Object number
53/199
Description
Spoke dog or 'felloe clamp' used for drawing together spokes in order to fit felloes. Hillson & Sons at Sawn Foundry, Landley, Warwickshire.
This spoke dog, also called a 'felloe clamp', was used by wheelwrights for drawing together the spokes of a wheel in order to fix the felloes (rim sections) of the wheel. This spoke dog came from the workshop of Hillson & Sons, ploughmakers at the Sawn Foundry, Landley, Warwickshire.
Physical description
1 spoke dog: wood; metal (iron)
Archival history
MERL 'Catalogue index' card – ‘… // DATE ACQUIRED: // GROUP: // NEGATIVE: // PERIOD: // PLACE OF ORIGIN: // NUMBER: // DESCRIPTION: …‘ The felloe clamp or spoke dog is used by wheelrights for drawing together the spokes of a wheel in order to fix on the felloes. After the spokes had been tongued, the unfinished wheel of hub and spokes was lifted from the wheel pit and laid face down on a "wheel stoll" or "wheel trestle". Two holes were cut in each felloe together with a hole at each end for the dowel. The felloe clamp was then taken to strain two spokes sideways until the felloe could be slipped on to them. This could only be done if the spokes were long enough to bend. With the wooden handle of the clamp against his left shoulder, the other end behind one spoke, and the iron hook around another, the craftsman pressed forwards and as he did so the two spokes would be drawn together. With his right hand he would put the felloe in place. // The tool consists of a gently curving wooden handle specially shaped to fit the human shoulder, with a slit which admits the iron hook. This hook is in the form of a bar of iron with 8 holes in it. The holes are for fitting an iron peg attached to the handle, and by selecting one or other of the eight holes the wheelwright is able to adjust the clamp according to the size of the wheel he is operating on. // The tool came from the workshop of Messers Hillson & Sons of the Swan Foundry, Langley, Warwirkshire, a foundry that has been in existence since the mid eighteenth century. //
Object name
Material
Associated subject
External document
- L:\MERL\Objects\JISC 2012\60 series negatives\60_1266.tif - High resolution image
