I'm struggling to identify some of the items, let alone what they are used for.
If you can - then Email: Leigh and I'll update the descriptions.
No electricity here in this sewing machine - the needle was moved up and down by pedal power.
Material moved forward by means of a knotched plate on which the material rested. It worked with the needle going up to move forward a fraction, dropped down below the surface level, moved back and came up to hold the material, just as the needle was coming down again. The user was required to guide it and keep it straight along the route of the stitching.
Another cotton bobbin operated under the plate to knot the stitch.
A far cry from the modern office but the typewriter was a precision tool. You had to feed paper into a roller at the top. Each key had a thin metal arm attached which swung up and hit an inked ribbon transferring the ink onto the paper (the ribbon, on reels, moved a fraction sideways with each key press, as did the roller. The end of the metal arm was engraved with the letter.
At the end of the line of text, a lever was used to return the roller back to the start of the line and rotate the roller just enough to move to the next line. Typo's meant winding the paper so you could paint out the mistake with a white fluid.
Re-aligning the paper to resume, could be a problem.
Note the selotape dispenser - that hasn't changed but for it now being plastic and much lighter.
Remember the portable radio, bottom left corner - you now use your phone - much better when out jogging.
Table crockery was invariably made of china.
Ornamental crockery
A hot water bottle - bedrooms seldom had any heating.
An early gramaphone had to be wound up like a clock so it would spin the turntable. A flat vinyl record contained a single groove - sound track - in which a needle rested and vibrated according to the route of the groove - this was translated into sound via a diaphragm (loudspeaker).
Bathrooms were often outside or you used a portable bath, in either case handfilled with heated water.
Here you see a wash basin kept in the bedroom for convenience.
The large item at the back is either a bath to use wherever convenient and hopefully private, hand filled with warm water; or for hand washing larger items such as bed sheets. No such thing as a washing machine. Sometimes they used a copper boiler to clean personal items.
Thomas Crapper invented the first flushing toilet (allelua!), hence some of the vulgar terms referring to use of the toilet.
Smaller items from the past.
Several steel kettles - these would be placed on an open fire or if posh, on a metal plate that swung over the fire and thus kept the kettle clean. A long metal fork was used to hold bread near the fire for toast.
The copper contraption at the front was filled with paraffin or similar and used to boil the kettles, heat food and sometimes for the copper boilers used to steralise clothes.
Some lace, hand made in those days. Indeed the village had a thriving industry and one wonders whether the village name is derived from the fact.
Front: A more portable version of the sewing machine.
Anyone enlighten me on the knitted item.
Some visitors investigating and discussing the exhibits.
