Pottery wheels: fixed, hand and foot.
The plastic properties of clay have been known to man since ancient times. She was easily crumpled and, under skillful hands, quickly took on a form that was very difficult or even impossible to give to other known materials. At the same time, it was discovered that after firing them in fire, clay products surprisingly change their properties - they acquire stone hardness, water resistance and fire resistance. All this made clay the most convenient raw material for making dishes and kitchen utensils.
Like all crafts, ceramics technology has come a long and difficult way. Thousands of years have been spent on studying the advantages and disadvantages of various clays. Of the many types of them, the ancient masters learned to choose those that were distinguished by the greatest plasticity, coherence and moisture capacity. Various additives were added to the clay mass to improve the quality of products (for example, coarse or fine sand). At the same time, ancient potters mastered various methods of modeling. It was not easy to give a piece of raw clay the shape of a jug, or at least a simple pot. Usually, the potter, taking a lump of clay, by squeezing out its middle part and carefully squeezing the sides, sculpted the bottom. Then the master began to stick rolled out strips of clay to the edge of the bottom, and so he gradually got the walls. In the end, a crude vessel came out, suitable after being burned at the stake for cooking food in it.
An important step in the development of pottery was the development of the technique of rotation. In this case, the master stuck a piece of clay to the finished bottom and, rotating the bottom with his left hand, circled the piece in a spiral with his right, gradually sculpting the edges of the pot. With this method, the product came out more even. Later, for the convenience of work, a wooden disk was placed under the workpiece. Then they came to the idea that the modeling process would be greatly simplified if this disk was made to rotate along with the workpiece - this is how the simplest manual potter's wheel was invented. It was a disc deepened in the middle by about half its thickness. With its recess, the disk was mounted on a protruding and somewhat rounded end of a wooden rod, firmly fixed in the ground. In order for the rod not to stagger and to hold a vertical position, a fixed frame was placed between it and the circle. wooden board with a hole in the middle. It turned out to be a well-fitted device. With one hand, the master brought the circle into a smooth uniform rotation, and with the other he began sculpting. This device, simple in general, made a real revolution in pottery, raising it to the level of a real art. Thanks to him, the work has noticeably accelerated and improved. When rotated, the products came out much more dense and uniform. Their form turned out to be correct and elegant.
A new step towards the improvement of pottery was the invention of the foot circle, which came into use in the 2nd millennium BC. Its main advantages were that it allowed several times to increase the speed of rotation and freed the master to work with both hands. The main differences of the new circle were as follows. The spindle (axis of rotation) has been lengthened. The rotating disk was rigidly connected to it. Two boards served to strengthen the spindle. The lower one was the basis of the entire device (a recess was cut into it, where the end of the spindle was inserted). The top board with a through hole supported the spindle in a vertical position. Finally, a foot wheel was rigidly attached to the bottom of the spindle. Sitting next to the circle, the potter leaned his foot on the lower circle and brought it into smooth motion. Due to the fact that the lower wheel was heavier and larger in diameter than the working upper one, it acted as a flywheel: it retained rotation for some time even after the foot was removed from it.
Simultaneously with the improvement of the potter's wheel, there was a complication of the technique of firing clay. In ancient times, firing was carried out directly on an open fire at a temperature of 300 - 400 degrees. Later it began to be produced in special ovens. Already the first primitive furnaces made it possible to double the heating temperature. Clay particles became better fused with each other, the strength of the products increased markedly. The former thick-walled vessels are being replaced by vessels with walls as thin as eggshells (up to 3 mm). The invention of furnaces was of great importance for the history of technology, as it marked the beginning of the construction of high-temperature devices, which then became widespread in other sectors of the economy (primarily in metallurgy). The stove was built as follows: a wooden frame was made from thin trunks, which was coated with a thick layer of clay, only leaving small holes in places. This frame was placed over a recess, which was a place for kindling a fire. From a strong fire, the wooden parts burned down, and the clay was burned and formed a dense hearth with holes. During firing, the bottom and walls of the furnace became red-hot and also began to radiate heat. Due to the concentration of heat inside the furnace, the temperature in it could rise to 800 and even up to 900 degrees.
Timeline of great inventions
Reviews
Konstantin, you have made an interesting and useful selection on the history of mankind. Of course, too short and general, but for people unfamiliar with the subject it is quite enough. In practice, it turned out to be a textbook-reference book or a mini-encyclopedia.
Big and difficult work. It would be nice to somehow promote it so that they know about it.
Thank you Victor for your kind review. Of course, it would be flattering if these essays were more in demand. But there is Wikipedia. It is pointless to compete with it, and, by and large, it is not necessary.
Molding on a mat
Improvements in the band technique led to the molding of the pot on a small piece of reed matting or a curved crock (fragment of a broken vessel). The mat or shard served as a base during the building of the pot and as a convenient axis of rotation, thanks to which the vessel turned easily in the hands of the potter. This manual rotation gave the potter the ability to continuously smooth the pot and symmetrically align the shape as it was built. Among some primitive peoples, such as the American Indians, nothing more advanced than this technique was created, and all their ceramics were made by this method.
An important step in the development of pottery was the development of the technique of rotation. In this case, the master stuck a piece of clay to the finished bottom and, rotating the bottom with his left hand, circled the piece in a spiral with his right, gradually sculpting the edges of the pot. With this method, the product came out more even.
Later, for the convenience of work, a wooden disk was placed under the workpiece. To facilitate the rotation of the stand, some unknown potter guessed to fix it on the axis. The sculpting process will be greatly simplified if you make this disk rotate with the workpiece - this is how simple hand potter's wheel. Soon he noticed that with the rapid rotation of the stand, the vessels could be given a more regular shape. But the light stand stopped rather quickly after unwinding, and in order to increase the inertia of rotation, they began to make it more massive - from hard wood, baked clay and stone. Used since 3500 B.C. in Mesopotamia, made it possible to make vessels much faster and more evenly. It is believed that the inventor of the circle lived in Babylon in the 4th millennium BC. Then the potter's wheel appeared in Egypt, India and Greece. In Europe, he became known in the 500s BC.
The ancestor of the modern potter's wheel consisted of a wooden or stone disc fixed horizontally on a rod dug into the ground. In order for the rod not to stagger and to hold a vertical position, a fixed wooden board with a hole in the middle was placed between it and the circle. It turned out to be a well-fitted device. With one hand, left, the master brought the circle into a smooth uniform rotation, and with the other right he began sculpting. With his right hand, the craftsman molded the vessel, laying pre-prepared bundles in a spiral. This simple device made a real revolution in pottery, raising it to the level of art. Thanks to him, the work has noticeably accelerated and improved.
When rotated, the products came out much more dense and uniform. Their form turned out to be correct and elegant.
In Greece, it was customary for the potter's apprentice to turn the wheel, adjusting the speed at the master's command. Big size and the weight of the wheel provided a sufficiently long period of its rotation after launch. The presence of an assistant turning the wheel allowed the potter to use both hands in shaping the vase and give this process his full attention.
The potter's wheel appeared relatively late - in the Eneolithic (the transitional period from the Stone Age to the Bronze Age). The first, not very perfect circles were used in the 4th millennium BC. e. in Mesopotamia (city of Uruk). One of the first was Sumer in Southern Mesopotamia, where the potter's wheel was used in 3250 BC. In Egypt it was already in use as early as 2800 BC, and in Troy pottery made on a potter's wheel was discovered in the layer of Troy II, c. 2500 BC
At first, the potter's wheel was stationary and only then became rotating.
A new step towards the improvement of pottery was invention of the foot circle. He appeared much later and in many places replaced the manual one. Came into use in the 2nd millennium BC. (3 thousand BC). The use of which dramatically increased labor productivity and improved the quality of products - made it possible to manufacture dishes with thinner walls. With the advent of the potter's wheel and the improvement of the furnace, a specialist, a professional potter, began to do this work. Undoubtedly, as a result of the invention of the potter's wheel, the production of ceramics became a masculine craft, since the use of the mechanism was usually considered not women's work. Pottery began to be done by men. Its main advantages were that he allowed several times to increase the speed of rotation and freed the master to work with both hands.
The main differences of the foot circle:
The spindle (axis of rotation) has been lengthened.
The rotating disk was rigidly connected to it. Two boards served to strengthen the spindle. The lower one was the basis of the entire device (a recess was cut into it, where the end of the spindle was inserted). The top board with a through hole supported the spindle in a vertical position.
A foot wheel was rigidly attached to the bottom of the spindle.
The foot potter's wheel completely eliminated preliminary, rough hand modeling. The potter sat down to the circle and took a piece of clay of the required size. Squeezing this piece with his palms and throwing it from hand to hand, he gave it the shape of a ball, and then hit it with force on the center of the upper disk.
Sitting next to the circle, the potter leaned his foot on the lower circle and brought it into smooth motion. Due to the fact that the lower wheel was heavier and larger in diameter than the working upper one, it played the role flywheel: retained rotation for some time after the foot was removed from it. This made it possible to manufacture thin-walled vessels with more complex shapes. Moreover, their production time has been significantly reduced.
Everything that was possible was made on the potter's wheel: chimney and water pipes, lamps and even birdhouses. But the main products that came off the potter's wheel were still utensils: oven pots, cauldrons, lids, sour pots, frying pans, vessels, bowls, cups, oilers, salt shakers, jugs, mugs and much more.
Dishes made on the potter's wheel appear in various places in different time, but only where artisans have already stood out.
In the 17th century the wheel was set in motion by means of a rope thrown over a pulley, and in the 19th century. The steam powered potter's wheel was invented.
Sometimes the potter himself was engaged in painting vases, but usually these two professions were separated. There was a tendency for the potter and the vase painter to work together. It remains unclear whether two potters could have been involved in the creation of one vase; perhaps one was molding the vase on a circle, while the other was engaged in the final finishing of the form.
In rare cases, two painters could work on one vase. The reasons for such cooperation are unknown, but the fact itself is beyond doubt.
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Pottery was originally a craft that served for the manufacture of containers for eating or vessels for storing liquid and bulk materials.
Nanosanchez, CC BY-SA 3.0Currently, it is processing by molding on a potter's wheel, applying glaze and then firing clay to turn it into household items, Construction Materials, various decorative items, souvenirs, jewelry, in a word, in ceramics.
History of pottery
Clay is ubiquitous and people have long appreciated its unique properties. In the skillful hands of the master, formless, plastic material, as if by magic, turned into dishes, jewelry, sculptures.
Of course, at first ancient clay vessels were molded by hand, and their shape was far from ideal. But with the invention of the potter's wheel, and then with the discovery of firing technology, pottery became the most common in everyday life.
, CC BY-SA 3.0 Due to the fact that in the process of the development of society, some clay products learned to be specially finished and decorated, their production moved from the field of craft to the sphere of art - ceramics.
In Russia, pottery originated in the prehistoric era, and during excavations, archaeologists still find various pots, jugs, frying pans, pots and other hand-made utensils.
Guide to Russian Crafts, CC BY-SA 3.0 Gradually, the quality improved, new techniques were developed, new ones appeared. There was a growing commercial need for pottery.
Although clay vessels usually did not have such a specific image as figurines, they were indirectly identified by potters with wildlife and even with man. This is evidenced by the names of the parts of the ceramic vessel:
body, neck, neck, spout, handle.
In the Middle Ages, pottery was the most honorable and important craft, which was constantly developed and improved. A lot of pottery workshops appeared, having their own "brand" brand. Products of each workshop differed from each other in shape, size, firing technology.
Pottery
Initially, household items, dishes, utensils were and remain the main pottery. These are various lids, pots, mugs, jugs, vases and tureens. Total and do not list.
But potters were not limited only to household items. At leisure, from the remains of clay, whistles, toys in the form of bizarre animals and people were molded. later, souvenirs appeared to decorate everyday life - panels, sculptures, vases, candlesticks and much more.
Guide to Russian Crafts, CC BY-SA 3.0 When the opportunity arose to develop industrial production, to products self made added building materials. Brick, porcelain, earthenware, ceramic roof tiles and so on.
Craft features
In local traditions, the potter was also called "potter" and "potter" after the name of one of the main products of the craft - a pot, "clay" - after the main material of the craft.
The word “potter” itself comes from the Old Russian “garnchar”, which goes back to the name of the pot - “garnts”, which, in turn, was formed from “garn”, meaning a professional tool - a horn.
Guide to Russian Crafts, CC BY-SA 3.0 Pottery, like blacksmithing, is based on the use of the most powerful element - fire - and on the ability to control it. Therefore, in folk beliefs, the potter, like the blacksmith, was credited with possession of unusual knowledge and magical power.
The special knowledge of the potter included the ability to feel the quality of the material and give it a shape, correctly arrange numerous products in the furnace and regulate the firing temperature. The lack of knowledge and professional intuition at any stage of the work could bring the efforts of the craftsman to naught.
Products could turn out to be ugly, fragile, go cracked, break at all, or simply turn out to be unsuccessful already when used on the farm.
Before the transition to circular ceramics pottery were predominantly women. However, with the advent of the potter's wheel, pottery passed to male artisans.
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Useful information
Pottery
Antiquity
AT Old Testament in several places there is mention of potters and their products. The most ancient clay vessels of the prehistoric era were made by hand and were of irregular shape. Later, there are vessels of a regular round shape, possible only with the use of a potter's wheel. Exact time his invention is unknown, but Jeremiah (18, 3) says: "he entered the potter's house, and he worked in a circle."
The invention of the potter's wheel
Approximately in the IX-X centuries. potter's wheel appeared in Russia - the simplest
a machine or rather a device, initially set in motion by the hand, later by the foot. The invention of the potter's wheel is a milestone in
development production activities, and at the same time the technical and artistic abilities of people. The potter's wheel simplified and accelerated the production of pottery and utensils.
Properties of pottery
- They are eco friendly. In the manufacture of clay, no artificial additives are mixed.
- Perfectly keep the temperature of the liquid poured into them.
withstand high temperatures, which allows you to cook dishes in the oven.
Chemically resistant to a wide variety of substances.
Beautiful. Usage various kinds clay and technique allows you to produce very diverse products
The disadvantage is brittleness ceramic products.
Pottery known now
In our time, pottery continues to be relevant. Over time, some industries have changed and switched to the manufacture of souvenirs and toys. Many types of this craft have become a kind of symbol of Russia, they are known beyond its borders. This is a clay toy.
The content of the article
CERAMICS(Greek keramike - pottery, from keramos - clay; English ceramics, French ceramique, German keramik), the name of any household or artistic products made from clay or mixtures containing clay, baked in a kiln or dried in the sun. Ceramics include pottery, terracotta, majolica, faience, stone mass, porcelain. Any object molded from natural clay and cured by sun-drying or firing is considered pottery. Porcelain is a special type of pottery. Translucent, with a vitreous sintered body and a white base, real porcelain is made from special grades of clay, feldspars and quartz or quartz substitutes.
Pottery making is an ancient art, predating metallurgy or even weaving in most cultures. Porcelain, however, is a much later invention; it first appeared in China c. 600 AD, and in Europe - in the 18th century.
TECHNIQUES
Material.
The main material for the production of ceramics is clay. The quarried clay is usually mixed with sand, small stones, the remains of rotted plants and other foreign matter, which must be completely removed in order for the clay to become usable. Today, as in ancient times, this is done by mixing clay with water and settling the mixture in a large tub. The mud settles to the bottom, and the top layer of clay and water is pumped out or scooped out into an adjoining tank. The process is then repeated, sometimes several times; the clay is refined with each subsequent precipitation until the material of the desired quality is obtained.
The cleaned clay is stored in a damp state in enclosed spaces until it is used. Exposure of clay for several months significantly improves its working qualities, allowing the clay to retain its shape in the process of creating a product, while remaining malleable and plastic. Fresh clay is often combined with old clay from a previous mixed lot; this enhances bacterial activity and appears to improve the quality of the material.
Any product molded in clay undergoes some degree of compression, both during drying and during the firing process. For uniform drying and minimal shrinkage, coarsely ground pieces of terracotta, usually pottery scrap, are added to the clay. It also increases the strength of the clay, reducing the chance of it shrinking violently during molding.
Molding.
Stucco ceramics.
most early technique making earthenware, invented c. 5000 BC, during the Early Neolithic, there was hand-sculpting of a vessel from a lump of clay. Clay was crushed and squeezed out to obtain the desired shape. Samples of products made in this ancient technique, which is still used by some potters today, have been found in Jordan, Iran and Iraq.
Band ceramics.
A later invention was the technique of ring molding, in which the vessel was lined up from several clay strips. A flat, hand-sculpted clay base was surrounded by a thick strip, and then a strong connection between the base and the strip was achieved by pressure and smoothing. The remaining strips were added until the pot had the desired height and shape. To facilitate the process of lining up and smoothing the walls, a rounded stone was sometimes placed inside the pot, and the outside surface was processed with a spatula. This technique was used to make beautiful pottery with walls of the same thickness. The band pottery method resembles the technique of weaving baskets from long fibrous ropes (or bast), and it is possible that the band pottery technique originates from this method.
Improvements in the band technique led to the molding of the pot on a small piece of reed matting or a curved crock (fragment of a broken vessel). The mat or shard served as a base during the building of the pot and as a convenient axis of rotation, thanks to which the vessel turned easily in the hands of the potter. This manual rotation gave the potter the ability to continuously smooth the pot and symmetrically align the shape as it was built. Among some primitive peoples, such as the American Indians, nothing more advanced than this technique was created, and all their ceramics were made by this method. The tape method was used to make large jugs for food storage even after the invention of the potter's wheel.
Potter's wheel.
The invention of the potter's wheel dates back to about the end of the 4th millennium BC. Its use was not immediately widespread; some regions adopted new technology much earlier than others. One of the first was Sumer in southern Mesopotamia, where the potter's wheel was used around 3250 BC. In Egypt it was already in use by the end of the 2nd Dynasty, around 2800 BC, and in Troy pottery made on the potter's wheel was found in the layer of Troy II, ca. 2500 BC
The ancient potter's wheel was a heavy, durable disc of wood or terracotta. On the underside of the disk there was a recess with which it was mounted on a low fixed axle. The whole wheel was balanced so as to rotate without staggering and vibration. In Greece, it was customary for the potter's apprentice to turn the wheel, adjusting the speed at the master's command. The large size and weight of the wheel provided a sufficiently long period of its rotation after launch. The presence of an assistant turning the wheel allowed the potter to use both hands in shaping the vase and give this process his full attention. The foot potter's wheel does not appear to have been used until Roman times. In the 17th century the wheel was set in motion by means of a rope thrown over a pulley, and in the 19th century. The steam powered potter's wheel was invented.
The process of making a pot on a potter's wheel begins with kneading the clay to remove air bubbles and turn it into a homogeneous, workable mass. Then the clay ball is placed in the center of the rotating circle and held with bent palms until the circle is evened out. By pressing the thumb into the middle of the clay ball, a ring with thick walls is formed, which gradually stretches between the thumb and the rest of the fingers, transforming into a cylinder. This cylinder can then, at the request of the potter, open in the shape of a bowl, stretch out like a long pipe, flatten into a plate or close, creating a spherical shape. At the end, the finished product is “cut off” and put to dry. The next day, when the clay has dried to a hard crust, the vessel is turned upside down into the center of the circle. On a rotating wheel, they hone, or clean, a shape by cutting off an unnecessary part of the clay, for which tools made of metal, bone or wood are usually used. This completes the molding of the product; the vessel is ready for decoration and firing. The leg and other parts of the vessel can be dressed and turned separately and then attached to the body of the vessel with clay coating - liquid clay used by the potter as a bonding material.
Casting.
The casting technique is used to create mass-produced ceramics. First, a plaster mold is made from the pattern to be reproduced. Then, a liquid clay mortar called casting mortar is poured into this template. It is left until the gypsum absorbs moisture from the solution and the layer of clay deposited on the walls of the matrix hardens. This takes about an hour, after which the form is turned over and the remaining solution is poured. The hollow clay casting is finished by hand and then fired.
In ancient times, soft, pliable clay was pressed into the mold by hand rather than poured in as in the casting technique. Manufacturing process began with the molding of the model itself. The clay sample (patrix) made by the master was created both for the final use of the vase and for the intermediate production stages. In most of these sculpted vases, the stucco part is attached to a piece, such as a mouth, molded on a potter's wheel. Therefore, the manufacture of the patrix was limited only to this stucco part.
Burning.
The technique of treating dried clay with heat to change it from a soft brittle substance into a hard vitreous material was discovered c. 5000 BC This discovery was undoubtedly accidental, possibly the result of a hearth built on a clay base. Probably, when the fire went out, people noticed that the clay base of the hearth became extremely hard. The first inventive potter could repeat this phenomenon by molding something out of soft clay and putting it into the fire, and then making sure that the fire did not damage his product, but, on the contrary, gave it a solid, stable shape. Thus, the technique of ceramic firing could have appeared.
primitive methods.
The ancient potters did not use kilns; they collected dried earthenware vessels in a small pile and covered them with whatever combustible material was available: wood, charcoal, brushwood, straw or dry manure. Among the tribes of Africa and North and South America this practice continues to this day. Since the temperature varies among the pile of pots and some of them do not heat up to sinter the clay, this type of firing produces uneven results and is the cause of the pottery being unusable. When unbaked pots are filled with water, they soak and turn back into soft clay. The color of this ceramic is unpredictable, as some areas are completely oxidized, and some are much less so. Therefore, some products are brownish-red, while others are grayish or black.
Bake.
This is a specially built pottery firing chamber that allows the potter to have better control over the process than in the case of firing on an open fire. Usually the firebox is separated from the place where the dishes are placed. Openings are provided for controlling fire, placing and moving products, monitoring firing and adjusting the air draft in the kiln.
At the first stage of firing, moisture is gradually removed from the clay. Firing is carried out slowly to avoid cracking of products. When the temperature reaches 600°C, the clay is completely dehydrated. It acquires a uniform red color and a fragile, porous and absorbent (capable of suction) shard. During the second firing, after glazing, the temperature reaches 600–900°C. If air enters the furnace freely during firing, the clay is oxidized and all carbonaceous substances are removed. If there is no air in the furnace, then the clay shard will be black, "restored".
Decor.
There are three types of decoration: underglaze, overglaze and overglaze. Glazes are smooth glassy coatings made from mixtures of inorganic substances such as lead, flint, feldspar or lime.
Underglaze decor.
As the name implies, the underglaze decoration is applied to the product before it is coated with a transparent glaze. Paints are made using oxides of cobalt, nickel, chromium, manganese, iron, etc., which give the desired color to the glaze. Oxides are mixed with substances that must be melted in subsequent hot processing, thus bonding with the shard. The decor is applied by hand-painting, transferring the design using the decal method, silk-screen printing (i.e. using a silk net as a stencil) or spraying paint through other types of stencils. The decor method, called sgraffito, consists in the fact that the entire surface of the product is painted over with an engobe (liquid clay coating) of a color other than the product itself, and then the intended pattern is scratched through this coating. The underglaze decor is extremely durable, as it is protected from wear and chemical attack by the glaze that covers it.
Glazed decor.
This widespread type of decoration is simply covering the item with colored glaze. It is quite difficult to create clear contours of the design with the glaze itself due to the fact that the glaze melts and spreads during the firing process. However, the overlay of glazes of different colors, which somewhat flock together during firing, creates interesting decorative effects.
Overglaze decor.
In this case, pigments, composed of coloring oxides and metallic residue materials, are applied over the fired glaze. Since overglaze paints are fired at fairly low temperatures (700-870°C), many colorants can be used that cannot withstand the higher temperatures required for underglaze firing. Metal decor consists either of metal salts or very fine metal particles with some kind of binder that forms a consistency suitable for painting or silk-screen printing. During the firing process, the binder evaporates, leaving a metal film on the surface of the product. If this film is very thin, the metal particles are not so much metallic as pearlescent; such a coating is called a chandelier. The color of the chandelier can vary by using different metals. If the pigment is applied in a thicker layer, a shiny metallic surface is obtained, which is usually obtained using gold, silver and platinum. Pigment containing atomized metal particles is usually applied in a rather thick layer using the silkscreen method, this results in the most durable metal decor. Since the surface of such products is dull after firing, they should be polished.
TERRACOTTA; articles on ceramics of the countries of the world.
The invention and distribution of the potter's wheel led to the emergence and isolation of potters. In different countries, the potter's wheel was used at different times:
- Mesopotamia, Ancient Egypt, India - 4th-3rd millennium BC e.;
- Iran, Central Asia, Greece, China - 2nd millennium BC e.;
- Western Europe - Hallstatt and La Tène cultures I millennium BC. e.
- Eastern Europe - Przeworsk (II century BC) and Chernyakhov culture (III century). However, with the advent of the Slavs of the Prague culture, the potter's wheel is forgotten and reappears only in the 9th century (Luka-Raikovets culture)
- In America, the potter's wheel was not known until the advent of Europeans (see Native American pottery).
In modern ceramics production, potter's wheels are almost never used. Currently, in the practice of ceramic workshops and ceramics studios, electrically driven potter's wheels are almost exclusively used. The basic design of the potter's wheel has not changed much since ancient times, the changes mainly affected the type of drive.
The history of the development of potter's wheels (according to Kudryavtsev A.V - tm "Golden Hands")
Handmade potter's wheel
It is difficult to say exactly how the prototype of this circle was born, let's leave it to your imagination! Structurally, he represented a flywheel, fixed on a short axis, and rotated with the help of hands. Since the product is molded by hands, massive flywheel faceplates were used, which ensured stable rotation for a long time. In a more developed version, the labor of an assistant (or slaves) was used to rotate the faceplate. In Russia, novice potters sometimes used a direct analogue of this ancient circle - they sculpted “Health” on the circle (who is not familiar - these are two stamped steel disks connected by a short axis, and between them, in the grooves - steel balls).
Foot mechanical circle
The development of the hand drive was the separation and spacing of the faceplate and flywheel in height, which made it possible to lower the flywheel so low that it became convenient to unwind it with the help of the legs. In various versions, such a circle is still alive. Structurally, they were made of wood; tar was used as a lubricant for rotating parts.
Electric potter's wheels
Skipping the age of animals for propulsion and the advent of the first steam engines, fast forward to the age of electric drive. Taking a foot mechanical circle as a basis, someone adapted an electric motor to it with improvised means. The motor was not fixed rigidly, a rubber roller was put on its shaft. When you press the pedal, the motor turned, and the rubber band of the motor began to gradually spin the flywheel. By holding or releasing the pedal, you can achieve the desired rotational speed. Similar design the drive was used in the first cars of G. Ford. To slow down the heavy flywheel, a new element was introduced - a foot brake. The classic modern incarnation of this type of wheel is the PROFI-MAX potter's wheel. A great advantage of such circles is their high reliability and durability, due to the use of an asynchronous motor. A variation of the friction drive is a drive with a so-called rolling roller (similar to the drive of a gramophone record in electric players of the 70s and 80s).
As an electric drive, a high-speed DC collector motor with an electronic speed control circuit is used. A compact planetary gearbox is mounted on the output shaft of the motor, from which, in turn, the faceplate itself is rotated. The rubber belt is the connecting link between the faceplate and the gearbox. The main disadvantage of such an electric drive is the low reliability of collector motors and the increased noise level of the motor-reducer assembly. A typical representative of this type of transmission is the “GOSH” circle.
- direct drive (motor-wheel).
The development of electronic power technology and microprocessors made it possible to make motor-wheels affordable. The main feature of a potter's wheel with such a drive is the absence of any transmission / intermediate device between the motor and the faceplate. That is, the faceplate sits on the same axis as the motor-wheel rotor. This provides maximum simple design the potter's wheel itself, reducing its weight and dimensions, providing a reduced noise level, obtaining any fixed speed of rotation of the faceplate. There are no wearing parts in the engine, such as commutator e/motors. To ensure maximum electrical safety, the circle is powered by a DC transformer power supply (output voltage 36V.). In the field, or in the absence of mains voltage, the circle can be powered by three car batteries connected in series. In this case, the time of continuous operation can be up to 8 hours. In modern electric pottery wheels, the speed of rotation is continuously adjustable, usually between 0 and 200 rpm for beginners, and from 0 to 400 rpm for professionals when necessary. high speed moldings. In addition, you can change the direction of rotation of the faceplate: for right-handers - counterclockwise, for left-handers - clockwise.
Basic requirements for modern electric pottery wheels
Pottery wheel "SUPER-PROFI"
- electrical safety - the use of electric drives operating from a constant voltage of 12..36 volts
- reliability and maintainability - that is, a minimum of structural details, their maximum rigidity and reliability, ease and accessibility during repairs
- compactness (with a high dead weight: otherwise stability is lost when forming large products) - ease of transportation, storage
- ergonomics - ensuring high level comfort during long-term work outside the circle, the ability to work both sitting and standing, no splashing of clay liquid on the sides
- noiselessness is the most difficult parameter, because the use of an electric drive initially leads to increased noise. Direct drive models have the lowest noise level, but they are expensive and therefore not yet widely used.
see also
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See what "Potter's wheel" is in other dictionaries:
POTTER'S WHEEL, a machine for molding pottery. Appeared in the Ancient East in the 43rd millennium BC. The oldest potter's wheel was rotated by hand; a more perfect potter's wheel had a flywheel at the bottom, rotated by feet ... Modern Encyclopedia
Machine for molding pottery. Appeared on Dr. East in 4 3 m thousand BC. e. The oldest potter's wheel was rotated by hand; a more perfect potter's wheel had a flywheel at the bottom, rotated by feet ... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary
Potter's wheel- POTTER'S WHEEL, a machine for molding pottery. Appeared in the Ancient East in the 43rd millennium BC. The oldest potter's wheel was rotated by hand; a more perfect potter's wheel had a flywheel at the bottom, rotated by feet. … Illustrated Encyclopedic Dictionary
POTTER'S WHEEL, USSR, Screen (Ostankino), 1974, color, 96 min. TV movie story. About the film crew who arrived for three days in one of the villages of the Yaroslavl region to shoot a documentary about the old master potter Mikhail Lukich ... ... Cinema Encyclopedia
Machine for molding pottery. Appeared in the Ancient East in the 43rd millennium BC. e. The oldest potter's wheel was rotated by hand; a more perfect potter's wheel had a flywheel at the bottom, rotated by feet. * * * POTTER'S WHEEL POTTER'S WHEEL ... ... encyclopedic Dictionary
A machine for molding dishes and some other ceramic products, which makes it possible to use rotational inertia to improve the shape of products and increase labor productivity. Manual G. to. Rotate on a vertical axis with one hand ... ... Great Soviet Encyclopedia
Potter's wheel- (English potter's wheel), a circle rotating in a horizontal plane makes it easier for the potter to mold clay for vessels. Real samples have not been preserved, therefore it is impossible to determine the varieties of G. to. inching, with a foot drive, with a drive ... ... Archaeological Dictionary
POTTER'S WHEEL- To success in all endeavors. Today you can start any enterprise, even the most risky one. Everything will succeed. Imagine that you are sitting at a potter's wheel and creating an amazingly beautiful vessel ... Big family dream book
a circle- a, suggestion; about the circle / ge, in the circle / ge and in the circle /; pl. circles/; m. see also. on a circle, a circle 1) suggest., in a circle / ge Part of the plane bounded by a circle; the circle itself. Calculate the area of a circle... Dictionary of many expressions
CIRCLE, a (y), in a circle and in a circle, on a circle and on a circle, pl. and, oh, husband. 1. (in, on the circle). Part of a plane bounded by a circle. 2. (in, on the circle). Round platform. The youth are dancing in a circle. 3. (in a circle, in a circle, in a circle). Object in the form of ... ... Explanatory dictionary of Ozhegov
