Source: Wikimedia Commons
In 1960 a suit from a tailor took six weeks and three fittings. A cutter read the customer's body, drafted a paper pattern for that person alone, and…
Anybody over a certain age remembers the ring pull coming away in their hand - a small aluminium ring with a sharp tongue attached, which had to be put somewhere,…
Source: Wikimedia Commons
In 1958 a tobacco farm ran on hand labour supplied largely by the family. Every leaf was pulled by hand, five or six times through the season as…
Source: Wikimedia Commons
In 1960 soft drinks came in glass bottles that came back. The empties returned filthy, were washed in hot caustic, were inspected by one person watching them pass…
Source: Wikimedia Commons
In 1965 every manufactured object in the world began as lines drawn by hand on a board the size of a door. A draughtsman worked with a tee…
Source: Wikimedia Commons
In 1955 a canal lock was worked by a man who lived in the cottage beside it, because the job required somebody to be there at any hour…