Steam powered jiggers (and jolleys - for producing hollow ware) were known of in the 1840s but there was much worker resistance to their introduction. The first mechanical jigger replacing hand power was the Porteus, driven by long lengths of shafting and belts. The potters were charged a weekly rent equivalent to the wages they had paid the boy who powered it before. In 1863 Francis Wedgwood had a plate making machine presented by a continental potter. The machine was so popular that within 15 years most of the large companies used it.

To work to capacity the jiggerer needed three boy attendants, and 600-1000 moulds.

One attendant cut a piece of clay and put onto a revolving surface where it was batted out by a spreader tool. Another attendant fixed a plate mould to the machine head. The jiggerer took the clay bat and threw it onto the plate mould held in the revolving jigger head. He pulled down the machine arm with the profile tool fixed form the back. The face of the plate was formed by the mould itself. The mouldrunner took two made plates to the drying stove and brought empty moulds back. The third boy would back the plate, fettling and finishing it, making sure it was smooth all over.