Top of Site > Company Information > Graphic Images > Limbert
Table of Contents
The firm also used clamps on the title page of their catalogs, and in illustrations. First, a word about the typefaces. Limbert was part of a movement that had its roots in William Morris' Arts and Crafts movement. There was a reaction to the inhumane treatment of workers tending textile machinery. The ideal was of craft workers using tools to produce things of beauty and utility, rather than machines running workers.
This rejection of hierarchical industrial imperialism led to a rejection of the type faces we call Roman, rigid, angular, severe relics of the Roman empire.
This is from the Title Page, which is not dated.
Now an examination of the clamps, which serve to emphasize
the individual and his tools. The end spindle is clearly
stopped, and has an appropriate shape to the handle. The
middle spindle is clearly a through spindle. However, 1) the
handle is not waisted, 2) the handle has no shoulder, and 3)
it doesn't press against the jaw. Perhaps we can rationalize
that the gap between handle and jaw indicates that the clamp
is ready for use, not in use. And the lack of a waist and a
shoulder might just be a lack of resolution, or artistic
simplification. (Hey, it's a furniture catalog, not a
blueprint!)
This is from the inside of Book 112, showing a worker
using handscrews to clamp together boards while the glue
dries. Here the middle spindle has a handle firmly against
the jaw.
This is from the Title Page, which is not dated.
Several tools are shown against oak leaves in this elaborate device: planes, a chisel, hammer and mallet. The clamp has changed. Both spindles are through, with identical handles. I believe that these have metal threads, like those made by Jorgenson.
I wish that we could date these two catalogs. But, even if
dated, we can't be sure whether the artist was drawing real
tools used by Limbert, or generic tools of the day, or
fancied tools of long ago.
last revised and validated
Copyright © 1996- Wooden Clamp Journal