A Weeks stoneware crock rolling machine

These were used in the early 1900s to make crocks up to 60 gallon size in the Medalta Potteries factory in Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada. The metal barrel was fitted with a wooden base, then lined with paper. Then the clay was rolled up the side and surface finished. The barrel was then dropped down into the false floor and the crock removed.

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Bringing an old mechanical drawing of a crock lid back to life

This picture has its own page with more detail, click here to see it.

This is 1937 mechanical drawing of a 1-gallon Medalta crock lid. Medalta Potteries manufactured crocks, on a large scale, from the 1920s on. In this example, I imported the drawing as a canvas into Fusion 360, positioning it so the center of the knob was at the origin point. I traced the lid outline to create a sketch and then revolved that to create the 3D lid. This is part of a project to enable a potter to make lids to fit the old crocks.

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Stoneware
To potters, stonewares are simply high temperature, non-white bodies fired to sufficient density to make functional ware that is strong and durable.

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