Mobile Forge @museum.de

Imagine it's some time in the 18th or 19th century, you're living in a small village and there's no blacksmith far and wide. When a piece of farming equipment breaks, or a new one is needed, you're jolly glad that an itinerant smith passes through every few weeks. He has his own small forge that sits on a mobile or portable base, so he's able to make essential repairs.

The bottom section of the portable stand has a flywheel that powers a bellows via a leather V-belt. And that bellows supplies oxygen to small forge fire on the work surface. Add to that a small anvil and a few selected tools, and you're able to deal with quite a few problems.

And in times of war, the itinerant smiths – or armourers – were indispensable. They went into the field with the soldiers and repaired weapons and equipment on site. They reshod the horses and doubled as wheelwrights, replacing the bands on the wagon wheels. In short, with their small-scale, portable forges, they took on all the metalwork that was required.