Holtzapffel
Encyclopedia
Holtzapffel & Co. was a tool and lathe
making company in London, founded by German
immigrant, John Jacob Holtzapffel in 1793. The firm specialized in lathes for ornamental turning
, something that was a popular leisure occupation for gentlemen at that time. Many ornamental lathes were bought by the aristocracy, and those made by Holtzapffel & Co. were considered the best.
Between 1785 and 1787, John Jacob Holtzapffel moved from his native Alsace
to live in London
. In 1793 he started an engineer’s tool business and he sold his first lathe on 31 June 1795, for £ 25-4s-10d, an enormous price at the time. All of Holtzapffel’s lathes were numbered and by the time he died in 1835, about 1600 had been sold. The business was located at 64 Charing Cross Road
, London.
John’s son, Charles Holtzapffel (1806–1847) joined the firm in 1827, and continued to run it after his father’s death. He started a five volume series of books entitled Turning and Mechanical Manipulation, containing some 3000 pages, and which came to be regarded as the bible of ornamental turning. The first three volumes were published in 1843, but the final two volumes were completed and published after his death, by his son, John Jacob Holtzapffel (1836–1897). Charles Holtzapffel died in 1847, and his wife Amelia ran the business until 1853. In 1867 Charles and Amelia’s son John Jacob II became head of the firm in 1867. He ran the firm until 1896 and died in 1897. A nephew of Charles, George William Budd, became head of the firm in 1896, but after the end of the nineteenth century, ornamental turning went out of fashion, and sales declined.
Lathe
A lathe is a machine tool which rotates the workpiece on its axis to perform various operations such as cutting, sanding, knurling, drilling, or deformation with tools that are applied to the workpiece to create an object which has symmetry about an axis of rotation.Lathes are used in woodturning,...
making company in London, founded by German
Germans
The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....
immigrant, John Jacob Holtzapffel in 1793. The firm specialized in lathes for ornamental turning
Ornamental turning
Ornamental turning is a type of turning, a craft that involves cutting of a work mounted in a lathe. The work can be made of any material that is suitable for being cut in this way, such as wood, bone, ivory or metal. Plain turning is work executed on a lathe where a transverse section through any...
, something that was a popular leisure occupation for gentlemen at that time. Many ornamental lathes were bought by the aristocracy, and those made by Holtzapffel & Co. were considered the best.
Between 1785 and 1787, John Jacob Holtzapffel moved from his native Alsace
Alsace
Alsace is the fifth-smallest of the 27 regions of France in land area , and the smallest in metropolitan France. It is also the seventh-most densely populated region in France and third most densely populated region in metropolitan France, with ca. 220 inhabitants per km²...
to live in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. In 1793 he started an engineer’s tool business and he sold his first lathe on 31 June 1795, for £ 25-4s-10d, an enormous price at the time. All of Holtzapffel’s lathes were numbered and by the time he died in 1835, about 1600 had been sold. The business was located at 64 Charing Cross Road
Charing Cross Road
Charing Cross Road is a street in central London running immediately north of St Martin-in-the-Fields to St Giles Circus and then becomes Tottenham Court Road...
, London.
John’s son, Charles Holtzapffel (1806–1847) joined the firm in 1827, and continued to run it after his father’s death. He started a five volume series of books entitled Turning and Mechanical Manipulation, containing some 3000 pages, and which came to be regarded as the bible of ornamental turning. The first three volumes were published in 1843, but the final two volumes were completed and published after his death, by his son, John Jacob Holtzapffel (1836–1897). Charles Holtzapffel died in 1847, and his wife Amelia ran the business until 1853. In 1867 Charles and Amelia’s son John Jacob II became head of the firm in 1867. He ran the firm until 1896 and died in 1897. A nephew of Charles, George William Budd, became head of the firm in 1896, but after the end of the nineteenth century, ornamental turning went out of fashion, and sales declined.