Manufacturers of OT Equipment

William Hartley (1821-1886)

Hartley was a native of Yorkshire, England where he started out as a handloom weaver. In 1842, he became intrigued with illustrations of Wilcox's cycloidal chuck and the turnings that showed its capabilities. He made a connection to John Laycock who had a made a geometric chuck superior in design and construction to that of Wilcox. When Hartley moved to Lancashire in 1843, where he apprenticed at the Phoenix Foundry, he met Thomas Norris. Norris had been an ornamental turner for many years, owning a Holtzapffel lathe and geometric chuck similar to Wilcox's.

After careful study other geometric chucks, Hartley developed a compound geometric chuck around 1845. This combined several "sun and planetary motions" which was a completely new way of giving motion to the chuck. George Plant convinced Hartley to sell him one of these and used it to manufacture the very similar Plant Geometric Chuck.

In 1873, Hartley wrote a manuscript Construction of the Geometric Chuck, with the intention to have it published complete with drawings and table of settings for cutting patterns (later published by The Society of Ornamental Turners in 1951). In 1876, after sending some of his turnings to Sir John Herschel, Hartley was presented with the Freedom of the City of London as a Member of the Turners Company. He went on to invent numerous items unrelated to turning craft, became an avid landscape painter, and compiled a collection of 2000 books.

In 1886, after his death, the contents of Hartley's workshop was auctioned, including medallion cutting machines, wheel cutting machines, and ivory carvings, along with his unique geometric chuck (which went unsold). Years later, it passed through numerous owners and several refurbishing projects, finally resting in the hands of the Society of Ornamental Turners. For details of this history, see the Society of Ornamental Turners Bulletins #107.

Sources for information in this section