So I get what we refer to as a “double burn cycle:” getting heat during the first burn of the wood and extra heat as the smoke and gasses burn off. So it’s very efficient. I get no smoke and no waste product in that way, and I use half as much wood that I would in a kiln of this size without the Bourry box fire. It’s a crossed-dressed kiln because the fire box is here and then everything goes up into the chamber and then back down across from the firebox. It’s more to the flame pattern. Groundhog kilns are often called updraft although they are kind of a hybrid, because if you imagine a flame-shaped kiln it’s also going uphill. So your firebox is down below and you’re stoking the wood, and then the kiln goes up and the chimney’s at the top. So it has a little different pull to it. The chimney is always the engine of the kiln. It’s always what’s pulling the heat and flame through the kiln. This is called “wedging” the clay and what it does is it increases plasticity, which means that as you’re working with it, it will stretch a little easier. It also removes air bubbles and makes it smoother to work with in general. Every piece I make has to go across the wedging board. (This is the process they would do back in the 1800s?). This is as old as it gets: with a heavy round wheel at the bottom and a small light round wheel at the top. It’s been done in every culture across the globe. My rims are probably thin compared to theirs (Weises), because I’m used to a more contemporary look and feel. Theirs probably would have been a little beefier, easier to grab, easier to use. (Somebody made the comment that they were like the fiesta ware of their period) um-hm. Yeh. That’s all they had. And they’re all remarkably similar no matter where you go, especially in the Appalachian foothills. If you did/do the kick wheel, you can’t be in a hurry. This would have been a relative of a classic crock form, which would have been useful in every kitchen across the county during the years the Weis family was in operation. It would have been their bread and butter literally. And their tools would have been extremely similar: a wooden stick, some kind of sponge. Something with a point just in case. And for decoration: a fingernail; everybody would have their decoration around here (side of crock), seems to have been some fingernail marks. We can do another one on the electric. This is starting to center the clay on the wheelhead, and before I can actually make the piece, the clay has to be in the center of the wheel completely. These are all different techniques that help make that happen. This is called wedging on the wheel, where I squeeze it up and then lean it back down, and it also helps to align the particles. I have a modern-day wheel here. This is an electric wheel, which is silent, which is really nice. I center the clay if it comes closer to the starting shape that I want. And the first thing that I do to actually throw the pot is called “opening.” I sink my thumbs into the middle and start to create the “inside” versus the “outside.” Now I’m setting the bottom. Without compressing the clay, you end up getting cracks and flaws in the bottom. Using the pressure of my fingers against the wheelhead, compressing the clay between the two makes for a strong, useful pot. Next, I’ll actually pull up the walls of the vessel. This is the part that looks fun – and IS fun. As the pot gets closer to the form that I want, I fine-tune it with different tools. All of them could have been used in any era. This a wooden rib, and, again, it compresses the clay particles. What I’m looking for is a wall that’s even – thin, but not too thin. I want it to be sturdy when it’s used, but not too heavy. So I dance in between thin versus sturdy. At this point where the wall feels good, that I start to think about the form. I find one of the most important parts is the rim. It has to look good, but it also has to be compressed, because it is very common to bang it on a kitchen sink and it would chip if it wasn’t compressed very well. So it’s important to spend a little extra time, making sure that functional pots actually work. (Is that maybe why the Weises had kind of a strong lip?) Yes. A little extra clay at the foot, because that’s also a spot. I’m lucky enough to come out of the tradition of functional pottery throughout history, when I was in Pennsylvania I used to visit the groundhog kiln sites there. What became of the Wise family? Wrote Mary Bedinger Mitchell of her early years in Shepherdstown in the 1850s: “The town was thriving. There was a brick kiln and a very interesting primitive manufactory of the glazed crocks or earthen pots so much in use. It was carried on by an old man in the old house and had quite a medieval flavor.” After the Weis men would dig up and load the low-plasticity, red-burning clay on the outer bend in the Potomac nearby, they would bring it by wagon back to their worksite. To children like Mary the clay mill “was of absorbing interest, and they hoped for a ride on the long wooden shaft or tongue, to which the gentle horse was hitched along going round and round in a prescribed circle, as it patiently ground the clay into a fine smooth powder. A stone burr working on the same principle as a flour mill did the work. Time progressed and tastes changed in favor of the blue glazed crocks and jugs and the Weis manufactory went into a long, slow decline through the rest of the 19th century, the family finally selling their home to George Beltzhoover. Ever faithful at St. Peter’s Lutheran Church, William Weis’ burial site was graced with a stunning urn – so stunning that vandals threatened it. So, today the urn and Weis’ pots bear witness on a secure shelf at St. Peters, just as others bear witness at the Shepherdstown Historic museum, The County Visitors Center, the Jefferson County Museum, and there is the effort to preserve their memory by Pam and Ren Parziale. To this their traditional skills are also kept fresh by Joy Bridy in her modern pottery, but also keeping the ways of the Weises close at hand, literally.

Thanks to Joy Bridy at joybridy.com

Made possible with the generous, community-minded support of American Public University System (apus.edu)

Researched, written, produced by Jim Surkamp.

Primary References:

Weis Pots courtesy St. Peter’s Lutheran Church, Shepherdstown, WV; Jefferson County Museum, Charles Town, WV; and Historic Shepherdstown Museum.
wikiclay.com
heat-work.blogspot.com
ceramica.wikia.com
wvculture.org
wikipedia.org
nlm.nih.gov
studiopottery.com
wvgeohistory.org

Barber, E. A. (1893). “The Pottery and Porcelain of the United States.” New York, NY: G.P. Putnam’s & Sons.

Bourry, Emile; Wilton P. Rix. (1901). ”Treatise on Ceramic Industries: A Complete Manual for Pottery, Tile and Brick Works.” London, UK: Scott & Greenwood & Co.

POTTERY-EARTHENWARE-KILN-TOOLS
Encyclopédie, ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers (Encyclopaedia, or a Systematic Dictionary of the Sciences, Arts, and Crafts). 1751. edited by Denis Diderot and Jean le Rond d’Alembert Paris, Fr: André le Breton, publisher.

Kenamond, A. D. (1963). “Prominent Men of Shepherdstown, 1762-1962.” Charles Town, WV: Jefferson County Historical Society.

Mitchell, Mary B. “Memories.” edited by Nina Mitchell. Shepherd University Library.

Moler, Mrs. M. S. R.(1940). “George Weis and His Pottery.” Magazine of the Jefferson County Historical Society Vol. 6. pp.16-17.

Morton, Clyde D. (1987). “The Weis Pottery and the Genealogy of the Potters.” Magazine of the Jefferson County Historical Society Vol. 52. pp. 48-55.

Parziale, Reynolds and Pamela. (1981). “Pottery in the 1800s. The Weis Pottery, Shepherdstown, West Virginia.” Magazine of the Jefferson County Historical Society Vol. 47. pp. 23-29.

Rice, A. H.; John Baer Stoudt. (1929). “The Shenandoah Pottery.” Strasburg, VA: Shenandoah Publishing House, Inc.

Sanderson, Robert; Coll Monigue. (2000). “Wood-fired Ceramics: Contemporary Practices.” Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press. pp. 10-14.

Sweezy, Nancy. (1994). “Raised in Clay: The Southern Pottery Tradition.” Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press.

Timbrell, John. (2005). “The Poison Paradox: Chemicals as Friends and Foes.” Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. Print.

Weaver, Emma. (1967). “Artisans of the Appalachians.” Photos by Edward L. Dupuy. Asheville, North Carolina: Miller Printing Co.

1860 U.S. Federal Census – Population – National Archive and Records Administration (NARA).