| Collection |
HM (unaccessioned) General |
| Description |
Large forge bellows. Made of wood and leather with metal rivets and a cast iron nozzle. These very large bellows would have originally been fixed above the forge, they are now fixed to a wooden base. The long handle is used to squeeze the bellows. The long nozzle is fitted with a removable water jacket tip (see image 6) and attached to a metal drum by 1 inch water pipes (see image 7). The drum, presumably, would supply endless quantities of hot water in which to plunge the finished heated item for cooling and in turn probably supplied a larger tank in which to plunge larger items. The water jacket is designed to rest permanently in the fire.
There is a copper label on the wooden top of the bellows bag:
William Alldays Patent
Screw pipe Bellows
No 102
Alldays & Onions Ltd
Sole Makers
Birmingham, England.
There is also a painted pattern with "?___? Medals Each Time of Exhibiting...London 1880" (see images 4 and 5).
It is unknown who first purchased the bellows. The original owner of the business was Tom Maxted, about whom little is known. In 1888 the business was bought by Edward Hart, and his son, Gilbert Hart, joined him in 1907. Mr. Ern Nicholas of Okaramio owned and used them when he became the blacksmith in 1912, and then latterly William McKay until the 1940's, when the business closed up leaving the district without a blacksmith. Some time later Ern Nicholas resumed again until he retired.
There is a very informative article written by Nancy Farnell and published by the Marlborough Historical Society (Past & Present No 5), about the history of these bellows, along with photographs of the owner outside his blacksmith shop in Okaramio (see related).
Placed on Havelock Museum database on 31 December 1999. Officially donated to Havelock Museum on 14 May 2010 by Peter Hart on behalf of the Hart Family.
|
| Object ID |
HM00.800.0003 |
| Object Name |
Bellows |
| Other # |
HM183 |
| People |
Maxted, Tom
Hart, Edward
Hart, Gilbert
Nicholas, Ern
McKay, William
Hart, Alfred
Hart , Peter
Farnell, Nancy Maude |
|
