English, third quarter 19th Century, signed in script to the top of the tailstock 'Joseph Whitworth & Co Limited, Manchester' on heavy cast iron bed, with large brass spoked micrometer wheel, rest and tailstock, 69cm long

Footnotes: Sir Joseph Whitworth, 1st Baronet (1803 - 1887) was an English engineer, entrepreneur, inventor, and philanthropist, many of Whitworths inventions represent important developments in the evolution of machine tools, perhaps most famous for introducing the standardisation of screwthreads he was also the first engineer to make truly plane surfaces in metal.

At the great exhibition in 1851Whitworth emerged as the foremost manufacturer of machine tools in Great Britain.

Very few tools exist that bear the name of the company, most of these are now in museums with few coming up for sale at auction

Provenance:
From the sale of the Property of The British Engineerium, Hove, Brighton.