Potter's wheel

The potter's wheel is a horizontally rotating disc made ​​of wood or metal on which the potter molds the vessel.

Species

Pottery wheels differ in slow and fast rotating disks. The slowly rotating potter's wheel is usually mixed by hand to rotate and helps in creating ceramics from several pieces of clay ( building ). The fast rotating pottery wheel allows the technique of pulling. In this case the vessel from a single lump of clay is produced, which is placed in the center of the potter's wheel and then hollowed out with his hand and pulled between the fingers in the air, so that a uniform, smooth wall is formed. This technique not only speeds up the manufacturing process considerably, but ensures more regular, symmetrical shapes.

Drive

The rapidly rotating potter's wheel was mostly driven by the feet. These two discs were connected to a vertical axis. On the top was worked, the lower was treated with the feet in rotation. So could the potter working simultaneously with the tone and keep the potter's wheel in motion. An alternative was the potter's wheel, which arose in the Middle Ages. Instead of the basal disc was used with a wheel spokes, which puts a stick in rotation had the disadvantage that the potter had to interrupt his work again and again to set the wheel in motion. Modern pottery wheels are driven electrically.

History

The potter's wheel is one of the oldest inventions of mankind. The oldest find a potter's wheel is dated to about 3000 BC and comes from Mesopotamia. Often, therefore, the invention of the potter's wheel is attributed to the Sumerians. However, there are older pottery finds from India, suggesting that the Indus Valley Civilization, the rapidly rotating potter's wheel may already knew in the 5th millennium BC. In Egypt, the potter's wheel was known since the 3rd millennium BC. It may be that the foot-operated potter's wheel was invented. Around the same time the wagon wheel was known, which is based on the use of the same machine element. There are not many finds of pottery wheels, but a number of representations, among others, on the Egyptian paintings which show potters at work.