The Thrilling Days Of Yesteryear.....again

    No,we are not talking about "A fiery horse with the speed of light, a cloud of dust, and a hearty
Hi-yo, Silver, away", but we will explore the temporal aspect of design tools and artistry. Hopefully,you will get some ideas for your own works from this. Having been a machinist/fabricator for several years, I somewhat gained a familiarity with the drafting and design aspects of the trade.....albeit a now long outdated familiarity! While in trade school,I learned the basics on machine tools(lathes,mills,..etc.) of 1930's-1950's vintage. The automotive tooling company I was employed at used machines mostly from the pre-1980 era,and we worked the tooling in by hand with high spot dyes and hand files...no different than the process had been since before World War 2! Projects were generally overseen by a journeyman machinist with a
number of apprentices working under him with a timeline of up to and sometimes more than 3 months to complete the job. Nowadays,with the advent of technology,the same jobs can be done in a fraction of the time with a minimum number of personnel using computerized multi-axis machining centers. The same has been true of the design departments. During the postbellum Industrial Age years of the 19th and well into the 20th century, manufacturing companies would have large engineering departments employing scores of draftsmen who would sit side by side at their respective tables turning out prints for dies,molds,machines or whatever production parts they were to make. As with the machinery,advancements in Computer Aided Design(CAD) technology would inevitably,though not completely, eliminate the need for manual drafting
equipment and large numbers of men to draw the prints.

                             Fig.1 - An army of designers and draftsmen of the Ediston Boylston
                                        engineering department toiling away....early 1940's



  Since these old fashioned drafting tools have largely fell out of favor with modern designers,those of us in the calligraphy art realm can easily adapt them for our use,especially if you are like me, a stickler for precision of detail...or if you are beginning your journey in the field and are looking for a way to add a new dimension to your works. Some basic layout pieces such as combination curve/hole templates and protractors may be found in local mercantiles in the school supply sections,but the good high quality tools may be found on Ebay. There,you will find a wide array of French curves,round and elliptical hole templates and protractors. Very high quality vintage draftsman compass sets may bought there for a fraction of their original price! Another layout tool no calligraphy artist should be without is the drafting arm machine,a device which clamps to the table and mechanically mimics the movement of the human arm and contains a protracting head with 2 measuring scales,usually graduated in .025" increments. On Ebay,you can find several of these machines very reasonably priced and made by great companies like Vemco and Bruning. Of course,if you are seeking the truly old ones,you can actually find some from the World War 1 era or before made by the Universal Drafting Machine Company.

     Fig.2 - Vintage set of drafting layout tools including: circle and elliptical hole templates,protractors,
            30-60-90 degree triangle,French curves. Sets like these and bigger all available on Ebay for very                   low prices.                        

                                   Fig.3 - Vintage high quality compass set,German made.

                                                            Fig.3 - Drafting machines
                   Vemco brand of 1970's vintage on the left,and a Universal Drafting Machine Co.
                    model from circa 1910 on the right.

                                           Fig.4 - Layout for Ten Commandments piece.
                        Laying out this piece utilised nearly all the tools from the above pictures(Figs.1-3),
                         especially the drafting machine and French curve...note the layout lines.



  If you haven't tried any of the tools pictured here before,and are doing pieces by free hand, I highly recommend all of them! They will open the door to a whole new level of precise and complex layouts and experimentation that freehand and simple rulers can not readily or easily achieve. So if you are looking for the "right tool(s) for the job",as the old adage goes,hopefully this will give you an idea of what is available out there to expand your artistic toolbox and your creativeness as well. Remember,go to Ebay and search for "vintage drafting tools"....you will be glad you did. Good luck!