The workshop where William Herschel ground his mirrors and built his telescopes has been reconstructed as it might have appeared when the astronomer lived there. Replicas of his furnace and mirror ...

This experiment recreates Leonardo da Vinci’s treadle lathe to test how early engineers improved rotational power for machining. Unlike the traditional spring-driven pole lathe, which reciprocates and ...

[Chris] found inspiration in an antique flywheel he found. He decided he was going to construct something with it and began rounding up parts. The flywheel, along with some old sewing machine parts ...

Before the late 18th century, machine parts were made by hand, and no two were alike. For instance, a bolt was manufactured on a treadle-powered lathe by a workman holding a cutting instrument and ...