Mechanics' Institutes, associations of working-men which aim at providing a general education for artisans, and particularly instruction in the fundamental principles of their own trades; are managed by committees of their own election, usually have a reading-room and library, and provide classes and lectures; Dr. Birkbeck started a journeymen's class in Glasgow 1800, and in 1824 in London organised the first Mechanics' Institute.
Definition taken from The Nuttall Encyclopædia, edited by the Reverend James Wood (1907)
Mechanical Powers * Mecklenburg-Schwerin