Industrial Dutch Drawing Table with Lamp, Scale Arm and Drafting Machine from Rotanex-Pool, 1950s

This architectural drawing table was designed and produced by Rotanex-Pool, n.v. Wormerveer in The Netherlands during the 1950s. It has a simple frame made from metal. The table is adjustable and can be arranged and secured in various positions; the pedal regulates movement.

This kind of table is very rare and ideal for older architects and some structural designers who still rely on paper and pencil graphics produced on a drafting table.

The table has a original drawing board, lamp, wooden ruler and drafting machine. This kind of scale tool is used in technical drawing. It consists of a pair of scales mounted to form a right angle on an articulated protractor head that allows an angular rotation. The protractor head is able to move freely across the surface of the drawing board, sliding on two guides directly or indirectly anchored to the drawing board. These guides, which act separately, ensure the movement of the set in the horizontal or vertical direction of the drawing board and can be locked independently of each other. The arms were balanced by a system of counterweights. The machine is mounted on a drawing board with a hard and smooth surface, anchored to a base that allows its tilting and lifting. Thus, the realization of a drawing can be achieved in the most convenient way on a working surface that can be tilted at any angle from horizontal to vertical.

With the drafting machine, one can perform a series of drawing operations that otherwise could only be achieved with much more complex uses of the classic ruler square and protractor, as, for example, drawing parallel lines, orthogonal lines, inclined lines according to a preset angle, measurement of angles, and so on.