Ornamental Turning Center - Ornamental Turnery Comes of Age

In the nineteenth century, ornamental turnery matured with the innovations perfected by the Holtzapffel family and others. With the production of more than 2000 greatly improved lathes, this was the golden of ornamental turnery.

The Holtzapffel Firm

The beginnings of true ornamental turnery are found in the story of John Jacob Holtzapffel, an Alsatian engineer who settled in London in 1792, while George III was king of England. From the first his main objective seems to have been producing lathes and related tools. In 1795, he delivered the first Holtzapffel lathe to a Mr. Crisp. By the end of 1803, he had made and sold no fewer than 358 lathes.

Prior to Holtzapffel's work, ornamental turnery really did not exist in the technical sense, as most of the ornamentation had to be applied by hand after the piece was plain-turned. Holtzapffel developed the overhead drive, which operates much like the modern dentist's drill. He also designed a myriad of revolving cutters that operate in a slide rest to produce the ornamentation that previously had been done by hand.

In 1804 the firm was expanded to include John George Deyerlein, but the arrangement was not happy, and Deyerlein left the firm in 1827. In the- same year Charles Holtzapffel, John Jacob's son, joined the firm. Charles was a distinguished engineer in his own right, even though he was only twenty-one when he joined the firm. John Jacob Holtzapffel died in 1835. The firm was carried on by Charles, who published his father's first volume of Turning and Mechanical Manipulation in 1843. The second volume was brought out in 1846.

Charles Holtzapffel established himself as a maker of mechanical apparatuses for amateurs and continued his father's work in developing the machinery and various attachments for ornamental turnery, as well inventing other devices. Charles developed machinery for printing banknotes, a tool for cutting rosettes for ornamental turning, a dividing engine for the graduation of drawing scales, and an apparatus for tracing geometrical figures on glass. It was said that he probably never put his hand to a machine that he did not improve in some manner or other. Charles died in 1847 and his widow, Amelia Vaux (Dutton) Holtzapffel, managed the firm until January 1853.

Volume three of Turning and Mechanical Manipulation was published by Amelia from Charles's manuscript in 1850. In 1867 Charles's son, John Jacob Holtzapffel II, became head of the firm and continued his father's efforts with the publication of volume four of the set in 1879, following with volume five in 1884. The set was not complete, however, until a revised and enlarged edition of volume three followed in 1894.

Charles Holtzapffel's nephew, George William Budd, later known as George William Holtzapffel, became head of the firm in 1896. John Jacob Holtzapffel II died in 1897.

The Holtzapffel firm still existed in the early years of the twentieth century, Colonel John George Holtzapffel Budd, son of George William, having joined in 1919. But very few lathes of the sort now beloved by ornamental turners were made after the nineteenth century, and that century is rightly known as the high point of the ornamental-turning lathe.

During the Napoleonic Wars (1793-1815), the Holtzapffel firm delivered 110 lathes to the Royal Arsenal. During the American Civil War, the Confederacy bought a rose engine lathe for engraving its postage stamps, but since it never paid the bill, it is assumed that the ship carrying the lathe never ran the Union blockade.

It is interesting to note some of the prices at which the Holtzapffel lathes were sold at the time of manufacture. The record is very incomplete, such records as are available having been taken from the Register of Lathes 1795 to 1918, MS 9475, in the Guildhall Library, London.

The earl of Harborough was undoubtedly the best customer for Holtzapffel lathes, having bought no fewer than nine during his lifetime. The first was #855, bought in 1812, and the last was #1934 in 1848. Only two of these nine lathes are known to exist today.

Lathe #1972 was ordered in July 1849 for the 1851 Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations. It was a superior lathe in all respects, with much auxiliary apparatus, mounted on a base of beefwood. It was on exhibition until October 11, 1851, when it was sold to Richard, fifth baron of Berwick, who died in 1861. The next owner of record was Major Robert Chadwick of Findhorn, near Forres, Morayshire, who paid £200 for it. It was kept in the Chadwick family for several generations until being presented to the Colchester Museum in Essex.

In 1871 lathe #2287 was sold to Captain W. H. Roberts for £535; in 1891 it was resold to Ellen Ann Willmott for £425:

Mrs Willmott had misgivings about bits and pieces of machinery on the drawing-room tables ruining their surfaces, or perhaps Ellen herself preferred to work in comfort in a room where she could do as she liked, keep everything where she pleased, and above all concentrate without visitors peering over her shoulder as she worked: for it was indeed work which demanded a sure, deft hand and the worker's full attention. So the work-room came into being, and it was always kept locked. Mrs Willmott perhaps reconciled herself to the presence of this machine, and the frequency with which her daughter shut herself up in the work-room, by reading the list of distinguished female turners: as these included Lady Emily Fitzmaurice, Margaret Lady Amherst, the Marchioness of Ormonde, and Baroness Burdett-Coutts, to say nothing of many titled owners going back to Marchioness Townshend, who was the first of the long line in 1798, then perhaps Ellen could have chosen a worse occupation. Mrs. Willmott must also have closed her eyes to the cost of further apparatus ordered by Ellen in December 1892 (or perhaps she had simply given up trying to curb her daughter's extravagance). The description of the Rose Chuck, Rose Engine and Rose Cutting Frames and Patent Automatic Driving Gear and Segment Stop Apparatus (£90) plus packing case and packing (7s 6d) occupied six full pages of Messrs Holtzapffel's ledger, and kept Ellen happy until 1897, when she again launched forth, this time into the purchase of a new pattern balanced Eccentric cutting frame and a further Rosette for use with the Rose Chuck, at a cost of £21 5s.

With this apparatus she produced some extremely attractive turnery, and is said to have made rings out of coins and performed other party tricks, besides the more serious and accomplished work which she produced in ivory and rare hardwoods. The delicate ivory boxes she made were much sought after as wedding presents. She seems to have been extremely neat-fingered and to have possessed an unusually well-developed aptitude for handling machinery. Perhaps her naturally inquiring mind directed her fingers.

In 1853 the Holtzapffel company completed work on lathe #2023 for some now- unknown buyer. For more than 110 years, the lathe was used, probably by a succession of owners, until in 1963 it came into my possession. This lathe is extraordinarily well preserved, of dark mahogany, machined steel, and polished brass. It is one of the few such lathes presently being used to produce ornamentally turned objects of art in rare and exotic woods.

This article was copied from Ornamental Turnery by Frank M. Knox (see the Bibliography for more information). I modified it a bit to read a little better and hypertextize it. The actual book has many very nice illustrations which I didn't reproduce here -- in fact, I deleted references to the figures so you wouldn't go looking for them. They can all be found in the book.


Home What's New Want Ads Articles Search This Site Send Feedback Woodturning OT AAW-Seattle OTI SOT CD Other Sites About This Site	Ornamental Turnery Comes of Age In the nineteenth century, ornamental turnery matured with the innovations perfected by the Holtzapffel family and others. With the production of more than 2000 greatly improved lathes, this was the golden of ornamental turnery. The Holtzapffel Firm The beginnings of true ornamental turnery are found in the story of John Jacob Holtzapffel, an Alsatian engineer who settled in London in 1792, while George III was king of England. From the first his main objective seems to have been producing lathes and related tools. In 1795, he delivered the first Holtzapffel lathe to a Mr. Crisp. By the end of 1803, he had made and sold no fewer than 358 lathes. Prior to Holtzapffel's work, ornamental turnery really did not exist in the technical sense, as most of the ornamentation had to be applied by hand after the piece was plain-turned. Holtzapffel developed the overhead drive, which operates much like the modern dentist's drill. He also designed a myriad of revolving cutters that operate in a slide rest to produce the ornamentation that previously had been done by hand. In 1804 the firm was expanded to include John George Deyerlein, but the arrangement was not happy, and Deyerlein left the firm in 1827. In the- same year Charles Holtzapffel, John Jacob's son, joined the firm. Charles was a distinguished engineer in his own right, even though he was only twenty-one when he joined the firm. John Jacob Holtzapffel died in 1835. The firm was carried on by Charles, who published his father's first volume of Turning and Mechanical Manipulation in 1843. The second volume was brought out in 1846. Charles Holtzapffel established himself as a maker of mechanical apparatuses for amateurs and continued his father's work in developing the machinery and various attachments for ornamental turnery, as well inventing other devices. Charles developed machinery for printing banknotes, a tool for cutting rosettes for ornamental turning, a dividing engine for the graduation of drawing scales, and an apparatus for tracing geometrical figures on glass. It was said that he probably never put his hand to a machine that he did not improve in some manner or other. Charles died in 1847 and his widow, Amelia Vaux (Dutton) Holtzapffel, managed the firm until January 1853. Volume three of Turning and Mechanical Manipulation was published by Amelia from Charles's manuscript in 1850. In 1867 Charles's son, John Jacob Holtzapffel II, became head of the firm and continued his father's efforts with the publication of volume four of the set in 1879, following with volume five in 1884. The set was not complete, however, until a revised and enlarged edition of volume three followed in 1894. Charles Holtzapffel's nephew, George William Budd, later known as George William Holtzapffel, became head of the firm in 1896. John Jacob Holtzapffel II died in 1897. The Holtzapffel firm still existed in the early years of the twentieth century, Colonel John George Holtzapffel Budd, son of George William, having joined in 1919. But very few lathes of the sort now beloved by ornamental turners were made after the nineteenth century, and that century is rightly known as the high point of the ornamental-turning lathe. During the Napoleonic Wars (1793-1815), the Holtzapffel firm delivered 110 lathes to the Royal Arsenal. During the American Civil War, the Confederacy bought a rose engine lathe for engraving its postage stamps, but since it never paid the bill, it is assumed that the ship carrying the lathe never ran the Union blockade. It is interesting to note some of the prices at which the Holtzapffel lathes were sold at the time of manufacture. The record is very incomplete, such records as are available having been taken from the Register of Lathes 1795 to 1918, MS 9475, in the Guildhall Library, London. The earl of Harborough was undoubtedly the best customer for Holtzapffel lathes, having bought no fewer than nine during his lifetime. The first was #855, bought in 1812, and the last was #1934 in 1848. Only two of these nine lathes are known to exist today. Lathe #1972 was ordered in July 1849 for the 1851 Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations. It was a superior lathe in all respects, with much auxiliary apparatus, mounted on a base of beefwood. It was on exhibition until October 11, 1851, when it was sold to Richard, fifth baron of Berwick, who died in 1861. The next owner of record was Major Robert Chadwick of Findhorn, near Forres, Morayshire, who paid £200 for it. It was kept in the Chadwick family for several generations until being presented to the Colchester Museum in Essex. In 1871 lathe #2287 was sold to Captain W. H. Roberts for £535; in 1891 it was resold to Ellen Ann Willmott for £425: Mrs Willmott had misgivings about bits and pieces of machinery on the drawing-room tables ruining their surfaces, or perhaps Ellen herself preferred to work in comfort in a room where she could do as she liked, keep everything where she pleased, and above all concentrate without visitors peering over her shoulder as she worked: for it was indeed work which demanded a sure, deft hand and the worker's full attention. So the work-room came into being, and it was always kept locked. Mrs Willmott perhaps reconciled herself to the presence of this machine, and the frequency with which her daughter shut herself up in the work-room, by reading the list of distinguished female turners: as these included Lady Emily Fitzmaurice, Margaret Lady Amherst, the Marchioness of Ormonde, and Baroness Burdett-Coutts, to say nothing of many titled owners going back to Marchioness Townshend, who was the first of the long line in 1798, then perhaps Ellen could have chosen a worse occupation. Mrs. Willmott must also have closed her eyes to the cost of further apparatus ordered by Ellen in December 1892 (or perhaps she had simply given up trying to curb her daughter's extravagance). The description of the Rose Chuck, Rose Engine and Rose Cutting Frames and Patent Automatic Driving Gear and Segment Stop Apparatus (£90) plus packing case and packing (7s 6d) occupied six full pages of Messrs Holtzapffel's ledger, and kept Ellen happy until 1897, when she again launched forth, this time into the purchase of a new pattern balanced Eccentric cutting frame and a further Rosette for use with the Rose Chuck, at a cost of £21 5s. With this apparatus she produced some extremely attractive turnery, and is said to have made rings out of coins and performed other party tricks, besides the more serious and accomplished work which she produced in ivory and rare hardwoods. The delicate ivory boxes she made were much sought after as wedding presents. She seems to have been extremely neat-fingered and to have possessed an unusually well-developed aptitude for handling machinery. Perhaps her naturally inquiring mind directed her fingers. In 1853 the Holtzapffel company completed work on lathe #2023 for some now- unknown buyer. For more than 110 years, the lathe was used, probably by a succession of owners, until in 1963 it came into my possession. This lathe is extraordinarily well preserved, of dark mahogany, machined steel, and polished brass. It is one of the few such lathes presently being used to produce ornamentally turned objects of art in rare and exotic woods. This article was copied from Ornamental Turnery by Frank M. Knox (see the Bibliography for more information). I modified it a bit to read a little better and hypertextize it. The actual book has many very nice illustrations which I didn't reproduce here -- in fact, I deleted references to the figures so you wouldn't go looking for them. They can all be found in the book.
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