In this treatise, he mentioned two lathes. The first is a hand-cranked lathe for turned heavy bell cores. The other is a
pewterer's lathe,
which he describes as "set up in the same way as the one on which platters and other wooden vessels are turned.(6)" This lathe is pulled by "a boy," presumably pulling back and forth on a cord wrapped around the piece being worked. Such reciprocol motion is charactistic of most early lathes, particularly those used in woodworking.