A Forged Iron Treadle Lathe made by Mr.Kaheiji Ito in 1875

This forged iron treadle lathe is said to have been manufactured by Kaheiji Ito, who lived in Yamagata Prefecture around 1875. He came to Tokyo in 1872 and learned machine construction at a factory of Hisashige Tanaka. It is said that he saw a lathe that came from the Netherlands, and then succeeded in manufacturing such a lathe after returning to Yamagata.

The forged iron treadle lathe was donated to the Tokyo Institute of Technology (now Tokyo University of Science) in 1932 and it has since been used as a machine of reference for research work on machines and tools. (It is said that a ‘Donation Reception Certificate’ issued on July 21, 1942, by President Hidetsugu Yagi to the Ito family exists.) Today, the lathe is exhibited in the Machinery Building of the Museum Meiji-mura Foundation in Inuyama City, Aichi Prefecture.