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Vintage Drafting Table Designs: A 19th-Century Company Working Out the Details

By Rain Noe - February 2, 2015

in Furniture Design

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Here in 2015, a desk is many things: A computing workstation, a charging dock holder, a lunch table, a speaker platform, a drink tray, a phone holder, et cetera. Contrast that with the monofunction of an old-school draftsman's table, which had the sole task of supporting paper that you made marks on with a pencil.

One thing a draftsman's table was designed to do, that today's tables are not, was to transform from flat to tilted.

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An early example of ergonomics, the angled top meant the user could reach all four corners of the drawing board with ease, as well as have a flat view of the work, unskewed by perspective. But folks were different heights, so a mechanism for adjustability had to be designed. This took some experimentation to get right.

The Keuffel & Esser Co., founded in 1867, was America's first drafting table manufacturer. As you can see, this early example of their work is all wood:

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With iron not yet a staple of manufacturing—America's Industrial Revolution got going a bit later than the UK's—let's look at how they handled the adjustability:

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Inelegant, and would take two men (or one orangutuan) to make the adjustment, but it worked. Now let's look at how this design evolved.

For a later iteration, the company then jettisoned the wooden teeth and opted for a more streamlined look to the pieces, which were still made from wood:

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The adjustability was accomplished by adding dowels that could be placed into a series of drilled holes.

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But the disadvantage to the previous two designs is that should the draftsman wish to sit, the crossbar prevented him from having any legroom, as you can see here:

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K&E's solution was this A-frame design that eliminated the crossbar, instead having the drawing board supported only at the center of the two sides.

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Here we see metal beginning to creep into the design in a functional way: Adjustability was provided by a semicircular, protractor-like mechanism that could be locked at an angle of the user's choice.

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However, you'll notice that in that design, the only way to raise the table is to physically hoist it skyward, then hold it in place while someone tightens down the four locking knobs for the vertical-travel mechanism, two on each side. Not exactly an ergonomic gold star.

As the Industrial Revolution ground on, it was inevitable that a K&E table would be designed with cast iron legs.

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I'd argue that this is uglier than the wooden legs, but it had a raise-lower mechanism that was undeniably easier to use than the A-frame model's: A rack-and-pinion mechanism. Rotate the crank to adjust the height.

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Interestingly, there is a flywheel in the center of the rod:

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This was presumably to render the rotation of the crank a little smoother, and provide a little momentum for the cranking.

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The angle-adjustment mechanism, however, is still a clunky design: Two metal rods slide through bushings and are held in place by a screw clamp. You can imagine the difficulty of trying to do this on your own.

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A later design, below, again changes up the mechanisms.

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The user pulled on this propellor-like lever, which as you can see in the photo is spring-assisted, to change the height of the table.

Gone are the rods for the angle adjustment; as with the protractor-like model, this tilts the table from the center, and locks into place by using this cast-iron knob-wheel to clamp the circular surface to the flange attached to the desk. Here you can see that, sadly, one of the cast-iron knobs has been broken off, we're guessing in transit.

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I should point out that I don't have hard dates for any of these tables and am speculating on their order of design, based on the materials used and the mechanisms involved. And I think that it's important to look at older furniture designs and puzzle out what the designers were after, particularly if you're attempting to design retro pieces that harken back to these. For example, when we look at the evolution above, we can clearly see that the wooden A-frame design was an improvement over earlier ones in that it provided legroom for seated use.

But look at this modern-day knock-off of that design, below:

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The incorrectness of that design should scream out at you. Sure, it looks weathered and has had a patina applied for "that vintage look"—but it unintelligently places a drawer smack-dab where your legs are supposed to go, the very thing the A-frame form factor was meant to solve. This design completely misses the point.

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Mary Kelly

7 years ago

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Is there a way to identify a Keuffel & Esser drafting table and stool? How do you determine the value?

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Elena Ortega

7 years ago

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These pictures of the K&E table show it backwards. That was the first drafting table I ever used, what's shown as the back its actually the front. It's a breeze to adjust, just pull up with both hands, and guide the bar with your foot, you push the bar forward to lift up the table, pull it towards you to lower it. If you need to higher the back then you have to be facing that side and pull up to release, the guide the bar with your knee. A little bit more work, but you rarely raise or lower the back. I ADORE this table, i have very fond memories of it. I wish I could find one for sale, so comfortable, you can rest your feet on the bar or even put them up on the crossbar if you're sitting on a tall stool.

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- Mary Kelly
  
  Elena Ortega
  
  7 years ago
  
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  Elena,
  I have a wooden one like this that I am selling. Contact me asap if you're interested.
  
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Rachel O'Neil

9 years ago

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Great article, thanks for sharing! I'm trying to find the history on a K&E drafting table. (It was a gift from a colleague who passed away so I can't ask him.) It's a double top surface with two draws high in the center of the stationary surface. The pitch of the table is adjusted from the horizontal surface, not below the drafting surface like in your pictures above. Think of a clam, hinge toward the drafter; one surface remains horizontal, the other hinges to create the drafting pitch. I can send pictures :- ) if helpful!
I'm unable to find similar pieces on auction or reseller sites. We love the table, nfs, but want to know more of the history.

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RobM

9 years ago

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Love this. I am a flea market reseller. I tell young couples this is the firt piece of furniture they should buy. Is everything from the formal dining room table for two, the work/sewing/craft table, it s the bulletin board, the table your children become artists on and will move from room to room as you desire. Finally becoming the family heirloom everyone wants.
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