Hynek Stříteský
Machine Drawings from the 19th Century in the Collections of the Archives of the National Technical Museum
The article deals with the machine drawings from the 19th century deposited in the
Archives of the National Technical Museum. They can be divided into two groups –
school drawings of the students of the Prague Polytechnic Institute and factory
drawings – they both reflect the exceptionally high level of technical education in the
Bohemian Lands. Machine drawing was taught at the Prague Polytechnic Institute
already from its establishment in 1806. The number of teaching hours for its
instruction continued to increase, which was related to the growing need of as precise
drawings as possible. The collection of school machine drawings in the Archives of
the National Technical Museum contains more than three hundred drawings coming
from 1813-1870. Most of them depict steam engines and lathes and along with their
components. The earliest factory drawings, depicting mostly steam engines and
apparatuses for food industry, were made in the 1840s and are deposited primarily
within technical files of important engineering companies, e.g. Breitfeld & Evans,
Breitfeld & Daněk or the First Czech-Moravian Machinery Factory. The machine
drawings from the 19th century can also be found in personal legacies of some
designers.
Key words: Bohemian Lands, 19th century, cultural history, history of technology,
(mechanical) engineering, technical drawing
design by Bedřich Vémola
