I thought as Jigsaw Puzzles was invented by us English I believed I would tell its history. The first jigsaw was made by John Spilsbury (an Englishman) in 1766 who was a renowned mapmaker and engraver from London who mounted a map of England on a thin sheet of mahogany board, utilized a hand held fretsaw to cut round the county boundaries and sold the boxed pieces for youngsters to assemble. They were recognized as “Dissected maps”. The result was an educational aid, which could be employed for teaching Geography to kids.

John Spilsbury undoubtedly spotted a excellent enterprise opportunity. In the space of two years he marketed the eight map subjects most most likely to appeal to upper class English parents: The World, the 4 Continents then recognized (Africa, America, Asia and Europe), England and Wales, Ireland and Scotland.

In the course of the subsequent 40 years several other producers (like men and women in Holland) copied John Spilsbury’s concepts and introduced historical scenes to compliment his map subjects. In the early portion of the century, puzzles had been made virtually exclusively for wealthy youngsters and nearly often with education in thoughts.

To save on cutting labour the puzzles consisted of Jigsaw puzzle manufacturers only a few huge pieces and only the outdoors interlocked – the rest was cut quickly with straight or wavy lines. The wood employed was generally Mahogany or Cedar. The jigsaw named “The Parable of the Sower” on the correct was cut by Betts in about 1870 and typifies the style of jigsaws up to that date. Only the outside pieces interlock and the good quality of the print is very poor by modern requirements.

Towards the finish of the century fantastic strides had been created in numerous manufacturing methods and three of these influenced jigsaws:

Treadle operated jigsaws were invented.

Techniques had been created to make THIN sheets of wood.

Printing enhanced in leaps and bounds.

These technological advances enabled jigsaws to be produced that were a lot much more intricate, tough and colourful.

Adults became interested in performing jigsaws and this spurred the makers to widen the range of subjects accessible and to make them much more challenging to do.

It became evident that colourful, complicated jigsaws held a fascination for several individuals.
In the late 1800′s a German furnishings dealer named Raphael Tuck and his two sons developed 4 methods that set the scene for jigsaw development into the subsequent century:

Their subjects Jigsaw puzzle producers integrated many varied and colourful topics.

Cutting was made much more intricate and included “Whimsies” – person pieces cut into recognisable shapes like animals and household goods.

Plywood and thick card started to be utilized rather of costly hardwood.

Appealing boxes (that for the initial time included an image of the uncut puzzle) had been introduced.

Those with an interest in history could like to know that Raphael Tuck was also instrumental in the development of other industries – he is credited with the 1st commercial production of Christmas cards and also the very first image postcards. He set up printing establishments in London, Paris and New York and in 1893 he received the Royal Warrant from Queen Victoria for printing the Queen’s letter to the nation on the occasion of the death of the Duke of Clarence.

Please pay a visit to my Funny Animal Art Prints Collection @ http://www.fabprints.com

My other site is known as Directory of British Icons: http://fabprints.webs.com

The Chinese contact Britain ‘The Island of Hero’s’ which I feel sums up what we British are all about. We British are inquisitive and competitive and are constantly searching over the horizon to the next adventure and discovery.

Copyright © 2010 Paul Hussey. All Rights Reserved.

Jigsaw puzzle manufacturers