Inventarnummer
52/299
Beschreibung
This scribe, also called a 'gauge' came from the donor's wheelwright shop in Great Missenden, Buckinghamshire. It was used as a guide in fixing the spokes to the correct dish in wheel making, and was, judging by its size, probably designed for a front wheel of a wagon.
Physische Beschaffenheit
1 scribe: wood; whalebone
Bestandsgeschichte
MERL 'Catalogue index' card – ‘… // DATE ACQUIRED: // GROUP: // NEGATIVE: // PERIOD: // PLACE OF ORIGIN: // NUMBER: // DESCRIPTION: …‘ The scribe was fixed to the front end of the hub and acted as a guide in fixing the spokes to the correct dish. At the centre end pegged into one of the numerous holes was a thin piece of whalebone, which projected just as far as the front of the spokes would come if they had the right dish. The spokes would have to lean forward a little, and the gauge was set so that this might be attended to in mortising the hub. Before a spoke was actually fixed in, the wheelwight tested the place for it, shutting one eye and glancing down with the other making sure the front edge of the mortise was in line with the whalebone. // K.S.Woods in her book, Rural Crafts of England (Harrap 1949) Page 47, writes that the gauge was known as "a speech", and was pegged into the centre of the hub. This whalebone made a whirring noise by flicking every spoke as the wheel is spinning round to test it for dish. By its size this was probably designed for a front wheel of a wagon. // This scribe has two holes at the bottom and fifteen at the top, and is 1.3 inches wide near the rounded bottom narrowing to one inch at the top. By its size this was probably designed for a front wheel of a wagon. //
Objektbezeichnung
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