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The Project Gutenberg eBook of Inventions in the century
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the
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Title: Inventions in the century
Author: William H. Doolittle
Release date: July 18, 2011 [eBook #36776]
Most recently updated: September 3, 2023
Language: English
Other information and formats: www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/36776
Credits: Chris Curnow, Stephanie Kovalchik and the
Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
(This file was produced from images generously made
available by The Internet Archive)
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK INVENTIONS IN THE CENTURY ***
Transcriber’s Notes:
Misspellings in the source text have been corrected.
Missing page entries for “Wooden shoes” was assigned a page
number by the transcriber.
Index entry for “Stamfield, Jas.” was removed since this name
does not occur in the main text.
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the
world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-
use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of
the country where you are located before using this eBook.
Title: Inventions in the century
Author: William H. Doolittle
Release date: July 18, 2011 [eBook #36776]
Most recently updated: September 3, 2023
Language: English
Other information and formats: www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/36776
Credits: Chris Curnow, Stephanie Kovalchik and the
Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
(This file was produced from images generously made
available by The Internet Archive)
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK INVENTIONS IN THE CENTURY ***
Transcriber’s Notes:
Misspellings in the source text have been corrected.
Missing page entries for “Wooden shoes” was assigned a page
number by the transcriber.
Index entry for “Stamfield, Jas.” was removed since this name
does not occur in the main text.
Page 4
THE NINETEENTH CENTURY SERIES
EDITOR:
JUSTIN McCARTHY.
ASSOCIATE EDITORS:
REV. W. H. WITHROW, M.A., D.D., F.R.S.C.
CHARLES G. D. ROBERTS, M.A., F.R.C.I.
J. CASTELL HOPKINS, F.R.S.L.
T. G. MARQUIS, B.A.
REV. T. S. LINSCOTT, F.R.C.I.
INVENTIONS
IN THE CENTURY
BY
WILLIAM H. DOOLITTLE
Expert and Patent Solicitor, Ex-Examiner in the Patent Office and Assistant
Commissioner of Patents at Washington, Writer of Inventions, etc.
THE LINSCOTT PUBLISHING COMPANY
TORONTO AND PHILADELPHIA
W. & R. CHAMBERS, LIMITED
LONDON AND EDINBURGH
1903
EDITOR:
JUSTIN McCARTHY.
ASSOCIATE EDITORS:
REV. W. H. WITHROW, M.A., D.D., F.R.S.C.
CHARLES G. D. ROBERTS, M.A., F.R.C.I.
J. CASTELL HOPKINS, F.R.S.L.
T. G. MARQUIS, B.A.
REV. T. S. LINSCOTT, F.R.C.I.
INVENTIONS
IN THE CENTURY
BY
WILLIAM H. DOOLITTLE
Expert and Patent Solicitor, Ex-Examiner in the Patent Office and Assistant
Commissioner of Patents at Washington, Writer of Inventions, etc.
THE LINSCOTT PUBLISHING COMPANY
TORONTO AND PHILADELPHIA
W. & R. CHAMBERS, LIMITED
LONDON AND EDINBURGH
1903
Page 5
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the Year One Thousand Nine Hundred and Two, by the
Bradley-Garretson Co., Limited, in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.
Entered, according to Act of Parliament of Canada, in the Year One Thousand Nine Hundred and
Two, by the Bradley-Garretson Co., Limited, in the Office of the Minister of Agriculture.
All Rights Reserved.
Bradley-Garretson Co., Limited, in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.
Entered, according to Act of Parliament of Canada, in the Year One Thousand Nine Hundred and
Two, by the Bradley-Garretson Co., Limited, in the Office of the Minister of Agriculture.
All Rights Reserved.
Page 6
CONTENTS.
PAGE
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTORY.
INVENTIONS AND DISCOVERIES.
Inventions and Discoveries.—Distinctions and Contrast.—The One, Useful Contrivances of
Man; the Other, New Things Found in Nature.—Galileo and the Telescope.—Newton and
the Law of Gravitation.—Often United as Soul and Body.—Inventions and Discoveries do
not Precede or Succeed in Order.—Inventions—Alphabetical Writing; Arabic Notation; The
Mariner’s Compass; The Telescope; The Steam Engine.—Discoveries;—Attraction of
Gravitation; Planetary Motions; Circulation of Blood; Velocity of Light.—Nineteenth
Century Inventions and Discoveries.—Further Definitions.—Law of Development.—
Contrivances, not Creations.—Man Always an Inventor.—Prof. Langley on Slow Growth of
Inventions.—Inventions of this Century Outgrowth of Past Ones.—Egyptian Crooked Stick,
Precursor of Modern Plough.—Hero of Alexandria and James Watt.—David’s Harp and the
Grand Piano.—Electrical Science in 1600 and the Present Day.—Evolution and Interrelation
of the Arts.—Age of Machine Inventions.—Its Beginning.—The Inducements to Invention.
—Necessity not Always the Mother.—Wants of Various Kinds.—Accident.—Governmental
Protection the Greatest Incentive.—Origin and Growth of Patent Laws.—Influence of
Personal, Political and Intellectual Freedom and Education.—Arts of Civilization Due to the
Inventor.—Macaulay’s Estimate.—Will Inventions Continue to Increase or Decrease.—
Effect of Economic, Industrial and Social Life upon Inventions.—What Inventions have
Done for Humanity.—Thread of the Centuries.—The Roll of Inventions too Vast for
Enumeration. 1
CHAPTER II.
AGRICULTURE AND ITS IMPLEMENTS.
The Egyptians the Earliest and Greatest Agriculturists.—Rome and Farming.—Cato, Varro, 13
Virgil.—Columella.—Pliny.—Palladius.—The Decline of Agriculture.—Northern
Barbarism.—Lowest Ebb in the Middle Ages.—Revival in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth
Centuries.—With Invention of Printing.—Publications then, Concerning.—Growth in
Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries.—Jethro Tull.—Arthur Young.—Washington.—
Jefferson.—The Art Scientifically Commenced with Sir Humphry Davy’s Lectures on Soils
and Plants, 1802-1812.—Societies.—“Book Farming” and Prejudice of Farmers.—A Revisit
of Ruth and Cincinnatus at Beginning of Nineteenth Century.—Their Implements still the
Common Ones in Use.—The Plough and its History.—Its Essential Parts and their Evolution
to Modern Forms.—Originated in Holland.—Growth in England and America.—Small,
PAGE
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTORY.
INVENTIONS AND DISCOVERIES.
Inventions and Discoveries.—Distinctions and Contrast.—The One, Useful Contrivances of
Man; the Other, New Things Found in Nature.—Galileo and the Telescope.—Newton and
the Law of Gravitation.—Often United as Soul and Body.—Inventions and Discoveries do
not Precede or Succeed in Order.—Inventions—Alphabetical Writing; Arabic Notation; The
Mariner’s Compass; The Telescope; The Steam Engine.—Discoveries;—Attraction of
Gravitation; Planetary Motions; Circulation of Blood; Velocity of Light.—Nineteenth
Century Inventions and Discoveries.—Further Definitions.—Law of Development.—
Contrivances, not Creations.—Man Always an Inventor.—Prof. Langley on Slow Growth of
Inventions.—Inventions of this Century Outgrowth of Past Ones.—Egyptian Crooked Stick,
Precursor of Modern Plough.—Hero of Alexandria and James Watt.—David’s Harp and the
Grand Piano.—Electrical Science in 1600 and the Present Day.—Evolution and Interrelation
of the Arts.—Age of Machine Inventions.—Its Beginning.—The Inducements to Invention.
—Necessity not Always the Mother.—Wants of Various Kinds.—Accident.—Governmental
Protection the Greatest Incentive.—Origin and Growth of Patent Laws.—Influence of
Personal, Political and Intellectual Freedom and Education.—Arts of Civilization Due to the
Inventor.—Macaulay’s Estimate.—Will Inventions Continue to Increase or Decrease.—
Effect of Economic, Industrial and Social Life upon Inventions.—What Inventions have
Done for Humanity.—Thread of the Centuries.—The Roll of Inventions too Vast for
Enumeration. 1
CHAPTER II.
AGRICULTURE AND ITS IMPLEMENTS.
The Egyptians the Earliest and Greatest Agriculturists.—Rome and Farming.—Cato, Varro, 13
Virgil.—Columella.—Pliny.—Palladius.—The Decline of Agriculture.—Northern
Barbarism.—Lowest Ebb in the Middle Ages.—Revival in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth
Centuries.—With Invention of Printing.—Publications then, Concerning.—Growth in
Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries.—Jethro Tull.—Arthur Young.—Washington.—
Jefferson.—The Art Scientifically Commenced with Sir Humphry Davy’s Lectures on Soils
and Plants, 1802-1812.—Societies.—“Book Farming” and Prejudice of Farmers.—A Revisit
of Ruth and Cincinnatus at Beginning of Nineteenth Century.—Their Implements still the
Common Ones in Use.—The Plough and its History.—Its Essential Parts and their Evolution
to Modern Forms.—Originated in Holland.—Growth in England and America.—Small,
Page 7
Jefferson, Newbold.—Lord Kames’ Complaint.—The American Plough.—Cutting Disks.—
Steam Ploughs: Implements for Preparing the Soil for Planting.—Various Forms of
Harrows.
CHAPTER III.
AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS.
The Sowing of Grain.—The Sower of the Parables.—His Art and its Defects Lasted until
Nineteenth Century.—The Problems to be Solved.—Assyrian and Chinese Seeding
Implements.—India.—Italy First to Introduce a Grain Sowing Machine, Seventeenth
Century.—Zanon’s Work on Agriculture, 1764.—Austria and England.—A Spaniard’s
Invention.—Don Lescatello.—The Drill of Jethro Tull.—A Clergyman, Cooke’s Machine.—
Washington and Others.—Modern Improvements in Seeders and their Operation and
Functions.—Force Feed and Gravity Feed.—Graduated Flow.—Divided Feeds for Separate
Grains and Fertilizing Material.—Garden Ploughs and Seeders.—Gangs of Heavy Ones.—
Operated by Steam.—Corn Planters.—Walking and Riding.—Objects of Proper Planting.—
How Accomplished by Machinery.—Variety of Machines.—Potatoes and the Finest Seeds.
—Transplanters.—Cultivators.—Their Purposes and Varieties.—Primitive and Modern
Toilers.—Millet.—Tillers of the Soil no Longer “Brothers of the Ox.” 23
CHAPTER IV.
AGRICULTURAL INVENTIONS.
Harvesting in Ancient Times.—The Sickle.—Pliny’s Machine.—Now the Clover Header.—
Palladius’ Description.—Improved in 1786.—Scotchman’s Grain Cradle in 1794.—The
Seven Ancient Wonders and the Seven Modern Wonders.—The Modern Harvester and the
Cotton Gin.—Requirements of the Harvester.—Boyce.—Meares.—Plucknett.—Gladstone
and the First Front Draft Machine, 1806.—Salonen introduced Vibrating Knives over
Stationary Blades, 1807.—Ogle and Reciprocating Knife Bar, 1822.—Rev. Patrick Bell,
1823, Cuts an Acre of Grain in an Hour.—Mowers and Reapers in America in 1820.—
Reaper and Thresher combined by Lane, of Maine, 1828.—Manning’s Harvester, 1831.—
Schnebly.—Hussey.—McCormick, 1833-34.—Harvesters and Mowers at World’s Fair,
London, 1851.—Automatic Binders.—Wire and Twine.—Advances Shown at Centennial
Exhibition, 1876.—Inventions Beyond the Wildest Dreams of Former Farmers.—One
Invention Generates Another.—Lawn Mowers.—Hay Forks and Stackers.—Corn, Cotton,
Potato, Flax Harvesters.—Threshing.—The Old Flail.—Egyptian and Roman Methods.—
The First Modern Threshing Machine.—Menzies, Leckie, Meikle.—Combined Harvesters
and Threshers.—Flax Threshers and Brakes.—Cotton Gins.—Eli Whitney.—Enormous
Importance of this Machine in Cotton Products.—Displacement of Labour. 32
CHAPTER V.
AGRICULTURAL INVENTIONS (continued).
Harvest Ended, Comes the Preparation of Grain and Fruits for Food.—Cleaning.— 45
Separating.—Grinding.—Fanning Mills and Sir Walter Scott.—The Rudimentary Mills.—
Steam Ploughs: Implements for Preparing the Soil for Planting.—Various Forms of
Harrows.
CHAPTER III.
AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS.
The Sowing of Grain.—The Sower of the Parables.—His Art and its Defects Lasted until
Nineteenth Century.—The Problems to be Solved.—Assyrian and Chinese Seeding
Implements.—India.—Italy First to Introduce a Grain Sowing Machine, Seventeenth
Century.—Zanon’s Work on Agriculture, 1764.—Austria and England.—A Spaniard’s
Invention.—Don Lescatello.—The Drill of Jethro Tull.—A Clergyman, Cooke’s Machine.—
Washington and Others.—Modern Improvements in Seeders and their Operation and
Functions.—Force Feed and Gravity Feed.—Graduated Flow.—Divided Feeds for Separate
Grains and Fertilizing Material.—Garden Ploughs and Seeders.—Gangs of Heavy Ones.—
Operated by Steam.—Corn Planters.—Walking and Riding.—Objects of Proper Planting.—
How Accomplished by Machinery.—Variety of Machines.—Potatoes and the Finest Seeds.
—Transplanters.—Cultivators.—Their Purposes and Varieties.—Primitive and Modern
Toilers.—Millet.—Tillers of the Soil no Longer “Brothers of the Ox.” 23
CHAPTER IV.
AGRICULTURAL INVENTIONS.
Harvesting in Ancient Times.—The Sickle.—Pliny’s Machine.—Now the Clover Header.—
Palladius’ Description.—Improved in 1786.—Scotchman’s Grain Cradle in 1794.—The
Seven Ancient Wonders and the Seven Modern Wonders.—The Modern Harvester and the
Cotton Gin.—Requirements of the Harvester.—Boyce.—Meares.—Plucknett.—Gladstone
and the First Front Draft Machine, 1806.—Salonen introduced Vibrating Knives over
Stationary Blades, 1807.—Ogle and Reciprocating Knife Bar, 1822.—Rev. Patrick Bell,
1823, Cuts an Acre of Grain in an Hour.—Mowers and Reapers in America in 1820.—
Reaper and Thresher combined by Lane, of Maine, 1828.—Manning’s Harvester, 1831.—
Schnebly.—Hussey.—McCormick, 1833-34.—Harvesters and Mowers at World’s Fair,
London, 1851.—Automatic Binders.—Wire and Twine.—Advances Shown at Centennial
Exhibition, 1876.—Inventions Beyond the Wildest Dreams of Former Farmers.—One
Invention Generates Another.—Lawn Mowers.—Hay Forks and Stackers.—Corn, Cotton,
Potato, Flax Harvesters.—Threshing.—The Old Flail.—Egyptian and Roman Methods.—
The First Modern Threshing Machine.—Menzies, Leckie, Meikle.—Combined Harvesters
and Threshers.—Flax Threshers and Brakes.—Cotton Gins.—Eli Whitney.—Enormous
Importance of this Machine in Cotton Products.—Displacement of Labour. 32
CHAPTER V.
AGRICULTURAL INVENTIONS (continued).
Harvest Ended, Comes the Preparation of Grain and Fruits for Food.—Cleaning.— 45
Separating.—Grinding.—Fanning Mills and Sir Walter Scott.—The Rudimentary Mills.—
Page 8
Egyptian.—Hebrew, Grecian, and Roman Methods, Prevailed until Middle of Eighteenth
Century.—The Upper and Nether Mill Stone in Modern Dress.—Modern Mills Invented at
Close of Eighteenth Century.—Oliver Evans of America, 1755-1819.—Evans’ System
Prevailed for Three Quarters of a Century.—New System.—Middlings.—Low Milling.—
High Milling.—Roller Mills.—Middlings Separators.—Dust Explosions and Prevention.—
Vegetable Cutters.—Choppers.—Fruit Parers and Slicers.—Great Range of Mechanisms to
Treat the Tenderest Pods and Smallest Seeds.—Crushing Sugar Cane.—Pressing and Baling.
—Every Product has its own Proper Machine for Picking, Pressing, Packing, or Baling.—
Cotton Compress.—Extensive and Enormous Cotton Crops of the World.—Cotton Presses
of Various Kinds.—Hay and its Baling.—Bale Ties.—Fruits and Foods.—Machines for
Gathering, Packing, Preserving, etc., all Modern.—Drying and Evaporating.—Sealing.—
Transporting.—Tobacco.—Its Enormous Production.—The Interdict of James I., and of
Popes, Kings, Sultans, etc.—Variety of Machines for its Treatment.
CHAPTER VI.
CHEMISTRY, MEDICINES, SURGERY, DENTISTRY.
Chemistry among the Ancients.—Egyptians.—Phœnicians.—Israelites.—Greeks and
Romans.—Chinese.—Became a Science in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries.—
Libavius.—Van Helmont.—Glauber—Tachenius.—Boyle.—Lémery.—Becher.—Stahl.—
Boerhaave.—Black.—Cavendish.—Lavoisier.—Priestley.—Chemistry of Nineteenth
Century a New World.—Atomic and Molecular Theories.—Light, Heat, and Electricity.—
Correlation and Conservation of Forces.—Spectrum Analysis.—Laws of Chemical Changes.
—John Dalton.—Wollaston.—Gay.—Lussac.—Berzelius.—Huygens’ and Newton’s
Discoveries in Light in Seventeenth Century.—Unfolded and Developed by Fraunhofer,
Kirchoff.—Bunsen in the Nineteenth.—Young of America.—Combination of Spectroscope
and Telescope.—Huggins of England, Spectrum Analysis of the Stars.—Heat and other
Forces.—Count Rumford.—Davy.—Mayer.—Helmholtz.—Colding.—Joule.—Grove.—
Faraday.—Sir William Thomson.—Le Conte and Martin.—French Revolution and
Agricultural Chemistry.—Lavoisier, Berthollet.—Guyton.—Fourcroy.—Napoleon.—Sir
Humphry Davy.—Liebig.—Fermentation.—Alcohol.—Yeast.—Malt.—Wines.—Beer.—
Huxley’s Lecture on Yeast, 1871.—Protein.—Protoplasm.—Evolution from one all-
pervading Force.—Alcohol and Pasteur.—Manufacture of Liquors.—Carbonating.—Soils
and Fertilisers.—Liquids, Oils, Sugar and Fats.—Bleaching and Dyeing.—Aniline Colours.
—Perfumes.—Electro-Chemical Methods.—Applied to the Production of Artificial Light.—
Abradants.—Disinfectants.—Pigments.—Mineral Analysis.—Purification of Water and
Sewage.—Electroplating Metals.—Chemicals and the Fine Arts.—Redemption of Waste
Materials.—Medicines and Surgery.—Their Growth from Empiricism.—Anæsthetics.—
Davy.—Morton.—Jackson.—Innumerable Medical Compounds.—Antiseptic Treatment of
Wounds.—Vast Variety of Surgical Instruments Invented.—Four Thousand Patents in United
States Alone.—Dentistry.—Its Ancient Origin.—Account of Herodotus.—Revolution in,
during Nineteenth Century.—Instruments.—Artificial Teeth.—Vast Relief from Pain. 58
CHAPTER VII.
STEAM AND STEAM ENGINES.
Century.—The Upper and Nether Mill Stone in Modern Dress.—Modern Mills Invented at
Close of Eighteenth Century.—Oliver Evans of America, 1755-1819.—Evans’ System
Prevailed for Three Quarters of a Century.—New System.—Middlings.—Low Milling.—
High Milling.—Roller Mills.—Middlings Separators.—Dust Explosions and Prevention.—
Vegetable Cutters.—Choppers.—Fruit Parers and Slicers.—Great Range of Mechanisms to
Treat the Tenderest Pods and Smallest Seeds.—Crushing Sugar Cane.—Pressing and Baling.
—Every Product has its own Proper Machine for Picking, Pressing, Packing, or Baling.—
Cotton Compress.—Extensive and Enormous Cotton Crops of the World.—Cotton Presses
of Various Kinds.—Hay and its Baling.—Bale Ties.—Fruits and Foods.—Machines for
Gathering, Packing, Preserving, etc., all Modern.—Drying and Evaporating.—Sealing.—
Transporting.—Tobacco.—Its Enormous Production.—The Interdict of James I., and of
Popes, Kings, Sultans, etc.—Variety of Machines for its Treatment.
CHAPTER VI.
CHEMISTRY, MEDICINES, SURGERY, DENTISTRY.
Chemistry among the Ancients.—Egyptians.—Phœnicians.—Israelites.—Greeks and
Romans.—Chinese.—Became a Science in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries.—
Libavius.—Van Helmont.—Glauber—Tachenius.—Boyle.—Lémery.—Becher.—Stahl.—
Boerhaave.—Black.—Cavendish.—Lavoisier.—Priestley.—Chemistry of Nineteenth
Century a New World.—Atomic and Molecular Theories.—Light, Heat, and Electricity.—
Correlation and Conservation of Forces.—Spectrum Analysis.—Laws of Chemical Changes.
—John Dalton.—Wollaston.—Gay.—Lussac.—Berzelius.—Huygens’ and Newton’s
Discoveries in Light in Seventeenth Century.—Unfolded and Developed by Fraunhofer,
Kirchoff.—Bunsen in the Nineteenth.—Young of America.—Combination of Spectroscope
and Telescope.—Huggins of England, Spectrum Analysis of the Stars.—Heat and other
Forces.—Count Rumford.—Davy.—Mayer.—Helmholtz.—Colding.—Joule.—Grove.—
Faraday.—Sir William Thomson.—Le Conte and Martin.—French Revolution and
Agricultural Chemistry.—Lavoisier, Berthollet.—Guyton.—Fourcroy.—Napoleon.—Sir
Humphry Davy.—Liebig.—Fermentation.—Alcohol.—Yeast.—Malt.—Wines.—Beer.—
Huxley’s Lecture on Yeast, 1871.—Protein.—Protoplasm.—Evolution from one all-
pervading Force.—Alcohol and Pasteur.—Manufacture of Liquors.—Carbonating.—Soils
and Fertilisers.—Liquids, Oils, Sugar and Fats.—Bleaching and Dyeing.—Aniline Colours.
—Perfumes.—Electro-Chemical Methods.—Applied to the Production of Artificial Light.—
Abradants.—Disinfectants.—Pigments.—Mineral Analysis.—Purification of Water and
Sewage.—Electroplating Metals.—Chemicals and the Fine Arts.—Redemption of Waste
Materials.—Medicines and Surgery.—Their Growth from Empiricism.—Anæsthetics.—
Davy.—Morton.—Jackson.—Innumerable Medical Compounds.—Antiseptic Treatment of
Wounds.—Vast Variety of Surgical Instruments Invented.—Four Thousand Patents in United
States Alone.—Dentistry.—Its Ancient Origin.—Account of Herodotus.—Revolution in,
during Nineteenth Century.—Instruments.—Artificial Teeth.—Vast Relief from Pain. 58
CHAPTER VII.
STEAM AND STEAM ENGINES.
Page 9
Prophecy of Dr. Darwin in Eighteenth Century.—Review of the Art from Hero to James
Watt.—Pumping Engines.—Road Carriages.—Watt.—Cugnot.—Rumsey.—Fitch.—Oliver
Evans.—Read.—Symington.—Trevithick.—Locomotives.—Blenkinsop.—Griffith.—
Bramah.—Horse Engine.—Hancock.—Blackett.—George Stephenson.—Hackworth.—
Braithwaite.—Ericsson.—Huskisson First Victim of Railroad Accident.—Seguin.—John C.
Stevens.—Horatio Allen.—Peter Cooper.—Symington.—Lord Dundas.—Fulton and
Livingston.—The First Successful Steamboat.—Transatlantic Steam Navigation.—
Scarborough of Georgia.—Bell of Scotland.—Cunard Line; Paddle Wheels.—Screw
Propellers.—The Age of Kinetic Energy.—Professor Thurston.—Variety of Engines and
Boilers.—Corliss.—Bicycle and Automobile Engines.—Napoleon’s Stage Trip and Present
Locomotion.—Daniel Webster’s Survey of the Art. 73
CHAPTER VIII.
ENGINEERING AND TRANSPORTATION.
The Duties of a Civil Engineer.—Great Engineering of the Past.—The Divisions.—Steam.
—Mining.—Hydraulic.—Electrical.—Marine.—Bridge Making, Its Development.—First
Arched Iron Bridge.—Darby.—Telford.—Leading Bridges of the Century.—Suspension.—
Tubular.—Tubular Arch.—Truss.—Cantilever.—Spider’s Web and Suspension.—Sir
Samuel Brown.—The Tweed.—Menai Straits and Telford.—M. Chaley and Fribourg.—J. K.
Brunel and Isle of Bourbon.—British America and the United States united in 1855—
Niagara.—John A. Roebling.—The Brooklyn Bridge.—Caissons and the Caisson Disease.—
Tubular Bridge at Menai.—“The Grandest Lift in Engineering.”—Robert Stephenson.—The
Tubular Arch at Washington.—Captain Meigs and Captain Eads.—St. Louis Bridge.—Truss
System and Vast Modern Bridges.—Cantilever Succeeded the Suspension.—New Niagara
and River Forth.—Schneider.—Hayes.—Fowler and Baker.—Milton’s Description.—
Lighthouses.—Smeaton.—Douglass.—Bartholdi.—Eiffel.—Excavating, Dredging,
Draining.—Road-making.—Railroads.—Canals.—Tunnels.—Excavating.—Desert Lands
Reclaimed.—Holland and Florida Swamps.—The Tunnels of the Alps.—Suez Canal.—
Engineering, as seen from a Pullman Car.—Cable Transportation.—Pneumatic Lock
System.—Grain Elevators—Progress in Civilisation. 93
CHAPTER IX.
ELECTRICITY.
Theories and Definitions.—Franklin’s and a Modern One.—Varieties of the Force.— 111
Generation.—Dynamic Energy.—Discoveries before the Nineteenth Century.—Magnetism
and Electricity.—Fathers of the Science.—Doctor Gilbert.—Otto von Guericke.—Sir Isaac
Newton.—Gray.—Dufay.—Professor Muschenbroeck.—Cuneus.—Charles Morrison.—
Franklin and Galvani.—Volta.—The Door to Nineteenth Century Inventions then Opened.—
Fabroni.—Sir Humphry Davy, Wollaston, Nicholson, and Carlisle.—Ritter Followed—
Electrolysis.—Faraday and its Laws.—Davy and the Electric Light.—Batteries.—Daniell.—
Grove.—Bunsen.—Brilliant Discoveries from 1800 to 1820.—Oersted, Schweigger.—
Magnetising Helix.—Indicators.—Arago and Davy.—Ampère’s Discoveries.—Sturgeon and
the first Electro-Magnet, 1825.—Telegraphy.—Gauss, Weber, Schilling.—Professor
Barlow’s Demonstration that Telegraphy was Impracticable.—Joseph Henry.—Powerful
Watt.—Pumping Engines.—Road Carriages.—Watt.—Cugnot.—Rumsey.—Fitch.—Oliver
Evans.—Read.—Symington.—Trevithick.—Locomotives.—Blenkinsop.—Griffith.—
Bramah.—Horse Engine.—Hancock.—Blackett.—George Stephenson.—Hackworth.—
Braithwaite.—Ericsson.—Huskisson First Victim of Railroad Accident.—Seguin.—John C.
Stevens.—Horatio Allen.—Peter Cooper.—Symington.—Lord Dundas.—Fulton and
Livingston.—The First Successful Steamboat.—Transatlantic Steam Navigation.—
Scarborough of Georgia.—Bell of Scotland.—Cunard Line; Paddle Wheels.—Screw
Propellers.—The Age of Kinetic Energy.—Professor Thurston.—Variety of Engines and
Boilers.—Corliss.—Bicycle and Automobile Engines.—Napoleon’s Stage Trip and Present
Locomotion.—Daniel Webster’s Survey of the Art. 73
CHAPTER VIII.
ENGINEERING AND TRANSPORTATION.
The Duties of a Civil Engineer.—Great Engineering of the Past.—The Divisions.—Steam.
—Mining.—Hydraulic.—Electrical.—Marine.—Bridge Making, Its Development.—First
Arched Iron Bridge.—Darby.—Telford.—Leading Bridges of the Century.—Suspension.—
Tubular.—Tubular Arch.—Truss.—Cantilever.—Spider’s Web and Suspension.—Sir
Samuel Brown.—The Tweed.—Menai Straits and Telford.—M. Chaley and Fribourg.—J. K.
Brunel and Isle of Bourbon.—British America and the United States united in 1855—
Niagara.—John A. Roebling.—The Brooklyn Bridge.—Caissons and the Caisson Disease.—
Tubular Bridge at Menai.—“The Grandest Lift in Engineering.”—Robert Stephenson.—The
Tubular Arch at Washington.—Captain Meigs and Captain Eads.—St. Louis Bridge.—Truss
System and Vast Modern Bridges.—Cantilever Succeeded the Suspension.—New Niagara
and River Forth.—Schneider.—Hayes.—Fowler and Baker.—Milton’s Description.—
Lighthouses.—Smeaton.—Douglass.—Bartholdi.—Eiffel.—Excavating, Dredging,
Draining.—Road-making.—Railroads.—Canals.—Tunnels.—Excavating.—Desert Lands
Reclaimed.—Holland and Florida Swamps.—The Tunnels of the Alps.—Suez Canal.—
Engineering, as seen from a Pullman Car.—Cable Transportation.—Pneumatic Lock
System.—Grain Elevators—Progress in Civilisation. 93
CHAPTER IX.
ELECTRICITY.
Theories and Definitions.—Franklin’s and a Modern One.—Varieties of the Force.— 111
Generation.—Dynamic Energy.—Discoveries before the Nineteenth Century.—Magnetism
and Electricity.—Fathers of the Science.—Doctor Gilbert.—Otto von Guericke.—Sir Isaac
Newton.—Gray.—Dufay.—Professor Muschenbroeck.—Cuneus.—Charles Morrison.—
Franklin and Galvani.—Volta.—The Door to Nineteenth Century Inventions then Opened.—
Fabroni.—Sir Humphry Davy, Wollaston, Nicholson, and Carlisle.—Ritter Followed—
Electrolysis.—Faraday and its Laws.—Davy and the Electric Light.—Batteries.—Daniell.—
Grove.—Bunsen.—Brilliant Discoveries from 1800 to 1820.—Oersted, Schweigger.—
Magnetising Helix.—Indicators.—Arago and Davy.—Ampère’s Discoveries.—Sturgeon and
the first Electro-Magnet, 1825.—Telegraphy.—Gauss, Weber, Schilling.—Professor
Barlow’s Demonstration that Telegraphy was Impracticable.—Joseph Henry.—Powerful
Page 10
Magnets.—Modern and Ancient Telegraphy of Various Kinds.—The Third Decade.—
George Simon Ohm.—Steinheil.—Telegraph of Morse, Vail, Dana, Gale.—Wheatstone.—
U.S. Supreme Court on Morse System.—His Alphabet and Submarine Telegraph.—Michael
Faraday and Science of Magnets.—Steam and Magneto-Dynamo Machines.—Chemical
Affinity and Electricity.—Helmholtz, Faraday, Henry, and Pixii.—Ruhmkorff Coil.—Page.
—Electrical Light.—Decomposition of Water.—Professor Nollet.—First Practical Electric
Light Shone on the Sea, 1858.—Faraday and Holmes.—Lighthouse Illumination.—Dr. W.
Siemens.—Wilde’s Machine.—Other Powerful Magnetic Machines.—Field Magnets.—Z.
Gramme.—The Various Ways and Means of Developing Electric Light.—Geissler Tubes.—
First House Lighted in America.—Moses G. Farmer.—Jablochoff’s Candle.—French
Regulators.—Outdoor and Indoor Illumination.—Siemens, Farmer, Brush, Maxim,
Westinghouse, Edison, Swan, Lane—Fox and Others.—Arc Lamps of Heffner von
Alteneck.—Ocean Cables.—Cyrus W. Field.—John Bright’s Expression.—Weak Currents.
—Thomson’s Remedy.—Mirror Galvanometer.—Centennial Exhibition and the Telephone.
—Alexander Graham Bell, 1875.—The Telephone and Helmholtz’ Theory of Tone.—Scott’s
Phonautograph.—Page’s Production of Galvanic Music and Researches of Reis.—Its Slow
Growth.—The Ideas of Faraday and Henry still the Basis of the Great Machines.—“Lines of
Force.”—Electric Railway.—Storage Batteries.—Dynamos.—First Railway at Berlin, 1879.
—Then Saxony, Paris, London, New York.—Telpherage by Professor Jenkin.—Problems
Solved.—Electrical Magicians.—Edison and Tesla.—Recent Improvements in Telegraphy.
—The Talks Both Ways at Same Time and Multiplied.—Printing Systems by Types and
Otherwise.—Electrical Elevators.—Microphone.—Ticks of a Watch and the Tread of a Fly
Recorded.—Musical Sounds from Minerals and Other Substances.—Signalling and Other
Appliances.—The X Rays.—Wireless Telegraphy.
CHAPTER X.
HOISTING, CONVEYING, AND STORING.
Drudgery of Ancient Times Relieved by Modern Inventions.—The Labour of Men and
Beasts now Done by Steam Giants.—Labour-Saving Appliances for Transportation.—Tall
Buildings and Elevators.—Evolution Slow until 19th Century.—Carrying of Weights.—The
Pyramids.—Modern Methods.—Ship-Loading.—The Six Ordinary Powers Alone Used until
the Time of Watt.—Elevator Mills of Oliver Evans.—The Hydraulic Press of Bramah.—The
Lifting of Tubular Bridge by Robt. Stephenson.—Compressed Air Elevator of Slade.—
Counterbalance Lifts of Van Elvean.—Modern Elevator of Otis, 1859.—Steam-Water.—
Compressed Air.—Electricity: Elevators, how Controlled.—Store Service Conveyors.—
Pneumatic Transmission: Dodge’s Air Blast Conveyor.—Mode of Switching Conveyors.
—“Lazy Tongs” Conveyors.—Buffers.—Endless Cables.—Clutches, Safety.—Labour-
Saving Devices and Derangement of Labour.—In One Sense, Inventions Labour-Increasing
Devices. 152
CHAPTER XI.
HYDRAULICS.
Old as the Thirst of Man.—Prehistoric Inventions.—China.—Pliny’s Record.—Egyptian, 164
Carthaginian, Greek and Roman Water Works.—“Pneumatics of Hero.”—Overshot,
George Simon Ohm.—Steinheil.—Telegraph of Morse, Vail, Dana, Gale.—Wheatstone.—
U.S. Supreme Court on Morse System.—His Alphabet and Submarine Telegraph.—Michael
Faraday and Science of Magnets.—Steam and Magneto-Dynamo Machines.—Chemical
Affinity and Electricity.—Helmholtz, Faraday, Henry, and Pixii.—Ruhmkorff Coil.—Page.
—Electrical Light.—Decomposition of Water.—Professor Nollet.—First Practical Electric
Light Shone on the Sea, 1858.—Faraday and Holmes.—Lighthouse Illumination.—Dr. W.
Siemens.—Wilde’s Machine.—Other Powerful Magnetic Machines.—Field Magnets.—Z.
Gramme.—The Various Ways and Means of Developing Electric Light.—Geissler Tubes.—
First House Lighted in America.—Moses G. Farmer.—Jablochoff’s Candle.—French
Regulators.—Outdoor and Indoor Illumination.—Siemens, Farmer, Brush, Maxim,
Westinghouse, Edison, Swan, Lane—Fox and Others.—Arc Lamps of Heffner von
Alteneck.—Ocean Cables.—Cyrus W. Field.—John Bright’s Expression.—Weak Currents.
—Thomson’s Remedy.—Mirror Galvanometer.—Centennial Exhibition and the Telephone.
—Alexander Graham Bell, 1875.—The Telephone and Helmholtz’ Theory of Tone.—Scott’s
Phonautograph.—Page’s Production of Galvanic Music and Researches of Reis.—Its Slow
Growth.—The Ideas of Faraday and Henry still the Basis of the Great Machines.—“Lines of
Force.”—Electric Railway.—Storage Batteries.—Dynamos.—First Railway at Berlin, 1879.
—Then Saxony, Paris, London, New York.—Telpherage by Professor Jenkin.—Problems
Solved.—Electrical Magicians.—Edison and Tesla.—Recent Improvements in Telegraphy.
—The Talks Both Ways at Same Time and Multiplied.—Printing Systems by Types and
Otherwise.—Electrical Elevators.—Microphone.—Ticks of a Watch and the Tread of a Fly
Recorded.—Musical Sounds from Minerals and Other Substances.—Signalling and Other
Appliances.—The X Rays.—Wireless Telegraphy.
CHAPTER X.
HOISTING, CONVEYING, AND STORING.
Drudgery of Ancient Times Relieved by Modern Inventions.—The Labour of Men and
Beasts now Done by Steam Giants.—Labour-Saving Appliances for Transportation.—Tall
Buildings and Elevators.—Evolution Slow until 19th Century.—Carrying of Weights.—The
Pyramids.—Modern Methods.—Ship-Loading.—The Six Ordinary Powers Alone Used until
the Time of Watt.—Elevator Mills of Oliver Evans.—The Hydraulic Press of Bramah.—The
Lifting of Tubular Bridge by Robt. Stephenson.—Compressed Air Elevator of Slade.—
Counterbalance Lifts of Van Elvean.—Modern Elevator of Otis, 1859.—Steam-Water.—
Compressed Air.—Electricity: Elevators, how Controlled.—Store Service Conveyors.—
Pneumatic Transmission: Dodge’s Air Blast Conveyor.—Mode of Switching Conveyors.
—“Lazy Tongs” Conveyors.—Buffers.—Endless Cables.—Clutches, Safety.—Labour-
Saving Devices and Derangement of Labour.—In One Sense, Inventions Labour-Increasing
Devices. 152
CHAPTER XI.
HYDRAULICS.
Old as the Thirst of Man.—Prehistoric Inventions.—China.—Pliny’s Record.—Egyptian, 164
Carthaginian, Greek and Roman Water Works.—“Pneumatics of Hero.”—Overshot,
Page 11
Undershot, and Breast Wheels, Ancient.—Screw of Archimedes.—Frontinus, a Roman
Inspector.—1593, Servière Invents the Rotary Pump.—1586, Stevinus of Holland, Father of
the Elementary Science.—Galileo, Torricelli, Pascal, and Sir Isaac Newton in the
Seventeenth Century.—Bernoulli, D’Alembert, Euler, Abbé Bossut, Venturi, and Eylewein
in the Eighteenth.—Water Distribution then Originated.—Peter Maurice and the London
Bridge Pumps.—La Hire’s Double Acting Pump.—Dr. John Allen and David Ramsey of
England.—Franklin’s Force Pump.—Water Ram of Whitehurst and Montgolfier.—
Nineteenth Century Opens with Bramah’s Pumps.—Water and Steam.—Pumps the Strong
Hands of Hydraulics.—Review of Past Inventions: Pascal’s Paradox.—Turbines of
Forneyron.—Power of Niagara and Turbines there.—Jonval’s.—Euler’s Old Centrifugal
Pumps Revived.—Massachusetts and Appold Systems.—Lowlands of Holland, Marshes of
Italy, Swamps of Florida, Drained.—Injectors.—Giffard.—Intensifiers.—Hydraulicising.—
Hydraulic Jack and Cleopatra’s Needle.—Flow of Cold Metal.—Lead Pipe Made, and Cold
Steel Stretched by Water Pressure.—Cotton Presses, Sir Wm. Armstrong’s Inventions.—
Tweddle and Sir Wm. Fairbairn.—Water Motors.—Baths and Closets.—Results of Modern
Improvements.—Germ Theory and Filters.
CHAPTER XII.
PNEUMATICS AND PNEUMATIC MACHINES.
The Slow March of the Human Mind.—Burke.—The Age of Mechanical Inventions not
until nearly Watt’s Steam Engine.—Review of “Learning” until that Time.—Motor Engines
not Produced until Seventeenth Century.—Suggested by the Bellows and the Cannon.—
Huygens and Papin.—Van Helmont the Author of the Term “Gas,” 1577-1644.—Robert
Boyle and the Air Pump.—Law of Gases.—Mariotte.—Abbé Hauteville, 1682.—The Heart
and a Motor.—Sun Burner.—Murdock, 1798, Uses Coal Gas for Illumination.—John Barber
and Carburetted Hydrogen.—Street’s Heated Gas.—1801, Lebon Proposes Coal Gas Motor.
—Investigations of Dalton and Gay-Lussac, 1810.—Heat engines: Air, Gas, Steam, Vapor,
Solar.—Explosive.—Temperature the Tie that Binds them as One Family.—1823-26, Sir
Samuel Brown.—Gunpowder and Gas Engine.—Davy and Faraday.—Gas to a Liquid State.
—Wright, 1833.—Burdett’s Compressed Air Engine, 1838.—Lenoir’s.—Hugon’s.—Beau
de Rohes’ Investigations.—Oil Wells of United States, 1860.—Petroleum Engines.—
Brayton, Spiel.—Otto’s Gas Engine and Improvements.—Ammoniacal Gas Engines.—
Nobels’ Inventions.—Storm’s Gunpowder Engine.—Gas and Vapour Compared with Steam.
—Prof. Jenkins’ Prediction.—Gas to Supplant Steam.—Compressed Air Engines.—
Innumerable Applications of Pneumatic Machines.—A Number Mentioned.—Their
Universal Application to the Useful and Fine Arts. 182
CHAPTER XIII.
ART OF HEATING, VENTILATING, COOKING, REFRIGERATING AND LIGHTING.
Prometheus and the Modern Match.—1680, Godfrey Hanckwitz Invented First Phosphorous 199
Match.—Other Forms of Matches.—Promethean Matches in 1820.—John Walker.—Lucifer.
—Tons of Chemicals, Hundreds of Pine Trees Yearly Made into Matches.—Splints and
Machines.—Reuben Partridge.—Poririer.—Pasteboard Box.—Machines for Assorting and
Dipping, Drying and Boxing.—Cooking and Heating Stoves.—History of, from Rome to
Inspector.—1593, Servière Invents the Rotary Pump.—1586, Stevinus of Holland, Father of
the Elementary Science.—Galileo, Torricelli, Pascal, and Sir Isaac Newton in the
Seventeenth Century.—Bernoulli, D’Alembert, Euler, Abbé Bossut, Venturi, and Eylewein
in the Eighteenth.—Water Distribution then Originated.—Peter Maurice and the London
Bridge Pumps.—La Hire’s Double Acting Pump.—Dr. John Allen and David Ramsey of
England.—Franklin’s Force Pump.—Water Ram of Whitehurst and Montgolfier.—
Nineteenth Century Opens with Bramah’s Pumps.—Water and Steam.—Pumps the Strong
Hands of Hydraulics.—Review of Past Inventions: Pascal’s Paradox.—Turbines of
Forneyron.—Power of Niagara and Turbines there.—Jonval’s.—Euler’s Old Centrifugal
Pumps Revived.—Massachusetts and Appold Systems.—Lowlands of Holland, Marshes of
Italy, Swamps of Florida, Drained.—Injectors.—Giffard.—Intensifiers.—Hydraulicising.—
Hydraulic Jack and Cleopatra’s Needle.—Flow of Cold Metal.—Lead Pipe Made, and Cold
Steel Stretched by Water Pressure.—Cotton Presses, Sir Wm. Armstrong’s Inventions.—
Tweddle and Sir Wm. Fairbairn.—Water Motors.—Baths and Closets.—Results of Modern
Improvements.—Germ Theory and Filters.
CHAPTER XII.
PNEUMATICS AND PNEUMATIC MACHINES.
The Slow March of the Human Mind.—Burke.—The Age of Mechanical Inventions not
until nearly Watt’s Steam Engine.—Review of “Learning” until that Time.—Motor Engines
not Produced until Seventeenth Century.—Suggested by the Bellows and the Cannon.—
Huygens and Papin.—Van Helmont the Author of the Term “Gas,” 1577-1644.—Robert
Boyle and the Air Pump.—Law of Gases.—Mariotte.—Abbé Hauteville, 1682.—The Heart
and a Motor.—Sun Burner.—Murdock, 1798, Uses Coal Gas for Illumination.—John Barber
and Carburetted Hydrogen.—Street’s Heated Gas.—1801, Lebon Proposes Coal Gas Motor.
—Investigations of Dalton and Gay-Lussac, 1810.—Heat engines: Air, Gas, Steam, Vapor,
Solar.—Explosive.—Temperature the Tie that Binds them as One Family.—1823-26, Sir
Samuel Brown.—Gunpowder and Gas Engine.—Davy and Faraday.—Gas to a Liquid State.
—Wright, 1833.—Burdett’s Compressed Air Engine, 1838.—Lenoir’s.—Hugon’s.—Beau
de Rohes’ Investigations.—Oil Wells of United States, 1860.—Petroleum Engines.—
Brayton, Spiel.—Otto’s Gas Engine and Improvements.—Ammoniacal Gas Engines.—
Nobels’ Inventions.—Storm’s Gunpowder Engine.—Gas and Vapour Compared with Steam.
—Prof. Jenkins’ Prediction.—Gas to Supplant Steam.—Compressed Air Engines.—
Innumerable Applications of Pneumatic Machines.—A Number Mentioned.—Their
Universal Application to the Useful and Fine Arts. 182
CHAPTER XIII.
ART OF HEATING, VENTILATING, COOKING, REFRIGERATING AND LIGHTING.
Prometheus and the Modern Match.—1680, Godfrey Hanckwitz Invented First Phosphorous 199
Match.—Other Forms of Matches.—Promethean Matches in 1820.—John Walker.—Lucifer.
—Tons of Chemicals, Hundreds of Pine Trees Yearly Made into Matches.—Splints and
Machines.—Reuben Partridge.—Poririer.—Pasteboard Box.—Machines for Assorting and
Dipping, Drying and Boxing.—Cooking and Heating Stoves.—History of, from Rome to
Page 12
Ben Franklin.—The Old-Fashioned Fireplace.—Varieties of Coal Stoves.—Stove Fireplace.
—Ventilation.—Hot Air Furnaces.—How Heat is Distributed, Retained, and Moistened.—
Hot Water Circulation.—Incubators.—Baking Ovens, the Dutch and the Modern.—Vast
Number of Stove and Furnace Foundries in United States.—Ventilation.—Parliament
Buildings and U. S. Capitol.—Eminent Scientific Men who have Made Ventilation a Study.
—Best Modes.—Its Great Importance.—Car Heaters.—Grass and Refuse Burning Stoves.
—Oil, Vapour, and Gas Stoves, their Construction and Operation.—Sterilising.—Electric
Heating and Cooking.—Refrigeration.—Messrs. Carré of France, 1870.—Artificial Ice.—
Sulphuric Acid and Ammonia Processes.—Absorption and Compression Methods
Described.—Refrigerating Cars.—Liquid Air.
CHAPTER XIV.
METALLURGY.
The Antiquity of the Art.—The “Lost Arts” Rediscovered.—The Earliest Forms of Smelting
Furnaces.—Ancient Iron and Steel.—India and Africa.—Early Spain and the Catalan
Furnace.—The Armour of Don Quixote.—Bell’s History of the Art.—Germany.—Cast Iron
Made by Ancients, Disused for 15 Centuries.—Reinvented by Page and Baude in England,
1543.—German Furnaces.—Dud Dudley, the Oxford Graduate and his Furnace, 1619.—
Origin of Coke in England.—Use in United States.—Revival of Cast Iron.—Cast Steel in
England, Huntsman, 1740.—Henry Cort and Puddling, 1784, and its Subsequent Wonderful
Value.—Steam Engine of Watt and Iron.—Refining of Precious Metals.—Amalgamating
Process.—Review of the 18th Century.—Herschel’s Distinction of Empirical and Scientific
Art.—The Nineteenth Century, Scientific Metallurgy.—Steam, Chemistry, Electricity.—
Rogers’ Iron Floor.—Neilson’s Hot Air Blast, 1828, Patent Sustained.—Anthracite Coal.—
Colossal Furnaces.—Gas Producers.—Bunsen’s Experiments.—Constituents of Ores.—
Squeezing Process.—Burden’s Method.—Mechanical Puddlers.—Rotary.—Henry
Bessemer’s Great Process—1855-1860.—Steel from Iron.—Holley’s Apparatus.—Effects of
and Changes in Bessemer Process.—Old Methods and Means Revived and Improved.—
Eminent Inventors.—New Metals and New Processes Discovered.—Harveyised Steel.—
Irresistible Projectiles and Impenetrable Armour Plate.—Krupp’s Works.—Immense
Manufactures in United States.—Treatment of Gold, Silver, Copper, Lead, etc.; Mining
Operations, Separation, Reduction.—Chemical Methods: Lixiviation or Leaching.—
MacArthur.—Forrest.—Sir Humphry Davy.—Scheele.—Chlorine and Cyanide Processes.—
Alloys.—Babbitting.—Metallic Lubricants.—Various Alloys and Uses.—Reduction of
Aluminium and other Metals.—Electro-Metallurgy.—Diamonds to be Made.—All Arts have
Waited on Development of this Art. 218
CHAPTER XV.
METAL WORKING PROCESSES AND MACHINES.—TUBE MAKING.—WELDING.—
ANNEALING AND TEMPERING.—COATING AND METAL FOUNDING.—METAL WARE.
— WIRE WORKING.
Metal Working Tools One of the Glories of 19th Century.—Wood Working and Metal 240
Working.—Ancient and Modern Lathe.—Turning Metal Lathe.—A Lost Art in Use in Egypt
and in Solomon’s Time.—Revived in Sixteenth Century.—Forgotten and Revived again in
—Ventilation.—Hot Air Furnaces.—How Heat is Distributed, Retained, and Moistened.—
Hot Water Circulation.—Incubators.—Baking Ovens, the Dutch and the Modern.—Vast
Number of Stove and Furnace Foundries in United States.—Ventilation.—Parliament
Buildings and U. S. Capitol.—Eminent Scientific Men who have Made Ventilation a Study.
—Best Modes.—Its Great Importance.—Car Heaters.—Grass and Refuse Burning Stoves.
—Oil, Vapour, and Gas Stoves, their Construction and Operation.—Sterilising.—Electric
Heating and Cooking.—Refrigeration.—Messrs. Carré of France, 1870.—Artificial Ice.—
Sulphuric Acid and Ammonia Processes.—Absorption and Compression Methods
Described.—Refrigerating Cars.—Liquid Air.
CHAPTER XIV.
METALLURGY.
The Antiquity of the Art.—The “Lost Arts” Rediscovered.—The Earliest Forms of Smelting
Furnaces.—Ancient Iron and Steel.—India and Africa.—Early Spain and the Catalan
Furnace.—The Armour of Don Quixote.—Bell’s History of the Art.—Germany.—Cast Iron
Made by Ancients, Disused for 15 Centuries.—Reinvented by Page and Baude in England,
1543.—German Furnaces.—Dud Dudley, the Oxford Graduate and his Furnace, 1619.—
Origin of Coke in England.—Use in United States.—Revival of Cast Iron.—Cast Steel in
England, Huntsman, 1740.—Henry Cort and Puddling, 1784, and its Subsequent Wonderful
Value.—Steam Engine of Watt and Iron.—Refining of Precious Metals.—Amalgamating
Process.—Review of the 18th Century.—Herschel’s Distinction of Empirical and Scientific
Art.—The Nineteenth Century, Scientific Metallurgy.—Steam, Chemistry, Electricity.—
Rogers’ Iron Floor.—Neilson’s Hot Air Blast, 1828, Patent Sustained.—Anthracite Coal.—
Colossal Furnaces.—Gas Producers.—Bunsen’s Experiments.—Constituents of Ores.—
Squeezing Process.—Burden’s Method.—Mechanical Puddlers.—Rotary.—Henry
Bessemer’s Great Process—1855-1860.—Steel from Iron.—Holley’s Apparatus.—Effects of
and Changes in Bessemer Process.—Old Methods and Means Revived and Improved.—
Eminent Inventors.—New Metals and New Processes Discovered.—Harveyised Steel.—
Irresistible Projectiles and Impenetrable Armour Plate.—Krupp’s Works.—Immense
Manufactures in United States.—Treatment of Gold, Silver, Copper, Lead, etc.; Mining
Operations, Separation, Reduction.—Chemical Methods: Lixiviation or Leaching.—
MacArthur.—Forrest.—Sir Humphry Davy.—Scheele.—Chlorine and Cyanide Processes.—
Alloys.—Babbitting.—Metallic Lubricants.—Various Alloys and Uses.—Reduction of
Aluminium and other Metals.—Electro-Metallurgy.—Diamonds to be Made.—All Arts have
Waited on Development of this Art. 218
CHAPTER XV.
METAL WORKING PROCESSES AND MACHINES.—TUBE MAKING.—WELDING.—
ANNEALING AND TEMPERING.—COATING AND METAL FOUNDING.—METAL WARE.
— WIRE WORKING.
Metal Working Tools One of the Glories of 19th Century.—Wood Working and Metal 240
Working.—Ancient and Modern Lathe.—Turning Metal Lathe.—A Lost Art in Use in Egypt
and in Solomon’s Time.—Revived in Sixteenth Century.—Forgotten and Revived again in
Page 13
Eighteenth.—Sir Samuel Bentham and Joseph Bramah Laid Foundation of Nineteenth
Century Tools.—The Slide Rest and Henry Maudsley.—Nasmyth’s Description.—Vast
Rolls, and Most Delicate Watch Mechanisms, cut by the Lathe and its Tools.—Metal
Planing.—Eminent Inventors, 1811-1840.—Many Inventions and Modifications Resulting
in a Wonderful Evolution.—Metal-Boring Machines.—Modern Vulcan’s Titanic Work-
Shop.—Screw Making.—Demand Impossible to Supply under Old Method.—Great Display
at London Exhibition, 1851, and Centennial, Philadelphia, 1876.—J. Whitworth & Co., of
England, Sellers & Co., of America, and Others.—The Great Revelation.—Hoopes and
Townsend and the Flow of Cold, Solid Metal.—Cold Punching, etc.—Machine-Made
Horse-Shoes.—The Blacksmith and Modern Inventions.—Making of Great Tubes.—
Welding by Electricity, and Tempering and Annealing.—How Armour Plate is Hardened.—
Metals Coated.—Electro-Plating and Casting.—Great Domes Gilded.—Moulds for Metal
Founding.—Machines and Methods.—Steel Ingots.—Sheet Metal and Personal Ware.—
Great Variety of Machines for Making.—Wire Made Articles.—Description of Great
Modern Work-Shop.
CHAPTER XVI.
ORDNANCE, ARMS, AMMUNITION, AND EXPLOSIVES.
This Art Slow in Growth, but no Art Progressed Faster.—The Incentives to its Development.
—The Greatest Instruments in the New Civilisation.—Peace and its Fruits Established by
them.—Its History.—Chinese Cannon.—India.—The Moors.—Arabs.—Cannon at Cordova
in 1280.—The Spaniards and Gibraltar, 1309.—The Spread of Artillery through Europe.—
Description of Ancient Guns.—Breech Loaders and Stone Cannon Balls.—Wrought Iron
Cannon and Shells in 15th Century.—Big Cannon of the Hindoos and Russians.—Strange
Names.—France under Louis XI.—Improvements of the Sixteenth Century.—Holland’s
Mortar Shells and Grenades in the Seventeenth.—Coehorn Mortars and Dutch Howitzers.—
Louis XIV.—French Artillery Conquers Italy.—Eighteenth Century.—“Queen Ann’s Pocket
Piece.”—Gribeauval the Inventor of the Greatest Improvements in the Eighteenth.—His
System Used by Bonaparte at Toulon, the French Revolution, and in Italy.—Marengo, 1800.
—Small Arms, their History.—From the Arquebus to the Modern Rifle.—Rifle, the Weapon
of the American Settler, and the Revolution.—Puckle’s Celebrated Breech-Loading Cannon
Patent, and Christian and Turk Bullets.—1803, Percussion Principle in Fire-arms, Invented
by a Clergyman, Forsyth.—1808, Genl. Shrapnel.—Bormann of Belgium.—1814, Shaw and
the Cap.—Flint Locks Still in Use, 1847.—Colt’s Revolvers, 1835-1851.—History of
Cannon again Reverted to.—Columbiads of Bomford.—Paixhan in 1822.—Shells of the
Crimea.—Kearsarge and Alabama.—Requirements of Modern Ordnance.—Rodman One of
the Pioneers.—Woodbridge’s Wire Wound Guns, Piezometer, and Shell Sabot.—Sir William
Armstrong and Sir Jos. Whitworth.—Krupp’s Cannon and Works.—The Latest
Improvements.—Compressed Air Ordnance.—Constructions of Metals and Explosives.—
The “Range Finder.”—Small Arms again Considered.—History of the Breech Loader and
Metallic Cartridges.—Wooden Walls and Stone Forts disappeared.—Monitor and Merrimac.
—Blanchard and Hall.—Gill.—Springfield Rifle.—Machine Guns.—Electric Battery.—
Gatling’s, Hotchkiss’.—Explosives.—Torpedoes.—Effect of Modern Weapons. 252
CHAPTER XVII.
Century Tools.—The Slide Rest and Henry Maudsley.—Nasmyth’s Description.—Vast
Rolls, and Most Delicate Watch Mechanisms, cut by the Lathe and its Tools.—Metal
Planing.—Eminent Inventors, 1811-1840.—Many Inventions and Modifications Resulting
in a Wonderful Evolution.—Metal-Boring Machines.—Modern Vulcan’s Titanic Work-
Shop.—Screw Making.—Demand Impossible to Supply under Old Method.—Great Display
at London Exhibition, 1851, and Centennial, Philadelphia, 1876.—J. Whitworth & Co., of
England, Sellers & Co., of America, and Others.—The Great Revelation.—Hoopes and
Townsend and the Flow of Cold, Solid Metal.—Cold Punching, etc.—Machine-Made
Horse-Shoes.—The Blacksmith and Modern Inventions.—Making of Great Tubes.—
Welding by Electricity, and Tempering and Annealing.—How Armour Plate is Hardened.—
Metals Coated.—Electro-Plating and Casting.—Great Domes Gilded.—Moulds for Metal
Founding.—Machines and Methods.—Steel Ingots.—Sheet Metal and Personal Ware.—
Great Variety of Machines for Making.—Wire Made Articles.—Description of Great
Modern Work-Shop.
CHAPTER XVI.
ORDNANCE, ARMS, AMMUNITION, AND EXPLOSIVES.
This Art Slow in Growth, but no Art Progressed Faster.—The Incentives to its Development.
—The Greatest Instruments in the New Civilisation.—Peace and its Fruits Established by
them.—Its History.—Chinese Cannon.—India.—The Moors.—Arabs.—Cannon at Cordova
in 1280.—The Spaniards and Gibraltar, 1309.—The Spread of Artillery through Europe.—
Description of Ancient Guns.—Breech Loaders and Stone Cannon Balls.—Wrought Iron
Cannon and Shells in 15th Century.—Big Cannon of the Hindoos and Russians.—Strange
Names.—France under Louis XI.—Improvements of the Sixteenth Century.—Holland’s
Mortar Shells and Grenades in the Seventeenth.—Coehorn Mortars and Dutch Howitzers.—
Louis XIV.—French Artillery Conquers Italy.—Eighteenth Century.—“Queen Ann’s Pocket
Piece.”—Gribeauval the Inventor of the Greatest Improvements in the Eighteenth.—His
System Used by Bonaparte at Toulon, the French Revolution, and in Italy.—Marengo, 1800.
—Small Arms, their History.—From the Arquebus to the Modern Rifle.—Rifle, the Weapon
of the American Settler, and the Revolution.—Puckle’s Celebrated Breech-Loading Cannon
Patent, and Christian and Turk Bullets.—1803, Percussion Principle in Fire-arms, Invented
by a Clergyman, Forsyth.—1808, Genl. Shrapnel.—Bormann of Belgium.—1814, Shaw and
the Cap.—Flint Locks Still in Use, 1847.—Colt’s Revolvers, 1835-1851.—History of
Cannon again Reverted to.—Columbiads of Bomford.—Paixhan in 1822.—Shells of the
Crimea.—Kearsarge and Alabama.—Requirements of Modern Ordnance.—Rodman One of
the Pioneers.—Woodbridge’s Wire Wound Guns, Piezometer, and Shell Sabot.—Sir William
Armstrong and Sir Jos. Whitworth.—Krupp’s Cannon and Works.—The Latest
Improvements.—Compressed Air Ordnance.—Constructions of Metals and Explosives.—
The “Range Finder.”—Small Arms again Considered.—History of the Breech Loader and
Metallic Cartridges.—Wooden Walls and Stone Forts disappeared.—Monitor and Merrimac.
—Blanchard and Hall.—Gill.—Springfield Rifle.—Machine Guns.—Electric Battery.—
Gatling’s, Hotchkiss’.—Explosives.—Torpedoes.—Effect of Modern Weapons. 252
CHAPTER XVII.
Page 14
PAPER AND PRINTING, TYPEWRITING AND THE LINOTYPE.
Paper-making Preceded the Art of Printing.—The Wasp Preceded Man.—The Chinese, the
Hindoos, Egyptians, and other Orientals had Invented Both Arts.—History of Papyrus.—
Parchment.—Twelfth Century Documents Written on Linen Paper still Extant.—Water
Marks.—Wall Paper, Substitute for Tapestry, 1640.—Holland in Advance, Seventeenth
Century.—Rittenhouse of Holland Introduces Paper-Making in America, Eighteenth
Century.—Paper a Dear Commodity.—The Revolution of the Nineteenth Century.—400
Different Materials now Used.—Nineteenth Century Opens with Robert’s Paper-Making
Machine.—Messrs. Fourdrinier.—Immense Growth of their System.—Modern Discoveries
of Chemists.—Soda Pulp and Sulphite Processes.—Paper Mills.—Paper Bag Machines, etc.
—Printing.—Chinese Invented Both Block and Movable Types.—European Inventors.—
The Claims of Different Nations.—From Southern Italy to Sweden.—Spread of the Art.—
Printing Press and the Reformation.—First Printing Press in New World Set up in Mexico,
1536.—Then in Brazil.—Then in 1639 in Massachusetts.—Types and Presses.—English and
American.—Ramage and Franklin.—Blaew of Amsterdam.—Nineteenth Century Opens
with Earl of Stanhope’s Hand Press.—Clymer of Philadelphia, 1817.—The First Machine
Presses.—Nicholson in Eighteenth.—Konig and Bauer in Nineteenth Century, 1813.—
London Times, 1814.—1815, Cowper’s Electrotype plates.—1822, First Power Press in
United States.—Treadwell.—Bruce’s Type Casting Machines.—Hoe’s Presses.—John
Walter’s.—German and American Presses.—Capacities of Modern Presses.—Mail Marking.
—Typewriting.—Suggested in Eighteenth Century.—Revived by French in 1840.—Leading
Features Invented in U. S., 1857.—Electro-Magnet Typewriters.—Cahill.—Book-binding.
—Review of the Art.—Linotype “Most Remarkable Machine of Century.”—Merganthaler.
—Rogers.—Progress and Triumphs of the Art. 273
CHAPTER XVIII.
TEXTILES.
The Distaff and the Spindle, without a Change from Ancient Days to Middle of Fourteenth
Century.—Ancient and Modern Cloth Making.—Woman the Natural Goddess of the Art.—
The Ancient and Isolated Weavers of Mexico.—After 40 Centuries of Hand-Weaving Comes
John Kay, of England, 1733.—The Spinning Machines of Wyatt and Hargreaves.—1738-
1769, Richard Arkwright.—The “Spinning Jenny” and the “Throstle.”—The Steam Engine
and Weaving.—1776, Crompton and the “Mule.”—1785, Cartwright and Power Looms.—
1793, Eli Whitney and the Cotton Gin.—1793-1813, Samuel Slater, Lowell, and Cotton
Factories of America.—The Dominion of the Nineteenth Century.—What it Comprises in
the Art of Spinning and Weaving.—Description of Operations.—Bobbins of Asa Arnold and
the Ring Frame of Jenks.—Spooling Machines.—Warping and Dressing and other Finishing
Operations.—Embroidery.—Cloth Finishing.—The Celebrated Jacquard Loom.—Jacquard
and Napoleon.—Bonelli’s Electric Loom.—Fancy Woollen Looms of George Crompton.—
Bigelow’s Carpet Looms.—Figuring, Colouring, Embossing.—Cloth Pressing and Creasing.
—Felting.—Ribbons.—Comparison of Penelopes of Past and Present.—Knitting Days of
our Grandmothers and Knitting Machines.—A Mile of Stockings.—Fancy Stocking and
Embroidery Machines.—Netting and Turkish Carpets.—Matting.—Spun Glass, etc.—Hand,
and the Skilled Labour of Machinery. 292
Paper-making Preceded the Art of Printing.—The Wasp Preceded Man.—The Chinese, the
Hindoos, Egyptians, and other Orientals had Invented Both Arts.—History of Papyrus.—
Parchment.—Twelfth Century Documents Written on Linen Paper still Extant.—Water
Marks.—Wall Paper, Substitute for Tapestry, 1640.—Holland in Advance, Seventeenth
Century.—Rittenhouse of Holland Introduces Paper-Making in America, Eighteenth
Century.—Paper a Dear Commodity.—The Revolution of the Nineteenth Century.—400
Different Materials now Used.—Nineteenth Century Opens with Robert’s Paper-Making
Machine.—Messrs. Fourdrinier.—Immense Growth of their System.—Modern Discoveries
of Chemists.—Soda Pulp and Sulphite Processes.—Paper Mills.—Paper Bag Machines, etc.
—Printing.—Chinese Invented Both Block and Movable Types.—European Inventors.—
The Claims of Different Nations.—From Southern Italy to Sweden.—Spread of the Art.—
Printing Press and the Reformation.—First Printing Press in New World Set up in Mexico,
1536.—Then in Brazil.—Then in 1639 in Massachusetts.—Types and Presses.—English and
American.—Ramage and Franklin.—Blaew of Amsterdam.—Nineteenth Century Opens
with Earl of Stanhope’s Hand Press.—Clymer of Philadelphia, 1817.—The First Machine
Presses.—Nicholson in Eighteenth.—Konig and Bauer in Nineteenth Century, 1813.—
London Times, 1814.—1815, Cowper’s Electrotype plates.—1822, First Power Press in
United States.—Treadwell.—Bruce’s Type Casting Machines.—Hoe’s Presses.—John
Walter’s.—German and American Presses.—Capacities of Modern Presses.—Mail Marking.
—Typewriting.—Suggested in Eighteenth Century.—Revived by French in 1840.—Leading
Features Invented in U. S., 1857.—Electro-Magnet Typewriters.—Cahill.—Book-binding.
—Review of the Art.—Linotype “Most Remarkable Machine of Century.”—Merganthaler.
—Rogers.—Progress and Triumphs of the Art. 273
CHAPTER XVIII.
TEXTILES.
The Distaff and the Spindle, without a Change from Ancient Days to Middle of Fourteenth
Century.—Ancient and Modern Cloth Making.—Woman the Natural Goddess of the Art.—
The Ancient and Isolated Weavers of Mexico.—After 40 Centuries of Hand-Weaving Comes
John Kay, of England, 1733.—The Spinning Machines of Wyatt and Hargreaves.—1738-
1769, Richard Arkwright.—The “Spinning Jenny” and the “Throstle.”—The Steam Engine
and Weaving.—1776, Crompton and the “Mule.”—1785, Cartwright and Power Looms.—
1793, Eli Whitney and the Cotton Gin.—1793-1813, Samuel Slater, Lowell, and Cotton
Factories of America.—The Dominion of the Nineteenth Century.—What it Comprises in
the Art of Spinning and Weaving.—Description of Operations.—Bobbins of Asa Arnold and
the Ring Frame of Jenks.—Spooling Machines.—Warping and Dressing and other Finishing
Operations.—Embroidery.—Cloth Finishing.—The Celebrated Jacquard Loom.—Jacquard
and Napoleon.—Bonelli’s Electric Loom.—Fancy Woollen Looms of George Crompton.—
Bigelow’s Carpet Looms.—Figuring, Colouring, Embossing.—Cloth Pressing and Creasing.
—Felting.—Ribbons.—Comparison of Penelopes of Past and Present.—Knitting Days of
our Grandmothers and Knitting Machines.—A Mile of Stockings.—Fancy Stocking and
Embroidery Machines.—Netting and Turkish Carpets.—Matting.—Spun Glass, etc.—Hand,
and the Skilled Labour of Machinery. 292
Page 15
CHAPTER XIX.
GARMENTS.
“Man is a Tool-using Animal, of which Truth, Clothes are but one Example.”—Form of
Needle not Changed until 1775.—Weisenthal.—Embroidery Needle.—Saint’s Sewing
Machine, 1790.—John Duncan’s Tamboring Machine, 1804.—Eye Pointed Needles for
Rope Matting, 1807.—Madersperger’s Sewing Machine, 1814.—France and the Thimonnier
Machine, 1830-1848-50, Made of Wood.—Destroyed by Mob.—English Embroidering
Machine, 1841.—Concurrent Inventions in Widely Separated Countries.—Thimonnier in
France, Hunt in America, 1832, 1834.—Elias Howe, 1846.—Description of Howe’s
Inventions.—Recital of his Struggles and final Triumphs.—The Test of Priority.—Leather
Sewing Machines of Greenough and Corliss, 1842-43.—Bean’s Running Stitch, 1843.—The
Decade of 1849-1859, Greatest in Century in Sewing Machine Inventions.—Hood’s “Song
of the Shirt,” a Dying Drudgery.—Improvements after Howe.—Blodgett and Lerow’s Dip
Motion.—Wilson’s Four-Motion Feed.—Singer’s Inventions, their Importance, his Rise
from Poverty to Great Wealth.—The Grover and Baker.—The Display in 1876 at the
Centennial.—Vast Growth of the Industry.—Extraordinary Versatility of Invention in
Sewing and Reaping Machines, and Breech-Loading Fire-arms.—Commercial Success due
to Division of Labour and Assembling of Parts.—Innumerable Additions to the Art.—
Seventy-five Different Stitches.—Passing of the Quilting Party.—Embroidery and Button-
hole Machines.—Garment-cutting Machines.—Bonnets and Inventions of Women.—Hat
Making.—Its History.—Bonjeau’s Improvements in Plain Cloths, 1834.—Effect of Modern
Inventions on Wearing Apparel and Condition of the Poor.—The Epoch of Good Clothes. 310
CHAPTER XX.
INDUSTRIAL MACHINES.
Inventions Engender Others.—Co-operative Growth.—Broom Making.—Crude Condition
until the Modern Lathe, Mandrel, Shuttle and Sewing Machine.—Broom Sewing Machines.
—Effect on Labour.—The Brush and Brush Machines.—A Hundred Species of Brushes,
each Made by a Special Machine.—First Successful Brush Machine, Woodbury’s, 1870.—
Wonderful Operations.—Street-Sweeping Machines, 1831.—Most Effective Form.—
Abrading Machines.—Application of Sand Blast.—Nature’s Machine Patented by Tilghman
in 1870.—Things Done by the Sand Blast and How.—Emery and Corundum Machines.—
Vast Application in Cutting, Grinding, Polishing.—Washing and Ironing Machines.—Their
Contribution to Cleanliness and Comfort.—Laundry Appliances.—Old and the New
Mangle.—Starch Applying.—Steam Laundry Machinery.—Description of Work done in a
Modern Laundry. 328
CHAPTER XXI.
WOOD-WORKING.
Contrast of Prehistoric Labour and Implements and Modern Tools.—The Ages of Stone, 339
Bronze, Iron, and the Age of Wood.—The Slow Growth of Wood-working Inventions.—
Tools of the Egyptians.—Saw of the Greeks.—Known to Hindoos and Africans.—Accounts
GARMENTS.
“Man is a Tool-using Animal, of which Truth, Clothes are but one Example.”—Form of
Needle not Changed until 1775.—Weisenthal.—Embroidery Needle.—Saint’s Sewing
Machine, 1790.—John Duncan’s Tamboring Machine, 1804.—Eye Pointed Needles for
Rope Matting, 1807.—Madersperger’s Sewing Machine, 1814.—France and the Thimonnier
Machine, 1830-1848-50, Made of Wood.—Destroyed by Mob.—English Embroidering
Machine, 1841.—Concurrent Inventions in Widely Separated Countries.—Thimonnier in
France, Hunt in America, 1832, 1834.—Elias Howe, 1846.—Description of Howe’s
Inventions.—Recital of his Struggles and final Triumphs.—The Test of Priority.—Leather
Sewing Machines of Greenough and Corliss, 1842-43.—Bean’s Running Stitch, 1843.—The
Decade of 1849-1859, Greatest in Century in Sewing Machine Inventions.—Hood’s “Song
of the Shirt,” a Dying Drudgery.—Improvements after Howe.—Blodgett and Lerow’s Dip
Motion.—Wilson’s Four-Motion Feed.—Singer’s Inventions, their Importance, his Rise
from Poverty to Great Wealth.—The Grover and Baker.—The Display in 1876 at the
Centennial.—Vast Growth of the Industry.—Extraordinary Versatility of Invention in
Sewing and Reaping Machines, and Breech-Loading Fire-arms.—Commercial Success due
to Division of Labour and Assembling of Parts.—Innumerable Additions to the Art.—
Seventy-five Different Stitches.—Passing of the Quilting Party.—Embroidery and Button-
hole Machines.—Garment-cutting Machines.—Bonnets and Inventions of Women.—Hat
Making.—Its History.—Bonjeau’s Improvements in Plain Cloths, 1834.—Effect of Modern
Inventions on Wearing Apparel and Condition of the Poor.—The Epoch of Good Clothes. 310
CHAPTER XX.
INDUSTRIAL MACHINES.
Inventions Engender Others.—Co-operative Growth.—Broom Making.—Crude Condition
until the Modern Lathe, Mandrel, Shuttle and Sewing Machine.—Broom Sewing Machines.
—Effect on Labour.—The Brush and Brush Machines.—A Hundred Species of Brushes,
each Made by a Special Machine.—First Successful Brush Machine, Woodbury’s, 1870.—
Wonderful Operations.—Street-Sweeping Machines, 1831.—Most Effective Form.—
Abrading Machines.—Application of Sand Blast.—Nature’s Machine Patented by Tilghman
in 1870.—Things Done by the Sand Blast and How.—Emery and Corundum Machines.—
Vast Application in Cutting, Grinding, Polishing.—Washing and Ironing Machines.—Their
Contribution to Cleanliness and Comfort.—Laundry Appliances.—Old and the New
Mangle.—Starch Applying.—Steam Laundry Machinery.—Description of Work done in a
Modern Laundry. 328
CHAPTER XXI.
WOOD-WORKING.
Contrast of Prehistoric Labour and Implements and Modern Tools.—The Ages of Stone, 339
Bronze, Iron, and the Age of Wood.—The Slow Growth of Wood-working Inventions.—
Tools of the Egyptians.—Saw of the Greeks.—Known to Hindoos and Africans.—Accounts
Page 16
of Pliny and Ansonius as to Planes and Marble Sawing.—Saw-mills of France, Germany,
Norway, Sweden.—Holland 100 Years ahead of England, and Why.—William Penn Found
Saw-mills in America in 1682.—What made Americans Inventors.—Progress Unknown
where Saw-mills are not.—Steam and Saw Mills.—Splendid System and Inventions of
Samuel Bentham, Bramah and Branch at Close of Eighteenth Century.—First Decade of
Nineteenth Century Produces Wonderful Inventor, Thomas Blanchard.—His Life and
Inventions.—Machines for Turning Irregular Forms in Wood and Metal.—The Boring Worm
and Boring Machine.—Gun-making and Mortising Machines.—Complicated Ornamental
Wood-cutting and Carving Machines.—Whatever Made by Hand can be Better Made by
Machinery.—Pattern-Cutting Machines.—Xyloplasty.—Art of Hand Carving Revived.—
Bending of Wood by Fire and Steam.—The Problems Solved by Wood-working Inventors.
—Great Saws at the Vienna Exposition, 1873.—Boring Tools, Augers, Planes, Lathes, etc.
How Improved and by Whom.—“The Universal Wood Workers.”—Flexible Shafting.—
Shingles and Tiles.—A Great Log, how Turned into Bundles of Shingles.—Veneering.—
What Pliny Thought of It.—Brunel’s Machines, 1805-1808.—Homes Made Beautiful by
Modern Wood-working.—Objects without and Within a House, Made by Such Machinery.
—Array of Wood-working Machinery at International Expositions.—The Art of Forestry.
CHAPTER XXII.
FURNITURE.—BOTTLING, PRESERVING, AND LAMPLIGHTING.
Universal Supply of Convenient and Ornamental Furniture Due to Modern Inventions and
Machinery.—The Furniture of the Egyptians, Greeks and Romans.—Tables.—Modern
Improvements.—Combined Tables, Desks, and Chairs.—Special Forms of Each.—Beds:
Advance from the Ponderous Bedsteads of Former Times.—Modern, Ornamental, Healthful
Styles.—Iron, Brass, Springs, Surgical and Invalid Chairs and Beds.—Kitchen Utensils.—
Vast Amount of Drudgery Relieved.—Curtains, Shades, and Screens.—Great Changes
Produced by Steaming and Bending Wood.—The Bentwood Ware Factories of Austria,
Hungary, Moravia (1870-73), in Vast Beech Forests Followed in other Countries.—Modern
Chairs of Various Kinds.—The Dentist and the Theatre.—Bottle Stoppers.—Enormous
Demand for Cork Exhausting the Supply.—Modern Substitutes.—Fruit Jars, etc.—
Lamplighting, Ancient and Modern.—Revolution Produced by Petroleum.—Wickless and
Electric Lamps. 354
CHAPTER XXIII.
LEATHER.
Leather and Prehistoric Man.—Earliest Implements and Processes Forerunners of Modern 361
Inventions.—Modern Leather Unknown to the Earliest Races.—Tanning.—Leathers of
Different Nations.—Hand Tools and Variety of Operations.—Inventions of Nineteenth
Century—Labour-Saving Machinery and New Processes.—Epoch of Modern Machinery.—
1780, John Bull and his Scraping Machine, Hide-mill, Pioneer Machine of Century.—
Fleshing Machines.—Tanning Apparatus.—Reel Machines.—Tanning Processes and the
Chemists.—Machines for Different Operations.—Pendulum Lever Machine.—Leather
Splitting, and other Remarkable Machines.—Boots and Shoes, their Character before
Modern Inventions.—Randolph’s Riveting Machine of 1809.—Great Civil Engineer, J. M.
Norway, Sweden.—Holland 100 Years ahead of England, and Why.—William Penn Found
Saw-mills in America in 1682.—What made Americans Inventors.—Progress Unknown
where Saw-mills are not.—Steam and Saw Mills.—Splendid System and Inventions of
Samuel Bentham, Bramah and Branch at Close of Eighteenth Century.—First Decade of
Nineteenth Century Produces Wonderful Inventor, Thomas Blanchard.—His Life and
Inventions.—Machines for Turning Irregular Forms in Wood and Metal.—The Boring Worm
and Boring Machine.—Gun-making and Mortising Machines.—Complicated Ornamental
Wood-cutting and Carving Machines.—Whatever Made by Hand can be Better Made by
Machinery.—Pattern-Cutting Machines.—Xyloplasty.—Art of Hand Carving Revived.—
Bending of Wood by Fire and Steam.—The Problems Solved by Wood-working Inventors.
—Great Saws at the Vienna Exposition, 1873.—Boring Tools, Augers, Planes, Lathes, etc.
How Improved and by Whom.—“The Universal Wood Workers.”—Flexible Shafting.—
Shingles and Tiles.—A Great Log, how Turned into Bundles of Shingles.—Veneering.—
What Pliny Thought of It.—Brunel’s Machines, 1805-1808.—Homes Made Beautiful by
Modern Wood-working.—Objects without and Within a House, Made by Such Machinery.
—Array of Wood-working Machinery at International Expositions.—The Art of Forestry.
CHAPTER XXII.
FURNITURE.—BOTTLING, PRESERVING, AND LAMPLIGHTING.
Universal Supply of Convenient and Ornamental Furniture Due to Modern Inventions and
Machinery.—The Furniture of the Egyptians, Greeks and Romans.—Tables.—Modern
Improvements.—Combined Tables, Desks, and Chairs.—Special Forms of Each.—Beds:
Advance from the Ponderous Bedsteads of Former Times.—Modern, Ornamental, Healthful
Styles.—Iron, Brass, Springs, Surgical and Invalid Chairs and Beds.—Kitchen Utensils.—
Vast Amount of Drudgery Relieved.—Curtains, Shades, and Screens.—Great Changes
Produced by Steaming and Bending Wood.—The Bentwood Ware Factories of Austria,
Hungary, Moravia (1870-73), in Vast Beech Forests Followed in other Countries.—Modern
Chairs of Various Kinds.—The Dentist and the Theatre.—Bottle Stoppers.—Enormous
Demand for Cork Exhausting the Supply.—Modern Substitutes.—Fruit Jars, etc.—
Lamplighting, Ancient and Modern.—Revolution Produced by Petroleum.—Wickless and
Electric Lamps. 354
CHAPTER XXIII.
LEATHER.
Leather and Prehistoric Man.—Earliest Implements and Processes Forerunners of Modern 361
Inventions.—Modern Leather Unknown to the Earliest Races.—Tanning.—Leathers of
Different Nations.—Hand Tools and Variety of Operations.—Inventions of Nineteenth
Century—Labour-Saving Machinery and New Processes.—Epoch of Modern Machinery.—
1780, John Bull and his Scraping Machine, Hide-mill, Pioneer Machine of Century.—
Fleshing Machines.—Tanning Apparatus.—Reel Machines.—Tanning Processes and the
Chemists.—Machines for Different Operations.—Pendulum Lever Machine.—Leather
Splitting, and other Remarkable Machines.—Boots and Shoes, their Character before
Modern Inventions.—Randolph’s Riveting Machine of 1809.—Great Civil Engineer, J. M.
Page 17
Brunel’s Machines.—1818, Walker Invents the Wooden Peg.—Peg-making Machines.—
1858, Sturtevant’s Great Improvement.—Fifty-five Million Pairs of Boots and Shoes then
Annually Pegged.—Metal Wire, and Screw Pegs.—Last-turning Machines of Blanchard.—
McKay’s Shoe Sewing Machine.—Revolution in Shoe Making.—Special Machines for
Making Every Part.—One Machine Makes 300 Pairs a Day.—Many Millions made Daily.—
Vast Increase of Labourers as the Art Advances.—Illustrations of Yankee Enterprise.—
Modern and Ancient Harnesses.—Embossed Leather.—Book Covers and the many Useful
and Beautiful Leather Articles.—The Vast and Important Leather Manufactures.
CHAPTER XXIV.
MINERALS.—WELLS.
Ancient Tools and the Art of Building.—The Parthenon.—Aqueducts of Rome.—Tombs of
India.—Halls of Alhambra.—Gothic Cathedrals.—Steam First Drew Coal, then Sawed
Wood and then Stone.—Stone-cutting Machinery.—Carving.—Dressing.—Drilling.—
Tunnels.—Wonderful Work of Stone-Boring Machine on Pillars of Ohio State Capitol.—
Stone Drills and Compressed Air.—Hell Gate.—Crushing Stones and Ores.—Blake’s
Crusher.—“Road Metal.”—Different Form of Crushers.—Assorting Coal.—Steam and
Coal, strong Brothers.—Compressed Air for Mining Machinery.—Mighty Picks Driven by
Air.—Electric Motor.—Machines for Screening, Loading, and Weighing.—Ore Mills.—
Separators.—Centrifugal Action.—Ore Washing.—Amalgamators: Electric, Lead, Mercury,
Plate, Vacuum, Vapour, etc.—The Revolution in Mining.—Well Boring an Ancient Art.—
Artesian Wells.—Coal Oil and Coal Wells.—Preceded by Discovery of Paraffine and its
Uses.—Reichenbach, Young.—Petroleum Discovery.—New Industry.—Col. Drake and First
Oil Well.—Sudden Riches of Farmers.—Boring Water Wells.—Green’s Driven Wells.—The
Deserts Made to Bloom as the Rose. 373
CHAPTER XXV.
HOROLOGY AND INSTRUMENTS OF PRECISION.
Time Measuring Instruments of Antiquity.—Sun-dial.—Clepsydra, Hour-glass, Graduated 384
Candle.—Plato’s Bell.—The Clepsydra of Ctesibius.—Incense Sticks of Chinese.—Sun-
dials of Greeks and Romans.—Candles of Alfred the Great.—Wonderful Clocks of the
Middle Ages.—Henry de Vick of France, 1370.—Two Hundred Years without Advance.—
Astronomers, Brache and Valherius.—1525, Zech’s Fusee.—Progenitors of Modern Watch,
1500.—1582, Swinging Lamp of Galileo.—1639, Galileo’s Book.—Huygens and the
Pendulum.—Dr. Hooke’s and David Ramsey’s Inventions.—Hair-Spring Balances.—George
the Third’s Small Time-Piece.—Eighteenth Century Division of Time Pieces into Hours,
Minutes and Seconds.—Stem Winders.—Astronomical Discoveries and Chronometers.—
Dutch, Leading Clockmakers; Germany, Switzerland.—Systems Followed in these
Countries.—Minute Sub-divisions of Labour.—Watch and Clock Making in the United
States.—American System.—Wonderful Machines for every Part.—Watch factories.—
Pope’s Simile.—Revolution in Nineteenth Century.—Electric System.—4000 Patents in
U.S. since 1800.—Registering Devices.—“A Mechanical Conscience.”—Cash Registers.—
Voting Machines.—Electrical Recorders.—Cyclometers.—Speed Indicators.—Weighing
Scales and Machines, History of.—The Fairbanks of Vermont, 1831.—Platform and other
1858, Sturtevant’s Great Improvement.—Fifty-five Million Pairs of Boots and Shoes then
Annually Pegged.—Metal Wire, and Screw Pegs.—Last-turning Machines of Blanchard.—
McKay’s Shoe Sewing Machine.—Revolution in Shoe Making.—Special Machines for
Making Every Part.—One Machine Makes 300 Pairs a Day.—Many Millions made Daily.—
Vast Increase of Labourers as the Art Advances.—Illustrations of Yankee Enterprise.—
Modern and Ancient Harnesses.—Embossed Leather.—Book Covers and the many Useful
and Beautiful Leather Articles.—The Vast and Important Leather Manufactures.
CHAPTER XXIV.
MINERALS.—WELLS.
Ancient Tools and the Art of Building.—The Parthenon.—Aqueducts of Rome.—Tombs of
India.—Halls of Alhambra.—Gothic Cathedrals.—Steam First Drew Coal, then Sawed
Wood and then Stone.—Stone-cutting Machinery.—Carving.—Dressing.—Drilling.—
Tunnels.—Wonderful Work of Stone-Boring Machine on Pillars of Ohio State Capitol.—
Stone Drills and Compressed Air.—Hell Gate.—Crushing Stones and Ores.—Blake’s
Crusher.—“Road Metal.”—Different Form of Crushers.—Assorting Coal.—Steam and
Coal, strong Brothers.—Compressed Air for Mining Machinery.—Mighty Picks Driven by
Air.—Electric Motor.—Machines for Screening, Loading, and Weighing.—Ore Mills.—
Separators.—Centrifugal Action.—Ore Washing.—Amalgamators: Electric, Lead, Mercury,
Plate, Vacuum, Vapour, etc.—The Revolution in Mining.—Well Boring an Ancient Art.—
Artesian Wells.—Coal Oil and Coal Wells.—Preceded by Discovery of Paraffine and its
Uses.—Reichenbach, Young.—Petroleum Discovery.—New Industry.—Col. Drake and First
Oil Well.—Sudden Riches of Farmers.—Boring Water Wells.—Green’s Driven Wells.—The
Deserts Made to Bloom as the Rose. 373
CHAPTER XXV.
HOROLOGY AND INSTRUMENTS OF PRECISION.
Time Measuring Instruments of Antiquity.—Sun-dial.—Clepsydra, Hour-glass, Graduated 384
Candle.—Plato’s Bell.—The Clepsydra of Ctesibius.—Incense Sticks of Chinese.—Sun-
dials of Greeks and Romans.—Candles of Alfred the Great.—Wonderful Clocks of the
Middle Ages.—Henry de Vick of France, 1370.—Two Hundred Years without Advance.—
Astronomers, Brache and Valherius.—1525, Zech’s Fusee.—Progenitors of Modern Watch,
1500.—1582, Swinging Lamp of Galileo.—1639, Galileo’s Book.—Huygens and the
Pendulum.—Dr. Hooke’s and David Ramsey’s Inventions.—Hair-Spring Balances.—George
the Third’s Small Time-Piece.—Eighteenth Century Division of Time Pieces into Hours,
Minutes and Seconds.—Stem Winders.—Astronomical Discoveries and Chronometers.—
Dutch, Leading Clockmakers; Germany, Switzerland.—Systems Followed in these
Countries.—Minute Sub-divisions of Labour.—Watch and Clock Making in the United
States.—American System.—Wonderful Machines for every Part.—Watch factories.—
Pope’s Simile.—Revolution in Nineteenth Century.—Electric System.—4000 Patents in
U.S. since 1800.—Registering Devices.—“A Mechanical Conscience.”—Cash Registers.—
Voting Machines.—Electrical Recorders.—Cyclometers.—Speed Indicators.—Weighing
Scales and Machines, History of.—The Fairbanks of Vermont, 1831.—Platform and other
Page 18
Scales.—Spring Weighing.—Automatic Recorders of Weight and Prices.—Testing
Machines, English, German, American.—The Emery Scales.—Gages, Dynamometers.—
Hydraulic Testing.—Delicate Operations.—Strength of a Horse-hair and Great Steel Beam,
Tested by Same Machine.—Effect on Public Works.
CHAPTER XXVI.
MUSIC, ACOUSTICS, OPTICS, PHOTOGRAPHY, FINE ARTS.
Musical Instruments Old as Religion.—Abounded before the Lyre of Apollo or the Harp of
Orpheus.—Their Evolution.—To Meet Wants and Growing Tastes.—Nineteenth Century
and the Laws of Helmholtz.—The Story of the Piano, the Queen, Involves whole History of
the Art of Music.—Ancient Harp and Growth.—Psaltery and Dulcimer of Assyrians and
Hebrews.—No Inventions by Greeks and Romans in this Art.—Fifteenth Century and the
Clavicitherium.—Sixteenth Century, the Virginal and the Spinet.—Seventeenth Century, the
Clavichord and Harpsichord.—Italian Cembello.—Bach, Mozart, Handel, Haydn.—
Cristofori of Florence, Schreiber of Germany and Modern Piano.—Eighteenth Century,
Pianos of Broadwood and Clementi of London, Erard of Strasburg, Petzold of Paris and
Others.—Two Thousand Years Taken to Ripen the Modern Piano.—Description of Piano
Parts.—Helmholtz’s Great Work, 1862.—Effect on System of Music and Musical
Instruments.—The Organ, King in the Realm of Music.—History of, from Earliest Times.—
Improvements of the Nineteenth Century.—The Auto-harp.—Self-playing Instruments.—
The Science of Acoustics and Practical Applications.—Auricular Tubes.—Telephone,
Phonograph, Graphophone, Gramophone.—Their Evolution and their Inventors.—Optical
Instruments.—Their Growth.—Lippersheim, Galileo, Lieberkulm, John Dolland.—The
Improvements and Inventors of the Nineteenth Century.—Brewster and the Kaleidoscope,
Stereoscope.—Lenticular Lenses.—Lighthouse Illumination.—Faraday and Tyndall.—Abbé
Moigno’s Troubles.—Ophthalmoscope.—Spectroscope.—Making of Great Lenses.—
Solarmeter.—Measuring the Position and Distances of Unseen Objects.—Light Converted
into Music.—Daguerre and Photography.—History and Development.—Colour
Reproduction.—Pencils.—Painting.—Air Brushes.—Telegraphic Photographs. 400
CHAPTER XXVII.
SAFES AND LOCKS.
Safes, how Constructed before this Century.—Classification.—Century Starts out to Make
Safes Fireproof.—Scott in 1801.—Marr, 1834.—Result of Great Fire in New York, 1835.—
Wilder’s and Herring’s Safes.—Burglar-proof Safes, 1835.—Chubb, Newton, Thompson,
Hall, Marvin and Others.—Electricity.—Seal Locks from 1815.—Locks of Various Kinds in
Ancient Days.—Of Ponderous Size.—Key of the House of David.—Lock of Penelope’s
House.—Locks of the Middle Ages.—Letter Locks of the Dutch, 1650.—Carew’s Verse.—
Eighteenth Century Locks.—Tumblers.—Joseph Bramah’s Locks.—Combination,
Permutation and Time Locks.—Yale Locks.—Modern Locks Invented for Special Uses.—
Master or Secondary Key Locks.—Value of Simple, Cheap, Effective Locks.—Mail Locks
and Others.—Greater General Security for Property of all Kinds now Obtained. 420
Machines, English, German, American.—The Emery Scales.—Gages, Dynamometers.—
Hydraulic Testing.—Delicate Operations.—Strength of a Horse-hair and Great Steel Beam,
Tested by Same Machine.—Effect on Public Works.
CHAPTER XXVI.
MUSIC, ACOUSTICS, OPTICS, PHOTOGRAPHY, FINE ARTS.
Musical Instruments Old as Religion.—Abounded before the Lyre of Apollo or the Harp of
Orpheus.—Their Evolution.—To Meet Wants and Growing Tastes.—Nineteenth Century
and the Laws of Helmholtz.—The Story of the Piano, the Queen, Involves whole History of
the Art of Music.—Ancient Harp and Growth.—Psaltery and Dulcimer of Assyrians and
Hebrews.—No Inventions by Greeks and Romans in this Art.—Fifteenth Century and the
Clavicitherium.—Sixteenth Century, the Virginal and the Spinet.—Seventeenth Century, the
Clavichord and Harpsichord.—Italian Cembello.—Bach, Mozart, Handel, Haydn.—
Cristofori of Florence, Schreiber of Germany and Modern Piano.—Eighteenth Century,
Pianos of Broadwood and Clementi of London, Erard of Strasburg, Petzold of Paris and
Others.—Two Thousand Years Taken to Ripen the Modern Piano.—Description of Piano
Parts.—Helmholtz’s Great Work, 1862.—Effect on System of Music and Musical
Instruments.—The Organ, King in the Realm of Music.—History of, from Earliest Times.—
Improvements of the Nineteenth Century.—The Auto-harp.—Self-playing Instruments.—
The Science of Acoustics and Practical Applications.—Auricular Tubes.—Telephone,
Phonograph, Graphophone, Gramophone.—Their Evolution and their Inventors.—Optical
Instruments.—Their Growth.—Lippersheim, Galileo, Lieberkulm, John Dolland.—The
Improvements and Inventors of the Nineteenth Century.—Brewster and the Kaleidoscope,
Stereoscope.—Lenticular Lenses.—Lighthouse Illumination.—Faraday and Tyndall.—Abbé
Moigno’s Troubles.—Ophthalmoscope.—Spectroscope.—Making of Great Lenses.—
Solarmeter.—Measuring the Position and Distances of Unseen Objects.—Light Converted
into Music.—Daguerre and Photography.—History and Development.—Colour
Reproduction.—Pencils.—Painting.—Air Brushes.—Telegraphic Photographs. 400
CHAPTER XXVII.
SAFES AND LOCKS.
Safes, how Constructed before this Century.—Classification.—Century Starts out to Make
Safes Fireproof.—Scott in 1801.—Marr, 1834.—Result of Great Fire in New York, 1835.—
Wilder’s and Herring’s Safes.—Burglar-proof Safes, 1835.—Chubb, Newton, Thompson,
Hall, Marvin and Others.—Electricity.—Seal Locks from 1815.—Locks of Various Kinds in
Ancient Days.—Of Ponderous Size.—Key of the House of David.—Lock of Penelope’s
House.—Locks of the Middle Ages.—Letter Locks of the Dutch, 1650.—Carew’s Verse.—
Eighteenth Century Locks.—Tumblers.—Joseph Bramah’s Locks.—Combination,
Permutation and Time Locks.—Yale Locks.—Modern Locks Invented for Special Uses.—
Master or Secondary Key Locks.—Value of Simple, Cheap, Effective Locks.—Mail Locks
and Others.—Greater General Security for Property of all Kinds now Obtained. 420
Page 19
CHAPTER XXVIII.
CARRIAGES AND CARRYING MACHINES GENERALLY.
Review of Conveyances from Time of Ptolemy’s Great Procession, 270 B. C., until
Nineteenth Century.—The Old Stage Coaches.—Coaches of the Rich, the Middle Classes
and the Poor.—The Past Art Compared with the Art as Exhibited at Centennial Exhibition in
1876 at Philadelphia.—The Varieties of Different Vehicles there Displayed by Different
Nations.—Velocipedes and Bicycles.—1800 to 1869.—French, German, English, Scotch.—
The “Draisine” of Von Drais, 1816.—Johnson’s “Curricle,” 1818.—Gompertz’s “Dandy”
and “Hobby Horse,” 1821.—Michaux’s, 1863.—Lallement’s of France, 1866, Crank and
Pedal.—America and Europe Adopts it, 1866, 1869.—Pneumatic Rubber Tire Invented by
Thomson, 1845.—Sleeps Forty Years.—Improvements since 1869.—Motor Vehicles and
Automobiles.—Traction Engines.—Brakes, Railway, Air and Electric.—Automatic
Couplers, Buffers, and Vestibule Trains. 428
CHAPTER XXIX.
SHIPS AND SHIP BUILDING.
“Ships are but Boards.”—“The Great Harry.”—Noah’s Ark the Prototype of the Modern
“Whale-back.”—Phœnicians.—Northmen.—Dutch, French, English, and American Types.
—Nineteenth Century, the Yankee Clippers.—Donald McKay.—“Great Republic.”—Steam
as Motive Power in Ships the Leading Event in the Art.—Lord Dundas and Steam Canal
Boats.—Iron Ships in Place of Wood, 1829-30.—John Laird of Birkenhead.—Sir William
Fairbairn.—Clyde Works.—Comparison of Wood and Iron.—1844, the Great Britain.—John
Ericsson.—Monitor and Merrimac.—Composite Style of Vessels.—Marine Propulsion.—
Paddle Wheels.—Screws.—1804, John Stevens.—1807, Fulton.—Screw Propeller of
Ericsson.—The Ogden, the Stockton and the Princeton, the First Naval Warship of its Kind.
—The Two Revolutions Produced by Ericsson.—Pneumatic Propellers.—Description of a
Warship.—The Deutschland.—Torpedo Boats.—Franklin and Oil on the Waves.—Air
Ships.—Count Zeppelin’s Boat.—Other Plans of Air Navigation.—The Problems to be
Solved. 438
CHAPTER XXX.
ILLUMINATING GAS.
What Artificial Light has done for Man.—Its Condition before the Nineteenth Century.— 450
Experiments of Dr. Clayton, Hon. R. Boyle, Dr. Hales, Bishop Watson, Lord Dundonald, Dr.
Rickel, and William Murdock in Eighteenth Century.—1801, Le Bon Makes Gas, Proposes
to Light Paris.—1803, English Periodicals Discuss the Subject.—1806, Melville of
Newport, U. S., Lights House and Street.—1817, First Lighthouse Lit by Gas.—The Beaver
Tail on Atlantic Coast.—Parliament in 1813, London Streets Lit in 1815, Paris, 1820,
American Cities 1816-25.—Gas Processes.—Chemistry.—Priestley and Dalton.—
Berthollet, Graham, and Others.—Clegg of England and his Gas Machines.—Art
Revolutionised by Invention of Water Gas, 1823-1847.—Donovan, Lowe, White.—T. S. C.
Lowe, Anthracite Process, 1873.—Competition with Electricity.—Siemens’ Regenerative
CARRIAGES AND CARRYING MACHINES GENERALLY.
Review of Conveyances from Time of Ptolemy’s Great Procession, 270 B. C., until
Nineteenth Century.—The Old Stage Coaches.—Coaches of the Rich, the Middle Classes
and the Poor.—The Past Art Compared with the Art as Exhibited at Centennial Exhibition in
1876 at Philadelphia.—The Varieties of Different Vehicles there Displayed by Different
Nations.—Velocipedes and Bicycles.—1800 to 1869.—French, German, English, Scotch.—
The “Draisine” of Von Drais, 1816.—Johnson’s “Curricle,” 1818.—Gompertz’s “Dandy”
and “Hobby Horse,” 1821.—Michaux’s, 1863.—Lallement’s of France, 1866, Crank and
Pedal.—America and Europe Adopts it, 1866, 1869.—Pneumatic Rubber Tire Invented by
Thomson, 1845.—Sleeps Forty Years.—Improvements since 1869.—Motor Vehicles and
Automobiles.—Traction Engines.—Brakes, Railway, Air and Electric.—Automatic
Couplers, Buffers, and Vestibule Trains. 428
CHAPTER XXIX.
SHIPS AND SHIP BUILDING.
“Ships are but Boards.”—“The Great Harry.”—Noah’s Ark the Prototype of the Modern
“Whale-back.”—Phœnicians.—Northmen.—Dutch, French, English, and American Types.
—Nineteenth Century, the Yankee Clippers.—Donald McKay.—“Great Republic.”—Steam
as Motive Power in Ships the Leading Event in the Art.—Lord Dundas and Steam Canal
Boats.—Iron Ships in Place of Wood, 1829-30.—John Laird of Birkenhead.—Sir William
Fairbairn.—Clyde Works.—Comparison of Wood and Iron.—1844, the Great Britain.—John
Ericsson.—Monitor and Merrimac.—Composite Style of Vessels.—Marine Propulsion.—
Paddle Wheels.—Screws.—1804, John Stevens.—1807, Fulton.—Screw Propeller of
Ericsson.—The Ogden, the Stockton and the Princeton, the First Naval Warship of its Kind.
—The Two Revolutions Produced by Ericsson.—Pneumatic Propellers.—Description of a
Warship.—The Deutschland.—Torpedo Boats.—Franklin and Oil on the Waves.—Air
Ships.—Count Zeppelin’s Boat.—Other Plans of Air Navigation.—The Problems to be
Solved. 438
CHAPTER XXX.
ILLUMINATING GAS.
What Artificial Light has done for Man.—Its Condition before the Nineteenth Century.— 450
Experiments of Dr. Clayton, Hon. R. Boyle, Dr. Hales, Bishop Watson, Lord Dundonald, Dr.
Rickel, and William Murdock in Eighteenth Century.—1801, Le Bon Makes Gas, Proposes
to Light Paris.—1803, English Periodicals Discuss the Subject.—1806, Melville of
Newport, U. S., Lights House and Street.—1817, First Lighthouse Lit by Gas.—The Beaver
Tail on Atlantic Coast.—Parliament in 1813, London Streets Lit in 1815, Paris, 1820,
American Cities 1816-25.—Gas Processes.—Chemistry.—Priestley and Dalton.—
Berthollet, Graham, and Others.—Clegg of England and his Gas Machines.—Art
Revolutionised by Invention of Water Gas, 1823-1847.—Donovan, Lowe, White.—T. S. C.
Lowe, Anthracite Process, 1873.—Competition with Electricity.—Siemens’ Regenerative
Page 20
System.—The Generators, Carburetors, Retorts, Mixers, Purifiers, Meters, Scrubbers,
Holders, Condensers, Governors, Indicators, Registers, Chargers, Pressure Regulators, etc.
—Portable Gas Apparatus.—Argand Burners.—Acetylene Gas.—Calcium Carbide.—
Magnesium.—Bunsen Burner and Welsbach Mantle.
CHAPTER XXXI.
POTTERY, PLASTICS, PORCELAINS, STONEWARE, GLASS, RUBBER, CELLULOID.
Brickmaking from the Earliest Ages to Nineteenth Century.—Pottery, its Origin Unknown.
—Its Evolution.—Women the First Inventors in Ceramic and Textile Arts.—Progress of
Man Traced in Pottery.—Review of Pottery from Time of Homer to the Wedgwood Ware of
Eighteenth Century.—Labour-Saving Devices of Nineteenth.—Operations in Brickmaking
and Machinery.—The Celebrated Pug Mill, the Pioneer.—Moulding and Pressing.—Drying
and Burning.—The Slow Growth of Methods.—Useful Contrivances never wholly
Supplanted.—Modern Heat Distributors.—Hoffman’s Kilns.—Wedgwood’s Pottery in
Eighteenth.—Siemens’ Regenerators in Nineteenth, and other Kilns.—Susan Frackelton’s.—
The Filter Press.—Chinese and French Porcelains—Battam’s Imitations of Marbles and
Plaster Moulds.—Faience.—Porcelain Moulding and Colours.—Atomisers and
Backgrounds.—Rookwood Pottery and Miss Fry.—Enamelled Ware.—Artificial Stone.—
Modern Cements.—Glass the Sister of Pottery.—The Inventors of Blowing, Cutting,
Trimming by Shears and Diamond Cutting, Ancient and Unknown.—Glass Windows and
Mirrors Unknown to the Poor Prior to Eighteenth Century.—The Nineteenth Century the
Scientific Age of Glass.—Its Commercial Development.—Crystal Palace of 1851.—
Description of Modern Discoveries.—Materials.—Colours and Faraday’s Discovery in
1824.—Gaffield’s Extensive Experiments in Producing Colours.—The German Glass Works
at Jena of Abbe and Schott.—Methods Followed for Different Varieties.—Machines for
Different Purposes.—Cut Glass and other Beautiful Ware.—Cameo Cutting.—Porcelain
Electroplating.—Rubber, History of, in Seventeenth, Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries.
—Sketch of Goodyear.—His Inventions and Present State of the Art.—Glass Wool of
Volcano of Kilauea and Krupp’s Blast Furnaces. 457
INVENTIONS IN THE CENTURY.
Holders, Condensers, Governors, Indicators, Registers, Chargers, Pressure Regulators, etc.
—Portable Gas Apparatus.—Argand Burners.—Acetylene Gas.—Calcium Carbide.—
Magnesium.—Bunsen Burner and Welsbach Mantle.
CHAPTER XXXI.
POTTERY, PLASTICS, PORCELAINS, STONEWARE, GLASS, RUBBER, CELLULOID.
Brickmaking from the Earliest Ages to Nineteenth Century.—Pottery, its Origin Unknown.
—Its Evolution.—Women the First Inventors in Ceramic and Textile Arts.—Progress of
Man Traced in Pottery.—Review of Pottery from Time of Homer to the Wedgwood Ware of
Eighteenth Century.—Labour-Saving Devices of Nineteenth.—Operations in Brickmaking
and Machinery.—The Celebrated Pug Mill, the Pioneer.—Moulding and Pressing.—Drying
and Burning.—The Slow Growth of Methods.—Useful Contrivances never wholly
Supplanted.—Modern Heat Distributors.—Hoffman’s Kilns.—Wedgwood’s Pottery in
Eighteenth.—Siemens’ Regenerators in Nineteenth, and other Kilns.—Susan Frackelton’s.—
The Filter Press.—Chinese and French Porcelains—Battam’s Imitations of Marbles and
Plaster Moulds.—Faience.—Porcelain Moulding and Colours.—Atomisers and
Backgrounds.—Rookwood Pottery and Miss Fry.—Enamelled Ware.—Artificial Stone.—
Modern Cements.—Glass the Sister of Pottery.—The Inventors of Blowing, Cutting,
Trimming by Shears and Diamond Cutting, Ancient and Unknown.—Glass Windows and
Mirrors Unknown to the Poor Prior to Eighteenth Century.—The Nineteenth Century the
Scientific Age of Glass.—Its Commercial Development.—Crystal Palace of 1851.—
Description of Modern Discoveries.—Materials.—Colours and Faraday’s Discovery in
1824.—Gaffield’s Extensive Experiments in Producing Colours.—The German Glass Works
at Jena of Abbe and Schott.—Methods Followed for Different Varieties.—Machines for
Different Purposes.—Cut Glass and other Beautiful Ware.—Cameo Cutting.—Porcelain
Electroplating.—Rubber, History of, in Seventeenth, Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries.
—Sketch of Goodyear.—His Inventions and Present State of the Art.—Glass Wool of
Volcano of Kilauea and Krupp’s Blast Furnaces. 457
INVENTIONS IN THE CENTURY.
Page 21
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTORY—INVENTIONS AND DISCOVERIES—
THEIR DEVELOPMENT.
In treating of the subject of Inventions it is proper to distinguish them from their scientific kindred
—Discoveries.
The history of inventions is the history of new and useful contrivances made by man for practical
purposes. The history of scientific discoveries is the record of new things found in Nature, its
laws, forces, or materials, and brought to light, as they exist, either singly, or in relation, or in
combination.
Thus Galileo invented the telescope, and Newton discovered the law of gravitation. The practical
use of the invention when turned to the heavenly bodies served to confirm the truth of the
discovery.
Discovery and invention may be, and often are, united as the soul is to the body. The union of the
two produces one or more inventions. Thus the invented electro-telegraph consists of the
combination of discoveries of certain laws of electricity with an apparatus, by which signs are
communicated to distances by electrical influence.
Inventions and discoveries do not precede or follow each other in order. The instrument may be
made before the laws which govern its operation are discovered. The discovery may long precede
its adaptation in physical form, and both the discovery and adaptation may occur together.
Among the great inventions of the past are alphabetical writing, Arabic notation, the mariner’s
compass, the telescope, the printing-press, and the steam-engine. Among the great discoveries of
the past are the attraction of gravitation, the laws of planetary motion, the circulation of the blood,
and velocity of light. Among the great inventions of the nineteenth century are the spectroscope,
the electric telegraph, the telephone, the phonograph, the railways, and the steam-ships. Among
the great discoveries of this century are the correlation and conservation of forces, anæsthetics,
laws of electrical energy, the germ theory of disease, the molecular theory of gases, the periodic
law of Mendeljeff in chemistry, antiseptic surgery, and the vortex theory of matter. This short
enumeration will serve to indicate the different roads along which inventions and the discoveries
of science progress.
By many it is thought that the inventions and discoveries of the nineteenth century exceed in
number and importance all the achievements of the kind in all the ages of the past.
So marvellous have been these developments of this century that, not content with sober
definitions, men have defined invent, even when speaking only of mechanical productions, as
“creating what had not before existed;” and this period has been described as an age of new
creations. The far-off cry of the Royal Preacher, “There is no new thing under the sun: Is there
anything whereof it may be said, see this is new, it hath been already of old time which was before
INTRODUCTORY—INVENTIONS AND DISCOVERIES—
THEIR DEVELOPMENT.
In treating of the subject of Inventions it is proper to distinguish them from their scientific kindred
—Discoveries.
The history of inventions is the history of new and useful contrivances made by man for practical
purposes. The history of scientific discoveries is the record of new things found in Nature, its
laws, forces, or materials, and brought to light, as they exist, either singly, or in relation, or in
combination.
Thus Galileo invented the telescope, and Newton discovered the law of gravitation. The practical
use of the invention when turned to the heavenly bodies served to confirm the truth of the
discovery.
Discovery and invention may be, and often are, united as the soul is to the body. The union of the
two produces one or more inventions. Thus the invented electro-telegraph consists of the
combination of discoveries of certain laws of electricity with an apparatus, by which signs are
communicated to distances by electrical influence.
Inventions and discoveries do not precede or follow each other in order. The instrument may be
made before the laws which govern its operation are discovered. The discovery may long precede
its adaptation in physical form, and both the discovery and adaptation may occur together.
Among the great inventions of the past are alphabetical writing, Arabic notation, the mariner’s
compass, the telescope, the printing-press, and the steam-engine. Among the great discoveries of
the past are the attraction of gravitation, the laws of planetary motion, the circulation of the blood,
and velocity of light. Among the great inventions of the nineteenth century are the spectroscope,
the electric telegraph, the telephone, the phonograph, the railways, and the steam-ships. Among
the great discoveries of this century are the correlation and conservation of forces, anæsthetics,
laws of electrical energy, the germ theory of disease, the molecular theory of gases, the periodic
law of Mendeljeff in chemistry, antiseptic surgery, and the vortex theory of matter. This short
enumeration will serve to indicate the different roads along which inventions and the discoveries
of science progress.
By many it is thought that the inventions and discoveries of the nineteenth century exceed in
number and importance all the achievements of the kind in all the ages of the past.
So marvellous have been these developments of this century that, not content with sober
definitions, men have defined invent, even when speaking only of mechanical productions, as
“creating what had not before existed;” and this period has been described as an age of new
creations. The far-off cry of the Royal Preacher, “There is no new thing under the sun: Is there
anything whereof it may be said, see this is new, it hath been already of old time which was before
Page 22
us,” is regarded as a cry of satiety and despair, finding no responsive echo in the array of
inventions of this bright age.
But in one sense the Preacher’s words are ever profoundly true. The forces and materials of Nature
always exist, awaiting man’s discovery, and at best he can but vary their relations, re-direct their
course, or change their forms. In a still narrower sense the truth of the Preacher’s declaration is
apparent:—
In an address before the Anthropological Society of Washington in 1885, the late Prof. F. A. Seely,
of the United States Patent Office, set forth that it was one of the established laws of Invention,
that,
“Every human invention has sprung from some prior invention, or from some prior known
expedient.”
Inventions, he said, do not, like their protectress, Pallas Athene, spring forth full grown from the
heads of their authors; that both as to modern inventions and as to those whose history is
unrecorded, each exhibits in itself the evidence of a similar sub-structure; and that, “in the process
of elimination we go back and back and find no resting place till we reach the rude set of
expedients, the original endowment of men and brutes alike.”
Inventions, then, are not creations, but the evolution of man-made contrivances.
It may be remarked, however, as was once said by William H. Seward: “The exercise of the
inventive faculty is the nearest akin to that of the Creator of any faculty possessed by the human
mind; for while it does not create in the same sense that the Creator did, yet it is the nearest
approach to it of anything known to man.”
There is no history, rock-record, or other evidence of his existence as man, which discloses a
period when he was not an inventor.
Invention is that divine spark which drove, and still drives him to the production of means to meet
his wants, while it illuminates his way. From that inward spark must have soon followed the
invention of that outer fire to warm and cheer him, and to melt and mould the earth to his desires.
Formed for society, the necessity of communication with his fellows developed the power of
speech. Speech developed written characters and alphabets. Common communication developed
concert of action, and from concert of action sprung the arts of society.
But the evolution of invention has not been uniform. Long periods of slowness and stagnation
have alternated with shorter or longer periods of prolific growth, and these with seasons of
slumber and repression.
Thus, Prof. Langley has said that man was thousands of years, and possibly millions, in evolving a
cutting edge by rubbing one stone on another; but only a few thousand years to next develop
bronze tools, and a still shorter period tools of iron.
We cannot say how long the period was from the age of iron tools to the building of the pyramids,
but we know that before those stupendous structures arose, the six elementary mechanical powers,
the lever, the wheel, the pulley, the inclined plane, the wedge and the screw, were invented. And
without those powers, what mechanical tool or machine has since been developed? The age of
inventions in the times of the ancients rested mainly upon simple applications of these mechanical
powers. The middle ages slumbered, but on the coming of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, the
inventions of this bright age.
But in one sense the Preacher’s words are ever profoundly true. The forces and materials of Nature
always exist, awaiting man’s discovery, and at best he can but vary their relations, re-direct their
course, or change their forms. In a still narrower sense the truth of the Preacher’s declaration is
apparent:—
In an address before the Anthropological Society of Washington in 1885, the late Prof. F. A. Seely,
of the United States Patent Office, set forth that it was one of the established laws of Invention,
that,
“Every human invention has sprung from some prior invention, or from some prior known
expedient.”
Inventions, he said, do not, like their protectress, Pallas Athene, spring forth full grown from the
heads of their authors; that both as to modern inventions and as to those whose history is
unrecorded, each exhibits in itself the evidence of a similar sub-structure; and that, “in the process
of elimination we go back and back and find no resting place till we reach the rude set of
expedients, the original endowment of men and brutes alike.”
Inventions, then, are not creations, but the evolution of man-made contrivances.
It may be remarked, however, as was once said by William H. Seward: “The exercise of the
inventive faculty is the nearest akin to that of the Creator of any faculty possessed by the human
mind; for while it does not create in the same sense that the Creator did, yet it is the nearest
approach to it of anything known to man.”
There is no history, rock-record, or other evidence of his existence as man, which discloses a
period when he was not an inventor.
Invention is that divine spark which drove, and still drives him to the production of means to meet
his wants, while it illuminates his way. From that inward spark must have soon followed the
invention of that outer fire to warm and cheer him, and to melt and mould the earth to his desires.
Formed for society, the necessity of communication with his fellows developed the power of
speech. Speech developed written characters and alphabets. Common communication developed
concert of action, and from concert of action sprung the arts of society.
But the evolution of invention has not been uniform. Long periods of slowness and stagnation
have alternated with shorter or longer periods of prolific growth, and these with seasons of
slumber and repression.
Thus, Prof. Langley has said that man was thousands of years, and possibly millions, in evolving a
cutting edge by rubbing one stone on another; but only a few thousand years to next develop
bronze tools, and a still shorter period tools of iron.
We cannot say how long the period was from the age of iron tools to the building of the pyramids,
but we know that before those stupendous structures arose, the six elementary mechanical powers,
the lever, the wheel, the pulley, the inclined plane, the wedge and the screw, were invented. And
without those powers, what mechanical tool or machine has since been developed? The age of
inventions in the times of the ancients rested mainly upon simple applications of these mechanical
powers. The middle ages slumbered, but on the coming of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, the
Page 23
inventions of the ancients were revived, new ones added, and their growth and development
extended with ever-increasing speed to the present time.
The inventions of the nineteenth century, wonderful and innumerable as they are, and marvellous
in results produced, are but the fruit of the seed sown in the past, and the blossom of the buds
grown upon the stalks of former generations. The early crude stone hatchet has become the keen
finished metal implement of to-day, and the latter involves in itself the culmination of a long series
of processes for converting the rough ore into the hard and glistening steel.
The crooked and pointed stick with which the Egyptian turned the sands of the Nile has slowly
grown to be the finished plough that is now driven through the sod by steam.
The steam-operated toys of Hero of Alexandria were revived in principle and incorporated in the
engines of Papin and the Marquis of Worcester in the seventeenth century; and the better engines
of Savery, Newcomen, and more especially of James Watt in the eighteenth century, left the
improvements in steam-engines of the nineteenth century—great as they are—inventions only in
matter of detail.
It has been said that electrical science began with the labours of Dr. Gilbert, published in 1600.
These, with the electrical discoveries and inventions of Gray, Franklin, Galvani, and others in the
next century, terminating with the invention of his battery by Volta in 1800, constituted the
framework on which was built that world of flashing light and earth-circling messages in which
we now live.
The study of inventions in any one or all eras cannot proceed intelligently unless account is taken
not only of their mode of construction, and of their evolution one from another, but of the
evolution of distinct arts, their relation, their interdependence in growth, and their mutual progress.
The principles adopted by the ancients in weaving and spinning by hand are those still in force;
but so great was the advance of inventions from hand-operated mechanisms to machines in these
and other arts, and especially in steam, in the last half of the eighteenth century, that it has been
claimed that the age of machine production or invention then for the first time really began.
When the humble lift became the completed elevator of to-day, the “sky-scraper” buildings
appeared; but these buildings waited upon the invention of their steel skeletons, and the steel was
the child of the Bessemer process.
The harp with which David stirred the dead soul of Saul was the prototype of the sweet
clavichord, the romantic virginal, the tinkling harpsichord, and the grand piano. The thrumming of
the chords by the fingers was succeeded by the striking keys; and the more perfect rendition of
tones awaited the application of new discoveries in the realm of musical sounds. The keys and the
levers in the art of musical instruments were transferred to the art of printing, and are found to-day
striking a more homely music on the type-writer and on those other and more wonderful printing
instruments that mould, and set, and distribute the type. But these results of later days did not
reach their perfected operations and forms until many other arts had been discovered and
developed, by which to treat and improve the wood, and the wire, and all the other materials of
which those early instruments were composed, and by which the underlying principles of their
operations became known.
Admitting that man possesses the faculty of invention, what are the motives that induce its
exercise? Why so prolific in inventions now? And will they continue to increase in number and
extended with ever-increasing speed to the present time.
The inventions of the nineteenth century, wonderful and innumerable as they are, and marvellous
in results produced, are but the fruit of the seed sown in the past, and the blossom of the buds
grown upon the stalks of former generations. The early crude stone hatchet has become the keen
finished metal implement of to-day, and the latter involves in itself the culmination of a long series
of processes for converting the rough ore into the hard and glistening steel.
The crooked and pointed stick with which the Egyptian turned the sands of the Nile has slowly
grown to be the finished plough that is now driven through the sod by steam.
The steam-operated toys of Hero of Alexandria were revived in principle and incorporated in the
engines of Papin and the Marquis of Worcester in the seventeenth century; and the better engines
of Savery, Newcomen, and more especially of James Watt in the eighteenth century, left the
improvements in steam-engines of the nineteenth century—great as they are—inventions only in
matter of detail.
It has been said that electrical science began with the labours of Dr. Gilbert, published in 1600.
These, with the electrical discoveries and inventions of Gray, Franklin, Galvani, and others in the
next century, terminating with the invention of his battery by Volta in 1800, constituted the
framework on which was built that world of flashing light and earth-circling messages in which
we now live.
The study of inventions in any one or all eras cannot proceed intelligently unless account is taken
not only of their mode of construction, and of their evolution one from another, but of the
evolution of distinct arts, their relation, their interdependence in growth, and their mutual progress.
The principles adopted by the ancients in weaving and spinning by hand are those still in force;
but so great was the advance of inventions from hand-operated mechanisms to machines in these
and other arts, and especially in steam, in the last half of the eighteenth century, that it has been
claimed that the age of machine production or invention then for the first time really began.
When the humble lift became the completed elevator of to-day, the “sky-scraper” buildings
appeared; but these buildings waited upon the invention of their steel skeletons, and the steel was
the child of the Bessemer process.
The harp with which David stirred the dead soul of Saul was the prototype of the sweet
clavichord, the romantic virginal, the tinkling harpsichord, and the grand piano. The thrumming of
the chords by the fingers was succeeded by the striking keys; and the more perfect rendition of
tones awaited the application of new discoveries in the realm of musical sounds. The keys and the
levers in the art of musical instruments were transferred to the art of printing, and are found to-day
striking a more homely music on the type-writer and on those other and more wonderful printing
instruments that mould, and set, and distribute the type. But these results of later days did not
reach their perfected operations and forms until many other arts had been discovered and
developed, by which to treat and improve the wood, and the wire, and all the other materials of
which those early instruments were composed, and by which the underlying principles of their
operations became known.
Admitting that man possesses the faculty of invention, what are the motives that induce its
exercise? Why so prolific in inventions now? And will they continue to increase in number and
Page 24
importance, or decrease?
An interesting treatise of bulky dimensions might be written in answer to these queries, and the
answers might not then be wholly satisfactory. Space permits the submission of but a few
observations and suggestions on these points:——
Necessity is still the mother of inventions, but not of all of them. The pressing needs of man in
fighting nakedness and hunger, wild beasts and storms, may have driven him to the production of
most of his early contrivances; but as time went on and his wants of every kind multiplied, other
factors than mere necessity entered into the problem, and now it is required to account for the
multiplicity of inventions under the general head of Wants.
To-day it is the want of the luxuries, as well as of the necessities of life, the want of riches,
distinction, power, and place, the wants of philanthropy and the wants of selfishness, and that
restless, inherent, unsatisfied, indescribable want which is ever pushing man onward on the road
of progress, that must be regarded as the springs of invention.
Accident is thought to be the fruitful source of great inventions. It is a factor that cannot be
ignored. But accidents are only occasional helps, rarely occurring,—flashes of light suddenly
revealing the end of the path along which the inventor has been painfully toiling, and unnoticed
except by him alone. They are sudden discoveries which for the most part simply shorten his
journey. The rare complete contrivance revealed by accident is not an invention at all, but a
discovery.
The greatest incentive in modern times to the production of inventions is governmental protection.
When governments began to recognize the right of property in inventions, and to devise and
enforce means by which their author should hold and enjoy the same, as he holds his land, his
house, or his horse, then inventions sprung forth as from a great unsealed fountain.
This principle first found recognition in England in 1623, when parliament, stung by the abuse of
the royal prerogative in the grant of exclusive personal privileges that served to crush the growth
of inventions and not to multiply them, by its celebrated Statute of Monopolies, abolished all such
privileges, but excepted from its provisions the grant of patents “for the sole working or making of
any manner of new manufactures within this realm to the true and first inventor” thereof.
This statute had little force, however, in encouraging and protecting inventors until the next
century, and until after the great inventions of Arkwright in spinning and James Watt in steam-
engines had been invaded, and the attention of the courts called more seriously thereby to the
property rights of inventors, and to the necessity of a liberal exposition of the law and its proper
enforcement.
Then followed in 1789 the incorporation of that famous provision in the Constitution of the United
States, declaring that Congress shall have the power “To promote the progress of science and
useful arts by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their
respective writings and discoveries.”
In 1791 followed the law of the National Assembly of France for the protection of new inventions,
setting forth in the preamble, among other things, “that not to regard an industrial invention as the
property of its author would be to attack the essential rights of man.”
An interesting treatise of bulky dimensions might be written in answer to these queries, and the
answers might not then be wholly satisfactory. Space permits the submission of but a few
observations and suggestions on these points:——
Necessity is still the mother of inventions, but not of all of them. The pressing needs of man in
fighting nakedness and hunger, wild beasts and storms, may have driven him to the production of
most of his early contrivances; but as time went on and his wants of every kind multiplied, other
factors than mere necessity entered into the problem, and now it is required to account for the
multiplicity of inventions under the general head of Wants.
To-day it is the want of the luxuries, as well as of the necessities of life, the want of riches,
distinction, power, and place, the wants of philanthropy and the wants of selfishness, and that
restless, inherent, unsatisfied, indescribable want which is ever pushing man onward on the road
of progress, that must be regarded as the springs of invention.
Accident is thought to be the fruitful source of great inventions. It is a factor that cannot be
ignored. But accidents are only occasional helps, rarely occurring,—flashes of light suddenly
revealing the end of the path along which the inventor has been painfully toiling, and unnoticed
except by him alone. They are sudden discoveries which for the most part simply shorten his
journey. The rare complete contrivance revealed by accident is not an invention at all, but a
discovery.
The greatest incentive in modern times to the production of inventions is governmental protection.
When governments began to recognize the right of property in inventions, and to devise and
enforce means by which their author should hold and enjoy the same, as he holds his land, his
house, or his horse, then inventions sprung forth as from a great unsealed fountain.
This principle first found recognition in England in 1623, when parliament, stung by the abuse of
the royal prerogative in the grant of exclusive personal privileges that served to crush the growth
of inventions and not to multiply them, by its celebrated Statute of Monopolies, abolished all such
privileges, but excepted from its provisions the grant of patents “for the sole working or making of
any manner of new manufactures within this realm to the true and first inventor” thereof.
This statute had little force, however, in encouraging and protecting inventors until the next
century, and until after the great inventions of Arkwright in spinning and James Watt in steam-
engines had been invaded, and the attention of the courts called more seriously thereby to the
property rights of inventors, and to the necessity of a liberal exposition of the law and its proper
enforcement.
Then followed in 1789 the incorporation of that famous provision in the Constitution of the United
States, declaring that Congress shall have the power “To promote the progress of science and
useful arts by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their
respective writings and discoveries.”
In 1791 followed the law of the National Assembly of France for the protection of new inventions,
setting forth in the preamble, among other things, “that not to regard an industrial invention as the
property of its author would be to attack the essential rights of man.”
Page 25
These fundamental principles have since been adopted and incorporated in their laws by all the
nations of the earth.
Inventions in their nature being for the good of all men and for all time, it has been deemed wise
by all nations in their legislation not to permit the inventor to lock up his property in secret, or
confine it to his own use; and hence the universal practice is to enact laws giving him, his heirs,
and assigns, exclusive ownership to this species of his property for a limited time only, adjudged
sufficient to reward him for his efforts in its production, and to encourage others in like
productions; while he, in consideration for this protection, is to fully make known his invention, so
that the public may be enabled to freely make and use it after its exclusive ownership shall have
expired.
In addition to the motives and incentives mentioned inducing this modern mighty outflow of
inventions, regard must be had to the conditions of personal, political and intellectual freedom,
and of education. There is no class of inventors where the mass of men are slaves; and when dense
ignorance abounds, invention sleeps.
In the days of the greatest intellectual freedom of Greece, Archimedes, Euclid, and Hero, its great
inventors, flourished; but when its political status had reduced the mass of citizens to slaves, when
the work of the artisan and the inventor was not appreciated beyond the gift of an occasional
crown of laurel, when manual labour and the labourer were scorned, inventions were not born, or,
if born, found no nourishment to prolong their lives.
In Rome, the labourer found little respect beyond the beasts of burden whose burdens he shared,
and the inventor found no provision of fostering care or protection in her mighty jurisprudence.
The middle ages carefully repressed the minds of men, and hid away in dark recesses the
instruments of learning. When men at length awoke to claim their birthright of freedom, they
invented the printing-press and rediscovered gunpowder, with which to destroy the tyranny of both
priests and kings. Then arose the modern inventor, and with him came the freedom and the arts of
civilisation which we now enjoy.
What the exercise of free and protected invention has brought to this century is thus summarised
by Macaulay:
“It has lengthened life; it has mitigated pain; has extinguished diseases; has increased the fertility
of the soil; given new security to the mariner; furnished new arms to the warrior; spanned great
rivers and estuaries with bridges of form unknown to our fathers; it has guided the thunderbolt
innocuously from heaven to earth; it has lighted up the night with splendour of the day; it has
extended the range of human vision; it has multiplied the power of the human muscles; it has
accelerated motion; it has annihilated distance; it has facilitated intercourse, correspondence, all
friendly offices, all despatch of business; it has enabled man to descend to the depths of the sea, to
soar into the air, to penetrate securely into the noxious recesses of the earth; to traverse the land in
carts which whirl along without horses; to cross the ocean in ships which run many knots an hour
against the wind. Those are but a part of its fruits, and of its first fruits, for it is a philosophy which
never rests, which is never perfect. Its law is progress. A point which yesterday was invisible is its
goal to-day, and will be its starting point to-morrow.”
The onward flow of inventions may be interrupted, if not materially stayed, by the cessation of
some of the causes and incentives which now give them life. When comfort for all and rest for all,
and a suitable division of labour, and an equal distribution of its fruits are reached, in that state of
nations of the earth.
Inventions in their nature being for the good of all men and for all time, it has been deemed wise
by all nations in their legislation not to permit the inventor to lock up his property in secret, or
confine it to his own use; and hence the universal practice is to enact laws giving him, his heirs,
and assigns, exclusive ownership to this species of his property for a limited time only, adjudged
sufficient to reward him for his efforts in its production, and to encourage others in like
productions; while he, in consideration for this protection, is to fully make known his invention, so
that the public may be enabled to freely make and use it after its exclusive ownership shall have
expired.
In addition to the motives and incentives mentioned inducing this modern mighty outflow of
inventions, regard must be had to the conditions of personal, political and intellectual freedom,
and of education. There is no class of inventors where the mass of men are slaves; and when dense
ignorance abounds, invention sleeps.
In the days of the greatest intellectual freedom of Greece, Archimedes, Euclid, and Hero, its great
inventors, flourished; but when its political status had reduced the mass of citizens to slaves, when
the work of the artisan and the inventor was not appreciated beyond the gift of an occasional
crown of laurel, when manual labour and the labourer were scorned, inventions were not born, or,
if born, found no nourishment to prolong their lives.
In Rome, the labourer found little respect beyond the beasts of burden whose burdens he shared,
and the inventor found no provision of fostering care or protection in her mighty jurisprudence.
The middle ages carefully repressed the minds of men, and hid away in dark recesses the
instruments of learning. When men at length awoke to claim their birthright of freedom, they
invented the printing-press and rediscovered gunpowder, with which to destroy the tyranny of both
priests and kings. Then arose the modern inventor, and with him came the freedom and the arts of
civilisation which we now enjoy.
What the exercise of free and protected invention has brought to this century is thus summarised
by Macaulay:
“It has lengthened life; it has mitigated pain; has extinguished diseases; has increased the fertility
of the soil; given new security to the mariner; furnished new arms to the warrior; spanned great
rivers and estuaries with bridges of form unknown to our fathers; it has guided the thunderbolt
innocuously from heaven to earth; it has lighted up the night with splendour of the day; it has
extended the range of human vision; it has multiplied the power of the human muscles; it has
accelerated motion; it has annihilated distance; it has facilitated intercourse, correspondence, all
friendly offices, all despatch of business; it has enabled man to descend to the depths of the sea, to
soar into the air, to penetrate securely into the noxious recesses of the earth; to traverse the land in
carts which whirl along without horses; to cross the ocean in ships which run many knots an hour
against the wind. Those are but a part of its fruits, and of its first fruits, for it is a philosophy which
never rests, which is never perfect. Its law is progress. A point which yesterday was invisible is its
goal to-day, and will be its starting point to-morrow.”
The onward flow of inventions may be interrupted, if not materially stayed, by the cessation of
some of the causes and incentives which now give them life. When comfort for all and rest for all,
and a suitable division of labour, and an equal distribution of its fruits are reached, in that state of
Page 26
society which is pictured in the visions of the social philosopher, or as fast as such conditions are
reached, so soon will cease the pricking of those spurs of invention,—individual rewards, the
glorious strife of competition, the harrowing necessities, and the ambitions for place and power. If
all are to co-operate and share alike, what need of exclusive protection and fierce and individual
struggle? Why not sit down now and break the loaf and share it, and pour the wine, and enjoy
things as they are, without a thought for the morrow?
The same results as to inventions may be reached in different but less pleasant ways: When all the
industries are absorbed by huge combinations of capital the strife of competition among
individuals, and the making of individual inventions to meet such competition, will greatly
disappear. Or, the same results may be effected by stringent laws of labour organisations, in
restricting or repressing all individual independent effort, prescribing what shall be done or what
shall not be done along certain lines of manufacture or employment. So that the progress of future
inventions depends on the outcome of the great economic, industrial, and social battles which are
now looming on the pathway of the future.
But what the inventions of the nineteenth century were and what they have done for Humanity, is
a chapter that must be read by all those now living or to come who wish to learn the history of
their race. It is a story which gathers up all the threads of previous centuries and weaves them into
a fabric which must be used in all the coming ages in the attainment of their comforts, their
adornments, and their civilisations.
To enumerate all the inventions of the century would be like calling up a vast army of men and
proclaiming the name of each. The best that can be done is to divide the wide field into chapters,
and in these chapters give as best one may an idea of the leading inventions that have produced the
greatest industries of the World.
reached, so soon will cease the pricking of those spurs of invention,—individual rewards, the
glorious strife of competition, the harrowing necessities, and the ambitions for place and power. If
all are to co-operate and share alike, what need of exclusive protection and fierce and individual
struggle? Why not sit down now and break the loaf and share it, and pour the wine, and enjoy
things as they are, without a thought for the morrow?
The same results as to inventions may be reached in different but less pleasant ways: When all the
industries are absorbed by huge combinations of capital the strife of competition among
individuals, and the making of individual inventions to meet such competition, will greatly
disappear. Or, the same results may be effected by stringent laws of labour organisations, in
restricting or repressing all individual independent effort, prescribing what shall be done or what
shall not be done along certain lines of manufacture or employment. So that the progress of future
inventions depends on the outcome of the great economic, industrial, and social battles which are
now looming on the pathway of the future.
But what the inventions of the nineteenth century were and what they have done for Humanity, is
a chapter that must be read by all those now living or to come who wish to learn the history of
their race. It is a story which gathers up all the threads of previous centuries and weaves them into
a fabric which must be used in all the coming ages in the attainment of their comforts, their
adornments, and their civilisations.
To enumerate all the inventions of the century would be like calling up a vast army of men and
proclaiming the name of each. The best that can be done is to divide the wide field into chapters,
and in these chapters give as best one may an idea of the leading inventions that have produced the
greatest industries of the World.
Page 27
CHAPTER II.
AGRICULTURE AND ITS IMPLEMENTS.
The Egyptians were the earliest and greatest agriculturists, and from them the art was learned by
the Greeks. Greece in the days of her glory greatly improved the art, and some of her ablest men
wrote valuable treatises on its different topics. Its farmers thoroughly ploughed and fertilised the
soil, used various implements for its cultivation, paid great attention to the raising of fruits,—the
apple, pear, cherry, plum, quince, peach, lemon, fig and many other varieties suitable to their
climate, and improved the breeds of cattle, horse and sheep. When, however, social pride and
luxurious city life became the dominant passions, agriculture was left to menials, and the art
gradually faded with the State. Rome in her best days placed farming in high regard. Her best
writers wrote voluminously on agricultural subjects, a tract of land was allotted to every citizen,
which was carefully cultivated, and these citizen farmers were her worthiest and most honoured
sons. The condition and needs of the soil were studied, its strength replenished by careful
fertilisation, and it was worked with care. There were ploughs which were made heavy or light as
the different soils required, and there were a variety of farm implements, such as spades, hoes,
harrows and rakes. Grains, such as wheat, barley, rye and oats, were raised, a variety of fruits and
vegetables, and great attention paid to the breeding of stock. Cato and Varro, Virgil and Columella,
Pliny and Palladius delighted to instruct the farmer and praise his occupation.
But as the Roman Empire grew, its armies absorbed its intelligent farmers, the tilling of the soil
was left to the menial and the slave, and the Empire and agriculture declined together.
Then came the hordes of northern barbarians pouring in waves over the southern countries and
burying from sight their arts and civilisation. The gloom of the middle ages then closed down
upon the European world. Whatever good may have been accomplished in other directions by the
crusades, agriculture reached its lowest ebb, save in those instances where the culture of the soil
received attention from monastic institutions.
The sixteenth century has been fixed upon as the time when Europe awoke from its long slumber.
Then it was after the invention of the printing press had become well established that publications
on agriculture began to appear. The Boke of Husbandrie, in 1523, by Sir Anthony Fitzherbert;
Thomas Tusser’s Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry; Barnaby Googe’s The Whole Art of
Husbandry; The Jewel House of Art and Nature, by Sir Hugh Platt; the English Improver of Walter
Blithe, and the writings of Sir Richard Weston on the husbandry of Brabant and Flanders, were the
principal torches by which the light on this subject was handed down through the sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries. Further awakening was had in the eighteenth century, the chief part of
which was given by Jethro Tull, an English agriculturist, who lived, and wrote, and laboured in the
cause between 1680 and 1740. Tull’s leading idea was the thorough pulverisation of the soil, his
doctrines being that plants derived their nourishment from minute particles of soil, hence the need
of its pulverisation. He invented and introduced a horse hoe, a grain drill, and a threshing machine.
AGRICULTURE AND ITS IMPLEMENTS.
The Egyptians were the earliest and greatest agriculturists, and from them the art was learned by
the Greeks. Greece in the days of her glory greatly improved the art, and some of her ablest men
wrote valuable treatises on its different topics. Its farmers thoroughly ploughed and fertilised the
soil, used various implements for its cultivation, paid great attention to the raising of fruits,—the
apple, pear, cherry, plum, quince, peach, lemon, fig and many other varieties suitable to their
climate, and improved the breeds of cattle, horse and sheep. When, however, social pride and
luxurious city life became the dominant passions, agriculture was left to menials, and the art
gradually faded with the State. Rome in her best days placed farming in high regard. Her best
writers wrote voluminously on agricultural subjects, a tract of land was allotted to every citizen,
which was carefully cultivated, and these citizen farmers were her worthiest and most honoured
sons. The condition and needs of the soil were studied, its strength replenished by careful
fertilisation, and it was worked with care. There were ploughs which were made heavy or light as
the different soils required, and there were a variety of farm implements, such as spades, hoes,
harrows and rakes. Grains, such as wheat, barley, rye and oats, were raised, a variety of fruits and
vegetables, and great attention paid to the breeding of stock. Cato and Varro, Virgil and Columella,
Pliny and Palladius delighted to instruct the farmer and praise his occupation.
But as the Roman Empire grew, its armies absorbed its intelligent farmers, the tilling of the soil
was left to the menial and the slave, and the Empire and agriculture declined together.
Then came the hordes of northern barbarians pouring in waves over the southern countries and
burying from sight their arts and civilisation. The gloom of the middle ages then closed down
upon the European world. Whatever good may have been accomplished in other directions by the
crusades, agriculture reached its lowest ebb, save in those instances where the culture of the soil
received attention from monastic institutions.
The sixteenth century has been fixed upon as the time when Europe awoke from its long slumber.
Then it was after the invention of the printing press had become well established that publications
on agriculture began to appear. The Boke of Husbandrie, in 1523, by Sir Anthony Fitzherbert;
Thomas Tusser’s Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry; Barnaby Googe’s The Whole Art of
Husbandry; The Jewel House of Art and Nature, by Sir Hugh Platt; the English Improver of Walter
Blithe, and the writings of Sir Richard Weston on the husbandry of Brabant and Flanders, were the
principal torches by which the light on this subject was handed down through the sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries. Further awakening was had in the eighteenth century, the chief part of
which was given by Jethro Tull, an English agriculturist, who lived, and wrote, and laboured in the
cause between 1680 and 1740. Tull’s leading idea was the thorough pulverisation of the soil, his
doctrines being that plants derived their nourishment from minute particles of soil, hence the need
of its pulverisation. He invented and introduced a horse hoe, a grain drill, and a threshing machine.
Page 28
Next appeared Arthur Young, of England, born in 1741, whose life was extended into the 19th
century, and to whom the world was greatly indebted for the spread of agricultural knowledge. He
devoted frequent and long journeys to obtaining information on agricultural subjects, and his
writings attracted the attention and assistance of the learned everywhere. His chief work was the
making known widely of the beneficial effects of ammonia and ammoniacal compounds on
vegetation. Many other useful branches of the subject, clearly treated by him, are found in his
Annals of Agriculture. It was this same Arthur Young with whom Washington corresponded from
his quiet retreat at Mount Vernon. After the close of the War of Independence in 1783 and before
the adoption of the Constitution in 1789 and his elevation to the Presidency in that year,
Washington devoted very much of his time to the cultivation of his large estate in Virginia. He
took great interest in every improvement in agriculture and its implements. He invented a plough
and a rotary seed drill, improved his harrows and mills, and made many inquiries relative to the
efficacy of ploughs and threshing machines made in England and other parts of Europe. It was
during this period that he opened an interesting correspondence with Young on improvements in
agriculture, which was carried on even while he was President, and he availed himself of the
proffer of Young’s services to fill an order for seeds and two ploughs from a London merchant. He
also wrote to Robert Cary & Co., merchants in London, concerning an engine he had heard of as
being constructed in Switzerland, for pulling up trees and their stumps by the roots, and ordered
one to be sent him if the machine were efficient.
Jefferson, Washington’s great contemporaneous statesman and Virginia planter, and to whom has
been ascribed the chief glory of the American patent system, himself also an inventor, enriched his
country by the full scientific knowledge he had gained from all Europe of agricultural pursuits and
improvements.
The progress of the art, in a fundamental sense, that is in a knowledge of the constituents,
properties, and needs of the soil, commenced with the investigations of Sir Humphry Davy at the
close of the 18th century, resulting in his celebrated lectures before the Board of Agriculture from
1802 to 1812, and his practical experiments in the growth of plants and the nature of fertilisers.
Agricultural societies and boards were a characteristic product of the eighteenth century in Europe
and America. But this birth, or revival of agricultural studies, the enthusiastic interest taken therein
by its great and learned men, and all its valuable publications and discoveries, bore comparatively
little fruit in that century. The ignorance and prejudice of the great mass of farmers led to a
determined, and in many instances violent resistance to the introduction of labour-saving
machinery and the practical application of what they called “book-farming.” A fear of driving
people out of employment led them to make war upon new agricultural machines and their
inventors, as they had upon weaving and spinning inventions. This war was more marked in
England than elsewhere, because there more of the new machines were first introduced, and the
number of labourers in those fields was the greatest. In America the ignorance took the milder
shape of contempt and prejudice. Farmers refused, for instance, to use cast-iron ploughs as it was
feared they would poison the soil.
So slow was the invention and introduction of new devices, that if Ruth had revisited the earth at
the beginning of the nineteenth century, she might have seen again in the fields of the husbandmen
everywhere the sickle of the reapers behind whom she gleaned in the fields of Boaz, heard again
the beating on the threshing floor, and felt the old familiar rush of the winnowing wind.
Cincinnatus returning then would have recognised the plough in common use as about the same in
form as that which he once abandoned on his farm beyond the Tiber.
century, and to whom the world was greatly indebted for the spread of agricultural knowledge. He
devoted frequent and long journeys to obtaining information on agricultural subjects, and his
writings attracted the attention and assistance of the learned everywhere. His chief work was the
making known widely of the beneficial effects of ammonia and ammoniacal compounds on
vegetation. Many other useful branches of the subject, clearly treated by him, are found in his
Annals of Agriculture. It was this same Arthur Young with whom Washington corresponded from
his quiet retreat at Mount Vernon. After the close of the War of Independence in 1783 and before
the adoption of the Constitution in 1789 and his elevation to the Presidency in that year,
Washington devoted very much of his time to the cultivation of his large estate in Virginia. He
took great interest in every improvement in agriculture and its implements. He invented a plough
and a rotary seed drill, improved his harrows and mills, and made many inquiries relative to the
efficacy of ploughs and threshing machines made in England and other parts of Europe. It was
during this period that he opened an interesting correspondence with Young on improvements in
agriculture, which was carried on even while he was President, and he availed himself of the
proffer of Young’s services to fill an order for seeds and two ploughs from a London merchant. He
also wrote to Robert Cary & Co., merchants in London, concerning an engine he had heard of as
being constructed in Switzerland, for pulling up trees and their stumps by the roots, and ordered
one to be sent him if the machine were efficient.
Jefferson, Washington’s great contemporaneous statesman and Virginia planter, and to whom has
been ascribed the chief glory of the American patent system, himself also an inventor, enriched his
country by the full scientific knowledge he had gained from all Europe of agricultural pursuits and
improvements.
The progress of the art, in a fundamental sense, that is in a knowledge of the constituents,
properties, and needs of the soil, commenced with the investigations of Sir Humphry Davy at the
close of the 18th century, resulting in his celebrated lectures before the Board of Agriculture from
1802 to 1812, and his practical experiments in the growth of plants and the nature of fertilisers.
Agricultural societies and boards were a characteristic product of the eighteenth century in Europe
and America. But this birth, or revival of agricultural studies, the enthusiastic interest taken therein
by its great and learned men, and all its valuable publications and discoveries, bore comparatively
little fruit in that century. The ignorance and prejudice of the great mass of farmers led to a
determined, and in many instances violent resistance to the introduction of labour-saving
machinery and the practical application of what they called “book-farming.” A fear of driving
people out of employment led them to make war upon new agricultural machines and their
inventors, as they had upon weaving and spinning inventions. This war was more marked in
England than elsewhere, because there more of the new machines were first introduced, and the
number of labourers in those fields was the greatest. In America the ignorance took the milder
shape of contempt and prejudice. Farmers refused, for instance, to use cast-iron ploughs as it was
feared they would poison the soil.
So slow was the invention and introduction of new devices, that if Ruth had revisited the earth at
the beginning of the nineteenth century, she might have seen again in the fields of the husbandmen
everywhere the sickle of the reapers behind whom she gleaned in the fields of Boaz, heard again
the beating on the threshing floor, and felt the old familiar rush of the winnowing wind.
Cincinnatus returning then would have recognised the plough in common use as about the same in
form as that which he once abandoned on his farm beyond the Tiber.
Page 29
But with the spread of publications, the extension of learning, the protection now at last obtained
and enforced for inventions, and with the foundations laid and the guide-posts erected in nearly
every art and science by previous discoverers, inventors and writers, the century was now ready to
start on that career of inventions which has rendered it so glorious.
As the turning over and loosening of the sod and the soil for the reception of seed was, and still is
the first step in the art of agriculture, the plough is the first implement to be considered in this
review.
A plough possesses five essential features,—a frame or beam to which the horses are attached and
which is provided with handles by which the operator guides the plough, a share to sever the
bottom of a slice of land—the furrow—from the land beneath, a mould board following the share
to turn the furrow over to one side, and a landside, the side opposite the mould board and which
presses against the unploughed ground and steadies the plough. To these have been commonly
added a device called the coulter, which is a knife or sharp disk fastened to the frame in advance
of the share and adapted to cut the sod or soil so that the furrow may be more easily turned, an
adjustable gauge wheel secured to the beam in advance of the coulter, and which runs upon the
surface of the soil to determine by the distance between the perimeter of the wheel at the bottom
and the bottom of the plough share the depth of the furrow, and a clevis, which is an adjustable
metal strap attached to the end of the beam to which the draught is secured, and by which the pitch
of the beam and the depth and width of the furrow are regulated. The general features, the beam,
handles, and share, have existed in ploughs from the earliest ages in history. A plough with a metal
share was referred to by the prophecy of Isaiah seven centuries before Christ, “They shall beat
their swords into plough-shares;” and such a plough with the coulter and gauge wheel added is
found in the Caylus collection of Greek antiquities. The inventions of centuries in ploughs have
proceeded along the lines of the elements above enumerated.
The leading features of the modern plough with a share and mould board constructed to run in a
certain track and turn its furrows one over against the other, appear to have originated in Holland
in the 18th century, and from there were made known to England. James Small of Scotland wrote
of and made ploughs having a cast-iron mould board and cast and wrought iron shares in 1784-85.
In America, about the same time, Thos. Jefferson studied and wrote upon the proper shape to be
given to the mould board.
Charles Newbold in 1797 took out the first patent in the United States for a plough—all parts cast
in one piece of solid iron except the beam and handles.
It is a favourite idea with some writers and with more talkers, that when the necessity really arises
for an invention the natural inventive genius of man will at once supply it. Nothing was more
needed and sought after for thirty centuries among tillers of the soil than a good plough, and what
finally supplied it was not necessity alone, but improved brains. Long were the continued efforts,
stimulated no doubt in part by necessity, but stimulated also by other motives, to which allusion
has already been made, and among which are the love of progress, the hope of gain, and
legislative protection in the possession of inventive property.
The best plans of writers and inventors of the eighteenth century were not fully developed until the
nineteenth, and it can be safely said that within the last one hundred years a better plough has been
produced than in all of the thousands of years before. The defects which the nineteenth century’s
and enforced for inventions, and with the foundations laid and the guide-posts erected in nearly
every art and science by previous discoverers, inventors and writers, the century was now ready to
start on that career of inventions which has rendered it so glorious.
As the turning over and loosening of the sod and the soil for the reception of seed was, and still is
the first step in the art of agriculture, the plough is the first implement to be considered in this
review.
A plough possesses five essential features,—a frame or beam to which the horses are attached and
which is provided with handles by which the operator guides the plough, a share to sever the
bottom of a slice of land—the furrow—from the land beneath, a mould board following the share
to turn the furrow over to one side, and a landside, the side opposite the mould board and which
presses against the unploughed ground and steadies the plough. To these have been commonly
added a device called the coulter, which is a knife or sharp disk fastened to the frame in advance
of the share and adapted to cut the sod or soil so that the furrow may be more easily turned, an
adjustable gauge wheel secured to the beam in advance of the coulter, and which runs upon the
surface of the soil to determine by the distance between the perimeter of the wheel at the bottom
and the bottom of the plough share the depth of the furrow, and a clevis, which is an adjustable
metal strap attached to the end of the beam to which the draught is secured, and by which the pitch
of the beam and the depth and width of the furrow are regulated. The general features, the beam,
handles, and share, have existed in ploughs from the earliest ages in history. A plough with a metal
share was referred to by the prophecy of Isaiah seven centuries before Christ, “They shall beat
their swords into plough-shares;” and such a plough with the coulter and gauge wheel added is
found in the Caylus collection of Greek antiquities. The inventions of centuries in ploughs have
proceeded along the lines of the elements above enumerated.
The leading features of the modern plough with a share and mould board constructed to run in a
certain track and turn its furrows one over against the other, appear to have originated in Holland
in the 18th century, and from there were made known to England. James Small of Scotland wrote
of and made ploughs having a cast-iron mould board and cast and wrought iron shares in 1784-85.
In America, about the same time, Thos. Jefferson studied and wrote upon the proper shape to be
given to the mould board.
Charles Newbold in 1797 took out the first patent in the United States for a plough—all parts cast
in one piece of solid iron except the beam and handles.
It is a favourite idea with some writers and with more talkers, that when the necessity really arises
for an invention the natural inventive genius of man will at once supply it. Nothing was more
needed and sought after for thirty centuries among tillers of the soil than a good plough, and what
finally supplied it was not necessity alone, but improved brains. Long were the continued efforts,
stimulated no doubt in part by necessity, but stimulated also by other motives, to which allusion
has already been made, and among which are the love of progress, the hope of gain, and
legislative protection in the possession of inventive property.
The best plans of writers and inventors of the eighteenth century were not fully developed until the
nineteenth, and it can be safely said that within the last one hundred years a better plough has been
produced than in all of the thousands of years before. The defects which the nineteenth century’s
Page 30
improvements in ploughs were designed to remedy can best be understood by first realising what
was the condition of ploughs in common use when the century opened.
Different parts of the plough, such as the share and coulter, were constructed of iron, but the
general practice among farmers was to make the beam and frame, handles and mould board of
strong and heavy timber. The beam was straight, long, and heavy, and that and the mould generally
hewed from a tree. The mould board on both sides to prevent its wearing out too rapidly was
covered with more or less thick plates of iron. The handles were made from crooked branches of
trees. “The beam,” it is said, “was set at any pitch that fancy might dictate, with the handles
fastened on almost at right angles with it, thus leaving the ploughman little control over his
implement which did its work in a very slow and imperfect manner.” It was some such plough that
Lord Kames complained about in the Gentleman Farmer in 1768, as being used in Scotland—two
horses and two oxen were necessary to pull it, “the ridges in the fields were high and broad, in fact
enormous masses of accumulated earth, that could not admit of cross ploughing or cultivation;
shallow ploughing universal; ribbing, by which half the land was left untilled, a general practice
over the greater part of Scotland; a continual struggle between the corn and weeds for superiority.”
As late as 1820 an American writer was making the same complaint. “Your furrows,” he said,
“stand up like the ribs of a lean horse in the month of March. A lazy ploughman may sit on the
beam and count every bout of his day’s work; besides the greatest objection to all these ploughs is
that they do not perform the work well and the expense is enormous for blacksmith work.” It was
complained by another that it took eight or ten oxen to draw it, a man to ride upon the beam to
keep it on the ground, and a man followed the plough with a heavy iron hoe to dig up the
“baulks.”
The improvements made in the plough during the century have had for their object to lessen the
great friction between the wide, heavy, ill-formed share and mould board, and the ground, which
has been accomplished by giving to the share a sharp clean tapering form, and to the mould board
a shape best calculated to turn the furrow slice; to improve the line of draught so that the pull of
the team may be most advantageously employed, which has been effected after long trials, study
and experiment in the arrangement of beam, clevis and draft rod, setting the coulter at a proper
angle and giving the landside a plane and parallel surface; to increase the wear and lessen the
weight of the parts, which has been accomplished by ingenious processes in treating the metal of
which the parts are composed, and lessening the number of parts; to render the plough easily
repairable by casting the parts in sets and numbering them, by which any part may be replaced by
the manufacturer without resort to the blacksmith. In short there is no part of the plough but what
has received the most careful attention of the inventor. This has been evidenced by the fact that in
the United States alone nearly eleven thousand patents on ploughs were issued during the
nineteenth century. When it is considered that all the applications for these patents were examined
as to their novelty, before the grant of the patent, the enormous amount of study and invention
expended on this article can be appreciated. Among the century’s improvements in this line is the
use of disks in place of the old shovel blades to penetrate the earth and revolve in contact
therewith. Cutting disks are harnessed to steam motors and are adapted to break up at one
operation a wide strip of ground. The long-studied problem of employing a gang of ploughs to
plough back and forth and successfully operated by steam has been solved, and electricity is now
being introduced as a motor in place of steam. Thus millions of broad acres which never would
have been otherwise turned are now cultivated. The tired muscle-strained ploughman who
homeward plodded his weary way at night may now comfortably ride at his ease upon the plough,
while at the same time the beasts that pull it have a lighter load than ever before.
was the condition of ploughs in common use when the century opened.
Different parts of the plough, such as the share and coulter, were constructed of iron, but the
general practice among farmers was to make the beam and frame, handles and mould board of
strong and heavy timber. The beam was straight, long, and heavy, and that and the mould generally
hewed from a tree. The mould board on both sides to prevent its wearing out too rapidly was
covered with more or less thick plates of iron. The handles were made from crooked branches of
trees. “The beam,” it is said, “was set at any pitch that fancy might dictate, with the handles
fastened on almost at right angles with it, thus leaving the ploughman little control over his
implement which did its work in a very slow and imperfect manner.” It was some such plough that
Lord Kames complained about in the Gentleman Farmer in 1768, as being used in Scotland—two
horses and two oxen were necessary to pull it, “the ridges in the fields were high and broad, in fact
enormous masses of accumulated earth, that could not admit of cross ploughing or cultivation;
shallow ploughing universal; ribbing, by which half the land was left untilled, a general practice
over the greater part of Scotland; a continual struggle between the corn and weeds for superiority.”
As late as 1820 an American writer was making the same complaint. “Your furrows,” he said,
“stand up like the ribs of a lean horse in the month of March. A lazy ploughman may sit on the
beam and count every bout of his day’s work; besides the greatest objection to all these ploughs is
that they do not perform the work well and the expense is enormous for blacksmith work.” It was
complained by another that it took eight or ten oxen to draw it, a man to ride upon the beam to
keep it on the ground, and a man followed the plough with a heavy iron hoe to dig up the
“baulks.”
The improvements made in the plough during the century have had for their object to lessen the
great friction between the wide, heavy, ill-formed share and mould board, and the ground, which
has been accomplished by giving to the share a sharp clean tapering form, and to the mould board
a shape best calculated to turn the furrow slice; to improve the line of draught so that the pull of
the team may be most advantageously employed, which has been effected after long trials, study
and experiment in the arrangement of beam, clevis and draft rod, setting the coulter at a proper
angle and giving the landside a plane and parallel surface; to increase the wear and lessen the
weight of the parts, which has been accomplished by ingenious processes in treating the metal of
which the parts are composed, and lessening the number of parts; to render the plough easily
repairable by casting the parts in sets and numbering them, by which any part may be replaced by
the manufacturer without resort to the blacksmith. In short there is no part of the plough but what
has received the most careful attention of the inventor. This has been evidenced by the fact that in
the United States alone nearly eleven thousand patents on ploughs were issued during the
nineteenth century. When it is considered that all the applications for these patents were examined
as to their novelty, before the grant of the patent, the enormous amount of study and invention
expended on this article can be appreciated. Among the century’s improvements in this line is the
use of disks in place of the old shovel blades to penetrate the earth and revolve in contact
therewith. Cutting disks are harnessed to steam motors and are adapted to break up at one
operation a wide strip of ground. The long-studied problem of employing a gang of ploughs to
plough back and forth and successfully operated by steam has been solved, and electricity is now
being introduced as a motor in place of steam. Thus millions of broad acres which never would
have been otherwise turned are now cultivated. The tired muscle-strained ploughman who
homeward plodded his weary way at night may now comfortably ride at his ease upon the plough,
while at the same time the beasts that pull it have a lighter load than ever before.
Page 31
Next to the plough among the implements for breaking, clearing and otherwise preparing the soil
for the reception of seed, comes the harrow. From time immemorial it has been customary to arm
some sort of a frame with wooden or iron spikes to scratch the earth after the ploughing. But this
century has greatly improved the old constructions. Harrows are now found everywhere made in
sections to give flexibility to the frame; collected in gangs to increase the extent of operation;
made with disks instead of spikes, with which to cut the roots of weeds and separate the soil,
instead of merely scratching them. A still later invention, curved spring teeth, has been found far
superior to spikes or disks in throwing up, separating and pulverising the soil. A harrow
comprising two ranks of oppositely curved trailing teeth is especially popular in some countries.
These three distinct classes of harrows, the disk type, the curved spring tooth type, and gangs of
sections of concavo-convex disks, particularly distinguish this class of implements from the old
forms of previous ages.
for the reception of seed, comes the harrow. From time immemorial it has been customary to arm
some sort of a frame with wooden or iron spikes to scratch the earth after the ploughing. But this
century has greatly improved the old constructions. Harrows are now found everywhere made in
sections to give flexibility to the frame; collected in gangs to increase the extent of operation;
made with disks instead of spikes, with which to cut the roots of weeds and separate the soil,
instead of merely scratching them. A still later invention, curved spring teeth, has been found far
superior to spikes or disks in throwing up, separating and pulverising the soil. A harrow
comprising two ranks of oppositely curved trailing teeth is especially popular in some countries.
These three distinct classes of harrows, the disk type, the curved spring tooth type, and gangs of
sections of concavo-convex disks, particularly distinguish this class of implements from the old
forms of previous ages.
Page 32
CHAPTER III.
AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS.
It is wonderful for how many generations men were contented to throw grain into the air as the
Parable relates:
“Behold, a sower went forth to sow, and when he sowed some seeds fell by the way side, and the
fowls came and devoured them up: some fell on stony places where they had not much earth, and
forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth; and when the sun was up they
were scorched; and because they had no root they withered away. And some fell among thorns and
the thorns sprung up and choked them. But others fell into good ground and brought forth fruit,
some a hundredfold, some sixtyfold, and some thirtyfold.”
Here are indicated the defects in depositing the seed that only the inventions of the century have
fully corrected. The equal distribution of the seed and not its wide scattering, its sowing in regular
drills or planting at intervals, at certain and uniform depths, the adaptation of devices to meet the
variations in the land to be planted, and in short the substitution of quick, certain, positive
mechanisms for the slow, uncertain, variable hand of man. Not only has the increase an
hundredfold been obtained, but with the machines of to-day the sowing and planting of a
hundredfold more land has been made possible, the employment of armies of men where idleness
would have reigned, and the feeding of millions of people among whom hunger would otherwise
have prevailed. Not only did this machinery not exist at the beginning of the century, but the
agricultural machines and devices in this line of the character existing fifty years ago are now
discarded as useless and worthless.
It is true that, as in the case of the ploughs, attempts had been made through the centuries to invent
and improve seeding implements. The Assyrians 500 years B. C. had in use a rude plough in
which behind the sharp wooden plough point was fixed a bowl-shaped hopper through which seed
was dropped into the furrow, and was covered by the falling back of the furrow upon it. The
Chinese, probably before that time, had a wheelbarrow arrangement with a seed hopper and
separate seed spouts. In India a drilling hopper had been attached to a plough. Italy claims the
honour among European nations of first introducing a machine for sowing grain. It was invented
about the beginning of the seventeenth century and is described by Zanon in his Work on
Agriculture printed at Venice in 1764. It was a machine mounted on two wheels, that had a seed
box in the bottom of which was a series of holes opening into a corresponding number of metal
tubes or funnels. At their front these tubes at their lower ends were sharpened to make small
furrows into which the seed dropped.
Similar single machines were in the course of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries devised in
Austria and England. The one in Austria was invented by a Spaniard, one Don Joseph de
Lescatello, tested in Luxembourg in 1662. The inventor was rewarded by the Emperor,
recommended to the King of Spain, and in 1663 and 1664 his machines were made and sold at
Madrid. The knowledge of this Spaniard’s invention was made known in England in 1699 by the
AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS.
It is wonderful for how many generations men were contented to throw grain into the air as the
Parable relates:
“Behold, a sower went forth to sow, and when he sowed some seeds fell by the way side, and the
fowls came and devoured them up: some fell on stony places where they had not much earth, and
forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth; and when the sun was up they
were scorched; and because they had no root they withered away. And some fell among thorns and
the thorns sprung up and choked them. But others fell into good ground and brought forth fruit,
some a hundredfold, some sixtyfold, and some thirtyfold.”
Here are indicated the defects in depositing the seed that only the inventions of the century have
fully corrected. The equal distribution of the seed and not its wide scattering, its sowing in regular
drills or planting at intervals, at certain and uniform depths, the adaptation of devices to meet the
variations in the land to be planted, and in short the substitution of quick, certain, positive
mechanisms for the slow, uncertain, variable hand of man. Not only has the increase an
hundredfold been obtained, but with the machines of to-day the sowing and planting of a
hundredfold more land has been made possible, the employment of armies of men where idleness
would have reigned, and the feeding of millions of people among whom hunger would otherwise
have prevailed. Not only did this machinery not exist at the beginning of the century, but the
agricultural machines and devices in this line of the character existing fifty years ago are now
discarded as useless and worthless.
It is true that, as in the case of the ploughs, attempts had been made through the centuries to invent
and improve seeding implements. The Assyrians 500 years B. C. had in use a rude plough in
which behind the sharp wooden plough point was fixed a bowl-shaped hopper through which seed
was dropped into the furrow, and was covered by the falling back of the furrow upon it. The
Chinese, probably before that time, had a wheelbarrow arrangement with a seed hopper and
separate seed spouts. In India a drilling hopper had been attached to a plough. Italy claims the
honour among European nations of first introducing a machine for sowing grain. It was invented
about the beginning of the seventeenth century and is described by Zanon in his Work on
Agriculture printed at Venice in 1764. It was a machine mounted on two wheels, that had a seed
box in the bottom of which was a series of holes opening into a corresponding number of metal
tubes or funnels. At their front these tubes at their lower ends were sharpened to make small
furrows into which the seed dropped.
Similar single machines were in the course of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries devised in
Austria and England. The one in Austria was invented by a Spaniard, one Don Joseph de
Lescatello, tested in Luxembourg in 1662. The inventor was rewarded by the Emperor,
recommended to the King of Spain, and in 1663 and 1664 his machines were made and sold at
Madrid. The knowledge of this Spaniard’s invention was made known in England in 1699 by the
Page 33
Earl of Sandwich and John Evelyn. Jethro Tull in England shortly after invented and introduced a
combined system of drilling, ploughing and cultivating. He sowed different seeds from the same
machine, and arranged that they might be covered at different depths. Tull’s machines were much
improved by James Cooke, a clergyman of Lancashire, England; and also in the last decade of the
eighteenth century by Baldwin and Wells of Norfolk, England.
Washington and others in America had also commenced to invent and experiment with seeding
machines. But as before intimated, the nineteenth century found the great mass of farmers
everywhere sowing their wheat and other grains by throwing them into the air by hand, to be met
by the gusts of wind and blown into hollows and on ridges, on stones and thorny places,—
requiring often a second and third repetition of the same tedious process.
In 1878 Mr. Coffin, a distinguished journalist of Boston, in an address before the Patent
Committee of the U. S. Senate, set forth the advantages obtained by the modern improvements in
seeders as follows:
“The seeder covers the soil to a uniform depth. It sows evenly, and sows a specific quantity. You
may graduate it so that, after a little experience, you can determine the amount per acre even to a
quart of wheat. They sow all kinds of grain,—wheat, clover, and superphosphate, if need be, at
once. They harrow at the same time. They make the crop more certain. It is the united testimony of
manufacturers and farmers alike that the crop is increased from one-eighth to one-fourth,
especially in the winter wheat. Winter wheat, you are aware, in the freezing and thawing season, is
apt to heave out. It is desirable to bury the seed a uniform and proper depth and to throw over the
young plant such an amount of soil that it shall not heave with the freezing and thawing. Of the
360,000,000 bushels of wheat raised last year I suppose more than 300,000,000 was winter wheat.
One-eighth of this is 37,700,000 bushels.”
It would seem to many that after the adoption of a seed hopper, and spouts with sharpened ends
that cut the drill rows in the furrows and deposited the seed therein, that little was left to be done
in this class of inventions; but a great many improvements were necessary. Gravity alone could
not be depended upon for feeding the seed. Means had to be devised for a continuous and regular
discharge from each grain tube; for varying the quantity of the seed fed by varying the escape
openings, or by positive mechanical movements variable in speed; for fixing accurately the
quantity of seed discharged; for changing the apparatus to feed coarse or fine seed; and for
rendering the apparatus efficient on different surfaces—steep hillsides, level plains, irregular
lands.
An important step was the substitution of what is called the “force feed” for the gravity feed.
There is a variety of devices for this purpose, the principle of one of them being a revolving feed
wheel located beneath the hopper, and above each spout, the two casings between which the feed
wheel revolves forming the outer walls of a complete measuring channel, or throat, through which
the grain is carried by the rotary motion of the wheel, thus providing the means of measuring the
seed with as much accuracy as could be done by a small measure. The quantity sown per acre is
governed by simply increasing or diminishing the speed of the feed wheel. In one form of device
this change of speed is altered by a system of cone gearing. A graduated flow of the seed has also
been effected by the employment of a cylinder having a smooth and fluted part working in a cup
beneath the hopper with provision for adjustment of the smooth part towards and from the fluted
part to cut off or increase the flow.
combined system of drilling, ploughing and cultivating. He sowed different seeds from the same
machine, and arranged that they might be covered at different depths. Tull’s machines were much
improved by James Cooke, a clergyman of Lancashire, England; and also in the last decade of the
eighteenth century by Baldwin and Wells of Norfolk, England.
Washington and others in America had also commenced to invent and experiment with seeding
machines. But as before intimated, the nineteenth century found the great mass of farmers
everywhere sowing their wheat and other grains by throwing them into the air by hand, to be met
by the gusts of wind and blown into hollows and on ridges, on stones and thorny places,—
requiring often a second and third repetition of the same tedious process.
In 1878 Mr. Coffin, a distinguished journalist of Boston, in an address before the Patent
Committee of the U. S. Senate, set forth the advantages obtained by the modern improvements in
seeders as follows:
“The seeder covers the soil to a uniform depth. It sows evenly, and sows a specific quantity. You
may graduate it so that, after a little experience, you can determine the amount per acre even to a
quart of wheat. They sow all kinds of grain,—wheat, clover, and superphosphate, if need be, at
once. They harrow at the same time. They make the crop more certain. It is the united testimony of
manufacturers and farmers alike that the crop is increased from one-eighth to one-fourth,
especially in the winter wheat. Winter wheat, you are aware, in the freezing and thawing season, is
apt to heave out. It is desirable to bury the seed a uniform and proper depth and to throw over the
young plant such an amount of soil that it shall not heave with the freezing and thawing. Of the
360,000,000 bushels of wheat raised last year I suppose more than 300,000,000 was winter wheat.
One-eighth of this is 37,700,000 bushels.”
It would seem to many that after the adoption of a seed hopper, and spouts with sharpened ends
that cut the drill rows in the furrows and deposited the seed therein, that little was left to be done
in this class of inventions; but a great many improvements were necessary. Gravity alone could
not be depended upon for feeding the seed. Means had to be devised for a continuous and regular
discharge from each grain tube; for varying the quantity of the seed fed by varying the escape
openings, or by positive mechanical movements variable in speed; for fixing accurately the
quantity of seed discharged; for changing the apparatus to feed coarse or fine seed; and for
rendering the apparatus efficient on different surfaces—steep hillsides, level plains, irregular
lands.
An important step was the substitution of what is called the “force feed” for the gravity feed.
There is a variety of devices for this purpose, the principle of one of them being a revolving feed
wheel located beneath the hopper, and above each spout, the two casings between which the feed
wheel revolves forming the outer walls of a complete measuring channel, or throat, through which
the grain is carried by the rotary motion of the wheel, thus providing the means of measuring the
seed with as much accuracy as could be done by a small measure. The quantity sown per acre is
governed by simply increasing or diminishing the speed of the feed wheel. In one form of device
this change of speed is altered by a system of cone gearing. A graduated flow of the seed has also
been effected by the employment of a cylinder having a smooth and fluted part working in a cup
beneath the hopper with provision for adjustment of the smooth part towards and from the fluted
part to cut off or increase the flow.
Page 34
To avoid the use of a separate apparatus for separate sizes of grain and other seed, the seed holder
has been divided into parts—one part for containing wheat, barley and other medium-sized grains,
and another for corn, peas and the larger seeds. And as these parts are used on separate occasions,
the respective apertures are opened or closed by a sliding bottom and by a single movement of the
hand.
Rubber tubes for conducting the seed through the hollow holes were introduced in place of the
metal spouts that answered both as a spout and a hoe.
In place of the common hoe drill of a form used in the early part of the century, the hoes being
forced into the soil by the use of levers and weights, what are known as “shoe drills” have largely
succeeded. A series of shoes are pivoted to the frame, extend beneath the seed box, and are
provided with springs for depressing or raising them.
All kinds of seeds and fertilisers, separately or together, may be now sown, and the broadcast
sowing of a larger area than that covered by the throw of the hand can now be given by machinery.
Corn and cotton seed are thus also planted, mixed or unmixed with the fertilising material.
Not only have light ploughs been combined with small seed boxes and one or more seed tubes, for
easy work in gardens, but the arrangements varied and graded for different uses until is reached
that great machine run by steam power, in which is assembled a gang of heavy harrows in front to
loosen and pulverise the soil, then the seed and fertilising drill of capacious width for sowing the
grain in rows, followed by a lighter broad harrow to cover the seed, and all so arranged that the
steam lifts the heavy frames on turning, and all controlled easily by the man who rides upon the
machine.
In planting at intervals or in hills, as corn and potatoes, and other like larger seeds, no longer is the
farmer required to trudge across the wide field carrying a heavy load in bag or box, or compel his
boys or women folk to drop the seed while he follows on laboriously with the hoe. He may now
ride, if he so choose, and the machine which carries him furnishes the motive power for operating
the supply and cut-off of the grain at intervals.
The object of the farmer in planting corn is to plant it in straight lines about four feet apart each
way, putting from three to five grains into each spot in a scattered and not huddled condition.
These objects are together nicely accomplished by a variety of modern machines.
The planting of great fields of potatoes has been greatly facilitated by machinery that first slices
them and then sows the slices continuously in a row, or drops them in separate spots or hills, as
may be desired. The finest seeds, such as grass and clover, onion and turnip seed, and delicate seed
like rice, are handled and sown by machines without crushing or bruising, and with the utmost
exactness. Just what seed is necessary to be supplied to the machine for a given area is decided
upon, and the machine distributes the same with the same nicety that a doctor distributes the
proper dose of pellets upon the palm of his patient.
Transplanters as well as planters have been devised. These transplanters will dig the plant trench,
distribute the fertiliser, set the plant, pack the earth and water the plant, automatically.
The class of machines known as cultivators are those only, properly speaking, which are employed
to cultivate the plant after the crop is above the ground. The duties which they perform are to
loosen the earth, destroy the weeds, and throw the loosened earth around the growing plant.
has been divided into parts—one part for containing wheat, barley and other medium-sized grains,
and another for corn, peas and the larger seeds. And as these parts are used on separate occasions,
the respective apertures are opened or closed by a sliding bottom and by a single movement of the
hand.
Rubber tubes for conducting the seed through the hollow holes were introduced in place of the
metal spouts that answered both as a spout and a hoe.
In place of the common hoe drill of a form used in the early part of the century, the hoes being
forced into the soil by the use of levers and weights, what are known as “shoe drills” have largely
succeeded. A series of shoes are pivoted to the frame, extend beneath the seed box, and are
provided with springs for depressing or raising them.
All kinds of seeds and fertilisers, separately or together, may be now sown, and the broadcast
sowing of a larger area than that covered by the throw of the hand can now be given by machinery.
Corn and cotton seed are thus also planted, mixed or unmixed with the fertilising material.
Not only have light ploughs been combined with small seed boxes and one or more seed tubes, for
easy work in gardens, but the arrangements varied and graded for different uses until is reached
that great machine run by steam power, in which is assembled a gang of heavy harrows in front to
loosen and pulverise the soil, then the seed and fertilising drill of capacious width for sowing the
grain in rows, followed by a lighter broad harrow to cover the seed, and all so arranged that the
steam lifts the heavy frames on turning, and all controlled easily by the man who rides upon the
machine.
In planting at intervals or in hills, as corn and potatoes, and other like larger seeds, no longer is the
farmer required to trudge across the wide field carrying a heavy load in bag or box, or compel his
boys or women folk to drop the seed while he follows on laboriously with the hoe. He may now
ride, if he so choose, and the machine which carries him furnishes the motive power for operating
the supply and cut-off of the grain at intervals.
The object of the farmer in planting corn is to plant it in straight lines about four feet apart each
way, putting from three to five grains into each spot in a scattered and not huddled condition.
These objects are together nicely accomplished by a variety of modern machines.
The planting of great fields of potatoes has been greatly facilitated by machinery that first slices
them and then sows the slices continuously in a row, or drops them in separate spots or hills, as
may be desired. The finest seeds, such as grass and clover, onion and turnip seed, and delicate seed
like rice, are handled and sown by machines without crushing or bruising, and with the utmost
exactness. Just what seed is necessary to be supplied to the machine for a given area is decided
upon, and the machine distributes the same with the same nicety that a doctor distributes the
proper dose of pellets upon the palm of his patient.
Transplanters as well as planters have been devised. These transplanters will dig the plant trench,
distribute the fertiliser, set the plant, pack the earth and water the plant, automatically.
The class of machines known as cultivators are those only, properly speaking, which are employed
to cultivate the plant after the crop is above the ground. The duties which they perform are to
loosen the earth, destroy the weeds, and throw the loosened earth around the growing plant.
Page 35
Here again the laborious hoe has been succeeded by the labour-saving machine.
Cultivators have names which indicate their construction and the crop with which they are adapted
to be used. Thus there are “corn cultivators,” “cotton cultivators,” “sugar-cane cultivators,” etc.
Riding cultivators are known as “sulky cultivators” where they are provided with two wheels and
a seat for the driver.
If worked between two rows they are termed single, and when between three rows, double
cultivators. A riding cultivator adapted to work three rows has an arched axle to pass over the rows
of the growing plants and cultivate both sides of the plants in each row. Double cultivators are
constructed so that their outside teeth may be adjusted in and out from the centre of the machine to
meet the width of the rows between which they operate. A “walking cultivator” is when the
operator walks and guides the machine with the hands as with ploughs. Ordinary ploughs are
converted into cultivators by supplying them with double adjustable mould boards. Ingenious
arrangements generally exist for widening or narrowing the cultivator and for throwing the soil
from the centre of the furrow to opposite sides and against the plant. The depth to which the shares
or cultivator blades work in the ground may be adjusted by a gauge wheel upon the draught beam,
or a roller on the back of the frame.
Disk cultivators are those in which disk blades instead of ploughs are used with which to disturb
the soil already broken. As with ploughs, so with cultivators, steam-engines are employed to draw
a gang of cultivating teeth or blades, their framework, and the operator seated thereon, to and fro
across the field between two or more rows, turning and running the machine at the end of the
rows.
Millet’s recent celebrated painting represents a brutal, primitive type of a man leaning heavily on a
hoe as ancient and woful in character as the man himself. It is a picture of hopeless drudgery and
blank ignorance. Markham, the poet, has seized upon this picture, dwelt eloquently on its horrors,
and apostrophised it as if it were a condition now existing. He exclaims,
“O masters, lords and rulers in all lands
How will the future reckon with this man?”
The present has already reckoned with him, and he and his awkward implement of drudgery
nowhere exist, except as left-over specimens of ancient and pre-historic misery occasionally found
in some benighted region of the world.
The plough and the hoe are the chief implements with which man has subdued the earth. Their use
has not been confined to the drudge and the slave, but men, the leaders and ornaments of their
race, have stood behind them adding to themselves graces, and crowning labor with dignity.
Cincinnatus is only one of a long line of public men in ancient and modern times who have served
their country in the ploughfield as well as on the field of battle and in the halls of Legislation. We
hear the song of the poet rising with that of the lark as he turns the sod. Burns, lamenting that his
share uptears the bed of the “wee modest crimson-tipped flower” and sorrowing that he has turned
the “Mousie” from its “bit o’ leaves and stibble” by the cruel coulter. The finest natures, tuned too
fine to meet the rude blasts of the world, have shrunk like Cowper to rural scenes, and sought with
the hoe among flowers and plants for that balm and strength unfound in crowded marts.
But the dignity imparted to the profession of Agriculture by a few has now by the genius of
invention become the heritage of all.
Cultivators have names which indicate their construction and the crop with which they are adapted
to be used. Thus there are “corn cultivators,” “cotton cultivators,” “sugar-cane cultivators,” etc.
Riding cultivators are known as “sulky cultivators” where they are provided with two wheels and
a seat for the driver.
If worked between two rows they are termed single, and when between three rows, double
cultivators. A riding cultivator adapted to work three rows has an arched axle to pass over the rows
of the growing plants and cultivate both sides of the plants in each row. Double cultivators are
constructed so that their outside teeth may be adjusted in and out from the centre of the machine to
meet the width of the rows between which they operate. A “walking cultivator” is when the
operator walks and guides the machine with the hands as with ploughs. Ordinary ploughs are
converted into cultivators by supplying them with double adjustable mould boards. Ingenious
arrangements generally exist for widening or narrowing the cultivator and for throwing the soil
from the centre of the furrow to opposite sides and against the plant. The depth to which the shares
or cultivator blades work in the ground may be adjusted by a gauge wheel upon the draught beam,
or a roller on the back of the frame.
Disk cultivators are those in which disk blades instead of ploughs are used with which to disturb
the soil already broken. As with ploughs, so with cultivators, steam-engines are employed to draw
a gang of cultivating teeth or blades, their framework, and the operator seated thereon, to and fro
across the field between two or more rows, turning and running the machine at the end of the
rows.
Millet’s recent celebrated painting represents a brutal, primitive type of a man leaning heavily on a
hoe as ancient and woful in character as the man himself. It is a picture of hopeless drudgery and
blank ignorance. Markham, the poet, has seized upon this picture, dwelt eloquently on its horrors,
and apostrophised it as if it were a condition now existing. He exclaims,
“O masters, lords and rulers in all lands
How will the future reckon with this man?”
The present has already reckoned with him, and he and his awkward implement of drudgery
nowhere exist, except as left-over specimens of ancient and pre-historic misery occasionally found
in some benighted region of the world.
The plough and the hoe are the chief implements with which man has subdued the earth. Their use
has not been confined to the drudge and the slave, but men, the leaders and ornaments of their
race, have stood behind them adding to themselves graces, and crowning labor with dignity.
Cincinnatus is only one of a long line of public men in ancient and modern times who have served
their country in the ploughfield as well as on the field of battle and in the halls of Legislation. We
hear the song of the poet rising with that of the lark as he turns the sod. Burns, lamenting that his
share uptears the bed of the “wee modest crimson-tipped flower” and sorrowing that he has turned
the “Mousie” from its “bit o’ leaves and stibble” by the cruel coulter. The finest natures, tuned too
fine to meet the rude blasts of the world, have shrunk like Cowper to rural scenes, and sought with
the hoe among flowers and plants for that balm and strength unfound in crowded marts.
But the dignity imparted to the profession of Agriculture by a few has now by the genius of
invention become the heritage of all.
Page 36
While prophets have lamented, and artists have painted, and poets sorrowed over the drudgeries of
the tillers of the soil, the tillers have steadily and quietly and with infinite patience and toil worked
out their own salvation. They no longer find themselves “plundered and profaned and
disinherited,” but they have yoked the forces of nature to their service, and the cultivation of the
earth, the sowing of the seed, the nourishment of the plant, have become to them things of
pleasurable labour.
With the aid of these inventions which have been turned into their hands by the prolific
developments of the century they are, so far as the soil is concerned, no longer “brothers of the
ox,” but king of kings and lord of lords.
the tillers of the soil, the tillers have steadily and quietly and with infinite patience and toil worked
out their own salvation. They no longer find themselves “plundered and profaned and
disinherited,” but they have yoked the forces of nature to their service, and the cultivation of the
earth, the sowing of the seed, the nourishment of the plant, have become to them things of
pleasurable labour.
With the aid of these inventions which have been turned into their hands by the prolific
developments of the century they are, so far as the soil is concerned, no longer “brothers of the
ox,” but king of kings and lord of lords.
Page 37
CHAPTER IV.
AGRICULTURAL INVENTIONS.
If the farmer, toward the close of the 18th century, tired with the sickle and the scythe for cutting
his grass and grain, had looked about for more expeditious means, he would have found nothing
better for cutting his grass; and for harvesting his grain he would have been referred to a machine
that had existed since the beginning of the Christian era. This machine was described by Pliny,
writing about A. D. 60, who says that it was used on the plains of Rhætia. The same machine was
described by Palladius in the fourth century. That machine is substantially the machine that is used
to-day for cutting and gathering clover heads to obtain the seed. It is now called a header.
A machine that has been in use for eighteen centuries deserves to be described, and its inventor
remembered; but the name of the inventor has been lost in oblivion. The description of Palladius is
as follows:
“In the plains of Gaul, they use this quick way of reaping, and without reapers cut large fields with
an ox in one day. For this purpose a machine is made carried upon two wheels; the square surface
has boards erected at the side, which, sloping outward, make a wider space above. The board on
the fore part is lower than the others. Upon it there are a great many small teeth, wide set in a row,
answering to the height of the ears of corn (wheat), and turned upward at the ends. On the back
part of the machine two short shafts are fixed like the poles of a litter; to these an ox is yoked, with
his head to the machine, and the yoke and traces likewise turned the contrary way. When the
machine is pushed through the standing corn all the ears are comprehended by the teeth and cut off
by them from the straw and drop into the machine. The driver sets it higher or lower as he finds it
necessary. By a few goings and returnings the whole field is reaped. This machine does very well
in plain and smooth fields.”
As late as 1786 improvements were being attempted in England on this old Gallic machine. At that
time Pitt, in that country, arranged a cylinder with combs or ripples which tore off the heads of the
grain-stalks and discharged them into a box on the machine. From that date until 1800 followed
attempts to make a cutting apparatus consisting of blades on a revolving cylinder rotated by the
rotary motion of the wheels on which the machine was carried.
In 1794, a Scotchman invented the grain cradle. Above the blade of a scythe were arranged a set of
fingers projecting from a post in the scythe snath. This was considered a wonderful implement. A
report of a Scottish Highland Agricultural Society about that time said of this new machine:
“With a common sickle, seven men in ten hours reaped one and one-half acres of wheat,—about
one-quarter of an acre each. With the new machine a man can cut one and one-half acres in ten
hours, to be raked, bound, and stacked by two others.”
It was with such crude and imperfect inventions that the farmers faced the grain and grass fields of
the nineteenth century.
AGRICULTURAL INVENTIONS.
If the farmer, toward the close of the 18th century, tired with the sickle and the scythe for cutting
his grass and grain, had looked about for more expeditious means, he would have found nothing
better for cutting his grass; and for harvesting his grain he would have been referred to a machine
that had existed since the beginning of the Christian era. This machine was described by Pliny,
writing about A. D. 60, who says that it was used on the plains of Rhætia. The same machine was
described by Palladius in the fourth century. That machine is substantially the machine that is used
to-day for cutting and gathering clover heads to obtain the seed. It is now called a header.
A machine that has been in use for eighteen centuries deserves to be described, and its inventor
remembered; but the name of the inventor has been lost in oblivion. The description of Palladius is
as follows:
“In the plains of Gaul, they use this quick way of reaping, and without reapers cut large fields with
an ox in one day. For this purpose a machine is made carried upon two wheels; the square surface
has boards erected at the side, which, sloping outward, make a wider space above. The board on
the fore part is lower than the others. Upon it there are a great many small teeth, wide set in a row,
answering to the height of the ears of corn (wheat), and turned upward at the ends. On the back
part of the machine two short shafts are fixed like the poles of a litter; to these an ox is yoked, with
his head to the machine, and the yoke and traces likewise turned the contrary way. When the
machine is pushed through the standing corn all the ears are comprehended by the teeth and cut off
by them from the straw and drop into the machine. The driver sets it higher or lower as he finds it
necessary. By a few goings and returnings the whole field is reaped. This machine does very well
in plain and smooth fields.”
As late as 1786 improvements were being attempted in England on this old Gallic machine. At that
time Pitt, in that country, arranged a cylinder with combs or ripples which tore off the heads of the
grain-stalks and discharged them into a box on the machine. From that date until 1800 followed
attempts to make a cutting apparatus consisting of blades on a revolving cylinder rotated by the
rotary motion of the wheels on which the machine was carried.
In 1794, a Scotchman invented the grain cradle. Above the blade of a scythe were arranged a set of
fingers projecting from a post in the scythe snath. This was considered a wonderful implement. A
report of a Scottish Highland Agricultural Society about that time said of this new machine:
“With a common sickle, seven men in ten hours reaped one and one-half acres of wheat,—about
one-quarter of an acre each. With the new machine a man can cut one and one-half acres in ten
hours, to be raked, bound, and stacked by two others.”
It was with such crude and imperfect inventions that the farmers faced the grain and grass fields of
the nineteenth century.
Page 38
The Seven Wonders of the ancient world have often been compared with the wonders of invention
of this present day.
Senator Platt in an address at the Patent Centennial Celebration in Washington, in 1891, made
such a contrast:
“The old wonders of the world were the Pyramids, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the Phidian
statue of Jupiter, the Mausoleum, the Temple of Diana at Ephesus, the Colossus of Rhodes, and
the Pharos of Alexandria. Two were tombs of kings, one was the playground of a petted queen,
one was the habitat of the world’s darkest superstition, one the shrine of a heathen god, another
was a crude attempt to produce a work of art solely to excite wonder, and one only, the lighthouse
at Alexandria, was of the slightest benefit to mankind. They were created mainly by tyrants; most
of them by the unrequited toil of degraded and enslaved labourers. In them was neither
improvement nor advancement for the people.” With some excess of patriotic pride, he contrasts
these with what he calls “the seven wonders of American invention.” They were the cotton-gin;
the adaptation of steam to methods of transportation; the application of electricity to business
pursuits; the harvester; the modern printing-press; the ocean cable; and the sewing machine. “How
wonderful,” he adds, “in conception, in construction, in purpose, these great inventions are; how
they dwarf the Pyramids and all the wonders of antiquity; what a train of blessings each brought
with its entrance into social life; how wide, direct and far-reaching their benefits. Each was the
herald of a social revolution; each was a human benefactor; each was a new Goddess of Liberty;
each was a great Emancipator of man from the bondage of labour; each was a new teacher come
upon earth; each was a moral force.”
Of these seven wonders, the harvester and the cotton-gin will only be described in this chapter.
“Harvester” has sometimes been used as a broad term to cover both mowers and reapers. In a
recent and more restricted sense, it is applied to a machine that cuts grain, separates it into gavels,
and binds it.
The difficulty that confronted the invention of mowers was the construction, location and
operation of the cutting part. To convert the scythe or the sickle, or some other sharp blade into a
fast reciprocating cutter, to hang such cutter low so that it would cut near the ground, to protect it
from contact with stones by a proper guard, to actuate it by the wheels of the vehicle, to hinge the
cutter-bar to the frame so that its outer end might be raised, and to arrange a seat on the machine
so that the driver could control the operating parts by means of a lever, or handles, were the main
problems to be solved.
In 1799, Boyce, of England, had a vertical shaft with six rotating scythes beneath the frame of the
implement. This died with the century.
In 1800, Meares, his countryman, tried to adapt shears. He was followed there, in 1805, by
Plucknett, who introduced a horizontal, rotating, circular blade. Others, subsequently, adopted this
idea, both in England and America. It had been customary, as in olden times, to push the apparatus
forward by a horse or horses hitched behind. But, in 1806, Gladstone had patented a front draft
machine, with a revolving wheel armed with knife-blades cutting at one side of the machine and a
segment-bar with fingers which gathered the grain and held the straw while the knife cut it.
Then, in 1807, Salonen introduced vibrating knifes over stationary blades, fingers to gather grain
to the cutters, and a rake to carry the grain off to one side.
of this present day.
Senator Platt in an address at the Patent Centennial Celebration in Washington, in 1891, made
such a contrast:
“The old wonders of the world were the Pyramids, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the Phidian
statue of Jupiter, the Mausoleum, the Temple of Diana at Ephesus, the Colossus of Rhodes, and
the Pharos of Alexandria. Two were tombs of kings, one was the playground of a petted queen,
one was the habitat of the world’s darkest superstition, one the shrine of a heathen god, another
was a crude attempt to produce a work of art solely to excite wonder, and one only, the lighthouse
at Alexandria, was of the slightest benefit to mankind. They were created mainly by tyrants; most
of them by the unrequited toil of degraded and enslaved labourers. In them was neither
improvement nor advancement for the people.” With some excess of patriotic pride, he contrasts
these with what he calls “the seven wonders of American invention.” They were the cotton-gin;
the adaptation of steam to methods of transportation; the application of electricity to business
pursuits; the harvester; the modern printing-press; the ocean cable; and the sewing machine. “How
wonderful,” he adds, “in conception, in construction, in purpose, these great inventions are; how
they dwarf the Pyramids and all the wonders of antiquity; what a train of blessings each brought
with its entrance into social life; how wide, direct and far-reaching their benefits. Each was the
herald of a social revolution; each was a human benefactor; each was a new Goddess of Liberty;
each was a great Emancipator of man from the bondage of labour; each was a new teacher come
upon earth; each was a moral force.”
Of these seven wonders, the harvester and the cotton-gin will only be described in this chapter.
“Harvester” has sometimes been used as a broad term to cover both mowers and reapers. In a
recent and more restricted sense, it is applied to a machine that cuts grain, separates it into gavels,
and binds it.
The difficulty that confronted the invention of mowers was the construction, location and
operation of the cutting part. To convert the scythe or the sickle, or some other sharp blade into a
fast reciprocating cutter, to hang such cutter low so that it would cut near the ground, to protect it
from contact with stones by a proper guard, to actuate it by the wheels of the vehicle, to hinge the
cutter-bar to the frame so that its outer end might be raised, and to arrange a seat on the machine
so that the driver could control the operating parts by means of a lever, or handles, were the main
problems to be solved.
In 1799, Boyce, of England, had a vertical shaft with six rotating scythes beneath the frame of the
implement. This died with the century.
In 1800, Meares, his countryman, tried to adapt shears. He was followed there, in 1805, by
Plucknett, who introduced a horizontal, rotating, circular blade. Others, subsequently, adopted this
idea, both in England and America. It had been customary, as in olden times, to push the apparatus
forward by a horse or horses hitched behind. But, in 1806, Gladstone had patented a front draft
machine, with a revolving wheel armed with knife-blades cutting at one side of the machine and a
segment-bar with fingers which gathered the grain and held the straw while the knife cut it.
Then, in 1807, Salonen introduced vibrating knifes over stationary blades, fingers to gather grain
to the cutters, and a rake to carry the grain off to one side.
Page 39
In 1822, Ogle, also of England, was the first to invent the reciprocating knife-bar. This is the
movement that has been given in all the successful machines since. Ogle’s was a crude machine,
but it furnished the ideas of projecting the cutter-bar at the side of a reel to gather the grain to the
cutter and of a grain platform which was tilted to drop the sheaf.
The world is indebted also to the Rev. Patrick Bell, of Scotland, who had invented and built as
early as 1823-26, a machine which would cut an acre of grain in an hour, and is thus described by
Knight:
“The machine had a square frame on two wheels which ran loose on the axle, except when
clutched thereto to give motion to the cutters. The cutter-bar had fixed triangular cutters between
each of which was a movable vibrating cutter, which made a shear cut against the edge of the
stationary cutter, on each side. It had a reel with twelve vanes to press the grain toward the cutters,
and cause it to fall upon a travelling apron which carried away cut grain and deposited it at the
side of the machine. The reel was driven by bevel-gearing.”
It was used but a few years and then revived again at the World’s Fair in London, in 1851.
In the United States, inventions in mowers and reapers began to make their appearance about
1820. In 1822, Bailey was the first to patent a mowing machine. It was a circular revolving scythe
on a vertical axis, rotated by gearing from the main axle, and so that the scythe was self-sharpened
by passing under a whet-stone fixed on an axis and revolving with the scythe and was pulled by a
horse in front. In 1828, Lane, of Maine, combined the reaper and thresher. In 1831, Manning had a
row of fingers and a reciprocating knife, and in 1833, Schnebly introduced the idea of a horizontal
endless apron on which the grain fell, constructed to travel intermittently so as to divide the grain
into separate parts or gavels, and deliver the gavels at one side. Hussey, of Maryland, in 1833,
produced the most useful harvester up to that time. It had open guard fingers, a knife made of
triangular sections, reciprocating in the guard, and a cutter-bar on a hinged frame.
Then came the celebrated reaper of McCormick, of Virginia, in 1834, and his improvements of
1845-1847, and by 1850 he had built hundreds of his machines. Other inventors, too numerous to
mention, from that time pushed forward with their improvements. Then came many public trials
and contests between rival manufacturers and inventors.
One of the earliest and most notable was the contest at the World’s Fair, in London, in 1851. This
exhibition, the first of the kind the world had seen, giving to the nations taking part such an
astonishing revelation of each other’s productions, and stimulating in each such a surprising
growth in all the industrial and fine arts, revealed nothing more gratifying to the lover of his kind
than those inventions of the preceding half-century that had so greatly lifted the farm labourer
from his furrow of drudgery.
Among the most conspicuous of such inventions were the harvesters. Bell’s machine, previously
described, and Hussey’s and McCormick’s were the principal contesting machines. They were set
to work in fields of grain, and to McCormick was finally awarded the medal of honour.
This contest also opened the eyes of the world to the fact that vast tracts of idle land, exceeding in
extent the areas of many states and countries, could now be sown and reaped—a fact impossible
with the scythe and the sickle. It was the herald of the admission into the family of nations of new
territories and states, which, without these machines, would unto this day be still wild
wildernesses and trackless deserts.
movement that has been given in all the successful machines since. Ogle’s was a crude machine,
but it furnished the ideas of projecting the cutter-bar at the side of a reel to gather the grain to the
cutter and of a grain platform which was tilted to drop the sheaf.
The world is indebted also to the Rev. Patrick Bell, of Scotland, who had invented and built as
early as 1823-26, a machine which would cut an acre of grain in an hour, and is thus described by
Knight:
“The machine had a square frame on two wheels which ran loose on the axle, except when
clutched thereto to give motion to the cutters. The cutter-bar had fixed triangular cutters between
each of which was a movable vibrating cutter, which made a shear cut against the edge of the
stationary cutter, on each side. It had a reel with twelve vanes to press the grain toward the cutters,
and cause it to fall upon a travelling apron which carried away cut grain and deposited it at the
side of the machine. The reel was driven by bevel-gearing.”
It was used but a few years and then revived again at the World’s Fair in London, in 1851.
In the United States, inventions in mowers and reapers began to make their appearance about
1820. In 1822, Bailey was the first to patent a mowing machine. It was a circular revolving scythe
on a vertical axis, rotated by gearing from the main axle, and so that the scythe was self-sharpened
by passing under a whet-stone fixed on an axis and revolving with the scythe and was pulled by a
horse in front. In 1828, Lane, of Maine, combined the reaper and thresher. In 1831, Manning had a
row of fingers and a reciprocating knife, and in 1833, Schnebly introduced the idea of a horizontal
endless apron on which the grain fell, constructed to travel intermittently so as to divide the grain
into separate parts or gavels, and deliver the gavels at one side. Hussey, of Maryland, in 1833,
produced the most useful harvester up to that time. It had open guard fingers, a knife made of
triangular sections, reciprocating in the guard, and a cutter-bar on a hinged frame.
Then came the celebrated reaper of McCormick, of Virginia, in 1834, and his improvements of
1845-1847, and by 1850 he had built hundreds of his machines. Other inventors, too numerous to
mention, from that time pushed forward with their improvements. Then came many public trials
and contests between rival manufacturers and inventors.
One of the earliest and most notable was the contest at the World’s Fair, in London, in 1851. This
exhibition, the first of the kind the world had seen, giving to the nations taking part such an
astonishing revelation of each other’s productions, and stimulating in each such a surprising
growth in all the industrial and fine arts, revealed nothing more gratifying to the lover of his kind
than those inventions of the preceding half-century that had so greatly lifted the farm labourer
from his furrow of drudgery.
Among the most conspicuous of such inventions were the harvesters. Bell’s machine, previously
described, and Hussey’s and McCormick’s were the principal contesting machines. They were set
to work in fields of grain, and to McCormick was finally awarded the medal of honour.
This contest also opened the eyes of the world to the fact that vast tracts of idle land, exceeding in
extent the areas of many states and countries, could now be sown and reaped—a fact impossible
with the scythe and the sickle. It was the herald of the admission into the family of nations of new
territories and states, which, without these machines, would unto this day be still wild
wildernesses and trackless deserts.
Page 40
This great trial also was followed by many others, State and International. In 1852, there was in
the United States a general trial of reapers and mowers at Geneva, New York; in 1855, at the
French Exposition, at Paris, where again McCormick met with a triumph; in 1857, at Syracuse,
New York, and subsequently at all the great State and International Expositions. These contests
served to bring out the failures, and the still-existing wants in this line of machinery. The earlier
machines were clumsy. They were generally one-wheeled machines, lacked flexibility of parts and
were costly. They cut, indeed, vast tracts of grain and grass, but the machines had to be followed
by an army of men to bind and gather the fallen grain. This army demanded high wages and
materially increased the cost of reaping the crop, and sadly diminished the profits.
When the Vienna Exposition, in 1873, was held, a great advance was shown in this and all other
classes of agricultural machinery. Reapers and mowers were lighter in construction, and far less in
cost, and stronger and more effective in every way. The old original machines of McCormick on
which he had worked for twenty years prior to the 1851 triumph, had been succeeded by another
of his machines, on which an additional twenty years of study, experiment and improvement had
been expended. An endless number of inventors had in the meantime entered the lists. The frame,
the motive gearing, the hinged cutter-bar and knives, the driver’s seat, the reel, the divider, for
separating the swath of grain to be cut from the uncut, the raising and depressing lever, the self-
raker, and the material of which all the parts were composed had all received the greatest attention,
and now was awaiting the coming of a perfect mechanical binder that would roll the grain on the
machine into a bundle, automatically bind it, and drop the bound bundles on the ground. The latter
addition came in an incomplete shape to Vienna. The best form was a crude wire binder. In 1876 at
the Centennial Exhibition at Philadelphia, the mowers and reapers blossomed still more fully, but
not into full fruition; for it was not until two or three years thereafter that the celebrated twine
binders, which superseded the wire, were fully developed.
Think of the almost miraculous exercise of invention in making a machine to automatically cut the
grain, elevate it to a platform, separate and roll it into sheaves, seize a stout cord from a reel, wrap
it about the sheaf, tie a knot that no sailor could untie, cut the cord, and throw the bound sheaf to
one side upon the ground!
So great became the demand for this binders’ twine that great corporations engaged in its
manufacture, and they in turn formed a great trust to control the world’s supply. This one item of
twine, alone, amounted to millions of dollars every year, and from its manufacture arose economic
questions considered by legislators, and serious litigation requiring the attention of the courts.
At this Centennial Exhibition, besides twenty or more great manufacturing firms of the United
States who exhibited reapers and mowers, Canada, far-away Australia, and Russia brought each a
fine machine of this wonderful class. And not only these countries, but nearly all of Europe sent
agricultural machines and implements in such numbers and superior construction that they
surpassed the wildest dreams of the farmer of a quarter of a century before.
Up to this time, about eleven thousand patents have been granted in the United States, all
presumably on separate improvements in mowers and reapers alone. This number includes, of
course, many patents issued to inventors of other countries.
Before leaving this branch of the subject the lawn-mower should not be overlooked, with its spiral
blades on a revolving cylinder, a hand lever by which it can be pushed over a lawn and the grass
cut as smooth as the green rug upon a lady’s chamber.
the United States a general trial of reapers and mowers at Geneva, New York; in 1855, at the
French Exposition, at Paris, where again McCormick met with a triumph; in 1857, at Syracuse,
New York, and subsequently at all the great State and International Expositions. These contests
served to bring out the failures, and the still-existing wants in this line of machinery. The earlier
machines were clumsy. They were generally one-wheeled machines, lacked flexibility of parts and
were costly. They cut, indeed, vast tracts of grain and grass, but the machines had to be followed
by an army of men to bind and gather the fallen grain. This army demanded high wages and
materially increased the cost of reaping the crop, and sadly diminished the profits.
When the Vienna Exposition, in 1873, was held, a great advance was shown in this and all other
classes of agricultural machinery. Reapers and mowers were lighter in construction, and far less in
cost, and stronger and more effective in every way. The old original machines of McCormick on
which he had worked for twenty years prior to the 1851 triumph, had been succeeded by another
of his machines, on which an additional twenty years of study, experiment and improvement had
been expended. An endless number of inventors had in the meantime entered the lists. The frame,
the motive gearing, the hinged cutter-bar and knives, the driver’s seat, the reel, the divider, for
separating the swath of grain to be cut from the uncut, the raising and depressing lever, the self-
raker, and the material of which all the parts were composed had all received the greatest attention,
and now was awaiting the coming of a perfect mechanical binder that would roll the grain on the
machine into a bundle, automatically bind it, and drop the bound bundles on the ground. The latter
addition came in an incomplete shape to Vienna. The best form was a crude wire binder. In 1876 at
the Centennial Exhibition at Philadelphia, the mowers and reapers blossomed still more fully, but
not into full fruition; for it was not until two or three years thereafter that the celebrated twine
binders, which superseded the wire, were fully developed.
Think of the almost miraculous exercise of invention in making a machine to automatically cut the
grain, elevate it to a platform, separate and roll it into sheaves, seize a stout cord from a reel, wrap
it about the sheaf, tie a knot that no sailor could untie, cut the cord, and throw the bound sheaf to
one side upon the ground!
So great became the demand for this binders’ twine that great corporations engaged in its
manufacture, and they in turn formed a great trust to control the world’s supply. This one item of
twine, alone, amounted to millions of dollars every year, and from its manufacture arose economic
questions considered by legislators, and serious litigation requiring the attention of the courts.
At this Centennial Exhibition, besides twenty or more great manufacturing firms of the United
States who exhibited reapers and mowers, Canada, far-away Australia, and Russia brought each a
fine machine of this wonderful class. And not only these countries, but nearly all of Europe sent
agricultural machines and implements in such numbers and superior construction that they
surpassed the wildest dreams of the farmer of a quarter of a century before.
Up to this time, about eleven thousand patents have been granted in the United States, all
presumably on separate improvements in mowers and reapers alone. This number includes, of
course, many patents issued to inventors of other countries.
Before leaving this branch of the subject the lawn-mower should not be overlooked, with its spiral
blades on a revolving cylinder, a hand lever by which it can be pushed over a lawn and the grass
cut as smooth as the green rug upon a lady’s chamber.
Page 41
It is the law of inventions that one invention necessitates and generates another. Thus the vastly
increased facilities for cutting grass necessitated new means for taking care of it when cut. And
these new means were the hay tedder to stir it, the horse hay-rake, the great hay-forks to load, and
the hay-stackers. Harvesters for grass and grain have been supplemented by Corn, Cotton, Potato
and Flax Harvesters.
The threshing-floor still resounds to the flail as the grain is beaten from the heads of the stalks.
Men and horses still tread it out, the wooden drag and the heavy wain with its gang of wheels, and
all the old methods of threshing familiar to the Egyptians and later among the Romans may still be
found in use in different portions of the world.
Menzies of Scotland, about the middle of the eighteenth century, was the first to invent a threshing
machine. It was unsuccessful. Then came Leckie, of Stirlingshire, who improved it. But the type
of the modern threshing machine was the invention of a Scotchman, one Meikle, of Tyningham,
East Lothian, in 1786. Meikle threw the grain on to an inclined board, from whence it was fed
between two fluted rollers to a cylinder armed with blades which beat it, thence to a second
beating cylinder operating over a concave grating through which the loosened grain fell to a
receptacle beneath; thence the straw was carried over a third beating cylinder which loosened the
straw and shook out the remaining grain to the same receptacle, and the beaten straw was then
carried out of the machine. Meikle added many improvements, among which was a fan-mill by
which the grain was separated and cleaned from both straw and chaff. This machine, completed
and perfected about the year 1800, has seen no departure in principle in England, and in the United
States the principal change has been the substitution of a spiked drum running at a higher speed
for Meikle’s beater drum armed with blades.
In countries like California, says the U.S. Commissioner of Patents in his report for 1895, “Where
the climate is dry and the grain is ready for threshing as soon as it is cut, there is in general use a
type of machine known as a combined harvester and thresher in which a thresher and a harvester
machine of the header type are mounted on a single platform, and the heads of grain are carried
directly from the harvester by elevators into the threshing machine, from which the threshed grain
is delivered into bags and is then ready for shipment. Some of these machines are drawn by horses
and some have a portable engine mounted on the same truck with the harvester propelling the
machine, while furnishing power to drive the mechanism at the same time. Combined harvesters
and threshers have been known since 1836, but they have been much improved and are now built
on a much larger scale.”
Flax-threshers for beating the grain from the bolls of the cured flax plant, removing the bolls,
releasing and cleaning the seed, are also a modern invention.
Flax and Hemp Brakes, machines by which the woody and cellular portion of the flax is separated
from the fibrous portion, produced in practical shape in the century, and flanked by the improved
pullers, cutters, threshers, scutchers, hackles, carders, and rovers, have supplanted Egyptian
methods of 3,000 years’ standing, for preparing the flax for spinning, as well as the crude
improvements of the 18th century.
After the foundation of cotton manufacture had been laid “as one of the greatest of the world’s
industries,” in the 18th century by those five great English inventors, Kay, who invented the fly-
shuttle, Hargreaves, the “Spinning Jenny,” Arkwright, the water-frame, Crompton, the spinning-
mule, and Cartwright, the power-loom, came Eli Whitney in 1793, a young school teacher from
Massachusetts located in Georgia, who invented the cotton-gin. His crude machine, worked by a
increased facilities for cutting grass necessitated new means for taking care of it when cut. And
these new means were the hay tedder to stir it, the horse hay-rake, the great hay-forks to load, and
the hay-stackers. Harvesters for grass and grain have been supplemented by Corn, Cotton, Potato
and Flax Harvesters.
The threshing-floor still resounds to the flail as the grain is beaten from the heads of the stalks.
Men and horses still tread it out, the wooden drag and the heavy wain with its gang of wheels, and
all the old methods of threshing familiar to the Egyptians and later among the Romans may still be
found in use in different portions of the world.
Menzies of Scotland, about the middle of the eighteenth century, was the first to invent a threshing
machine. It was unsuccessful. Then came Leckie, of Stirlingshire, who improved it. But the type
of the modern threshing machine was the invention of a Scotchman, one Meikle, of Tyningham,
East Lothian, in 1786. Meikle threw the grain on to an inclined board, from whence it was fed
between two fluted rollers to a cylinder armed with blades which beat it, thence to a second
beating cylinder operating over a concave grating through which the loosened grain fell to a
receptacle beneath; thence the straw was carried over a third beating cylinder which loosened the
straw and shook out the remaining grain to the same receptacle, and the beaten straw was then
carried out of the machine. Meikle added many improvements, among which was a fan-mill by
which the grain was separated and cleaned from both straw and chaff. This machine, completed
and perfected about the year 1800, has seen no departure in principle in England, and in the United
States the principal change has been the substitution of a spiked drum running at a higher speed
for Meikle’s beater drum armed with blades.
In countries like California, says the U.S. Commissioner of Patents in his report for 1895, “Where
the climate is dry and the grain is ready for threshing as soon as it is cut, there is in general use a
type of machine known as a combined harvester and thresher in which a thresher and a harvester
machine of the header type are mounted on a single platform, and the heads of grain are carried
directly from the harvester by elevators into the threshing machine, from which the threshed grain
is delivered into bags and is then ready for shipment. Some of these machines are drawn by horses
and some have a portable engine mounted on the same truck with the harvester propelling the
machine, while furnishing power to drive the mechanism at the same time. Combined harvesters
and threshers have been known since 1836, but they have been much improved and are now built
on a much larger scale.”
Flax-threshers for beating the grain from the bolls of the cured flax plant, removing the bolls,
releasing and cleaning the seed, are also a modern invention.
Flax and Hemp Brakes, machines by which the woody and cellular portion of the flax is separated
from the fibrous portion, produced in practical shape in the century, and flanked by the improved
pullers, cutters, threshers, scutchers, hackles, carders, and rovers, have supplanted Egyptian
methods of 3,000 years’ standing, for preparing the flax for spinning, as well as the crude
improvements of the 18th century.
After the foundation of cotton manufacture had been laid “as one of the greatest of the world’s
industries,” in the 18th century by those five great English inventors, Kay, who invented the fly-
shuttle, Hargreaves, the “Spinning Jenny,” Arkwright, the water-frame, Crompton, the spinning-
mule, and Cartwright, the power-loom, came Eli Whitney in 1793, a young school teacher from
Massachusetts located in Georgia, who invented the cotton-gin. His crude machine, worked by a
Page 42
single person, could clean more cotton in a single day than could be done by a man in several
months, by hand.
The enormous importance of such a machine began to be appreciated at the beginning of the
century, and it set cotton up as a King whose dominion has extended across the seas.
Prior to 1871, inventions in this art were mainly directed to perfecting the structure of this primary
gin. By that machine only the long staple fibre was secured, leaving the cotton seed covered with a
short fibre, which with the seed was regarded as a waste product. To reclaim this short fibre and
secure the seed in condition for use, have been the endeavours of many inventors during the last
twenty years. These objects have been attained by a machine known as the delinter, one of the first
practical forms of which appeared about 1883.
In a bulletin published by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in 1895, entitled, “Production and
Price of Cotton for One Hundred Years,” the period commences with the introduction of
Whitney’s saw gin, and ends with the year mentioned and with the production in that year of the
largest crop the world had ever seen. No other agricultural crop commands such universal
attention. Millions of people are employed in its production and manufacture. How insignificant
compared with the wonder wrought by this one machine seems indeed any of the old seven
wonders of the world! Although the displacement of labour occasioned by the introduction of the
cotton-gin was not severely felt, as it was slave labour, yet that invention affords a good
illustration of the fact that labour-saving machines increase the supply of the article, the increased
supply lowers its price, the lower price increases the demand, the increased demand gives rise to
more machines and develops other inventions and arts, all of which results in the employment of
ten thousand people to every one thousand at work on the product originally.
months, by hand.
The enormous importance of such a machine began to be appreciated at the beginning of the
century, and it set cotton up as a King whose dominion has extended across the seas.
Prior to 1871, inventions in this art were mainly directed to perfecting the structure of this primary
gin. By that machine only the long staple fibre was secured, leaving the cotton seed covered with a
short fibre, which with the seed was regarded as a waste product. To reclaim this short fibre and
secure the seed in condition for use, have been the endeavours of many inventors during the last
twenty years. These objects have been attained by a machine known as the delinter, one of the first
practical forms of which appeared about 1883.
In a bulletin published by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in 1895, entitled, “Production and
Price of Cotton for One Hundred Years,” the period commences with the introduction of
Whitney’s saw gin, and ends with the year mentioned and with the production in that year of the
largest crop the world had ever seen. No other agricultural crop commands such universal
attention. Millions of people are employed in its production and manufacture. How insignificant
compared with the wonder wrought by this one machine seems indeed any of the old seven
wonders of the world! Although the displacement of labour occasioned by the introduction of the
cotton-gin was not severely felt, as it was slave labour, yet that invention affords a good
illustration of the fact that labour-saving machines increase the supply of the article, the increased
supply lowers its price, the lower price increases the demand, the increased demand gives rise to
more machines and develops other inventions and arts, all of which results in the employment of
ten thousand people to every one thousand at work on the product originally.
Page 43
CHAPTER V.
AGRICULTURAL INVENTIONS (continued).
When the harvest is ended and the golden stores of grains and fruits are gathered, then the
question arises what shall be next done to prepare them for food and for shipment to the distant
consumer.
If the cleaning of the grain and separating it from the chaff and dirt are not had in the threshing
process, separate machines are employed for fanning and screening.
It was only during the 18th century that fanning mills were introduced; and it is related by Sir
Walter Scott in one of his novels that some of his countrymen considered it their religious duty to
wait for a natural wind to separate the chaff from the wheat; that they were greatly shocked by an
invention which would raise a whirlwind in calm weather, and that they looked upon the use of
such a machine as rebellion against God.
As to the grinding of the grain, the rudimentary means still exist, and are still used by rudimentary
peoples, and to meet exceptional necessities; these are the primeval hollowed stone and mortar and
pestle, and they too were “the mills of the Gods” in Egyptian, Hebrew and Early Greek days: the
quern—that is, the upper running stone and the lower stationary grooved one—was a later Roman
invention and can be found described only a century or two before the Christian era.
Crude as these means were they were the chief ones used in milling until within a century and a
quarter ago.
In a very recent bright work published in London, by Richard Bennett and John Elton, on Corn
Mills, etc., they say on this point: “The mill of the last century, that, by which, despite its
imperfections, the production of flour rose from one of the smallest to one of the greatest and most
valuable industries of the world, was essentially a structure of few parts, whether driven by water
or wind, and its processes were exceedingly simple. The wheat was cleaned by a rude machine
consisting of a couple of cylinders and screens, and an air blast passed through a pair of mill-
stones, running very close together, in order that the greatest amount of flour might be produced at
one grinding. The meal was then bolted, and the tailings, consisting of bran, middlings and
adherent flour, again sifted and re-ground. It seems probable that the miller of the time had a fair
notion of the high grade of flour ground from middlings, but no systematic method of procedure
for its production was adopted.”
The upper and the nether mill-stone is still a most useful device. The “dress,” which consists of the
grooves which are formed in the meeting faces of the stones, has been changed in many ways to
meet the requirements in producing flour in varying degrees of fineness. Machines have been
invented to make such grooves. A Swiss machine for this purpose consists of two disks carrying
diamonds in their peripheries, which, being put in rapid revolution, cut parallel grooves in the face
of the stone.
AGRICULTURAL INVENTIONS (continued).
When the harvest is ended and the golden stores of grains and fruits are gathered, then the
question arises what shall be next done to prepare them for food and for shipment to the distant
consumer.
If the cleaning of the grain and separating it from the chaff and dirt are not had in the threshing
process, separate machines are employed for fanning and screening.
It was only during the 18th century that fanning mills were introduced; and it is related by Sir
Walter Scott in one of his novels that some of his countrymen considered it their religious duty to
wait for a natural wind to separate the chaff from the wheat; that they were greatly shocked by an
invention which would raise a whirlwind in calm weather, and that they looked upon the use of
such a machine as rebellion against God.
As to the grinding of the grain, the rudimentary means still exist, and are still used by rudimentary
peoples, and to meet exceptional necessities; these are the primeval hollowed stone and mortar and
pestle, and they too were “the mills of the Gods” in Egyptian, Hebrew and Early Greek days: the
quern—that is, the upper running stone and the lower stationary grooved one—was a later Roman
invention and can be found described only a century or two before the Christian era.
Crude as these means were they were the chief ones used in milling until within a century and a
quarter ago.
In a very recent bright work published in London, by Richard Bennett and John Elton, on Corn
Mills, etc., they say on this point: “The mill of the last century, that, by which, despite its
imperfections, the production of flour rose from one of the smallest to one of the greatest and most
valuable industries of the world, was essentially a structure of few parts, whether driven by water
or wind, and its processes were exceedingly simple. The wheat was cleaned by a rude machine
consisting of a couple of cylinders and screens, and an air blast passed through a pair of mill-
stones, running very close together, in order that the greatest amount of flour might be produced at
one grinding. The meal was then bolted, and the tailings, consisting of bran, middlings and
adherent flour, again sifted and re-ground. It seems probable that the miller of the time had a fair
notion of the high grade of flour ground from middlings, but no systematic method of procedure
for its production was adopted.”
The upper and the nether mill-stone is still a most useful device. The “dress,” which consists of the
grooves which are formed in the meeting faces of the stones, has been changed in many ways to
meet the requirements in producing flour in varying degrees of fineness. Machines have been
invented to make such grooves. A Swiss machine for this purpose consists of two disks carrying
diamonds in their peripheries, which, being put in rapid revolution, cut parallel grooves in the face
of the stone.
Page 44
A great advance in milling was made both in America and Europe by the inventions of Oliver
Evans. Evans was born in the State of Delaware, U.S., in 1755, and died in 1819. He was a poor
boy and an apprentice to a wheelwright, and while thus engaged his inventive powers were
developed. He had an idea of a land carriage propelled without animal power. At the age of 22 he
invented a machine for making card teeth, which superseded the old method of making them by
hand. Later he invented steam-engines and steam-boats, to which attention will hereafter be called.
Entering into business with his brothers within the period extending from 1785 to 1800, he
produced those inventions in milling which by the opening of the 19th century had revolutionised
the art. A description of the most important of these inventions was published by him in 1795 in a
book entitled The Young Millwright and Miller’s Grist. Patents were granted Evans by the States
of Delaware, Maryland and Pennsylvania in 1787, and by the U.S. Government in 1790 and 1808.
As these inventions formed the basis of the most important subsequent devices of the century, a
brief statement of his system is proper:
From the time the grain was emptied from the waggon to the final production of the finest flour at
the close of the process, all manual labour was dispensed with. The grain was first emptied into a
box hung on a scale beam where it was weighed, then run into an elevator which raised it to a
chamber over cleaning machines through which it was passed, and reclaimed by the same means if
desired; then it was run down into a chamber over the hoppers of the mill-stones; when ground it
fell from the mill-stones into conveyors and as carried along subjected to the heated air of a kiln
drier; then carried into a meal elevator to be raised and dropped on to a cooling floor where it was
met by what is called a hopper boy, consisting of a central round upright shaft revolving on a
pivot, and provided with horizontal arms and sweeps adapted to be raised and lowered and turned,
by which means the meal was continually stirred around, lifted and turned on the floor and then
gathered on to the bolting hoppers, the bolts being cylindrical sieves of varying degrees of
fineness to separate the flour from its coarser impurities, and when not bolted sufficiently, carried
by a conveyor called a drill to an elevator to be dumped again into the bolting hoppers and be re-
bolted. When not sufficiently ground the same drill was used to carry the meal to the grind stones.
It was the design of the process to keep the meal in constant motion from first to last so as to
thoroughly dry and cool it, to heat it further in the meantime, and to run the machines so slowly as
to prevent the rise and waste of the flour in the form of dust.
The Evans system, with minor modifications and improvements, was the prevailing one for three-
quarters of a century. New mills, when erected, were provided with this system, and many mills in
their quiet retreats everywhere awoke from their drowsy methods and were equipped with the new
one.
But the whole system of milling has undergone another great change within the last thirty years:
During that time it has been learned that the coarser portion or kernel of wheat which lies next to
the skin of the berry and between the skin and the heart is the most valuable and nutritious part, as
it consists largely of gluten, while the interior consists of starch, which when dry becomes a pearly
powder. Under the old systems this coarser part, known as middlings, was eliminated, and ground
for feed for cattle, or into what was regarded as an inferior grade of flour from which to make
coarse bread. It was customary, therefore, under the old method to set the grinding surfaces very
close with keen sharp burrs, so that this coarser part was cut off and mixed with the small particles
of bran, fine fuzz and other foreign substances, which was separated from the finer part of the
kernel by the bolting.
Evans. Evans was born in the State of Delaware, U.S., in 1755, and died in 1819. He was a poor
boy and an apprentice to a wheelwright, and while thus engaged his inventive powers were
developed. He had an idea of a land carriage propelled without animal power. At the age of 22 he
invented a machine for making card teeth, which superseded the old method of making them by
hand. Later he invented steam-engines and steam-boats, to which attention will hereafter be called.
Entering into business with his brothers within the period extending from 1785 to 1800, he
produced those inventions in milling which by the opening of the 19th century had revolutionised
the art. A description of the most important of these inventions was published by him in 1795 in a
book entitled The Young Millwright and Miller’s Grist. Patents were granted Evans by the States
of Delaware, Maryland and Pennsylvania in 1787, and by the U.S. Government in 1790 and 1808.
As these inventions formed the basis of the most important subsequent devices of the century, a
brief statement of his system is proper:
From the time the grain was emptied from the waggon to the final production of the finest flour at
the close of the process, all manual labour was dispensed with. The grain was first emptied into a
box hung on a scale beam where it was weighed, then run into an elevator which raised it to a
chamber over cleaning machines through which it was passed, and reclaimed by the same means if
desired; then it was run down into a chamber over the hoppers of the mill-stones; when ground it
fell from the mill-stones into conveyors and as carried along subjected to the heated air of a kiln
drier; then carried into a meal elevator to be raised and dropped on to a cooling floor where it was
met by what is called a hopper boy, consisting of a central round upright shaft revolving on a
pivot, and provided with horizontal arms and sweeps adapted to be raised and lowered and turned,
by which means the meal was continually stirred around, lifted and turned on the floor and then
gathered on to the bolting hoppers, the bolts being cylindrical sieves of varying degrees of
fineness to separate the flour from its coarser impurities, and when not bolted sufficiently, carried
by a conveyor called a drill to an elevator to be dumped again into the bolting hoppers and be re-
bolted. When not sufficiently ground the same drill was used to carry the meal to the grind stones.
It was the design of the process to keep the meal in constant motion from first to last so as to
thoroughly dry and cool it, to heat it further in the meantime, and to run the machines so slowly as
to prevent the rise and waste of the flour in the form of dust.
The Evans system, with minor modifications and improvements, was the prevailing one for three-
quarters of a century. New mills, when erected, were provided with this system, and many mills in
their quiet retreats everywhere awoke from their drowsy methods and were equipped with the new
one.
But the whole system of milling has undergone another great change within the last thirty years:
During that time it has been learned that the coarser portion or kernel of wheat which lies next to
the skin of the berry and between the skin and the heart is the most valuable and nutritious part, as
it consists largely of gluten, while the interior consists of starch, which when dry becomes a pearly
powder. Under the old systems this coarser part, known as middlings, was eliminated, and ground
for feed for cattle, or into what was regarded as an inferior grade of flour from which to make
coarse bread. It was customary, therefore, under the old method to set the grinding surfaces very
close with keen sharp burrs, so that this coarser part was cut off and mixed with the small particles
of bran, fine fuzz and other foreign substances, which was separated from the finer part of the
kernel by the bolting.
Page 45
The new process consists of removing the outer skin and adherent impurities from the middlings,
then separating the middlings from the central finer part and then regrinding the middlings into
flour.
This middlings flour being superior, as stated, to what was called straight grade, it became
desirable to obtain as much middlings as possible, and to this end it was necessary to set the
grinding surfaces further apart so as to grind high, hence the high milling process as distinguished
from low milling. For the better performance of the high rolling process, roller mills were
invented. It was found that the cracking process by which the kernel could be cracked and the
gluten middlings separated from the starchy heart could best be had by the employment of rollers
or cylinders in place of face stones, and at the same time the heating of the product, which injures
it, be avoided.
The rollers operate in sets, and successive crackings are obtained by passing and repassing, if
necessary, the grain through these rollers, set at different distances apart. The operation on grains
of different qualities, whether hard or soft, or containing more or less of the gluten middlings, or
starchy parts, and their minute and graded separation, thus are obtained with the greatest nicety.
The Hungarians, the Germans, the Austrians, the Swiss, the English and the Americans have all
invented useful forms of these rollers.
This process was accompanied by the invention of new forms of middlings separators and
purifiers, in which upward drafts of air are made to pass up through flat, graded shaking bolts, in
an enclosed case, by which the bran specks and fuzz are lifted and conveyed away from the
shaken material. In some countries, such as the great wheat state of Minnesota, U.S., where the
wheat had before been of inferior market value owing to the poorer grade of flour obtained by the
old processes, that same wheat was made to produce the most superior flour under the new
processes, thus increasing the yearly value of the crops by many millions of dollars.
Disastrous flour dust explosions in some of the great mills at Minneapolis, in 1877-78, developed
the invention of dust collectors, by which the suspended particles of flour dust are withdrawn from
the machinery and the mill, and the air is cleared for respiration and for the production of the
finest flour, while the mill is kept closed and comfortable in cold seasons. One of the latest forms
of such a collector has for its essential principle the vertical or rotatory air current, which it is
claimed moves and precipitates the finest particles.
The inventions in the class of mills have so multiplied in these latter days, that nearly every known
article that needs to be cleaned and hulled, or ground, or cracked or pulverized, has its own
specially designed machine. Wind and water as motive powers have been supplanted by steam and
electricity. It would be impossible in one volume to describe this great variety. Knight, in his
Mechanical Dictionary, gives a list under “Mills,” of more than a hundred distinct machines and
processes relating to grinding, hulling, crushing, pulverising and mixing products.
Vegetable Cutters.—Modern ingenuity has not neglected those more humble devices which save
the drudgery of hand work in the preparation of vegetables and roots for food for man and beasts,
and for use especially when large quantities are to be prepared. Thus, we find machines armed
with blades and worked by springs and a lever, for chopping, others for cutting stalks, other
machines for paring and slicing, such as apple and potato parers and slicers, others for grating and
pulping, others for seeding fruits, such as cherries and raisins, and an entire range of mechanisms,
then separating the middlings from the central finer part and then regrinding the middlings into
flour.
This middlings flour being superior, as stated, to what was called straight grade, it became
desirable to obtain as much middlings as possible, and to this end it was necessary to set the
grinding surfaces further apart so as to grind high, hence the high milling process as distinguished
from low milling. For the better performance of the high rolling process, roller mills were
invented. It was found that the cracking process by which the kernel could be cracked and the
gluten middlings separated from the starchy heart could best be had by the employment of rollers
or cylinders in place of face stones, and at the same time the heating of the product, which injures
it, be avoided.
The rollers operate in sets, and successive crackings are obtained by passing and repassing, if
necessary, the grain through these rollers, set at different distances apart. The operation on grains
of different qualities, whether hard or soft, or containing more or less of the gluten middlings, or
starchy parts, and their minute and graded separation, thus are obtained with the greatest nicety.
The Hungarians, the Germans, the Austrians, the Swiss, the English and the Americans have all
invented useful forms of these rollers.
This process was accompanied by the invention of new forms of middlings separators and
purifiers, in which upward drafts of air are made to pass up through flat, graded shaking bolts, in
an enclosed case, by which the bran specks and fuzz are lifted and conveyed away from the
shaken material. In some countries, such as the great wheat state of Minnesota, U.S., where the
wheat had before been of inferior market value owing to the poorer grade of flour obtained by the
old processes, that same wheat was made to produce the most superior flour under the new
processes, thus increasing the yearly value of the crops by many millions of dollars.
Disastrous flour dust explosions in some of the great mills at Minneapolis, in 1877-78, developed
the invention of dust collectors, by which the suspended particles of flour dust are withdrawn from
the machinery and the mill, and the air is cleared for respiration and for the production of the
finest flour, while the mill is kept closed and comfortable in cold seasons. One of the latest forms
of such a collector has for its essential principle the vertical or rotatory air current, which it is
claimed moves and precipitates the finest particles.
The inventions in the class of mills have so multiplied in these latter days, that nearly every known
article that needs to be cleaned and hulled, or ground, or cracked or pulverized, has its own
specially designed machine. Wind and water as motive powers have been supplanted by steam and
electricity. It would be impossible in one volume to describe this great variety. Knight, in his
Mechanical Dictionary, gives a list under “Mills,” of more than a hundred distinct machines and
processes relating to grinding, hulling, crushing, pulverising and mixing products.
Vegetable Cutters.—Modern ingenuity has not neglected those more humble devices which save
the drudgery of hand work in the preparation of vegetables and roots for food for man and beasts,
and for use especially when large quantities are to be prepared. Thus, we find machines armed
with blades and worked by springs and a lever, for chopping, others for cutting stalks, other
machines for paring and slicing, such as apple and potato parers and slicers, others for grating and
pulping, others for seeding fruits, such as cherries and raisins, and an entire range of mechanisms,
Page 46
from those which handle delicately the tenderest pod and smallest seed, to the ponderous machines
for cutting and crushing the cane in sugar making.
Pressing and Baling.—The want of pressing loose materials and packing bulky ones, like hay,
wool, cotton, hops, etc, and other coarser products, into small, compact bales and bodies, to
facilitate their transportation, was immediately felt on the great increase of such products in the
century.
From this arose pressing and baling machines of a great variety, until nearly every agricultural
product that can be pressed, packed or baled has its special machine for that operation. Besides
those above indicated relating to agricultural products, we have cane presses, cheese presses,
butter presses, cigar and tobacco presses, cork presses, and flour packers, fruit and lard presses,
peat presses, sugar presses and others. Leading mechanical principles in presses are also indicated
by name, as screw presses, toggle presses, beater press, revolving press, hydraulic press, rack and
pinion press, and rolling pressure press and so on.
There are the presses also that are used in compressing cotton. When it is remembered that cotton
is raised in about twenty different countries, and that the cotton crop of the United States of 1897-
98 was 10,897,857 bales, of about 500 lbs. each; of India, (estimated) for the same period,
2,844,000, of 400 lbs each; of China about 1,320,000, of 500 lbs each, and between two and three
million bales in the other countries, it is interesting to consider how the world’s production of this
enormous mass of elastic fibre, amounting to seventeen or eighteen million bales, of four and five
hundred pounds each, is compressed and bound.
The screw press was the earliest form of machine used, and then came the hydraulic press. Later it
has been customary to press the cotton by screw presses or small hydraulic presses at the
plantation, bind it with ropes or metal bands and then transport it to some central or seaboard
station where an immense establishment exists, provided with a great steam-operated press, in
which the bale from the country is placed and reduced to one-fourth or one-third its size, and
while under pressure new metallic bands applied, when the bale is ready for shipment. This was a
gain of a remarkable amount of room on shipboard and on cars, and solved a commercial problem.
But now this process, and the commercial rectangular bale, seem destined to be supplanted by
roller presses set up near the plantations themselves, into which the cotton is fed directly from the
gin, rolled upon itself between the rollers and compressed into round bales of greater density than
the square bale, thus saving a great amount of cost in dispensing with the steam and hydraulic
plants, with great additional advantages in convenience of handling and cost of transportation.
It is so arranged also that the cotton may be rolled into clean, uniform dense layers, so that the
same may be unwound at the mill and directly applied to the machines for its manufacture into
fabrics, without the usual tedious and expensive preliminary operations of combing and re-rolling.
It has also remained for the developed machine of the century to convert hay into an export
commodity to distant countries by the baling process. Bale ties themselves have received great
attention from inventors, and the most successful have won fortunes for their owners.
Most ingenious machines have been devised for picking cotton in the fields, but none have yet
reached that stage of perfection sufficient to supplant the human fingers.
Fruits and Foods.—To prepare and transport fruits in their natural state to far distant points, while
preserving them from decay for long times, is, in the large way demanded by the world’s great
appetites, altogether a success of modern invention.
for cutting and crushing the cane in sugar making.
Pressing and Baling.—The want of pressing loose materials and packing bulky ones, like hay,
wool, cotton, hops, etc, and other coarser products, into small, compact bales and bodies, to
facilitate their transportation, was immediately felt on the great increase of such products in the
century.
From this arose pressing and baling machines of a great variety, until nearly every agricultural
product that can be pressed, packed or baled has its special machine for that operation. Besides
those above indicated relating to agricultural products, we have cane presses, cheese presses,
butter presses, cigar and tobacco presses, cork presses, and flour packers, fruit and lard presses,
peat presses, sugar presses and others. Leading mechanical principles in presses are also indicated
by name, as screw presses, toggle presses, beater press, revolving press, hydraulic press, rack and
pinion press, and rolling pressure press and so on.
There are the presses also that are used in compressing cotton. When it is remembered that cotton
is raised in about twenty different countries, and that the cotton crop of the United States of 1897-
98 was 10,897,857 bales, of about 500 lbs. each; of India, (estimated) for the same period,
2,844,000, of 400 lbs each; of China about 1,320,000, of 500 lbs each, and between two and three
million bales in the other countries, it is interesting to consider how the world’s production of this
enormous mass of elastic fibre, amounting to seventeen or eighteen million bales, of four and five
hundred pounds each, is compressed and bound.
The screw press was the earliest form of machine used, and then came the hydraulic press. Later it
has been customary to press the cotton by screw presses or small hydraulic presses at the
plantation, bind it with ropes or metal bands and then transport it to some central or seaboard
station where an immense establishment exists, provided with a great steam-operated press, in
which the bale from the country is placed and reduced to one-fourth or one-third its size, and
while under pressure new metallic bands applied, when the bale is ready for shipment. This was a
gain of a remarkable amount of room on shipboard and on cars, and solved a commercial problem.
But now this process, and the commercial rectangular bale, seem destined to be supplanted by
roller presses set up near the plantations themselves, into which the cotton is fed directly from the
gin, rolled upon itself between the rollers and compressed into round bales of greater density than
the square bale, thus saving a great amount of cost in dispensing with the steam and hydraulic
plants, with great additional advantages in convenience of handling and cost of transportation.
It is so arranged also that the cotton may be rolled into clean, uniform dense layers, so that the
same may be unwound at the mill and directly applied to the machines for its manufacture into
fabrics, without the usual tedious and expensive preliminary operations of combing and re-rolling.
It has also remained for the developed machine of the century to convert hay into an export
commodity to distant countries by the baling process. Bale ties themselves have received great
attention from inventors, and the most successful have won fortunes for their owners.
Most ingenious machines have been devised for picking cotton in the fields, but none have yet
reached that stage of perfection sufficient to supplant the human fingers.
Fruits and Foods.—To prepare and transport fruits in their natural state to far distant points, while
preserving them from decay for long times, is, in the large way demanded by the world’s great
appetites, altogether a success of modern invention.
Page 47
To gather the fruit without bruising by mechanical pickers, and then to place the fruit, oranges for
instance, in the hands of an intelligent machine which will automatically, but delicately and
effectually, wrap the same in a paper covering, and discharge them without harm, are among the
recent inventive wonders. In the United States alone 67 patents had been granted up to 1895 for
fruit wrapping machines.
Inventions relating to drying and evaporating fruit, and having for their main object to preserve as
much as possible the natural taste and colour of the fruit, have been numerous. Spreading the fruit
in the air and letting the sun and air do the rest is now a crude process.
These are the general types of drying and evaporating machines:
First, those in which trays of fruit are placed upon stationary ledges within a heated chamber;
second, those in which the trays are raised and lowered by mechanical means toward or farther
from the source of heat as the drying progresses; third, those in which the fruit is placed in
imperforate steam jacketed pans. Many improvements, of course, have been made in detail of
form, in ventilation, the supplying and regulating of heat and the moving of trays.
The hermetically sealed glass or earthenware fruit jar, the lids of which can be screwed or locked
down upon a rubber band, after the jar is filled and the small remainder of air drawn out by a
convenient steam heater, now used by the million, is an illustration of the many useful modern
contrivances in this line.
Sterilisation.—In preserving, the desirability of preventing disease and keeping foods in a pure
state has developed in the last quarter of a century many devices by which the food is subjected to
a steam heat in chambers, and, by devices operated from the outside, the cans or bottles are
opened and shut while still within the steam-filled chamber.
Diastase.—By heating starchy matters with substances containing diastase, a partial
transformation is effected, which will materially shorten and aid its digestion, and this fact has
been largely made use of in the preparation of soluble foods, especially those designed for infants
and invalids, such as malted milk and lactated food.
Milkers.—Invention has not only been exercised in the preservation and transportation of milk, but
in the task of milking itself. Since 1860 inventors have been seeking patents for milkers, some
having tubes operated by air-pumps, others on the same principle in which the vacuum is made to
increase and decrease or pulsate, and others for machines in which the tubes are mechanically
contracted by pressure plates.
Slaughtering.—Great improvements have been made in the slaughtering of animals, by which a
great amount of its repulsiveness and the unhealthfulness of its surroundings have been removed.
These improvements relate to the construction of proper buildings and appliances for the handling
of the animals, the means for slaughtering, and modes of taking care of the meat and transporting
the same. Villages, towns, and even many cities, are now relieved of the formerly unsavoury
slaughter-houses, and the work is done from great centres of supply, where meats in every shape
are prepared for food and shipment.
It would be impossible in a bulky volume, much less in a single chapter, to satisfactorily
enumerate those thousands of inventions which, taking hold of the food products of the earth, have
spread them as a feast before the tribes of men.
instance, in the hands of an intelligent machine which will automatically, but delicately and
effectually, wrap the same in a paper covering, and discharge them without harm, are among the
recent inventive wonders. In the United States alone 67 patents had been granted up to 1895 for
fruit wrapping machines.
Inventions relating to drying and evaporating fruit, and having for their main object to preserve as
much as possible the natural taste and colour of the fruit, have been numerous. Spreading the fruit
in the air and letting the sun and air do the rest is now a crude process.
These are the general types of drying and evaporating machines:
First, those in which trays of fruit are placed upon stationary ledges within a heated chamber;
second, those in which the trays are raised and lowered by mechanical means toward or farther
from the source of heat as the drying progresses; third, those in which the fruit is placed in
imperforate steam jacketed pans. Many improvements, of course, have been made in detail of
form, in ventilation, the supplying and regulating of heat and the moving of trays.
The hermetically sealed glass or earthenware fruit jar, the lids of which can be screwed or locked
down upon a rubber band, after the jar is filled and the small remainder of air drawn out by a
convenient steam heater, now used by the million, is an illustration of the many useful modern
contrivances in this line.
Sterilisation.—In preserving, the desirability of preventing disease and keeping foods in a pure
state has developed in the last quarter of a century many devices by which the food is subjected to
a steam heat in chambers, and, by devices operated from the outside, the cans or bottles are
opened and shut while still within the steam-filled chamber.
Diastase.—By heating starchy matters with substances containing diastase, a partial
transformation is effected, which will materially shorten and aid its digestion, and this fact has
been largely made use of in the preparation of soluble foods, especially those designed for infants
and invalids, such as malted milk and lactated food.
Milkers.—Invention has not only been exercised in the preservation and transportation of milk, but
in the task of milking itself. Since 1860 inventors have been seeking patents for milkers, some
having tubes operated by air-pumps, others on the same principle in which the vacuum is made to
increase and decrease or pulsate, and others for machines in which the tubes are mechanically
contracted by pressure plates.
Slaughtering.—Great improvements have been made in the slaughtering of animals, by which a
great amount of its repulsiveness and the unhealthfulness of its surroundings have been removed.
These improvements relate to the construction of proper buildings and appliances for the handling
of the animals, the means for slaughtering, and modes of taking care of the meat and transporting
the same. Villages, towns, and even many cities, are now relieved of the formerly unsavoury
slaughter-houses, and the work is done from great centres of supply, where meats in every shape
are prepared for food and shipment.
It would be impossible in a bulky volume, much less in a single chapter, to satisfactorily
enumerate those thousands of inventions which, taking hold of the food products of the earth, have
spread them as a feast before the tribes of men.
Page 48
Tobacco.—Some of the best inventive genius of the century has been exercised in providing for
man’s comfort, not a food, but what he believes to be a solace.
“Sublime Tobacco! which from East to West
Cheers the tar’s labour or the Turkman’s rest.”
In the United States alone, in the year 1885, there were 752,520 acres of land devoted to the
production of tobacco, the amount in pounds grown being 562,736,000, and the value of which
was estimated as $43,265,598. These amounts have been somewhat less in years since then, but
the appetite continues, and any deficiency in the supply is made up by enormous importation.
Thus, in 1896, there were imported into the United States, 32,924,966 pounds of tobacco, of
various kinds, valued at $16,503,130. There are no reliable statistics showing that, man for man,
the people of that country are greater lovers of the weed than the people of other countries, but the
annual value of tobacco raised and imported by them being thus about $60,000,000, it indicates
the strength of the habit and the interest in the nurture of the plant throughout the world. Neither
the “Counterblaste to Tobacco” of King James I., and the condemnations of kings, popes, priests
and sultans, that followed its early introduction into Europe, served to choke the weed in its
infancy or check its after growth. Now it is attended from the day of its planting until it reaches
the lips of the consumer by contrivances of consummate skill to fit it for its destined purpose.
Besides the ploughs, the cultivators and the weeders of especial forms used to cultivate the plant,
there are, after the grown plant is cut in the field, houses of various designs for drying it, machines
for rolling the leaves out smoothly in sheets; machines for removing the stems from the leaves and
for crushing the stem; machines for pressing it into shape, and for pressing it, whether solid or in
granular form, into boxes, tubs and bags; machines for granulating it and for grinding it into snuff;
machines for twisting it into cords; machines for flavouring the leaf with saccharine and other
matters; machines for making cigars, and machines of a great variety and of the most ingenious
construction for making cigarettes and putting them in packages.
Samples of pipes made by different ages and by different peoples would form a collection of
wonderful art and ingenuity, second only to an exhibition of the means and methods of making
them.
man’s comfort, not a food, but what he believes to be a solace.
“Sublime Tobacco! which from East to West
Cheers the tar’s labour or the Turkman’s rest.”
In the United States alone, in the year 1885, there were 752,520 acres of land devoted to the
production of tobacco, the amount in pounds grown being 562,736,000, and the value of which
was estimated as $43,265,598. These amounts have been somewhat less in years since then, but
the appetite continues, and any deficiency in the supply is made up by enormous importation.
Thus, in 1896, there were imported into the United States, 32,924,966 pounds of tobacco, of
various kinds, valued at $16,503,130. There are no reliable statistics showing that, man for man,
the people of that country are greater lovers of the weed than the people of other countries, but the
annual value of tobacco raised and imported by them being thus about $60,000,000, it indicates
the strength of the habit and the interest in the nurture of the plant throughout the world. Neither
the “Counterblaste to Tobacco” of King James I., and the condemnations of kings, popes, priests
and sultans, that followed its early introduction into Europe, served to choke the weed in its
infancy or check its after growth. Now it is attended from the day of its planting until it reaches
the lips of the consumer by contrivances of consummate skill to fit it for its destined purpose.
Besides the ploughs, the cultivators and the weeders of especial forms used to cultivate the plant,
there are, after the grown plant is cut in the field, houses of various designs for drying it, machines
for rolling the leaves out smoothly in sheets; machines for removing the stems from the leaves and
for crushing the stem; machines for pressing it into shape, and for pressing it, whether solid or in
granular form, into boxes, tubs and bags; machines for granulating it and for grinding it into snuff;
machines for twisting it into cords; machines for flavouring the leaf with saccharine and other
matters; machines for making cigars, and machines of a great variety and of the most ingenious
construction for making cigarettes and putting them in packages.
Samples of pipes made by different ages and by different peoples would form a collection of
wonderful art and ingenuity, second only to an exhibition of the means and methods of making
them.
Page 49
CHAPTER VI.
CHEMISTRY.
Chemistry, having for its field the properties and changes of matter, has excited more or less
attention ever since men had the power to observe, to think, and to experiment.
Some knowledge of chemistry must have existed among the ancients to have enabled the
Egyptians to smelt ores and work metals, to dye their cloths, to make glass, and to preserve their
dead from decomposition; so, too, to this extent among the Phœnicians, the Israelites, the Greeks
and the Romans; and perhaps to a greater extent among the Chinese, who added powder to the
above named and other chemical products. Aristotle speculated, and the alchemists of the middle
ages busied themselves in magic and guess-work. It reached the dignity of a science in the
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, by the labours of such men, in the former century, as
Libavius, Van Helmont, Glauber, Tachenius, Boyle, Lémery and Becher; Stahl, Boerhaave and
Hamberg in both; and of Black, Cavendish, Lavoisier, Priestley and others in the eighteenth.
But so great have been the discoveries and inventions in this science during the nineteenth century
that any chemist of any previous age, if permitted to look forward upon them, would have felt
“Like some watcher of the skies
When a new planet swims into his ken.”
Indeed, the chemistry of this century is a new world, of which all the previous discoveries in that
line were but floating nebulæ.
So vast and astonishingly fast has been the growth and development of this science that before the
century was two-thirds through its course Watts published his Dictionary of Chemistry in five
volumes, averaging a thousand closely printed pages, followed soon by a thousand-page
supplement; and it would have required such a volume every year since to adequately report the
progress of the science. Nomenclatures, formulas, apparatuses and processes have all changed. It
was deemed necessary to publish works on The New Chemistry, and Professor J. P. Cooke is the
author of an admirable volume under that title.
We can, therefore, in this chapter only step from one to another of some of the peaks that rise
above the vast surrounding country, and note some of the lesser objects as they appear in the vales
below.
The leading discoveries of the century which have done so much to aid Chemistry in its giant
strides are the atomic and molecular theories, the mechanics of light, heat, and electricity, the
correlation and conservation of forces, their invariable quantity, and their indestructibility,
spectrum analysis and the laws of chemical changes.
John Dalton, that humble child of English north-country Quaker stock, self-taught and a teacher
all his life, in 1803 gave to the world his atomic theory of chemistry, whereby the existence of
CHEMISTRY.
Chemistry, having for its field the properties and changes of matter, has excited more or less
attention ever since men had the power to observe, to think, and to experiment.
Some knowledge of chemistry must have existed among the ancients to have enabled the
Egyptians to smelt ores and work metals, to dye their cloths, to make glass, and to preserve their
dead from decomposition; so, too, to this extent among the Phœnicians, the Israelites, the Greeks
and the Romans; and perhaps to a greater extent among the Chinese, who added powder to the
above named and other chemical products. Aristotle speculated, and the alchemists of the middle
ages busied themselves in magic and guess-work. It reached the dignity of a science in the
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, by the labours of such men, in the former century, as
Libavius, Van Helmont, Glauber, Tachenius, Boyle, Lémery and Becher; Stahl, Boerhaave and
Hamberg in both; and of Black, Cavendish, Lavoisier, Priestley and others in the eighteenth.
But so great have been the discoveries and inventions in this science during the nineteenth century
that any chemist of any previous age, if permitted to look forward upon them, would have felt
“Like some watcher of the skies
When a new planet swims into his ken.”
Indeed, the chemistry of this century is a new world, of which all the previous discoveries in that
line were but floating nebulæ.
So vast and astonishingly fast has been the growth and development of this science that before the
century was two-thirds through its course Watts published his Dictionary of Chemistry in five
volumes, averaging a thousand closely printed pages, followed soon by a thousand-page
supplement; and it would have required such a volume every year since to adequately report the
progress of the science. Nomenclatures, formulas, apparatuses and processes have all changed. It
was deemed necessary to publish works on The New Chemistry, and Professor J. P. Cooke is the
author of an admirable volume under that title.
We can, therefore, in this chapter only step from one to another of some of the peaks that rise
above the vast surrounding country, and note some of the lesser objects as they appear in the vales
below.
The leading discoveries of the century which have done so much to aid Chemistry in its giant
strides are the atomic and molecular theories, the mechanics of light, heat, and electricity, the
correlation and conservation of forces, their invariable quantity, and their indestructibility,
spectrum analysis and the laws of chemical changes.
John Dalton, that humble child of English north-country Quaker stock, self-taught and a teacher
all his life, in 1803 gave to the world his atomic theory of chemistry, whereby the existence of
Page 50
matter in ultimate atoms was removed from the region of the speculation of certain ancient
philosophers, and established on a sure foundation.
The question asked and answered by Dalton was, what is the relative weight of the atoms
composing the elementary bodies?
He discovered that one chemical element or compound can combine with another chemical
element, to form a new compound, in two different proportions by weight, which stand to each
other in the simple ratio of one to two; and at the same time he published a table of the Relative
weight of the ultimate particles of Gaseous and other Bodies. Although the details of this table
have since been changed, the principles of his discovery remain unchanged. Says Professor
Roscoe:
“Chemistry could hardly be said to exist as a science before the establishment of the laws of
combination in multiple proportions, and the subsequent progress of chemical science
materially depended upon the determination of these combined proportions or atomic weights
of the elements first set up by Dalton. So that among the founders of our science, next to the
name of the great French Philosopher, Lavoisier, will stand in future ages the name of John
Dalton, of Manchester.”
Less conspicuous but still eminently useful were his discoveries and labours in other directions, in
the expansion of gases, evaporation, steam, etc.
Wollaston and Gay-Lussac, both great chemists, applied Dalton’s discovery to wide and most
important fields in the chemical arts.
Also contemporaneous with Dalton was the great German chemist, Berzelius, who confirmed and
extended the discoveries of Dalton. More than this, it has been said of Berzelius:
“In him were united all the different impulses which have advanced the science since the
beginning of the present epoch. The fruit of his labors is scattered throughout the entire
domain of the science. Hardly a substance exists to the knowledge of which he has not in
some way contributed. A direct descendant of the school of his countryman, Bergman, he was
especially renowned as an analyst. No chemist has determined by direct experiment the
composition of a greater number of substances. No one has exerted a greater influence in
extending the field of analytical chemistry.”
As to light, the great Huygens, the astronomer and mathematician, the improver of differential
calculus and of telescopes, the inventor of the pendulum clock, chronometers, and the balance
wheel to the watch, and discoverer of the laws of the double refraction of light and of polarisation,
had in the 17th century clearly advanced the idea that light was propagated from luminous bodies,
not as a stream of particles through the air but in waves or vibrations of ether, which is a universal
medium extending through all space and into all bodies. This fundamental principle now enters
into the explanation of all the phenomena of light.
Newton in the next century, with the prism, decomposed light, and in a darkened chamber
reproduced all the colours and tints of the rainbow. But there were dark lines in that beam of
broken sunlight which Newton did not notice.
It was left to Joseph von Fraunhofer, a German optician, and to the 19th century, and nearly one
hundred years after Newton’s experiments with the prism, to discover, with finer prisms that he
philosophers, and established on a sure foundation.
The question asked and answered by Dalton was, what is the relative weight of the atoms
composing the elementary bodies?
He discovered that one chemical element or compound can combine with another chemical
element, to form a new compound, in two different proportions by weight, which stand to each
other in the simple ratio of one to two; and at the same time he published a table of the Relative
weight of the ultimate particles of Gaseous and other Bodies. Although the details of this table
have since been changed, the principles of his discovery remain unchanged. Says Professor
Roscoe:
“Chemistry could hardly be said to exist as a science before the establishment of the laws of
combination in multiple proportions, and the subsequent progress of chemical science
materially depended upon the determination of these combined proportions or atomic weights
of the elements first set up by Dalton. So that among the founders of our science, next to the
name of the great French Philosopher, Lavoisier, will stand in future ages the name of John
Dalton, of Manchester.”
Less conspicuous but still eminently useful were his discoveries and labours in other directions, in
the expansion of gases, evaporation, steam, etc.
Wollaston and Gay-Lussac, both great chemists, applied Dalton’s discovery to wide and most
important fields in the chemical arts.
Also contemporaneous with Dalton was the great German chemist, Berzelius, who confirmed and
extended the discoveries of Dalton. More than this, it has been said of Berzelius:
“In him were united all the different impulses which have advanced the science since the
beginning of the present epoch. The fruit of his labors is scattered throughout the entire
domain of the science. Hardly a substance exists to the knowledge of which he has not in
some way contributed. A direct descendant of the school of his countryman, Bergman, he was
especially renowned as an analyst. No chemist has determined by direct experiment the
composition of a greater number of substances. No one has exerted a greater influence in
extending the field of analytical chemistry.”
As to light, the great Huygens, the astronomer and mathematician, the improver of differential
calculus and of telescopes, the inventor of the pendulum clock, chronometers, and the balance
wheel to the watch, and discoverer of the laws of the double refraction of light and of polarisation,
had in the 17th century clearly advanced the idea that light was propagated from luminous bodies,
not as a stream of particles through the air but in waves or vibrations of ether, which is a universal
medium extending through all space and into all bodies. This fundamental principle now enters
into the explanation of all the phenomena of light.
Newton in the next century, with the prism, decomposed light, and in a darkened chamber
reproduced all the colours and tints of the rainbow. But there were dark lines in that beam of
broken sunlight which Newton did not notice.
It was left to Joseph von Fraunhofer, a German optician, and to the 19th century, and nearly one
hundred years after Newton’s experiments with the prism, to discover, with finer prisms that he
Page 51
had made, some 590 of these black lines crossing the solar spectrum. What they were he did not
know, but conjectured that they were caused by something which existed in the sun and stars and
not in our air. But from that time they were called Fraunhofer’s dark lines.
From the vantage ground of these developments we are now enabled to step to that mountain peak
of discovery from which the sun and stars were looked into, their elements portrayed, their very
motions determined, and their brotherhood with the earth, in substance, ascertained.
The great discovery of the cause of Fraunhofer’s dark bands in the broken sunlight was made by
Gustave Robert Kirchoff, a German physician, in his laboratory in Heidelberg, in 1860, in
conjunction with his fellow worker, Robert Bunsen.
Kirchoff happened to let a solar ray pass through a flame coloured with sodium, and through a
prism, so that the spectrum of the sun and the flame fell one upon another. It was expected that the
well known yellow line of sodium would come out in the solar spectrum, but it was just the
opposite that took place. Where the bright yellow line should have fallen appeared a dark line.
With this observation was coupled the reflection that heat passes from a body of a higher
temperature to one of a lower, and not inversely. Experiments followed: iron, sodium, copper, etc.,
were heated to incandescence and their colours prismatically separated. These were transversed
with the same colours of other heated bodies, and the latter were absorbed and rendered black.
Kirchoff then announced his law that all bodies absorb chiefly those colours which they
themselves emit. Therefore these vapours of the sun which were rendered in black lines were so
produced by crossing terrestrial vapors of the same nature.
Thus by the prism and the blowpipe were the same substances found in the sun, the stars, and the
earth. The elements of every substance submitted to the process were analysed, and many secrets
in the universe of matter were revealed.
Young, of America, invented a splendid combination of spectroscope and telescope, and Huggins
of England was the first to establish by spectrum analysis the approach and retreat of the stars.
It was prior to this time that those wonderful discoveries and labours were made which developed
the true nature of heat, which demonstrated the kinship and correlation of the forces of Nature,
their conservation, or property of being converted one into another, and the indestructibility of
matter, of which force is but another name.
The first demonstrations as to the nature of heat were given by the American Count Rumford, and
then by Sir Humphry Davy, just at the close of the 18th century, and then followed in this the
brilliant labours and discoveries of Mayer and Helmholtz of Germany, Colding of Denmark, and
Joule, Grove, Faraday, Sir William Thomson of England, of Henry, Le Conte and Martin of
America, as to the correlation and convertibility of all the forces.
The French revolution, and the Napoleonic wars, isolating France and exhausting its resources, its
chemists were appealed to devote their genius and researches to practical things; to the munitions
of war, the rejuvenation of the soil, the growing of new crops, like the sugar beet, and new
manufacturing products.
Lavoisier had laid deep and broad in France the foundations of chemistry, and given the science
nomenclature that lasted a century. So that the succeeding great teachers, Berthollet, Guyton,
Fourcroy and their associates, and the institutions of instruction in the sciences fostered by them,
know, but conjectured that they were caused by something which existed in the sun and stars and
not in our air. But from that time they were called Fraunhofer’s dark lines.
From the vantage ground of these developments we are now enabled to step to that mountain peak
of discovery from which the sun and stars were looked into, their elements portrayed, their very
motions determined, and their brotherhood with the earth, in substance, ascertained.
The great discovery of the cause of Fraunhofer’s dark bands in the broken sunlight was made by
Gustave Robert Kirchoff, a German physician, in his laboratory in Heidelberg, in 1860, in
conjunction with his fellow worker, Robert Bunsen.
Kirchoff happened to let a solar ray pass through a flame coloured with sodium, and through a
prism, so that the spectrum of the sun and the flame fell one upon another. It was expected that the
well known yellow line of sodium would come out in the solar spectrum, but it was just the
opposite that took place. Where the bright yellow line should have fallen appeared a dark line.
With this observation was coupled the reflection that heat passes from a body of a higher
temperature to one of a lower, and not inversely. Experiments followed: iron, sodium, copper, etc.,
were heated to incandescence and their colours prismatically separated. These were transversed
with the same colours of other heated bodies, and the latter were absorbed and rendered black.
Kirchoff then announced his law that all bodies absorb chiefly those colours which they
themselves emit. Therefore these vapours of the sun which were rendered in black lines were so
produced by crossing terrestrial vapors of the same nature.
Thus by the prism and the blowpipe were the same substances found in the sun, the stars, and the
earth. The elements of every substance submitted to the process were analysed, and many secrets
in the universe of matter were revealed.
Young, of America, invented a splendid combination of spectroscope and telescope, and Huggins
of England was the first to establish by spectrum analysis the approach and retreat of the stars.
It was prior to this time that those wonderful discoveries and labours were made which developed
the true nature of heat, which demonstrated the kinship and correlation of the forces of Nature,
their conservation, or property of being converted one into another, and the indestructibility of
matter, of which force is but another name.
The first demonstrations as to the nature of heat were given by the American Count Rumford, and
then by Sir Humphry Davy, just at the close of the 18th century, and then followed in this the
brilliant labours and discoveries of Mayer and Helmholtz of Germany, Colding of Denmark, and
Joule, Grove, Faraday, Sir William Thomson of England, of Henry, Le Conte and Martin of
America, as to the correlation and convertibility of all the forces.
The French revolution, and the Napoleonic wars, isolating France and exhausting its resources, its
chemists were appealed to devote their genius and researches to practical things; to the munitions
of war, the rejuvenation of the soil, the growing of new crops, like the sugar beet, and new
manufacturing products.
Lavoisier had laid deep and broad in France the foundations of chemistry, and given the science
nomenclature that lasted a century. So that the succeeding great teachers, Berthollet, Guyton,
Fourcroy and their associates, and the institutions of instruction in the sciences fostered by them,
Page 52
and inspired in that direction by Napoleon, bent their energies in material directions, and a
tremendous impulse was thus given to the practical application of chemistry to the arts and
manufactures of the century.
The same spirit, to a less extent, however, manifested itself in England, and as early as 1802 we
find Sir Humphry Davy beginning his celebrated lectures on the Elements of Agricultural
Chemistry before a board of agriculture, a work that has passed through many editions in almost
every modern language.
When the fact is recalled that agricultural chemistry embraces the entire natural science of
vegetable and animal production, and includes, besides, much of physics, meteorology and
geology, the extent and importance of the subject may be appreciated; and yet such appreciation
was not manifested in a practical manner until the 19th century. It was only toward the end of the
18th century that the vague and ancient notions that air, water, oil and salt formed the nutrition of
plants, began to be modified. Davy recognized and explained the beneficial fertilizing effects of
ammonia, and analysed and explained numerous fertilizers, including guano. It is due to his
discoveries and publications, combined with those of the eminent men on the continent, above
referred to, that agricultural chemistry arose to the dignity of a science. The most brilliant,
eloquent and devoted apostle of that science who followed Davy was Justus von Liebig of
Germany, who was born in Darmstadt in 1803, the year after Davy commenced his lectures in
England. It was in response to the British Association for the Advancement of Science that he gave
to the world his great publications on Chemistry in its application to Agriculture, Commerce,
Physiology, and Pathology, from which great practical good resulted the world over. One of his
favorite subjects was that of fermentation, and this calls up the exceedingly interesting discoveries
in the nature of alcohol, yeast, mould—aging malt, wines and beer—and their accompanying
beneficial results.
In one of Huxley’s charming lectures—such as he delighted to give before a popular audience—
delivered in 1871, at Manchester, on the subject of “Yeast,” he tells how any liquid containing
sugar, such as a mixture of honey and water, if left to itself undergoes the peculiar change we
know as fermentation, and in the process the scum, or thicker muddy part that forms on top,
becomes yeast, carbonic acid gas escapes in bubbles from the liquid, and the liquid itself becomes
spirits of wine or alcohol. “Alcohol” was a term used until the 17th century to designate a very
fine subtle powder, and then became the name of the subtle spirit arising from fermentation. It was
Leeuwenhoek of Holland who, two hundred years ago, by the use of a fine microscope he
invented, first discovered that the muddy scum was a substance made up of an enormous
multitude of very minute grains floating separately, and in lumps and in heaps, in the liquid. Then,
in the next century the Frenchman, Cagniard de la Tour, discovered that these bodies grew to a
certain size and then budded, and from the buds the plant multiplied; and thus that this yeast was a
mass of living plants, which received in science the name of “torula,” that the yeast plant was a
kind of fungus or mould, growing and multiplying. Then came Fabroni, the French chemist, at the
end of the 18th century, who discovered that the yeast plant was of bag-like form, or a cell of
woody matter, and that the cell contained a substance composed of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and
nitrogen. This was a vegeto-animal substance, having peculiarities of “animal products.”
Then came the great chemists of the 19th century, with their delicate methods of analysis, and
decided that this plant in its chief part was identical with that element which forms the chief part
of our own blood. That it was protein, a substance which forms the foundation of every animal
organism. All agreed that it was the yeast plant that fermented or broke up the sugar element, and
tremendous impulse was thus given to the practical application of chemistry to the arts and
manufactures of the century.
The same spirit, to a less extent, however, manifested itself in England, and as early as 1802 we
find Sir Humphry Davy beginning his celebrated lectures on the Elements of Agricultural
Chemistry before a board of agriculture, a work that has passed through many editions in almost
every modern language.
When the fact is recalled that agricultural chemistry embraces the entire natural science of
vegetable and animal production, and includes, besides, much of physics, meteorology and
geology, the extent and importance of the subject may be appreciated; and yet such appreciation
was not manifested in a practical manner until the 19th century. It was only toward the end of the
18th century that the vague and ancient notions that air, water, oil and salt formed the nutrition of
plants, began to be modified. Davy recognized and explained the beneficial fertilizing effects of
ammonia, and analysed and explained numerous fertilizers, including guano. It is due to his
discoveries and publications, combined with those of the eminent men on the continent, above
referred to, that agricultural chemistry arose to the dignity of a science. The most brilliant,
eloquent and devoted apostle of that science who followed Davy was Justus von Liebig of
Germany, who was born in Darmstadt in 1803, the year after Davy commenced his lectures in
England. It was in response to the British Association for the Advancement of Science that he gave
to the world his great publications on Chemistry in its application to Agriculture, Commerce,
Physiology, and Pathology, from which great practical good resulted the world over. One of his
favorite subjects was that of fermentation, and this calls up the exceedingly interesting discoveries
in the nature of alcohol, yeast, mould—aging malt, wines and beer—and their accompanying
beneficial results.
In one of Huxley’s charming lectures—such as he delighted to give before a popular audience—
delivered in 1871, at Manchester, on the subject of “Yeast,” he tells how any liquid containing
sugar, such as a mixture of honey and water, if left to itself undergoes the peculiar change we
know as fermentation, and in the process the scum, or thicker muddy part that forms on top,
becomes yeast, carbonic acid gas escapes in bubbles from the liquid, and the liquid itself becomes
spirits of wine or alcohol. “Alcohol” was a term used until the 17th century to designate a very
fine subtle powder, and then became the name of the subtle spirit arising from fermentation. It was
Leeuwenhoek of Holland who, two hundred years ago, by the use of a fine microscope he
invented, first discovered that the muddy scum was a substance made up of an enormous
multitude of very minute grains floating separately, and in lumps and in heaps, in the liquid. Then,
in the next century the Frenchman, Cagniard de la Tour, discovered that these bodies grew to a
certain size and then budded, and from the buds the plant multiplied; and thus that this yeast was a
mass of living plants, which received in science the name of “torula,” that the yeast plant was a
kind of fungus or mould, growing and multiplying. Then came Fabroni, the French chemist, at the
end of the 18th century, who discovered that the yeast plant was of bag-like form, or a cell of
woody matter, and that the cell contained a substance composed of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and
nitrogen. This was a vegeto-animal substance, having peculiarities of “animal products.”
Then came the great chemists of the 19th century, with their delicate methods of analysis, and
decided that this plant in its chief part was identical with that element which forms the chief part
of our own blood. That it was protein, a substance which forms the foundation of every animal
organism. All agreed that it was the yeast plant that fermented or broke up the sugar element, and
Page 53
produced the alcohol. Helmholtz demonstrated that it was the minute particles of the solid part of
the plant that produced the fermentation, and that such particles must be growing or alive, to
produce it. From whence sprang this wonderful plant—part vegetable, part animal? By a long
series of experiments it was found that if substances which could be fermented were kept entirely
closed to the outer air, no plant would form and no fermentation take place. It was concluded then,
and so ascertained, that the torulae in the plant proceeded from the torulae in the atmosphere, from
“gay motes that people the sunbeams.” Concerning just how the torulae broke up or fermented the
sugar, great chemists have differed.
After the discovery that the yeast was a plant having cells formed of the pure matter of wood, and
containing a semi-fluid mass identical with the composition which constitutes the flesh of animals,
came the further discovery that all plants, high and low, are made up of the same kind of cells, and
their contents. Then this remarkable result came out, that however much a plant may otherwise
differ from an animal, yet, in essential constituents the cellular constructure of animal and plant is
the same. To this substance of energy and life, common in the minute plant cell and the animal
cell, the German botanist, Hugo von Mohl, about fifty years ago gave the name “protoplasm.”
Then came this astounding conclusion, that this protoplasm being common to both plant and
animal life, the essential difference consisted only in the manner in which the cells are built up and
are modified in the building.
And from that part of these great discoveries which revealed the fact that the sugary element was
infected, as it were, from the germs of the air, producing fermentation and its results, arose that
remarkable theory of many diseases known as the “germ theory.” And, as it was found in the yeast
plant that only the solid part or particle of the plant germinated fermentation and reaction, so, too,
it has been found by the germ theory that only the solid particle of the contagious matter can
germinate or grow the disease.
In this unfolding of the wonders of chemistry in the nineteenth century, the old empirical walls
between forces and organisms, and organic and inorganic chemistry, are breaking down, and
celestial and terrestrial bodies and vapours, living beings, and growing plants are discovered to be
the evolution of one all-pervading essence and force. One is reminded of the lines of Tennyson:
“Large elements in order brought
And tracts of calm from tempest made,
And world fluctuation swayed
In vassal tides that followed thought.
One God, one law, one element,
And one far-off divine event
To which the whole creation moves.”
In the class of alcohol and in the field of yeast, the work of Pasteur, begun in France, has been
followed by improvements in methods for selecting proper ferments and excluding improper ones,
and in improved processes for aging and preserving alcoholic liquors by destroying deleterious
ferments. Takamine, in using as ferment, koji, motu and moyashi, different forms of mould, and
proposing to do entirely away with malt in the manufacture of beer and whiskey, has made a
noteworthy departure. Manufacturing of malt by the pneumatic process, and stirring malt during
germination, are among the improvements.
the plant that produced the fermentation, and that such particles must be growing or alive, to
produce it. From whence sprang this wonderful plant—part vegetable, part animal? By a long
series of experiments it was found that if substances which could be fermented were kept entirely
closed to the outer air, no plant would form and no fermentation take place. It was concluded then,
and so ascertained, that the torulae in the plant proceeded from the torulae in the atmosphere, from
“gay motes that people the sunbeams.” Concerning just how the torulae broke up or fermented the
sugar, great chemists have differed.
After the discovery that the yeast was a plant having cells formed of the pure matter of wood, and
containing a semi-fluid mass identical with the composition which constitutes the flesh of animals,
came the further discovery that all plants, high and low, are made up of the same kind of cells, and
their contents. Then this remarkable result came out, that however much a plant may otherwise
differ from an animal, yet, in essential constituents the cellular constructure of animal and plant is
the same. To this substance of energy and life, common in the minute plant cell and the animal
cell, the German botanist, Hugo von Mohl, about fifty years ago gave the name “protoplasm.”
Then came this astounding conclusion, that this protoplasm being common to both plant and
animal life, the essential difference consisted only in the manner in which the cells are built up and
are modified in the building.
And from that part of these great discoveries which revealed the fact that the sugary element was
infected, as it were, from the germs of the air, producing fermentation and its results, arose that
remarkable theory of many diseases known as the “germ theory.” And, as it was found in the yeast
plant that only the solid part or particle of the plant germinated fermentation and reaction, so, too,
it has been found by the germ theory that only the solid particle of the contagious matter can
germinate or grow the disease.
In this unfolding of the wonders of chemistry in the nineteenth century, the old empirical walls
between forces and organisms, and organic and inorganic chemistry, are breaking down, and
celestial and terrestrial bodies and vapours, living beings, and growing plants are discovered to be
the evolution of one all-pervading essence and force. One is reminded of the lines of Tennyson:
“Large elements in order brought
And tracts of calm from tempest made,
And world fluctuation swayed
In vassal tides that followed thought.
One God, one law, one element,
And one far-off divine event
To which the whole creation moves.”
In the class of alcohol and in the field of yeast, the work of Pasteur, begun in France, has been
followed by improvements in methods for selecting proper ferments and excluding improper ones,
and in improved processes for aging and preserving alcoholic liquors by destroying deleterious
ferments. Takamine, in using as ferment, koji, motu and moyashi, different forms of mould, and
proposing to do entirely away with malt in the manufacture of beer and whiskey, has made a
noteworthy departure. Manufacturing of malt by the pneumatic process, and stirring malt during
germination, are among the improvements.
Page 54
Carbonating.—The injecting of carbonic acid gas into various waters to render them wholesome,
and also into beers and wines during fermentation, and to save delay and prevent impurities, are
decided improvements.
The immense improvements and discoveries in the character of soils and fertilisers have already
been alluded to. Hundreds of instruments have been invented for measuring, analysing, weighing,
separating, volatilising and otherwise applying chemical processes to practical purposes.
To the chemistry of the century the world is indebted for those devices and processes for the
utilisation and manufacture of many useful products from the liquids and oils, sugar from cane and
beets, revivifying bone-black, centrifugal machinery for refining sugar, in defecating it by
chemicals and heat, in evaporating it in pans, in separating starch and converting it into glucose,
etc.
Oils and Fats.—Up to within this century the vast amount of cotton seed produced with that crop
was a waste. Then by the process, first of steaming the seed and expressing the oil, now by the
process of extraction by the aid of volatile solvents, and casting off the solvents by distillation, an
immensely valuable product has been obtained.
The utilising of oils in the manufacture of oilcloth and linoleum and rubber, has become of great
commercial value. Formerly sulphur was the vulcanising agent, now chloride of sulphur has been
substituted for pure sulphur.
Steam and the distillation processes have been applied with great success to the making of
glycerine from fat and from soap underlye and in extracting fat from various waste products.
Bleaching and Dyeing.—Of course these arts are very old, but the old methods would not be
recognised in the modern processes; and those who lived before the century knew nothing of the
magnificent colours, and certain essences, and sweet savours that can be obtained from the black,
hand-soiling pieces of coal. In the making of illuminating gas, itself a finished chemical product of
the century, a vast amount of once wasted products, especially coal tar, are now extensively used;
and from coal tar and the residuum of petroleum oils, now come those splendid aniline dyes which
have produced such a revolution in the world of colours. The saturation of sand by a dye and its
application to fabrics by an air blast; the circulation of the fluid colors, or of fluids for bleaching or
drying, or oxidising, through perforated cylinders or cops on which the cloths are wound; devices
for the running of skeins through dyes, the great improvements in carbon dyes and kindred
colours, the processes of making the colours on the fibre, and the perfumes made by the synthetic
processes, are among the inventions in this field.
The space that a list of the new chemical products of this age and their description would fill, has
already been indicated by reference to the great dictionary of Watts. Some of the electro-chemical
products will be hereinafter referred to in the Chapter on Electricity, and the chemistry of
Metallurgy will be treated under the latter topic.
Electro-chemical Methods.—Space will only permit it to be said that these methods are now
employed in the production of a large number of elements, by means of which very many of them
which were before mere laboratory specimens, have now become cheap and useful servants of
mankind in a hundred different ways; such as aluminium, that light and non-corrosive metal,
reduced from many dollars an ounce a generation ago, to 30 and 40 cents a pound now;
carborundum, largely superseding emery and diamond dust as an abradant; artificial diamonds;
calcium carbide, from which the new illuminating acetylene gas is made; disinfectants of many
and also into beers and wines during fermentation, and to save delay and prevent impurities, are
decided improvements.
The immense improvements and discoveries in the character of soils and fertilisers have already
been alluded to. Hundreds of instruments have been invented for measuring, analysing, weighing,
separating, volatilising and otherwise applying chemical processes to practical purposes.
To the chemistry of the century the world is indebted for those devices and processes for the
utilisation and manufacture of many useful products from the liquids and oils, sugar from cane and
beets, revivifying bone-black, centrifugal machinery for refining sugar, in defecating it by
chemicals and heat, in evaporating it in pans, in separating starch and converting it into glucose,
etc.
Oils and Fats.—Up to within this century the vast amount of cotton seed produced with that crop
was a waste. Then by the process, first of steaming the seed and expressing the oil, now by the
process of extraction by the aid of volatile solvents, and casting off the solvents by distillation, an
immensely valuable product has been obtained.
The utilising of oils in the manufacture of oilcloth and linoleum and rubber, has become of great
commercial value. Formerly sulphur was the vulcanising agent, now chloride of sulphur has been
substituted for pure sulphur.
Steam and the distillation processes have been applied with great success to the making of
glycerine from fat and from soap underlye and in extracting fat from various waste products.
Bleaching and Dyeing.—Of course these arts are very old, but the old methods would not be
recognised in the modern processes; and those who lived before the century knew nothing of the
magnificent colours, and certain essences, and sweet savours that can be obtained from the black,
hand-soiling pieces of coal. In the making of illuminating gas, itself a finished chemical product of
the century, a vast amount of once wasted products, especially coal tar, are now extensively used;
and from coal tar and the residuum of petroleum oils, now come those splendid aniline dyes which
have produced such a revolution in the world of colours. The saturation of sand by a dye and its
application to fabrics by an air blast; the circulation of the fluid colors, or of fluids for bleaching or
drying, or oxidising, through perforated cylinders or cops on which the cloths are wound; devices
for the running of skeins through dyes, the great improvements in carbon dyes and kindred
colours, the processes of making the colours on the fibre, and the perfumes made by the synthetic
processes, are among the inventions in this field.
The space that a list of the new chemical products of this age and their description would fill, has
already been indicated by reference to the great dictionary of Watts. Some of the electro-chemical
products will be hereinafter referred to in the Chapter on Electricity, and the chemistry of
Metallurgy will be treated under the latter topic.
Electro-chemical Methods.—Space will only permit it to be said that these methods are now
employed in the production of a large number of elements, by means of which very many of them
which were before mere laboratory specimens, have now become cheap and useful servants of
mankind in a hundred different ways; such as aluminium, that light and non-corrosive metal,
reduced from many dollars an ounce a generation ago, to 30 and 40 cents a pound now;
carborundum, largely superseding emery and diamond dust as an abradant; artificial diamonds;
calcium carbide, from which the new illuminating acetylene gas is made; disinfectants of many
Page 55
kinds; pigments, chromium, manganese, and chlorates by the thousand tons. The most useful new
chemical processes are those used in purifying water sewage and milk, in electroplating metals
and other substances, in the application of chemicals to the fine arts, in extracting grease from
wool, and the making of many useful products from the waste materials of the dumps and garbage
banks.
Medicines and Surgery.—One hundred years ago, the practice of medicine was, in the main,
empirical. Certain effects were known to usually follow the giving of certain drugs, or the
application of certain measures, but why or how these effects were produced, was unknown. The
great steps forward have been made upon the true scientific foundation established by the
discoveries and inventions in the fields of physics, chemistry and biology. The discovery of
anaesthetics and their application in surgery and the practice of medicine, no doubt constitutes the
leading invention of the century in this field.
Sir Humphry Davy suggested it in 1800, and Dr. W. T. Morton was the first to apply an anaesthetic
to relieve pain in a surgical operation, which he did in a hospital in Boston in 1846. Both its
original suggestion and application were also claimed by others.
Not only relief from intense pain to the patient during the operation, but immense advantages are
gained by the long and careful examination afforded of injured or diseased parts, otherwise
difficult or impossible in a conscious patient.
The exquisite pain and suffering endured previous to the use of anaesthetics often caused death by
exhaustion. Many delicate operations can now be performed for the relief of long-continued
diseases which before would have been hazardous or impossible. How many before suffered unto
death long-drawn-out pain and disease rather than submit to the torture of the knife! How many
lives have been saved, and how far advanced has become the knowledge of the human body and
its painful diseases, by this beneficent remedy!
Inventions in the field of medicine consist chiefly in those innumerable compositions and
compounds which have resulted from chemical discoveries. Gelatine capsules used to conceal
unpalatable remedies may be mentioned as a most acceptable modern invention in this class.
Inventions and discoveries in the field of surgery relate not only to instrumentalities but processes.
The antiseptic treatment of wounds, by which the long and exhausting suppuration is avoided, is
among the most notable of the latter. In instruments vast improvements have been made; special
forms adapted for operation in every form of injury; in syringes, especially hypodermic, those
used for subcutaneous injections of liquid remedies; inhalers for applying medicated vapours and
devices for applying volatile anaesthetics, and devices for atomising and spraying liquids. In the
United States alone about four thousand patents have been granted for inventions in surgical
instruments.
Dentistry.—This art has been revolutionised during the century. Even in the time of Herodotus,
one special set of physicians had the treatment of teeth; and artificial teeth have been known and
used for many ages, but all seems crude and barbarous until these later days. In addition to the use
of anaesthetics, improvements have been made in nearly every form of dental instruments, such as
forceps, dental engines, pluggers, drills, hammers, etc., and in the means and materials for making
teeth. Later leading inventions have reference to utilising the roots of destroyed teeth as supports
on which to form bridges to which artificial teeth are secured, and to crowns for decayed teeth that
still have a solid base.
chemical processes are those used in purifying water sewage and milk, in electroplating metals
and other substances, in the application of chemicals to the fine arts, in extracting grease from
wool, and the making of many useful products from the waste materials of the dumps and garbage
banks.
Medicines and Surgery.—One hundred years ago, the practice of medicine was, in the main,
empirical. Certain effects were known to usually follow the giving of certain drugs, or the
application of certain measures, but why or how these effects were produced, was unknown. The
great steps forward have been made upon the true scientific foundation established by the
discoveries and inventions in the fields of physics, chemistry and biology. The discovery of
anaesthetics and their application in surgery and the practice of medicine, no doubt constitutes the
leading invention of the century in this field.
Sir Humphry Davy suggested it in 1800, and Dr. W. T. Morton was the first to apply an anaesthetic
to relieve pain in a surgical operation, which he did in a hospital in Boston in 1846. Both its
original suggestion and application were also claimed by others.
Not only relief from intense pain to the patient during the operation, but immense advantages are
gained by the long and careful examination afforded of injured or diseased parts, otherwise
difficult or impossible in a conscious patient.
The exquisite pain and suffering endured previous to the use of anaesthetics often caused death by
exhaustion. Many delicate operations can now be performed for the relief of long-continued
diseases which before would have been hazardous or impossible. How many before suffered unto
death long-drawn-out pain and disease rather than submit to the torture of the knife! How many
lives have been saved, and how far advanced has become the knowledge of the human body and
its painful diseases, by this beneficent remedy!
Inventions in the field of medicine consist chiefly in those innumerable compositions and
compounds which have resulted from chemical discoveries. Gelatine capsules used to conceal
unpalatable remedies may be mentioned as a most acceptable modern invention in this class.
Inventions and discoveries in the field of surgery relate not only to instrumentalities but processes.
The antiseptic treatment of wounds, by which the long and exhausting suppuration is avoided, is
among the most notable of the latter. In instruments vast improvements have been made; special
forms adapted for operation in every form of injury; in syringes, especially hypodermic, those
used for subcutaneous injections of liquid remedies; inhalers for applying medicated vapours and
devices for applying volatile anaesthetics, and devices for atomising and spraying liquids. In the
United States alone about four thousand patents have been granted for inventions in surgical
instruments.
Dentistry.—This art has been revolutionised during the century. Even in the time of Herodotus,
one special set of physicians had the treatment of teeth; and artificial teeth have been known and
used for many ages, but all seems crude and barbarous until these later days. In addition to the use
of anaesthetics, improvements have been made in nearly every form of dental instruments, such as
forceps, dental engines, pluggers, drills, hammers, etc., and in the means and materials for making
teeth. Later leading inventions have reference to utilising the roots of destroyed teeth as supports
on which to form bridges to which artificial teeth are secured, and to crowns for decayed teeth that
still have a solid base.
Page 56
There exists no longer the dread of the dentist’s chair unless the patient has neglected too long the
visit. Pain cannot be all avoided, but it is ameliorated; and the new results in workmanship in the
saving and in the making of teeth are vast improvements over the former methods.
visit. Pain cannot be all avoided, but it is ameliorated; and the new results in workmanship in the
saving and in the making of teeth are vast improvements over the former methods.
Page 57
CHAPTER VII.
STEAM AND STEAM ENGINES.
Soon shall thy arm, unconquered steam! afar
rag the slow barge, or drive the rapid car;
r in wide waving wings expanded bear
he flying chariot through the field of air.”
Thus sang the poet prophet, the good Dr. Darwin of Lichfield, in the eighteenth century.
Newcomen and Watt had not then demonstrated that steam was not unconquerable, but the
hitching it to the slow barge and the rapid car was yet to come. It has come, and although the
prophecy is yet to be rounded into fulfilment by the driving of the “flying chariot through the field
of air,” that too is to come.
The prophecy of the doctor poet was as suggestive of the practical means of carrying it into effect
as were all the means proposed during the first seventeen centuries of the Christian Era for
conquering steam and harnessing it as a useful servant to man.
Toys, speculations, dreams, observations, startling experiments, these often constitute the
framework on which is hung the title of Inventor; but the nineteenth century has demanded a
better support for that proud title. He alone who first transforms his ideas into actual work and
useful service in some field of man’s labor, or clearly teaches others to do so, is now recognised as
the true inventor. Tested by this rule there was scarcely an inventor in the field of steam in all the
long stretches of time preceding the seventeenth century. And if there were, they had no recording
scribes to embalm their efforts in history.
We shall never know how early man learned the wonderful power of the spirit that springs from
heated water. It was doubtless from some sad experience in ignorantly attempting to put fetters on
it.
The history of steam as a motor generally commences with reference to that toy called the
aeolipile, described by Hero of Alexandria in a treatise on pneumatics about two centuries before
Christ, and which was the invention of either himself or Ctesibius, his teacher.
This toy consisted of a globe pivoted on two supports, one of which was a communicating pipe
leading into a heated cauldron of water beneath. The globe was provided with two escape pipes on
diametrically opposite sides and bent so as to discharge in opposite directions. Steam admitted into
the globe from the cauldron escaped through the side pipes, and its pressure on these pipes caused
the globe to rotate.
STEAM AND STEAM ENGINES.
Soon shall thy arm, unconquered steam! afar
rag the slow barge, or drive the rapid car;
r in wide waving wings expanded bear
he flying chariot through the field of air.”
Thus sang the poet prophet, the good Dr. Darwin of Lichfield, in the eighteenth century.
Newcomen and Watt had not then demonstrated that steam was not unconquerable, but the
hitching it to the slow barge and the rapid car was yet to come. It has come, and although the
prophecy is yet to be rounded into fulfilment by the driving of the “flying chariot through the field
of air,” that too is to come.
The prophecy of the doctor poet was as suggestive of the practical means of carrying it into effect
as were all the means proposed during the first seventeen centuries of the Christian Era for
conquering steam and harnessing it as a useful servant to man.
Toys, speculations, dreams, observations, startling experiments, these often constitute the
framework on which is hung the title of Inventor; but the nineteenth century has demanded a
better support for that proud title. He alone who first transforms his ideas into actual work and
useful service in some field of man’s labor, or clearly teaches others to do so, is now recognised as
the true inventor. Tested by this rule there was scarcely an inventor in the field of steam in all the
long stretches of time preceding the seventeenth century. And if there were, they had no recording
scribes to embalm their efforts in history.
We shall never know how early man learned the wonderful power of the spirit that springs from
heated water. It was doubtless from some sad experience in ignorantly attempting to put fetters on
it.
The history of steam as a motor generally commences with reference to that toy called the
aeolipile, described by Hero of Alexandria in a treatise on pneumatics about two centuries before
Christ, and which was the invention of either himself or Ctesibius, his teacher.
This toy consisted of a globe pivoted on two supports, one of which was a communicating pipe
leading into a heated cauldron of water beneath. The globe was provided with two escape pipes on
diametrically opposite sides and bent so as to discharge in opposite directions. Steam admitted into
the globe from the cauldron escaped through the side pipes, and its pressure on these pipes caused
the globe to rotate.
Page 58
Hero thus demonstrated that water can be converted into steam and steam into work.
Since that ancient day Hero’s apparatus has been frequently reinvented by men ignorant of the
early effort, and the principle of the invention as well as substantially the same form have been put
into many practical uses. Hero in his celebrated treatise described other devices, curious siphons
and pumps. Many of them are supposed to have been used in the performance of some of the
startling religious rites at the altars of the Greek priests.
From Hero’s day the record drops down to the middle ages, and still it finds progress in this art
confined to a few observations and speculations. William of Malmesbury in 1150 wrote something
on the subject and called attention to some crude experiments he had heard of in Germany. Passing
from the slumber of the middle ages, we are assured by some Spanish historians that one Blasco
de Garay, in 1543, propelled a ship having paddle wheels by steam at Barcelona. But the
publication was long after the alleged event, and is regarded as apocryphal.
Observations became more acute in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, experiments more
frequent, and publications more full and numerous.
Cardan Ramelli and Leonardo da Vinci, learned Italians, and the accomplished Prof. Jacob Besson
of Orleans, France, all did much by their writings to make known theoretically the wonderful
powers of steam, and to suggest modes of its practical operation, in the latter part of the sixteenth
century.
Giambattista della Porta, a gentleman of Naples, possessing high and varied accomplishments in
all the sciences as they were known at that day, 1601, and who invented the magic-lantern and
camera obscura, in a work called Spiritalia, described how steam pressure could be employed to
raise a column of water, how a vacuum was produced by the condensation of steam in a closed
vessel, and how the condensing vessel should be separated from the boiler. Revault in France
showed in 1605 how a bombshell might be exploded by steam.
Salomon de Caus, engineer and architect to Louis XIII, in 1615 described how water might be
raised by the expansion of steam.
In 1629 the Italian, Branco, published at Rome an account of the application of a steam jet upon
the vanes of a small wheel to run it, and told how in other ways Hero’s engine might be employed
for useful purposes.
The first English publication describing a way of applying steam appeared in 1630 in a patent
granted to David Ramseye, for a mode of raising water thereby. This was followed by patents to
Grant in 1632 and to one Ford in 1640. During that century these crude machines were called “fire
engines.” It seems to have been common in some parts of Europe during the seventeenth century
to use a blast of steam to improve the draft of chimneys and of blast furnaces. This application of
steam to smoke and smelting has been frequently revived by modern inventors with much flourish
of originality.
It is with a certain feeling of delight and relief, after a prolonged search through the centuries for
some evidence of harnessing this mighty agent to man’s use, that we come to the efforts of the
good Marquis of Worcester—Edward Somerset. He it was who in 1655 wrote of the Inventions of
the Sixteenth Century. He afterwards amplified this title by calling his book A Century of Names
and Scantlings of such Inventions as at present I call to mind to have tried and perfected, etc.
Since that ancient day Hero’s apparatus has been frequently reinvented by men ignorant of the
early effort, and the principle of the invention as well as substantially the same form have been put
into many practical uses. Hero in his celebrated treatise described other devices, curious siphons
and pumps. Many of them are supposed to have been used in the performance of some of the
startling religious rites at the altars of the Greek priests.
From Hero’s day the record drops down to the middle ages, and still it finds progress in this art
confined to a few observations and speculations. William of Malmesbury in 1150 wrote something
on the subject and called attention to some crude experiments he had heard of in Germany. Passing
from the slumber of the middle ages, we are assured by some Spanish historians that one Blasco
de Garay, in 1543, propelled a ship having paddle wheels by steam at Barcelona. But the
publication was long after the alleged event, and is regarded as apocryphal.
Observations became more acute in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, experiments more
frequent, and publications more full and numerous.
Cardan Ramelli and Leonardo da Vinci, learned Italians, and the accomplished Prof. Jacob Besson
of Orleans, France, all did much by their writings to make known theoretically the wonderful
powers of steam, and to suggest modes of its practical operation, in the latter part of the sixteenth
century.
Giambattista della Porta, a gentleman of Naples, possessing high and varied accomplishments in
all the sciences as they were known at that day, 1601, and who invented the magic-lantern and
camera obscura, in a work called Spiritalia, described how steam pressure could be employed to
raise a column of water, how a vacuum was produced by the condensation of steam in a closed
vessel, and how the condensing vessel should be separated from the boiler. Revault in France
showed in 1605 how a bombshell might be exploded by steam.
Salomon de Caus, engineer and architect to Louis XIII, in 1615 described how water might be
raised by the expansion of steam.
In 1629 the Italian, Branco, published at Rome an account of the application of a steam jet upon
the vanes of a small wheel to run it, and told how in other ways Hero’s engine might be employed
for useful purposes.
The first English publication describing a way of applying steam appeared in 1630 in a patent
granted to David Ramseye, for a mode of raising water thereby. This was followed by patents to
Grant in 1632 and to one Ford in 1640. During that century these crude machines were called “fire
engines.” It seems to have been common in some parts of Europe during the seventeenth century
to use a blast of steam to improve the draft of chimneys and of blast furnaces. This application of
steam to smoke and smelting has been frequently revived by modern inventors with much flourish
of originality.
It is with a certain feeling of delight and relief, after a prolonged search through the centuries for
some evidence of harnessing this mighty agent to man’s use, that we come to the efforts of the
good Marquis of Worcester—Edward Somerset. He it was who in 1655 wrote of the Inventions of
the Sixteenth Century. He afterwards amplified this title by calling his book A Century of Names
and Scantlings of such Inventions as at present I call to mind to have tried and perfected, etc.
Page 59
There are about one hundred of these “Scantlings,” and his descriptions of them are very brief but
interesting. Some, if revived now and put to use, would throw proposed flying machines into the
background, as they involved perpetual motion.
But to his honor be it said that he was the first steam-engine builder. A patent was issued to him in
1663. It was about 1668 that he built and put in successful operation at Raglan Castle at Vauxhall,
near London, a steam engine to force water upward. He made separate boilers, which he worked
alternately, and conveyed the steam from them to a vessel in which its pressure operated to force
the water up. Unfortunately he did not leave a description of his inventions sufficiently full to
enable later mechanics to make and use them. He strove in vain to get capital interested and a
company formed to manufacture his engines. The age of fear and speculation as to steam ceased
when the Marquis set his engine to pumping water, and from that time inventors went on to put the
arm of steam to work.
In 1683 Sir Samuel Morland commenced the construction of the Worcester engines for use and
sale; Hautefeuille of France taught the use of gas, described how gas as well as steam engines
might be constructed, and was the first to propose the use of the piston. The learned writings of the
great Dutch scientist and inventor, Huygens, on heat and light steam and gas, also then came forth,
and his assistant, the French physicist and doctor, Denis Papin, in 1690, proposed steam as a
universal motive power, invented a steam engine having a piston and a safety valve, and even a
crude paddle steamer, which it is said was tried in 1707 on the river Fulda. Then in 1698 came
Thomas Savery, who patented a steam engine that was used in draining mines.
The eighteenth century thus commenced with a practical knowledge of the power of steam and of
means for controlling and working it.
Then followed the combined invention of Newcomen, Cawley and Savery, in 1705, of the most
successful pumping engine up to that time. In this engine a cylinder was employed for receiving
the steam from a separate boiler. There was a piston in the cylinder driven up by the steam
admitted below it, aided by a counterpoise at one end of an engine beam. The steam was then cut
off from the boiler and condensed by the introduction beneath the piston of a jet of water, and the
condensed steam and water drawn off by a pipe. Atmospheric pressure forced the piston down.
The piston and pump rods were connected to the opposite ends of a working beam of a pumping
engine, as in some modern engines. Gauge cocks to indicate the height of water, and a safety valve
to regulate the pressure of steam, were employed. Then came the ingenious improvement of the
boy Humphrey Potter, connecting the valve gear with the engine beam by cords, so as to do
automatically what he was set to do by hand, and the improvement on that of the Beighton plug
rod. Still further improved by others, the Newcomen engine came into use through out Europe.
Jonathan Hulls patented in England in 1736 a marine steam engine, and in 1737 published a
description of a Newcomen engine applied to his system for towing ships. William Henry, of
Pennsylvania, tried a model steamboat on the Conestoga river in 1763.
This was practically the state of the art, in 1763, when James Watt entered the field. His brilliant
inventions harnessed steam to more than pumping engines, made it a universal servant in manifold
industries, and started it on a career which has revolutionized the trade and manufactures of the
world.
To understand what the nineteenth century has done in steam motive power we must first know
what Watt did in the eighteenth century, as he then laid the foundation on which the later
interesting. Some, if revived now and put to use, would throw proposed flying machines into the
background, as they involved perpetual motion.
But to his honor be it said that he was the first steam-engine builder. A patent was issued to him in
1663. It was about 1668 that he built and put in successful operation at Raglan Castle at Vauxhall,
near London, a steam engine to force water upward. He made separate boilers, which he worked
alternately, and conveyed the steam from them to a vessel in which its pressure operated to force
the water up. Unfortunately he did not leave a description of his inventions sufficiently full to
enable later mechanics to make and use them. He strove in vain to get capital interested and a
company formed to manufacture his engines. The age of fear and speculation as to steam ceased
when the Marquis set his engine to pumping water, and from that time inventors went on to put the
arm of steam to work.
In 1683 Sir Samuel Morland commenced the construction of the Worcester engines for use and
sale; Hautefeuille of France taught the use of gas, described how gas as well as steam engines
might be constructed, and was the first to propose the use of the piston. The learned writings of the
great Dutch scientist and inventor, Huygens, on heat and light steam and gas, also then came forth,
and his assistant, the French physicist and doctor, Denis Papin, in 1690, proposed steam as a
universal motive power, invented a steam engine having a piston and a safety valve, and even a
crude paddle steamer, which it is said was tried in 1707 on the river Fulda. Then in 1698 came
Thomas Savery, who patented a steam engine that was used in draining mines.
The eighteenth century thus commenced with a practical knowledge of the power of steam and of
means for controlling and working it.
Then followed the combined invention of Newcomen, Cawley and Savery, in 1705, of the most
successful pumping engine up to that time. In this engine a cylinder was employed for receiving
the steam from a separate boiler. There was a piston in the cylinder driven up by the steam
admitted below it, aided by a counterpoise at one end of an engine beam. The steam was then cut
off from the boiler and condensed by the introduction beneath the piston of a jet of water, and the
condensed steam and water drawn off by a pipe. Atmospheric pressure forced the piston down.
The piston and pump rods were connected to the opposite ends of a working beam of a pumping
engine, as in some modern engines. Gauge cocks to indicate the height of water, and a safety valve
to regulate the pressure of steam, were employed. Then came the ingenious improvement of the
boy Humphrey Potter, connecting the valve gear with the engine beam by cords, so as to do
automatically what he was set to do by hand, and the improvement on that of the Beighton plug
rod. Still further improved by others, the Newcomen engine came into use through out Europe.
Jonathan Hulls patented in England in 1736 a marine steam engine, and in 1737 published a
description of a Newcomen engine applied to his system for towing ships. William Henry, of
Pennsylvania, tried a model steamboat on the Conestoga river in 1763.
This was practically the state of the art, in 1763, when James Watt entered the field. His brilliant
inventions harnessed steam to more than pumping engines, made it a universal servant in manifold
industries, and started it on a career which has revolutionized the trade and manufactures of the
world.
To understand what the nineteenth century has done in steam motive power we must first know
what Watt did in the eighteenth century, as he then laid the foundation on which the later
Page 60
inventions have all been built.
Taking up the crude but successful working engine of Newcomen, a model of which had been sent
to him for repairs, he began an exhaustive study of the properties of steam and of the means for
producing and controlling it. He found it necessary to devise a new system.
Watt saw that the alternate heating and cooling of the cylinder made the engine work slowly and
caused an excessive consumption of steam. He concluded that “the cylinder should always be as
hot as the steam that entered it.” He therefore closed the cylinder and provided a separate
condensing vessel into which the steam was led after it raised the piston. He provided an air-tight
jacket for the cylinder, to maintain its heat. He added a tight packing in the cylinder-head for the
piston-rod to move through, and a steam-tight stuffing-box on the top of the cylinder. He caused
the steam to alternately enter below and above the piston and be alternately condensed to drive the
piston down as well as up, and this made the engine double-acting, increasing its power and speed.
He converted the reciprocating motion of the piston into a rotary motion by the adoption of the
crank, and introduced the well-known parallel motion, and many other improvements. In short, he
demonstrated for the first time by a practical and efficient engine that the expansive force of steam
could be used to drive all ordinary machinery. He then secured his inventions by patents against
piracy, and sustained them successfully in many a hard-fought battle. It had taken him the last
quarter of the 18th century to do all these things.
Watt was the proper precursor of the nineteenth century inventions, as in him were combined the
power and attainments of a great scientist and the genius of a great mechanic. The last eighteen
years of his life were passed in the 19th century, and he was thus enabled to see his inventions
brought within its threshold and applied to those arts which have made this age so glorious in
mechanical achievements.
Watt so fitly represents the class of modern great inventors in his character and attainments that
the description of him by Sir Walter Scott is here pertinent as a tribute to that class, and as a
delineation of the general character of those benefactors of his race of which he was so
conspicuous an example:—
Says Sir Walter:—
“Amidst this company stood Mr. Watt, the man whose genius discovered the means of
multiplying our national resources to a degree, perhaps, even beyond his own stupendous
powers of calculation and combination; bringing the treasures of the abyss to the summit of
the earth—giving to the feeble arm of man the momentum of an Afrite—commanding
manufactures to rise—affording means of dispensing with that time and tide which wait for
no man—and of sailing without that wind which defied the commands and threats of Xerxes
himself. This potent commander of the elements—this abridger of time and space—this
magician, whose cloudy machinery has produced a change in the world, the effects of which,
extraordinary as they are, are perhaps only beginning to be felt—was not only the most
profound man of science, the most successful combiner of powers and calculator of numbers,
as adapted to practical purposes, was not only one of the most generally well-informed, but
one of the best and kindest of human beings.”
The first practical application of steam as a working force was to pumping, as has been stated.
After Watt’s system was devised, suggestions and experiments as to road locomotives and
carriages were made, and other applications came thick and fast. A French officer, Cugnot, in 1769
Taking up the crude but successful working engine of Newcomen, a model of which had been sent
to him for repairs, he began an exhaustive study of the properties of steam and of the means for
producing and controlling it. He found it necessary to devise a new system.
Watt saw that the alternate heating and cooling of the cylinder made the engine work slowly and
caused an excessive consumption of steam. He concluded that “the cylinder should always be as
hot as the steam that entered it.” He therefore closed the cylinder and provided a separate
condensing vessel into which the steam was led after it raised the piston. He provided an air-tight
jacket for the cylinder, to maintain its heat. He added a tight packing in the cylinder-head for the
piston-rod to move through, and a steam-tight stuffing-box on the top of the cylinder. He caused
the steam to alternately enter below and above the piston and be alternately condensed to drive the
piston down as well as up, and this made the engine double-acting, increasing its power and speed.
He converted the reciprocating motion of the piston into a rotary motion by the adoption of the
crank, and introduced the well-known parallel motion, and many other improvements. In short, he
demonstrated for the first time by a practical and efficient engine that the expansive force of steam
could be used to drive all ordinary machinery. He then secured his inventions by patents against
piracy, and sustained them successfully in many a hard-fought battle. It had taken him the last
quarter of the 18th century to do all these things.
Watt was the proper precursor of the nineteenth century inventions, as in him were combined the
power and attainments of a great scientist and the genius of a great mechanic. The last eighteen
years of his life were passed in the 19th century, and he was thus enabled to see his inventions
brought within its threshold and applied to those arts which have made this age so glorious in
mechanical achievements.
Watt so fitly represents the class of modern great inventors in his character and attainments that
the description of him by Sir Walter Scott is here pertinent as a tribute to that class, and as a
delineation of the general character of those benefactors of his race of which he was so
conspicuous an example:—
Says Sir Walter:—
“Amidst this company stood Mr. Watt, the man whose genius discovered the means of
multiplying our national resources to a degree, perhaps, even beyond his own stupendous
powers of calculation and combination; bringing the treasures of the abyss to the summit of
the earth—giving to the feeble arm of man the momentum of an Afrite—commanding
manufactures to rise—affording means of dispensing with that time and tide which wait for
no man—and of sailing without that wind which defied the commands and threats of Xerxes
himself. This potent commander of the elements—this abridger of time and space—this
magician, whose cloudy machinery has produced a change in the world, the effects of which,
extraordinary as they are, are perhaps only beginning to be felt—was not only the most
profound man of science, the most successful combiner of powers and calculator of numbers,
as adapted to practical purposes, was not only one of the most generally well-informed, but
one of the best and kindest of human beings.”
The first practical application of steam as a working force was to pumping, as has been stated.
After Watt’s system was devised, suggestions and experiments as to road locomotives and
carriages were made, and other applications came thick and fast. A French officer, Cugnot, in 1769
Page 61
and 1770, was the first to try the road carriage engine. Other prominent Frenchmen made
encouraging experiments on small steamboats—followed in 1784-86 by James Rumsey and John
Fitch in America in the same line. Watt patented a road engine in 1784. About the same time his
assistant, Murdock, completed and tried a model locomotive driven by a “grasshopper” engine.
Oliver Evans, the great American contemporary of Watt, had in 1779 devised a high-pressure non-
condensing steam engine in a form still used. In 1786-7 he obtained in Pennsylvania and Maryland
patents for applying steam to driving flour mills and propelling waggons. Also about this time,
Symington, the Scotchman, constructed a working model of a steam carriage, which is still
preserved in the museum at South Kensington, London. Symington and his fellow Scotchmen,
Miller and Taylor, in 1788-89 also constructed working steamboats. In 1796 Richard Trevithick, a
Cornish marine captain, was producing a road locomotive. The century thus opened with activity
in steam motive power. The “scantlings” of the Marquis of Worcester were now being converted
into complete structures. And so great was the activity and the number of inventors that he is a
daring man who would now decide priority between them. The earliest applications in this century
of steam power were in the line of road engines.
On Christmas eve of 1801, Trevithick made the initial trip with the first successful steam road
locomotive through the streets of Camborne in Cornwall, carrying passengers. In one of his trips
he passed into the country roads and came to a tollgate through which a frightened keeper hastily
passed him without toll, hailing him as the devil.
Persistent efforts continued to be made to introduce a practical steam road carriage in England
until 1827. After Trevithick followed Blenkinsop, who made a locomotive which ran ten miles an
hour. Then came Julius Griffith, in 1821, of Brompton, who patented a steam carriage which was
built by Joseph Bramah, one of the ablest mechanics of his time. Gordon, Brunton and Gurney
attempted a curious and amusing steam carriage, resembling a horse in action—having jointed
legs and feet, but this animal was not successful. Walter Hancock, in 1827, was one of the most
persistent and successful inventors in this line; but bad roads and an unsympathetic public
discouraged inventors in their efforts to introduce steam road carriages, and their attention was
turned to the locomotive to run on rails or tracks especially prepared for them. Wooden and iron
rails had been introduced a century before for heavy cars and wagons in pulling loads from mines
and elsewhere, but when at the beginning of the century it had been found that the engines of Watt
could be used to drag such loads, it was deemed necessary to make a rail having its top surface
roughened with ridges and the wheels of the engine and cars provided with teeth or cogs to
prevent anticipated slipping.
In England, Blackett and George Stephenson discovered that the adhesion of smooth wheels to
smooth rails was sufficient. Without overlooking the fact that William Hendley built and operated
a locomotive called the Puffing Billy in 1803, and Hackworth one a little later, yet to the genius of
Stephenson is due chiefly the successful introduction of the modern locomotive. His labours and
inventions continued from 1812 for twenty years, and culminated at two great trials: the first one
on the Liverpool and Manchester Railway in 1829, when he competed with Hackworth and
Braithwaite and Ericsson, and with the Rocket won the race; and the second at the opening of the
same road in 1830, when with the Northumbrian, at the head of seven other locomotives and a
long train of twenty-eight carriages, in which were seated six hundred passengers, he ran the train
successfully between the two towns.
On this occasion Mr. Huskisson, Home Secretary in the British Cabinet, while the cars were
stopping to water the engines, and he was out on the track talking with the Duke of Wellington,
encouraging experiments on small steamboats—followed in 1784-86 by James Rumsey and John
Fitch in America in the same line. Watt patented a road engine in 1784. About the same time his
assistant, Murdock, completed and tried a model locomotive driven by a “grasshopper” engine.
Oliver Evans, the great American contemporary of Watt, had in 1779 devised a high-pressure non-
condensing steam engine in a form still used. In 1786-7 he obtained in Pennsylvania and Maryland
patents for applying steam to driving flour mills and propelling waggons. Also about this time,
Symington, the Scotchman, constructed a working model of a steam carriage, which is still
preserved in the museum at South Kensington, London. Symington and his fellow Scotchmen,
Miller and Taylor, in 1788-89 also constructed working steamboats. In 1796 Richard Trevithick, a
Cornish marine captain, was producing a road locomotive. The century thus opened with activity
in steam motive power. The “scantlings” of the Marquis of Worcester were now being converted
into complete structures. And so great was the activity and the number of inventors that he is a
daring man who would now decide priority between them. The earliest applications in this century
of steam power were in the line of road engines.
On Christmas eve of 1801, Trevithick made the initial trip with the first successful steam road
locomotive through the streets of Camborne in Cornwall, carrying passengers. In one of his trips
he passed into the country roads and came to a tollgate through which a frightened keeper hastily
passed him without toll, hailing him as the devil.
Persistent efforts continued to be made to introduce a practical steam road carriage in England
until 1827. After Trevithick followed Blenkinsop, who made a locomotive which ran ten miles an
hour. Then came Julius Griffith, in 1821, of Brompton, who patented a steam carriage which was
built by Joseph Bramah, one of the ablest mechanics of his time. Gordon, Brunton and Gurney
attempted a curious and amusing steam carriage, resembling a horse in action—having jointed
legs and feet, but this animal was not successful. Walter Hancock, in 1827, was one of the most
persistent and successful inventors in this line; but bad roads and an unsympathetic public
discouraged inventors in their efforts to introduce steam road carriages, and their attention was
turned to the locomotive to run on rails or tracks especially prepared for them. Wooden and iron
rails had been introduced a century before for heavy cars and wagons in pulling loads from mines
and elsewhere, but when at the beginning of the century it had been found that the engines of Watt
could be used to drag such loads, it was deemed necessary to make a rail having its top surface
roughened with ridges and the wheels of the engine and cars provided with teeth or cogs to
prevent anticipated slipping.
In England, Blackett and George Stephenson discovered that the adhesion of smooth wheels to
smooth rails was sufficient. Without overlooking the fact that William Hendley built and operated
a locomotive called the Puffing Billy in 1803, and Hackworth one a little later, yet to the genius of
Stephenson is due chiefly the successful introduction of the modern locomotive. His labours and
inventions continued from 1812 for twenty years, and culminated at two great trials: the first one
on the Liverpool and Manchester Railway in 1829, when he competed with Hackworth and
Braithwaite and Ericsson, and with the Rocket won the race; and the second at the opening of the
same road in 1830, when with the Northumbrian, at the head of seven other locomotives and a
long train of twenty-eight carriages, in which were seated six hundred passengers, he ran the train
successfully between the two towns.
On this occasion Mr. Huskisson, Home Secretary in the British Cabinet, while the cars were
stopping to water the engines, and he was out on the track talking with the Duke of Wellington,
Page 62
was knocked down by one of the engines and had one of his legs crushed. Placed on board of the
Northumbrian, it was driven at the rate of thirty-six miles an hour by Stephenson to Eccles. Mr.
Huskisson died there that night. This was its first victim, and the greatest speed yet attained by a
locomotive.
The year 1829 therefore can be regarded as the commencement of the life of the locomotive for
transportation of passengers. The steam blast thrown into the smokestack by Hackworth, the
tubular boiler of Seguin and the link motion of Stephenson were then, as they now are, the
essential features of locomotives.
In the meantime America had not been idle. The James Watt of America, Oliver Evans, in 1804
completed a flat-bottomed boat to be used in dredging at the Philadelphia docks, and mounting it
on wheels drove it by its own steam engine through the streets to the river bank. Launching the
craft, he propelled it down the river by using the same engine to drive the paddle wheels. He gave
to this engine the strange name of Oruktor Amphibolos.
John C. Stevens of New Jersey was, in 1812, urging the legislature of the State of New York to
build railways, and asserting that he could see nothing to hinder a steam carriage from moving
with a velocity of one hundred miles an hour. In 1829 George Stephenson in England had made
for American parties a locomotive called The Stourbridge Lion, which in that year was brought to
America and used on the Delaware and Hudson R. R. by Horatio Allen. Peter Cooper in the same
year constructed a locomotive for short curves, for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad.
Returning now to steam navigation:—Symington again entered the field in 1801-2 and constructed
for Lord Dundas a steamboat, named after his wife, the Charlotte Dundas, for towing on a canal,
which was successfully operated.
Robert Fulton, an American artist, and subsequently a civil engineer, built a steamboat on the
Seine in 1803, assisted by R. Livingston, then American Minister to France. Then in 1806 Fulton,
having returned to the United States, commenced to build another steamboat, in which he was
again assisted by Livingston, and in which he placed machinery made by Boulton and Watt in
England. This steamboat, named the Clermont, was 130 ft. long, 18 ft. beam, 7 ft. depth and 160
tons burden. It made its first trip on the Hudson, from New York to Albany and return, in August,
1807, and subsequently made regular trips. It was the first commercially successful steamboat ever
made, as George Stephenson’s was the first commercially successful locomotive. In the meantime
Col. John Stevens of New Jersey was also at work on a steamboat, and had in 1804 built such a
boat at his shops, having a screw propeller and a flue boiler. Almost simultaneously with Fulton he
brought out the Phœnix, a side-wheel steamer having hollow water lines and provided with
feathering paddle wheels, and as Fulton and Livingston had a monopoly of the Hudson, Stevens
took his boat by sea from New York around to Delaware bay and up the Delaware river. This was
in 1808, and was the first sea voyage ever made by a steam vessel.
Transatlantic steamship navigation was started in 1819. A Mr. Scarborough of Savannah, Ga., in
1818 purchased a ship of about three hundred and fifty tons burden, which was named the
Savannah. Equipped with engine and machinery it steamed out of New York Harbour on the 27th
day of March, 1819, and successfully reached Savannah, Georgia. On the 20th of May in the same
year she left Savannah for Liverpool, making the trip in 22 days. From Liverpool she went to
Copenhagen, Stockholm, St. Petersburg, Cronstadt and Arundel, and from the latter port returned
to Savannah, making the passage in twenty-five days.
Northumbrian, it was driven at the rate of thirty-six miles an hour by Stephenson to Eccles. Mr.
Huskisson died there that night. This was its first victim, and the greatest speed yet attained by a
locomotive.
The year 1829 therefore can be regarded as the commencement of the life of the locomotive for
transportation of passengers. The steam blast thrown into the smokestack by Hackworth, the
tubular boiler of Seguin and the link motion of Stephenson were then, as they now are, the
essential features of locomotives.
In the meantime America had not been idle. The James Watt of America, Oliver Evans, in 1804
completed a flat-bottomed boat to be used in dredging at the Philadelphia docks, and mounting it
on wheels drove it by its own steam engine through the streets to the river bank. Launching the
craft, he propelled it down the river by using the same engine to drive the paddle wheels. He gave
to this engine the strange name of Oruktor Amphibolos.
John C. Stevens of New Jersey was, in 1812, urging the legislature of the State of New York to
build railways, and asserting that he could see nothing to hinder a steam carriage from moving
with a velocity of one hundred miles an hour. In 1829 George Stephenson in England had made
for American parties a locomotive called The Stourbridge Lion, which in that year was brought to
America and used on the Delaware and Hudson R. R. by Horatio Allen. Peter Cooper in the same
year constructed a locomotive for short curves, for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad.
Returning now to steam navigation:—Symington again entered the field in 1801-2 and constructed
for Lord Dundas a steamboat, named after his wife, the Charlotte Dundas, for towing on a canal,
which was successfully operated.
Robert Fulton, an American artist, and subsequently a civil engineer, built a steamboat on the
Seine in 1803, assisted by R. Livingston, then American Minister to France. Then in 1806 Fulton,
having returned to the United States, commenced to build another steamboat, in which he was
again assisted by Livingston, and in which he placed machinery made by Boulton and Watt in
England. This steamboat, named the Clermont, was 130 ft. long, 18 ft. beam, 7 ft. depth and 160
tons burden. It made its first trip on the Hudson, from New York to Albany and return, in August,
1807, and subsequently made regular trips. It was the first commercially successful steamboat ever
made, as George Stephenson’s was the first commercially successful locomotive. In the meantime
Col. John Stevens of New Jersey was also at work on a steamboat, and had in 1804 built such a
boat at his shops, having a screw propeller and a flue boiler. Almost simultaneously with Fulton he
brought out the Phœnix, a side-wheel steamer having hollow water lines and provided with
feathering paddle wheels, and as Fulton and Livingston had a monopoly of the Hudson, Stevens
took his boat by sea from New York around to Delaware bay and up the Delaware river. This was
in 1808, and was the first sea voyage ever made by a steam vessel.
Transatlantic steamship navigation was started in 1819. A Mr. Scarborough of Savannah, Ga., in
1818 purchased a ship of about three hundred and fifty tons burden, which was named the
Savannah. Equipped with engine and machinery it steamed out of New York Harbour on the 27th
day of March, 1819, and successfully reached Savannah, Georgia. On the 20th of May in the same
year she left Savannah for Liverpool, making the trip in 22 days. From Liverpool she went to
Copenhagen, Stockholm, St. Petersburg, Cronstadt and Arundel, and from the latter port returned
to Savannah, making the passage in twenty-five days.
Page 63
But Scottish waters, and the waters around other coasts of the British Islands, had been traversed
by steamboats before this celebrated trip of the Savannah. Bell’s steamboat between Glasgow and
Greenock in 1812 was followed by five others in 1814; and seven steamboats plied on the Thames
in 1817.
So the locomotives and the steamboats and steamships continued to multiply, and when the first
forty years of the century had been reached the Iron Horse was fairly installed on the fields of
Europe and America, and the rivers and the oceans were ploughed by its sisters, the steam vessels.
It was in 1840 that the famous Cunard line of transatlantic steamers was established, soon
followed by the Collins line and others.
A few years before, John C. Stevens in America and John Ericsson in England had brought
forward the screw propeller; and Ericsson was the first to couple the engine to the propeller shaft.
It succeeded the successful paddle wheels of Fulton in America and Bell in England.
The nineteenth century is the age of kinetic energy: the energy of either solid, liquid, gaseous or
electrical matter transformed into useful work.
It has been stated by that eminent specialist in steam engineering, Prof. R. H. Thurston, that “the
steam engine is a machine which is especially designed to transform energy originally dormant or
potential into active and useful available kinetic energy;” and that the great problem in this branch
of science is “to construct a machine which shall in the most perfect manner possible convert the
kinetic energy of heat into mechanical power, the heat being derived from the combustion of fuel,
and steam being the receiver and conveyor of that heat.”
Watt and his contemporaries regarded heat as a material substance called “Phlogiston.” The
modern kinetic theory of heat was a subsequent discovery, as elsewhere explained.
The inventors of the last part of the eighteenth century and of the nineteenth century have directed
their best labours to construct an engine as above defined by Thurston.
First as to the boiler: Efforts were made first to get away from the little old spherical boiler of
Hero. In the 18th century Smeaton devised the horizontal lengthened cylindrical boiler traversed
by a flue. Oliver Evans followed with two longitudinal flues. Nathan Read of Salem,
Massachusetts, in 1791, invented a tubular boiler in which the flues and gases are conducted
through tubes passing through the boiler into the smokestack. Such boilers are adapted for portable
stationary engines, locomotives, fire and marine engines, and the fire is built within the boiler
frame. Then in the 19th century came the use of sectional boilers—a combination of small vessels
instead of a large common one, increasing the strength while diminishing capacity—to obtain high
pressure of steam. Then came improved weighted and other safety valves to regulate and control
this pressure. The compound or double cylinder high-pressure engine of Hornblower of England,
in 1781, and the high-pressure non-condensing steam engine devised by Evans in 1779, were
reconstructed and improved in the early part of the century.
To give perfect motion and the slightest friction to the piston; to regulate the supply of steam to
the engine by proper valves; to determine such supply by many varieties of governors and thus
control the speed; to devise valve gear which distributes the steam through its cycles of motion by
which to admit the steam alternately to each end of the steam cylinder as the piston moves
backward and forward, and exhaust valves to open and close the parts through which the steam
escapes; to automatically operate such valves; to condense the escaping steam and to remove the
by steamboats before this celebrated trip of the Savannah. Bell’s steamboat between Glasgow and
Greenock in 1812 was followed by five others in 1814; and seven steamboats plied on the Thames
in 1817.
So the locomotives and the steamboats and steamships continued to multiply, and when the first
forty years of the century had been reached the Iron Horse was fairly installed on the fields of
Europe and America, and the rivers and the oceans were ploughed by its sisters, the steam vessels.
It was in 1840 that the famous Cunard line of transatlantic steamers was established, soon
followed by the Collins line and others.
A few years before, John C. Stevens in America and John Ericsson in England had brought
forward the screw propeller; and Ericsson was the first to couple the engine to the propeller shaft.
It succeeded the successful paddle wheels of Fulton in America and Bell in England.
The nineteenth century is the age of kinetic energy: the energy of either solid, liquid, gaseous or
electrical matter transformed into useful work.
It has been stated by that eminent specialist in steam engineering, Prof. R. H. Thurston, that “the
steam engine is a machine which is especially designed to transform energy originally dormant or
potential into active and useful available kinetic energy;” and that the great problem in this branch
of science is “to construct a machine which shall in the most perfect manner possible convert the
kinetic energy of heat into mechanical power, the heat being derived from the combustion of fuel,
and steam being the receiver and conveyor of that heat.”
Watt and his contemporaries regarded heat as a material substance called “Phlogiston.” The
modern kinetic theory of heat was a subsequent discovery, as elsewhere explained.
The inventors of the last part of the eighteenth century and of the nineteenth century have directed
their best labours to construct an engine as above defined by Thurston.
First as to the boiler: Efforts were made first to get away from the little old spherical boiler of
Hero. In the 18th century Smeaton devised the horizontal lengthened cylindrical boiler traversed
by a flue. Oliver Evans followed with two longitudinal flues. Nathan Read of Salem,
Massachusetts, in 1791, invented a tubular boiler in which the flues and gases are conducted
through tubes passing through the boiler into the smokestack. Such boilers are adapted for portable
stationary engines, locomotives, fire and marine engines, and the fire is built within the boiler
frame. Then in the 19th century came the use of sectional boilers—a combination of small vessels
instead of a large common one, increasing the strength while diminishing capacity—to obtain high
pressure of steam. Then came improved weighted and other safety valves to regulate and control
this pressure. The compound or double cylinder high-pressure engine of Hornblower of England,
in 1781, and the high-pressure non-condensing steam engine devised by Evans in 1779, were
reconstructed and improved in the early part of the century.
To give perfect motion and the slightest friction to the piston; to regulate the supply of steam to
the engine by proper valves; to determine such supply by many varieties of governors and thus
control the speed; to devise valve gear which distributes the steam through its cycles of motion by
which to admit the steam alternately to each end of the steam cylinder as the piston moves
backward and forward, and exhaust valves to open and close the parts through which the steam
escapes; to automatically operate such valves; to condense the escaping steam and to remove the
Page 64
water of condensation; to devise powerful steam brakes—these are some of the important details
on which inventors have exercised their keenest wits. Then again the extensive inventions of the
century have given rise to a great classification to designate their forms or their uses: condensing
and non-condensing, high-pressure or low-pressure—the former term being applied to engines
supplied with steam of 50 lbs. pressure to the square inch and upward, and the latter to engines
working under 40 lbs. pressure—and the low pressure are nearly always the condensing and the
high pressure the non-condensing; reciprocating and rotary—the latter having a piston attached to
a shaft and revolving within a cylinder of which the axis is parallel with the axis of rotation of the
piston.
Direct acting, where the piston rod acts directly upon the connecting rod and through it upon the
crank, without the intervention of a beam or lever; oscillating, in which the piston rods are
attached directly to the crank pin and as the crank revolves the cylinder oscillates upon trunnions,
one on each side of it, through which the steam enters and leaves the steam chest.
Then as to their use, engines are known as stationary, pumping, portable, locomotive or marine.
The best-known engine of the stationary kind is the Corliss, which is very extensively used in the
United States and Europe.
Among other later improvements is the duplex pumping engine, in which one engine controls the
valve of the other; compensating devices for steam pumping, by which power is accumulated by
making the first half of the stroke of the steam piston assist in moving the piston the other half of
the stroke during the expansion of steam; steam or air hand hammers on which the piston is the
hammer and strikes a tool projecting through the head into the cylinder; rock drilling, in which the
movement of the valves is operated by the piston at any portion of its stroke; shaft governors, in
which the eccentric for operating the engine valves is moved around or across the main or
auxiliary shaft; multiple cylinders, in which several cylinders, either single or double, are arranged
to co-operate with a common shaft; impact rotary, known as steam turbines, a revival in some
respects of Hero’s engine. And then, finally, the delicate and ingenious bicycle and automobile
steam engines.
Then there are steam sanding devices for locomotives by which sand is automatically fed to the
rails at the same time the air brake is applied.
Starting valves used for starting compound locomotives on ascending steep grades, in which both
low and high pressure cylinders are supplied with live steam, and when the steam, exhausted from
either high or low pressure cylinders into the receivers, has reached a predetermined pressure, the
engine works on the compound principle. Single acting compound engines, in which two or more
cylinders are arranged tandem, the steam acting only in one direction, and the exhaust steam of
one acting upon the piston in the cylinder next of the series, are arranged in pairs, so that while
one is acting downward the other is acting upward.
Throttle valves automatically closed upon the bursting of a pipe, or the breaking of machinery, are
operated by electricity, automatically, or by hand at a distance.
Napoleon, upon his disastrous retreat from Moscow, anxious to reach Paris as soon as possible,
left his army on the way, provided himself with a travelling and sleeping carriage, and with relays
of fresh horses at different points managed, by extraordinary strenuous efforts day and night, to
travel from Smorgoni to Paris, a distance of 1000 miles, between the 5th and 10th of December,
on which inventors have exercised their keenest wits. Then again the extensive inventions of the
century have given rise to a great classification to designate their forms or their uses: condensing
and non-condensing, high-pressure or low-pressure—the former term being applied to engines
supplied with steam of 50 lbs. pressure to the square inch and upward, and the latter to engines
working under 40 lbs. pressure—and the low pressure are nearly always the condensing and the
high pressure the non-condensing; reciprocating and rotary—the latter having a piston attached to
a shaft and revolving within a cylinder of which the axis is parallel with the axis of rotation of the
piston.
Direct acting, where the piston rod acts directly upon the connecting rod and through it upon the
crank, without the intervention of a beam or lever; oscillating, in which the piston rods are
attached directly to the crank pin and as the crank revolves the cylinder oscillates upon trunnions,
one on each side of it, through which the steam enters and leaves the steam chest.
Then as to their use, engines are known as stationary, pumping, portable, locomotive or marine.
The best-known engine of the stationary kind is the Corliss, which is very extensively used in the
United States and Europe.
Among other later improvements is the duplex pumping engine, in which one engine controls the
valve of the other; compensating devices for steam pumping, by which power is accumulated by
making the first half of the stroke of the steam piston assist in moving the piston the other half of
the stroke during the expansion of steam; steam or air hand hammers on which the piston is the
hammer and strikes a tool projecting through the head into the cylinder; rock drilling, in which the
movement of the valves is operated by the piston at any portion of its stroke; shaft governors, in
which the eccentric for operating the engine valves is moved around or across the main or
auxiliary shaft; multiple cylinders, in which several cylinders, either single or double, are arranged
to co-operate with a common shaft; impact rotary, known as steam turbines, a revival in some
respects of Hero’s engine. And then, finally, the delicate and ingenious bicycle and automobile
steam engines.
Then there are steam sanding devices for locomotives by which sand is automatically fed to the
rails at the same time the air brake is applied.
Starting valves used for starting compound locomotives on ascending steep grades, in which both
low and high pressure cylinders are supplied with live steam, and when the steam, exhausted from
either high or low pressure cylinders into the receivers, has reached a predetermined pressure, the
engine works on the compound principle. Single acting compound engines, in which two or more
cylinders are arranged tandem, the steam acting only in one direction, and the exhaust steam of
one acting upon the piston in the cylinder next of the series, are arranged in pairs, so that while
one is acting downward the other is acting upward.
Throttle valves automatically closed upon the bursting of a pipe, or the breaking of machinery, are
operated by electricity, automatically, or by hand at a distance.
Napoleon, upon his disastrous retreat from Moscow, anxious to reach Paris as soon as possible,
left his army on the way, provided himself with a travelling and sleeping carriage, and with relays
of fresh horses at different points managed, by extraordinary strenuous efforts day and night, to
travel from Smorgoni to Paris, a distance of 1000 miles, between the 5th and 10th of December,
Page 65
1812. This was at the average rate of about two hundred miles a day, or eight or nine miles an
hour. It was a most remarkable ride for any age by horse conveyance.
Within the span of a man’s life after that event any one could take a trip of that distance in twenty-
four hours, with great ease and comfort, eating and sleeping on the car, and with convenient
telegraph and telephone stations along the route by which to comunicate by pen, or word of
mouth, with distant friends at either end of the journey.
If Napoleon had deemed it best to have continued his journey across the Atlantic to America he
would have been compelled to pass several weeks on an uncomfortable sailing vessel. Now, a
floating palace would await him which would carry him across in less than six days.
Should mankind be seized with a sudden desire to replace all the locomotives in the world by
horse power it would be utterly impossible to do it. It was recently estimated that there were one
hundred and fifty thousand locomotives in use on the railroads of the world; and as a fair average
would give them five hundred horse power each, it will be seen that they are the equivalent of
seventy-five million horses.
Space and time will not admit of minute descriptions, or hardly a mention, of the almost
innumerable improvements of the century in steam. Having seen the principles on which these
inventions have been constructed, enumerated the leading ones and glanced at the most prominent
facts in their history, we must refer the seeker for more particulars to those publications of modern
patent offices, in which each regiment and company of this vast army is embalmed in its own
especial and ponderous volume.
A survey of the field will call to mind, however, the eloquent words of Daniel Webster:—
“And, last of all, with inimitable power, and with a 'whirlwind sound’ comes the potent agency of
steam. In comparison with the past, what centuries of improvement has this single agent
compressed in the short compass of fifty years! Everywhere practicable, everywhere efficient, it
has an arm a thousand times stronger than that of Hercules, and to which human ingenuity is
capable of fitting a thousand times as many hands as belonged to Briareus. Steam is found
triumphant in operation on the seas; and under the influence of its strong propulsion, the gallant
ship,
'Against the wind, against the tide
Still steadies with an upright keel.’
It is on the rivers, and the boatman may repose upon his oars; it is on highways, and exerts itself
along the courses of land conveyances; it is at the bottom of mines, a thousand feet below the
earth’s surface; it is in the mills and in the workshops of the trades. It rows, it pumps, it excavates,
it carries, it draws, it lifts, it hammers, it spins, it weaves, it prints. It seems to say to men, at least
to the class of artisans: 'Leave off your manual labour, give up your bodily toil; bestow but your
skill and reason to the directing of my power and I will bear the toil, with no muscle to grow
weary, no nerve to relax, no breast to feel faintness!’ What further improvement may still be made
in the use of this astonishing power it is impossible to know, and it were vain to conjecture. What
we do know is that it has most essentially altered the face of affairs, and that no visible limit yet
appears beyond which its progress is seen to be impossible.”
hour. It was a most remarkable ride for any age by horse conveyance.
Within the span of a man’s life after that event any one could take a trip of that distance in twenty-
four hours, with great ease and comfort, eating and sleeping on the car, and with convenient
telegraph and telephone stations along the route by which to comunicate by pen, or word of
mouth, with distant friends at either end of the journey.
If Napoleon had deemed it best to have continued his journey across the Atlantic to America he
would have been compelled to pass several weeks on an uncomfortable sailing vessel. Now, a
floating palace would await him which would carry him across in less than six days.
Should mankind be seized with a sudden desire to replace all the locomotives in the world by
horse power it would be utterly impossible to do it. It was recently estimated that there were one
hundred and fifty thousand locomotives in use on the railroads of the world; and as a fair average
would give them five hundred horse power each, it will be seen that they are the equivalent of
seventy-five million horses.
Space and time will not admit of minute descriptions, or hardly a mention, of the almost
innumerable improvements of the century in steam. Having seen the principles on which these
inventions have been constructed, enumerated the leading ones and glanced at the most prominent
facts in their history, we must refer the seeker for more particulars to those publications of modern
patent offices, in which each regiment and company of this vast army is embalmed in its own
especial and ponderous volume.
A survey of the field will call to mind, however, the eloquent words of Daniel Webster:—
“And, last of all, with inimitable power, and with a 'whirlwind sound’ comes the potent agency of
steam. In comparison with the past, what centuries of improvement has this single agent
compressed in the short compass of fifty years! Everywhere practicable, everywhere efficient, it
has an arm a thousand times stronger than that of Hercules, and to which human ingenuity is
capable of fitting a thousand times as many hands as belonged to Briareus. Steam is found
triumphant in operation on the seas; and under the influence of its strong propulsion, the gallant
ship,
'Against the wind, against the tide
Still steadies with an upright keel.’
It is on the rivers, and the boatman may repose upon his oars; it is on highways, and exerts itself
along the courses of land conveyances; it is at the bottom of mines, a thousand feet below the
earth’s surface; it is in the mills and in the workshops of the trades. It rows, it pumps, it excavates,
it carries, it draws, it lifts, it hammers, it spins, it weaves, it prints. It seems to say to men, at least
to the class of artisans: 'Leave off your manual labour, give up your bodily toil; bestow but your
skill and reason to the directing of my power and I will bear the toil, with no muscle to grow
weary, no nerve to relax, no breast to feel faintness!’ What further improvement may still be made
in the use of this astonishing power it is impossible to know, and it were vain to conjecture. What
we do know is that it has most essentially altered the face of affairs, and that no visible limit yet
appears beyond which its progress is seen to be impossible.”
Page 66
Page 67
CHAPTER VIII.
ENGINEERING AND TRANSPORTATION.
The field of service of a civil engineer has thus been eloquently stated by a
recent writer in Chambers’s Journal:
“His duties call upon him to devise the means for surmounting obstacles of
the most formidable kind. He has to work in the water, over the water, and
under the water; to cause streams to flow; to check them from overflowing;
to raise water to a great height; to build docks and walls that will bear the
dashing of waves; to convert dry land into harbours, and low water shores
into dry land; to construct lighthouses on lonely rocks; to build lofty
aqueducts for the conveyance of water, and viaducts, for the conveyance of
railway trains; to burrow into the bowels of the earth with tunnels, shafts,
pits and mines; to span torrents and ravines with bridges; to construct
chimneys that rival the loftiest spires and pyramids in height; to climb
mountains with roads and railways; to sink wells to vast depths in search of
water. By untiring patience, skill, energy and invention, he produces in
these several ways works which certainly rank among the marvels of human
power.”
The pyramids of Egypt, the roads, bridges and aqueducts built by the
Chinese and by Rome; the great bridges of the Middle Ages, and especially
those built by that strange fraternal order known as the “Brothers of the
Bridge”; the ocean-defying lighthouses of a later period—these, and more
than these, attest the fact that there were great engineers before the
nineteenth century.
But the engineering of to-day is the hand-maid of all the Sciences; and as
they each have advanced during the century beyond all that was imagined,
or dreamed of as possible in former times, so have the labours of
engineering correspondingly multiplied. No longer are such labours
ENGINEERING AND TRANSPORTATION.
The field of service of a civil engineer has thus been eloquently stated by a
recent writer in Chambers’s Journal:
“His duties call upon him to devise the means for surmounting obstacles of
the most formidable kind. He has to work in the water, over the water, and
under the water; to cause streams to flow; to check them from overflowing;
to raise water to a great height; to build docks and walls that will bear the
dashing of waves; to convert dry land into harbours, and low water shores
into dry land; to construct lighthouses on lonely rocks; to build lofty
aqueducts for the conveyance of water, and viaducts, for the conveyance of
railway trains; to burrow into the bowels of the earth with tunnels, shafts,
pits and mines; to span torrents and ravines with bridges; to construct
chimneys that rival the loftiest spires and pyramids in height; to climb
mountains with roads and railways; to sink wells to vast depths in search of
water. By untiring patience, skill, energy and invention, he produces in
these several ways works which certainly rank among the marvels of human
power.”
The pyramids of Egypt, the roads, bridges and aqueducts built by the
Chinese and by Rome; the great bridges of the Middle Ages, and especially
those built by that strange fraternal order known as the “Brothers of the
Bridge”; the ocean-defying lighthouses of a later period—these, and more
than these, attest the fact that there were great engineers before the
nineteenth century.
But the engineering of to-day is the hand-maid of all the Sciences; and as
they each have advanced during the century beyond all that was imagined,
or dreamed of as possible in former times, so have the labours of
engineering correspondingly multiplied. No longer are such labours
Page 68
classified and grouped in one field, called Civil Engineering, but they have
been necessarily divided into great additional new and independent fields,
known as Steam Engineering, Mining Engineering, Hydraulic Engineering,
Electrical Engineering and Marine Engineering. Within each of these fields
are assembled innumerable appliances which are the offspring of the
inventive genius of the century just closed.
We have seen how one discovery, or the development of a certain art, brings
in its train and often necessitates other inventions and discoveries. The
development and dedication of the steam engine to the transportation of
goods and men called for improvements in the roads and rails on which the
engine and its load were to travel, and this demand brought forth those
modern railway bridges which are the finest examples in the art of bridge
making that the world has ever seen.
The greatest bridges of former ages were built of stone and solid masonry.
Now iron and steel have been substituted, and these light but substantial
frameworks span wide rivers and deep ravines with almost the same speed
and gracefulness that the spider spins his silken web from limb to limb.
These, too, waited for their construction on that next turn in the wheel of
evolution, which brought better processes in the making of iron and steel,
and better tools and appliances for working metals, and in handling vast and
heavy bodies.
The first arched iron bridge was over the Severn at Coalbrookdale, England,
erected by Abraham Darby in 1777. In 1793 one was erected by Telford at
Buildwas, and in the same year Burden completed an arch across the weir at
Sunderland. The most prominent classes of bridges in which the highest
inventive and constructive genius of the engineers of the century are
illustrated are known as the suspension, the tubular and the tubular arch,
the truss and cantilever.
Suspension bridges consisting of twisted vines, of iron chains, or of
bamboo, or cane, or of ropes, have been known in different parts of the
world from time immemorial, but they bear only a primitive and suggestive
resemblance to the great iron cable bridges of the nineteenth century. The
first notable structure of this kind was constructed by Sir Samuel Brown,
across the Tweed at Berwick, England, in 1819. Brown was born in London
been necessarily divided into great additional new and independent fields,
known as Steam Engineering, Mining Engineering, Hydraulic Engineering,
Electrical Engineering and Marine Engineering. Within each of these fields
are assembled innumerable appliances which are the offspring of the
inventive genius of the century just closed.
We have seen how one discovery, or the development of a certain art, brings
in its train and often necessitates other inventions and discoveries. The
development and dedication of the steam engine to the transportation of
goods and men called for improvements in the roads and rails on which the
engine and its load were to travel, and this demand brought forth those
modern railway bridges which are the finest examples in the art of bridge
making that the world has ever seen.
The greatest bridges of former ages were built of stone and solid masonry.
Now iron and steel have been substituted, and these light but substantial
frameworks span wide rivers and deep ravines with almost the same speed
and gracefulness that the spider spins his silken web from limb to limb.
These, too, waited for their construction on that next turn in the wheel of
evolution, which brought better processes in the making of iron and steel,
and better tools and appliances for working metals, and in handling vast and
heavy bodies.
The first arched iron bridge was over the Severn at Coalbrookdale, England,
erected by Abraham Darby in 1777. In 1793 one was erected by Telford at
Buildwas, and in the same year Burden completed an arch across the weir at
Sunderland. The most prominent classes of bridges in which the highest
inventive and constructive genius of the engineers of the century are
illustrated are known as the suspension, the tubular and the tubular arch,
the truss and cantilever.
Suspension bridges consisting of twisted vines, of iron chains, or of
bamboo, or cane, or of ropes, have been known in different parts of the
world from time immemorial, but they bear only a primitive and suggestive
resemblance to the great iron cable bridges of the nineteenth century. The
first notable structure of this kind was constructed by Sir Samuel Brown,
across the Tweed at Berwick, England, in 1819. Brown was born in London
Page 69
in 1776 and died in 1852. He entered the navy at the age of 18, was made
commander in 1811, and retired as captain in 1842. We have alluded to the
spider’s web, and Smiles, in his Self Help, relates as an example of
intelligent observation that while Capt Brown was occupied in studying the
character of bridges with the view of constructing one of a cheap
description to be thrown across the Tweed, near which he lived, he was
walking in his garden one dewy autumn morning when he saw a tiny
spider’s web suspended across his path. The idea immediately occurred to
him of a bridge of iron wires. In 1829 Brown also was the engineer for
suspension bridges built over the Esk at Montrose and over the Thames at
Hammersmith. Before that time, a span in a bridge of 100 feet was
considered remarkably long. Suspension bridges are best adapted for long
spans, and have been constructed with spans more than twice as long as any
other form. Sir Samuel Brown’s bridge had a span of 449 feet. This class of
bridges is usually constructed with chains or cables passing over towers,
with the roadway suspended beneath. The ends of the chains or cables are
securely anchored. The cables are then passed over towers, on which they
are supported in movable saddles, so that the towers are not overthrown by
the strain on the cables. Nice calculations have to be made as to the tension
to be placed on the cables, the allowance for deflection, and the equal
distribution of weight. The floor-way in the earlier bridges of this type was
supported by means of a series of equidistant vertical rods, and was lacking
stiffness, but this was remedied by trussing the road bed, using inclined
stays extending from the towers and partially supporting the roadway for
some distance out from the tower.
The next finest suspension bridge was constructed by Thomas Telford and
finished in 1826, across the Menai Strait to connect the island of Anglesea
with the mainland of Wales. Telford was born in Dumfriesshire, Scotland, in
1757, and died in Westminster in 1834. Beginning life as a stone mason, he
rose by his own industry to be a master among architects and a prince
among builders of iron bridges, aqueducts, canals, tunnels, harbours and
docks.
The Menai bridge was composed of chains or wire ropes, each nearly a
third of a mile in length, and which descended 60 feet into sloping pits or
drifts, where they were screwed to cast-iron frames embedded in the rocks.
The span of the suspended central arch was 560 feet, and the platform was
commander in 1811, and retired as captain in 1842. We have alluded to the
spider’s web, and Smiles, in his Self Help, relates as an example of
intelligent observation that while Capt Brown was occupied in studying the
character of bridges with the view of constructing one of a cheap
description to be thrown across the Tweed, near which he lived, he was
walking in his garden one dewy autumn morning when he saw a tiny
spider’s web suspended across his path. The idea immediately occurred to
him of a bridge of iron wires. In 1829 Brown also was the engineer for
suspension bridges built over the Esk at Montrose and over the Thames at
Hammersmith. Before that time, a span in a bridge of 100 feet was
considered remarkably long. Suspension bridges are best adapted for long
spans, and have been constructed with spans more than twice as long as any
other form. Sir Samuel Brown’s bridge had a span of 449 feet. This class of
bridges is usually constructed with chains or cables passing over towers,
with the roadway suspended beneath. The ends of the chains or cables are
securely anchored. The cables are then passed over towers, on which they
are supported in movable saddles, so that the towers are not overthrown by
the strain on the cables. Nice calculations have to be made as to the tension
to be placed on the cables, the allowance for deflection, and the equal
distribution of weight. The floor-way in the earlier bridges of this type was
supported by means of a series of equidistant vertical rods, and was lacking
stiffness, but this was remedied by trussing the road bed, using inclined
stays extending from the towers and partially supporting the roadway for
some distance out from the tower.
The next finest suspension bridge was constructed by Thomas Telford and
finished in 1826, across the Menai Strait to connect the island of Anglesea
with the mainland of Wales. Telford was born in Dumfriesshire, Scotland, in
1757, and died in Westminster in 1834. Beginning life as a stone mason, he
rose by his own industry to be a master among architects and a prince
among builders of iron bridges, aqueducts, canals, tunnels, harbours and
docks.
The Menai bridge was composed of chains or wire ropes, each nearly a
third of a mile in length, and which descended 60 feet into sloping pits or
drifts, where they were screwed to cast-iron frames embedded in the rocks.
The span of the suspended central arch was 560 feet, and the platform was
Page 70
100 feet above high water. Seven stone arches of 52½ feet span make up the
rest of the bridge.
But a suspension bridge was completed in 1834 by M. Challey of Lyon over
the Saane at Fribourg, Switzerland, which greatly surpassed the Menai
bridge. The span is 880 feet from pier to pier, and the roadway is 167 feet
above the river. It is supported by four iron wire cables, each consisting of
1056 wires. It was tested by placing 15 pieces of artillery, drawn by 50
horses and accompanied by 300 men crowded together as closely as
possible, first at the centre, and then at each extreme, causing a depression
of 39½ inches, but no sensible oscillation was experienced.
Isambard K. Brunel was another great engineer, who constructed a
suspension bridge at the Isle of Bourbon in 1823, and the Charing Cross
over the Thames at Hungerford in 1845, which was a footbridge, having a
span of 675 feet, the longest span of any bridge in England. Then followed
finer and larger suspension bridges in other parts of the world. It was across
the Niagara in front of the great falls that in 1855 British America and the
United States were joined by a magnificent suspension bridge, one of the
finest in the world, and the two English speaking countries were then
physically and commercially united. At the opening of the bridge, one
portion of which was for a railway, the shriek of the locomotive and the roar
of the train mingled with the roar of the wild torrent 250 feet below. The
bridge, 800 feet long, is a single span, supported by four enormous cables
of wire stretching from the Canadian cliff to the opposite United States
cliff. The cables pass over the tops of lofty stone towers arising from these
cliffs, and each cable consists of no less than 4,000 distinct wires. The
roadway hangs from these cables, suspended by 624 vertical rods.
The engineer of this bridge was John A. Roebling, a native of Prussia, born
there in 1806, and who died in New York in 1869. He was educated at the
Polytechnic School in Berlin, and emigrated to America at the age of 25.
His labors were first as a canal and railway engineer, then he became the
inventor and manufacturer of a new form of wire rope, and then turned his
attention to the construction of aqueducts and suspension bridges. After the
Niagara bridge, above described, he commenced another bridge of greater
dimensions over the same river, which was finished within two or three
years. His next work was the splendid suspension bridge at Cincinnati,
rest of the bridge.
But a suspension bridge was completed in 1834 by M. Challey of Lyon over
the Saane at Fribourg, Switzerland, which greatly surpassed the Menai
bridge. The span is 880 feet from pier to pier, and the roadway is 167 feet
above the river. It is supported by four iron wire cables, each consisting of
1056 wires. It was tested by placing 15 pieces of artillery, drawn by 50
horses and accompanied by 300 men crowded together as closely as
possible, first at the centre, and then at each extreme, causing a depression
of 39½ inches, but no sensible oscillation was experienced.
Isambard K. Brunel was another great engineer, who constructed a
suspension bridge at the Isle of Bourbon in 1823, and the Charing Cross
over the Thames at Hungerford in 1845, which was a footbridge, having a
span of 675 feet, the longest span of any bridge in England. Then followed
finer and larger suspension bridges in other parts of the world. It was across
the Niagara in front of the great falls that in 1855 British America and the
United States were joined by a magnificent suspension bridge, one of the
finest in the world, and the two English speaking countries were then
physically and commercially united. At the opening of the bridge, one
portion of which was for a railway, the shriek of the locomotive and the roar
of the train mingled with the roar of the wild torrent 250 feet below. The
bridge, 800 feet long, is a single span, supported by four enormous cables
of wire stretching from the Canadian cliff to the opposite United States
cliff. The cables pass over the tops of lofty stone towers arising from these
cliffs, and each cable consists of no less than 4,000 distinct wires. The
roadway hangs from these cables, suspended by 624 vertical rods.
The engineer of this bridge was John A. Roebling, a native of Prussia, born
there in 1806, and who died in New York in 1869. He was educated at the
Polytechnic School in Berlin, and emigrated to America at the age of 25.
His labors were first as a canal and railway engineer, then he became the
inventor and manufacturer of a new form of wire rope, and then turned his
attention to the construction of aqueducts and suspension bridges. After the
Niagara bridge, above described, he commenced another bridge of greater
dimensions over the same river, which was finished within two or three
years. His next work was the splendid suspension bridge at Cincinnati,
Page 71
Ohio, which has a clear span of 1057 feet. In 1869, in connection with his
son, Washington A. Roebling, he commenced that magnificent suspension
bridge to unite the great cities of New York and Brooklyn, and which, by its
completion, resulted in the consolidation of those cities as Greater New
York. The Roeblings, father and son, were to the engineering of America
what George Stephenson and his son Robert were to the locomotive and
railway and bridge engineering of Great Britain.
The Brooklyn bridge, known also as the East River bridge, was formally
opened to the public on the 24th of May 1883. Most enormous and
unexpected technical difficulties were met and overcome in its construction.
Its total length is nearly 6,000 feet. The length of the suspended structure
from anchorage to anchorage is 3,454 feet. A statement of the general
features of this bridge indicates the nature of the construction of such
bridges as a class, and distinguishes them from the comparatively simple
forms of past ages. This structure is supported by two enormous towers,
having a height of 276 feet above the surface of the water, carrying at their
tops the saddles which support the cables, and having a span between them
of 1,595 feet. The towers are each pierced by two archways, 31½ feet wide,
and 120½ feet high, through which openings passes the floor of the bridge
at the height of 118 feet above high water mark. There are four supporting
cables, each 16 inches in diameter, and each composed of about 5,000
single wires. The wire is one-eighth size; 278 single wires are grouped into
a rope, and 19 ropes bunched to form a cable. The iron saddles at the top of
the lofty towers, and on which the cables rest, are made movable to permit
its expansion and compression—and they glide through minute distances on
iron rollers in saddle plates embedded and anchored in the towers, in
response to strains and changes of temperature. The enormous cables pass
from the towers shoreward to their anchorages 930 feet away, and which are
solid masses of masonry, each 132 x 119 feet at base and top, 89 feet high,
and weighing 60,000 tons. The bridge is divided into five avenues: one
central one for foot passengers, two outer ones for vehicles, and the others
for the street cars. The cost of the bridge was nearly $15,000,000.
Twenty fatal and many disabling accidents occurred during the construction
of the bridge. The great engineer Roebling was the first victim to an
accident. He had his foot crushed while laying the foundation of one of the
stone piers, and died of lockjaw.
son, Washington A. Roebling, he commenced that magnificent suspension
bridge to unite the great cities of New York and Brooklyn, and which, by its
completion, resulted in the consolidation of those cities as Greater New
York. The Roeblings, father and son, were to the engineering of America
what George Stephenson and his son Robert were to the locomotive and
railway and bridge engineering of Great Britain.
The Brooklyn bridge, known also as the East River bridge, was formally
opened to the public on the 24th of May 1883. Most enormous and
unexpected technical difficulties were met and overcome in its construction.
Its total length is nearly 6,000 feet. The length of the suspended structure
from anchorage to anchorage is 3,454 feet. A statement of the general
features of this bridge indicates the nature of the construction of such
bridges as a class, and distinguishes them from the comparatively simple
forms of past ages. This structure is supported by two enormous towers,
having a height of 276 feet above the surface of the water, carrying at their
tops the saddles which support the cables, and having a span between them
of 1,595 feet. The towers are each pierced by two archways, 31½ feet wide,
and 120½ feet high, through which openings passes the floor of the bridge
at the height of 118 feet above high water mark. There are four supporting
cables, each 16 inches in diameter, and each composed of about 5,000
single wires. The wire is one-eighth size; 278 single wires are grouped into
a rope, and 19 ropes bunched to form a cable. The iron saddles at the top of
the lofty towers, and on which the cables rest, are made movable to permit
its expansion and compression—and they glide through minute distances on
iron rollers in saddle plates embedded and anchored in the towers, in
response to strains and changes of temperature. The enormous cables pass
from the towers shoreward to their anchorages 930 feet away, and which are
solid masses of masonry, each 132 x 119 feet at base and top, 89 feet high,
and weighing 60,000 tons. The bridge is divided into five avenues: one
central one for foot passengers, two outer ones for vehicles, and the others
for the street cars. The cost of the bridge was nearly $15,000,000.
Twenty fatal and many disabling accidents occurred during the construction
of the bridge. The great engineer Roebling was the first victim to an
accident. He had his foot crushed while laying the foundation of one of the
stone piers, and died of lockjaw.
Page 72
It was necessary to build up the great piers by the aid of caissons, which are
water-tight casings built of timber and metal and sunk to the river bed and
sometimes far below it, within which are built the foundations of piers or
towers, and into which air is pumped for the workmen. A fire in one of the
caissons, which necessitated its flooding by water, and to which the son,
Washington Roebling, was exposed, resulted in prostrating him with a
peculiar form of caisson disease, which destroyed the nerves of motion
without impairing his intellectual faculties. But, although disabled from
active work, Mr. Roebling continued to superintend the vast project through
the constant mediation of his wife.
Tubular Bridges.—These are bridges formed by a great tube or hollow
beam through the center of which a roadway or railway passes. The name
would indicate that the bridge was cylindrical in form, and this was the first
idea. But it was concluded after experiment that a rectangular form was the
best, as it is more rigid than either a cylindrical or elliptical tube. The
adoption of this form was due to Fairbairn, the celebrated English inventor
and engineer of iron structures. The Menai tubular railway bridge, adjacent
to the suspension bridge of Telford across the same strait, and already
described, was the first example of this type of bridge. Robert Stephenson
was the engineer of this great structure, aided by the suggestions of
Fairbairn and other eminent engineers. This bridge was opened for railway
traffic in March, 1850. It was built on three towers and shore abutments.
The width of the strait is divided by these towers into four spans—two of
460 feet each, and two of 230 feet. In appearance, the bridge looked like
one huge, long, narrow iron box, but it consisted really of four bridges, each
made of a pair of rectangular tubes, and through one set of tubes the trains
passed in going in one direction, and through the other set in going the
opposite direction. These ponderous tubes were composed of wrought-iron
plates, from three-eighths to three-fourths of an inch thick, the largest 12
feet in length, riveted together and stiffened by angle irons. They varied in
height—the central ones being the highest and those nearest the shore the
lowest. The central ones are 30 feet high, and the inner ones about 22 feet.
Their width was about 14 feet. They were built upon platforms on the
Caernarvon shore, and the great problem was how to lift them and put them
in place, especially the central ones, which were 460 feet in length. Each
tube weighed 1,800 pounds, and they were to be raised 192 feet. This
water-tight casings built of timber and metal and sunk to the river bed and
sometimes far below it, within which are built the foundations of piers or
towers, and into which air is pumped for the workmen. A fire in one of the
caissons, which necessitated its flooding by water, and to which the son,
Washington Roebling, was exposed, resulted in prostrating him with a
peculiar form of caisson disease, which destroyed the nerves of motion
without impairing his intellectual faculties. But, although disabled from
active work, Mr. Roebling continued to superintend the vast project through
the constant mediation of his wife.
Tubular Bridges.—These are bridges formed by a great tube or hollow
beam through the center of which a roadway or railway passes. The name
would indicate that the bridge was cylindrical in form, and this was the first
idea. But it was concluded after experiment that a rectangular form was the
best, as it is more rigid than either a cylindrical or elliptical tube. The
adoption of this form was due to Fairbairn, the celebrated English inventor
and engineer of iron structures. The Menai tubular railway bridge, adjacent
to the suspension bridge of Telford across the same strait, and already
described, was the first example of this type of bridge. Robert Stephenson
was the engineer of this great structure, aided by the suggestions of
Fairbairn and other eminent engineers. This bridge was opened for railway
traffic in March, 1850. It was built on three towers and shore abutments.
The width of the strait is divided by these towers into four spans—two of
460 feet each, and two of 230 feet. In appearance, the bridge looked like
one huge, long, narrow iron box, but it consisted really of four bridges, each
made of a pair of rectangular tubes, and through one set of tubes the trains
passed in going in one direction, and through the other set in going the
opposite direction. These ponderous tubes were composed of wrought-iron
plates, from three-eighths to three-fourths of an inch thick, the largest 12
feet in length, riveted together and stiffened by angle irons. They varied in
height—the central ones being the highest and those nearest the shore the
lowest. The central ones are 30 feet high, and the inner ones about 22 feet.
Their width was about 14 feet. They were built upon platforms on the
Caernarvon shore, and the great problem was how to lift them and put them
in place, especially the central ones, which were 460 feet in length. Each
tube weighed 1,800 pounds, and they were to be raised 192 feet. This
Page 73
operation has been described as “the grandest lift ever effected in
engineering.” It was accomplished by means of powerful hydraulic presses.
Another and still grander example of this style of bridge is the Victoria at
Montreal, Canada. This also was designed by Robert Stephenson and built
under his direction by James Hodges of Montreal. Work was commenced in
1854 and it was completed in December, 1859, and opened for travel in
1860. It consists of 24 piers, 242 feet apart, except the centre one, from
which the span is 330 feet. The tube is in sections and quadrangular in form.
Every plate and piece of iron was made and punched in England and
brought across the Atlantic. In Canada little remained to be done but to put
the parts together and in position. This, however, was in itself a Herculean
task. The enormous structure was to be placed sixty feet above the swift
current of the broad St. Lawrence, and wherein huge masses of ice, each
block from three to five feet in thickness, accumulated every winter. The
work was accomplished by the erection of a vast rigid stage of timber, on
which the tubes were built up plate by plate. When all was completed the
great staging was removed, and the mighty tube rested alone and secure
upon its massive wedge-faced piers rising from the bedrock of the flood
below.
The Tubular Arch Bridge.—This differs from the tubular bridge proper, in
that the former consists of a bridge the body of which is supported by a
tubular archway of iron and steel, whereas in the latter the body of the
bridge itself is a tube. The tubular arch is also properly classed as a girder
bridge because the great tube which covers the span is simply an immense
beam or girder, which supports the superstructure on which the floor of the
bridge is laid. A fine illustration of this style of bridge is seen in what is
known as the aqueduct bridge over Rock Creek at Washington, D. C., in
which the arch consists of two cast-iron jointed pipes, supporting a double
carriage and a double street car way, and through which pipes all the water
for the supply of the City of Washington passes. General M. C. Meigs was
the engineer.
Another far grander illustration of such a structure, in combination with the
truss system, is that of the Illinois and St. Louis bridge, across the
Mississippi, of which Captain James B. Eads was the engineer. There are
three great spans, the central one of which has a length of about 520 feet,
and the others a few feet less. Four arches form each span, each arch
engineering.” It was accomplished by means of powerful hydraulic presses.
Another and still grander example of this style of bridge is the Victoria at
Montreal, Canada. This also was designed by Robert Stephenson and built
under his direction by James Hodges of Montreal. Work was commenced in
1854 and it was completed in December, 1859, and opened for travel in
1860. It consists of 24 piers, 242 feet apart, except the centre one, from
which the span is 330 feet. The tube is in sections and quadrangular in form.
Every plate and piece of iron was made and punched in England and
brought across the Atlantic. In Canada little remained to be done but to put
the parts together and in position. This, however, was in itself a Herculean
task. The enormous structure was to be placed sixty feet above the swift
current of the broad St. Lawrence, and wherein huge masses of ice, each
block from three to five feet in thickness, accumulated every winter. The
work was accomplished by the erection of a vast rigid stage of timber, on
which the tubes were built up plate by plate. When all was completed the
great staging was removed, and the mighty tube rested alone and secure
upon its massive wedge-faced piers rising from the bedrock of the flood
below.
The Tubular Arch Bridge.—This differs from the tubular bridge proper, in
that the former consists of a bridge the body of which is supported by a
tubular archway of iron and steel, whereas in the latter the body of the
bridge itself is a tube. The tubular arch is also properly classed as a girder
bridge because the great tube which covers the span is simply an immense
beam or girder, which supports the superstructure on which the floor of the
bridge is laid. A fine illustration of this style of bridge is seen in what is
known as the aqueduct bridge over Rock Creek at Washington, D. C., in
which the arch consists of two cast-iron jointed pipes, supporting a double
carriage and a double street car way, and through which pipes all the water
for the supply of the City of Washington passes. General M. C. Meigs was
the engineer.
Another far grander illustration of such a structure, in combination with the
truss system, is that of the Illinois and St. Louis bridge, across the
Mississippi, of which Captain James B. Eads was the engineer. There are
three great spans, the central one of which has a length of about 520 feet,
and the others a few feet less. Four arches form each span, each arch
Page 74
consisting of an upper and lower curved member or rib, extending from pier
to pier, and each member composed of two parallel steel tubes.
Truss and truss arched bridges.—These, for the most part, are those quite
modern forms of iron or wooden bridges in which a supplementary frame
work, consisting of iron rods placed obliquely, vertically or diagonally, and
cemented together, and with the main horizontal beams either above or
below the same, to produce a stiff and rigid structure, calculated to resist
strain from all directions.
Previous to the 19th century, the greatest bridges being constructed mostly
of solid masonry piers and arches, no demand for a bridge of this kind
existed; but after the use of wrought iron and steel became extensive in
bridge making, and as these apparently light and airy frames may be
extended, piece by piece across the widest rivers, straits, and arms of the
sea, a substitute for the great, expensive, and frequent supporting piers
became a want, and was supplied by the system of trusses and truss arches.
The truss system has also been applied to the construction of vast modern
bridges in places where timber is accessible and cheap. Each different
system invented bears the name of its inventor. Thus, we have the Rider, the
Fink, the Bollman, the Whipple, the Howe, the Jones, the Linville, the
McCallum, Towne’s lattice and other systems.
What is called the cantilever system has of late years to a great extent
superseded the suspension construction. This consists of beams or girders
extending out from the opposite piers at an upward diagonal angle, and
meeting at the centre over the span, and there solidly connected together, or
to horizontal girders, in such manner that the compression load is thrown on
to the supporting piers, upward strains received at the centre, and side
deflections provided against. It is supposed that greater rigidity is obtained
by this means than by the suspension, and, like the suspension, great widths
may be spanned without an under supporting frame work. Two fine
examples of this type are found, one in a bridge across the Niagara adjacent
to the suspension bridge above described and one across the river Forth at
Queens Ferry in Scotland. The Niagara Bridge is a combination of cast steel
and iron. It was designed by C. C. Schneider and Edmund Hayes. It was
built for a double-track railroad. The total length of the bridge is 910 feet
between the centres of the anchorage piers. The cantilevers rest on two
to pier, and each member composed of two parallel steel tubes.
Truss and truss arched bridges.—These, for the most part, are those quite
modern forms of iron or wooden bridges in which a supplementary frame
work, consisting of iron rods placed obliquely, vertically or diagonally, and
cemented together, and with the main horizontal beams either above or
below the same, to produce a stiff and rigid structure, calculated to resist
strain from all directions.
Previous to the 19th century, the greatest bridges being constructed mostly
of solid masonry piers and arches, no demand for a bridge of this kind
existed; but after the use of wrought iron and steel became extensive in
bridge making, and as these apparently light and airy frames may be
extended, piece by piece across the widest rivers, straits, and arms of the
sea, a substitute for the great, expensive, and frequent supporting piers
became a want, and was supplied by the system of trusses and truss arches.
The truss system has also been applied to the construction of vast modern
bridges in places where timber is accessible and cheap. Each different
system invented bears the name of its inventor. Thus, we have the Rider, the
Fink, the Bollman, the Whipple, the Howe, the Jones, the Linville, the
McCallum, Towne’s lattice and other systems.
What is called the cantilever system has of late years to a great extent
superseded the suspension construction. This consists of beams or girders
extending out from the opposite piers at an upward diagonal angle, and
meeting at the centre over the span, and there solidly connected together, or
to horizontal girders, in such manner that the compression load is thrown on
to the supporting piers, upward strains received at the centre, and side
deflections provided against. It is supposed that greater rigidity is obtained
by this means than by the suspension, and, like the suspension, great widths
may be spanned without an under supporting frame work. Two fine
examples of this type are found, one in a bridge across the Niagara adjacent
to the suspension bridge above described and one across the river Forth at
Queens Ferry in Scotland. The Niagara Bridge is a combination of cast steel
and iron. It was designed by C. C. Schneider and Edmund Hayes. It was
built for a double-track railroad. The total length of the bridge is 910 feet
between the centres of the anchorage piers. The cantilevers rest on two
Page 75
gigantic steel towers, standing on massive stone piers 39 feet high. The
clear span between the towers is 470 feet, and the height of the bridge, from
the mad rush of waters to the car track is 239 feet.
Messrs Fowler and Baker were the engineers of the Forth railway bridge. It
was begun in 1883 and finished in 1890. It is built nearly all of steel, and is
one of the most stupendous works of the kind. It crosses two channels
formed by the island of Inchgarvie, and each of the channel spans is 1710
feet in the clear and a clear headway of 150 feet under the bridge. Three
balanced cantilevers are employed, poised on four gigantic steel tube legs
supported on four huge masonry piers. The height of the bridge above the
piers is 330 feet. The cantilever portion has the appearance of a vast
elongated diamond. Steel lattice work of girders, forms the upper side of the
cantilever, while the under side consists of a hollow curve approaching in
form a quadrant of a circle drawn from the base of the legs or struts to the
ends of the cantilever.
Such is the growth of these great bridges with their tremendous spans
across which man is spinning his iron webs, that when seen at night with a
fiery engine pulling its thundering train across in the darkness, one is
reminded of Milton’s description, “over the dark abyss whose boiling gulf
tamely endured a bridge of wondrous length, from Hell continued, reaching
the utmost orb of this frail world.”
The lighthouses of the century, in masonry, do not greatly excel in general
principles those of preceding ones, as at Eddystone, designed by Smeaton.
Nicholas Douglass, however, invented a new system of dovetailing, and
great improvements have been made in the system of illuminating.
Lighthouses are also distinguished from those of preceding centuries by the
substitution of iron and cast steel for masonry. The first cast-iron lighthouse
was put up at Point Morant, Jamaica, in 1842. Since then they have taken
the form of iron skeleton towers.
One of the latest and most picturesque of lighthouses is that of Bartholdi’s
statue of Liberty enlightening the world, the gift of the French government
to the United States, framed by M. Eiffel, the great French engineer, and set
up by the United States at Bedloe’s Island in New York harbor. It consists of
copper plates on a network of iron. Although the statue is larger than any in
clear span between the towers is 470 feet, and the height of the bridge, from
the mad rush of waters to the car track is 239 feet.
Messrs Fowler and Baker were the engineers of the Forth railway bridge. It
was begun in 1883 and finished in 1890. It is built nearly all of steel, and is
one of the most stupendous works of the kind. It crosses two channels
formed by the island of Inchgarvie, and each of the channel spans is 1710
feet in the clear and a clear headway of 150 feet under the bridge. Three
balanced cantilevers are employed, poised on four gigantic steel tube legs
supported on four huge masonry piers. The height of the bridge above the
piers is 330 feet. The cantilever portion has the appearance of a vast
elongated diamond. Steel lattice work of girders, forms the upper side of the
cantilever, while the under side consists of a hollow curve approaching in
form a quadrant of a circle drawn from the base of the legs or struts to the
ends of the cantilever.
Such is the growth of these great bridges with their tremendous spans
across which man is spinning his iron webs, that when seen at night with a
fiery engine pulling its thundering train across in the darkness, one is
reminded of Milton’s description, “over the dark abyss whose boiling gulf
tamely endured a bridge of wondrous length, from Hell continued, reaching
the utmost orb of this frail world.”
The lighthouses of the century, in masonry, do not greatly excel in general
principles those of preceding ones, as at Eddystone, designed by Smeaton.
Nicholas Douglass, however, invented a new system of dovetailing, and
great improvements have been made in the system of illuminating.
Lighthouses are also distinguished from those of preceding centuries by the
substitution of iron and cast steel for masonry. The first cast-iron lighthouse
was put up at Point Morant, Jamaica, in 1842. Since then they have taken
the form of iron skeleton towers.
One of the latest and most picturesque of lighthouses is that of Bartholdi’s
statue of Liberty enlightening the world, the gift of the French government
to the United States, framed by M. Eiffel, the great French engineer, and set
up by the United States at Bedloe’s Island in New York harbor. It consists of
copper plates on a network of iron. Although the statue is larger than any in
Page 76
the world of such composite construction, its success as a lighthouse is not
as notable as many farther seaward.
In excavating, dredging and draining, the inventions of the century have
been very numerous, but, like numerous advances in the arts, such
inventions, so far as great works are concerned, have developed from and
are closely related to steam engineering.
The making of roads, railroads, canals and tunnels has called forth
thousands of ingenious mechanisms for their accomplishment. A half dozen
men with a steam-power excavator or dredger can in one day perform a
greater extent of work than could a thousand men and a thousand horses in
a single day a few generations ago.
An excavating machine consisting of steel knives to cut the earth, iron
scoops, buckets and dippers to scoop it up, endless chains or cranes to lift
them, actuated by steam, and operated by a single engineer, will excavate
cubic yards of earth by the minute and at a cost of but a few dollars a day.
Dredging machines of a great variety have been constructed. Drags and
scoops for elevating, and buckets, scrapers and shovels, and rotating knives
to first loosen the earth, suction pumps and pipes, which will suck great
quantities of the loosened earth through pipes to places to be filled—these
and kindred devices are now constantly employed to dig and excavate, to
deepen and widen rivers, to drain lands, to dig canals, to make harbours, to
fill up the waste places and to make courses for water in desert lands.
Inventions for the excavating of clay, piling and burning it in a crude state
for ballast for railways, are important, especially for those railways which
traverse areas where clay is plentiful, and stones and gravel are lacking.
Sinking shafts through quicksands by artificially freezing the sand, so as to
form a firm frozen wall immediately around the area where the shaft is to
be sunk, is a recent new idea.
Modern countries especially are waking up to the necessity of good roads,
not only as a necessary means of transportation, but as a pre-requisite to
decent civilisation in all respects. And, therefore, great activity has been had
in the last third of a century in invention of machines for finishing and
repairing roads.
as notable as many farther seaward.
In excavating, dredging and draining, the inventions of the century have
been very numerous, but, like numerous advances in the arts, such
inventions, so far as great works are concerned, have developed from and
are closely related to steam engineering.
The making of roads, railroads, canals and tunnels has called forth
thousands of ingenious mechanisms for their accomplishment. A half dozen
men with a steam-power excavator or dredger can in one day perform a
greater extent of work than could a thousand men and a thousand horses in
a single day a few generations ago.
An excavating machine consisting of steel knives to cut the earth, iron
scoops, buckets and dippers to scoop it up, endless chains or cranes to lift
them, actuated by steam, and operated by a single engineer, will excavate
cubic yards of earth by the minute and at a cost of but a few dollars a day.
Dredging machines of a great variety have been constructed. Drags and
scoops for elevating, and buckets, scrapers and shovels, and rotating knives
to first loosen the earth, suction pumps and pipes, which will suck great
quantities of the loosened earth through pipes to places to be filled—these
and kindred devices are now constantly employed to dig and excavate, to
deepen and widen rivers, to drain lands, to dig canals, to make harbours, to
fill up the waste places and to make courses for water in desert lands.
Inventions for the excavating of clay, piling and burning it in a crude state
for ballast for railways, are important, especially for those railways which
traverse areas where clay is plentiful, and stones and gravel are lacking.
Sinking shafts through quicksands by artificially freezing the sand, so as to
form a firm frozen wall immediately around the area where the shaft is to
be sunk, is a recent new idea.
Modern countries especially are waking up to the necessity of good roads,
not only as a necessary means of transportation, but as a pre-requisite to
decent civilisation in all respects. And, therefore, great activity has been had
in the last third of a century in invention of machines for finishing and
repairing roads.
Page 77
In the matter of sewer construction, regarded now so necessary in all
civilised cities and thickly-settled communities as one of the means of
proper sanitation, great improvements have been made in deep sewerage, in
which the work is largely performed below the surface and with little
obstruction to street traffic.
In connection with excavating and dredging machines, mention should be
made of those great works in the construction of which they bore such
important parts, as drainage and land reclamation, such as is seen in the
modern extensions of land reclamation in Holland, in the Haarlem lake
district in the North part of England, the swamps of Florida and the
drainage of the London district; in modern tunnels such as the Hoosac in
America and the three great ones through the Alps: the Mont Cenis, St.
Gothard, and Arlberg, the work in which developed an entirely new system
of engineering, by the application of newly-discovered explosives for
blasting, new rock-drilling machinery, new air-compressing machines for
driving the drill machines and ventilating the works, and new hydraulic and
pumping machinery for sinking shafts and pumping out the water.
The great canals, especially the Suez, developed a new system of canal
engineering. Thus by modern inventions of devices for digging and
blasting, dredging and draining and attendant operations, some of the
greatest works of man on earth have been produced, and evinced the
exercise of his highest inventive genius.
If one wishes an ocular demonstration of the wonders wrought in the 19th
century in the several domains of engineering, let him take a Pullman train
across the continent from New York to San Francisco. The distance is 3,000
miles and the time is four days and four nights. The car in which the
passenger finds himself is a marvel of woodwork and upholstery—a
description of the machinery and processes for producing which belongs to
other arts. The railroad tracks upon which the vehicle moves are in
themselves the results of many inventions. There is the width of the track,
and it was only after a long and expensive contest that countries and
corporations settled upon a uniform gauge. The common gauge of the
leading countries and roads is now 4 feet 8½ inches. A greater width is
known as a broad gauge, a less width as a narrow gauge. Then as to the rail:
first the wooden, then the iron and now the steel, and all of many shapes
civilised cities and thickly-settled communities as one of the means of
proper sanitation, great improvements have been made in deep sewerage, in
which the work is largely performed below the surface and with little
obstruction to street traffic.
In connection with excavating and dredging machines, mention should be
made of those great works in the construction of which they bore such
important parts, as drainage and land reclamation, such as is seen in the
modern extensions of land reclamation in Holland, in the Haarlem lake
district in the North part of England, the swamps of Florida and the
drainage of the London district; in modern tunnels such as the Hoosac in
America and the three great ones through the Alps: the Mont Cenis, St.
Gothard, and Arlberg, the work in which developed an entirely new system
of engineering, by the application of newly-discovered explosives for
blasting, new rock-drilling machinery, new air-compressing machines for
driving the drill machines and ventilating the works, and new hydraulic and
pumping machinery for sinking shafts and pumping out the water.
The great canals, especially the Suez, developed a new system of canal
engineering. Thus by modern inventions of devices for digging and
blasting, dredging and draining and attendant operations, some of the
greatest works of man on earth have been produced, and evinced the
exercise of his highest inventive genius.
If one wishes an ocular demonstration of the wonders wrought in the 19th
century in the several domains of engineering, let him take a Pullman train
across the continent from New York to San Francisco. The distance is 3,000
miles and the time is four days and four nights. The car in which the
passenger finds himself is a marvel of woodwork and upholstery—a
description of the machinery and processes for producing which belongs to
other arts. The railroad tracks upon which the vehicle moves are in
themselves the results of many inventions. There is the width of the track,
and it was only after a long and expensive contest that countries and
corporations settled upon a uniform gauge. The common gauge of the
leading countries and roads is now 4 feet 8½ inches. A greater width is
known as a broad gauge, a less width as a narrow gauge. Then as to the rail:
first the wooden, then the iron and now the steel, and all of many shapes
Page 78
and weights. The T-rail invented by Birkensaw in 1820, having two flanges
at the top to form a wide berth for the wheels of the rolling stock, the
vertical portion gripped by chairs which are spiked to the ties, is the best
known. Then the frogs, a V-shaped device by which the wheels are guided
from one line of rails to another, when they form angles with each other; the
car wheel made with a flange or flanges to fit the rail, and the railway gates,
ingenious contrivances that guard railway crossings and are operated
automatically by the passing trains, but more commonly by watchmen. The
car may be lighted with electricity, and as the train dashes along at the rate
of 30 to 80 miles an hour, it may be stopped in less than a minute by the
touch of the engineer on an air brake. Is it midwinter and are mountains of
snow encountered? They disappear before the railway snow-plough more
quickly than they came. It passes over bridges, through tunnels, across
viaducts, around the edges of mountain peaks, every mile revealing the
wondrous work of man’s inventive genius for encompassing the earth with
speed, safety and comfort. Over one-half million miles of these railway
tracks are on the earth’s surface to-day!
Not only has the railway superseded horse power in the matter of
transportation to a vast extent, but other modes of transportation are taking
the place of that useful animal. The old-fashioned stage coach, and then the
omnibus, were successively succeeded by the street car drawn by horses,
and then about twenty years ago the horse began to be withdrawn from that
work and the cable substituted.
Cable transportation developed from the art of making iron wire and steel
wire ropes or cables. And endless cables placed underground, conveyed
over rollers and supported on suitable yokes, and driven from a great central
power house, came into use, and to which the cars were connected by
ingeniously contrived lever grips—operated by the driver on the car. These
great cable constructions, expensive as they were, were found more
economical than horse power. In fact, there is no modernly discovered
practical motive power but what has been found less expensive both as to
time and money than horse power. But the cable for this purpose is now in
turn everywhere yielding to electricity, the great motor next to steam. The
overhead cable system for the transportation of materials of various
descriptions in carriers, also run by a central motor, is still very extensively
at the top to form a wide berth for the wheels of the rolling stock, the
vertical portion gripped by chairs which are spiked to the ties, is the best
known. Then the frogs, a V-shaped device by which the wheels are guided
from one line of rails to another, when they form angles with each other; the
car wheel made with a flange or flanges to fit the rail, and the railway gates,
ingenious contrivances that guard railway crossings and are operated
automatically by the passing trains, but more commonly by watchmen. The
car may be lighted with electricity, and as the train dashes along at the rate
of 30 to 80 miles an hour, it may be stopped in less than a minute by the
touch of the engineer on an air brake. Is it midwinter and are mountains of
snow encountered? They disappear before the railway snow-plough more
quickly than they came. It passes over bridges, through tunnels, across
viaducts, around the edges of mountain peaks, every mile revealing the
wondrous work of man’s inventive genius for encompassing the earth with
speed, safety and comfort. Over one-half million miles of these railway
tracks are on the earth’s surface to-day!
Not only has the railway superseded horse power in the matter of
transportation to a vast extent, but other modes of transportation are taking
the place of that useful animal. The old-fashioned stage coach, and then the
omnibus, were successively succeeded by the street car drawn by horses,
and then about twenty years ago the horse began to be withdrawn from that
work and the cable substituted.
Cable transportation developed from the art of making iron wire and steel
wire ropes or cables. And endless cables placed underground, conveyed
over rollers and supported on suitable yokes, and driven from a great central
power house, came into use, and to which the cars were connected by
ingeniously contrived lever grips—operated by the driver on the car. These
great cable constructions, expensive as they were, were found more
economical than horse power. In fact, there is no modernly discovered
practical motive power but what has been found less expensive both as to
time and money than horse power. But the cable for this purpose is now in
turn everywhere yielding to electricity, the great motor next to steam. The
overhead cable system for the transportation of materials of various
descriptions in carriers, also run by a central motor, is still very extensively
Page 79
used. The cable plan has also been tried with some success in the propelling
of canal boats.
Canals, themselves, although finding a most serious and in some localities
an entirely destructive rival in the railroad, have grown in size and
importance, and in appliances that have been substituted for the old-style
locks. The latest form of this device is what is known as the pneumatic
balance lock system.
It has been said by Octave Chanute that “Progress in civilisation may fairly
be said to be dependent upon the facilities for men to get about, upon their
intercourse with other men and nations, not only in order to supply their
mutual needs cheaply, but to learn from each other their wants, their
discoveries and their inventions.” Next to the power and means for moving
people, come the immense and wonderful inventions for lifting and loading,
such as cranes and derricks, means for coaling ships and steamers, for
handling and storing the great agricultural products, grain and hay, and that
modern wonder, the grain elevator, that dots the coasts of rivers, lakes and
seas, receives the vast stores of golden grain from thousands of steam cars
that come to it laden from distant plains and discharges it swiftly in
mountain loads into vessels and steamers to be carried to the multitudes
across the seas, and to satisfy that ever-continuing cry, “Give us this day our
daily bread.”
of canal boats.
Canals, themselves, although finding a most serious and in some localities
an entirely destructive rival in the railroad, have grown in size and
importance, and in appliances that have been substituted for the old-style
locks. The latest form of this device is what is known as the pneumatic
balance lock system.
It has been said by Octave Chanute that “Progress in civilisation may fairly
be said to be dependent upon the facilities for men to get about, upon their
intercourse with other men and nations, not only in order to supply their
mutual needs cheaply, but to learn from each other their wants, their
discoveries and their inventions.” Next to the power and means for moving
people, come the immense and wonderful inventions for lifting and loading,
such as cranes and derricks, means for coaling ships and steamers, for
handling and storing the great agricultural products, grain and hay, and that
modern wonder, the grain elevator, that dots the coasts of rivers, lakes and
seas, receives the vast stores of golden grain from thousands of steam cars
that come to it laden from distant plains and discharges it swiftly in
mountain loads into vessels and steamers to be carried to the multitudes
across the seas, and to satisfy that ever-continuing cry, “Give us this day our
daily bread.”
Page 80
CHAPTER IX.
ELECTRICITY.
In 1900 the real nature of electricity appears to be as unknown as it was in
1800.
Franklin in the eighteenth century defined electricity as consisting of
particles of matter incomparably more subtle than air, and which pervaded
all bodies. At the close of the nineteenth century electricity defined as
“simply a form of energy which imparts to material substances a peculiar
state or condition, and that all such substances partake more or less of this
condition.”
These theories and the late discovery of Hertz that electrical energy
manifests itself in the form of waves, oscillations or vibrations, similar to
light, but not so rapid as the vibrations of light, constitute about all that is
known about the nature of this force.
Franklin believed it was a single fluid, but others taught that there were two
kinds of electricity, positive and negative, that the like kinds were repulsive
and the unlike kinds attractive, and that when generated it flowed in
currents.
Such terms are not now regarded as representing actual varieties of this
force, but are retained as convenient modes of expression, for want of better
ones, as expressing the conditions or states of electricity when produced.
Electricity produced by friction, that is, developed upon the surface of a
body by rubbing it with a dissimilar body, and called frictional or static
electricity, was the only kind produced artificially in the days of Franklin.
What is known as galvanism, or animal electricity, also takes its date in the
18th century, to which further reference will be made. Since 1799 there
ELECTRICITY.
In 1900 the real nature of electricity appears to be as unknown as it was in
1800.
Franklin in the eighteenth century defined electricity as consisting of
particles of matter incomparably more subtle than air, and which pervaded
all bodies. At the close of the nineteenth century electricity defined as
“simply a form of energy which imparts to material substances a peculiar
state or condition, and that all such substances partake more or less of this
condition.”
These theories and the late discovery of Hertz that electrical energy
manifests itself in the form of waves, oscillations or vibrations, similar to
light, but not so rapid as the vibrations of light, constitute about all that is
known about the nature of this force.
Franklin believed it was a single fluid, but others taught that there were two
kinds of electricity, positive and negative, that the like kinds were repulsive
and the unlike kinds attractive, and that when generated it flowed in
currents.
Such terms are not now regarded as representing actual varieties of this
force, but are retained as convenient modes of expression, for want of better
ones, as expressing the conditions or states of electricity when produced.
Electricity produced by friction, that is, developed upon the surface of a
body by rubbing it with a dissimilar body, and called frictional or static
electricity, was the only kind produced artificially in the days of Franklin.
What is known as galvanism, or animal electricity, also takes its date in the
18th century, to which further reference will be made. Since 1799 there
Page 81
have been discovered additional sources, among which are voltaic
electricity, or electricity produced by chemical action, such as is manifested
when two dissimilar metals are brought near each other or together, and
electrical manifestations produced by a decomposing action, one upon the
other through a suitable medium; inductive electricity, or electricity
developed or induced in one body by its proximity to another body through
which a current is flowing; magnetic electricity, the conversion of the
power of a magnet into electric force, and the reverse of this, the production
of magnetic force by a current of electricity; and thermal electricity, or that
generated by heat. Electricity developed by these, or other means in contra-
distinction to that produced by friction, has been called dynamic; but all
electric force is now regarded as dynamic, in the sense that forces are
always in motion and never at rest.
Many of the manifestations and experiments in later day fields which, by
reason of their production by different means, have been given the names of
discovery and invention, had become known to Franklin and others, by
means of the old methods in frictional electricity. They are all, however, but
different routes leading to the same goal. In the midst of the brilliant
discoveries of modern times confronting us on every side we should not
forget the honourable efforts of the fathers of the science.
We need not dwell on what the ancients produced in this line. It was a
single fact only:—The Greeks discovered that amber, a resinous substance,
when rubbed would attract lighter bodies to it.
In 1600 appeared the father of modern electricity—Dr. Gilbert of
Colchester, physician to Queen Elizabeth. He revived the one experiment of
antiquity, and added to it the further fact that many substances besides
amber, when rubbed, would manifest the same electric condition, such as
sulphur, sapphire, wax, glass and other bodies. And thus he opened the field
of electrodes. He was the first to use the terms, electricity, electric and
electrode, which he derived from the word elektron, the Greek name for
amber. He observed the actions of magnets, and conjectured the
fundamental identity of magnetism and electricity. He arranged an
electrometer, consisting of an iron needle poised on a pivot, by which to
note the action of the magnet. This was about the time that Otto von
Guericke of Magdeburg, Germany, was born. He became a “natural”
electricity, or electricity produced by chemical action, such as is manifested
when two dissimilar metals are brought near each other or together, and
electrical manifestations produced by a decomposing action, one upon the
other through a suitable medium; inductive electricity, or electricity
developed or induced in one body by its proximity to another body through
which a current is flowing; magnetic electricity, the conversion of the
power of a magnet into electric force, and the reverse of this, the production
of magnetic force by a current of electricity; and thermal electricity, or that
generated by heat. Electricity developed by these, or other means in contra-
distinction to that produced by friction, has been called dynamic; but all
electric force is now regarded as dynamic, in the sense that forces are
always in motion and never at rest.
Many of the manifestations and experiments in later day fields which, by
reason of their production by different means, have been given the names of
discovery and invention, had become known to Franklin and others, by
means of the old methods in frictional electricity. They are all, however, but
different routes leading to the same goal. In the midst of the brilliant
discoveries of modern times confronting us on every side we should not
forget the honourable efforts of the fathers of the science.
We need not dwell on what the ancients produced in this line. It was a
single fact only:—The Greeks discovered that amber, a resinous substance,
when rubbed would attract lighter bodies to it.
In 1600 appeared the father of modern electricity—Dr. Gilbert of
Colchester, physician to Queen Elizabeth. He revived the one experiment of
antiquity, and added to it the further fact that many substances besides
amber, when rubbed, would manifest the same electric condition, such as
sulphur, sapphire, wax, glass and other bodies. And thus he opened the field
of electrodes. He was the first to use the terms, electricity, electric and
electrode, which he derived from the word elektron, the Greek name for
amber. He observed the actions of magnets, and conjectured the
fundamental identity of magnetism and electricity. He arranged an
electrometer, consisting of an iron needle poised on a pivot, by which to
note the action of the magnet. This was about the time that Otto von
Guericke of Magdeburg, Germany, was born. He became a “natural”
Page 82
philosopher, and for thirty-five years was burgomaster of his native town.
He invented the air-pump, and he it was who illustrated the force of
atmospheric pressure by fitting together two hollow brass hemispheres
which, after the air within them had been exhausted, could not be pulled
apart. He also invented a barometer, and as an astronomer suggested that
the return of comets might be calculated. He invented and constructed the
first machine for generating electricity. It consisted of a ball of sulphur
rotated on an axis, and which was electrified by friction of the hand, the ball
receiving negative electricity while the positive flowed through the person
to the earth. With this machine “he heard the first sound and saw the first
light in artificially excited electricity.” The machine was improved by Sir
Isaac Newton and others, and before the close of that century was put into
substantially its present form of a round glass plate rotated between
insulated leather cushions coated with an amalgam of tin and zinc, the
positive or vitreous electricity thus developed being accumulated on two
large hollow brass cylinders with globular ends, supported on glass pillars.
Gray in 1729 discovered the conductive power of certain substances, and
that the electrical influence could be conveyed to a distance by means of an
insulated wire. This was the first step towards the electric telegraph.
Dufay, the French philosopher and author, who in 1733-1737 wrote the
Memoirs of the French Academy, was, it seems, the first to observe
electrical attractions and repulsions; that electrified resinous substances
repelled like substances while they attracted bodies electrified by contact
with glass; and he, therefore, to the latter applied the term vitreous
electricity and to the former the term resinous electricity. In 1745 Prof.
Muschenbroeck of Leyden University developed the celebrated Leyden jar.
This is a glass jar coated both inside and outside with tinfoil for about four-
fifths of its height. Its mouth is closed with a cork through which is passed a
metallic rod, terminating above in a knob and connected below with the
inner coating by a chain or a piece of tinfoil. If the inner coating be
connected with an electrical machine and the outer coating with the earth, a
current of electricity is established, and the inner coating receives what is
called a positive and the outer coating a negative charge. On connecting the
two surfaces by means of a metallic discharger having a non-conducting
handle a spark is obtained. Thus the Leyden jar is both a collector and a
condenser of electricity. On arranging a series of such jars and joining their
He invented the air-pump, and he it was who illustrated the force of
atmospheric pressure by fitting together two hollow brass hemispheres
which, after the air within them had been exhausted, could not be pulled
apart. He also invented a barometer, and as an astronomer suggested that
the return of comets might be calculated. He invented and constructed the
first machine for generating electricity. It consisted of a ball of sulphur
rotated on an axis, and which was electrified by friction of the hand, the ball
receiving negative electricity while the positive flowed through the person
to the earth. With this machine “he heard the first sound and saw the first
light in artificially excited electricity.” The machine was improved by Sir
Isaac Newton and others, and before the close of that century was put into
substantially its present form of a round glass plate rotated between
insulated leather cushions coated with an amalgam of tin and zinc, the
positive or vitreous electricity thus developed being accumulated on two
large hollow brass cylinders with globular ends, supported on glass pillars.
Gray in 1729 discovered the conductive power of certain substances, and
that the electrical influence could be conveyed to a distance by means of an
insulated wire. This was the first step towards the electric telegraph.
Dufay, the French philosopher and author, who in 1733-1737 wrote the
Memoirs of the French Academy, was, it seems, the first to observe
electrical attractions and repulsions; that electrified resinous substances
repelled like substances while they attracted bodies electrified by contact
with glass; and he, therefore, to the latter applied the term vitreous
electricity and to the former the term resinous electricity. In 1745 Prof.
Muschenbroeck of Leyden University developed the celebrated Leyden jar.
This is a glass jar coated both inside and outside with tinfoil for about four-
fifths of its height. Its mouth is closed with a cork through which is passed a
metallic rod, terminating above in a knob and connected below with the
inner coating by a chain or a piece of tinfoil. If the inner coating be
connected with an electrical machine and the outer coating with the earth, a
current of electricity is established, and the inner coating receives what is
called a positive and the outer coating a negative charge. On connecting the
two surfaces by means of a metallic discharger having a non-conducting
handle a spark is obtained. Thus the Leyden jar is both a collector and a
condenser of electricity. On arranging a series of such jars and joining their
Page 83
outer and inner surfaces, and connecting the series with an electrical
machine, a battery is obtained of greater or less power according to the
number of jars employed and the extent of supply from the machine.
The principle of the Leyden jar was discovered by accident. Cuneus, a pupil
of Muschenbroeck, was one day trying to charge some water in a glass
bottle with electricity by connecting it with a chain to the sparking knob of
an electrical machine. Holding the bottle in one hand he arranged the chain
with the other, and received a violent shock. His teacher then tried the
experiment himself, with a still livelier and more convincing result,
whereupon he declared that he would not repeat the trial for the whole
Kingdom of France.
When the science of static electricity was thus far developed, with a
machine for generating it and a collector to receive it, many experiments
followed. Charles Morrison in 1753, in the Scots Magazine, proposed a
telegraph system of insulated wires with a corresponding number of
characters to be signalled between two stations. Other schemes were
proposed at different times down to the close of the century.
Franklin records among several other experiments with frictional electricity
accumulated by the Leyden jar battery the following results, produced
chiefly by himself: The existence of an attractive and a repulsive action of
electricity; the restoration of the equilibrium of electrical force between
electrified and non-electrified bodies, or between bodies differently
supplied with the force; the electroscope, a body charged with electricity
and used to indicate the presence and condition of electricity in another
body; the production of work, as the turning of wheels, by which it was
proposed a spit for roasting meat might be formed, and the ringing of
chimes by a wheel, which was done; the firing of gunpowder, the firing of
wood, resin and spirits; the drawing off a charge from electrified bodies at a
near distance by pointed rods; the heating and melting of metals; the
production of light; the magnetising of needles and of bars of iron, giving
rise to the analogy of magnetism and electricity.
Franklin, who had gone thus far, and who also had drawn the lightning from
the clouds, identified it as electricity, and taught the mode of its subjection,
felt chagrined that more had not been done with this subtle agent in the
machine, a battery is obtained of greater or less power according to the
number of jars employed and the extent of supply from the machine.
The principle of the Leyden jar was discovered by accident. Cuneus, a pupil
of Muschenbroeck, was one day trying to charge some water in a glass
bottle with electricity by connecting it with a chain to the sparking knob of
an electrical machine. Holding the bottle in one hand he arranged the chain
with the other, and received a violent shock. His teacher then tried the
experiment himself, with a still livelier and more convincing result,
whereupon he declared that he would not repeat the trial for the whole
Kingdom of France.
When the science of static electricity was thus far developed, with a
machine for generating it and a collector to receive it, many experiments
followed. Charles Morrison in 1753, in the Scots Magazine, proposed a
telegraph system of insulated wires with a corresponding number of
characters to be signalled between two stations. Other schemes were
proposed at different times down to the close of the century.
Franklin records among several other experiments with frictional electricity
accumulated by the Leyden jar battery the following results, produced
chiefly by himself: The existence of an attractive and a repulsive action of
electricity; the restoration of the equilibrium of electrical force between
electrified and non-electrified bodies, or between bodies differently
supplied with the force; the electroscope, a body charged with electricity
and used to indicate the presence and condition of electricity in another
body; the production of work, as the turning of wheels, by which it was
proposed a spit for roasting meat might be formed, and the ringing of
chimes by a wheel, which was done; the firing of gunpowder, the firing of
wood, resin and spirits; the drawing off a charge from electrified bodies at a
near distance by pointed rods; the heating and melting of metals; the
production of light; the magnetising of needles and of bars of iron, giving
rise to the analogy of magnetism and electricity.
Franklin, who had gone thus far, and who also had drawn the lightning from
the clouds, identified it as electricity, and taught the mode of its subjection,
felt chagrined that more had not been done with this subtle agent in the
Page 84
service of man. He believed, however, that the day-spring of science was
opening, and he seemed to have caught some reflection of its coming light.
Observing the return to life and activity of some flies long imprisoned in a
bottle of Madeira wine and which he restored by exposure to the sun and
air, he wrote that he should like to be immersed at death with a few friends
in a cask of Madeira, to be recalled to life a hundred years thence to observe
the state of his country. It would not have been necessary for him to have
been embalmed that length of time to have witnessed some great
developments of his favorite science. He died in 1790, and it has been said
that there was more real progress in this science in the first decade of the
nineteenth century than in all previous centuries put together.
Before opening the door of the 19th century, let us glance at one more
experiment in the 18th:
While the aged Franklin was dying, Dr. Luigi Galvani of Bologna, an
Italian physician, medical lecturer, and learned author, was preparing for
publication his celebrated work, De viribus Electricitatis in Motu Musculari
Commentarius, in which he described his discovery made a few years
before of the action of the electric current on the legs and spinal column of
a frog hung on a copper nail. This discovery at once excited the attention of
scientists, but in the absence of any immediate practical results the
multitude dubbed him the “frog philosopher.” He proceeded with his
experiments on animals and animal matter, and developed the doctrine and
theories of what is known as animal or galvanic electricity. His fellow
countryman and contemporary, Prof. Volta of Pavia, took decided issue with
Galvani and maintained that the pretended animal electricity was nothing
but electricity developed by the contact of two different metals. Subsequent
investigations and discoveries have established the fact that both theories
have truth for their basis, and that electricity is developed both by muscular
and nervous energy as well as by chemical action. In 1799 Volta invented
his celebrated pile, consisting of alternate disks of copper and zinc
separated by a cloth moistened with a dilute acid; and soon after an
arrangement of cups—each containing a dilute acid and a copper and a zinc
plate placed a little distance apart, and thus dispensing with the cloth. In
both instances he connected the end plate of one kind with the opposite end
plate of the other kind by a wire, and in both arrangements produced a
current of electricity. To the discoveries, experiments, and disputes of
opening, and he seemed to have caught some reflection of its coming light.
Observing the return to life and activity of some flies long imprisoned in a
bottle of Madeira wine and which he restored by exposure to the sun and
air, he wrote that he should like to be immersed at death with a few friends
in a cask of Madeira, to be recalled to life a hundred years thence to observe
the state of his country. It would not have been necessary for him to have
been embalmed that length of time to have witnessed some great
developments of his favorite science. He died in 1790, and it has been said
that there was more real progress in this science in the first decade of the
nineteenth century than in all previous centuries put together.
Before opening the door of the 19th century, let us glance at one more
experiment in the 18th:
While the aged Franklin was dying, Dr. Luigi Galvani of Bologna, an
Italian physician, medical lecturer, and learned author, was preparing for
publication his celebrated work, De viribus Electricitatis in Motu Musculari
Commentarius, in which he described his discovery made a few years
before of the action of the electric current on the legs and spinal column of
a frog hung on a copper nail. This discovery at once excited the attention of
scientists, but in the absence of any immediate practical results the
multitude dubbed him the “frog philosopher.” He proceeded with his
experiments on animals and animal matter, and developed the doctrine and
theories of what is known as animal or galvanic electricity. His fellow
countryman and contemporary, Prof. Volta of Pavia, took decided issue with
Galvani and maintained that the pretended animal electricity was nothing
but electricity developed by the contact of two different metals. Subsequent
investigations and discoveries have established the fact that both theories
have truth for their basis, and that electricity is developed both by muscular
and nervous energy as well as by chemical action. In 1799 Volta invented
his celebrated pile, consisting of alternate disks of copper and zinc
separated by a cloth moistened with a dilute acid; and soon after an
arrangement of cups—each containing a dilute acid and a copper and a zinc
plate placed a little distance apart, and thus dispensing with the cloth. In
both instances he connected the end plate of one kind with the opposite end
plate of the other kind by a wire, and in both arrangements produced a
current of electricity. To the discoveries, experiments, and disputes of
Page 85
Galvani and Volta and to those of their respective adherents, the way was
opened to the splendid electrical inventions of the century, and the
discovery of a new world of light, heat, speech and power. The discoveries
of Galvani and Volta at once set leading scientists at work. Fabroni of
Florence, and Sir Humphry Davy and Wollaston of England, commenced
interesting experiments, showing that rapid oxidation and chemical
decomposition of the metals took place in the voltaic pile.
By the discoveries of Galvani the physicians and physiologists were greatly
excited, and believed that by this new vital power the nature of all kinds of
nervous diseases could be explored and the remedy applied. Volta’s
discovery excited the chemists. If two dissimilar metals could be
decomposed and power at the same time produced they contended that
practical work might be done with the force. In 1800 Nicholson and Carlisle
decomposed water by passing the electric current through the same; Ritter
decomposed copper sulphate, and Davy decomposed the alkalies, potash
and soda. Thus the art of electrolysis—the decomposition of substances by
the galvanic current, was established. Later Faraday laid down its laws.
Naturally inventions sprung up in new forms of batteries. The pile and cup
battery of Volta had been succeeded by the trough battery—a long box
filled with separated plates set in dilute acid. The trough battery was used
by Sir Humphry Davy in his series of great experiments—1806-1808—in
which he isolated the metallic bases, calcium, sodium, potassium, etc. It
consisted of 2000 double plates of copper and zinc, each having a surface of
32 square inches. With this same trough battery Davy in 1812 produced the
first electric carbon light, the bright herald of later glories.
Among the most noted new batteries were Daniell’s, Grove’s and Bunsen’s.
They are called the “two fluid batteries,” because in place of a single
acidulated bath in which the dissimilar metals were before placed, two
different liquid solutions were employed.
John Frederick Daniell of London, noted for his great work, Meteorological
Essays, and other scientific publications, and as Professor of Chemistry in
King’s College, in 1836, described how a powerful and constant current of
electricity may be continued for an unlimited period by a battery composed
of zinc standing in an acid solution and a sheet of copper in a solution of
sulphate of copper.
opened to the splendid electrical inventions of the century, and the
discovery of a new world of light, heat, speech and power. The discoveries
of Galvani and Volta at once set leading scientists at work. Fabroni of
Florence, and Sir Humphry Davy and Wollaston of England, commenced
interesting experiments, showing that rapid oxidation and chemical
decomposition of the metals took place in the voltaic pile.
By the discoveries of Galvani the physicians and physiologists were greatly
excited, and believed that by this new vital power the nature of all kinds of
nervous diseases could be explored and the remedy applied. Volta’s
discovery excited the chemists. If two dissimilar metals could be
decomposed and power at the same time produced they contended that
practical work might be done with the force. In 1800 Nicholson and Carlisle
decomposed water by passing the electric current through the same; Ritter
decomposed copper sulphate, and Davy decomposed the alkalies, potash
and soda. Thus the art of electrolysis—the decomposition of substances by
the galvanic current, was established. Later Faraday laid down its laws.
Naturally inventions sprung up in new forms of batteries. The pile and cup
battery of Volta had been succeeded by the trough battery—a long box
filled with separated plates set in dilute acid. The trough battery was used
by Sir Humphry Davy in his series of great experiments—1806-1808—in
which he isolated the metallic bases, calcium, sodium, potassium, etc. It
consisted of 2000 double plates of copper and zinc, each having a surface of
32 square inches. With this same trough battery Davy in 1812 produced the
first electric carbon light, the bright herald of later glories.
Among the most noted new batteries were Daniell’s, Grove’s and Bunsen’s.
They are called the “two fluid batteries,” because in place of a single
acidulated bath in which the dissimilar metals were before placed, two
different liquid solutions were employed.
John Frederick Daniell of London, noted for his great work, Meteorological
Essays, and other scientific publications, and as Professor of Chemistry in
King’s College, in 1836, described how a powerful and constant current of
electricity may be continued for an unlimited period by a battery composed
of zinc standing in an acid solution and a sheet of copper in a solution of
sulphate of copper.
Page 86
Sir William Robert Grove, first an English physician, then an eminent
lawyer, and then a professor of natural philosophy, and the first to announce
the great theory of the Correlation of Physical Forces, in 1839 produced his
battery, much more powerful than any previous one, and still in general use.
In it zinc and platinum are the metals used—the zinc bent into cylindrical
form and placed in a glass jar containing a weak solution of sulphuric acid,
while the platinum stands in a porous jar holding strong nitric acid and
surrounded by the zinc. Among the electrical discoveries of Grove were the
decomposition by electricity of water into free oxygen and hydrogen, the
electricity of the flame of the blow-pipe, electrical action produced by
proximity, without contact, of dissimilar metals, molecular movements
induced in metals by the electric current, and the conversion of electricity
into mechanical force.
Robert Wilhelm Bunsen, a German chemist and philosopher and scientific
writer, who invented some of the most important aids to scientific research
of the century, who constructed the best working chemical laboratory on the
continent and founded the most celebrated schools of chemistry in Europe,
invented a battery, sometimes called the carbon battery, in which the
expensive pole of platinum in the Grove battery is replaced by one of
carbon. It was found that this combination gave a greater current than that
of zinc and platinum.
A great variety of useful voltaic batteries have since been devised by others,
too numerous to be mentioned here. There is another form of battery having
for its object the storing of energy by electrolysis, and liberating it when
desired, in the form of an electric current, and known as an accumulator, or
secondary, polarization, or storage battery. Prof. Ritter had noticed that the
two plates of metal which furnished the electric current, when placed in the
acid liquid and united, could in themselves furnish a current, and the
inventing of storage batteries was thus produced. The principal ones of this
class are Gustave Planté’s of 1860 and M. Camille Faure’s of 1880. These
have still further been improved. Still another form are the thermo-electric
batteries, in which the electro-motive force is produced by the joining of
two different metals, connecting them by a wire and heating their junctions.
Thus, an electric current is obtained directly from heat, without going
through the intermediate processes of boiling water to produce steam, using
lawyer, and then a professor of natural philosophy, and the first to announce
the great theory of the Correlation of Physical Forces, in 1839 produced his
battery, much more powerful than any previous one, and still in general use.
In it zinc and platinum are the metals used—the zinc bent into cylindrical
form and placed in a glass jar containing a weak solution of sulphuric acid,
while the platinum stands in a porous jar holding strong nitric acid and
surrounded by the zinc. Among the electrical discoveries of Grove were the
decomposition by electricity of water into free oxygen and hydrogen, the
electricity of the flame of the blow-pipe, electrical action produced by
proximity, without contact, of dissimilar metals, molecular movements
induced in metals by the electric current, and the conversion of electricity
into mechanical force.
Robert Wilhelm Bunsen, a German chemist and philosopher and scientific
writer, who invented some of the most important aids to scientific research
of the century, who constructed the best working chemical laboratory on the
continent and founded the most celebrated schools of chemistry in Europe,
invented a battery, sometimes called the carbon battery, in which the
expensive pole of platinum in the Grove battery is replaced by one of
carbon. It was found that this combination gave a greater current than that
of zinc and platinum.
A great variety of useful voltaic batteries have since been devised by others,
too numerous to be mentioned here. There is another form of battery having
for its object the storing of energy by electrolysis, and liberating it when
desired, in the form of an electric current, and known as an accumulator, or
secondary, polarization, or storage battery. Prof. Ritter had noticed that the
two plates of metal which furnished the electric current, when placed in the
acid liquid and united, could in themselves furnish a current, and the
inventing of storage batteries was thus produced. The principal ones of this
class are Gustave Planté’s of 1860 and M. Camille Faure’s of 1880. These
have still further been improved. Still another form are the thermo-electric
batteries, in which the electro-motive force is produced by the joining of
two different metals, connecting them by a wire and heating their junctions.
Thus, an electric current is obtained directly from heat, without going
through the intermediate processes of boiling water to produce steam, using
Page 87
this steam to drive an engine, and using this engine to turn a dynamo
machine to produce power.
But let us retrace our steps:—As previously stated, Franklin had
experimented with frictional electricity on needles, and had magnetised and
polarised them and noticed their deflection; and Lesage had established an
experimental telegraph at Geneva by the same kind of electricity more than
a hundred years ago. But frictional electricity could not be transmitted with
power over long distances, and was for practical purposes uncontrollable by
reason of its great diffusion over surfaces, while voltaic electricity was
found to be more intense and could be developed with great power along a
wire for any distance. Fine wires had been heated and even melted by
Franklin by frictional electricity, and now Ritter, Pfaff and others observed
the same effect produced on the conducting wires by a voltaic current; and
Curtet, on closing the passage with a piece of charcoal, produced a brilliant
light, which was followed by Davy’s light already mentioned.
As early as 1802 an Italian savant, Gian D. Romagnosi of Trent, learning of
Volta’s discovery, observed and announced in a public print the deflection
of the magnetic needle when placed near a parallel conductor of the
galvanic current. In the years 1819 and 1820 so many brilliant discoveries
and inventions were made by eminent men, independently and together, and
at such near and distant places, that it is hard telling who and which was
first. It was in 1819 that the celebrated Danish physicist, Oersted of
Copenhagen, rediscovered the phenomena that the voltaic current would
deflect a magnetic needle, and that the needle would turn at right angles to
the wire. In 1820 Prof. S. C. Schweigger of Halle discovered that this
deflecting force was increased when the wire was wound several times
round the needle, and thus he invented the magnetising helix. He also then
invented a galvano-magnetic indicator (a single-wire circuit) by giving the
insulated wire a number of turns around an elongated frame longitudinally
enclosing the compass needle, thus multiplying the effect of the current
upon the sensitive needle, and converting it into a practical measuring
instrument—known as the galvanometer, and used to observe the strength
of currents. In the same year Arago found that iron filings were attracted by
a voltaic charged wire; and Arago and Davy that a piece of soft iron
surrounded spirally by a wire through which such a current was passed
would become magnetic, attract to it other metals while in that condition,
machine to produce power.
But let us retrace our steps:—As previously stated, Franklin had
experimented with frictional electricity on needles, and had magnetised and
polarised them and noticed their deflection; and Lesage had established an
experimental telegraph at Geneva by the same kind of electricity more than
a hundred years ago. But frictional electricity could not be transmitted with
power over long distances, and was for practical purposes uncontrollable by
reason of its great diffusion over surfaces, while voltaic electricity was
found to be more intense and could be developed with great power along a
wire for any distance. Fine wires had been heated and even melted by
Franklin by frictional electricity, and now Ritter, Pfaff and others observed
the same effect produced on the conducting wires by a voltaic current; and
Curtet, on closing the passage with a piece of charcoal, produced a brilliant
light, which was followed by Davy’s light already mentioned.
As early as 1802 an Italian savant, Gian D. Romagnosi of Trent, learning of
Volta’s discovery, observed and announced in a public print the deflection
of the magnetic needle when placed near a parallel conductor of the
galvanic current. In the years 1819 and 1820 so many brilliant discoveries
and inventions were made by eminent men, independently and together, and
at such near and distant places, that it is hard telling who and which was
first. It was in 1819 that the celebrated Danish physicist, Oersted of
Copenhagen, rediscovered the phenomena that the voltaic current would
deflect a magnetic needle, and that the needle would turn at right angles to
the wire. In 1820 Prof. S. C. Schweigger of Halle discovered that this
deflecting force was increased when the wire was wound several times
round the needle, and thus he invented the magnetising helix. He also then
invented a galvano-magnetic indicator (a single-wire circuit) by giving the
insulated wire a number of turns around an elongated frame longitudinally
enclosing the compass needle, thus multiplying the effect of the current
upon the sensitive needle, and converting it into a practical measuring
instrument—known as the galvanometer, and used to observe the strength
of currents. In the same year Arago found that iron filings were attracted by
a voltaic charged wire; and Arago and Davy that a piece of soft iron
surrounded spirally by a wire through which such a current was passed
would become magnetic, attract to it other metals while in that condition,
Page 88
immediately drop them the instant the current ceased, and that such current
would permanently magnetise a steel bar. The elements of the electro-
magnet had thus been produced. It was in that year that Ampère discovered
that magnetism is the circulation of currents of electricity at right angles to
the axis of the needle or bar joining the two poles of the magnet. He then
laid down the laws of interaction between magnets and electrical currents,
and in this same year he proposed an electric-magneto telegraph consisting
of the combination of a voltaic battery, conducting wires, and magnetic
needles, one needle for each letter of the alphabet.
The discoveries of Ampère as to the laws of electricity have been likened to
the discovery of Newton of the law of gravitation.
Still no practical result, that is, no useful machine, had been produced by
the electro-magnet.
In 1825 Sturgeon of England bent a piece of wire into the shape of a horse-
shoe, insulated it with a coating of sealing wax, wound a fine copper wire
around it, thus making a helix, passed a galvanic current through the helix,
and thus invented the first practical electro-magnet. But Sturgeon’s magnet
was weak, and could not transmit power for more than fifty feet. Already,
however, it had been urged that Sturgeon’s magnet could be used for
telegraphic purposes, and a futile trial was made. In the field during this
decade also labored the German professors Gauss and Weber, and Baron
Schilling of Russia. In 1829 Prof. Barlow of England published an article in
which he summarised what had been done, and scientifically demonstrated
to his own satisfaction that an electro-magnetic telegraph was
impracticable, and his conclusion was accepted by the scientific world as a
fact. This was, however, not the first nor the last time that scientific men
had predicted impracticabilities with electricity which afterwards
blossomed into full success. But even before Prof. Barlow was thus arriving
at his discouraging conclusion, Prof. Joseph Henry at the Albany Institute in
the State of New York had commenced experiments which resulted in the
complete and successful demonstration of the power of electro-magnetism
for not only telegraph purposes but for almost every advancement that has
since been had in this branch of physics. In March 1829 he exhibited at his
Institute the magnetic “spool” or “bobbin,” that form of coil composed of
tightly-wound, silk-covered wire which he had constructed, and which since
would permanently magnetise a steel bar. The elements of the electro-
magnet had thus been produced. It was in that year that Ampère discovered
that magnetism is the circulation of currents of electricity at right angles to
the axis of the needle or bar joining the two poles of the magnet. He then
laid down the laws of interaction between magnets and electrical currents,
and in this same year he proposed an electric-magneto telegraph consisting
of the combination of a voltaic battery, conducting wires, and magnetic
needles, one needle for each letter of the alphabet.
The discoveries of Ampère as to the laws of electricity have been likened to
the discovery of Newton of the law of gravitation.
Still no practical result, that is, no useful machine, had been produced by
the electro-magnet.
In 1825 Sturgeon of England bent a piece of wire into the shape of a horse-
shoe, insulated it with a coating of sealing wax, wound a fine copper wire
around it, thus making a helix, passed a galvanic current through the helix,
and thus invented the first practical electro-magnet. But Sturgeon’s magnet
was weak, and could not transmit power for more than fifty feet. Already,
however, it had been urged that Sturgeon’s magnet could be used for
telegraphic purposes, and a futile trial was made. In the field during this
decade also labored the German professors Gauss and Weber, and Baron
Schilling of Russia. In 1829 Prof. Barlow of England published an article in
which he summarised what had been done, and scientifically demonstrated
to his own satisfaction that an electro-magnetic telegraph was
impracticable, and his conclusion was accepted by the scientific world as a
fact. This was, however, not the first nor the last time that scientific men
had predicted impracticabilities with electricity which afterwards
blossomed into full success. But even before Prof. Barlow was thus arriving
at his discouraging conclusion, Prof. Joseph Henry at the Albany Institute in
the State of New York had commenced experiments which resulted in the
complete and successful demonstration of the power of electro-magnetism
for not only telegraph purposes but for almost every advancement that has
since been had in this branch of physics. In March 1829 he exhibited at his
Institute the magnetic “spool” or “bobbin,” that form of coil composed of
tightly-wound, silk-covered wire which he had constructed, and which since
Page 89
has been universally employed for nearly every application of electro-
magnetism, of induction, or of magneto-electrics. And in the same year and
in 1830 he produced those powerful magnets through which the energy of a
galvanic battery was used to lift hundreds of tons of weight.
In view of all the facts now historically established, there can be no doubt
that previous to Henry’s experiments the means for developing magnetism
in soft iron were imperfectly understood, and that, as found by Prof.
Barlow, the electro-magnet which then existed was inapplicable and
impracticable for the transmission of power to a distance. Prof. Henry was
the first to prove that a galvanic battery of “intensity” must be employed to
project the current through a long conductor, and that a magnet of one long
wire must be used to receive this current; the first to magnetise a piece of
soft iron at a distance and call attention to its applicability to the telegraph;
the first to actually sound a bell at a distance by means of the electro-
magnet; and the first to show that the principles he developed were
applicable and necessary to the practical operation of an effective telegraph
system.
Sturgeon, the parent of the electro-magnet, on learning of Henry’s
discoveries and inventions, wrote: “Professor Henry has been enabled to
produce a magnetic force which totally eclipses every other in the whole
annals of magnetism; and no parallel is to be found since the miraculous
suspension of the celebrated oriental impostor in his iron coffin.”
(Philosophical Magazine and Annals, 1832.)
The third decade was now prepared for the development of the telegraph.
As to the telegraph in its broadest sense, as a means for conveying
intelligence to a distance quickly and without a messenger, successful
experiments of that kind have existed from the earliest times:—from the
signal fires of the ancients; from the flag signals between ships at sea,
introduced in the seventeenth century by the Duke of York, then Admiral of
the English fleet, and afterwards James II of England; from the semaphore
telegraph of M. Chappe, adopted by the French government in 1794,
consisting of bars pivoted to an upright stationary post, and made to swing
vertically or horizontally to indicate certain signals; and from many other
forms of earlier and later days.
magnetism, of induction, or of magneto-electrics. And in the same year and
in 1830 he produced those powerful magnets through which the energy of a
galvanic battery was used to lift hundreds of tons of weight.
In view of all the facts now historically established, there can be no doubt
that previous to Henry’s experiments the means for developing magnetism
in soft iron were imperfectly understood, and that, as found by Prof.
Barlow, the electro-magnet which then existed was inapplicable and
impracticable for the transmission of power to a distance. Prof. Henry was
the first to prove that a galvanic battery of “intensity” must be employed to
project the current through a long conductor, and that a magnet of one long
wire must be used to receive this current; the first to magnetise a piece of
soft iron at a distance and call attention to its applicability to the telegraph;
the first to actually sound a bell at a distance by means of the electro-
magnet; and the first to show that the principles he developed were
applicable and necessary to the practical operation of an effective telegraph
system.
Sturgeon, the parent of the electro-magnet, on learning of Henry’s
discoveries and inventions, wrote: “Professor Henry has been enabled to
produce a magnetic force which totally eclipses every other in the whole
annals of magnetism; and no parallel is to be found since the miraculous
suspension of the celebrated oriental impostor in his iron coffin.”
(Philosophical Magazine and Annals, 1832.)
The third decade was now prepared for the development of the telegraph.
As to the telegraph in its broadest sense, as a means for conveying
intelligence to a distance quickly and without a messenger, successful
experiments of that kind have existed from the earliest times:—from the
signal fires of the ancients; from the flag signals between ships at sea,
introduced in the seventeenth century by the Duke of York, then Admiral of
the English fleet, and afterwards James II of England; from the semaphore
telegraph of M. Chappe, adopted by the French government in 1794,
consisting of bars pivoted to an upright stationary post, and made to swing
vertically or horizontally to indicate certain signals; and from many other
forms of earlier and later days.
Page 90
As to electricity as an agent for the transmission of signals, the idea dates,
as already stated, from the discovery of Stephen Gray in 1729, that the
electrical influence could be conveyed to a distance by the means of an
insulated wire. This was followed by the practical suggestions of Franklin
and others. But when, as we have seen, voltaic electricity entered the field,
electricity became a more powerful and tractable servant, and distant
intelligent signals became one of its first labors.
The second decade was also made notable by the discovery and
establishment by George Simon Ohm, a German professor of Physics, of
the fundamental mathematical law of electricity: It has been expressed in
the following terms: (a) the current strength is equal to the electro-motive
force divided by the resistance; (b) the force is equal to the current strength
multiplied by the resistance; (c) the resistance is equal to the force divided
by the current strength.
The historical development and evolution of the telegraph may be now
summarized:—
1. The discovery of galvanic electricity by Galvani—1786-1790.
2. The galvanic or voltaic battery by Volta in 1800.
3. The galvanic influence on a magnetic needle by Romagnosi (1802)
Oersted (1820).
4. The galvanometer of Schweigger, 1820—the parent of the needle system.
5. The electro-magnet by Arago and Sturgeon—1820-1825—the parent of
the magnet system.
Then followed in the third decade the important series of steps in the
evolution, consisting of:—
First, and most vital, Henry’s discovery in 1829 and 1830 of the “intensity”
or spool-wound magnet, and its intimate relation to the “intensity” battery,
and the subordinate use of an armature as the signalling device.
Second, Gauss’s improvement in 1833 (or probably Schilling’s considerably
earlier) of reducing the electric conductors to a single circuit by the
ingenious use of a dual sign so combined as to produce a true alphabet.
as already stated, from the discovery of Stephen Gray in 1729, that the
electrical influence could be conveyed to a distance by the means of an
insulated wire. This was followed by the practical suggestions of Franklin
and others. But when, as we have seen, voltaic electricity entered the field,
electricity became a more powerful and tractable servant, and distant
intelligent signals became one of its first labors.
The second decade was also made notable by the discovery and
establishment by George Simon Ohm, a German professor of Physics, of
the fundamental mathematical law of electricity: It has been expressed in
the following terms: (a) the current strength is equal to the electro-motive
force divided by the resistance; (b) the force is equal to the current strength
multiplied by the resistance; (c) the resistance is equal to the force divided
by the current strength.
The historical development and evolution of the telegraph may be now
summarized:—
1. The discovery of galvanic electricity by Galvani—1786-1790.
2. The galvanic or voltaic battery by Volta in 1800.
3. The galvanic influence on a magnetic needle by Romagnosi (1802)
Oersted (1820).
4. The galvanometer of Schweigger, 1820—the parent of the needle system.
5. The electro-magnet by Arago and Sturgeon—1820-1825—the parent of
the magnet system.
Then followed in the third decade the important series of steps in the
evolution, consisting of:—
First, and most vital, Henry’s discovery in 1829 and 1830 of the “intensity”
or spool-wound magnet, and its intimate relation to the “intensity” battery,
and the subordinate use of an armature as the signalling device.
Second, Gauss’s improvement in 1833 (or probably Schilling’s considerably
earlier) of reducing the electric conductors to a single circuit by the
ingenious use of a dual sign so combined as to produce a true alphabet.
Page 91
Third, Weber’s discovery in 1833 that the conducting wires of an electric
telegraph could be efficiently carried through the air without any insulation
except at their points of support.
Fourth, Daniell’s invention of a “constant” galvanic battery in 1836.
Fifth, Steinheil’s remarkable discovery in 1837 that the earth may form the
returning half of a closed galvanic circuit, so that a single conducting wire
is sufficient for all telegraphic purposes.
Sixth, Morse’s adaptation of the armature and electro-magnet of Henry as a
recording instrument in 1837 in connection with his improvement in 1838
on the Schilling, Gauss and Steinheil alphabets by employing the simple
“dot and dash” alphabet in a single line. He was also assisted by the
suggestions of Profs. Dana and Gale. To which must be added his adoption
of Alfred Vail’s improved alphabet, and Vail’s practical suggestions in
respect to the recording and other instrumentalities.
To these should be added the efforts in England, made almost
simultaneously with those of Morse, of Wheatstone and Cook and Davy,
who were reaching the same goal by somewhat different routes.
Morse in 1837 commenced to put the results of his experiments and
investigations in the form of caveats, applications and letters patent in the
United States and in Europe. He struggled hard against indifference and
poverty to introduce his invention to the world. It was not until 1844 that he
reduced it to a commercial practical success. He then laid a telegraph from
Washington to Baltimore under the auspices of the United States
Government, which after long hesitation appropriated $30,000 for the
purpose. It was on the 24th day of May, 1844, that the first formal message
was transmitted on this line between the two cities and recorded by the
electro-magnet in the dot and dash alphabet, and this was immediately
followed by other messages on the same line.
Morse gathered freely from all sources of which he could avail himself
knowledge of what had gone before. He was not a scientific discoverer, but
an inventor, who, adding a few ideas of his own to what had before been
discovered, was the first to combine them in a practical useful device. What
he did as an inventor, and what anyone may do to constitute himself an
telegraph could be efficiently carried through the air without any insulation
except at their points of support.
Fourth, Daniell’s invention of a “constant” galvanic battery in 1836.
Fifth, Steinheil’s remarkable discovery in 1837 that the earth may form the
returning half of a closed galvanic circuit, so that a single conducting wire
is sufficient for all telegraphic purposes.
Sixth, Morse’s adaptation of the armature and electro-magnet of Henry as a
recording instrument in 1837 in connection with his improvement in 1838
on the Schilling, Gauss and Steinheil alphabets by employing the simple
“dot and dash” alphabet in a single line. He was also assisted by the
suggestions of Profs. Dana and Gale. To which must be added his adoption
of Alfred Vail’s improved alphabet, and Vail’s practical suggestions in
respect to the recording and other instrumentalities.
To these should be added the efforts in England, made almost
simultaneously with those of Morse, of Wheatstone and Cook and Davy,
who were reaching the same goal by somewhat different routes.
Morse in 1837 commenced to put the results of his experiments and
investigations in the form of caveats, applications and letters patent in the
United States and in Europe. He struggled hard against indifference and
poverty to introduce his invention to the world. It was not until 1844 that he
reduced it to a commercial practical success. He then laid a telegraph from
Washington to Baltimore under the auspices of the United States
Government, which after long hesitation appropriated $30,000 for the
purpose. It was on the 24th day of May, 1844, that the first formal message
was transmitted on this line between the two cities and recorded by the
electro-magnet in the dot and dash alphabet, and this was immediately
followed by other messages on the same line.
Morse gathered freely from all sources of which he could avail himself
knowledge of what had gone before. He was not a scientific discoverer, but
an inventor, who, adding a few ideas of his own to what had before been
discovered, was the first to combine them in a practical useful device. What
he did as an inventor, and what anyone may do to constitute himself an
Page 92
inventor, by giving to the world a device which is useful in the daily work
of mankind, as distinguished from the scientific discoverer who stops short
of successful industrial work, is thus stated by the United States Supreme
Court in an opinion sustaining the validity of his patents, after all the
previous art had been produced before it:—
“Neither can the inquiries he made nor the information or advice he
received from men of science in the course of his researches impair his right
to the character of an inventor. No invention can possibly be made,
consisting of a combination of different elements of power, without a
thorough knowledge of the properties of each of them, and the mode in
which they operate on each other. And it can make no difference in this
respect, whether he derives his information from books, or from
conversation with men skilled in the science. If it were otherwise, no patent
in which a combination of different elements is used would ever be
obtained, for no man ever made such an invention without having first
obtained this information, unless it was discovered by some fortunate
accident. And it is evident that such an invention as the electro-magnetic
telegraph could never have been brought into action without it; for a very
high degree of scientific knowledge and the nicest skill in the mechanic arts
are combined in it, and were both necessary to bring it into successful
operation. The fact that Morse sought and obtained the necessary
information and counsel from the best sources, and acted upon it, neither
impairs his rights as an inventor nor detracts from his merits.”—O’Reilly vs.
Morse, 5 Howard.
The combination constituting Morse’s invention comprised a main wire
circuit to transmit the current through its whole length whenever closed; a
main galvanic battery to supply the current; operating keys to break and
close the main circuit; office circuits; a circuit of conductors and batteries at
each office to record the message there; receiving spring lever magnets to
close an office circuit when a current passes through the main circuit;
adjusting screws to vary the force of the main current; marking apparatus,
consisting of pointed pieces of wire, to indent dots and lines upon paper;
clockwork to move the paper indented; and magnet sounders to develop the
power of the pointer and of the armatures to produce audible
distinguishable sounds.
of mankind, as distinguished from the scientific discoverer who stops short
of successful industrial work, is thus stated by the United States Supreme
Court in an opinion sustaining the validity of his patents, after all the
previous art had been produced before it:—
“Neither can the inquiries he made nor the information or advice he
received from men of science in the course of his researches impair his right
to the character of an inventor. No invention can possibly be made,
consisting of a combination of different elements of power, without a
thorough knowledge of the properties of each of them, and the mode in
which they operate on each other. And it can make no difference in this
respect, whether he derives his information from books, or from
conversation with men skilled in the science. If it were otherwise, no patent
in which a combination of different elements is used would ever be
obtained, for no man ever made such an invention without having first
obtained this information, unless it was discovered by some fortunate
accident. And it is evident that such an invention as the electro-magnetic
telegraph could never have been brought into action without it; for a very
high degree of scientific knowledge and the nicest skill in the mechanic arts
are combined in it, and were both necessary to bring it into successful
operation. The fact that Morse sought and obtained the necessary
information and counsel from the best sources, and acted upon it, neither
impairs his rights as an inventor nor detracts from his merits.”—O’Reilly vs.
Morse, 5 Howard.
The combination constituting Morse’s invention comprised a main wire
circuit to transmit the current through its whole length whenever closed; a
main galvanic battery to supply the current; operating keys to break and
close the main circuit; office circuits; a circuit of conductors and batteries at
each office to record the message there; receiving spring lever magnets to
close an office circuit when a current passes through the main circuit;
adjusting screws to vary the force of the main current; marking apparatus,
consisting of pointed pieces of wire, to indent dots and lines upon paper;
clockwork to move the paper indented; and magnet sounders to develop the
power of the pointer and of the armatures to produce audible
distinguishable sounds.
Page 93
It was soon learned by operators how to distinguish the signs or letters sent
by the length of the “click” of the armature, and by thus reading by sound
the reading of the signs on paper was dispensed with, and the device
became an electric-magnetic acoustic telegraph.
What is known as the Morse system has been improved, but its fundamental
principles remain, and their world-wide use constitute still the daily
evidence of the immense value of the invention to mankind.
Before the 1844 reduction to practice, Morse had originated and laid the
first submarine telegraph. This was in New York harbour in 1842. In a letter
to the Secretary of the United States Treasury, August 10, 1843, he also
suggested the project of an Atlantic telegraph.
While Henry was busy with his great magnets and Morse struggling to
introduce his telegraph, Michael Faraday was making those investigations
and discoveries which were to result in the application of electricity to the
service of man in still wider and grander fields.
Faraday was a chemist, and Davy’s most brilliant pupil and efficient
assistant. His earliest experiments were in the line of electrolysis. This was
about 1822, but it was not until 1831 that he began to devote his brilliant
talents as an experimentalist and lecturer wholly to electrical researches,
and for a quarter of a century his patient, wonderful labours and discoveries
continued. It has been said that “although Oersted was the discoverer of
electro-magnetism and Ampère its expounder, Faraday made the science of
magnets electrically what it is at the present day.”
Great magnetic power having been developed by passing a galvanic current
around a bar of soft iron, Faraday concluded that it was reasonable to
suppose that as mechanical action is accompanied by an equal amount of
reaction, electricity ought to be evolved from magnetism.
“It was in 1831 that Faraday demonstrated before the Royal Society that if a
magnetized bar of steel be introduced into the centre of a helix of insulated
wire, there is at the moment of introduction of the magnet a current of
electricity set up in a certain direction in the insulated wire forming the
helix, while on the withdrawal of the magnet from the helix a current in an
opposite direction takes place.
by the length of the “click” of the armature, and by thus reading by sound
the reading of the signs on paper was dispensed with, and the device
became an electric-magnetic acoustic telegraph.
What is known as the Morse system has been improved, but its fundamental
principles remain, and their world-wide use constitute still the daily
evidence of the immense value of the invention to mankind.
Before the 1844 reduction to practice, Morse had originated and laid the
first submarine telegraph. This was in New York harbour in 1842. In a letter
to the Secretary of the United States Treasury, August 10, 1843, he also
suggested the project of an Atlantic telegraph.
While Henry was busy with his great magnets and Morse struggling to
introduce his telegraph, Michael Faraday was making those investigations
and discoveries which were to result in the application of electricity to the
service of man in still wider and grander fields.
Faraday was a chemist, and Davy’s most brilliant pupil and efficient
assistant. His earliest experiments were in the line of electrolysis. This was
about 1822, but it was not until 1831 that he began to devote his brilliant
talents as an experimentalist and lecturer wholly to electrical researches,
and for a quarter of a century his patient, wonderful labours and discoveries
continued. It has been said that “although Oersted was the discoverer of
electro-magnetism and Ampère its expounder, Faraday made the science of
magnets electrically what it is at the present day.”
Great magnetic power having been developed by passing a galvanic current
around a bar of soft iron, Faraday concluded that it was reasonable to
suppose that as mechanical action is accompanied by an equal amount of
reaction, electricity ought to be evolved from magnetism.
“It was in 1831 that Faraday demonstrated before the Royal Society that if a
magnetized bar of steel be introduced into the centre of a helix of insulated
wire, there is at the moment of introduction of the magnet a current of
electricity set up in a certain direction in the insulated wire forming the
helix, while on the withdrawal of the magnet from the helix a current in an
opposite direction takes place.
Page 94
“He also discovered that the same phenomenon was to be observed if for
the magnet was substituted a coil of insulated wire, through which the
current from a voltaic element was passing; and further that when an
insulated coil of wire was made to revolve before the poles of a permanent
magnet, electric currents were induced in the wires of the coil.”—Journal of
the Society of Arts.
On these discoveries were based the action of all magneto-dynamo electric
machines—machines that have enabled the world to convert the energy of a
steam engine in its stall, or a distant waterfall, into electric energy for the
performance of the herculean labours of lighting a great city, or an ocean-
bound lighthouse, or transporting quickly heavy loads of people or freight
up and down and to and fro upon the earth.
As before stated, Faraday was also the first to proclaim the laws of
electrolysis, or electro-chemical decomposition. He expressed conviction
that the forces termed chemical affinity and electricity are one and the
same. Subsequently the great Helmholtz, having proved by experiment that
in the phenomena of electrolysis no other force acts but the mutual
attractions of the atomic electric charges, came to the conclusion, “that the
very mightiest among the chemical forces are of electric origin.”
Faraday having demonstrated by his experiments that chemical
decomposition, electricity, magnetism, heat and light, are all inter-
convertible and correlated forces, the inventors of the age were now ready
to step forward and put these theories at work in machines in the service of
man. Faraday was a leader in the field of discovery. He left to inventors the
practical application of his discoveries.
Prof. Henry in America was, contemporaneously with Faraday, developing
electricity by means of magnetic induction.
In 1832, Pixii, a philosophical instrument-maker of Paris, and Joseph
Saxton, an American then residing in London, invented and constructed
magneto-machines on Faraday’s principle of rendering magnetic a core of
soft iron surrounded with insulated wire from a permanent magnet, and
rapidly reversing its polarity, which machines were used to produce sparks,
decompose liquids and metals, and fire combustible bodies. Saxton’s
the magnet was substituted a coil of insulated wire, through which the
current from a voltaic element was passing; and further that when an
insulated coil of wire was made to revolve before the poles of a permanent
magnet, electric currents were induced in the wires of the coil.”—Journal of
the Society of Arts.
On these discoveries were based the action of all magneto-dynamo electric
machines—machines that have enabled the world to convert the energy of a
steam engine in its stall, or a distant waterfall, into electric energy for the
performance of the herculean labours of lighting a great city, or an ocean-
bound lighthouse, or transporting quickly heavy loads of people or freight
up and down and to and fro upon the earth.
As before stated, Faraday was also the first to proclaim the laws of
electrolysis, or electro-chemical decomposition. He expressed conviction
that the forces termed chemical affinity and electricity are one and the
same. Subsequently the great Helmholtz, having proved by experiment that
in the phenomena of electrolysis no other force acts but the mutual
attractions of the atomic electric charges, came to the conclusion, “that the
very mightiest among the chemical forces are of electric origin.”
Faraday having demonstrated by his experiments that chemical
decomposition, electricity, magnetism, heat and light, are all inter-
convertible and correlated forces, the inventors of the age were now ready
to step forward and put these theories at work in machines in the service of
man. Faraday was a leader in the field of discovery. He left to inventors the
practical application of his discoveries.
Prof. Henry in America was, contemporaneously with Faraday, developing
electricity by means of magnetic induction.
In 1832, Pixii, a philosophical instrument-maker of Paris, and Joseph
Saxton, an American then residing in London, invented and constructed
magneto-machines on Faraday’s principle of rendering magnetic a core of
soft iron surrounded with insulated wire from a permanent magnet, and
rapidly reversing its polarity, which machines were used to produce sparks,
decompose liquids and metals, and fire combustible bodies. Saxton’s
Page 95
machine was the well-known electric shock machine operated by turning a
crank. A similar device is now used for ringing telephone call bells.
Prof. C. G. Page of Washington and Ruhmkorff of Paris each made a
machine, well known as the Ruhmkorff coil, by which intense electro-
magnetic currents by induction were produced. The production of electrical
illumination was now talked of more than ever. Scientists and inventors
now had two forms of electrical machines to produce light: the voltaic
battery and the magneto-electric apparatus. But a period of comparative rest
took place in this line until 1850, when Prof. Nollet of Brussels made an
effort to produce a powerful magneto-electric machine for decomposing
water into its elements of hydrogen and oxygen, which gases were then to
be used in producing the lime light; and a company known as “The
Alliance” was organized at Paris to make large machines for the production
of light.
We have seen that Davy produced a brilliant electric light with two pieces
of charcoal in the electric circuit of a voltaic battery. Greener and Staite
revived this idea in a patent in 1845. Shortly after Nollet’s machine, F. H.
Holmes of England improved it and applied the current directly to the
production of electric light between carbon points. And Holmes and
Faraday in 1857 prepared this machine for use.
On the evening of December 8, 1858, the first practical electric light, the
work of Faraday and Holmes, flashed over the troubled sea from the South
Foreland Lighthouse. On June 6, 1862, this light was also introduced into
the lighthouse at Dungeness, England. The same light was introduced in
French lighthouses in December, 1863, and also in the work on the docks of
Cherbourg. At this time Germany was also awake to the importance of this
invention, and Dr. Werner Siemens of Berlin was at work developing a
machine for the purpose into one of less cost and of greater use. Inventors
were not yet satisfied with the power developed from either the voltaic
battery or the magneto-electric machine, and continued to improve the
latter.
In 1867, the same year that Faraday died, and too late for him to witness its
glory, came out the most powerful magneto-electric machine that had yet
been produced. It was invented by Wilde of London, and consisted of very
crank. A similar device is now used for ringing telephone call bells.
Prof. C. G. Page of Washington and Ruhmkorff of Paris each made a
machine, well known as the Ruhmkorff coil, by which intense electro-
magnetic currents by induction were produced. The production of electrical
illumination was now talked of more than ever. Scientists and inventors
now had two forms of electrical machines to produce light: the voltaic
battery and the magneto-electric apparatus. But a period of comparative rest
took place in this line until 1850, when Prof. Nollet of Brussels made an
effort to produce a powerful magneto-electric machine for decomposing
water into its elements of hydrogen and oxygen, which gases were then to
be used in producing the lime light; and a company known as “The
Alliance” was organized at Paris to make large machines for the production
of light.
We have seen that Davy produced a brilliant electric light with two pieces
of charcoal in the electric circuit of a voltaic battery. Greener and Staite
revived this idea in a patent in 1845. Shortly after Nollet’s machine, F. H.
Holmes of England improved it and applied the current directly to the
production of electric light between carbon points. And Holmes and
Faraday in 1857 prepared this machine for use.
On the evening of December 8, 1858, the first practical electric light, the
work of Faraday and Holmes, flashed over the troubled sea from the South
Foreland Lighthouse. On June 6, 1862, this light was also introduced into
the lighthouse at Dungeness, England. The same light was introduced in
French lighthouses in December, 1863, and also in the work on the docks of
Cherbourg. At this time Germany was also awake to the importance of this
invention, and Dr. Werner Siemens of Berlin was at work developing a
machine for the purpose into one of less cost and of greater use. Inventors
were not yet satisfied with the power developed from either the voltaic
battery or the magneto-electric machine, and continued to improve the
latter.
In 1867, the same year that Faraday died, and too late for him to witness its
glory, came out the most powerful magneto-electric machine that had yet
been produced. It was invented by Wilde of London, and consisted of very
Page 96
large electro-magnets, or field magnets, receiving their electric power from
the “lines of force” discovered by Faraday, radiating from the poles of a soft
iron magnet, combined with a small magneto-electric machine having
permanent magnets, and by which the current developed in the smaller
machine was sent through the coils of the larger magnets. By this method
the magnetic force was vastly multiplied, and electricity was produced in
such abundance as to fuse thick iron wire fifteen inches long and one-fourth
of an inch in diameter, and to develop a magnificent arc light. Quickly
succeeding the Wilde machine came independent inventions in the same
direction from Messrs. G. Farmer of Salem, Mass., Alfred Yarley and Prof.
Charles Wheatstone of England, and Dr. Siemens of Berlin, and Ladd of
America. These inventors conceived and put in practice the great idea of
employing the current from an electro-magnetic machine to excite its own
electric magnet. They were thus termed “self-exciting.” The idea was that
the commutator (an instrument to change the direction, strength or circuit of
the current) should be so connected with the coils of the field magnets that
all or a part of the current developed in the armature would flow through
these coils, so that all permanent magnets might be dispensed with, and the
machine used to excite itself or charge its own field magnets without the aid
of any outside charging or feeding mechanism.
Mr. Z. Gramme, of France, a little later than Wilde made a great
improvement. Previously, machines furnished only momentary currents of
varying strength and polarity; and these intermittent currents were hard to
control without loss in the strength of current and the frequent production of
sparks. Gramme produced a machine in which, although as in other
machines the magnetic field of force was created by a powerful magnet, yet
the armature was a ring made of soft iron rods, and surrounded by an
endless coil of wire, and made to revolve between the poles of the magnet
with great rapidity, producing a constant current in one direction. By
Faraday’s discovery, when the coil of the closed circuit was moved before
the poles of the magnet, the current was carried half the time in one
direction and half in the other, constituting what is called an alternating
current. Gramme employed the commutator to make the current direct
instead of alternating.
Dynamo-electric machines for practical work of many kinds had now been
born and grown to strength.
the “lines of force” discovered by Faraday, radiating from the poles of a soft
iron magnet, combined with a small magneto-electric machine having
permanent magnets, and by which the current developed in the smaller
machine was sent through the coils of the larger magnets. By this method
the magnetic force was vastly multiplied, and electricity was produced in
such abundance as to fuse thick iron wire fifteen inches long and one-fourth
of an inch in diameter, and to develop a magnificent arc light. Quickly
succeeding the Wilde machine came independent inventions in the same
direction from Messrs. G. Farmer of Salem, Mass., Alfred Yarley and Prof.
Charles Wheatstone of England, and Dr. Siemens of Berlin, and Ladd of
America. These inventors conceived and put in practice the great idea of
employing the current from an electro-magnetic machine to excite its own
electric magnet. They were thus termed “self-exciting.” The idea was that
the commutator (an instrument to change the direction, strength or circuit of
the current) should be so connected with the coils of the field magnets that
all or a part of the current developed in the armature would flow through
these coils, so that all permanent magnets might be dispensed with, and the
machine used to excite itself or charge its own field magnets without the aid
of any outside charging or feeding mechanism.
Mr. Z. Gramme, of France, a little later than Wilde made a great
improvement. Previously, machines furnished only momentary currents of
varying strength and polarity; and these intermittent currents were hard to
control without loss in the strength of current and the frequent production of
sparks. Gramme produced a machine in which, although as in other
machines the magnetic field of force was created by a powerful magnet, yet
the armature was a ring made of soft iron rods, and surrounded by an
endless coil of wire, and made to revolve between the poles of the magnet
with great rapidity, producing a constant current in one direction. By
Faraday’s discovery, when the coil of the closed circuit was moved before
the poles of the magnet, the current was carried half the time in one
direction and half in the other, constituting what is called an alternating
current. Gramme employed the commutator to make the current direct
instead of alternating.
Dynamo-electric machines for practical work of many kinds had now been
born and grown to strength.
Page 97
In addition to these and many other electrical machines this century has
discovered several ways by which the electricity developed by such
machines may be converted into light. I. By means of two carbon
conductors between which passes a series of intensely brilliant sparks
which form a species of flame known as the voltaic arc, and the heat of
which is more intense than that from any other known artificial source. II.
By means of a rod of carbon or kaolin, strip of platinum or iridium, a
carbon filament, or other substance placed between two conductors, the
resistance opposed by such rod, strip, or filament to the passage of the
current being so great as to develop heat to the point of incandescence, and
produce a steady white and pure light. Attempts also have been made to
produce illumination by what is called stratified light produced by the
electric discharge passing through tubes containing various gases. These
tubes are known as Geissler tubes, from their inventor. Still another method
is the production of a continuous light from a vibratory movement of
carbon electrodes to and from each other, producing a bright flash at each
separation, and maintaining the separations at such a rate that the effect of
the light produced is continuous. But these additional methods do not
appear as yet to be commercially successful.
It must not be overlooked that before dynamo-magneto-electric machines
were used practically in the production of the electric light for the purposes
of illumination, the voltaic battery was used for the same purpose, but not
economically.
The first private dwelling house ever lighted in America, or doubtless
anywhere else, by electricity, was that of Moses G. Farmer, in Salem,
Massachusetts, in the year 1859. A voltaic battery furnished the current to
conducting wires which led to two electric lamps on the mantel-piece of the
drawing-room, and in which strips of platinum constituted the resisting and
lighting medium. A soft, mild, agreeable light was produced, which was
more delightful to read or sew by than any artificial light ever before
known. Either or both lamps could be lighted by turning a button, and they
were maintained for several weeks, but were discontinued for the reason
that the cost of maintaining them was much greater than of gas light.
It was in connection with the effective dynamo-electric apparatus of M.
Gramme above referred to that the electric candle invented by M. Paul
discovered several ways by which the electricity developed by such
machines may be converted into light. I. By means of two carbon
conductors between which passes a series of intensely brilliant sparks
which form a species of flame known as the voltaic arc, and the heat of
which is more intense than that from any other known artificial source. II.
By means of a rod of carbon or kaolin, strip of platinum or iridium, a
carbon filament, or other substance placed between two conductors, the
resistance opposed by such rod, strip, or filament to the passage of the
current being so great as to develop heat to the point of incandescence, and
produce a steady white and pure light. Attempts also have been made to
produce illumination by what is called stratified light produced by the
electric discharge passing through tubes containing various gases. These
tubes are known as Geissler tubes, from their inventor. Still another method
is the production of a continuous light from a vibratory movement of
carbon electrodes to and from each other, producing a bright flash at each
separation, and maintaining the separations at such a rate that the effect of
the light produced is continuous. But these additional methods do not
appear as yet to be commercially successful.
It must not be overlooked that before dynamo-magneto-electric machines
were used practically in the production of the electric light for the purposes
of illumination, the voltaic battery was used for the same purpose, but not
economically.
The first private dwelling house ever lighted in America, or doubtless
anywhere else, by electricity, was that of Moses G. Farmer, in Salem,
Massachusetts, in the year 1859. A voltaic battery furnished the current to
conducting wires which led to two electric lamps on the mantel-piece of the
drawing-room, and in which strips of platinum constituted the resisting and
lighting medium. A soft, mild, agreeable light was produced, which was
more delightful to read or sew by than any artificial light ever before
known. Either or both lamps could be lighted by turning a button, and they
were maintained for several weeks, but were discontinued for the reason
that the cost of maintaining them was much greater than of gas light.
It was in connection with the effective dynamo-electric apparatus of M.
Gramme above referred to that the electric candle invented by M. Paul
Page 98
Jablochoff became soon thereafter extensively employed for electric
lighting in Paris, and elsewhere in Europe. This invention, like the great
majority of useful inventions, is noted for its simplicity. It consists of two
carbon pencils placed side by side and insulated from each other by means
of a thin plate of some refractory material which is a non-conductor at
ordinary temperatures, but which becomes a conductor, and consequently a
light, when fused by the action of a powerful current. Plaster of Paris was
found to be the most suitable material for this purpose, and the light
produced was soft, mellow, slightly rose-coloured, and quite agreeable to
the eye.
It having been found that carbon was better adapted for lighting purposes
than platinum or other metals, by reason of its greater radiating power for
equal temperatures, and still greater infusibility at high temperatures,
inventors turned their attention to the production of the best carbon lamp.
The two pointed pieces of hard conducting carbon used for the separated
terminals constitute the voltaic arc light—a light only excelled in intense
brilliancy by the sun itself. It is necessary in order to make such a light
successful that it should be continuous. But as it is found that both carbons
waste away under the consuming action of the intense heat engendered by
their resistance to the electric current, and that one electrode, the positive,
wastes away twice as fast as the opposite negative electrode, the distance
between the points soon becomes too great for the current longer to leap
over it, and the light is then extinguished. Many ingenious contrivances
have been devised for correcting this trouble, and maintaining a
continuously uniform distance between the carbons by giving to them a
self-adjusting automatic action. Such an apparatus is called a regulator, and
the variety of regulators is very great. The French were among the first to
contrive such regulators,—Duboscq, Foucault, Serrin, Houdin, and Lontin
invented most useful forms of such apparatus. Other early inventors were
Hart of Scotland, Siemens of Germany, Thompson and Houston of England,
and Farmer, Brush, Wallace, Maxim, and Weston and Westinghouse of
America. Gramme made his armature of iron rods to prevent its destruction
by heat. Weston in 1882 improved this method by making the armature of
separate and insulated sheets of iron around which the coil is wound. The
arc light is adapted for streets and great buildings, etc.; but for indoor
illumination, when a milder, softer light is desirable, the incandescent light
lighting in Paris, and elsewhere in Europe. This invention, like the great
majority of useful inventions, is noted for its simplicity. It consists of two
carbon pencils placed side by side and insulated from each other by means
of a thin plate of some refractory material which is a non-conductor at
ordinary temperatures, but which becomes a conductor, and consequently a
light, when fused by the action of a powerful current. Plaster of Paris was
found to be the most suitable material for this purpose, and the light
produced was soft, mellow, slightly rose-coloured, and quite agreeable to
the eye.
It having been found that carbon was better adapted for lighting purposes
than platinum or other metals, by reason of its greater radiating power for
equal temperatures, and still greater infusibility at high temperatures,
inventors turned their attention to the production of the best carbon lamp.
The two pointed pieces of hard conducting carbon used for the separated
terminals constitute the voltaic arc light—a light only excelled in intense
brilliancy by the sun itself. It is necessary in order to make such a light
successful that it should be continuous. But as it is found that both carbons
waste away under the consuming action of the intense heat engendered by
their resistance to the electric current, and that one electrode, the positive,
wastes away twice as fast as the opposite negative electrode, the distance
between the points soon becomes too great for the current longer to leap
over it, and the light is then extinguished. Many ingenious contrivances
have been devised for correcting this trouble, and maintaining a
continuously uniform distance between the carbons by giving to them a
self-adjusting automatic action. Such an apparatus is called a regulator, and
the variety of regulators is very great. The French were among the first to
contrive such regulators,—Duboscq, Foucault, Serrin, Houdin, and Lontin
invented most useful forms of such apparatus. Other early inventors were
Hart of Scotland, Siemens of Germany, Thompson and Houston of England,
and Farmer, Brush, Wallace, Maxim, and Weston and Westinghouse of
America. Gramme made his armature of iron rods to prevent its destruction
by heat. Weston in 1882 improved this method by making the armature of
separate and insulated sheets of iron around which the coil is wound. The
arc light is adapted for streets and great buildings, etc.; but for indoor
illumination, when a milder, softer light is desirable, the incandescent light
Page 99
was invented, and this consists of a curved filament of carbon about the size
of a coarse horsehair, seated in a bulb of glass from which the air has been
exhausted. In exhausted air carbon rods or filaments are not consumed, and
so great ingenuity was exercised on that line. Among the early noted
inventors of incandescent carbon filament lamps were Edison and Maxim
of New York, Swan, and Lane-Fox of England.
Another problem to be solved arose in the proposed use of arc lamps upon
an extended scale, or in series, as in street lighting, wherein the current to
all lamps was supplied by a single wire, and where it was found that owing
to the unequal consumption of the carbons some were burning well, some
poorly, and some going out. It was essential, therefore, to make each lamp
independent of the resistance of the main circuit and of the action of the
other lamps, and to have its regulating mechanism governed entirely by the
resistance of its own arc. The solution of this difficult problem was the
invention by Heffner von Alteneck of Germany, and his device came into
use wherever throughout the world arc lamps were operated. Westinghouse
also improved the direct alternating system of lighting by one wire by the
introduction of two conducting wires parallel to each other, and passing an
interrupted or alternating current through one, thereby inducing a similar
and always an alternating current through the other. Brush adopted a three-
wire system; and both obtained a uniform consumption of the carbons.
In a volume like this, room exists for mention only of those inventions
which burn as beacon lights on the tallest hills—and so we must now pass
on to others.
Just as Faraday was bringing his long series of experimental researches to a
close in 1856-59, and introducing the fruits of his labours into the
lighthouses of England, Cyrus W. Field of New York had commenced his
trials in the great scheme of an ocean cable to “moor the new world
alongside the old,” as John Bright expressed it. After crossing the ocean
from New York to England fifty times, and baffled often by the ocean,
which broke his cables, and by the incredulous public of both hemispheres,
who laughed at him, and by electricity, which refused to do his bidding, he
at last overcame all obstacles, and in 1866 the cable two thousand miles in
length had been successfully stretched and communication perfected. To
employ currents of great power, the cable insulation would have been
of a coarse horsehair, seated in a bulb of glass from which the air has been
exhausted. In exhausted air carbon rods or filaments are not consumed, and
so great ingenuity was exercised on that line. Among the early noted
inventors of incandescent carbon filament lamps were Edison and Maxim
of New York, Swan, and Lane-Fox of England.
Another problem to be solved arose in the proposed use of arc lamps upon
an extended scale, or in series, as in street lighting, wherein the current to
all lamps was supplied by a single wire, and where it was found that owing
to the unequal consumption of the carbons some were burning well, some
poorly, and some going out. It was essential, therefore, to make each lamp
independent of the resistance of the main circuit and of the action of the
other lamps, and to have its regulating mechanism governed entirely by the
resistance of its own arc. The solution of this difficult problem was the
invention by Heffner von Alteneck of Germany, and his device came into
use wherever throughout the world arc lamps were operated. Westinghouse
also improved the direct alternating system of lighting by one wire by the
introduction of two conducting wires parallel to each other, and passing an
interrupted or alternating current through one, thereby inducing a similar
and always an alternating current through the other. Brush adopted a three-
wire system; and both obtained a uniform consumption of the carbons.
In a volume like this, room exists for mention only of those inventions
which burn as beacon lights on the tallest hills—and so we must now pass
on to others.
Just as Faraday was bringing his long series of experimental researches to a
close in 1856-59, and introducing the fruits of his labours into the
lighthouses of England, Cyrus W. Field of New York had commenced his
trials in the great scheme of an ocean cable to “moor the new world
alongside the old,” as John Bright expressed it. After crossing the ocean
from New York to England fifty times, and baffled often by the ocean,
which broke his cables, and by the incredulous public of both hemispheres,
who laughed at him, and by electricity, which refused to do his bidding, he
at last overcame all obstacles, and in 1866 the cable two thousand miles in
length had been successfully stretched and communication perfected. To
employ currents of great power, the cable insulation would have been
Page 100
disintegrated and finally destroyed by heat. Therefore only feeble currents
could be used. But across that long distance these currents for many reasons
grew still weaker. The inventor, Sir William Thomson, was at hand to
provide the remedy. First, by his mirror galvanometer. A needle in the
shape of a small magnet and connected to the current wires, is attached to
the back of a small concave mirror having a hole in its centre; opposite the
mirror is placed a graduated scale board, having slits through it, and a
lighted lamp behind it. The light is thrown through the slits across to the
hole at the center of the mirror and upon the needle. The feeblest
imaginable current suffices to deflect the needle in one direction, which
throws back the little beam of light upon it to the graduated front of the
scale. When the current is reversed the needle and its shadow are deflected
in the other direction, and so by a combination of right and left motions,
and pauses, of the spots of light to represent letters, the message is spelled
out. Second, a more expeditious instrument called the syphon recorder. In
this the galvanometer needle is connected to a fine glass syphon tube
conducting ink from a reservoir on to a strip of paper which is drawn under
the point of the tube with a uniform motion. The irregular movements given
the galvanometer needle by the varying current are clearly delineated on the
paper. Or in writing very long cables the point of the syphon may not touch
the paper, but the ink by electrical attraction from the paper is ejected from
the syphon upon the paper in a succession of fine dots. The irregular lines
of dots and dashes were translated into words in accordance with the
principles of the Morse telegraph.
An instrument was exhibited at the Centennial International Exhibition at
Philadelphia in 1876, which was considered by the judges “the greatest
marvel hitherto achieved by the electric telegraph.” Such was the language
used both by Prof. Joseph Henry and Sir Wm. Thomson, and concurred in
by the other eminent judges from America, Germany, France, Austria and
Switzerland. This instrument was the Telephone. It embodied, for the
practical purpose of transmitting articulate speech to distances, the union of
the two great forces,—sound and electricity. It consisted of a method and an
apparatus. The apparatus or means consisted of an electric battery circuit, a
transmitting cone placed at one end of the line into which speech and other
vocal sounds were uttered, a diaphragm against which the sounds were
projected, an armature secured to or forming a part of the diaphragm, an
could be used. But across that long distance these currents for many reasons
grew still weaker. The inventor, Sir William Thomson, was at hand to
provide the remedy. First, by his mirror galvanometer. A needle in the
shape of a small magnet and connected to the current wires, is attached to
the back of a small concave mirror having a hole in its centre; opposite the
mirror is placed a graduated scale board, having slits through it, and a
lighted lamp behind it. The light is thrown through the slits across to the
hole at the center of the mirror and upon the needle. The feeblest
imaginable current suffices to deflect the needle in one direction, which
throws back the little beam of light upon it to the graduated front of the
scale. When the current is reversed the needle and its shadow are deflected
in the other direction, and so by a combination of right and left motions,
and pauses, of the spots of light to represent letters, the message is spelled
out. Second, a more expeditious instrument called the syphon recorder. In
this the galvanometer needle is connected to a fine glass syphon tube
conducting ink from a reservoir on to a strip of paper which is drawn under
the point of the tube with a uniform motion. The irregular movements given
the galvanometer needle by the varying current are clearly delineated on the
paper. Or in writing very long cables the point of the syphon may not touch
the paper, but the ink by electrical attraction from the paper is ejected from
the syphon upon the paper in a succession of fine dots. The irregular lines
of dots and dashes were translated into words in accordance with the
principles of the Morse telegraph.
An instrument was exhibited at the Centennial International Exhibition at
Philadelphia in 1876, which was considered by the judges “the greatest
marvel hitherto achieved by the electric telegraph.” Such was the language
used both by Prof. Joseph Henry and Sir Wm. Thomson, and concurred in
by the other eminent judges from America, Germany, France, Austria and
Switzerland. This instrument was the Telephone. It embodied, for the
practical purpose of transmitting articulate speech to distances, the union of
the two great forces,—sound and electricity. It consisted of a method and an
apparatus. The apparatus or means consisted of an electric battery circuit, a
transmitting cone placed at one end of the line into which speech and other
vocal sounds were uttered, a diaphragm against which the sounds were
projected, an armature secured to or forming a part of the diaphragm, an
Page 101
electro-magnet loosely connected to the armature, a wire connecting this
magnet with another precisely similar arrangement of magnet, armature,
diaphragm, and cone, at the receiving end. When speech was uttered in the
transmitter the sound vibrations were received on the diaphragm,
communicated to the electricised armature, from thence by induction to the
magnet and the connecting wire current, which, undulating with precisely
the same form of sound vibrations, carried them in exactly the same form to
the receiving magnet. They were then carried through the receiving
armature and reproduced on the receiving diaphragm, with all the same
characteristics of pitch, loudness and quality.
The inventor was Alexander Graham Bell, by nativity a Scotchman, then a
resident of Canada, and finally a citizen of the United States. His father was
a teacher of vocal physiology at Edinburgh, and he himself became a
teacher of deaf mutes. This occupation naturally led him to a thorough
investigation of the laws of sound. He acknowledged the aid he received
from the great work of Helmholtz on the Theory of Tone. His attention was
called to sounds transmitted and reproduced by the electric current,
especially by the ease with which telegraph operators read their messages
by the duration of the “click” of their instruments. He knew of the old
device of a tightly-stretched string or wire between two little boxes. He had
read the publication of Prof. C. G. Page, of America, in 1837, on the
Production of Galvanic Music, in which was described how musical notes
were transmitted and reproduced by an interrupted magnetic circuit. He
became acquainted with the experimental musical telephonic and acoustic
researches of Reis, and others of Germany, and those of celebrated
scientists in France, especially the phonautograph of Scott, a delicate
instrument having a cone membrane and pointer, and used to reproduce on
smoked glass the waves of sound. He commenced his experiments with
magneto instruments in 1874, continued them in 1875, when he succeeded
in reproducing speech, but poorly, owing to his imperfect instruments, and
then made out his application, and obtained a patent in the United States in
July, 1876.
Like all the other remarkable inventions recorded in these pages, this
“marvel” did not spring forth as a sudden creation, but was a slow growth
of a plant derived from old ideas, although it blossomed out suddenly one
magnet with another precisely similar arrangement of magnet, armature,
diaphragm, and cone, at the receiving end. When speech was uttered in the
transmitter the sound vibrations were received on the diaphragm,
communicated to the electricised armature, from thence by induction to the
magnet and the connecting wire current, which, undulating with precisely
the same form of sound vibrations, carried them in exactly the same form to
the receiving magnet. They were then carried through the receiving
armature and reproduced on the receiving diaphragm, with all the same
characteristics of pitch, loudness and quality.
The inventor was Alexander Graham Bell, by nativity a Scotchman, then a
resident of Canada, and finally a citizen of the United States. His father was
a teacher of vocal physiology at Edinburgh, and he himself became a
teacher of deaf mutes. This occupation naturally led him to a thorough
investigation of the laws of sound. He acknowledged the aid he received
from the great work of Helmholtz on the Theory of Tone. His attention was
called to sounds transmitted and reproduced by the electric current,
especially by the ease with which telegraph operators read their messages
by the duration of the “click” of their instruments. He knew of the old
device of a tightly-stretched string or wire between two little boxes. He had
read the publication of Prof. C. G. Page, of America, in 1837, on the
Production of Galvanic Music, in which was described how musical notes
were transmitted and reproduced by an interrupted magnetic circuit. He
became acquainted with the experimental musical telephonic and acoustic
researches of Reis, and others of Germany, and those of celebrated
scientists in France, especially the phonautograph of Scott, a delicate
instrument having a cone membrane and pointer, and used to reproduce on
smoked glass the waves of sound. He commenced his experiments with
magneto instruments in 1874, continued them in 1875, when he succeeded
in reproducing speech, but poorly, owing to his imperfect instruments, and
then made out his application, and obtained a patent in the United States in
July, 1876.
Like all the other remarkable inventions recorded in these pages, this
“marvel” did not spring forth as a sudden creation, but was a slow growth
of a plant derived from old ideas, although it blossomed out suddenly one
Page 102
day when audible sounds were accidentally produced upon an apparatus
with which he was experimenting.
It is impossible here to narrate the tremendous conflict that Bell now
encountered to establish his title as first inventor, or to enumerate the
multitude of improvements and changes made which go to make up the
successful telephone of to-day.
The messages of the voice are carried on the wings of electricity wherever
any messages are carried, except under the widest seas, and this difficulty
inventors are now seeking to overcome.
The story of the marvellous inventions of the century in electricity is a
fascinating one, but in length and details it is also marvellous, and we must
hasten unwillingly to a close. Numerous applications of it will be
mentioned in chapters relating to other arts.
In the generation of this mighty force improvements have been made, but
those of greatest power still involve the principles discovered by Faraday
and Henry seventy years ago. The ideas of Faraday of the “lines of force”—
the magnetic power streaming from the poles of the magnet somewhat as
the rays of heat issue on all sides from a hot body, forming the magnetic
field—and that a magnet behaves like an electric current, producing an
electric wave by its approach to or recession from a coil of wire, joined with
Henry’s idea of increasing the magnetising effect by increasing the number
of coils around the magnet, enter into all powerful dynamo electric
machines of to-day. In them the lines of force must flow around the frame
and across the path of the armature; and there must be a set of conductors to
cut the lines of force twice in every revolution of the cylinder carrying the
armature from which the current is taken.
When machines had been produced for generating with some economy
powerful currents of electricity, their use for the world’s business purposes
rapidly increased. Among such applications, and following closely the
electric lighting, came the electric railway. A substitute for the slow animal,
horse, and for the dangerous, noisy steam horse and its lumbering
locomotive and train, was hailed with delight. Inventors came forward with
adaptations of all the old systems they could think of for the purpose, and
with many new ones. One plan was to adapt the storage battery—that silent
with which he was experimenting.
It is impossible here to narrate the tremendous conflict that Bell now
encountered to establish his title as first inventor, or to enumerate the
multitude of improvements and changes made which go to make up the
successful telephone of to-day.
The messages of the voice are carried on the wings of electricity wherever
any messages are carried, except under the widest seas, and this difficulty
inventors are now seeking to overcome.
The story of the marvellous inventions of the century in electricity is a
fascinating one, but in length and details it is also marvellous, and we must
hasten unwillingly to a close. Numerous applications of it will be
mentioned in chapters relating to other arts.
In the generation of this mighty force improvements have been made, but
those of greatest power still involve the principles discovered by Faraday
and Henry seventy years ago. The ideas of Faraday of the “lines of force”—
the magnetic power streaming from the poles of the magnet somewhat as
the rays of heat issue on all sides from a hot body, forming the magnetic
field—and that a magnet behaves like an electric current, producing an
electric wave by its approach to or recession from a coil of wire, joined with
Henry’s idea of increasing the magnetising effect by increasing the number
of coils around the magnet, enter into all powerful dynamo electric
machines of to-day. In them the lines of force must flow around the frame
and across the path of the armature; and there must be a set of conductors to
cut the lines of force twice in every revolution of the cylinder carrying the
armature from which the current is taken.
When machines had been produced for generating with some economy
powerful currents of electricity, their use for the world’s business purposes
rapidly increased. Among such applications, and following closely the
electric lighting, came the electric railway. A substitute for the slow animal,
horse, and for the dangerous, noisy steam horse and its lumbering
locomotive and train, was hailed with delight. Inventors came forward with
adaptations of all the old systems they could think of for the purpose, and
with many new ones. One plan was to adapt the storage battery—that silent
Page 103
chemical monster which carries its own power and its own machine—and
place one on each car to actuate a motor connected to the driving wheels.
Another plan was to conduct the current from the dynamo machine at its
station along the rails on one side of the track to the motor on the car and
the return current on the opposite track; another was to carry the current to
the car on a third rail between the track, using both the other rails for the
return; another to use an overhead wire for the current from the dynamo,
and connect it with the car by a rod, one end of which had a little wheel or
trolley running on the overhead wire, to take up the current, the other end
being connected by a wire to the car motor; another plan to have a trench
made leading from the central station underneath the track the whole length
of the line, and put into this trench conducting wires from the dynamo, to
one of which the car motor should be connected by a trolley rod or “brush,”
extending down through a central slot between the rails of the track to carry
the electric supply into the motor. In all these cases a lever was supplied to
cut off communication between the conducting wire and the motor, and a
brake lever to stop the car.
All of these plans have been tried, and some of them are still being tried
with many improvements in detail, but not in principle.
The first electrical railway was constructed and operated at Berlin in 1879,
by Messrs Siemens and Halske. It was two thousand seven hundred feet
long and built on the third rail system. This was an experiment but a
successful one. It was followed very soon by another line near Berlin for
actual traffic; then still another in Saxony. At the Paris Exposition in 1881,
Sir Wm. Siemens had in operation a road about one thousand six hundred
feet in length, on which it is estimated ninety-five thousand passengers
were conveyed in seven weeks. Then in the next year in London; and then
in the following year one in the United States near New York, constructed
by Edison. And thus they spread, until every important town and city in the
world seems to have its electric plant, and its electric car system, and of
course its lighting, telephone and telegraph systems.
In 1882 Prof. Fleeming Jenkin of England invented and has put to use a
system called Telpherage, by which cars are suspended on an overhead wire
which is both the track and electrical conductor. It has been found to be
place one on each car to actuate a motor connected to the driving wheels.
Another plan was to conduct the current from the dynamo machine at its
station along the rails on one side of the track to the motor on the car and
the return current on the opposite track; another was to carry the current to
the car on a third rail between the track, using both the other rails for the
return; another to use an overhead wire for the current from the dynamo,
and connect it with the car by a rod, one end of which had a little wheel or
trolley running on the overhead wire, to take up the current, the other end
being connected by a wire to the car motor; another plan to have a trench
made leading from the central station underneath the track the whole length
of the line, and put into this trench conducting wires from the dynamo, to
one of which the car motor should be connected by a trolley rod or “brush,”
extending down through a central slot between the rails of the track to carry
the electric supply into the motor. In all these cases a lever was supplied to
cut off communication between the conducting wire and the motor, and a
brake lever to stop the car.
All of these plans have been tried, and some of them are still being tried
with many improvements in detail, but not in principle.
The first electrical railway was constructed and operated at Berlin in 1879,
by Messrs Siemens and Halske. It was two thousand seven hundred feet
long and built on the third rail system. This was an experiment but a
successful one. It was followed very soon by another line near Berlin for
actual traffic; then still another in Saxony. At the Paris Exposition in 1881,
Sir Wm. Siemens had in operation a road about one thousand six hundred
feet in length, on which it is estimated ninety-five thousand passengers
were conveyed in seven weeks. Then in the next year in London; and then
in the following year one in the United States near New York, constructed
by Edison. And thus they spread, until every important town and city in the
world seems to have its electric plant, and its electric car system, and of
course its lighting, telephone and telegraph systems.
In 1882 Prof. Fleeming Jenkin of England invented and has put to use a
system called Telpherage, by which cars are suspended on an overhead wire
which is both the track and electrical conductor. It has been found to be
Page 104
advantageous in the transportation of freight from mines and other places to
central stations.
With the coming of the electric railway, the slow, much-abused horse, the
puffing steam engine blowing off smoke and cinders through the streets, the
great heavy cars, rails and roadbeds, the dangerous collisions and accidents,
have disappeared.
The great problems to solve have related to generation, form, distribution
and division of the electric current at the dynamos at the central stations for
the purposes of running the distant motors and for furnishing independent
supplies of light, heat, sound and power. These problems have received the
attention of the keenest inventors and electrical engineers and have been
solved.
The description of the inventions made by such electrical magicians as
Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla would fill volumes.
The original plan of sending but one message over a wire at a time has also
been improved; and duplex, quadruplex and multiplex systems have been
invented (by Stearns, Farmer, Edison and others) and applied, which have
multiplied the capacity of the telegraphs, and by which even the alleged all-
talk-at-the-same-time habit of certain members of the great human family
can be carried on in opposite directions on the same wire at the same time
between their gatherings in different cities and without a break.
To understand the manner of multiplying messages or signals on the same
line, and using apparently the same electric current to perform different
operations, the mind must revert to the theory already referred to, that a
current of electricity does not consist of a stream of matter flowing like
water through a conductor in one direction, but of particles of subtle ether,
vibrating or oscillating in waves from and around the conductor which
excites them; that the vibration of this line of waves proceeds at the rate of
many thousand miles per second, almost with the velocity of waves of light,
with which they are so closely related; that this wave current is susceptible
of being varied in direction and in strength, according to the impulse given
by the initial pressure of the transmitting and exciting instrument; and that
some wave currents have power by reason of their form or strength to
penetrate or pass others coming from an opposite direction. So that in the
central stations.
With the coming of the electric railway, the slow, much-abused horse, the
puffing steam engine blowing off smoke and cinders through the streets, the
great heavy cars, rails and roadbeds, the dangerous collisions and accidents,
have disappeared.
The great problems to solve have related to generation, form, distribution
and division of the electric current at the dynamos at the central stations for
the purposes of running the distant motors and for furnishing independent
supplies of light, heat, sound and power. These problems have received the
attention of the keenest inventors and electrical engineers and have been
solved.
The description of the inventions made by such electrical magicians as
Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla would fill volumes.
The original plan of sending but one message over a wire at a time has also
been improved; and duplex, quadruplex and multiplex systems have been
invented (by Stearns, Farmer, Edison and others) and applied, which have
multiplied the capacity of the telegraphs, and by which even the alleged all-
talk-at-the-same-time habit of certain members of the great human family
can be carried on in opposite directions on the same wire at the same time
between their gatherings in different cities and without a break.
To understand the manner of multiplying messages or signals on the same
line, and using apparently the same electric current to perform different
operations, the mind must revert to the theory already referred to, that a
current of electricity does not consist of a stream of matter flowing like
water through a conductor in one direction, but of particles of subtle ether,
vibrating or oscillating in waves from and around the conductor which
excites them; that the vibration of this line of waves proceeds at the rate of
many thousand miles per second, almost with the velocity of waves of light,
with which they are so closely related; that this wave current is susceptible
of being varied in direction and in strength, according to the impulse given
by the initial pressure of the transmitting and exciting instrument; and that
some wave currents have power by reason of their form or strength to
penetrate or pass others coming from an opposite direction. So that in the
Page 105
multiplex process, for instance, each transmission having a certain direction
or strength and its own set of transmitting and receiving instruments, will
have power to give its own peculiar and independent signal or message.
Apparently there is but one continuous current, but in reality each
transmission is separated from the others by an almost inconceivably short
interval of time.
Among the inventions in the class of Telegraphy should also be mentioned
the dial and the printing systems. Ever since the electric telegraph was
invented, attempts have been made to use the electric influence to operate
either a pointer to point out the letters of the message sent on a dial, or to
print them on a moving strip of paper; and also to automatically reproduce
on paper the handwriting of the sender or writer of the message. The earliest
efforts were by Cooke and Prof. Wheatstone of London, in 1836-37; but it
was not until 1839, after Prof. Henry had succeeded in perfecting the
electromagnet, that dial and printing telegraphs were successfully produced.
Dial telegraphs consist of the combination with magnets, armatures and
printed dial plate of a clock-work and a pointer, means to set the pointer at
the communicating end (which in some instances has been a piano
keyboard) to any letter, the current operating automatically to indicate the
same letters at the receiving end. These instruments have been modified and
improved by Brequet and Froment of France, Dr. Siemens and Kramer, and
Siemens and Halske of Germany, Prof. Wheatstone of England, Chester and
Hamblet of America, and others. They have been used extensively upon
private and municipal lines both in Europe and the United States.
The type-printing telegraph was coeval with the dial, and originated with
Morse and Vail as early as 1837. The printing of the characters is effected in
various ways; sometimes by clockwork mechanism and sometimes by the
direct action of an electromagnet. Wheatstone exhibited one in 1841. House
of Vermont invented in 1845-1846 the first printing telegraph that was
brought into any extensive use in the United States. Then followed that of
David E. Hughes of Kentucky in 1855, aided by his co-inventor George M.
Phelps of Troy, New York, and which was subsequently adopted by the
French government, by the United Kingdom Telegraph Co. of Great Britain,
and by the American Telegraph Co in the United States. The system was
subsequently greatly improved by Hughes and others. Alexander Bain of
Edinburgh in 1845-46 originated the modern automatic chemical telegraph.
or strength and its own set of transmitting and receiving instruments, will
have power to give its own peculiar and independent signal or message.
Apparently there is but one continuous current, but in reality each
transmission is separated from the others by an almost inconceivably short
interval of time.
Among the inventions in the class of Telegraphy should also be mentioned
the dial and the printing systems. Ever since the electric telegraph was
invented, attempts have been made to use the electric influence to operate
either a pointer to point out the letters of the message sent on a dial, or to
print them on a moving strip of paper; and also to automatically reproduce
on paper the handwriting of the sender or writer of the message. The earliest
efforts were by Cooke and Prof. Wheatstone of London, in 1836-37; but it
was not until 1839, after Prof. Henry had succeeded in perfecting the
electromagnet, that dial and printing telegraphs were successfully produced.
Dial telegraphs consist of the combination with magnets, armatures and
printed dial plate of a clock-work and a pointer, means to set the pointer at
the communicating end (which in some instances has been a piano
keyboard) to any letter, the current operating automatically to indicate the
same letters at the receiving end. These instruments have been modified and
improved by Brequet and Froment of France, Dr. Siemens and Kramer, and
Siemens and Halske of Germany, Prof. Wheatstone of England, Chester and
Hamblet of America, and others. They have been used extensively upon
private and municipal lines both in Europe and the United States.
The type-printing telegraph was coeval with the dial, and originated with
Morse and Vail as early as 1837. The printing of the characters is effected in
various ways; sometimes by clockwork mechanism and sometimes by the
direct action of an electromagnet. Wheatstone exhibited one in 1841. House
of Vermont invented in 1845-1846 the first printing telegraph that was
brought into any extensive use in the United States. Then followed that of
David E. Hughes of Kentucky in 1855, aided by his co-inventor George M.
Phelps of Troy, New York, and which was subsequently adopted by the
French government, by the United Kingdom Telegraph Co. of Great Britain,
and by the American Telegraph Co in the United States. The system was
subsequently greatly improved by Hughes and others. Alexander Bain of
Edinburgh in 1845-46 originated the modern automatic chemical telegraph.
Page 106
In this system a kind of punch was used to perforate two rows of holes
grouped to represent letters on a strip of paper conducted over a metal
cylinder and arranged so as to permit spring levers to drop through the
perforations and touch the cylinder, thus forming an electrical contact; and a
recording apparatus consisting of a strip of paper carried through a chemical
solution of an acid and potash and over a metal roller, and underneath one
or two styles, or pens, which pens were connected by live wires with the
poles of two batteries at the sending station. The operation is such that
colored marks upon the paper were made by the pens corresponding
precisely to the perforations in the strip at the sending station. Siemens,
Wheatstone and others also improved this system; but none of these
systems have as yet replaced or equalled in extensive use the Morse key and
sounder system, and its great acoustic advantage of reading the messages by
the click of the instrument. The type-printing system, however, has been
recently greatly improved by the inventions of Howe, C. L. Buckingham,
Fiske and others in the United States. Special contrivances and adaptations
of the telegraph for printing stock reports and for transmitting fire alarm,
police, and emergency calls, have been invented.
The erection of tall office and other buildings, some to the height of more
than twenty stories, made practicable by the invention of the elevator
system, has in turn brought out most ingenious devices for operating and
controlling the elevators to insure safety and at the same time produce
economy in the motive power.
The utility of the telephone has been greatly increased by the inventions of
Hughes and Edison of the microphone. This consists, in one form, of pieces
of carbon in loose contact placed in the circuit of a telephone. The very
slightest vibrations communicated to the wood are heard distinctly in the
telephone. By these inventions and certain improvements not only every
sound and note of an opera or concert has been carried to distant places, but
the slightest whispers, the minute movements of a watch, even the tread of a
fly, and the pressure of a finger, have been rendered audible.
By the aid of the electric current certain rays of light directed upon the
mineral selenium, and some other substances, have been discovered to emit
musical sounds.
grouped to represent letters on a strip of paper conducted over a metal
cylinder and arranged so as to permit spring levers to drop through the
perforations and touch the cylinder, thus forming an electrical contact; and a
recording apparatus consisting of a strip of paper carried through a chemical
solution of an acid and potash and over a metal roller, and underneath one
or two styles, or pens, which pens were connected by live wires with the
poles of two batteries at the sending station. The operation is such that
colored marks upon the paper were made by the pens corresponding
precisely to the perforations in the strip at the sending station. Siemens,
Wheatstone and others also improved this system; but none of these
systems have as yet replaced or equalled in extensive use the Morse key and
sounder system, and its great acoustic advantage of reading the messages by
the click of the instrument. The type-printing system, however, has been
recently greatly improved by the inventions of Howe, C. L. Buckingham,
Fiske and others in the United States. Special contrivances and adaptations
of the telegraph for printing stock reports and for transmitting fire alarm,
police, and emergency calls, have been invented.
The erection of tall office and other buildings, some to the height of more
than twenty stories, made practicable by the invention of the elevator
system, has in turn brought out most ingenious devices for operating and
controlling the elevators to insure safety and at the same time produce
economy in the motive power.
The utility of the telephone has been greatly increased by the inventions of
Hughes and Edison of the microphone. This consists, in one form, of pieces
of carbon in loose contact placed in the circuit of a telephone. The very
slightest vibrations communicated to the wood are heard distinctly in the
telephone. By these inventions and certain improvements not only every
sound and note of an opera or concert has been carried to distant places, but
the slightest whispers, the minute movements of a watch, even the tread of a
fly, and the pressure of a finger, have been rendered audible.
By the aid of the electric current certain rays of light directed upon the
mineral selenium, and some other substances, have been discovered to emit
musical sounds.
Page 107
So wonderful and mysterious appear these communications along the
electric wire that each and every force in the universe seems to have a voice
awaiting utterance to man. The hope is indulged that by some such means
we may indeed yet receive the “touch of a vanished hand and the sound of a
voice that is still.”
In 1879 that eminent English scientist, Prof. Wm. Crookes, published his
extensive researches in electrical discharges as manifested in glass tubes
from which the air had been exhausted. These same tubes have already been
referred to as Geissler tubes, from the name of a young artist of Bonn who
invented them. In these tubes are inclosed various gases through which the
sparks from an induction coil can be passed by means of platinum
electrodes fused into the glass, and on the passage of the current a soft and
delicately-tinted light is produced which streams through the tube from pole
to pole.
In 1895, Wm. Konrad Roentgen, professor of Physics in the Royal
University of Würzburg, while experimenting with these Crookes and
Geissler tubes, discovered with one of them, which he had covered with a
sort of black cardboard, that the rays emanating from the same and
impinging on certain objects would render them self-luminous, or
fluorescent; and on further investigation that such rays, unlike the rays of
sunlight, were not deflected, refracted or condensed; but that they
proceeded in straight lines from the point at which they were produced, and
penetrated various articles, such as flesh, blood, and muscle, and
thicknesses of paper, cloth and leather, and other substances which are
opaque to ordinary light; and that thus while penetrating such objects and
rendering them luminous, if a portion of the same were of a character too
dense to admit of the penetration, the dark shadow of such obstacle would
appear in the otherwise luminous mass.
Unable to explain the nature or cause of this wonderful revelation,
Roentgen gave to the light an algebraic name for the unknown—the X rays.
This wonderful discovery, at first regarded as a figment of scientific magic,
soon attracted profound attention. At first the experiments were confined to
the gratification of curiosity—the interior of the hand was explored, and on
one occasion the little mummified hand of an Egyptian princess folded in
electric wire that each and every force in the universe seems to have a voice
awaiting utterance to man. The hope is indulged that by some such means
we may indeed yet receive the “touch of a vanished hand and the sound of a
voice that is still.”
In 1879 that eminent English scientist, Prof. Wm. Crookes, published his
extensive researches in electrical discharges as manifested in glass tubes
from which the air had been exhausted. These same tubes have already been
referred to as Geissler tubes, from the name of a young artist of Bonn who
invented them. In these tubes are inclosed various gases through which the
sparks from an induction coil can be passed by means of platinum
electrodes fused into the glass, and on the passage of the current a soft and
delicately-tinted light is produced which streams through the tube from pole
to pole.
In 1895, Wm. Konrad Roentgen, professor of Physics in the Royal
University of Würzburg, while experimenting with these Crookes and
Geissler tubes, discovered with one of them, which he had covered with a
sort of black cardboard, that the rays emanating from the same and
impinging on certain objects would render them self-luminous, or
fluorescent; and on further investigation that such rays, unlike the rays of
sunlight, were not deflected, refracted or condensed; but that they
proceeded in straight lines from the point at which they were produced, and
penetrated various articles, such as flesh, blood, and muscle, and
thicknesses of paper, cloth and leather, and other substances which are
opaque to ordinary light; and that thus while penetrating such objects and
rendering them luminous, if a portion of the same were of a character too
dense to admit of the penetration, the dark shadow of such obstacle would
appear in the otherwise luminous mass.
Unable to explain the nature or cause of this wonderful revelation,
Roentgen gave to the light an algebraic name for the unknown—the X rays.
This wonderful discovery, at first regarded as a figment of scientific magic,
soon attracted profound attention. At first the experiments were confined to
the gratification of curiosity—the interior of the hand was explored, and on
one occasion the little mummified hand of an Egyptian princess folded in
Page 108
death three or four thousand years ago, was held up to this light, and the
bones, dried blood, and muscle of the ancient Pharaohs exhibited to the
startled eyes of the present generation. But soon surgery and medicine took
advantage of the unknown rays for practical purposes. The location of
previously unreachable bullets, and the condition of internal injuries, were
determined; the cause of concealed disease was traced, the living brain
explored, and the pulsations of the living heart were witnessed.
Retardation of the strength of the electric current by the inductive influence
of neighboring wires and earth currents, together with the theory that the
electric energy pervades all space and matter, gave rise to the idea that if the
energy once established could be set in motion at such point above the
ordinary surface of the earth as would free this upper current from all
inductive disturbance, impulses of such power might be conveyed from one
high point and communicated to another as to produce signals without the
use of a conducting wire, retaining only the usual batteries and the earth
connection. On July 30th, 1872, Mahlen Loomis of Washington, D. C., took
out a patent for “the utilization of natural electricity from elevated points”
for telegraphic purposes, based on the principle mentioned, and made
successful experiments on the Blue Ridge mountains in Virginia near
Washington, accounts of which were published in Washington papers at the
time; but being poor and receiving no aid or encouragement he was
compelled to give it up. Marconi of Italy has been more successful in this
direction, and has sent electric messages and signals from high stations over
the English Channel from the shores of France to England. So that now
wireless telegraphy is an established fact.
It is certainly thrilling to realize that there is a mysterious, silent, invisible
and powerful mechanical agent on every side of us, waiting to do our
bidding, and to lend a hand in every field of human labour, and yet unable
to be so used without excitement to action and direction in its course by
some master, intermediate between itself and man. The principal masters
for this purpose are steam and water power. A small portion of the power of
the resistless Niagara has been taken, diverted to turn the machinery which
excites electricity to action, and this energy in turn employed to operate a
multitude of the most powerful motors and machines of many descriptions.
bones, dried blood, and muscle of the ancient Pharaohs exhibited to the
startled eyes of the present generation. But soon surgery and medicine took
advantage of the unknown rays for practical purposes. The location of
previously unreachable bullets, and the condition of internal injuries, were
determined; the cause of concealed disease was traced, the living brain
explored, and the pulsations of the living heart were witnessed.
Retardation of the strength of the electric current by the inductive influence
of neighboring wires and earth currents, together with the theory that the
electric energy pervades all space and matter, gave rise to the idea that if the
energy once established could be set in motion at such point above the
ordinary surface of the earth as would free this upper current from all
inductive disturbance, impulses of such power might be conveyed from one
high point and communicated to another as to produce signals without the
use of a conducting wire, retaining only the usual batteries and the earth
connection. On July 30th, 1872, Mahlen Loomis of Washington, D. C., took
out a patent for “the utilization of natural electricity from elevated points”
for telegraphic purposes, based on the principle mentioned, and made
successful experiments on the Blue Ridge mountains in Virginia near
Washington, accounts of which were published in Washington papers at the
time; but being poor and receiving no aid or encouragement he was
compelled to give it up. Marconi of Italy has been more successful in this
direction, and has sent electric messages and signals from high stations over
the English Channel from the shores of France to England. So that now
wireless telegraphy is an established fact.
It is certainly thrilling to realize that there is a mysterious, silent, invisible
and powerful mechanical agent on every side of us, waiting to do our
bidding, and to lend a hand in every field of human labour, and yet unable
to be so used without excitement to action and direction in its course by
some master, intermediate between itself and man. The principal masters
for this purpose are steam and water power. A small portion of the power of
the resistless Niagara has been taken, diverted to turn the machinery which
excites electricity to action, and this energy in turn employed to operate a
multitude of the most powerful motors and machines of many descriptions.
Page 109
So great is the might of this willing agent that at a single turn of the hand of
man it rushes forth to do work for him far exceeding in wonder and extent
any labour of the gods of mythological renown.
man it rushes forth to do work for him far exceeding in wonder and extent
any labour of the gods of mythological renown.
Page 110
CHAPTER X.
HOISTING, CONVEYING AND STORING.
Allusion has been made to the stupendous buildings and works of the
ancients and of the middle ages; the immense multitude of workers and
great extent of time and labour employed in their construction; and how the
awful drudgery involved in such undertakings was relieved by the invention
of modern engineering devices—the cranes, the derricks, and the steam
giants to operate them, so that vast loads which required large numbers of
men and beasts to move, and long periods of time in which to move them,
can now be lifted with ease and carried to great heights and distances in a
few minutes by the hands of one or of a few men.
But outside of the line of such undertakings there is an immense field of
labor-saving appliances adapted for use in transportation of smaller loads
from place to place, within and without buildings, and for carrying people
and freight from the lower to the upper stories of tall structures. In fact the
tall buildings which we see now in almost every great city towering
cloudward from the ground to the height of fifteen, twenty and twenty-five
stories, would have been extravagant and useless had not the invention of
the modern elevator rendered their highest parts as easy of access as their
lowest, and at the same time given to the air space above the city lot as
great a commercial value in feet and inches as the stretch of earth itself.
Many of the “sky-scrapers” so called, are splendid monuments of the latest
inventions of the century.
It is by means of the modern elevator that the business of a whole town may
be transacted under a single roof.
In the multiplicity of modern human contrivances by which the sweat and
drudgery of life are saved, and time economised for worthier objects, we
HOISTING, CONVEYING AND STORING.
Allusion has been made to the stupendous buildings and works of the
ancients and of the middle ages; the immense multitude of workers and
great extent of time and labour employed in their construction; and how the
awful drudgery involved in such undertakings was relieved by the invention
of modern engineering devices—the cranes, the derricks, and the steam
giants to operate them, so that vast loads which required large numbers of
men and beasts to move, and long periods of time in which to move them,
can now be lifted with ease and carried to great heights and distances in a
few minutes by the hands of one or of a few men.
But outside of the line of such undertakings there is an immense field of
labor-saving appliances adapted for use in transportation of smaller loads
from place to place, within and without buildings, and for carrying people
and freight from the lower to the upper stories of tall structures. In fact the
tall buildings which we see now in almost every great city towering
cloudward from the ground to the height of fifteen, twenty and twenty-five
stories, would have been extravagant and useless had not the invention of
the modern elevator rendered their highest parts as easy of access as their
lowest, and at the same time given to the air space above the city lot as
great a commercial value in feet and inches as the stretch of earth itself.
Many of the “sky-scrapers” so called, are splendid monuments of the latest
inventions of the century.
It is by means of the modern elevator that the business of a whole town may
be transacted under a single roof.
In the multiplicity of modern human contrivances by which the sweat and
drudgery of life are saved, and time economised for worthier objects, we
Page 111
are apt to overlook the painful and laborious steps by which they were
reached, and to regard with impatience, or at least with indifference, the
story of their evolution; and yet no correct or profound knowledge of the
growth of humanity to its higher planes can be obtained without noting to
what extent the minor inventions, as well as the startling ones, have aided
the upward progress.
For instance, consider how few and comparatively awkward were the
mechanical means before this century. The innumerable army of men when
men were slaves, and when blood and muscle and brain were cheap, who,
labouring with the beast, toiled upward for years on inclined ways to lay the
stones of the stupendous pyramids, still had their counterpart centuries later
in the stream of men carrying on their shoulders the loads of grain and other
freight and burdens from the shore to the holds of vessels, from vessels to
the shore, from the ground to high buildings and from one part of great
warehouses to another. Now look at a vessel moved to a wharf, capable of
holding fifty thousand or one hundred thousand bushels of grain and having
that amount poured into it in three hours from the spouts of an elevator, to
which the grain has been carried in a myriad buckets on a chain by steam
power in about the same time; or to those arrangements of carriers,
travelling on ropes, cords, wires, or cables, by which materials are quickly
conveyed from one part of some structure or place to another, as hay and
grain in barns or mows, ores from mines to cars, merchandise of all kinds
from one part of a great store to another; or shot through pipes underground
from one section of a city or town to their destination by a current of air.
True, as it has before been stated, the ancients and later generations had the
wedge, the pulley, the inclined plane, the screw and the windlass, and by
these powers, modified in form and increased in size as the occasion
demanded, in the form of cranes, derricks, and operated by animal power,
materials were lifted and transported; but down to the time of the practical
and successful application of steam by Watt in the latter part of the 18th
century, and until a much later period in most places in the world, these
simple means actuated alone by men or animals were the best means
employed for elevating and conveying loads, and even they were employed
to a comparatively limited extent.
reached, and to regard with impatience, or at least with indifference, the
story of their evolution; and yet no correct or profound knowledge of the
growth of humanity to its higher planes can be obtained without noting to
what extent the minor inventions, as well as the startling ones, have aided
the upward progress.
For instance, consider how few and comparatively awkward were the
mechanical means before this century. The innumerable army of men when
men were slaves, and when blood and muscle and brain were cheap, who,
labouring with the beast, toiled upward for years on inclined ways to lay the
stones of the stupendous pyramids, still had their counterpart centuries later
in the stream of men carrying on their shoulders the loads of grain and other
freight and burdens from the shore to the holds of vessels, from vessels to
the shore, from the ground to high buildings and from one part of great
warehouses to another. Now look at a vessel moved to a wharf, capable of
holding fifty thousand or one hundred thousand bushels of grain and having
that amount poured into it in three hours from the spouts of an elevator, to
which the grain has been carried in a myriad buckets on a chain by steam
power in about the same time; or to those arrangements of carriers,
travelling on ropes, cords, wires, or cables, by which materials are quickly
conveyed from one part of some structure or place to another, as hay and
grain in barns or mows, ores from mines to cars, merchandise of all kinds
from one part of a great store to another; or shot through pipes underground
from one section of a city or town to their destination by a current of air.
True, as it has before been stated, the ancients and later generations had the
wedge, the pulley, the inclined plane, the screw and the windlass, and by
these powers, modified in form and increased in size as the occasion
demanded, in the form of cranes, derricks, and operated by animal power,
materials were lifted and transported; but down to the time of the practical
and successful application of steam by Watt in the latter part of the 18th
century, and until a much later period in most places in the world, these
simple means actuated alone by men or animals were the best means
employed for elevating and conveying loads, and even they were employed
to a comparatively limited extent.
Page 112
The century was well started before it was common to employ cups on
elevator bands in mills, invented by Oliver Evans in 1780, to carry grain to
the top of the mill, from whence it was to fall by gravity to the grinding and
flouring apparatus below. It was not until 1795 that that powerful modern
apparatus—the hydraulic, or hydrostatic, press was patented by Bramah in
England. The model he then made is now in the museum of the
Commissioner of Patents, London. In this a reservoir for water is provided,
on which is placed a pump having a piston rod worked by a hand lever. The
water is conveyed from the reservoir to a cylinder by a pipe, and this
cylinder is provided with a piston carrying at its top a table, which rises
between guides. The load to be carried is placed on this table, and as the
machine was at first designed to compress materials the load is pressed by
the rising table against an upper stationary plate. The elevation of the table
is proportionate to the quantity of water injected, and the power
proportionate to the receptive areas of the pump and the cylinder. The first
great application of machines built on this principle was by Robert
Stephenson in the elevation of the gigantic tubes for the tubular bridge
across the Menai straits, already described in the chapter on Civil
Engineering. The century was half through with before it was proposed to
use water and steam for passenger elevators.
In 1852 J. T. Slade in England patented a device consisting of a drum to be
actuated by steam, water, or compressed air, around which drum ropes were
wound, and to which ropes were attached separate cages in separate wells,
to counterbalance each other, the cages moving in guides, and provided
with brakes and levers to stop and control the cages and the movement of
the drum. Louis T. Van Elvean, also of England, in 1858 invented
counterbalance weights for such lifts. Otis, an American, invented and
patented in America and England in 1859 the first approach to the modern
passenger elevator for hotels, warehouses, and other structures. The motive
power was preferably a steam engine; and the elevating means was a large
screw placed vertically and made to revolve by suitable gearing, and a
cylinder to which the car was attached, having projections to work in the
threads of the screw. Means were provided to start and to stop the car, and
to retard its otherwise sudden fall and stoppage.
Elevators, which are now so largely used to raise passengers and freight
from the lower to the upper stories of high edifices, have for their motive
elevator bands in mills, invented by Oliver Evans in 1780, to carry grain to
the top of the mill, from whence it was to fall by gravity to the grinding and
flouring apparatus below. It was not until 1795 that that powerful modern
apparatus—the hydraulic, or hydrostatic, press was patented by Bramah in
England. The model he then made is now in the museum of the
Commissioner of Patents, London. In this a reservoir for water is provided,
on which is placed a pump having a piston rod worked by a hand lever. The
water is conveyed from the reservoir to a cylinder by a pipe, and this
cylinder is provided with a piston carrying at its top a table, which rises
between guides. The load to be carried is placed on this table, and as the
machine was at first designed to compress materials the load is pressed by
the rising table against an upper stationary plate. The elevation of the table
is proportionate to the quantity of water injected, and the power
proportionate to the receptive areas of the pump and the cylinder. The first
great application of machines built on this principle was by Robert
Stephenson in the elevation of the gigantic tubes for the tubular bridge
across the Menai straits, already described in the chapter on Civil
Engineering. The century was half through with before it was proposed to
use water and steam for passenger elevators.
In 1852 J. T. Slade in England patented a device consisting of a drum to be
actuated by steam, water, or compressed air, around which drum ropes were
wound, and to which ropes were attached separate cages in separate wells,
to counterbalance each other, the cages moving in guides, and provided
with brakes and levers to stop and control the cages and the movement of
the drum. Louis T. Van Elvean, also of England, in 1858 invented
counterbalance weights for such lifts. Otis, an American, invented and
patented in America and England in 1859 the first approach to the modern
passenger elevator for hotels, warehouses, and other structures. The motive
power was preferably a steam engine; and the elevating means was a large
screw placed vertically and made to revolve by suitable gearing, and a
cylinder to which the car was attached, having projections to work in the
threads of the screw. Means were provided to start and to stop the car, and
to retard its otherwise sudden fall and stoppage.
Elevators, which are now so largely used to raise passengers and freight
from the lower to the upper stories of high edifices, have for their motive
Page 113
power steam, water, compressed air, and electricity. With steam a drum is
rotated over which a hoisting wire-rope is wound, to which the elevator car
is attached. The car for passengers may be a small but elegantly furnished
room, which is carried on guide blocks, and the stationary guides are
provided with ratchet teeth with which pawls on the car are adapted to
engage should the hoisting rope give way. To the hoisting rope is attached a
counterbalance weight to partly meet the weight of the car in order to
prevent the car from sticking fast on its passage, and also to prevent a
sudden dropping of the car should the rope become slack. A hand rope for
the operator is provided, which at its lower end is connected with a starting
lever controlling the valves of the cylinders into which steam is admitted to
start the piston shaft, which in turn actuates the gear wheels, by which
movement the ropes are wound around the drums.
In another form of steam elevator the drums are turned in opposite
directions, by right and left worms driven by a belt.
In the hydraulic form of elevator, a motor worked by water is employed to
lift the car, although steam power is also employed to raise the water. The
car is connected to wire cables passing over large sheaves at the top of the
well room to a counterbalancing bucket. This bucket fits closely in a water-
tight upright tube, or stand-pipe, about two feet in diameter, extending from
the basement to the upper story. Near this stand-pipe in the upper story is
placed a water supply tank. A pipe discharges the water from the tank into
the bucket, which moves up and down in the stand pipe. There is a valve in
the tank which is opened by stepping on a treadle in the car, and this action
admits to the bucket just enough weight of water to overbalance the load on
the car. As soon as the bucket is heavier than the car it descends, and of
course draws the car upward, thus using the minimum power required to
raise each load, rather than, when steam is employed, the full power of the
engine each and every time. The speed is controlled by means of brakes or
clamps that firmly clasp wrought-iron slides secured to posts on each side
of the well room, the operator having control of these brakes by a lever on
the car. When the car has ascended as far as desired, the operator steps upon
another treadle in the car connected with a valve in the bottom of the bucket
and thus discharges the water into the receiving tank below until the car is
heavier than the bucket, when it then of course descends. The water is thus
taken from the upper tank into the bucket, discharged through the stand-
rotated over which a hoisting wire-rope is wound, to which the elevator car
is attached. The car for passengers may be a small but elegantly furnished
room, which is carried on guide blocks, and the stationary guides are
provided with ratchet teeth with which pawls on the car are adapted to
engage should the hoisting rope give way. To the hoisting rope is attached a
counterbalance weight to partly meet the weight of the car in order to
prevent the car from sticking fast on its passage, and also to prevent a
sudden dropping of the car should the rope become slack. A hand rope for
the operator is provided, which at its lower end is connected with a starting
lever controlling the valves of the cylinders into which steam is admitted to
start the piston shaft, which in turn actuates the gear wheels, by which
movement the ropes are wound around the drums.
In another form of steam elevator the drums are turned in opposite
directions, by right and left worms driven by a belt.
In the hydraulic form of elevator, a motor worked by water is employed to
lift the car, although steam power is also employed to raise the water. The
car is connected to wire cables passing over large sheaves at the top of the
well room to a counterbalancing bucket. This bucket fits closely in a water-
tight upright tube, or stand-pipe, about two feet in diameter, extending from
the basement to the upper story. Near this stand-pipe in the upper story is
placed a water supply tank. A pipe discharges the water from the tank into
the bucket, which moves up and down in the stand pipe. There is a valve in
the tank which is opened by stepping on a treadle in the car, and this action
admits to the bucket just enough weight of water to overbalance the load on
the car. As soon as the bucket is heavier than the car it descends, and of
course draws the car upward, thus using the minimum power required to
raise each load, rather than, when steam is employed, the full power of the
engine each and every time. The speed is controlled by means of brakes or
clamps that firmly clasp wrought-iron slides secured to posts on each side
of the well room, the operator having control of these brakes by a lever on
the car. When the car has ascended as far as desired, the operator steps upon
another treadle in the car connected with a valve in the bottom of the bucket
and thus discharges the water into the receiving tank below until the car is
heavier than the bucket, when it then of course descends. The water is thus
taken from the upper tank into the bucket, discharged through the stand-
Page 114
pipe into the receiving tank under the floor of the basement and then
pumped back again to the upper tank, so that it is used over and over again
without loss.
Various modifications have been made in the hydraulic forms. In place of
steam, electricity was introduced to control the hydraulic operation. Again,
an electric motor has been invented to be placed on the car itself, with
connected gearing engaging rack bars in the well.
Elevators have been contrived automatically controlled by switch
mechanisms on the landings; and in connection with the electric motor
safety devices are used to break the motor circuit and thus stop the car the
moment the elevator door is opened; and there are devices to break the
circuit and stop the car at once, should an obstruction, the foot for instance,
be accidentally thrust out into the path of the car frame. Columns of water
and of air have been so arranged that should the car fall the fall will be
broken by the water or air cushion made to yield gradually to the pressure.
So many safety devices have been invented that there is now no excuse for
accidents. They result by a criminal neglect of builders or engineers to
provide themselves with such devices, or by a most ignorant or careless
management and operation of simple actuating mechanisms.
Between 1880 and 1890 there was great activity in the invention of what is
known as store service conveyors. One of the earliest forms, and one which
had been partly selected from other arts, was to suspend from a rigid frame
work connected to the floor, roof, or side of the building, a long platform in
the direction through the building it was desired the road to run, giving this
platform a slight inclination. On this platform were placed tracks, and from
the tracks were suspended trucks, baskets, or other merchandise receptacles,
having wheels resting on and adapted to roll on the tracks. Double or single
tracks could be provided as desired. The cars ran on these tracks by gravity,
and considerable ingenuity was displayed in the feature alone of providing
the out-going and returning inclined tracks; in hand straps and levers for
raising and lowering the carriage, part or all of it, to or from the tracks, and
in buffers to break the force of the blow of the carriages when arriving at
their stopping places.
pumped back again to the upper tank, so that it is used over and over again
without loss.
Various modifications have been made in the hydraulic forms. In place of
steam, electricity was introduced to control the hydraulic operation. Again,
an electric motor has been invented to be placed on the car itself, with
connected gearing engaging rack bars in the well.
Elevators have been contrived automatically controlled by switch
mechanisms on the landings; and in connection with the electric motor
safety devices are used to break the motor circuit and thus stop the car the
moment the elevator door is opened; and there are devices to break the
circuit and stop the car at once, should an obstruction, the foot for instance,
be accidentally thrust out into the path of the car frame. Columns of water
and of air have been so arranged that should the car fall the fall will be
broken by the water or air cushion made to yield gradually to the pressure.
So many safety devices have been invented that there is now no excuse for
accidents. They result by a criminal neglect of builders or engineers to
provide themselves with such devices, or by a most ignorant or careless
management and operation of simple actuating mechanisms.
Between 1880 and 1890 there was great activity in the invention of what is
known as store service conveyors. One of the earliest forms, and one which
had been partly selected from other arts, was to suspend from a rigid frame
work connected to the floor, roof, or side of the building, a long platform in
the direction through the building it was desired the road to run, giving this
platform a slight inclination. On this platform were placed tracks, and from
the tracks were suspended trucks, baskets, or other merchandise receptacles,
having wheels resting on and adapted to roll on the tracks. Double or single
tracks could be provided as desired. The cars ran on these tracks by gravity,
and considerable ingenuity was displayed in the feature alone of providing
the out-going and returning inclined tracks; in hand straps and levers for
raising and lowering the carriage, part or all of it, to or from the tracks, and
in buffers to break the force of the blow of the carriages when arriving at
their stopping places.
Page 115
Then about 1882-83 it was found by some inventors if moderately fine
wires were stretched level, and as tight as possible, they would afford such
little friction and resistance to light and nicely balanced wheels, that no
inclination of the tracks was necessary, and that the carriages mounted on
such wheels and tracks would run the entire length of a long building and
turn corners not too sharp by a single initial push of the hand. In other
arrangements a carrier is self-propelled by means of a coiled spring on the
carrier, which begins its operation as soon as the carrier is given a start; and
to meet the exhausted strength of such spring, coiled springs at different
points on the line are arranged to engage and give the carrier an additional
push. Before the carrier is stopped its action is such as to automatically
rewind its spring.
A system of pneumatic transmission was invented, by which a carrier is
caused to travel through a tube by the agency of an air current, created
therein by an air compressor, blower, or similar device. The device is so
arranged that the air current is caused to take either direction through the
tube; and in some instances gravity may be used to assist a vacuum formed
behind the carrier. The tube is controlled at each end by one or more sliding
gates or valves, and the carrier is made to actuate the gates, and close the
one behind it, so that the carrier may be discharged without permitting the
escape of the air and consequent reduction of pressure.
An interesting invention has been made by James M. Dodge of Philadelphia
in the line of conveyors, whereby pea coal and other quite heavy materials
introduced by a hopper into a trough are subjected to a powerful air blast
which pushes the material forward; and as the trough is provided with a
series of frequently occurring slots or perforations open to the outer air and
inclined opposite the direction of travel, the powerful current from the
blower in escaping through such outlets tends to lift or buoy the material
and carry it forward in the air current, thereby greatly reducing frictional
contact and increasing the impelling operation. The inventor claims that
with such an apparatus many tons of material per hour may be conveyed
with a comparatively small working air pressure.
In order that a conveyor carriage may be automatically switched off at a
certain place or station on the line, one mode adopted was to arrange at a
gate or station a sort of pin or projection or other deflector to engage some
wires were stretched level, and as tight as possible, they would afford such
little friction and resistance to light and nicely balanced wheels, that no
inclination of the tracks was necessary, and that the carriages mounted on
such wheels and tracks would run the entire length of a long building and
turn corners not too sharp by a single initial push of the hand. In other
arrangements a carrier is self-propelled by means of a coiled spring on the
carrier, which begins its operation as soon as the carrier is given a start; and
to meet the exhausted strength of such spring, coiled springs at different
points on the line are arranged to engage and give the carrier an additional
push. Before the carrier is stopped its action is such as to automatically
rewind its spring.
A system of pneumatic transmission was invented, by which a carrier is
caused to travel through a tube by the agency of an air current, created
therein by an air compressor, blower, or similar device. The device is so
arranged that the air current is caused to take either direction through the
tube; and in some instances gravity may be used to assist a vacuum formed
behind the carrier. The tube is controlled at each end by one or more sliding
gates or valves, and the carrier is made to actuate the gates, and close the
one behind it, so that the carrier may be discharged without permitting the
escape of the air and consequent reduction of pressure.
An interesting invention has been made by James M. Dodge of Philadelphia
in the line of conveyors, whereby pea coal and other quite heavy materials
introduced by a hopper into a trough are subjected to a powerful air blast
which pushes the material forward; and as the trough is provided with a
series of frequently occurring slots or perforations open to the outer air and
inclined opposite the direction of travel, the powerful current from the
blower in escaping through such outlets tends to lift or buoy the material
and carry it forward in the air current, thereby greatly reducing frictional
contact and increasing the impelling operation. The inventor claims that
with such an apparatus many tons of material per hour may be conveyed
with a comparatively small working air pressure.
In order that a conveyor carriage may be automatically switched off at a
certain place or station on the line, one mode adopted was to arrange at a
gate or station a sort of pin or projection or other deflector to engage some
Page 116
recess or corresponding feature on the carriage, so as to arrest and turn the
carriage in its new direction at that point. Another mode was the adoption of
electro-magnets, which would operate at a certain place to arrest or divert
the carriage; and in either case the carriage was so constructed that its
engaging features would operate automatically only in conjunction with
certain features at a particular place on the line.
Signals have been also adopted, in some cases operated by an electric
current, by which the operator can determine whether or not the controlling
devices have operated to stop the carrier at the desired place. By electric or
mechanical means it is also provided that one or more loop branches may
be connected with or disconnected from the main circuit.
The “lazy tongs” principle has been introduced, by which a long lazy-tongs
is shot forth through a tube or box to carry forward the carriage; and the
same principle is employed in fire-escapes to throw up a cage to a great
height to a window or other point, which cage is lowered gently and safely
by the same means to the ground. Buffers of all kinds have been devised to
effect the stoppage of the carrier without injury thereto under the different
degrees of force with which it is moved upon its way, to prevent
rebounding, and to enable the carrier to be discharged with facility at the
end of its route.
Among the early mechanical means of transporting the carriage was an
endless cable moved continuously by an engine, and this adoption of cable
principle in store service was co-eval with its adoption for running street
cars. Also the system of switching the cars from the main line to a branch,
and in different parts of a city, at the same time that all lines are receiving
their motive power from the main line, corresponds to the manner of
conveying cash to all parts of a building at the same time from many points.
To the great department store or monstrous building wherein, as we have
said, the whole business of a town may be transacted, the assemblage and
conjoint use of elevators and conveyors seem to be actually necessary.
A very useful and important line of inventions consists in means for
forming connections between rotary shafts and their pulleys and
mechanisms to be operated thereby, by which such mechanism can be
started or stopped at once, or their motion reversed or retarded; or by which
carriage in its new direction at that point. Another mode was the adoption of
electro-magnets, which would operate at a certain place to arrest or divert
the carriage; and in either case the carriage was so constructed that its
engaging features would operate automatically only in conjunction with
certain features at a particular place on the line.
Signals have been also adopted, in some cases operated by an electric
current, by which the operator can determine whether or not the controlling
devices have operated to stop the carrier at the desired place. By electric or
mechanical means it is also provided that one or more loop branches may
be connected with or disconnected from the main circuit.
The “lazy tongs” principle has been introduced, by which a long lazy-tongs
is shot forth through a tube or box to carry forward the carriage; and the
same principle is employed in fire-escapes to throw up a cage to a great
height to a window or other point, which cage is lowered gently and safely
by the same means to the ground. Buffers of all kinds have been devised to
effect the stoppage of the carrier without injury thereto under the different
degrees of force with which it is moved upon its way, to prevent
rebounding, and to enable the carrier to be discharged with facility at the
end of its route.
Among the early mechanical means of transporting the carriage was an
endless cable moved continuously by an engine, and this adoption of cable
principle in store service was co-eval with its adoption for running street
cars. Also the system of switching the cars from the main line to a branch,
and in different parts of a city, at the same time that all lines are receiving
their motive power from the main line, corresponds to the manner of
conveying cash to all parts of a building at the same time from many points.
To the great department store or monstrous building wherein, as we have
said, the whole business of a town may be transacted, the assemblage and
conjoint use of elevators and conveyors seem to be actually necessary.
A very useful and important line of inventions consists in means for
forming connections between rotary shafts and their pulleys and
mechanisms to be operated thereby, by which such mechanism can be
started or stopped at once, or their motion reversed or retarded; or by which
Page 117
an actuating shaft may be automatically stopped. These means are known as
clutches.
They are designed often to afford a yielding connection between the shaft
and a machine which shall prevent excessive strain and wear upon starting
of the shaft. They are also often provided with a spring connection, which,
in the rotation of the shaft in either direction, will operate to relieve the
strain upon the shaft, or shafts, and its driving motor. Safety clutches are
numerous, by which the machine is quickly and automatically stopped by
the action of electro-magnets should a workman or other obstruction be
caught in the machinery.
Electric auxiliary mechanism has also been devised to start or stop the main
machine slowly, and thus prevent injury to small or delicate parts of
complicated machines, like printing presses for instance. Clutches are
arranged sometimes in the form of weights, resembling the action of the
weights in steam governors, whereby centrifugal action is relied upon for
swinging the weights outward to effect a clutching and coupling of the
shaft, or other mechanism, so that two lines of shafting are coupled, or the
machine started, or speeded, at a certain time during the operation. In order
to avoid the great mischief arising sometimes from undue strain upon and
the breaking of a shaft, a weak coupling composed of a link is sometimes
employed between the shaft and the driven machine, whereby, should the
force become suddenly too great, the link of weaker metal is broken, and
the connection between the shaft thereby destroyed and the machine
stopped.
To this class of inventions, as well as to many others, the phrase, “labour-
saving”, is applied as a descriptive term, and as it is a correct one in most
instances, since they save the labour of many human hands, they are
regarded by many as detrimental to a great extent, as they result in throwing
out of employment a large number of persons.
This derangement does sometimes occur, but the curtailment of the number
of labourers is but temporary after all.
The increased production of materials, resulting from cheaper and better
processes, and from the reduced cost of handling them, necessitates the
employment of a larger number of persons to take care of, in many ways,
clutches.
They are designed often to afford a yielding connection between the shaft
and a machine which shall prevent excessive strain and wear upon starting
of the shaft. They are also often provided with a spring connection, which,
in the rotation of the shaft in either direction, will operate to relieve the
strain upon the shaft, or shafts, and its driving motor. Safety clutches are
numerous, by which the machine is quickly and automatically stopped by
the action of electro-magnets should a workman or other obstruction be
caught in the machinery.
Electric auxiliary mechanism has also been devised to start or stop the main
machine slowly, and thus prevent injury to small or delicate parts of
complicated machines, like printing presses for instance. Clutches are
arranged sometimes in the form of weights, resembling the action of the
weights in steam governors, whereby centrifugal action is relied upon for
swinging the weights outward to effect a clutching and coupling of the
shaft, or other mechanism, so that two lines of shafting are coupled, or the
machine started, or speeded, at a certain time during the operation. In order
to avoid the great mischief arising sometimes from undue strain upon and
the breaking of a shaft, a weak coupling composed of a link is sometimes
employed between the shaft and the driven machine, whereby, should the
force become suddenly too great, the link of weaker metal is broken, and
the connection between the shaft thereby destroyed and the machine
stopped.
To this class of inventions, as well as to many others, the phrase, “labour-
saving”, is applied as a descriptive term, and as it is a correct one in most
instances, since they save the labour of many human hands, they are
regarded by many as detrimental to a great extent, as they result in throwing
out of employment a large number of persons.
This derangement does sometimes occur, but the curtailment of the number
of labourers is but temporary after all.
The increased production of materials, resulting from cheaper and better
processes, and from the reduced cost of handling them, necessitates the
employment of a larger number of persons to take care of, in many ways,
Page 118
the greater output caused by the increased demand; the new machinery
demands the labour of additional numbers in its manufacture; the increase
in the size and heights of buildings involves new modes of construction and
a greater number of artisans in their erection; new forms of industry
springing from every practical invention which produces a new product or
results in a new mode of operation, complicates the systems of labour, and
creates a demand for a large number of employers and employees in new
fields. Hence, it is only necessary to resort to comparative, statistics (too
extensive to cite here) to show that the number of unemployed people in
proportion to the populations, is less in the present age than in any previous
one. In this sense, therefore, inventions should be classed as labour-
increasing devices.
demands the labour of additional numbers in its manufacture; the increase
in the size and heights of buildings involves new modes of construction and
a greater number of artisans in their erection; new forms of industry
springing from every practical invention which produces a new product or
results in a new mode of operation, complicates the systems of labour, and
creates a demand for a large number of employers and employees in new
fields. Hence, it is only necessary to resort to comparative, statistics (too
extensive to cite here) to show that the number of unemployed people in
proportion to the populations, is less in the present age than in any previous
one. In this sense, therefore, inventions should be classed as labour-
increasing devices.
Page 119
CHAPTER XI.
HYDRAULICS.
The science of Hydraulics appears to be as old as the thirst of man.
When prehistoric men had only stone implements, with which to do their
work, they built aqueducts, reservoirs and deep wells which rival in extent
many great similar works that are the boast of their modern descendants.
Modern inventors have also produced with a flourish nice instrumentalities
for raising water, agencies which are covered with the moss of untold
centuries in China.
It was more than an ancient observation that came down to Pliny’s time for
record, that water would rise to a level with its source. The observation,
however, was put into practical use in his time and long before without a
knowledge of its philosophical cause.
Nothing in Egyptian sculpture portraying the arts in vogue around the
cradle of the human race is older than the long lever rocking upon a cleft
stick, one arm of the lever carrying a bracket and the other arm used to raise
a bucket from a well. Forty centuries and more have not rendered this
device obsolete.
Among other machines of the Egyptians, the Carthaginians, the Greeks, and
the Romans for raising water was the tympanum, a drum-shape wheel
divided into radial partitions, chambers, or pockets, which were open to a
short depth on the periphery of the wheel, and inclined toward the axis, and
which was driven by animal or manual power. These pockets scooped up
the water from the stream or pond in which the wheel was located as the
wheel revolved, and directed it toward the axis of the wheel, where it ran
out into troughs, pipes, or gutters. The Noria, a chain of pots, and the screw
of Archimedes were other forms of ancient pumps. The bucket pumps with
HYDRAULICS.
The science of Hydraulics appears to be as old as the thirst of man.
When prehistoric men had only stone implements, with which to do their
work, they built aqueducts, reservoirs and deep wells which rival in extent
many great similar works that are the boast of their modern descendants.
Modern inventors have also produced with a flourish nice instrumentalities
for raising water, agencies which are covered with the moss of untold
centuries in China.
It was more than an ancient observation that came down to Pliny’s time for
record, that water would rise to a level with its source. The observation,
however, was put into practical use in his time and long before without a
knowledge of its philosophical cause.
Nothing in Egyptian sculpture portraying the arts in vogue around the
cradle of the human race is older than the long lever rocking upon a cleft
stick, one arm of the lever carrying a bracket and the other arm used to raise
a bucket from a well. Forty centuries and more have not rendered this
device obsolete.
Among other machines of the Egyptians, the Carthaginians, the Greeks, and
the Romans for raising water was the tympanum, a drum-shape wheel
divided into radial partitions, chambers, or pockets, which were open to a
short depth on the periphery of the wheel, and inclined toward the axis, and
which was driven by animal or manual power. These pockets scooped up
the water from the stream or pond in which the wheel was located as the
wheel revolved, and directed it toward the axis of the wheel, where it ran
out into troughs, pipes, or gutters. The Noria, a chain of pots, and the screw
of Archimedes were other forms of ancient pumps. The bucket pumps with
Page 120
some modifications are known in modern times as scoop wheels, and have
been used extensively in the drainage of lands, especially by the Dutch,
who at first drove them by windmills and later by steam.
The division of water-wheels into overshot, undershot and breast wheels is
not a modern system.
In the Pneumatics of Hero, which compilation of inventions appeared in
225 B. C., seventy-nine illustrations are given and described of simple
machines, between sixty and seventy of which are hydraulic devices.
Among these, are siphon pumps, the force pump of Ctesibius, a “fire-
pump,” having two cylinders, and two pistons, valves, and levers. We have
in a previous chapter referred to Hero’s steam engine. The fact that a
vacuum may be created in a pump into which water will rise by
atmospheric pressure appears to have been availed of but not explained or
understood.
The employment of the rope, pulley and windlass to raise water was known
to Hero and his countrymen as well as by the Chinese before them. The
chain pump and other pumps of simple form have only been improved since
Hero’s day in matters of detail. The screw of Archimedes has been extended
in application as a carrier of water, and converted into a conveyor of many
other materials.
Thus, aqueducts, reservoirs, water-wheels (used for grinding grain), simple
forms of pumps, fountains, hydraulic organs, and a few other hydraulic
devices, were known to ancient peoples, but their limited knowledge of the
laws of pneumatics and their little mechanical skill prevented much general
progress or extensive general use of such inventions.
It is said that Frontinus, a Roman Consul, and inspector of public fountains
and aqueducts in the reigns of Nerva and Trajan, and who wrote a book, De
Aquaeductibus Urbis Romae Commentarius, describing the great aqueducts
of Rome, was the first and the last of the ancients to attempt a scientific
investigation of the motions of liquids.
In 1593 Serviere, a Frenchman, born in Lyons, invented the rotary pump. In
this the pistons consisted of two cog wheels, their leaves intermeshing, and
rotated in an elliptical shaped chamber. The water entered the chamber from
been used extensively in the drainage of lands, especially by the Dutch,
who at first drove them by windmills and later by steam.
The division of water-wheels into overshot, undershot and breast wheels is
not a modern system.
In the Pneumatics of Hero, which compilation of inventions appeared in
225 B. C., seventy-nine illustrations are given and described of simple
machines, between sixty and seventy of which are hydraulic devices.
Among these, are siphon pumps, the force pump of Ctesibius, a “fire-
pump,” having two cylinders, and two pistons, valves, and levers. We have
in a previous chapter referred to Hero’s steam engine. The fact that a
vacuum may be created in a pump into which water will rise by
atmospheric pressure appears to have been availed of but not explained or
understood.
The employment of the rope, pulley and windlass to raise water was known
to Hero and his countrymen as well as by the Chinese before them. The
chain pump and other pumps of simple form have only been improved since
Hero’s day in matters of detail. The screw of Archimedes has been extended
in application as a carrier of water, and converted into a conveyor of many
other materials.
Thus, aqueducts, reservoirs, water-wheels (used for grinding grain), simple
forms of pumps, fountains, hydraulic organs, and a few other hydraulic
devices, were known to ancient peoples, but their limited knowledge of the
laws of pneumatics and their little mechanical skill prevented much general
progress or extensive general use of such inventions.
It is said that Frontinus, a Roman Consul, and inspector of public fountains
and aqueducts in the reigns of Nerva and Trajan, and who wrote a book, De
Aquaeductibus Urbis Romae Commentarius, describing the great aqueducts
of Rome, was the first and the last of the ancients to attempt a scientific
investigation of the motions of liquids.
In 1593 Serviere, a Frenchman, born in Lyons, invented the rotary pump. In
this the pistons consisted of two cog wheels, their leaves intermeshing, and
rotated in an elliptical shaped chamber. The water entered the chamber from
Page 121
a lower pipe, and the action of the wheels was such as to carry the water
around the chamber and force it out through an opposite upper pipe.
Subsequent changes involved the rotating of the cylinder instead of the
wheels and many modifications in the form of the wheels. The same
principle was subsequently adopted in rotary steam engines.
In 1586, a few years before this invention of Serviere, Stevinus, the great
engineer of the dikes of Holland, wrote learnedly on the Principles of
Statics and Hydrostatics, and Whewell states that his treatment of the
subject embraces most of the elementary science of hydraulics and
hydrostatics of the present day. This was followed by the investigations and
treatises of Galileo, his pupil Torricelli, who discovered the law of air
pressure, the great French genius, Pascal, and Sir Isaac Newton, in the 17th
century; and Daniel Bernoulli, d’Alembert, Euler, the great German
mathematician and inventor of the centrifugal pump, the Abbé Bossut,
Venturi, Eylewein, and others in the 18th century.
It was not until the 17th and 18th centuries that mankind departed much
from the practice of supplying their towns and cities with water from distant
springs, rivers and lakes, by pipes and aqueducts, and resorted to water
distribution systems from towers and elevated reservoirs. Certain cities in
Germany and France were the first to do this, followed in the 18th century
by England. This seems strange, as to England, as in 1582 one Peter
Maurice, a Dutch engineer, erected at London, on the old arched bridge
across the Thames, a series of forcing pumps worked by undershot wheels
placed in the current of the river, by which he forced a supply of water to
the uppermost rooms of lofty buildings adjacent to the bridge. Before the
inventions of Newcomen and Watt in the latter part of the 18th century of
steam pumps, the lift and force pumps were operated by wheels in currents,
by horses, and sometimes by the force of currents of common sewers.
When the waters of rivers adjacent to towns and cities thus began to be
pumped for drinking purposes, strainers and filters of various kinds were
invented of necessity. The first ones of which there is any printed record
made their appearance in 1776.
After the principles of hydraulics had thus been reviewed and discussed by
the philosophers of the 17th and 18th centuries and applied, to the extent
around the chamber and force it out through an opposite upper pipe.
Subsequent changes involved the rotating of the cylinder instead of the
wheels and many modifications in the form of the wheels. The same
principle was subsequently adopted in rotary steam engines.
In 1586, a few years before this invention of Serviere, Stevinus, the great
engineer of the dikes of Holland, wrote learnedly on the Principles of
Statics and Hydrostatics, and Whewell states that his treatment of the
subject embraces most of the elementary science of hydraulics and
hydrostatics of the present day. This was followed by the investigations and
treatises of Galileo, his pupil Torricelli, who discovered the law of air
pressure, the great French genius, Pascal, and Sir Isaac Newton, in the 17th
century; and Daniel Bernoulli, d’Alembert, Euler, the great German
mathematician and inventor of the centrifugal pump, the Abbé Bossut,
Venturi, Eylewein, and others in the 18th century.
It was not until the 17th and 18th centuries that mankind departed much
from the practice of supplying their towns and cities with water from distant
springs, rivers and lakes, by pipes and aqueducts, and resorted to water
distribution systems from towers and elevated reservoirs. Certain cities in
Germany and France were the first to do this, followed in the 18th century
by England. This seems strange, as to England, as in 1582 one Peter
Maurice, a Dutch engineer, erected at London, on the old arched bridge
across the Thames, a series of forcing pumps worked by undershot wheels
placed in the current of the river, by which he forced a supply of water to
the uppermost rooms of lofty buildings adjacent to the bridge. Before the
inventions of Newcomen and Watt in the latter part of the 18th century of
steam pumps, the lift and force pumps were operated by wheels in currents,
by horses, and sometimes by the force of currents of common sewers.
When the waters of rivers adjacent to towns and cities thus began to be
pumped for drinking purposes, strainers and filters of various kinds were
invented of necessity. The first ones of which there is any printed record
made their appearance in 1776.
After the principles of hydraulics had thus been reviewed and discussed by
the philosophers of the 17th and 18th centuries and applied, to the extent
Page 122
indicated, further application of them was made, and especially for the
propelling of vessels. In 1718 La Hire revived and improved the double-
acting pump of Ctesibius, but to what extent he put it into use does not
appear. However, it was the double-acting pump having two chambers and
two valves, and in which the piston acted to throw the water out at each
stroke.
In 1730 Dr. John Allen of England designed a vessel having a tunnel or pipe
open at the stern thereof through which water was to be pumped into the air
or sea—the reaction thus occasioned driving the vessel forward. He put
such a vessel at work in a canal, working the pumps by manual labor, and
suggested the employment of a steam engine. A vessel of this kind was
patented by David Ramsey of England in 1738. Rumsey of America in 1782
also invented a similar vessel, built one 50 feet long, and ran it
experimentally on the Potomac river. Dr. Franklin also planned a boat of
this kind in 1785 and illustrated the same by sketches. His plan has since
been tried on the Scheldt, but two turbines were substituted for his simple
force pump. Further mention will be made later on of a few more elaborate
inventions of this kind.
It also having been discovered that the fall of a column of water in a tube
would cause a portion of it to rise higher than its source by reason of the
force of momentum, a machine was devised by which successive impulses
of this force were used, in combination with atmospheric pressure, to raise a
portion of the water at each impulse. This was the well-known ram, and the
first inventor of such a machine was John Whitehurst of Cheapside,
England, who constructed one in 1772. From a reservoir, spring, or cistern
of water, the water was discharged downward into a long pipe of small
diameter, and from thence into a shorter pipe governed by a stop-cock. On
the opening of the stop-cock the water was given a quick momentum, and
on closing the cock water was forced by the continuing momentum through
another pipe into an air chamber. A valve in the latter-mentioned pipe
opened into the air chamber. The air pressure served to overcome the
momentum and to close the chamber and at the same time forced the water
received into the air chamber up an adjacent pipe. Another impulse was
obtained and another injection of water into the chamber by again opening
the stop-cock, and thus by successive impulses water was forced into the
chamber and pressed by the air up through the discharge pipe and thence
propelling of vessels. In 1718 La Hire revived and improved the double-
acting pump of Ctesibius, but to what extent he put it into use does not
appear. However, it was the double-acting pump having two chambers and
two valves, and in which the piston acted to throw the water out at each
stroke.
In 1730 Dr. John Allen of England designed a vessel having a tunnel or pipe
open at the stern thereof through which water was to be pumped into the air
or sea—the reaction thus occasioned driving the vessel forward. He put
such a vessel at work in a canal, working the pumps by manual labor, and
suggested the employment of a steam engine. A vessel of this kind was
patented by David Ramsey of England in 1738. Rumsey of America in 1782
also invented a similar vessel, built one 50 feet long, and ran it
experimentally on the Potomac river. Dr. Franklin also planned a boat of
this kind in 1785 and illustrated the same by sketches. His plan has since
been tried on the Scheldt, but two turbines were substituted for his simple
force pump. Further mention will be made later on of a few more elaborate
inventions of this kind.
It also having been discovered that the fall of a column of water in a tube
would cause a portion of it to rise higher than its source by reason of the
force of momentum, a machine was devised by which successive impulses
of this force were used, in combination with atmospheric pressure, to raise a
portion of the water at each impulse. This was the well-known ram, and the
first inventor of such a machine was John Whitehurst of Cheapside,
England, who constructed one in 1772. From a reservoir, spring, or cistern
of water, the water was discharged downward into a long pipe of small
diameter, and from thence into a shorter pipe governed by a stop-cock. On
the opening of the stop-cock the water was given a quick momentum, and
on closing the cock water was forced by the continuing momentum through
another pipe into an air chamber. A valve in the latter-mentioned pipe
opened into the air chamber. The air pressure served to overcome the
momentum and to close the chamber and at the same time forced the water
received into the air chamber up an adjacent pipe. Another impulse was
obtained and another injection of water into the chamber by again opening
the stop-cock, and thus by successive impulses water was forced into the
chamber and pressed by the air up through the discharge pipe and thence
Page 123
through a building or other receptacle. But the fact that the stop-valve had
to be opened and closed by hand to obtain the desired number of lifts
rendered the machine ineffective.
In 1796 Montgolfier, a Frenchman and one of the inventors of the balloon,
substituted for the stop-cock of the Whitehurst machine a loose impulse
valve in the waste pipe, whereby the valve was raised by the rush of the
water, made to set itself, check the outflow and turn the current into the air
chamber. This simple alteration changed the character of the machine
entirely, rendered it automatic in action and converted it into a highly
successful water-raising machine. For this invention Montgolfier obtained a
Gold Medal from the French Exposition of 1802. Where a head can be had
from four to six feet, water can be raised to the height of 30 feet. Bodies of
water greater in amount than is desired to be raised can thus be utilised, and
this simple machine has come into very extensive use during the present
century.
Allusion was made in the last chapter to the powerful hydraulic press of
Joseph Bramah invented in 1795-1800, its practical introduction in this
century and improvements therein of others. After the great improvements
in the steam engine made by Watt, water, steam and air pressure joined their
forces on the threshold of this century to lift and move the world, as it had
never been moved before.
The strong hands of hydraulics are pumps. They are divided into classes by
names indicating their purpose and mode of operation, such as single,
double-acting, lift or force, reciprocating or rotary, etc.
Knight, in his celebrated Mechanical Dictionary, enumerates 100
differently constructed pumps connected with the various arts. In a broader
enumeration, under the head of Hydraulic Engineering and Engineering
Devices, he gives a list of over 600 species. The number has since
increased. About nine-tenths of these contrivances have been invented
during the 19th century, although the philosophical principles of the
operation of most of them had been previously discovered.
The important epochs in the invention of pumps, ending with the 18th
century, were thus the single-acting pump of Ctesibius, 225 B. C., the
to be opened and closed by hand to obtain the desired number of lifts
rendered the machine ineffective.
In 1796 Montgolfier, a Frenchman and one of the inventors of the balloon,
substituted for the stop-cock of the Whitehurst machine a loose impulse
valve in the waste pipe, whereby the valve was raised by the rush of the
water, made to set itself, check the outflow and turn the current into the air
chamber. This simple alteration changed the character of the machine
entirely, rendered it automatic in action and converted it into a highly
successful water-raising machine. For this invention Montgolfier obtained a
Gold Medal from the French Exposition of 1802. Where a head can be had
from four to six feet, water can be raised to the height of 30 feet. Bodies of
water greater in amount than is desired to be raised can thus be utilised, and
this simple machine has come into very extensive use during the present
century.
Allusion was made in the last chapter to the powerful hydraulic press of
Joseph Bramah invented in 1795-1800, its practical introduction in this
century and improvements therein of others. After the great improvements
in the steam engine made by Watt, water, steam and air pressure joined their
forces on the threshold of this century to lift and move the world, as it had
never been moved before.
The strong hands of hydraulics are pumps. They are divided into classes by
names indicating their purpose and mode of operation, such as single,
double-acting, lift or force, reciprocating or rotary, etc.
Knight, in his celebrated Mechanical Dictionary, enumerates 100
differently constructed pumps connected with the various arts. In a broader
enumeration, under the head of Hydraulic Engineering and Engineering
Devices, he gives a list of over 600 species. The number has since
increased. About nine-tenths of these contrivances have been invented
during the 19th century, although the philosophical principles of the
operation of most of them had been previously discovered.
The important epochs in the invention of pumps, ending with the 18th
century, were thus the single-acting pump of Ctesibius, 225 B. C., the
Page 124
double-acting of La Hire in 1718, the hydraulic ram of Whitehurst, 1772,
and the hydraulic press of Bramah of 1795-1802.
Bramah’s press illustrates how the theories of one age often lie dormant, but
if true become the practices of a succeeding age. Pascal, 150 years before
Bramah’s time, had written this seeming hydraulic paradox: “If a vessel
closed on all sides has two openings, the one a hundred times as large as the
other, and if each be supplied with a piston which fits it exactly, then a man
pushing the small piston will equilibrate that of 100 men pushing the piston
which is 100 times as large, and will overcome the other 99.” This is the
law of the hydraulic press, that intensity of pressure is everywhere the
same.
The next important epoch was the invention of Forneyron in 1823, of the
water-wheel known as the Turbine and also as the Vortex Wheel. If we will
return a moment to the little steam engine of the ancient Hero of
Alexandria, called the Eolipile, it will be remembered that the steam
admitted into a pivoted vessel and out of it through little opposite pipes,
having bent exits turned in contrary directions, caused the vessel to rotate
by reason of the reaction of the steam against the pipes. In what is called
Barker’s mill, brought out in the 18th century, substantially the same form
of engine is seen with water substituted for the steam.
A turbine is a wheel usually placed horizontally to the water. The wheel is
provided with curved internal buckets against which the water is led by
outer curved passages, the guides and the buckets both curved in such
manner that the water shall enter the wheel as nearly as possible without
shock, and leave it with the least possible velocity, thereby utilising the
greatest possible amount of energy.
In the chapter on Electrical inventions reference is made to the mighty
power of Niagara used to actuate a great number of electrical and other
machines of vast power. This utilisation had long been the dream of
engineers. Sir William Siemens had said that the power of all the coal raised
in the world would barely represent the power of Niagara. The dream has
been realised, and the turbine is the apparatus through which the power of
the harnessed giant is transmitted. A canal is dug from the river a mile
above the falls. It conducts water to a power house near the falls. At the
and the hydraulic press of Bramah of 1795-1802.
Bramah’s press illustrates how the theories of one age often lie dormant, but
if true become the practices of a succeeding age. Pascal, 150 years before
Bramah’s time, had written this seeming hydraulic paradox: “If a vessel
closed on all sides has two openings, the one a hundred times as large as the
other, and if each be supplied with a piston which fits it exactly, then a man
pushing the small piston will equilibrate that of 100 men pushing the piston
which is 100 times as large, and will overcome the other 99.” This is the
law of the hydraulic press, that intensity of pressure is everywhere the
same.
The next important epoch was the invention of Forneyron in 1823, of the
water-wheel known as the Turbine and also as the Vortex Wheel. If we will
return a moment to the little steam engine of the ancient Hero of
Alexandria, called the Eolipile, it will be remembered that the steam
admitted into a pivoted vessel and out of it through little opposite pipes,
having bent exits turned in contrary directions, caused the vessel to rotate
by reason of the reaction of the steam against the pipes. In what is called
Barker’s mill, brought out in the 18th century, substantially the same form
of engine is seen with water substituted for the steam.
A turbine is a wheel usually placed horizontally to the water. The wheel is
provided with curved internal buckets against which the water is led by
outer curved passages, the guides and the buckets both curved in such
manner that the water shall enter the wheel as nearly as possible without
shock, and leave it with the least possible velocity, thereby utilising the
greatest possible amount of energy.
In the chapter on Electrical inventions reference is made to the mighty
power of Niagara used to actuate a great number of electrical and other
machines of vast power. This utilisation had long been the dream of
engineers. Sir William Siemens had said that the power of all the coal raised
in the world would barely represent the power of Niagara. The dream has
been realised, and the turbine is the apparatus through which the power of
the harnessed giant is transmitted. A canal is dug from the river a mile
above the falls. It conducts water to a power house near the falls. At the
Page 125
power house the canal is furnished with a gate, and with cribs to keep back
the obstructions, such as sticks. At the gate is placed a vertical iron tube
called a penstock, 7½ feet in diameter and 160 feet deep. At the bottom of
the penstock is placed a turbine wheel fixed on a shaft, and to which shaft is
connected an electric generator or other power machine. On opening the
gate a mass of water 7½ feet in diameter falls upon the turbine wheel 160
feet below. The water rushing through the wheel turns it and its shaft many
hundred revolutions a minute. All the machinery is of enormous power and
dimensions. One electric generator there is 11 feet 7 inches in diameter and
spins around at the rate of 250 revolutions a minute. Means are provided by
which the speed of each wheel is regulated automatically. Each turbine in a
penstock represents the power of 5,000 horses, and there are now ten or
more employed.
After the water has done its work on the wheels it falls into a tunnel and is
carried back to the river below the falls. Not only are the manufactures of
various kinds of a large town at the falls thus supplied with power, but
electric power is transmitted to distant towns and cities.
Turbine pumps of the Forneyron type have an outward flow; but another
form, invented also by a Frenchman, Jonval, has a downward discharge,
and others are oblique, double, combined turbine, rotary, and centrifugal,
embodying similar principles. The term rotary, broadly speaking, includes
turbine and centrifugal pumps. The centrifugal pump, invented by Euler in
1754, was taken up in the nineteenth century and greatly improved.
In the centrifugal pump of the ordinary form the water is received at the
centre of the wheel and diverted and carried out in an upward direction, but
in most of its modern forms derived from the turbine, the principle is
adopted of so shaping the vanes that the water, striking them in the curved
direction, shall not have its line of curvature suddenly changed.
Among modern inventions of this class of pumps was the “Massachusetts”
of 1818 and McCarty’s, in 1830, of America, that of some contemporary
French engineers, and subsequently in France the Appold system, which
latter was brought into prominent notice at the London Exposition of 1851.
Improvements of great value were also made by Prof. James Thompson of
England.
the obstructions, such as sticks. At the gate is placed a vertical iron tube
called a penstock, 7½ feet in diameter and 160 feet deep. At the bottom of
the penstock is placed a turbine wheel fixed on a shaft, and to which shaft is
connected an electric generator or other power machine. On opening the
gate a mass of water 7½ feet in diameter falls upon the turbine wheel 160
feet below. The water rushing through the wheel turns it and its shaft many
hundred revolutions a minute. All the machinery is of enormous power and
dimensions. One electric generator there is 11 feet 7 inches in diameter and
spins around at the rate of 250 revolutions a minute. Means are provided by
which the speed of each wheel is regulated automatically. Each turbine in a
penstock represents the power of 5,000 horses, and there are now ten or
more employed.
After the water has done its work on the wheels it falls into a tunnel and is
carried back to the river below the falls. Not only are the manufactures of
various kinds of a large town at the falls thus supplied with power, but
electric power is transmitted to distant towns and cities.
Turbine pumps of the Forneyron type have an outward flow; but another
form, invented also by a Frenchman, Jonval, has a downward discharge,
and others are oblique, double, combined turbine, rotary, and centrifugal,
embodying similar principles. The term rotary, broadly speaking, includes
turbine and centrifugal pumps. The centrifugal pump, invented by Euler in
1754, was taken up in the nineteenth century and greatly improved.
In the centrifugal pump of the ordinary form the water is received at the
centre of the wheel and diverted and carried out in an upward direction, but
in most of its modern forms derived from the turbine, the principle is
adopted of so shaping the vanes that the water, striking them in the curved
direction, shall not have its line of curvature suddenly changed.
Among modern inventions of this class of pumps was the “Massachusetts”
of 1818 and McCarty’s, in 1830, of America, that of some contemporary
French engineers, and subsequently in France the Appold system, which
latter was brought into prominent notice at the London Exposition of 1851.
Improvements of great value were also made by Prof. James Thompson of
England.
Page 126
Centrifugal pumps have been used with great success in lifting large bodies
of water to a moderate height, and for draining marshes and other low
lands.
Holland, Germany, France, England and America have, through some of
their ablest hydraulic engineers and inventors, produced most remarkable
results in these various forms of pumps. We have noted what has been done
at Niagara with the turbines; and the drainage of the marshes of Italy, the
lowlands of Holland, the fens of England and the swamps of Florida bear
evidence of the value of kindred inventions.
That modern form of pump known as the injector, has many uses in the arts
and manufactures. One of its most useful functions is to automatically
supply steam boilers with water, and regulate the supply. It was the
invention of Giffard, patented in England in 1858, and consists of a steam
pipe leading from the boiler and having its nozzle projecting into an annular
space which communicates with a feed pipe from a water supply. A jet of
steam is discharged with force into this space, producing a vacuum, into
which the water from the feed pipe rushes, and the condensed steam and
water are driven by the momentum of the jet into a pipe leading into the
boiler. This exceedingly useful apparatus has been improved and
universally used wherever steam boilers are found. This idea of injecting a
stream of steam or water to create or increase the flow of another stream
has been applied in intensifiers, to increase the pressure of water in
hydraulic mains, pipes, and machines, by additional pressure energy. Thus
the water from an ordinary main may be given such an increased pressure
that a jet from a hydrant may be carried to the tops of high houses.
In connection with pumping it may be said that a great deal has been
discovered and invented during this century concerning the force and
utilisation of jets of water and the force of water flowing through orifices.
In the art of mining, a new system called hydraulicising has been
introduced, by which jets of water at high pressure have been directed
against banks and hills, which have crumbled, been washed away, and made
to reveal any precious ore they have concealed.
To assist this operation flexible nozzles have been invented which permit the
stream to be easily turned in any desired direction.
of water to a moderate height, and for draining marshes and other low
lands.
Holland, Germany, France, England and America have, through some of
their ablest hydraulic engineers and inventors, produced most remarkable
results in these various forms of pumps. We have noted what has been done
at Niagara with the turbines; and the drainage of the marshes of Italy, the
lowlands of Holland, the fens of England and the swamps of Florida bear
evidence of the value of kindred inventions.
That modern form of pump known as the injector, has many uses in the arts
and manufactures. One of its most useful functions is to automatically
supply steam boilers with water, and regulate the supply. It was the
invention of Giffard, patented in England in 1858, and consists of a steam
pipe leading from the boiler and having its nozzle projecting into an annular
space which communicates with a feed pipe from a water supply. A jet of
steam is discharged with force into this space, producing a vacuum, into
which the water from the feed pipe rushes, and the condensed steam and
water are driven by the momentum of the jet into a pipe leading into the
boiler. This exceedingly useful apparatus has been improved and
universally used wherever steam boilers are found. This idea of injecting a
stream of steam or water to create or increase the flow of another stream
has been applied in intensifiers, to increase the pressure of water in
hydraulic mains, pipes, and machines, by additional pressure energy. Thus
the water from an ordinary main may be given such an increased pressure
that a jet from a hydrant may be carried to the tops of high houses.
In connection with pumping it may be said that a great deal has been
discovered and invented during this century concerning the force and
utilisation of jets of water and the force of water flowing through orifices.
In the art of mining, a new system called hydraulicising has been
introduced, by which jets of water at high pressure have been directed
against banks and hills, which have crumbled, been washed away, and made
to reveal any precious ore they have concealed.
To assist this operation flexible nozzles have been invented which permit the
stream to be easily turned in any desired direction.
Page 127
Returning to the idea of raising weights by hydraulic pressure, mention
must be made of the recent invention of the hydraulic jack, a portable
machine for raising loads, and which has displaced the older and less
efficient screw jack. As an example of the practical utility of the hydraulic
jack, about a half century ago it required the aid of 480 men working at
capstans to raise the Luxor Obelisk in Paris, whilst within 30 years
thereafter Cleopatra’s Needle, a heavier monument, was raised to its present
position on the Thames embankment by four men each working one
hydraulic jack.
By the high pressures, or stresses given by the hydraulic press it was
learned that cold metals have plasticity and can be moulded or stretched
like other plastic bodies. Thus in one modification a machine is had for
making lead pipes:—A “container” is filled with molten lead and then
allowed to cool. The container is then forced by the pump against an
elongated die of the size of the pipe required. A pressure from one to two
tons per square inch is exerted, the lead is forced up through the die, and the
pipe comes out completed. Wrought iron and cold steel can be forced like
wax into different forms, and a rod of steel may be drawn through a die to
form a piano wire.
By another modification of the hydraulic press pipes and cables are covered
with a coating of lead to prevent deterioration from rust and other causes.
Not only are cotton and other bulky materials pressed into small compass
by hydraulic machines, but very valuable oils are pressed from cotton seed
and from other materials—the seed being first softened, then made into
cakes, and the cakes pressed.
If it is desired to line tunnels or other channels with a metal lining, shield or
casing, large segments of iron to compose the casing are put in position, and
as fast as the tunnel is excavated the casing is pressed forward, and when
the digging is done the cast-iron tunnel is complete.
If the iron hoops on great casks are to be tightened the cask is set on the
plate of a hydraulic press, the hoops connected to a series of steel arms
projecting from an overhanging support, and the cask is pressed upward
until the proper degree of tightness is secured.
must be made of the recent invention of the hydraulic jack, a portable
machine for raising loads, and which has displaced the older and less
efficient screw jack. As an example of the practical utility of the hydraulic
jack, about a half century ago it required the aid of 480 men working at
capstans to raise the Luxor Obelisk in Paris, whilst within 30 years
thereafter Cleopatra’s Needle, a heavier monument, was raised to its present
position on the Thames embankment by four men each working one
hydraulic jack.
By the high pressures, or stresses given by the hydraulic press it was
learned that cold metals have plasticity and can be moulded or stretched
like other plastic bodies. Thus in one modification a machine is had for
making lead pipes:—A “container” is filled with molten lead and then
allowed to cool. The container is then forced by the pump against an
elongated die of the size of the pipe required. A pressure from one to two
tons per square inch is exerted, the lead is forced up through the die, and the
pipe comes out completed. Wrought iron and cold steel can be forced like
wax into different forms, and a rod of steel may be drawn through a die to
form a piano wire.
By another modification of the hydraulic press pipes and cables are covered
with a coating of lead to prevent deterioration from rust and other causes.
Not only are cotton and other bulky materials pressed into small compass
by hydraulic machines, but very valuable oils are pressed from cotton seed
and from other materials—the seed being first softened, then made into
cakes, and the cakes pressed.
If it is desired to line tunnels or other channels with a metal lining, shield or
casing, large segments of iron to compose the casing are put in position, and
as fast as the tunnel is excavated the casing is pressed forward, and when
the digging is done the cast-iron tunnel is complete.
If the iron hoops on great casks are to be tightened the cask is set on the
plate of a hydraulic press, the hoops connected to a series of steel arms
projecting from an overhanging support, and the cask is pressed upward
until the proper degree of tightness is secured.
Page 128
In the application of hydraulic power to machine tools great advances have
been made. It has become a system, in which Tweddle of England was a
pioneer. The great force of water pressure combined with comparatively
slow motion constitutes the basis of the system. Sir William Fairbairn had
done with steam what Tweddle and others accomplished with water. Thus
the enormous force of men and the fearful clatter formerly displayed in
these huge works where the riveting of boilers was carried on can now be
dispensed with, and in place of the noisy hammer with its ceaseless blows
has come the steam or the hydraulic riveting machine, which noiselessly
drives the rivet through any thickness of metal, clinches the same, and
smooths the jointed plate. The forging and the rolling of the plates are
performed by the same means.
William George Armstrong of England, afterward Sir William, first a
lawyer, but with the strongest bearing toward mechanical subjects,
performed a great work in the advancement of hydraulic engineering. It is
claimed that he did for hydraulic machinery, in the storage and transmission
of power thereby, what Watt did for the steam engine and Bessemer did for
steel. In 1838 he produced his first invention, an important improvement in
the hydraulic engine. In 1840, in a letter to the Mechanics’ Magazine, he
calls attention to the advantages of water as a mechanical agent and a
reservoir of power, and showed how water pumped to an elevated reservoir
by a steam engine might have the potential energy thus stored utilised in
many advantageous ways. How, for instance, a small engine pumping
continuously could thus supply many large engines working intermittently.
In illustration of this idea he invented a crane, which was erected on
Newcastle quay in 1846; another was constructed on the Albert dock at
Liverpool, and others at other places. These cranes, adapted for the lifting
and carrying of enormous loads, were worked by hydraulic pressure
obtained from elevated tanks or reservoirs, as above indicated. But as a
substitute for such tanks or reservoirs he invented the Accumulator. This
consists of a large cast-iron cylinder fitted with a plunger, which is made to
work water-tight therein by means of suitable packing. To this plunger is
attached a weighted case filled with one or many tons of metal or other
coarse material. Water is pumped into the cylinder until the plunger is raised
to its full height within the cylinder, when the supply of water is cut off by
the automatic operation of a valve. When the cranes or other apparatus to be
been made. It has become a system, in which Tweddle of England was a
pioneer. The great force of water pressure combined with comparatively
slow motion constitutes the basis of the system. Sir William Fairbairn had
done with steam what Tweddle and others accomplished with water. Thus
the enormous force of men and the fearful clatter formerly displayed in
these huge works where the riveting of boilers was carried on can now be
dispensed with, and in place of the noisy hammer with its ceaseless blows
has come the steam or the hydraulic riveting machine, which noiselessly
drives the rivet through any thickness of metal, clinches the same, and
smooths the jointed plate. The forging and the rolling of the plates are
performed by the same means.
William George Armstrong of England, afterward Sir William, first a
lawyer, but with the strongest bearing toward mechanical subjects,
performed a great work in the advancement of hydraulic engineering. It is
claimed that he did for hydraulic machinery, in the storage and transmission
of power thereby, what Watt did for the steam engine and Bessemer did for
steel. In 1838 he produced his first invention, an important improvement in
the hydraulic engine. In 1840, in a letter to the Mechanics’ Magazine, he
calls attention to the advantages of water as a mechanical agent and a
reservoir of power, and showed how water pumped to an elevated reservoir
by a steam engine might have the potential energy thus stored utilised in
many advantageous ways. How, for instance, a small engine pumping
continuously could thus supply many large engines working intermittently.
In illustration of this idea he invented a crane, which was erected on
Newcastle quay in 1846; another was constructed on the Albert dock at
Liverpool, and others at other places. These cranes, adapted for the lifting
and carrying of enormous loads, were worked by hydraulic pressure
obtained from elevated tanks or reservoirs, as above indicated. But as a
substitute for such tanks or reservoirs he invented the Accumulator. This
consists of a large cast-iron cylinder fitted with a plunger, which is made to
work water-tight therein by means of suitable packing. To this plunger is
attached a weighted case filled with one or many tons of metal or other
coarse material. Water is pumped into the cylinder until the plunger is raised
to its full height within the cylinder, when the supply of water is cut off by
the automatic operation of a valve. When the cranes or other apparatus to be
Page 129
worked thereby are in operation, water is passed from the cylinder through
a small pipe which actuates the crane through hydraulic pressure. This
pressure of course depends upon the weight of the plunger. Thus a pressure
of from 500 to 1,000 pounds per square inch may be obtained. The
descending plunger maintains a constant pressure upon the water, and the
water is only pumped into the cylinder when it is required to be filled. With
sensitive accumulators of this character hydraulic machinery is much used
on board ships for steering them, and for loading, discharging and storing
cargoes.
Water Pressure Engines or Water Motors of a great variety as to useful
details have been invented to take advantage of a natural head of water from
falls wherever it exists, or from artificial accumulators or from street mains.
They resemble steam engines, in that the water under pressure drives a
piston in a cylinder somewhat in the manner of steam. The underlying
principle of this class of machinery is the admission of water under pressure
to a cylinder which moves the piston and is allowed to escape on the
completion of the stroke. They are divided into two great classes, single and
double acting engines, accordingly as the water is admitted to one side of
the piston only, or to both sides alternately. Both kinds are provided with a
regulator in the form of a turn-cock, weight, or spring valve to regulate and
control the flow of water and to make it continuous. They are used for
furnishing a limited amount of power for working small printing presses,
dental engines, organs, sewing machines, and for many other purposes
where a light motor is desired.
The nineteenth century has seen a revolution in baths and accompanying
closets. However useful, luxurious, and magnificent may have been the
patrician baths of ancient Rome, that system, which modern investigators
have found to be so complete to a certain extent, was not nor ever has been
in the possession of the poor. It is within the memory of many now living
everywhere how wretched was the sanitary accommodations in every
populous place a generation or two ago. Now, with the modern water
distribution systems and cheap bathing apparatuses which can be brought to
the homes of all, with plunger, valved siphon and valved and washout
closets, air valve, liquid seal, pipe inlet, and valve seal traps, and with the
flushing and other hydraulic cleaning systems for drains and cesspools,
little excuse can be had for want of proper sanitary regulations in any
a small pipe which actuates the crane through hydraulic pressure. This
pressure of course depends upon the weight of the plunger. Thus a pressure
of from 500 to 1,000 pounds per square inch may be obtained. The
descending plunger maintains a constant pressure upon the water, and the
water is only pumped into the cylinder when it is required to be filled. With
sensitive accumulators of this character hydraulic machinery is much used
on board ships for steering them, and for loading, discharging and storing
cargoes.
Water Pressure Engines or Water Motors of a great variety as to useful
details have been invented to take advantage of a natural head of water from
falls wherever it exists, or from artificial accumulators or from street mains.
They resemble steam engines, in that the water under pressure drives a
piston in a cylinder somewhat in the manner of steam. The underlying
principle of this class of machinery is the admission of water under pressure
to a cylinder which moves the piston and is allowed to escape on the
completion of the stroke. They are divided into two great classes, single and
double acting engines, accordingly as the water is admitted to one side of
the piston only, or to both sides alternately. Both kinds are provided with a
regulator in the form of a turn-cock, weight, or spring valve to regulate and
control the flow of water and to make it continuous. They are used for
furnishing a limited amount of power for working small printing presses,
dental engines, organs, sewing machines, and for many other purposes
where a light motor is desired.
The nineteenth century has seen a revolution in baths and accompanying
closets. However useful, luxurious, and magnificent may have been the
patrician baths of ancient Rome, that system, which modern investigators
have found to be so complete to a certain extent, was not nor ever has been
in the possession of the poor. It is within the memory of many now living
everywhere how wretched was the sanitary accommodations in every
populous place a generation or two ago. Now, with the modern water
distribution systems and cheap bathing apparatuses which can be brought to
the homes of all, with plunger, valved siphon and valved and washout
closets, air valve, liquid seal, pipe inlet, and valve seal traps, and with the
flushing and other hydraulic cleaning systems for drains and cesspools,
little excuse can be had for want of proper sanitary regulations in any
Page 130
intelligent community. The result of the adoption of these modern
improvements in this direction on the health of the people has been to
banish plagues, curtail epidemics, and prolong for years the average
duration of human life.
How multiplied are the uses to which water is put, and how completely it is
being subjected to the use of man!
Rivers and pipes have their metres, so that now the velocity and volume of
rivers and streams are measured and controlled, and floods prevented. The
supplies for cities and for families are estimated, measured and recorded as
easily as are the supplies of illuminating gas, or the flow of food from
elevators.
Among the minor, but very useful inventions, are water scoops for picking
up water for a train while in motion, consisting of a curved open pipe on a
car, the mouth of which strikes a current of water in an open trough between
the tracks and picks up and deposits in a minute a car load of water for the
engine. Nozzles to emit jets of great velocity, and ball nozzles terminating in
a cup in which a ball is loosely seated, and which has the effect, as it is
lifted by the jet, to spread it into an umbrella-shaped spray, are of great
value at fires in quenching flame and smoke.
Next to pure air to breathe we need pure water to drink, and modern
discoveries and inventions have done and are doing much to help us to
both. Pasteur and others have discovered and explained the germ theory of
disease and to what extent it is due to impure water. Inventors have
produced filters, and there is a large class of that character which render the
water pure as it enters the dwelling, and fit for all domestic purposes. A
specimen of the latter class is one which is attached to the main service pipe
as it enters from the street. The water is first led into a cylinder stored with
coarse filtering material which clears the water of mud, sediment and
coarser impurities, and then is conducted into a second cylinder provided
with a mass of fine grained or powdered charcoal, or some other material
which has the quality of not only arresting all remaining injurious
ingredients, but destroys organisms, neutralises ammonia and other
deleterious matter. From thence the water is returned to the service pipe and
distributed through the house. The filter may be thoroughly cleansed by
improvements in this direction on the health of the people has been to
banish plagues, curtail epidemics, and prolong for years the average
duration of human life.
How multiplied are the uses to which water is put, and how completely it is
being subjected to the use of man!
Rivers and pipes have their metres, so that now the velocity and volume of
rivers and streams are measured and controlled, and floods prevented. The
supplies for cities and for families are estimated, measured and recorded as
easily as are the supplies of illuminating gas, or the flow of food from
elevators.
Among the minor, but very useful inventions, are water scoops for picking
up water for a train while in motion, consisting of a curved open pipe on a
car, the mouth of which strikes a current of water in an open trough between
the tracks and picks up and deposits in a minute a car load of water for the
engine. Nozzles to emit jets of great velocity, and ball nozzles terminating in
a cup in which a ball is loosely seated, and which has the effect, as it is
lifted by the jet, to spread it into an umbrella-shaped spray, are of great
value at fires in quenching flame and smoke.
Next to pure air to breathe we need pure water to drink, and modern
discoveries and inventions have done and are doing much to help us to
both. Pasteur and others have discovered and explained the germ theory of
disease and to what extent it is due to impure water. Inventors have
produced filters, and there is a large class of that character which render the
water pure as it enters the dwelling, and fit for all domestic purposes. A
specimen of the latter class is one which is attached to the main service pipe
as it enters from the street. The water is first led into a cylinder stored with
coarse filtering material which clears the water of mud, sediment and
coarser impurities, and then is conducted into a second cylinder provided
with a mass of fine grained or powdered charcoal, or some other material
which has the quality of not only arresting all remaining injurious
ingredients, but destroys organisms, neutralises ammonia and other
deleterious matter. From thence the water is returned to the service pipe and
distributed through the house. The filter may be thoroughly cleansed by
Page 131
reversing the movement of the water, and carrying it off through a drain
pipe until it runs clear and sweet, whereupon the water is turned in its
normal course through the filter and house.
In a very recent report of General J. M. Wilson, Chief of Engineers, U.S.A.,
the subject of filtration of water, and especially of public water supplies in
England, the United States, and on the Continent, is very thoroughly
treated, and the conclusion arrived at there is that the system termed “the
American,” or mechanical system, is the most successful one.
This consists, first, in leading the water into one or more reservoirs, then
coagulating suspended matter in the water by the use of the sulphate of
alumina, and then allowing the water to flow through a body of coarse sand,
by which the coagulated aluminated matter is caught and held in the
interstices of the sand, and the bacteria arrested. All objectionable matter is
thus arrested by the surface portion of the sand body, which portion is from
time to time scraped off, and the whole sand mass occasionally washed out
by upward currents of water forced through the same.
By this system great rapidity of filtration is obtained, the rate being
120,000,000 gallons a day per acre.
The English system consists more in the use of extended and successive
reservoirs or beds of sand alone, or aided by the use of the sulphate. This
also is extensively used in many large cities.
pipe until it runs clear and sweet, whereupon the water is turned in its
normal course through the filter and house.
In a very recent report of General J. M. Wilson, Chief of Engineers, U.S.A.,
the subject of filtration of water, and especially of public water supplies in
England, the United States, and on the Continent, is very thoroughly
treated, and the conclusion arrived at there is that the system termed “the
American,” or mechanical system, is the most successful one.
This consists, first, in leading the water into one or more reservoirs, then
coagulating suspended matter in the water by the use of the sulphate of
alumina, and then allowing the water to flow through a body of coarse sand,
by which the coagulated aluminated matter is caught and held in the
interstices of the sand, and the bacteria arrested. All objectionable matter is
thus arrested by the surface portion of the sand body, which portion is from
time to time scraped off, and the whole sand mass occasionally washed out
by upward currents of water forced through the same.
By this system great rapidity of filtration is obtained, the rate being
120,000,000 gallons a day per acre.
The English system consists more in the use of extended and successive
reservoirs or beds of sand alone, or aided by the use of the sulphate. This
also is extensively used in many large cities.
Page 132
CHAPTER XII.
PNEUMATICS AND PNEUMATIC MACHINES.
“The march of the human mind is slow,” exclaimed Burke in his great
speech on “Conciliation with the Colonies.” It was at the beginning of the
last quarter of the 18th century that he was speaking, and he was referring
to the slow discovery of the eternal laws of Providence as applied in the
field of political administration to distant colonies. The same could then
have been said of the march of the human mind in the realms of Nature.
How slow had been the apprehension of the forces of that kind but silent
Mother whose strong arms are ever ready to lift and carry the burdens of
men whenever her aid is diligently sought! The voice of Burke was,
however, hardly silent when the human mind suddenly awoke, and its
march in the realms of government and of natural science since then cannot
be regarded as slow.
More than fifteen centuries before Burke spoke, not only had Greece
discovered the principles of political freedom for its citizens and its
colonies, but the power of steam had been discovered, and experimental
work been done with it.
Yet when the famous orator made his speech the Grecian experiment was a
toy of Kings, and the steam engine had just developed from this toy into a
mighty engine in the hands of Watt. The age of mechanical inventions had
just commenced with the production of machines for spinning and weaving.
And yet, in view of the rise of learning, and the appearance from time to
time of mighty intellects in the highest walks of science, the growth of the
mind in the line of useful machinery had indeed been strangely slow.
“Learning” had revived in Italy in the 12th and 13th centuries and spread
westward in the 14th. In the 15th, gunpowder and printing had been
discovered, and Scaliger, the famous scholar of Italy, and Erasmus, the
PNEUMATICS AND PNEUMATIC MACHINES.
“The march of the human mind is slow,” exclaimed Burke in his great
speech on “Conciliation with the Colonies.” It was at the beginning of the
last quarter of the 18th century that he was speaking, and he was referring
to the slow discovery of the eternal laws of Providence as applied in the
field of political administration to distant colonies. The same could then
have been said of the march of the human mind in the realms of Nature.
How slow had been the apprehension of the forces of that kind but silent
Mother whose strong arms are ever ready to lift and carry the burdens of
men whenever her aid is diligently sought! The voice of Burke was,
however, hardly silent when the human mind suddenly awoke, and its
march in the realms of government and of natural science since then cannot
be regarded as slow.
More than fifteen centuries before Burke spoke, not only had Greece
discovered the principles of political freedom for its citizens and its
colonies, but the power of steam had been discovered, and experimental
work been done with it.
Yet when the famous orator made his speech the Grecian experiment was a
toy of Kings, and the steam engine had just developed from this toy into a
mighty engine in the hands of Watt. The age of mechanical inventions had
just commenced with the production of machines for spinning and weaving.
And yet, in view of the rise of learning, and the appearance from time to
time of mighty intellects in the highest walks of science, the growth of the
mind in the line of useful machinery had indeed been strangely slow.
“Learning” had revived in Italy in the 12th and 13th centuries and spread
westward in the 14th. In the 15th, gunpowder and printing had been
discovered, and Scaliger, the famous scholar of Italy, and Erasmus, the
Page 133
celebrated Dutch philosopher, were the leading restorers of ancient
literature. Science then also revived, and Copernicus, the Pole, gave us the
true theory of the solar system. The 16th century produced the great
mathematicians and astronomers Tycho Brahe, the Dane, Cardan and
Galileo, the illustrious Italians, and Kepler, the German astronomer, whose
discovery of the laws of planetary motion supplemented the works of
Copernicus and Galileo and illuminated the early years of the 17th century.
In the 17th century appeared Torricelli, the inventor of the barometer;
Guericke, the German, inventor of the air pump; Fahrenheit, the inventor of
the mercurial thermometer bearing his name; Leibnitz, eminent in every
department of science and philosophy; Huygens, the great Dutch
astronomer and philosopher; Pascal of France and Sir Isaac Newton of
England, the worthy successors of Kepler, Galileo and Copernicus; and yet,
with the exception of philosophical discoveries and a few experiments, the
field of invention in the way of motor engines still remained practically
closed. But slight as had been the discoveries and experiments referred to,
they were the mine from which the inventions of subsequent times were
quarried.
One of the earliest, if not the first of pneumatic machines, was the bellows.
Its invention followed the discovery of fire and of metals. The bladders of
animals suggested it, and their skins were substituted for the bladders.
The Egyptians have left a record of its use, thirty-four centuries ago, and its
use has been continuous ever since.
Mention has been made of the cannon. It was probably the earliest attempt
to obtain motive power from heat. The ball was driven out of an iron
cylinder by the inflammatory power of powder. Let a piston be substituted
for the cannon ball, as was suggested by Huygens in 1680 and by Papin in
1690, and the charge of powder so reduced that when it is exploded the
piston will not be thrown entirely out of the cylinder, another small
explosive charge introduced on the other side of the piston to force it back,
or let the cylinder be vertical and the piston be driven back by gravity,
means provided to permit the escape of the gas after it has done its work,
and means to keep the cylinder cool, and we have the prototype of the
modern heat engines. The gunpowder experiments of Huygens and Papin
literature. Science then also revived, and Copernicus, the Pole, gave us the
true theory of the solar system. The 16th century produced the great
mathematicians and astronomers Tycho Brahe, the Dane, Cardan and
Galileo, the illustrious Italians, and Kepler, the German astronomer, whose
discovery of the laws of planetary motion supplemented the works of
Copernicus and Galileo and illuminated the early years of the 17th century.
In the 17th century appeared Torricelli, the inventor of the barometer;
Guericke, the German, inventor of the air pump; Fahrenheit, the inventor of
the mercurial thermometer bearing his name; Leibnitz, eminent in every
department of science and philosophy; Huygens, the great Dutch
astronomer and philosopher; Pascal of France and Sir Isaac Newton of
England, the worthy successors of Kepler, Galileo and Copernicus; and yet,
with the exception of philosophical discoveries and a few experiments, the
field of invention in the way of motor engines still remained practically
closed. But slight as had been the discoveries and experiments referred to,
they were the mine from which the inventions of subsequent times were
quarried.
One of the earliest, if not the first of pneumatic machines, was the bellows.
Its invention followed the discovery of fire and of metals. The bladders of
animals suggested it, and their skins were substituted for the bladders.
The Egyptians have left a record of its use, thirty-four centuries ago, and its
use has been continuous ever since.
Mention has been made of the cannon. It was probably the earliest attempt
to obtain motive power from heat. The ball was driven out of an iron
cylinder by the inflammatory power of powder. Let a piston be substituted
for the cannon ball, as was suggested by Huygens in 1680 and by Papin in
1690, and the charge of powder so reduced that when it is exploded the
piston will not be thrown entirely out of the cylinder, another small
explosive charge introduced on the other side of the piston to force it back,
or let the cylinder be vertical and the piston be driven back by gravity,
means provided to permit the escape of the gas after it has done its work,
and means to keep the cylinder cool, and we have the prototype of the
modern heat engines. The gunpowder experiments of Huygens and Papin
Page 134
were not successful, but they were the progenitors of similar inventions
made two centuries thereafter.
Jan Baptista van Helmont, a Flemish physician (1577-1644), was the first to
apply the term, gas to the elastic fluids which resemble air in physical
properties. Robert Boyle, the celebrated Irish scholar and scientist, and
improver of the air pump, and Edwin Mariotte, the French physicist who
was first to show that a feather and a coin will drop the same distance at the
same time in a reservoir exhausted of air, were the independent discoverers
of Boyle’s and Mariotte’s law of gases (1650-1676). This was that at any
given temperature of a gas which is at rest its volume varies inversely with
the pressure put upon it. It follows from this law that the density and
tension, and therefore the expansive force of a gas, are proportional to the
compressing force to which it is subjected. It is said that Abbé Hauteville,
the son of a baker of Orleans, about 1678 proposed to raise water by a
powder motor; and that in 1682 he described a machine based on the
principle of the circulation of the blood, produced by the alternate
expansion and contraction of the heart.
The production of heat by concentrating the rays of the sun, and for burning
objects had been known from the time of Archimedes, and been repeated
from time to time.
Thus stood this art at the close of the 17th century, and thus it remained
until near the close of the 18th.
In England Murdock, the Cornish Steam Engineer, was the first to make
and use coal gas for illuminating purposes, which he did in 1792 and 1798.
Its utilisation for other practical purposes was then suggested.
Gas engines as motive powers were first described in the English patent to
John Barber, in 1791, and then in one issued to Robert Street in 1794.
Barber proposed to introduce a stream of carbonated hydrogen gas through
one port, and a quantity of air at another, and explode them against the
piston. Street proposed to drive up the piston by the expansive force of a
heated gas, and anticipated many modern ideas. Phillipe Lebon, a French
engineer, in 1799 and in 1801 anticipated in a theoretical way many ideas
since successfully reduced to practice. He proposed to use coal gas to drive
a piston, which in turn should move the shaft that worked the pumps which
made two centuries thereafter.
Jan Baptista van Helmont, a Flemish physician (1577-1644), was the first to
apply the term, gas to the elastic fluids which resemble air in physical
properties. Robert Boyle, the celebrated Irish scholar and scientist, and
improver of the air pump, and Edwin Mariotte, the French physicist who
was first to show that a feather and a coin will drop the same distance at the
same time in a reservoir exhausted of air, were the independent discoverers
of Boyle’s and Mariotte’s law of gases (1650-1676). This was that at any
given temperature of a gas which is at rest its volume varies inversely with
the pressure put upon it. It follows from this law that the density and
tension, and therefore the expansive force of a gas, are proportional to the
compressing force to which it is subjected. It is said that Abbé Hauteville,
the son of a baker of Orleans, about 1678 proposed to raise water by a
powder motor; and that in 1682 he described a machine based on the
principle of the circulation of the blood, produced by the alternate
expansion and contraction of the heart.
The production of heat by concentrating the rays of the sun, and for burning
objects had been known from the time of Archimedes, and been repeated
from time to time.
Thus stood this art at the close of the 17th century, and thus it remained
until near the close of the 18th.
In England Murdock, the Cornish Steam Engineer, was the first to make
and use coal gas for illuminating purposes, which he did in 1792 and 1798.
Its utilisation for other practical purposes was then suggested.
Gas engines as motive powers were first described in the English patent to
John Barber, in 1791, and then in one issued to Robert Street in 1794.
Barber proposed to introduce a stream of carbonated hydrogen gas through
one port, and a quantity of air at another, and explode them against the
piston. Street proposed to drive up the piston by the expansive force of a
heated gas, and anticipated many modern ideas. Phillipe Lebon, a French
engineer, in 1799 and in 1801 anticipated in a theoretical way many ideas
since successfully reduced to practice. He proposed to use coal gas to drive
a piston, which in turn should move the shaft that worked the pumps which
Page 135
forced in the gas and air, and thus make the machine double-acting; to
introduce a charge of inflammable gas mixed with sufficient air to ignite it;
to compress the air and gas before they entered the motor cylinder; to
introduce the charge alternately on each side of the piston; and he also
suggested the use of the electric spark to fire the mixture. But Lebon was
assassinated and did not live to work out his ideas.
At the very beginning of the 19th century John Dalton in England, 1801-
1807, and Gay-Lussac in France began their investigations of gases and
vapours. Dalton was not only the author of the atomic theory, but the
discoverer of the leading ideas in the “Constitution of Mixed Gases.” These
features were the diffusion of gases, the action of gases on each other in
vacuum—the influence of different temperatures upon them, their chemical
constituents and their relative specific gravity.
Gay-Lussac, continuing his investigations as to expansion of air and gases
under increased temperatures, in 1807-10, established the law that when
free from moisture they all dilate uniformly and to equal amounts for all
equal increments of temperature. He also showed that the gases combine, as
to volume, in simple proportions, and that several of them on being
compounded contracted always in such simple proportions as one-half, one-
third, or one-quarter, of their joint bulk. By these laws all forms of engines
which were made to work through the agency of heat are classed as heat
engines—so that under this head are included steam engines, air engines,
gas engines, vapour engines and solar engines. The tie that binds these
engines into one great family is temperature. It is the heat that does the
work. Whether it is a cannon, the power of which is manifested in a flash,
or the slower moving steam engine, whose throbbing heart beats not until
water is turned to steam, or the sun, the parent of them all, whose rays are
grasped and used direct, the question in all cases is, what is the amount of
heat produced and how can it be controlled?
It, then, can make no difference what the agent is that is employed, whether
air, or gas, or steam, or the sun, or gunpowder explosion, but what is the
temperature to be attained in the cylinder or vessel in which they work.
Power is the measure of work done in a given time. Horse power is the unit
of such measurement, and it consists of the amount of power that is
required to raise one pound through a vertical distance of one foot. This
introduce a charge of inflammable gas mixed with sufficient air to ignite it;
to compress the air and gas before they entered the motor cylinder; to
introduce the charge alternately on each side of the piston; and he also
suggested the use of the electric spark to fire the mixture. But Lebon was
assassinated and did not live to work out his ideas.
At the very beginning of the 19th century John Dalton in England, 1801-
1807, and Gay-Lussac in France began their investigations of gases and
vapours. Dalton was not only the author of the atomic theory, but the
discoverer of the leading ideas in the “Constitution of Mixed Gases.” These
features were the diffusion of gases, the action of gases on each other in
vacuum—the influence of different temperatures upon them, their chemical
constituents and their relative specific gravity.
Gay-Lussac, continuing his investigations as to expansion of air and gases
under increased temperatures, in 1807-10, established the law that when
free from moisture they all dilate uniformly and to equal amounts for all
equal increments of temperature. He also showed that the gases combine, as
to volume, in simple proportions, and that several of them on being
compounded contracted always in such simple proportions as one-half, one-
third, or one-quarter, of their joint bulk. By these laws all forms of engines
which were made to work through the agency of heat are classed as heat
engines—so that under this head are included steam engines, air engines,
gas engines, vapour engines and solar engines. The tie that binds these
engines into one great family is temperature. It is the heat that does the
work. Whether it is a cannon, the power of which is manifested in a flash,
or the slower moving steam engine, whose throbbing heart beats not until
water is turned to steam, or the sun, the parent of them all, whose rays are
grasped and used direct, the question in all cases is, what is the amount of
heat produced and how can it be controlled?
It, then, can make no difference what the agent is that is employed, whether
air, or gas, or steam, or the sun, or gunpowder explosion, but what is the
temperature to be attained in the cylinder or vessel in which they work.
Power is the measure of work done in a given time. Horse power is the unit
of such measurement, and it consists of the amount of power that is
required to raise one pound through a vertical distance of one foot. This
Page 136
power is pressure and the pressure is heat. The unit of heat is the amount of
heat required to raise the temperature of a pound of distilled water one
degree—from 39 degrees to 40 degrees F. Its amount or measurement is
determined in any instance by a dynamometer.
These were the discoveries with which Philosophy opened the nineteenth
century so brilliantly in the field of Pneumatics.
Before that time it seemed impossible that explosive gases would ever be
harnessed as steam had been and made to do continual successful work in a
cylinder and behind a piston. As yet means were to be found to make the
engine efficient as a double-acting one—to start the untamed steed at the
proper moment and to stop him at the moment he had done his work.
As Newcomen had been the first in the previous century to apply the steam
engine to practical work—pumping water from mines—so Samuel Brown
of England was the first in this century to invent and use a gas engine upon
the water.
Brown took out patents in 1823 and 1826. He proposed to use gunpowder
gas as the motive power. His engine was also described in the Mechanics’
Magazine published in London at that time. In the making of his engine he
followed the idea of a steam engine, but used the flame of an ignited gas jet
to create a vacuum within the cylinder instead of steam. He fitted up an
experimental boat with such an engine, and means upon the boat to generate
the gas. The boat was then operated upon the Thames. He also succeeded
experimentally in adapting his engine to a road carriage. But Brown’s
machines were cumbrous, complicated, and difficult to work, and therefore
did not come into public use.
About this time (1823), Davy and Faraday reawakened interest in gas
engines by their discovery that a number of gases could be reduced to a
liquid state, some by great pressure, and others by cold, and that upon the
release of the pressure the gases would return to their original volume. In
the condensation heat was developed, and in re-expansion it was rendered
latent.
Then Wright in 1833 obtained a patent in which he expounded and
illustrated the principles of expansion and compression of gas and air,
heat required to raise the temperature of a pound of distilled water one
degree—from 39 degrees to 40 degrees F. Its amount or measurement is
determined in any instance by a dynamometer.
These were the discoveries with which Philosophy opened the nineteenth
century so brilliantly in the field of Pneumatics.
Before that time it seemed impossible that explosive gases would ever be
harnessed as steam had been and made to do continual successful work in a
cylinder and behind a piston. As yet means were to be found to make the
engine efficient as a double-acting one—to start the untamed steed at the
proper moment and to stop him at the moment he had done his work.
As Newcomen had been the first in the previous century to apply the steam
engine to practical work—pumping water from mines—so Samuel Brown
of England was the first in this century to invent and use a gas engine upon
the water.
Brown took out patents in 1823 and 1826. He proposed to use gunpowder
gas as the motive power. His engine was also described in the Mechanics’
Magazine published in London at that time. In the making of his engine he
followed the idea of a steam engine, but used the flame of an ignited gas jet
to create a vacuum within the cylinder instead of steam. He fitted up an
experimental boat with such an engine, and means upon the boat to generate
the gas. The boat was then operated upon the Thames. He also succeeded
experimentally in adapting his engine to a road carriage. But Brown’s
machines were cumbrous, complicated, and difficult to work, and therefore
did not come into public use.
About this time (1823), Davy and Faraday reawakened interest in gas
engines by their discovery that a number of gases could be reduced to a
liquid state, some by great pressure, and others by cold, and that upon the
release of the pressure the gases would return to their original volume. In
the condensation heat was developed, and in re-expansion it was rendered
latent.
Then Wright in 1833 obtained a patent in which he expounded and
illustrated the principles of expansion and compression of gas and air,
Page 137
performed in separate cylinders, the production of a vacuum by the
explosion and the use of a water jacket around the cylinder for cooling it.
For William Burdett, in 1838, is claimed the honour of having been the first
to invent the means of compressing the gas and air previous to the
explosion, substantially the same as adopted in gas engines of the present
day.
The defects found in gas engines thus far were want of proper preliminary
compression, then in complete expansion, and finally loss of heat through
the walls.
Some years later, Lenoir, a Frenchman, invented a gas engine of a
successful type, of which three hundred in 1862 were in use in France. It
showed what could be accomplished by an engine in which the fuel was
introduced and fired directly in the piston cylinder. Its essential features
were a cylinder into which a mixture of gas and air was admitted at
atmospheric pressure, which was maintained until the piston made half its
stroke, when the gas was exploded by an electric spark. A wheel of great
weight was hung upon a shaft which was connected to the piston, and
which weight absorbed the force suddenly developed by the explosion, and
so moderated the speed. Another object of the use of the heavy wheel was
to carry the machine over the one-half of the period in which the driving
power was absent.
Hugon, another eminent French engineer, invented and constructed a gas
engine on the same principle as Lenair’s.
About this time (1850-60) M. Beau de Rohes, a French engineer,
thoroughly investigated the reasons of the uneconomical working of gas
motors, and found that it was due to want of sufficient compression of the
gas and air previous to explosion, incomplete expansion and loss of heat
through the walls of the cylinder, and he was the first to formulate a “cycle”
of operations necessary to be followed in order to render a gas engine
efficient. They related to the size and dimensions of the cylinder; the
maximum speed of the piston; the greatest possible expansion, and the
highest pressure obtainable at the beginning of the act of expansion. The
study and application of these conditions created great advancements in gas
engines.
explosion and the use of a water jacket around the cylinder for cooling it.
For William Burdett, in 1838, is claimed the honour of having been the first
to invent the means of compressing the gas and air previous to the
explosion, substantially the same as adopted in gas engines of the present
day.
The defects found in gas engines thus far were want of proper preliminary
compression, then in complete expansion, and finally loss of heat through
the walls.
Some years later, Lenoir, a Frenchman, invented a gas engine of a
successful type, of which three hundred in 1862 were in use in France. It
showed what could be accomplished by an engine in which the fuel was
introduced and fired directly in the piston cylinder. Its essential features
were a cylinder into which a mixture of gas and air was admitted at
atmospheric pressure, which was maintained until the piston made half its
stroke, when the gas was exploded by an electric spark. A wheel of great
weight was hung upon a shaft which was connected to the piston, and
which weight absorbed the force suddenly developed by the explosion, and
so moderated the speed. Another object of the use of the heavy wheel was
to carry the machine over the one-half of the period in which the driving
power was absent.
Hugon, another eminent French engineer, invented and constructed a gas
engine on the same principle as Lenair’s.
About this time (1850-60) M. Beau de Rohes, a French engineer,
thoroughly investigated the reasons of the uneconomical working of gas
motors, and found that it was due to want of sufficient compression of the
gas and air previous to explosion, incomplete expansion and loss of heat
through the walls of the cylinder, and he was the first to formulate a “cycle”
of operations necessary to be followed in order to render a gas engine
efficient. They related to the size and dimensions of the cylinder; the
maximum speed of the piston; the greatest possible expansion, and the
highest pressure obtainable at the beginning of the act of expansion. The
study and application of these conditions created great advancements in gas
engines.
Page 138
With the discovery and development of the oil wells in the United States
about 1860 a new fuel was found in the crude petroleum, as well as a source
of light. The application of petroleum to engines, either to produce furnace
heat, or as introduced directly into the piston cylinder mixed with
inflammable gas to produce flame heat and expansion, has given a
wonderful impetus to the utilisation of gas engines.
G. H. Brayton of the United States in 1873 invented a very efficient engine
in which the vapour of petroleum mixed with air constituted the fuel. Adolf
Spiel of Berlin has also recently invented a petroleum engine.
Principal among those to whom the world is indebted for the revolution in
the construction of gas engines and its establishment as a successful rival to
the steam engine is Nicolaus A. Otto of Deutz on the Rhine.
In the Lenair and Hugon system the expansive force of the exploded gas
was used directly upon the piston, and through this upon the other moving
parts. A great noise was produced by these constant explosions. In the Otto
system the explosion is used indirectly and only to produce a vacuum below
the piston, when atmospheric pressure is used to give the return stroke of
the piston and produce the effective work. The Otto engine is noiseless.
This is accomplished by his method of mixing and admitting the gases. He
employs two different mixtures, one a “feebly explosive mixture,” and the
other “a strongly explosive mixture,” used to operate on the piston and thus
prolong the explosions.
The mode of operation of one of Otto’s most successful engines is as
follows: The large fly wheel is started by hand or other means, and as the
piston moves forward it draws into the cylinder a light charge of mixed coal
gas and air, and the gas inlet is then cut off. As the piston returns it
compresses this mixture. At the moment the down stroke is completed the
compressed mixture is ignited, and, expanding, drives the piston before it.
In the second return stroke the burnt gases are expelled from the cylinder
and the whole made ready to start afresh. Work is actually done in the
piston only during one-quarter of the time it is in motion. The fly-wheel
carries forward the work at the outset and the gearing the rest of the time.
Otto was associated with Langen in producing his first machine, and its
introduction at the Centennial Exposition at Philadelphia in 1876 excited
about 1860 a new fuel was found in the crude petroleum, as well as a source
of light. The application of petroleum to engines, either to produce furnace
heat, or as introduced directly into the piston cylinder mixed with
inflammable gas to produce flame heat and expansion, has given a
wonderful impetus to the utilisation of gas engines.
G. H. Brayton of the United States in 1873 invented a very efficient engine
in which the vapour of petroleum mixed with air constituted the fuel. Adolf
Spiel of Berlin has also recently invented a petroleum engine.
Principal among those to whom the world is indebted for the revolution in
the construction of gas engines and its establishment as a successful rival to
the steam engine is Nicolaus A. Otto of Deutz on the Rhine.
In the Lenair and Hugon system the expansive force of the exploded gas
was used directly upon the piston, and through this upon the other moving
parts. A great noise was produced by these constant explosions. In the Otto
system the explosion is used indirectly and only to produce a vacuum below
the piston, when atmospheric pressure is used to give the return stroke of
the piston and produce the effective work. The Otto engine is noiseless.
This is accomplished by his method of mixing and admitting the gases. He
employs two different mixtures, one a “feebly explosive mixture,” and the
other “a strongly explosive mixture,” used to operate on the piston and thus
prolong the explosions.
The mode of operation of one of Otto’s most successful engines is as
follows: The large fly wheel is started by hand or other means, and as the
piston moves forward it draws into the cylinder a light charge of mixed coal
gas and air, and the gas inlet is then cut off. As the piston returns it
compresses this mixture. At the moment the down stroke is completed the
compressed mixture is ignited, and, expanding, drives the piston before it.
In the second return stroke the burnt gases are expelled from the cylinder
and the whole made ready to start afresh. Work is actually done in the
piston only during one-quarter of the time it is in motion. The fly-wheel
carries forward the work at the outset and the gearing the rest of the time.
Otto was associated with Langen in producing his first machine, and its
introduction at the Centennial Exposition at Philadelphia in 1876 excited
Page 139
great attention. Otto and E. W. and W. J. Crossley jointly, and then Otto
singly, subsequently patented notable improvements.
Simon Bischof and Clark, Hurd and Clayton in England; Daimler of Deutz
on the Rhine, Riker and Wiegand of the United States, and others, have
made improvements in the Otto system.
Ammoniacal gas engines have been successfully invented. Aqua ammonia
is placed in a generator in which it is heated. The heat separates the
ammonia gas from the water, and the gas is then used to operate a suitable
engine. The exhaust gas is cooled, passed into the previously weakened
solution, reabsorbed and returned to the generator. In 1890 Charles Tellier
of France patented an ammoniacal engine, also means for utilising solar
heat and exhaust steam for the same purpose; and in the same year De
Susini, also of France, patented an engine operated by the vapour of ether;
A. Nobel, another Frenchman, in 1894, patented a machine for propelling
torpedoes and other explosive missiles, and for controlling the course of
balloons, the motive power of which is a gas developed in a closed
reservoir by the chemical reaction of metallic sodium or potassium in a
solution of ammonia. These vapour engines are used for vapour launches,
bicycles and automobiles.
In 1851 the ideas of Huygens and Papin of two hundred years before were
revived by W. M. Storm, who in that year took out a gunpowder engine
patent in the United States, in which the air was compressed by the
explosions of small charges of gunpowder. About fifteen other patents have
been taken out in America since that time for such engines. In some the
engines are fed by cartridges which are exploded by pulling a trigger.
As to gas and vapor engines generally, it may now be said, in comparison
with steam, that although the steam engine is now regarded as almost
perfect in operation, and that it can be started and stopped and otherwise
controlled quietly, smoothly, instantaneously, and in the most uniform and
satisfactory manner, yet there is the comparatively long delay in generating
the steam in the boiler, and the loss of heat and power as it is conducted in
pipes to the working cylinder, resulting in the utilisation of only ten per cent
of the actual power generated, whereas gas and vapour engines utilise
twenty-five per cent of the power generated, and the flame and explosions
singly, subsequently patented notable improvements.
Simon Bischof and Clark, Hurd and Clayton in England; Daimler of Deutz
on the Rhine, Riker and Wiegand of the United States, and others, have
made improvements in the Otto system.
Ammoniacal gas engines have been successfully invented. Aqua ammonia
is placed in a generator in which it is heated. The heat separates the
ammonia gas from the water, and the gas is then used to operate a suitable
engine. The exhaust gas is cooled, passed into the previously weakened
solution, reabsorbed and returned to the generator. In 1890 Charles Tellier
of France patented an ammoniacal engine, also means for utilising solar
heat and exhaust steam for the same purpose; and in the same year De
Susini, also of France, patented an engine operated by the vapour of ether;
A. Nobel, another Frenchman, in 1894, patented a machine for propelling
torpedoes and other explosive missiles, and for controlling the course of
balloons, the motive power of which is a gas developed in a closed
reservoir by the chemical reaction of metallic sodium or potassium in a
solution of ammonia. These vapour engines are used for vapour launches,
bicycles and automobiles.
In 1851 the ideas of Huygens and Papin of two hundred years before were
revived by W. M. Storm, who in that year took out a gunpowder engine
patent in the United States, in which the air was compressed by the
explosions of small charges of gunpowder. About fifteen other patents have
been taken out in America since that time for such engines. In some the
engines are fed by cartridges which are exploded by pulling a trigger.
As to gas and vapor engines generally, it may now be said, in comparison
with steam, that although the steam engine is now regarded as almost
perfect in operation, and that it can be started and stopped and otherwise
controlled quietly, smoothly, instantaneously, and in the most uniform and
satisfactory manner, yet there is the comparatively long delay in generating
the steam in the boiler, and the loss of heat and power as it is conducted in
pipes to the working cylinder, resulting in the utilisation of only ten per cent
of the actual power generated, whereas gas and vapour engines utilise
twenty-five per cent of the power generated, and the flame and explosions
Page 140
are now as easily and noiselessly controlled as the flow of oil or water. The
world is coming to agree with Prof. Fleeming Jenkins that “Gas engines
will ultimately supplant the steam.”
The smoke and cinder nuisance with them has been solved.
The sister invention of the gas engine is the air engine. There can be no
doubt about the success of this busy body, as it is now a swift and
successful motor in a thousand different fields. Machines in which air,
either hot or cold, is used in place of steam as the moving power to drive a
piston, or to be driven by a piston, are known generally as air, caloric, or
hot-air engines, air compressors, or compressed air engines, and are also
classed as pneumatic machines, air brakes, or pumps. They are now
specifically known by the name of the purpose to which they are applied, as
air ship, ventilator, air brake, fan blower, air pistol, air spring, etc.
The attention of inventors was directed towards compressed and heated air
as a motor as soon as steam became a known and efficient servant; but the
most important and the only successful air machine existing prior to this
century was the air pump, invented by Guericke in 1650, and subsequently
perfected by Robert Boyle and others. The original pump and the
Magdeburg hemispheres are still preserved.
It is recorded that Amontons of France, in 1699, had an atmospheric fire
wheel or air engine in which a heated column of air was made to drive a
wheel.
It has already been noted what Papin (1680-1690) proposed and did in
steam. His last published work was a Latin essay upon a new system for
raising water by the action of fire, published in 1707.
The action of confined and compressed steam and gases, and air, is so
nearly the same in the machines in which they constitute the motive power
that the history, development, construction, and operation of the machines
of one class are closely interwoven with those of the others.
Taking advantage of what had been taught them by Watt and others as to
steam and steam engines, and of the principles and laws of gases as
expounded by Boyle, Mariotte, Dalton, and Gay-Lussac, that many of the
gases, such as air, preserve a permanent expansive gaseous form under all
world is coming to agree with Prof. Fleeming Jenkins that “Gas engines
will ultimately supplant the steam.”
The smoke and cinder nuisance with them has been solved.
The sister invention of the gas engine is the air engine. There can be no
doubt about the success of this busy body, as it is now a swift and
successful motor in a thousand different fields. Machines in which air,
either hot or cold, is used in place of steam as the moving power to drive a
piston, or to be driven by a piston, are known generally as air, caloric, or
hot-air engines, air compressors, or compressed air engines, and are also
classed as pneumatic machines, air brakes, or pumps. They are now
specifically known by the name of the purpose to which they are applied, as
air ship, ventilator, air brake, fan blower, air pistol, air spring, etc.
The attention of inventors was directed towards compressed and heated air
as a motor as soon as steam became a known and efficient servant; but the
most important and the only successful air machine existing prior to this
century was the air pump, invented by Guericke in 1650, and subsequently
perfected by Robert Boyle and others. The original pump and the
Magdeburg hemispheres are still preserved.
It is recorded that Amontons of France, in 1699, had an atmospheric fire
wheel or air engine in which a heated column of air was made to drive a
wheel.
It has already been noted what Papin (1680-1690) proposed and did in
steam. His last published work was a Latin essay upon a new system for
raising water by the action of fire, published in 1707.
The action of confined and compressed steam and gases, and air, is so
nearly the same in the machines in which they constitute the motive power
that the history, development, construction, and operation of the machines
of one class are closely interwoven with those of the others.
Taking advantage of what had been taught them by Watt and others as to
steam and steam engines, and of the principles and laws of gases as
expounded by Boyle, Mariotte, Dalton, and Gay-Lussac, that many of the
gases, such as air, preserve a permanent expansive gaseous form under all
Page 141
degrees of temperature and compression to which they had as yet been
subjected, that when compressed and released they will expand, and exert a
pressure in the contrary direction until the gas and outside atmospheric
pressure are in equilibrium, that this compressed gas pressure is equal, and
transmitted equally in all directions, and that the weight of a column of air
resting on every horizontal square inch at the sea level is very nearly 14.6
pounds, the inventors of the nineteenth century were enabled by this
supreme illumination to enter with confidence into that work of mechanical
contrivances which has rendered the age so marvellous.
It was natural that in the first development of mechanical appliances they
should be devoted to those pursuits in which men had the greatest practical
interest. Thus as to steam it was first applied to the raising of water from
mines and then to road vehicles. And so in 1800 Thos. Parkinson of
England invented and patented an “hydrostatic engine or machine for the
purpose of drawing beer or any other liquid out of a cellar or vault in a
public house, which is likewise intended to be applied for raising water out
of mines, ships or wells.” By the use of a sort of an air pump he maintained
an air pressure on the beer in an air-tight cask situated in the cellar, which
was connected with pipes having air-tight valves, with the upper floor. The
liquid was forced from the cellar by the air pressure, and when turned off,
the air pressure was resumed in the cask, which “preserved the beer from
being thrown into a state of flatness.” Substantially the same device in
principle has been reinvented and incorporated in patents numerous times
since.
In the innumerable applications of the pneumatic machines and air tools of
the century, especially of air-compressing devices, to the daily uses of life,
we may, by turning first to our home, find its inner and outer walls painted
by a pneumatic paint-spraying machine, for such have been made that will
coat forty-six thousand square feet of surface in six hours; and it is said that
paint can be thus applied not only more quickly, but more thoroughly and
durably than by the old process. The periodical and fascinating practice of
house cleaning is now greatly facilitated by an air brush having a pipe with
a thin wide end in which are numerous perforations, and through which the
air is forced by a little pump, and with which apparatus a far more efficient
cleaning effect upon carpets, mattresses, curtains, clothes, and furniture can
be obtained than by the time-honoured broom and duster.
subjected, that when compressed and released they will expand, and exert a
pressure in the contrary direction until the gas and outside atmospheric
pressure are in equilibrium, that this compressed gas pressure is equal, and
transmitted equally in all directions, and that the weight of a column of air
resting on every horizontal square inch at the sea level is very nearly 14.6
pounds, the inventors of the nineteenth century were enabled by this
supreme illumination to enter with confidence into that work of mechanical
contrivances which has rendered the age so marvellous.
It was natural that in the first development of mechanical appliances they
should be devoted to those pursuits in which men had the greatest practical
interest. Thus as to steam it was first applied to the raising of water from
mines and then to road vehicles. And so in 1800 Thos. Parkinson of
England invented and patented an “hydrostatic engine or machine for the
purpose of drawing beer or any other liquid out of a cellar or vault in a
public house, which is likewise intended to be applied for raising water out
of mines, ships or wells.” By the use of a sort of an air pump he maintained
an air pressure on the beer in an air-tight cask situated in the cellar, which
was connected with pipes having air-tight valves, with the upper floor. The
liquid was forced from the cellar by the air pressure, and when turned off,
the air pressure was resumed in the cask, which “preserved the beer from
being thrown into a state of flatness.” Substantially the same device in
principle has been reinvented and incorporated in patents numerous times
since.
In the innumerable applications of the pneumatic machines and air tools of
the century, especially of air-compressing devices, to the daily uses of life,
we may, by turning first to our home, find its inner and outer walls painted
by a pneumatic paint-spraying machine, for such have been made that will
coat forty-six thousand square feet of surface in six hours; and it is said that
paint can be thus applied not only more quickly, but more thoroughly and
durably than by the old process. The periodical and fascinating practice of
house cleaning is now greatly facilitated by an air brush having a pipe with
a thin wide end in which are numerous perforations, and through which the
air is forced by a little pump, and with which apparatus a far more efficient
cleaning effect upon carpets, mattresses, curtains, clothes, and furniture can
be obtained than by the time-honoured broom and duster.
Page 142
Is the home uncomfortable by reason of heat and summer insects? A
compressor having tanks or cisterns in the cellar filled with cool or cold air
may be set to work to reduce the temperature of the house and fan the
inmates with a refreshing breeze.
Air engines have been invented which can be used to either heat or cool the
air, or do one or the other automatically. The heating when wanted is by fuel
in a furnace forced up by a working cylinder, and the cooling by the
circulation of water around small, thin copper tubes through which the air
passes to the cylinder.
Do the chimes of the distant church bells lead one to the house of worship?
The worshipper goes with the comforting assurance that the chimes which
send forth such sweet harmonies are operated not by toiling, sweating men
at ropes, but by a musician who plays as upon an organ, and works the keys,
valves and stops by the aid of compressed air, and sometimes by the
additional help of electricity.
Mention has already been made of office and other elevators, in which
compressed air is an important factor in operating the same and for
preventing accidents.
If a waterfall is convenient, air is compressed by the body of descending
water, and used to ventilate tunnels, and deep shafts and mines, or drive the
drills or other tools.
The pneumatic mail tube despatch system, by which letters, parcels, etc.,
are sent from place to place by the force of atmospheric pressure in an air-
exhausted tube, is a decidedly modern invention, unknown in use even by
those who are still children. Tubes as large as eight inches in diameter are
now in use in which cartridge boxes are placed, each holding six hundred or
more letters, and when the air is exhausted the cartridge is forced through
the tubes to the distance sometimes of three miles and more in a few
minutes.
In travelling by rail the train is now guided in starting or in stopping on to
the right track, which may be one out of forty or fifty, by a pneumatic
switch, the switches for the whole number of tracks being under the control
of a single operator. The fast-moving train is stopped by an air brake, and
compressor having tanks or cisterns in the cellar filled with cool or cold air
may be set to work to reduce the temperature of the house and fan the
inmates with a refreshing breeze.
Air engines have been invented which can be used to either heat or cool the
air, or do one or the other automatically. The heating when wanted is by fuel
in a furnace forced up by a working cylinder, and the cooling by the
circulation of water around small, thin copper tubes through which the air
passes to the cylinder.
Do the chimes of the distant church bells lead one to the house of worship?
The worshipper goes with the comforting assurance that the chimes which
send forth such sweet harmonies are operated not by toiling, sweating men
at ropes, but by a musician who plays as upon an organ, and works the keys,
valves and stops by the aid of compressed air, and sometimes by the
additional help of electricity.
Mention has already been made of office and other elevators, in which
compressed air is an important factor in operating the same and for
preventing accidents.
If a waterfall is convenient, air is compressed by the body of descending
water, and used to ventilate tunnels, and deep shafts and mines, or drive the
drills or other tools.
The pneumatic mail tube despatch system, by which letters, parcels, etc.,
are sent from place to place by the force of atmospheric pressure in an air-
exhausted tube, is a decidedly modern invention, unknown in use even by
those who are still children. Tubes as large as eight inches in diameter are
now in use in which cartridge boxes are placed, each holding six hundred or
more letters, and when the air is exhausted the cartridge is forced through
the tubes to the distance sometimes of three miles and more in a few
minutes.
In travelling by rail the train is now guided in starting or in stopping on to
the right track, which may be one out of forty or fifty, by a pneumatic
switch, the switches for the whole number of tracks being under the control
of a single operator. The fast-moving train is stopped by an air brake, and
Page 143
the locomotive bell is rung by touching an air cylinder. The “baggage
smashing,” a custom more honoured in the breach than in the observance, is
prevented by a pneumatic baggage arrangement consisting of an air-
containing cylinder, and an arm on which to place the baggage, and which
arm is then quickly raised by the cylinder piston and is automatically swung
around by a cam action carrying the baggage out of or into the car.
Bridge building has been so facilitated by the use of pneumatic machines
for raising heavy loads of stone and iron, and for riveting and hammering,
and other air tools, aided by the development in the art of quick
transportation, that a firm of bridge builders in America can build a splendid
bridge in Africa within a hundred days after the contract has been entered
upon.
Ship building is hastened by these same air drilling and riveting machines.
The propelling of cars, road vehicles, boats, balloons, and even ships, by
explosive gases and compressed air is an extensive art in itself, yet still in
its infancy, and will be more fully described in the chapter on carrying
machines.
The realm of Art has received a notable advancement by the use of a little
blow-pipe or atomiser by which the pigments forming the background on
beautiful vases are blown with just that graduated force desired by the
operator to produce the most exquisitely smooth and blended effects, while
the varying colours are made to melt imperceptibly into one another as
delicately as the mingled shade and coloured sunlight fall on a forest brook.
But to enumerate the industrial arts to which air and other pneumatic
machines have been adapted would be to catalogue them all. Mention is
made of others in chapters in which those special arts are treated.
smashing,” a custom more honoured in the breach than in the observance, is
prevented by a pneumatic baggage arrangement consisting of an air-
containing cylinder, and an arm on which to place the baggage, and which
arm is then quickly raised by the cylinder piston and is automatically swung
around by a cam action carrying the baggage out of or into the car.
Bridge building has been so facilitated by the use of pneumatic machines
for raising heavy loads of stone and iron, and for riveting and hammering,
and other air tools, aided by the development in the art of quick
transportation, that a firm of bridge builders in America can build a splendid
bridge in Africa within a hundred days after the contract has been entered
upon.
Ship building is hastened by these same air drilling and riveting machines.
The propelling of cars, road vehicles, boats, balloons, and even ships, by
explosive gases and compressed air is an extensive art in itself, yet still in
its infancy, and will be more fully described in the chapter on carrying
machines.
The realm of Art has received a notable advancement by the use of a little
blow-pipe or atomiser by which the pigments forming the background on
beautiful vases are blown with just that graduated force desired by the
operator to produce the most exquisitely smooth and blended effects, while
the varying colours are made to melt imperceptibly into one another as
delicately as the mingled shade and coloured sunlight fall on a forest brook.
But to enumerate the industrial arts to which air and other pneumatic
machines have been adapted would be to catalogue them all. Mention is
made of others in chapters in which those special arts are treated.
Page 144
CHAPTER XIII.
ART OF HEATING, VENTILATING,
COOKING, REFRIGERATION AND
LIGHTING.
That Prometheus stole fire from heaven to give it to man is perhaps as
authentic an account of the invention of fire as has been given. It is also
reported that he brought it to earth in a hollow tube. If a small stick or twig
had then been dipped into the divine fire the suggestion of the modern
match may be supposed to have been made.
But men went on to reproduce the fire in the old way by rubbing pieces of
wood together, or using the flint, the steel and the tinder until 1680, when
Godfrey Hanckwitz of London, learning of the recent discovery of
phosphorus and its nature, and inspired by the Promethean idea, wrapped
the phosphorus in folds of brown paper, rubbed it until it took fire, and then
ignited thereat one end of a stick which he had dipped in sulphur; and this is
commonly known as the first invented match. There followed the
production of a somewhat different form of match, sticks first dipped in
sulphur, and then in a composition of chlorate potash, sulphur, colophony,
gum of sugar, and cinnabar for coloring. These were arranged in boxes, and
were accompanied by a vial containing sulphuric acid, into which the match
was dipped and thereby instantly ignited. These were called chemical
matches and were sold at first for the high price of fifteen shillings a box.
They were too costly for common use, and so our fathers went on to the
nineteenth century using the flint, the steel and the tinder, and depending on
the coal kept alive upon their own or their neighbour’s hearth.
Prometheus, however, did reappear about 1820-25, when a match bearing
the name “Promethean” was invented. It consisted of a roll of paper treated
ART OF HEATING, VENTILATING,
COOKING, REFRIGERATION AND
LIGHTING.
That Prometheus stole fire from heaven to give it to man is perhaps as
authentic an account of the invention of fire as has been given. It is also
reported that he brought it to earth in a hollow tube. If a small stick or twig
had then been dipped into the divine fire the suggestion of the modern
match may be supposed to have been made.
But men went on to reproduce the fire in the old way by rubbing pieces of
wood together, or using the flint, the steel and the tinder until 1680, when
Godfrey Hanckwitz of London, learning of the recent discovery of
phosphorus and its nature, and inspired by the Promethean idea, wrapped
the phosphorus in folds of brown paper, rubbed it until it took fire, and then
ignited thereat one end of a stick which he had dipped in sulphur; and this is
commonly known as the first invented match. There followed the
production of a somewhat different form of match, sticks first dipped in
sulphur, and then in a composition of chlorate potash, sulphur, colophony,
gum of sugar, and cinnabar for coloring. These were arranged in boxes, and
were accompanied by a vial containing sulphuric acid, into which the match
was dipped and thereby instantly ignited. These were called chemical
matches and were sold at first for the high price of fifteen shillings a box.
They were too costly for common use, and so our fathers went on to the
nineteenth century using the flint, the steel and the tinder, and depending on
the coal kept alive upon their own or their neighbour’s hearth.
Prometheus, however, did reappear about 1820-25, when a match bearing
the name “Promethean” was invented. It consisted of a roll of paper treated
Page 145
with sugar and chlorate of potash and a small cell containing sulphuric acid.
This cell was broken by a pair of pliers and the acid ignited the composition
by contact therewith.
It was not until 1827-29 that John Walker, chemist, at Stockton-upon-Tees,
improved upon the idea of Prometheus and Hanckwitz of giving fire to men
in a hollow tube. He used folded sanded paper—it may have been a tube—
and through this he drew a stick coated with chlorate of potash and
phosphorus. This successful match was named “Lucifer,” whose other name
was Phosphor, the Morning Star, and the King of the Western Land.
Faraday, to whom also was given Promethean inspiration, procured some of
Walker’s matches and brought them to public notice.
In many respects the mode of their manufacture has been improved, but in
principle of composition and ignition they remain the same as Walker’s to-
day. In 1845, Schrotter of Vienna discovered amorphous or allotropic
phosphorus, which rendered the manufacture of matches less dangerous to
health and property. Tons of chemicals and hundreds of pine trees are used
yearly in the making of matches, and many hundreds of millions of them
are daily consumed.
But this vast number of matches could not be supplied had it not been for
the invention of machines for making and packing them. Thus in 1842
Reuben Partridge of America patented a machine for making splints. Others
for making splints and the matches separately, quickly followed. Together
with these came match dipping and match box machines. The splint
machines were for slitting a block of wood of the proper height downward
nearly the whole way into match splints, leaving their butts in the solid
wood. These were square and known as block matches. Other mechanisms
cut and divided the block into strips, which were then dipped at one end,
dried and tied in bundles. By other means, a swing blade, for instance, the
matches were all severed from the block. Matches are made round by one
machine by pressing the block against a plate having circular perforations,
and the interspaces are beveled so as to form cutting edges.
Poririer, a Frenchman, invented a machine for making match boxes of
pasteboard. Suitable sized rectangular pieces of pasteboard rounded at the
angles for making the body of the box are first cut, then these pieces are
This cell was broken by a pair of pliers and the acid ignited the composition
by contact therewith.
It was not until 1827-29 that John Walker, chemist, at Stockton-upon-Tees,
improved upon the idea of Prometheus and Hanckwitz of giving fire to men
in a hollow tube. He used folded sanded paper—it may have been a tube—
and through this he drew a stick coated with chlorate of potash and
phosphorus. This successful match was named “Lucifer,” whose other name
was Phosphor, the Morning Star, and the King of the Western Land.
Faraday, to whom also was given Promethean inspiration, procured some of
Walker’s matches and brought them to public notice.
In many respects the mode of their manufacture has been improved, but in
principle of composition and ignition they remain the same as Walker’s to-
day. In 1845, Schrotter of Vienna discovered amorphous or allotropic
phosphorus, which rendered the manufacture of matches less dangerous to
health and property. Tons of chemicals and hundreds of pine trees are used
yearly in the making of matches, and many hundreds of millions of them
are daily consumed.
But this vast number of matches could not be supplied had it not been for
the invention of machines for making and packing them. Thus in 1842
Reuben Partridge of America patented a machine for making splints. Others
for making splints and the matches separately, quickly followed. Together
with these came match dipping and match box machines. The splint
machines were for slitting a block of wood of the proper height downward
nearly the whole way into match splints, leaving their butts in the solid
wood. These were square and known as block matches. Other mechanisms
cut and divided the block into strips, which were then dipped at one end,
dried and tied in bundles. By other means, a swing blade, for instance, the
matches were all severed from the block. Matches are made round by one
machine by pressing the block against a plate having circular perforations,
and the interspaces are beveled so as to form cutting edges.
Poririer, a Frenchman, invented a machine for making match boxes of
pasteboard. Suitable sized rectangular pieces of pasteboard rounded at the
angles for making the body of the box are first cut, then these pieces are
Page 146
introduced into the machine, where by the single blow of a plunger they are
forced into a matrix or die and pressed, and receive by this single motion
their complete and final shape. The lid is made in the same way.
By one modern invention matches after they are cut are fed into a machine
at the rate of one hundred thousand an hour, on to a horizontal table, each
match separated from the other by a thin partition. They are thus laid in
rows, one row over another, and while being laid, the matches are pushed
out a little way beyond the edge of the table, a distance far enough to
expose their ends and to permit them to be dipped. When a number of these
rows are completed they are clamped together in a bundle and then dipped
—first, into a vessel of hot sulphur, and then into one of phosphorus, or
other equivalent ingredients may be used or added. After the dipping they
are subjected to a drying process and then boxed. Processes differ, but all
are performed by machinery.
In many factories where phosphorus is used without great care workmen
have been greatly affected thereby. The fumes of the phosphorus attack the
teeth, especially when decayed, and penetrate to the jaw, causing its gradual
destruction, but this has been avoided by proper precautions.
The greatly-increased facility of kindling a fire by matches gave an impetus
to the invention of cooking and heating stoves. Of course stoves,
generically speaking, are not a production of the nineteenth century. The
Romans had their laconicum or heating stove, which from its name was an
invention from Laconia. It probably was made in most cases of brick or
marble, but might have been of beaten iron, was cylindrical in shape, with
an open cupola at the top, and was heated by the flames of the hypocaust
beneath. The hypocaust was a hot-air furnace built in the basement or cellar
of the house and from which the heat was conducted by flues to the bath
rooms and other apartments. The Chinese ages ago heated their hollow tiled
floors by underground furnace fires. We know of the athanor of the
alchemists of the middle ages. Knight calls it the “original base-burning
furnace.” A furnace of iron or earthenware was provided on one side with
an open stack or tower which opened at the bottom into the furnace, and
which stack was kept filled with charcoal, or other fuel, which fed itself
automatically into the furnace as the fuel on the bed thereof burned away.
Watt introduced an arrangement on the same principle in his steam boiler
forced into a matrix or die and pressed, and receive by this single motion
their complete and final shape. The lid is made in the same way.
By one modern invention matches after they are cut are fed into a machine
at the rate of one hundred thousand an hour, on to a horizontal table, each
match separated from the other by a thin partition. They are thus laid in
rows, one row over another, and while being laid, the matches are pushed
out a little way beyond the edge of the table, a distance far enough to
expose their ends and to permit them to be dipped. When a number of these
rows are completed they are clamped together in a bundle and then dipped
—first, into a vessel of hot sulphur, and then into one of phosphorus, or
other equivalent ingredients may be used or added. After the dipping they
are subjected to a drying process and then boxed. Processes differ, but all
are performed by machinery.
In many factories where phosphorus is used without great care workmen
have been greatly affected thereby. The fumes of the phosphorus attack the
teeth, especially when decayed, and penetrate to the jaw, causing its gradual
destruction, but this has been avoided by proper precautions.
The greatly-increased facility of kindling a fire by matches gave an impetus
to the invention of cooking and heating stoves. Of course stoves,
generically speaking, are not a production of the nineteenth century. The
Romans had their laconicum or heating stove, which from its name was an
invention from Laconia. It probably was made in most cases of brick or
marble, but might have been of beaten iron, was cylindrical in shape, with
an open cupola at the top, and was heated by the flames of the hypocaust
beneath. The hypocaust was a hot-air furnace built in the basement or cellar
of the house and from which the heat was conducted by flues to the bath
rooms and other apartments. The Chinese ages ago heated their hollow tiled
floors by underground furnace fires. We know of the athanor of the
alchemists of the middle ages. Knight calls it the “original base-burning
furnace.” A furnace of iron or earthenware was provided on one side with
an open stack or tower which opened at the bottom into the furnace, and
which stack was kept filled with charcoal, or other fuel, which fed itself
automatically into the furnace as the fuel on the bed thereof burned away.
Watt introduced an arrangement on the same principle in his steam boiler
Page 147
furnace in 1767, and thousands of stoves are now constructed within
England and the United States also embodying the same principle.
The earthenware and soapstone stoves of continental Europe were used
long before the present century.
In Ben Franklin’s time in the American Colonies there was not much of a
demand for stoves outside of the largest cities, where wood was getting a
little scarce and high, but the philosopher not only deemed it proper to
invent an improvement in chimneys to prevent their smoking and to better
heat the room, but also devised an improved form of stove, and both
inventions have been in constant use unto this day. Franklin invented and
introduced his celebrated stove, which he called the Pennsylvania Fire
Place, in 1745, having all the advantages of a cheerful open fireplace, and a
heat producer; and which consisted of an iron stove with an open front set
well into the room, in which front part the fire was kindled, and the
products of combustion conducted up a flue, and thence under a false back
and up the chimney. Open heat spaces were left between the two flues. Air
inlets and dampers were provided. In his description of this stove at that
time Franklin also referred to the iron box stoves used by the Dutch, the
iron plates extending from the hearths and sides, etc., chimneys making a
double fireplace used by the French, and the German stove of iron plates,
and so made that the fuel had to be put into it from another room or from
the outside of the house. He dwells upon the pleasure of an open fire, and
the destruction of this pleasure by the use of the closed stoves. He also
describes the discomforts of the fireplace in cold weather—of the “cold
draught nipping one’s back and heels”—“scorched before and frozen
behind”—the sharp draughts of cold from crevices from which many catch
cold and from “whence proceed coughs, catarrhs, toothaches, fevers,
pleurisies and many other diseases.” Added to the pleasure of seeing the
crackling flames, feeling the genial warmth, and the diffusion of a spirit of
sociability and hospitality, is the fact of increased purity of the air by reason
of the fireplace as a first-class ventilator. Hence it will never be discarded
by those who can afford its use; but it alone is inadequate for heating and
cooking purposes. It is modernly used as a luxury by those who are able to
combine with it other means for heating.
England and the United States also embodying the same principle.
The earthenware and soapstone stoves of continental Europe were used
long before the present century.
In Ben Franklin’s time in the American Colonies there was not much of a
demand for stoves outside of the largest cities, where wood was getting a
little scarce and high, but the philosopher not only deemed it proper to
invent an improvement in chimneys to prevent their smoking and to better
heat the room, but also devised an improved form of stove, and both
inventions have been in constant use unto this day. Franklin invented and
introduced his celebrated stove, which he called the Pennsylvania Fire
Place, in 1745, having all the advantages of a cheerful open fireplace, and a
heat producer; and which consisted of an iron stove with an open front set
well into the room, in which front part the fire was kindled, and the
products of combustion conducted up a flue, and thence under a false back
and up the chimney. Open heat spaces were left between the two flues. Air
inlets and dampers were provided. In his description of this stove at that
time Franklin also referred to the iron box stoves used by the Dutch, the
iron plates extending from the hearths and sides, etc., chimneys making a
double fireplace used by the French, and the German stove of iron plates,
and so made that the fuel had to be put into it from another room or from
the outside of the house. He dwells upon the pleasure of an open fire, and
the destruction of this pleasure by the use of the closed stoves. He also
describes the discomforts of the fireplace in cold weather—of the “cold
draught nipping one’s back and heels”—“scorched before and frozen
behind”—the sharp draughts of cold from crevices from which many catch
cold and from “whence proceed coughs, catarrhs, toothaches, fevers,
pleurisies and many other diseases.” Added to the pleasure of seeing the
crackling flames, feeling the genial warmth, and the diffusion of a spirit of
sociability and hospitality, is the fact of increased purity of the air by reason
of the fireplace as a first-class ventilator. Hence it will never be discarded
by those who can afford its use; but it alone is inadequate for heating and
cooking purposes. It is modernly used as a luxury by those who are able to
combine with it other means for heating.
Page 148
The great question for solution in this art at all times has been how to
produce through dwelling houses and larger buildings in cold and damp
weather a uniform distribution and circulation of pure heated air. The
solution of this question has of course been greatly helped in modern times
by a better knowledge of the nature of air and other gases, and the laws
which govern their motions and combinations at different temperatures.
The most successful form of heating coal stove of the century has been one
that combined in itself the features of base-burning: that is, a covered
magazine at the centre or back of the stove open at or near the top of the
stove into which the coal is placed, and which then feeds to the bottom of
the fire pot as fast as the coal is consumed, a heavy open fire pot placed as
low as possible, an ash grate connected with the bottom of the pot which
can be shaken and dumped to an ash box beneath without opening the
stove, thus preventing the escape of the dust, an illuminating chamber
nearly or entirely surrounding the fire pot, provided with mica windows,
through which the fire is reflected and the heat radiated, a chamber above
the fire pot and surrounding the fuel chamber and into which the heat and
hot gases arise, producing additional radiating surface and permitting the
gases to escape through a flue in the chimney, or, leading them first through
another chamber to the base of the stove and thence out, and dampers to
control and regulate the supply of air to the fuel, and to cut off the escape or
control the course of the products of combustion.
The cheerful stove fireplace and stove of Franklin and the French were
revived, combined and improved some years ago by Capt. Douglas Galton
of the English army for use in barracks, but this stove is also admirably
adapted for houses. It consists of an open stove or grate set in or at the front
of the fireplace with an air inlet from without, the throat of the fireplace
closed and a pipe extending through it from the stove into the chimney.
Although a steady flow of heat, desirable regulation of temperature and
great economy in the consumption of fuel, by reason of the utilisation of so
much of the heat produced, were obtained by the modern stove, yet the
necessity of having a stove in nearly every room, the ill-ventilation due to
the non-supply of pure outer air to the room, the occasional diffusion of ash
dust and noxious gases from the stove, and inability to heat the air along the
floor, gave rise to a revival of the hot-air furnace, placed under the floor in
the basement or cellar, and many modern and radical improvements therein.
produce through dwelling houses and larger buildings in cold and damp
weather a uniform distribution and circulation of pure heated air. The
solution of this question has of course been greatly helped in modern times
by a better knowledge of the nature of air and other gases, and the laws
which govern their motions and combinations at different temperatures.
The most successful form of heating coal stove of the century has been one
that combined in itself the features of base-burning: that is, a covered
magazine at the centre or back of the stove open at or near the top of the
stove into which the coal is placed, and which then feeds to the bottom of
the fire pot as fast as the coal is consumed, a heavy open fire pot placed as
low as possible, an ash grate connected with the bottom of the pot which
can be shaken and dumped to an ash box beneath without opening the
stove, thus preventing the escape of the dust, an illuminating chamber
nearly or entirely surrounding the fire pot, provided with mica windows,
through which the fire is reflected and the heat radiated, a chamber above
the fire pot and surrounding the fuel chamber and into which the heat and
hot gases arise, producing additional radiating surface and permitting the
gases to escape through a flue in the chimney, or, leading them first through
another chamber to the base of the stove and thence out, and dampers to
control and regulate the supply of air to the fuel, and to cut off the escape or
control the course of the products of combustion.
The cheerful stove fireplace and stove of Franklin and the French were
revived, combined and improved some years ago by Capt. Douglas Galton
of the English army for use in barracks, but this stove is also admirably
adapted for houses. It consists of an open stove or grate set in or at the front
of the fireplace with an air inlet from without, the throat of the fireplace
closed and a pipe extending through it from the stove into the chimney.
Although a steady flow of heat, desirable regulation of temperature and
great economy in the consumption of fuel, by reason of the utilisation of so
much of the heat produced, were obtained by the modern stove, yet the
necessity of having a stove in nearly every room, the ill-ventilation due to
the non-supply of pure outer air to the room, the occasional diffusion of ash
dust and noxious gases from the stove, and inability to heat the air along the
floor, gave rise to a revival of the hot-air furnace, placed under the floor in
the basement or cellar, and many modern and radical improvements therein.
Page 149
The heat obtained from stoves is effected by radiation—the throwing
outward of the waves of heat from its source, while the heat obtained from a
hot-air furnace is effected by convection—the moving of a body of air to be
heated to the source of heat, and then when heated bodily conveyed to the
room to be warmed. Hence in stoves and fireplaces only such obstruction is
placed between the fire and the room as will serve to convey away the
obnoxious smoke and gases, and the greatest facility is offered for radiation,
while in hot-air furnaces, although provision is also made to carry away the
smoke and impure gases, yet the radiation is confined as closely as possible
to chambers around the fire space, which chambers are protected by
impervious linings from the outer air, and into which fresh outdoor air is
introduced, then heated and conveyed to different apartments by suitable
pipes or flues, and admitted or excluded, as desired, by registers operated
by hand levers.
There are stationary furnaces and portable furnaces; the former class
enclose the heating apparatus in walls of brick or other masonry, while in
the latter the outer casing and the inner parts are metal structures, separable
and removable. In both classes an outer current of pure air is made to course
around the fire chamber and around among other flues and chambers
through which the products of combustion are carried, so that all heat
possible is utilised. Vessels of water are supplied at the most convenient
place in one of the hot-air chambers to moisten and temper the air, and
dampers are placed in the pipes to regulate and guide the supply of heat to
the rooms above.
After Watt had invented his improvements on the steam engine the idea
occurred to him of using steam for heating purposes. Accordingly, in 1784,
he made a hollow sheet-iron box of plates, and supplied it with steam from
the boiler of the establishment. It had an air-escape cock, and condensed-
water-escape pipe; and in 1799 Boulton and Watt constructed a heating
apparatus in Lee’s factory, Manchester, in which the steam was conducted
through cast-iron pipes, which also served as supports to the floor. Patents
were also taken out by others in England for steam-heating apparatuses
during the latter part of the 18th century.
Heating by the circulation of hot water through pipes was also originated or
revived during the 18th century, and a short time before Watt’s circulation
outward of the waves of heat from its source, while the heat obtained from a
hot-air furnace is effected by convection—the moving of a body of air to be
heated to the source of heat, and then when heated bodily conveyed to the
room to be warmed. Hence in stoves and fireplaces only such obstruction is
placed between the fire and the room as will serve to convey away the
obnoxious smoke and gases, and the greatest facility is offered for radiation,
while in hot-air furnaces, although provision is also made to carry away the
smoke and impure gases, yet the radiation is confined as closely as possible
to chambers around the fire space, which chambers are protected by
impervious linings from the outer air, and into which fresh outdoor air is
introduced, then heated and conveyed to different apartments by suitable
pipes or flues, and admitted or excluded, as desired, by registers operated
by hand levers.
There are stationary furnaces and portable furnaces; the former class
enclose the heating apparatus in walls of brick or other masonry, while in
the latter the outer casing and the inner parts are metal structures, separable
and removable. In both classes an outer current of pure air is made to course
around the fire chamber and around among other flues and chambers
through which the products of combustion are carried, so that all heat
possible is utilised. Vessels of water are supplied at the most convenient
place in one of the hot-air chambers to moisten and temper the air, and
dampers are placed in the pipes to regulate and guide the supply of heat to
the rooms above.
After Watt had invented his improvements on the steam engine the idea
occurred to him of using steam for heating purposes. Accordingly, in 1784,
he made a hollow sheet-iron box of plates, and supplied it with steam from
the boiler of the establishment. It had an air-escape cock, and condensed-
water-escape pipe; and in 1799 Boulton and Watt constructed a heating
apparatus in Lee’s factory, Manchester, in which the steam was conducted
through cast-iron pipes, which also served as supports to the floor. Patents
were also taken out by others in England for steam-heating apparatuses
during the latter part of the 18th century.
Heating by the circulation of hot water through pipes was also originated or
revived during the 18th century, and a short time before Watt’s circulation
Page 150
of steam. It is said that Bonnemain of England, in 1777, desiring to improve
the ancient methods of hatching poultry by artificial heat—practised by
both ancient and modern Egyptians ages before it became a latter day
wonder, and taught the Egyptians by the ostriches—conceived the idea of
constructing quite a large incubator building with shelves for the eggs,
coops for holding the chickens, and a tube for circulating hot water leading
from a boiler below and above each shelf, and through the coops, and back
to the boiler. This incubator contains the germs of modern water heaters. In
both the steam and water heating systems the band or collection of pipes in
each room may be covered with ornamental radiating plates, or otherwise
treated or arranged to render them sightly and effective. In one form of the
hot-water system, however, the collection of a mass of pipes in the rooms is
dispensed with, and the pipes are massed in an air chamber over or adjacent
to the furnace, where they are employed to heat a current of air introduced
from the outside, and which heated pure air is conveyed through the house
by flues and registers as in the hot-air furnace system.
The hanging of the crane, the turning of the spit, the roasting in ashes and
on hot stones, the heating of and the baking in the big “Dutch” ovens, and
some other forms of cooking by our forefathers had their pleasures and
advantages, and still are appreciated under certain circumstances, and for
certain purposes, but are chiefly honoured in memory alone and reverenced
by disuse; while the modern cooking stove with its roasting and hot water
chambers, its numerous seats over the fire for pots, pans, and kettles, its
easy means of controlling and directing the heat, its rotating grate, and,
when desired, its rotating fire chamber, for turning the hot fire on top to the
bottom, and the cold choked fire to the top, its cleanliness and thorough
heat, its economy in the use of fuel, is adopted everywhere, and all the
glowing names with which its makers and users christen it fail to
exaggerate its qualities when rightly made and used.
It would appear that the field of labour and the number of labourers, chiefly
those who toiled with brick and mortar, were greatly reduced when those
huge fireplaces were so widely discarded. This must have seemed so
especially in those regions where the houses were built up to meet the
yearning wants of an outside chimney, but armies of men are engaged in
civilised countries in making stoves and furnaces, where three-quarters of a
century ago very few were so employed. As in every industrial art old
the ancient methods of hatching poultry by artificial heat—practised by
both ancient and modern Egyptians ages before it became a latter day
wonder, and taught the Egyptians by the ostriches—conceived the idea of
constructing quite a large incubator building with shelves for the eggs,
coops for holding the chickens, and a tube for circulating hot water leading
from a boiler below and above each shelf, and through the coops, and back
to the boiler. This incubator contains the germs of modern water heaters. In
both the steam and water heating systems the band or collection of pipes in
each room may be covered with ornamental radiating plates, or otherwise
treated or arranged to render them sightly and effective. In one form of the
hot-water system, however, the collection of a mass of pipes in the rooms is
dispensed with, and the pipes are massed in an air chamber over or adjacent
to the furnace, where they are employed to heat a current of air introduced
from the outside, and which heated pure air is conveyed through the house
by flues and registers as in the hot-air furnace system.
The hanging of the crane, the turning of the spit, the roasting in ashes and
on hot stones, the heating of and the baking in the big “Dutch” ovens, and
some other forms of cooking by our forefathers had their pleasures and
advantages, and still are appreciated under certain circumstances, and for
certain purposes, but are chiefly honoured in memory alone and reverenced
by disuse; while the modern cooking stove with its roasting and hot water
chambers, its numerous seats over the fire for pots, pans, and kettles, its
easy means of controlling and directing the heat, its rotating grate, and,
when desired, its rotating fire chamber, for turning the hot fire on top to the
bottom, and the cold choked fire to the top, its cleanliness and thorough
heat, its economy in the use of fuel, is adopted everywhere, and all the
glowing names with which its makers and users christen it fail to
exaggerate its qualities when rightly made and used.
It would appear that the field of labour and the number of labourers, chiefly
those who toiled with brick and mortar, were greatly reduced when those
huge fireplaces were so widely discarded. This must have seemed so
especially in those regions where the houses were built up to meet the
yearning wants of an outside chimney, but armies of men are engaged in
civilised countries in making stoves and furnaces, where three-quarters of a
century ago very few were so employed. As in every industrial art old
Page 151
things pass away, but the new things come in greater numbers, demand a
greater number of workers, develop new wants, new fields of labour, and
the new and increasing supply of consumers refuse to be satisfied with old
contrivances.
In the United States alone there are between four and five hundred stove
and furnace foundries, in which about ten thousand people are employed,
and more than three million stoves and furnaces produced annually, which
require nearly a million tons of iron to make, and the value of which is
estimated as at least $100,000,000.
The matter of ventilation is such a material part of heating that it cannot
escape attention. There can be no successful heating without a circulation of
air currents, and fortunately for man in his house no good fire can be had
without an outflow of heat and an inflow of cooler air. The more this
circulation is prevented the worse the fire and the ventilation.
It seems to many such a simple thing, this change of air—only to keep open
the window a little—to have a fireplace, and convenient door. And yet some
of the brightest intellects of the century have been engaged in devising
means to accomplish the result, and all are not yet agreed as to which is the
best way.
How to remove the heated, vitiated air and to supply fresh air while
maintaining the same uniform temperature is a problem of long standing.
The history of the attempts to heat and ventilate the Houses of Parliament
since Wren undertook it in 1660 has justly been said to be history of the Art
of Ventilation since that time, as the most eminent scientific authorities in
the world have been engaged or consulted in it, and the most exhaustive
reports on the subject have been rendered by such men as Gay-Lussac, Sir
Humphry Davy, Faraday and Dr. Arnott of England and Gen. Morin of
France. The same may be said in regard to the Houses of Congress in the
United States Capitol for the past thirty-five years. Prof. Henry, Dr.
Billings, the architect, Clark, of that country, and many other bright
inventors and men of ability have given the subject devoted attention.
Among the means for creating ventilation are underground tunnels leading
to the outer air, with fans in them to force the fresh air in or draw the poor
air out, holes in the ceiling, fire places, openings over the doors, openings
greater number of workers, develop new wants, new fields of labour, and
the new and increasing supply of consumers refuse to be satisfied with old
contrivances.
In the United States alone there are between four and five hundred stove
and furnace foundries, in which about ten thousand people are employed,
and more than three million stoves and furnaces produced annually, which
require nearly a million tons of iron to make, and the value of which is
estimated as at least $100,000,000.
The matter of ventilation is such a material part of heating that it cannot
escape attention. There can be no successful heating without a circulation of
air currents, and fortunately for man in his house no good fire can be had
without an outflow of heat and an inflow of cooler air. The more this
circulation is prevented the worse the fire and the ventilation.
It seems to many such a simple thing, this change of air—only to keep open
the window a little—to have a fireplace, and convenient door. And yet some
of the brightest intellects of the century have been engaged in devising
means to accomplish the result, and all are not yet agreed as to which is the
best way.
How to remove the heated, vitiated air and to supply fresh air while
maintaining the same uniform temperature is a problem of long standing.
The history of the attempts to heat and ventilate the Houses of Parliament
since Wren undertook it in 1660 has justly been said to be history of the Art
of Ventilation since that time, as the most eminent scientific authorities in
the world have been engaged or consulted in it, and the most exhaustive
reports on the subject have been rendered by such men as Gay-Lussac, Sir
Humphry Davy, Faraday and Dr. Arnott of England and Gen. Morin of
France. The same may be said in regard to the Houses of Congress in the
United States Capitol for the past thirty-five years. Prof. Henry, Dr.
Billings, the architect, Clark, of that country, and many other bright
inventors and men of ability have given the subject devoted attention.
Among the means for creating ventilation are underground tunnels leading
to the outer air, with fans in them to force the fresh air in or draw the poor
air out, holes in the ceiling, fire places, openings over the doors, openings
Page 152
under the eaves, openings in the window frames, shafts from the floor or
basement with fires or gas jets to create an upward draught, floors with
screened openings to the outer air, steam engines to work a suction pipe in
one place and a blow pipe in another, air boxes communicating with the
outer air, screens, hoods, and deflectors at these various openings,—all
these, separately or in combination, have been used for the purpose of
drawing the vitiated air out and letting the pure air in without creating
draughts to chill the sensitive, or overheating to excite the nervous.
There seems to have been as many devices invented to keep a house or
building closed up tight while highly heating it, as to ventilate the same and
preserve an even, moderate temperature.
The most approved system of ventilation recognises the fact that air is of
the same weight and is possessed of the same constituents in one part of a
room as at another, and to create a perfect ventilation a complete change
and circulation must take place. It therefore creates a draught, arising from
the production of a vacuum by a current of heat or by mechanical means, or
by some other way, which draws out of a room the used up, vitiated air
through outlets at different places, while pure outer air is admitted naturally,
or forced in if need be, through numerous small inlets, such outlets and
inlets so located and distributed and protected as not to give rise to sensible
draughts on the occupants.
The best system also recognises the fact that all parts of a house, its cellars
and attic, its parlours and kitchens, its closets, bathrooms and chambers,
should be alike clean and well ventilated, and that if one room is infected all
are infected.
The laurels bestowed on inventors are no more worthily bestowed than on
those who have invented devices which give to our homes, offices,
churches and places of amusement a pure and comfortable atmosphere.
Car Heaters.—The passing away of the good old portable foot stove for
warming the feet, especially when away from home, and while travelling, is
not to be regretted, although in some instances it was not at first succeeded
by superior devices. For a long time after the introduction of steam, railroad
cars and carriages, in which any heat at all was used, were heated by a stove
in each car—generally kept full of red hot coal or wood—an exceedingly
basement with fires or gas jets to create an upward draught, floors with
screened openings to the outer air, steam engines to work a suction pipe in
one place and a blow pipe in another, air boxes communicating with the
outer air, screens, hoods, and deflectors at these various openings,—all
these, separately or in combination, have been used for the purpose of
drawing the vitiated air out and letting the pure air in without creating
draughts to chill the sensitive, or overheating to excite the nervous.
There seems to have been as many devices invented to keep a house or
building closed up tight while highly heating it, as to ventilate the same and
preserve an even, moderate temperature.
The most approved system of ventilation recognises the fact that air is of
the same weight and is possessed of the same constituents in one part of a
room as at another, and to create a perfect ventilation a complete change
and circulation must take place. It therefore creates a draught, arising from
the production of a vacuum by a current of heat or by mechanical means, or
by some other way, which draws out of a room the used up, vitiated air
through outlets at different places, while pure outer air is admitted naturally,
or forced in if need be, through numerous small inlets, such outlets and
inlets so located and distributed and protected as not to give rise to sensible
draughts on the occupants.
The best system also recognises the fact that all parts of a house, its cellars
and attic, its parlours and kitchens, its closets, bathrooms and chambers,
should be alike clean and well ventilated, and that if one room is infected all
are infected.
The laurels bestowed on inventors are no more worthily bestowed than on
those who have invented devices which give to our homes, offices,
churches and places of amusement a pure and comfortable atmosphere.
Car Heaters.—The passing away of the good old portable foot stove for
warming the feet, especially when away from home, and while travelling, is
not to be regretted, although in some instances it was not at first succeeded
by superior devices. For a long time after the introduction of steam, railroad
cars and carriages, in which any heat at all was used, were heated by a stove
in each car—generally kept full of red hot coal or wood—an exceedingly
Page 153
dangerous companion in case of accident. Since 1871 systems have been
invented and introduced, the most successful of which consists of utilising
the heat of the steam from the locomotive for producing a hot-water
circulation through pipes along the floor of each car, and in providing an
emergency heater in each car for heating the water when steam from the
locomotive is not available.
Grass-burning Stoves.—There are many places in this world where neither
wood nor coal abound, or where the same are very scarce, but where waste
grass and weeds, waste hay and straw, and similar combustible refuse are
found in great abundance. Stoves have been invented especially designed
for the economical consumption of such fuel. One requisite is that such
light material should be held in a compressed state while in the stove to
prevent a too rapid combustion. Means for so holding the material under
compression appear to have been first invented and patented by Hamilton of
America in 1874.
Some means besides the sickle and scythe, hoe and plough, were wanted to
destroy obnoxious standing grass and weeds. A weed like the Russian
thistle, for instance, will defy all usual means for its extermination. A fire
chamber has been invented which when drawn over the ground will burn a
swath as it advances, and it is provided with means, such as a wide flange
on the end of the chamber, which extinguishes the fire and prevents its
spreading beyond the path. A similar stove with jets of flame from vapour
burners has been used to soften hard asphalt pavement when it is desired to
take it up.
The art of heating and cooking by oil, vapour and gas stoves is one that has
arisen during the latter half of this century, and has become the subject of a
vast number of inventions and extensive industries. Stoves of this character
are as efficient and economical as coal stoves, and are in great demand,
especially where coal and wood are scarce and high-priced.
Oil stoves as first invented consisted of almost the ordinary lamp, without
the glass shade set in the stove and were similar to gas stoves. But these
were objectionable on account of the fumes emitted. By later inventions the
lamp has been greatly improved. The wick is arranged within tubular
sliding cylinders so as to be separated from the other parts of the stove
invented and introduced, the most successful of which consists of utilising
the heat of the steam from the locomotive for producing a hot-water
circulation through pipes along the floor of each car, and in providing an
emergency heater in each car for heating the water when steam from the
locomotive is not available.
Grass-burning Stoves.—There are many places in this world where neither
wood nor coal abound, or where the same are very scarce, but where waste
grass and weeds, waste hay and straw, and similar combustible refuse are
found in great abundance. Stoves have been invented especially designed
for the economical consumption of such fuel. One requisite is that such
light material should be held in a compressed state while in the stove to
prevent a too rapid combustion. Means for so holding the material under
compression appear to have been first invented and patented by Hamilton of
America in 1874.
Some means besides the sickle and scythe, hoe and plough, were wanted to
destroy obnoxious standing grass and weeds. A weed like the Russian
thistle, for instance, will defy all usual means for its extermination. A fire
chamber has been invented which when drawn over the ground will burn a
swath as it advances, and it is provided with means, such as a wide flange
on the end of the chamber, which extinguishes the fire and prevents its
spreading beyond the path. A similar stove with jets of flame from vapour
burners has been used to soften hard asphalt pavement when it is desired to
take it up.
The art of heating and cooking by oil, vapour and gas stoves is one that has
arisen during the latter half of this century, and has become the subject of a
vast number of inventions and extensive industries. Stoves of this character
are as efficient and economical as coal stoves, and are in great demand,
especially where coal and wood are scarce and high-priced.
Oil stoves as first invented consisted of almost the ordinary lamp, without
the glass shade set in the stove and were similar to gas stoves. But these
were objectionable on account of the fumes emitted. By later inventions the
lamp has been greatly improved. The wick is arranged within tubular
sliding cylinders so as to be separated from the other parts of the stove
Page 154
when it is not lit, and better regulating devices adopted, whereby the oil is
prevented from spreading from the wick on to the other parts of the stove,
which give rise to obnoxious fumes by evaporation and heating. Some
recent inventors have dispensed with the wick altogether and the oil is
burned practically like vapour. Gasoline, and other heavy oily vapours are
in many stoves first vapourised by a preliminary heating in a chamber
before the gas is ignited for use. These vapours are then conducted by
separate jets to different points in the stove where the heat is to be applied.
The danger and unpleasant flame and smoke arising from this vapourising
in the stove have been obviated by inventions which vapourise the fuel by
other means, as by carbonating, or loading the air with the vapour in an
elevated chamber and conducting the saturated air to the burners; or by
agitation, by means of a quick-acting, small, but powerful fan.
Sterilising.—The recent scientific discoveries and investigations of
injurious bacteria rendered it desirable to purify water by other means than
filtering, especially for the treatment of disease-infected localities; and this
gave rise to the invention of a system of heat sterilising and filtering the
water, in one process, and out of contact with the germ-laden air, thus
destroying the bacteria and delivering the water in as pure and wholesome
condition as possible. West in 1892 patented such a system.
Electric Heating and Cooking.—Reference has already been made in the
Chapter on Electricity to the use of that agent in heating and cooking. The
use of the electric current for these purposes has been found to be perfectly
practical, and for heating cars especially, where electricity is the motive
power, a portion of the current is economically employed.
The art of heating and cooking naturally suggests the other end of the line
of temperature—Refrigeration.
A refrigeration by which ordinary ice is artificially produced, perishable
food of all kinds preserved for long times, and transported for great
distances, which has proved an immense advantage to mankind everywhere
and is still daily practised to the gratification and comfort of millions of
men, must receive at least a passing notice. The Messrs. E. and F. Carré of
France invented successful machines about 1870 for making ice by the
rapid absorption and evaporation of heat by the ammonia process. The
prevented from spreading from the wick on to the other parts of the stove,
which give rise to obnoxious fumes by evaporation and heating. Some
recent inventors have dispensed with the wick altogether and the oil is
burned practically like vapour. Gasoline, and other heavy oily vapours are
in many stoves first vapourised by a preliminary heating in a chamber
before the gas is ignited for use. These vapours are then conducted by
separate jets to different points in the stove where the heat is to be applied.
The danger and unpleasant flame and smoke arising from this vapourising
in the stove have been obviated by inventions which vapourise the fuel by
other means, as by carbonating, or loading the air with the vapour in an
elevated chamber and conducting the saturated air to the burners; or by
agitation, by means of a quick-acting, small, but powerful fan.
Sterilising.—The recent scientific discoveries and investigations of
injurious bacteria rendered it desirable to purify water by other means than
filtering, especially for the treatment of disease-infected localities; and this
gave rise to the invention of a system of heat sterilising and filtering the
water, in one process, and out of contact with the germ-laden air, thus
destroying the bacteria and delivering the water in as pure and wholesome
condition as possible. West in 1892 patented such a system.
Electric Heating and Cooking.—Reference has already been made in the
Chapter on Electricity to the use of that agent in heating and cooking. The
use of the electric current for these purposes has been found to be perfectly
practical, and for heating cars especially, where electricity is the motive
power, a portion of the current is economically employed.
The art of heating and cooking naturally suggests the other end of the line
of temperature—Refrigeration.
A refrigeration by which ordinary ice is artificially produced, perishable
food of all kinds preserved for long times, and transported for great
distances, which has proved an immense advantage to mankind everywhere
and is still daily practised to the gratification and comfort of millions of
men, must receive at least a passing notice. The Messrs. E. and F. Carré of
France invented successful machines about 1870 for making ice by the
rapid absorption and evaporation of heat by the ammonia process. The
Page 155
discoveries and inventions of others in the artificial production of cold by
means of volatile liquids, whether for the making of ice or other purposes,
constituted a great step in the art of refrigeration.
Vaporisation, absorption, compression or reduction of atmospheric pressure
are the principal methods of producing cold. By vaporisation, water, ether,
sulphuric acid, ammonia, etc., in assuming the vaporous form change
sensible heat to latent heat and produce a degree of cold which freezes an
adjacent body of water. The principle of making ice by evaporation and
absorption may be illustrated by two examples of the Carré methods:—It is
well known what a great attraction sulphuric acid has for water. Water to be
frozen is placed in a vessel connected by a pipe to a reservoir containing
sulphuric acid. A vacuum is produced in this reservoir by the use of an air
pump, while the acid is being constantly stirred. Lessening of the
atmospheric pressure upon water causes its evaporation, and as the vapour
is quietly absorbed by the sulphuric acid the water is quickly congealed. It
is known that ammonia can be condensed into liquid form by pressure or
cold, and is absorbed by and soluble in water to an extraordinary degree. A
generator containing a strong solution of ammonia is connected by a pipe to
an empty receiver immersed in cold water. The ammonia generator is then
heated, its vapour driven off and conducted to a jacket around the centre of
the receiver and is there condensed by pressure of an air pump. The central
cylindrical space in the receiver is now filled with water, and the operation
is reversed. The generator is immersed in cold water and pressure on the
liquid ammonia removed. The liquid ammonia now passes into the gaseous
state, and is conducted to and reabsorbed by the water in the generator. But
in this evaporation great cold is produced and the water in the receiver is
soon frozen.
Twining’s inventions in the United States in 1853 and 1862 of the
compression machine, followed by Pictet of France, and a number of
improvements elsewhere have bid fair to displace the absorption method. In
dispensing with absorption these machines proceed on the now well-
established theory that air and many other gases become heated when
compressed; that this heat can then be drawn away, and that when the gas is
allowed to re-expand it will absorb a large amount of heat from any solid or
fluid with which it is brought in contact, and so freeze it. Accordingly such
machines are so constructed that by the operation of a piston, or pistons, in
means of volatile liquids, whether for the making of ice or other purposes,
constituted a great step in the art of refrigeration.
Vaporisation, absorption, compression or reduction of atmospheric pressure
are the principal methods of producing cold. By vaporisation, water, ether,
sulphuric acid, ammonia, etc., in assuming the vaporous form change
sensible heat to latent heat and produce a degree of cold which freezes an
adjacent body of water. The principle of making ice by evaporation and
absorption may be illustrated by two examples of the Carré methods:—It is
well known what a great attraction sulphuric acid has for water. Water to be
frozen is placed in a vessel connected by a pipe to a reservoir containing
sulphuric acid. A vacuum is produced in this reservoir by the use of an air
pump, while the acid is being constantly stirred. Lessening of the
atmospheric pressure upon water causes its evaporation, and as the vapour
is quietly absorbed by the sulphuric acid the water is quickly congealed. It
is known that ammonia can be condensed into liquid form by pressure or
cold, and is absorbed by and soluble in water to an extraordinary degree. A
generator containing a strong solution of ammonia is connected by a pipe to
an empty receiver immersed in cold water. The ammonia generator is then
heated, its vapour driven off and conducted to a jacket around the centre of
the receiver and is there condensed by pressure of an air pump. The central
cylindrical space in the receiver is now filled with water, and the operation
is reversed. The generator is immersed in cold water and pressure on the
liquid ammonia removed. The liquid ammonia now passes into the gaseous
state, and is conducted to and reabsorbed by the water in the generator. But
in this evaporation great cold is produced and the water in the receiver is
soon frozen.
Twining’s inventions in the United States in 1853 and 1862 of the
compression machine, followed by Pictet of France, and a number of
improvements elsewhere have bid fair to displace the absorption method. In
dispensing with absorption these machines proceed on the now well-
established theory that air and many other gases become heated when
compressed; that this heat can then be drawn away, and that when the gas is
allowed to re-expand it will absorb a large amount of heat from any solid or
fluid with which it is brought in contact, and so freeze it. Accordingly such
machines are so constructed that by the operation of a piston, or pistons, in
Page 156
a cylinder, and actuated by steam or other motive power, the air or gas is
compressed to the desired temperature, the heat led off and the cold vapour
conducted through pipes and around chambers where water is placed and
where it is frozen. By the best machines from five hundred to one thousand
pounds of ice an hour are produced.
The art of refrigeration and of modern transportation have brought the fruits
of the tropics in great abundance to the doors of the dwellers of the north,
and from the shores of the Pacific to the Atlantic and across the Atlantic to
Europe. A train of refrigerator cars in California laden with delicious
assorted fruits, and provided with fan blowers driven by the car axles to
force the air through ice chambers, from whence it is distributed by
perforated pipes through the fruit chambers, and wherein the temperature is
maintained at about 40° Fah., can be landed in New York four days after
starting on its journey of 3,000 miles, with the fruits in perfect condition.
But the public is still excited and wondering over the new king of
refrigeration—liquid air.
As has been stated, the compression of air to produce cold is a modern
discovery applied to practical uses, and prominent among the inventors and
discoverers in this line have been Prof. Dewar and Charles E. Tripler.
Air may be compressed and heat generated in the process withdrawn until
the temperature of the air is reduced to 312° below zero, at which point the
air is visible and to a certain extent assumes a peculiar material form, in
which form it can be confined in suitable vessels and used as a refrigerant
and as a motor of great power when permitted to re-expand. It is said that it
was not so long ago when Prof. Dewar produced the first ounce of liquid air
at a cost of $3,000, but that now Mr. Tripler claims that he can produce it by
his apparatus for five cents a gallon.
Refrigeration is at present its most natural and obvious use, and it is
claimed that eleven gallons of the material when gradually expanded has
the refrigerating power of one ton of ice. Its use of course for all purposes
for which cold can be used is thus assured. It is also to be used as a motor in
the running of various kinds of engines. It is to be used as a great alleviator
of human suffering in lowering and regulating the temperature of hospitals
compressed to the desired temperature, the heat led off and the cold vapour
conducted through pipes and around chambers where water is placed and
where it is frozen. By the best machines from five hundred to one thousand
pounds of ice an hour are produced.
The art of refrigeration and of modern transportation have brought the fruits
of the tropics in great abundance to the doors of the dwellers of the north,
and from the shores of the Pacific to the Atlantic and across the Atlantic to
Europe. A train of refrigerator cars in California laden with delicious
assorted fruits, and provided with fan blowers driven by the car axles to
force the air through ice chambers, from whence it is distributed by
perforated pipes through the fruit chambers, and wherein the temperature is
maintained at about 40° Fah., can be landed in New York four days after
starting on its journey of 3,000 miles, with the fruits in perfect condition.
But the public is still excited and wondering over the new king of
refrigeration—liquid air.
As has been stated, the compression of air to produce cold is a modern
discovery applied to practical uses, and prominent among the inventors and
discoverers in this line have been Prof. Dewar and Charles E. Tripler.
Air may be compressed and heat generated in the process withdrawn until
the temperature of the air is reduced to 312° below zero, at which point the
air is visible and to a certain extent assumes a peculiar material form, in
which form it can be confined in suitable vessels and used as a refrigerant
and as a motor of great power when permitted to re-expand. It is said that it
was not so long ago when Prof. Dewar produced the first ounce of liquid air
at a cost of $3,000, but that now Mr. Tripler claims that he can produce it by
his apparatus for five cents a gallon.
Refrigeration is at present its most natural and obvious use, and it is
claimed that eleven gallons of the material when gradually expanded has
the refrigerating power of one ton of ice. Its use of course for all purposes
for which cold can be used is thus assured. It is also to be used as a motor in
the running of various kinds of engines. It is to be used as a great alleviator
of human suffering in lowering and regulating the temperature of hospitals
Page 157
in hot weather, and in surgical operations as a substitute for anæsthetics and
cauterising agents.
It was one of the marvellous attractions at the great Paris Exposition of
1900.
Lighting is closely allied to the various subjects herein considered, but
consideration of the various modes and kinds of lamps for lighting will be
reserved for the Chapter on Furniture for Houses, etc.
cauterising agents.
It was one of the marvellous attractions at the great Paris Exposition of
1900.
Lighting is closely allied to the various subjects herein considered, but
consideration of the various modes and kinds of lamps for lighting will be
reserved for the Chapter on Furniture for Houses, etc.
Page 158
CHAPTER XIV.
METALLURGY.
“Nigh on the plain, in many cells prepared,
That underneath had veins of liquid fire
Sluiced from the lake, a second multitude
With wondrous art founded the massy ore;
Severing each kind, and scumm’d the bullion dross;
A third as soon had formed within the ground
A various mould, and from the boiling cells
By strange conveyance fill’d each hollow nook;
As in an organ, from one blast of wind,
To many a row of pipes the sound board breathes.”
—Paradise Lost.
Ever since those perished races of men who left no other record but that
engraven in rude emblems on the rocks, or no other signs of their existence
but in the broken tools found buried deep among the solid leaves of the
crusted earth, ever since Tubal Cain became “an instructor of every artificer
in brass and iron,” the art of smelting has been known. The stone age
flourished with implements furnished ready-made by nature, or needing
little shaping for their use, but the ages of metal which followed required
the aid of fire directed by the hand of man to provide the tool of iron or
bronze.
The Greeks claimed that the discovery of iron was theirs, and was made at
the burning of a forest on the mountains of Ida in Crete, about 1500 B. C.,
when the ore contained in the rocks or soil on which the forest stood was
melted, cleansed of its impurities, and then collected and hammered.
METALLURGY.
“Nigh on the plain, in many cells prepared,
That underneath had veins of liquid fire
Sluiced from the lake, a second multitude
With wondrous art founded the massy ore;
Severing each kind, and scumm’d the bullion dross;
A third as soon had formed within the ground
A various mould, and from the boiling cells
By strange conveyance fill’d each hollow nook;
As in an organ, from one blast of wind,
To many a row of pipes the sound board breathes.”
—Paradise Lost.
Ever since those perished races of men who left no other record but that
engraven in rude emblems on the rocks, or no other signs of their existence
but in the broken tools found buried deep among the solid leaves of the
crusted earth, ever since Tubal Cain became “an instructor of every artificer
in brass and iron,” the art of smelting has been known. The stone age
flourished with implements furnished ready-made by nature, or needing
little shaping for their use, but the ages of metal which followed required
the aid of fire directed by the hand of man to provide the tool of iron or
bronze.
The Greeks claimed that the discovery of iron was theirs, and was made at
the burning of a forest on the mountains of Ida in Crete, about 1500 B. C.,
when the ore contained in the rocks or soil on which the forest stood was
melted, cleansed of its impurities, and then collected and hammered.
Page 159
Archeologists have deprived the Greeks of this gift, and carried back its
origin to remoter ages and localities.
Man first discovered by observation or accident that certain stones were
melted or softened by fire, and that the product could be hammered and
shaped. They learned by experience that the melting could be done more
effectually when the fuel and the ore were mixed and enclosed by a wall of
stone; that the fire and heat could be alone started and maintained by
blowing air into the fuel—and they constructed a rude bellows for this
purpose. Finding that the melted metal sank through the mass of consumed
fuel, they constructed a stone hearth on which to receive it. Thus were the
first crude furnace and hearth invented.
As to gold, silver and lead, they doubtless were found first in their native
state and mixed with other ores and were hammered into the desired shapes
with the hardest stone implements.
That copper and tin combined would make bronze was a more complex
proceeding and probably followed instead of preceding, as has sometimes
been alleged, the making of iron tools. That bronze relics were found
apparently of anterior manufacture to any made of iron, was doubtless due
to the destruction of the iron by that great consumer—oxygen.
What was very anciently called “brass” was no doubt gold-coloured copper;
for what is modernly known as brass was not made until after the discovery
of zinc in the 16th century and its combination with copper.
Among the “lost arts” re-discovered in later ages are those which supplied
the earliest cities with ornamented vessels of gold and copper, swords of
steel that bent and sprung like whalebones, castings that had known no tool
to shape their contour and embellishments, and monuments and tablets of
steel and brass which excite the wonder and admiration of the best
“artificers in brass and iron” of the present day.
To understand and appreciate the advancements that have been made in
metallurgy in the nineteenth century, it is necessary to know, in outline at
least, what before had been developed.
The earliest form of a smelting furnace of historic days, such as used by the
ancient Egyptians, Hebrews, and probably by the Hindoos and other ancient
origin to remoter ages and localities.
Man first discovered by observation or accident that certain stones were
melted or softened by fire, and that the product could be hammered and
shaped. They learned by experience that the melting could be done more
effectually when the fuel and the ore were mixed and enclosed by a wall of
stone; that the fire and heat could be alone started and maintained by
blowing air into the fuel—and they constructed a rude bellows for this
purpose. Finding that the melted metal sank through the mass of consumed
fuel, they constructed a stone hearth on which to receive it. Thus were the
first crude furnace and hearth invented.
As to gold, silver and lead, they doubtless were found first in their native
state and mixed with other ores and were hammered into the desired shapes
with the hardest stone implements.
That copper and tin combined would make bronze was a more complex
proceeding and probably followed instead of preceding, as has sometimes
been alleged, the making of iron tools. That bronze relics were found
apparently of anterior manufacture to any made of iron, was doubtless due
to the destruction of the iron by that great consumer—oxygen.
What was very anciently called “brass” was no doubt gold-coloured copper;
for what is modernly known as brass was not made until after the discovery
of zinc in the 16th century and its combination with copper.
Among the “lost arts” re-discovered in later ages are those which supplied
the earliest cities with ornamented vessels of gold and copper, swords of
steel that bent and sprung like whalebones, castings that had known no tool
to shape their contour and embellishments, and monuments and tablets of
steel and brass which excite the wonder and admiration of the best
“artificers in brass and iron” of the present day.
To understand and appreciate the advancements that have been made in
metallurgy in the nineteenth century, it is necessary to know, in outline at
least, what before had been developed.
The earliest form of a smelting furnace of historic days, such as used by the
ancient Egyptians, Hebrews, and probably by the Hindoos and other ancient
Page 160
peoples, and still used in Asia, is thus described by Dr. Ure:
“The furnace or bloomary in which the ore is smelted is from 4 to 5 feet
high; it is somewhat pear-shaped, being about 5 feet wide at bottom and 1 at
top. It is built entirely of clay. There is an opening in front about a foot or
more in height which is filled with clay at the commencement, and broken
down at the end of each smelting operation. The bellows are usually made
of two goatskins with bamboo nozzles, which are inserted into tubes of clay
that pass into the furnace. The furnace is filled with charcoal, and a lighted
coal being introduced before the nozzle, the mass in the interior is soon
kindled. As soon as this is accomplished, a small portion of the ore
previously moistened with water to prevent it from running through the
charcoal, but without any flux whatever, is laid on top of the coals, and
covered with charcoal to fill up the furnace. In this manner ore and fuel are
supplied and the bellows urged for three or four hours. When the process is
stopped and the temporary wall in front broken down the bloom is removed
with a pair of tongs from the bottom of the furnace.”
This smelting was then followed by hammering to further separate the slag,
and probably after a reheating to increase the malleability.
It will be noticed that in this earliest process pure carbon was used as a fuel,
and a blast of air to keep the fire at a great heat was employed. To what
extent this carbon and air blast, and the mixing and remixing with other
ingredients, and reheating and rehammering, may have been employed in
various instances to modify the conditions and render the metal malleable
and more or less like modern steel, is not known, but that an excellent
quality of iron resembling modern steel was often produced by this simple
mode of manufacture by different peoples, is undoubtedly the fact. Steel
after all is iron with a little more carbon in it than in the usual iron in the
smelting furnace, to render it harder, and a little less carbon than in cast or
moulded iron to render it malleable, and in both conditions was produced
from time immemorial, either by accident or design.
It was with such a furnace probably that India produced her keen-edged
weapons that would cut a web of gossamer, and Damascus its flashing
blades—the synonym of elastic strength.
“The furnace or bloomary in which the ore is smelted is from 4 to 5 feet
high; it is somewhat pear-shaped, being about 5 feet wide at bottom and 1 at
top. It is built entirely of clay. There is an opening in front about a foot or
more in height which is filled with clay at the commencement, and broken
down at the end of each smelting operation. The bellows are usually made
of two goatskins with bamboo nozzles, which are inserted into tubes of clay
that pass into the furnace. The furnace is filled with charcoal, and a lighted
coal being introduced before the nozzle, the mass in the interior is soon
kindled. As soon as this is accomplished, a small portion of the ore
previously moistened with water to prevent it from running through the
charcoal, but without any flux whatever, is laid on top of the coals, and
covered with charcoal to fill up the furnace. In this manner ore and fuel are
supplied and the bellows urged for three or four hours. When the process is
stopped and the temporary wall in front broken down the bloom is removed
with a pair of tongs from the bottom of the furnace.”
This smelting was then followed by hammering to further separate the slag,
and probably after a reheating to increase the malleability.
It will be noticed that in this earliest process pure carbon was used as a fuel,
and a blast of air to keep the fire at a great heat was employed. To what
extent this carbon and air blast, and the mixing and remixing with other
ingredients, and reheating and rehammering, may have been employed in
various instances to modify the conditions and render the metal malleable
and more or less like modern steel, is not known, but that an excellent
quality of iron resembling modern steel was often produced by this simple
mode of manufacture by different peoples, is undoubtedly the fact. Steel
after all is iron with a little more carbon in it than in the usual iron in the
smelting furnace, to render it harder, and a little less carbon than in cast or
moulded iron to render it malleable, and in both conditions was produced
from time immemorial, either by accident or design.
It was with such a furnace probably that India produced her keen-edged
weapons that would cut a web of gossamer, and Damascus its flashing
blades—the synonym of elastic strength.
Page 161
Africa, when its most barbarous tribes were first discovered, was making
various useful articles of iron. Its earliest modes of manufacture were
doubtless still followed when Dr. Livingstone explored the interior, as they
now also are. He thus describes their furnaces and iron: “At every third or
fourth village (in the regions near Lake Nyassa) we saw a kiln-looking
structure, about 6 feet high and 2½ feet in diameter. It is a clay fire-
hardened furnace for smelting iron. No flux is used, whether with specular
iron, the yellow hematite, or magnetic ore, and yet capital metal is
produced. Native manufactured iron is so good that the natives declare
English iron “rotten” in comparison, and specimens of African hoes were
pronounced at Birmingham nearly equal to the best Swedish iron.” The
natives of India, the Hottentots, the early Britons, the Chinese, the savages
of North and South America, as discovery or research brought their labours
to light, or uncovered the monuments of their earliest life, were shown to be
acquainted with similar simple forms of smelting furnaces.
Early Spain produced a furnace which was adopted by the whole of Europe
as fast as it became known. It was the Catalan furnace, so named from the
province of Catalonia, where it probably first originated, and it is still so
known and extensively used. “It consists of a four-sided cavity or hearth,
which is always placed within a building and separated from the main wall
thereof by a thinner interior wall, which in part constitutes one side of the
furnace. The blast pipe comes through the wall, and enters the fire through a
flue which slants downward. The bottom is formed of a refractory stone,
which is renewable. The furnace has no chimneys. The blast is produced by
means of a fall of water usually from 22 to 27 feet high, through a
rectangular tube, into a rectangular cistern below, to whose upper part the
blast pipe is connected, the water escaping through a pipe below. This
apparatus is exterior to the building, and is said to afford a continuous blast
of great regularity; the air, when it passes into the furnace, is, however,
saturated with moisture.”—Knight.
No doubt in such a heat was formed the metal from which was shaped the
armour of Don Quixote and his prototypes.
Bell in his history of Metallurgy tells us that the manufacture of malleable
iron must have fallen into decadence in England, especially before the reign
of Elizabeth and Charles I., as no furnaces equal even to the Catalan had for
various useful articles of iron. Its earliest modes of manufacture were
doubtless still followed when Dr. Livingstone explored the interior, as they
now also are. He thus describes their furnaces and iron: “At every third or
fourth village (in the regions near Lake Nyassa) we saw a kiln-looking
structure, about 6 feet high and 2½ feet in diameter. It is a clay fire-
hardened furnace for smelting iron. No flux is used, whether with specular
iron, the yellow hematite, or magnetic ore, and yet capital metal is
produced. Native manufactured iron is so good that the natives declare
English iron “rotten” in comparison, and specimens of African hoes were
pronounced at Birmingham nearly equal to the best Swedish iron.” The
natives of India, the Hottentots, the early Britons, the Chinese, the savages
of North and South America, as discovery or research brought their labours
to light, or uncovered the monuments of their earliest life, were shown to be
acquainted with similar simple forms of smelting furnaces.
Early Spain produced a furnace which was adopted by the whole of Europe
as fast as it became known. It was the Catalan furnace, so named from the
province of Catalonia, where it probably first originated, and it is still so
known and extensively used. “It consists of a four-sided cavity or hearth,
which is always placed within a building and separated from the main wall
thereof by a thinner interior wall, which in part constitutes one side of the
furnace. The blast pipe comes through the wall, and enters the fire through a
flue which slants downward. The bottom is formed of a refractory stone,
which is renewable. The furnace has no chimneys. The blast is produced by
means of a fall of water usually from 22 to 27 feet high, through a
rectangular tube, into a rectangular cistern below, to whose upper part the
blast pipe is connected, the water escaping through a pipe below. This
apparatus is exterior to the building, and is said to afford a continuous blast
of great regularity; the air, when it passes into the furnace, is, however,
saturated with moisture.”—Knight.
No doubt in such a heat was formed the metal from which was shaped the
armour of Don Quixote and his prototypes.
Bell in his history of Metallurgy tells us that the manufacture of malleable
iron must have fallen into decadence in England, especially before the reign
of Elizabeth and Charles I., as no furnaces equal even to the Catalan had for
Page 162
a long time been in use; and the architectural iron column found in ancient
Delhi, 16 inches in diameter, about 48 feet long and calculated to weigh
about 17 tons, could not have been formed by any means known in England
in the sixteenth century. This decadence was in part due to the severe laws
enacted against the destruction of forests, and most of the iron was then
brought to England from Germany and other countries.
From time immemorial the manufacture of iron and steel has been followed
in Germany, and that country yet retains pre-eminence in this art both as to
mechanical and chemical processes. It was in the eighteenth century that the
celebrated Freiberg Mining Academy was founded, the oldest of all existing
mining schools; and based on developing mining and metallurgy on
scientific lines, it has stood always on the battle line in the fight of progress.
The early smelting furnaces of Germany resembled the Catalan, and were
called the “Stückofen,” and in Sweden were known as the “Osmund.” In
these very pure iron was made.
The art of making cast iron, which differs from the ordinary smelted iron in
the fact that it is melted and then run into moulds, although known among
the ancients more than forty centuries ago, as shown by the castings of
bronze and brass described by their writers and recovered from their ruins,
appears to have been forgotten long before the darkness of the middle ages
gathered. There is no record of its practice from the time the elder Pliny
described its former use (40-79 A. D.), to the sixteenth century. It is stated
that then the lost art was re-invented by Ralph Page and Peter Baude of
England in 1543—who in that year made cast-iron in Sussex.
The “Stückofen” furnace above referred to was succeeded in Germany by
higher ones called the “Flossofen,” and these were followed by still higher
and larger ones called “Blauofen,” so that by the middle of the eighteenth
century the furnaces were very capacious, the blast was good, and it had
been learned how to supply the furnaces with ore, coal and lime-stone
broken into small fragments. The lime was added as a flux, and acted to
unite with itself the sand, clay and other impurities to form a slag or scoria.
The melted purified iron falling to the bottom was drawn off through a hole
tapped in the furnace, and the molten metal ran into channels in a bed of
sand called the “Sow and pigs.” Hence the name, “pig iron.”
Delhi, 16 inches in diameter, about 48 feet long and calculated to weigh
about 17 tons, could not have been formed by any means known in England
in the sixteenth century. This decadence was in part due to the severe laws
enacted against the destruction of forests, and most of the iron was then
brought to England from Germany and other countries.
From time immemorial the manufacture of iron and steel has been followed
in Germany, and that country yet retains pre-eminence in this art both as to
mechanical and chemical processes. It was in the eighteenth century that the
celebrated Freiberg Mining Academy was founded, the oldest of all existing
mining schools; and based on developing mining and metallurgy on
scientific lines, it has stood always on the battle line in the fight of progress.
The early smelting furnaces of Germany resembled the Catalan, and were
called the “Stückofen,” and in Sweden were known as the “Osmund.” In
these very pure iron was made.
The art of making cast iron, which differs from the ordinary smelted iron in
the fact that it is melted and then run into moulds, although known among
the ancients more than forty centuries ago, as shown by the castings of
bronze and brass described by their writers and recovered from their ruins,
appears to have been forgotten long before the darkness of the middle ages
gathered. There is no record of its practice from the time the elder Pliny
described its former use (40-79 A. D.), to the sixteenth century. It is stated
that then the lost art was re-invented by Ralph Page and Peter Baude of
England in 1543—who in that year made cast-iron in Sussex.
The “Stückofen” furnace above referred to was succeeded in Germany by
higher ones called the “Flossofen,” and these were followed by still higher
and larger ones called “Blauofen,” so that by the middle of the eighteenth
century the furnaces were very capacious, the blast was good, and it had
been learned how to supply the furnaces with ore, coal and lime-stone
broken into small fragments. The lime was added as a flux, and acted to
unite with itself the sand, clay and other impurities to form a slag or scoria.
The melted purified iron falling to the bottom was drawn off through a hole
tapped in the furnace, and the molten metal ran into channels in a bed of
sand called the “Sow and pigs.” Hence the name, “pig iron.”
Page 163
The smelting of ore by charcoal in those places where carried on
extensively required the use of a vast amount of wood, and denuded the
surrounding lands of forests. So great was this loss felt that it gave rise to
the prohibitory laws and the decadence in England of the manufacture of
iron, already alluded to. This turned the attention of iron smelters to coal as
a substitute. Patents were granted in England for its use to several
unsuccessful inventors. Finally in 1619 Dud Dudley, a graduate of Oxford
University, and to whom succeeded his father’s iron furnaces in
Worcestershire, obtained a patent and succeeded in producing several tons
of iron per week by the use of the pitcoal in a small blast furnace.
This success inflamed the wood owners and the charcoal burners and they
destroyed Dudley’s works. He met with other disasters common to worthy
inventors and discontinued his efforts to improve the art.
It is said that in 1664 Sir John Winter of England made coke by burning sea
coal in closed pots. But this was not followed up, and the use of charcoal
and the destruction of the forests went on until 1735, when Abraham Darby
of the Coalbrookdale Iron Works at Shropshire, England, commenced to
treat the soft pit coal in the same way as wood is treated in producing
charcoal. He proposed to burn the coal in a smouldering fire, to expel the
sulphur and other impurities existing in the form of phosphorus, hydrogen
and oxygen, etc. while saving the carbon. The attempt was successful, and
thus coke was made. It was found cheaper and superior to either coal or
charcoal, and produced a quicker fire and a greater heat. This was a
wonderful discovery, and was preserved as a trade secret for a long time. It
was referred to as a curiosity in the Philosophical Transactions in 1747. In
fact it was not introduced in America until a century later, when in 1841 the
soft coal abounding around Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania and in the
neighbouring regions of Ohio was thus treated. Even its use then was
experimental, and did not become a practical art in the United States until
about 1860.
With the invention of coke came also the revival of cast iron.
The process of making cast steel was reinvented in England by Benjamin
Huntsman of Attercliff, near Sheffield, about 1740. Between that time and
extensively required the use of a vast amount of wood, and denuded the
surrounding lands of forests. So great was this loss felt that it gave rise to
the prohibitory laws and the decadence in England of the manufacture of
iron, already alluded to. This turned the attention of iron smelters to coal as
a substitute. Patents were granted in England for its use to several
unsuccessful inventors. Finally in 1619 Dud Dudley, a graduate of Oxford
University, and to whom succeeded his father’s iron furnaces in
Worcestershire, obtained a patent and succeeded in producing several tons
of iron per week by the use of the pitcoal in a small blast furnace.
This success inflamed the wood owners and the charcoal burners and they
destroyed Dudley’s works. He met with other disasters common to worthy
inventors and discontinued his efforts to improve the art.
It is said that in 1664 Sir John Winter of England made coke by burning sea
coal in closed pots. But this was not followed up, and the use of charcoal
and the destruction of the forests went on until 1735, when Abraham Darby
of the Coalbrookdale Iron Works at Shropshire, England, commenced to
treat the soft pit coal in the same way as wood is treated in producing
charcoal. He proposed to burn the coal in a smouldering fire, to expel the
sulphur and other impurities existing in the form of phosphorus, hydrogen
and oxygen, etc. while saving the carbon. The attempt was successful, and
thus coke was made. It was found cheaper and superior to either coal or
charcoal, and produced a quicker fire and a greater heat. This was a
wonderful discovery, and was preserved as a trade secret for a long time. It
was referred to as a curiosity in the Philosophical Transactions in 1747. In
fact it was not introduced in America until a century later, when in 1841 the
soft coal abounding around Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania and in the
neighbouring regions of Ohio was thus treated. Even its use then was
experimental, and did not become a practical art in the United States until
about 1860.
With the invention of coke came also the revival of cast iron.
The process of making cast steel was reinvented in England by Benjamin
Huntsman of Attercliff, near Sheffield, about 1740. Between that time and
Page 164
1770 he practised melting small pieces of “blistered” steel (iron bars which
had been carbonised by smelting in charcoal) in closed clay crucibles.
In 1784 Henry Cort of England introduced the puddling process and
grooved rolls. Puddling had been invented, but not successfully used before.
The term “puddling” originated in the covering of the hearth of stones at the
bottom of the furnace with clay, which was made plastic by mixing the clay
in a puddle of water; and on which hearth the ore when melted is received.
When in this melted condition Cort and others found that the metal was
greatly improved by stirring it with a long iron bar called a “rabble,” and
which was introduced through an opening in the furnace. This stirring
admitted air to the mass and the oxygen consumed and expelled the carbon,
silicon, and other impurities. The process was subsequently aided by the
introduction of pig iron broken into pieces and mixed with hammer-slag,
cinder, and ore. The mass is stirred from side to side of the furnace until it
comes to a boiling point, when the stirring is increased in quickness and
violence until a pasty round mass is collected by the puddler. As showing
the value of Cort’s discovery and the hard experience inventors sometimes
have, Fairbairn states that Cort “expended a fortune of upward of £20,000
in perfecting his invention for puddling iron and rolling it into bars and
plates; that he was robbed of the fruits of his discoveries by the villainy of
officials in a high department of the government; and that he was ultimately
left to starve by the apathy and selfishness of an ungrateful country. His
inventions conferred an amount of wealth on the country equivalent to
£600,000,000, and have given employment to 600,000 of the working
population of our land for the last three or four generations.” This process
of puddling lasted for about an hour and a half and entailed extremely
severe labour on the workman.
The invention of mechanical puddlers, hereinafter referred to, consisting
chiefly of rotating furnaces, were among the beneficent developments of the
nineteenth century.
Prior to Cort’s time the plastic lump or ball of metal taken from the furnace
was generally beaten by hammers, but Cort’s grooved rollers pressed out
the mass into sheets.
had been carbonised by smelting in charcoal) in closed clay crucibles.
In 1784 Henry Cort of England introduced the puddling process and
grooved rolls. Puddling had been invented, but not successfully used before.
The term “puddling” originated in the covering of the hearth of stones at the
bottom of the furnace with clay, which was made plastic by mixing the clay
in a puddle of water; and on which hearth the ore when melted is received.
When in this melted condition Cort and others found that the metal was
greatly improved by stirring it with a long iron bar called a “rabble,” and
which was introduced through an opening in the furnace. This stirring
admitted air to the mass and the oxygen consumed and expelled the carbon,
silicon, and other impurities. The process was subsequently aided by the
introduction of pig iron broken into pieces and mixed with hammer-slag,
cinder, and ore. The mass is stirred from side to side of the furnace until it
comes to a boiling point, when the stirring is increased in quickness and
violence until a pasty round mass is collected by the puddler. As showing
the value of Cort’s discovery and the hard experience inventors sometimes
have, Fairbairn states that Cort “expended a fortune of upward of £20,000
in perfecting his invention for puddling iron and rolling it into bars and
plates; that he was robbed of the fruits of his discoveries by the villainy of
officials in a high department of the government; and that he was ultimately
left to starve by the apathy and selfishness of an ungrateful country. His
inventions conferred an amount of wealth on the country equivalent to
£600,000,000, and have given employment to 600,000 of the working
population of our land for the last three or four generations.” This process
of puddling lasted for about an hour and a half and entailed extremely
severe labour on the workman.
The invention of mechanical puddlers, hereinafter referred to, consisting
chiefly of rotating furnaces, were among the beneficent developments of the
nineteenth century.
Prior to Cort’s time the plastic lump or ball of metal taken from the furnace
was generally beaten by hammers, but Cort’s grooved rollers pressed out
the mass into sheets.
Page 165
The improvements of the steam engine by Watt greatly extended the
manufacture of iron toward the close of the 18th century, as powerful air
blasts were obtained by the use of such engines in place of the blowers
worked by man, the horse, or the ox.
So far as the art of refining the precious metals is concerned, as well as
copper, tin and iron, it had not, previous to this century, proceeded much
beyond the methods described in the most ancient writings; and these
included the refining in furnaces, pots, and covered crucibles, and alloying,
or the mixture and fusion with other metals. Furnaces to hold the crucibles,
and made of iron cylinders lined with fire brick, whereby the crucibles were
subjected to greater heat, were also known.
The amalgamating process was also known to the ancients, and Vitruvius
(B. C. 27) and Pliny (A. D. 79), describe how mercury was used for
separating gold from its impurities. Its use at gold and silver mines was
renewed extensively in the sixteenth century.
Thus we find that the eighteenth century closed with the knowledge of the
smelting furnaces of various kinds, of coke as a fuel in place of charcoal, of
furious air blasts driven by steam and other power, of cast iron and cast
steel, and of refining, amalgamating, and compounding processes.
Looking back, now, from the threshold of the nineteenth century over the
path we have thus traced, it will be seen that what had been accomplished in
metallurgy was the result of the use of ready means tested by prolonged
trials, of experiments more or less lucky in fields in which men were
groping, of inventions without the knowledge of the real properties of the
materials with which inventors were working or of the unvarying laws
which govern their operations. They had accomplished much, but it was the
work mainly of empirics. The art preceding the nineteenth century
compared with what followed is the difference between experience simply,
and experience when combined with hard thinking, which is thus stated by
Herschel: “Art is the application of knowledge to a practical end. If the
knowledge be merely accumulated experience the art is empirical; but if it
is experience reasoned upon and brought under general principles it
assumes a higher character and becomes a scientific art.”
manufacture of iron toward the close of the 18th century, as powerful air
blasts were obtained by the use of such engines in place of the blowers
worked by man, the horse, or the ox.
So far as the art of refining the precious metals is concerned, as well as
copper, tin and iron, it had not, previous to this century, proceeded much
beyond the methods described in the most ancient writings; and these
included the refining in furnaces, pots, and covered crucibles, and alloying,
or the mixture and fusion with other metals. Furnaces to hold the crucibles,
and made of iron cylinders lined with fire brick, whereby the crucibles were
subjected to greater heat, were also known.
The amalgamating process was also known to the ancients, and Vitruvius
(B. C. 27) and Pliny (A. D. 79), describe how mercury was used for
separating gold from its impurities. Its use at gold and silver mines was
renewed extensively in the sixteenth century.
Thus we find that the eighteenth century closed with the knowledge of the
smelting furnaces of various kinds, of coke as a fuel in place of charcoal, of
furious air blasts driven by steam and other power, of cast iron and cast
steel, and of refining, amalgamating, and compounding processes.
Looking back, now, from the threshold of the nineteenth century over the
path we have thus traced, it will be seen that what had been accomplished in
metallurgy was the result of the use of ready means tested by prolonged
trials, of experiments more or less lucky in fields in which men were
groping, of inventions without the knowledge of the real properties of the
materials with which inventors were working or of the unvarying laws
which govern their operations. They had accomplished much, but it was the
work mainly of empirics. The art preceding the nineteenth century
compared with what followed is the difference between experience simply,
and experience when combined with hard thinking, which is thus stated by
Herschel: “Art is the application of knowledge to a practical end. If the
knowledge be merely accumulated experience the art is empirical; but if it
is experience reasoned upon and brought under general principles it
assumes a higher character and becomes a scientific art.”
Page 166
With the developments, discoveries and inventions in the lines of steam,
chemistry and electricity, as elsewhere told, the impetus they gave to the
exercise of brain force in every field of nature at the outset of the century,
and with their practical aid, the art of metallurgy soon began to expand to
greater usefulness, and finally to its present wonderful domain.
The subject of metallurgy in this century soon became scientifically treated
and its operations classified.
Thus the physical character and metallic constituents of ores received the
first consideration; then the proper treatment to which the ores were to be
subjected for the purpose of extracting the metal—which are either
mechanical or chemical. The mechanical processes designed to separate the
ore from its enclosing rock or other superfluous earthy matter called gangue
became known as ore dressing and ore concentrating. These included mills
with rollers, and stamps operated by gravity, or steam, for breaking up the
ore rocks; abrasion apparatus for comminuting the ore by rubbing the pieces
of ore under pressure; and smelting, or an equivalent process, for melting
the ore and driving off the impurities by heat, etc. The chemical processes
are those by which the metal, whatever it may be, is either dissolved or
separated from other constituents by either the application to the ore of
certain metallic solutions of certain acids, or by the fusion of different ores
or metals in substantially the old styles of furnaces; or its precipitation by
amalgamating, or by electrolysis—the art of decomposing metals by
electricity.
In the early decades of the century, by the help of chemistry and physics,
the nature of heat, carbon, and oxygen, and the great affinity iron has for
oxygen, became better known; and particularly how in the making of iron
its behaviour is influenced by the presence of carbon and other foreign
constituents; also how necessary to its perfect separation was the proper
elimination of the oxygen and carbon. The use of manganese and other
highly oxidisable metals for this purpose was discovered.
Among the earliest most notable inventions in the century, in the
manufacture of iron, was that of Samuel B. Rogers of Glamorganshire,
Wales, who invented the iron floor for furnaces with a refractory lining—a
great improvement on Cort’s sand floor, which gave too much silicon to the
chemistry and electricity, as elsewhere told, the impetus they gave to the
exercise of brain force in every field of nature at the outset of the century,
and with their practical aid, the art of metallurgy soon began to expand to
greater usefulness, and finally to its present wonderful domain.
The subject of metallurgy in this century soon became scientifically treated
and its operations classified.
Thus the physical character and metallic constituents of ores received the
first consideration; then the proper treatment to which the ores were to be
subjected for the purpose of extracting the metal—which are either
mechanical or chemical. The mechanical processes designed to separate the
ore from its enclosing rock or other superfluous earthy matter called gangue
became known as ore dressing and ore concentrating. These included mills
with rollers, and stamps operated by gravity, or steam, for breaking up the
ore rocks; abrasion apparatus for comminuting the ore by rubbing the pieces
of ore under pressure; and smelting, or an equivalent process, for melting
the ore and driving off the impurities by heat, etc. The chemical processes
are those by which the metal, whatever it may be, is either dissolved or
separated from other constituents by either the application to the ore of
certain metallic solutions of certain acids, or by the fusion of different ores
or metals in substantially the old styles of furnaces; or its precipitation by
amalgamating, or by electrolysis—the art of decomposing metals by
electricity.
In the early decades of the century, by the help of chemistry and physics,
the nature of heat, carbon, and oxygen, and the great affinity iron has for
oxygen, became better known; and particularly how in the making of iron
its behaviour is influenced by the presence of carbon and other foreign
constituents; also how necessary to its perfect separation was the proper
elimination of the oxygen and carbon. The use of manganese and other
highly oxidisable metals for this purpose was discovered.
Among the earliest most notable inventions in the century, in the
manufacture of iron, was that of Samuel B. Rogers of Glamorganshire,
Wales, who invented the iron floor for furnaces with a refractory lining—a
great improvement on Cort’s sand floor, which gave too much silicon to the
Page 167
iron; and the hot air blast by Neilson of Glasgow, Scotland, patented in
1828. The latter consisted in the use of heated air as the blast instead of cold
air—whereby ignition of the fuel was quickened, intensity of the heat and
the expulsion of oxygen and carbon from the iron increased, and the
operation shortened and improved in every way. The patent was infringed
and assailed, but finally sustained by the highest courts of England. It
produced an immense forward stride in the amount and quality of iron
manufactured.
By the introduction of the hot air blast it became practicable to use the hard
anthracite coal as a fuel where such coal abounded; and to use pig iron,
scrap iron, and refractory ore and metals with the fuel to produce particular
results. Furnaces were enlarged to colossal dimensions, some being a
hundred feet high and capable of yielding 80 or 100 tons of metal per day.
The forms of furnaces and means for lining and cooling the hearth and
adjacent parts have received great attention.
The discovery that the flame escaping from the throat of the blast furnace
was nothing else than burning carbon led Faber du Faur at Wasseralfugen in
1837 to invent the successful and highly valuable method of utilising the
unburnt gas from the blast furnace for heating purposes, and to heat the
blast itself, and drive the steam engine that blew the blast into the furnace,
without the consumption of additional fuel. This also led to the invention of
separate gas producers. Bunsen in 1838 made his first experiments at Hesse
in collecting the gases from various parts of the furnace, revealing their
composition and showing their adaptability for various purposes. Thus,
from a scientific knowledge of the constituents of ores and of furnace gases,
calculations could be made in advance as to the materials required to make
pig iron, cast iron, and steel of particular qualities.
In the process of puddling difficulty had been experienced in handling the
bloom or ball after it was formed in the furnace. A sort of squeezing
apparatus, or tongs, called the alligator, had been employed.
In 1840 Henry Burden of America invented and patented a method and
means for treating these balls, whereby the same were taken directly from
the furnace and passed between two plain converging metal surfaces, by
which the balls were gradually but quickly pressed and squeezed into a
1828. The latter consisted in the use of heated air as the blast instead of cold
air—whereby ignition of the fuel was quickened, intensity of the heat and
the expulsion of oxygen and carbon from the iron increased, and the
operation shortened and improved in every way. The patent was infringed
and assailed, but finally sustained by the highest courts of England. It
produced an immense forward stride in the amount and quality of iron
manufactured.
By the introduction of the hot air blast it became practicable to use the hard
anthracite coal as a fuel where such coal abounded; and to use pig iron,
scrap iron, and refractory ore and metals with the fuel to produce particular
results. Furnaces were enlarged to colossal dimensions, some being a
hundred feet high and capable of yielding 80 or 100 tons of metal per day.
The forms of furnaces and means for lining and cooling the hearth and
adjacent parts have received great attention.
The discovery that the flame escaping from the throat of the blast furnace
was nothing else than burning carbon led Faber du Faur at Wasseralfugen in
1837 to invent the successful and highly valuable method of utilising the
unburnt gas from the blast furnace for heating purposes, and to heat the
blast itself, and drive the steam engine that blew the blast into the furnace,
without the consumption of additional fuel. This also led to the invention of
separate gas producers. Bunsen in 1838 made his first experiments at Hesse
in collecting the gases from various parts of the furnace, revealing their
composition and showing their adaptability for various purposes. Thus,
from a scientific knowledge of the constituents of ores and of furnace gases,
calculations could be made in advance as to the materials required to make
pig iron, cast iron, and steel of particular qualities.
In the process of puddling difficulty had been experienced in handling the
bloom or ball after it was formed in the furnace. A sort of squeezing
apparatus, or tongs, called the alligator, had been employed.
In 1840 Henry Burden of America invented and patented a method and
means for treating these balls, whereby the same were taken directly from
the furnace and passed between two plain converging metal surfaces, by
which the balls were gradually but quickly pressed and squeezed into a
Page 168
cylindrical form, while a large portion of the cinders and other foreign
impurities were pressed out.
We have described how by Cort’s puddling process tremendous labour was
imposed on the workmen in stirring the molten metal by hand with
“rabbles.” A number of mechanical puddlers were invented to take the place
of these hand means, but the most important invention in this direction was
the revolving puddlers of Beadlestone, patented in 1857 in England, and of
Heaton, Allen and Yates, in 1867-68. The most successful, however, was
that of Danks of the United States in 1868-69. The Danks rotary puddler is
a barrel-shaped, refractory lined vessel, having a chamber and fire grate and
rotated by steam, into which pig iron formed by the ordinary blast furnaces,
and then pulverised, is placed, with the fuel. Molten metal from the furnace
is then run in, which together with the fuel is then subjected to a strong
blast. Successive charges may be made, and at the proper time the puddler
is rotated, slowly at some stages and faster at others, until the operation is
completed. A much more thorough and satisfactory result in the production
of a pure malleable iron is thus obtained than is possible by hand puddling.
But the greatest improvements in puddling, and in the production of steel
from iron, and which have produced greater commercial results than any
other inventions of the century relating to metallurgy, were the inventions of
Henry Bessemer of Hertfordshire, England, from 1855 to 1860. In place of
the puddling “rabbles” to stir the molten metal, or matte, as it is called,
while the air blast enters to oxidise it, he first introduced the molten metal
from the furnace into an immense egg-shaped vessel lined with quartzose,
and hung in an inclined position on trunnions, or melted the metal in such
vessel, and then dividing the air blast into streams forced with great
pressure each separate stream through an opening in the bottom of the
vessel into the molten mass, thus making each stream of driven air a rabble;
and they together blew and lifted the white mass into a huge, surging, sun-
bright fountain. The effect of this was to burn out the impurities, silicon,
carbon, sulphur, and phosphorus, leaving the mass a pure soft iron. If steel
was wanted a small amount of carbon, usually in the form of spiegeleisen,
was introduced into the converter before the process was complete.
A. L. Holley of the United States improved the Bessemer apparatus by
enabling a greater number of charges to be converted into steel within a
impurities were pressed out.
We have described how by Cort’s puddling process tremendous labour was
imposed on the workmen in stirring the molten metal by hand with
“rabbles.” A number of mechanical puddlers were invented to take the place
of these hand means, but the most important invention in this direction was
the revolving puddlers of Beadlestone, patented in 1857 in England, and of
Heaton, Allen and Yates, in 1867-68. The most successful, however, was
that of Danks of the United States in 1868-69. The Danks rotary puddler is
a barrel-shaped, refractory lined vessel, having a chamber and fire grate and
rotated by steam, into which pig iron formed by the ordinary blast furnaces,
and then pulverised, is placed, with the fuel. Molten metal from the furnace
is then run in, which together with the fuel is then subjected to a strong
blast. Successive charges may be made, and at the proper time the puddler
is rotated, slowly at some stages and faster at others, until the operation is
completed. A much more thorough and satisfactory result in the production
of a pure malleable iron is thus obtained than is possible by hand puddling.
But the greatest improvements in puddling, and in the production of steel
from iron, and which have produced greater commercial results than any
other inventions of the century relating to metallurgy, were the inventions of
Henry Bessemer of Hertfordshire, England, from 1855 to 1860. In place of
the puddling “rabbles” to stir the molten metal, or matte, as it is called,
while the air blast enters to oxidise it, he first introduced the molten metal
from the furnace into an immense egg-shaped vessel lined with quartzose,
and hung in an inclined position on trunnions, or melted the metal in such
vessel, and then dividing the air blast into streams forced with great
pressure each separate stream through an opening in the bottom of the
vessel into the molten mass, thus making each stream of driven air a rabble;
and they together blew and lifted the white mass into a huge, surging, sun-
bright fountain. The effect of this was to burn out the impurities, silicon,
carbon, sulphur, and phosphorus, leaving the mass a pure soft iron. If steel
was wanted a small amount of carbon, usually in the form of spiegeleisen,
was introduced into the converter before the process was complete.
A. L. Holley of the United States improved the Bessemer apparatus by
enabling a greater number of charges to be converted into steel within a
Page 169
given time.
Sir Henry Bessemer has lived to gain great fortunes by his inventions, to
see them afford new fields of labour for armies of men, and to increase the
riches of nations, from whom he has received deserved honours.
The Bessemer process led to renewed investigations and discoveries as to
heat and its utilisation, the constituents of different metals and their
decomposition, and as to the parts played by carbon, silicon, and
phosphorus. The carbon introduced by the charge of pig iron in the
Bessemer process was at first supposed to be necessary to produce the
greatest heat, but this was found to be a mistake; and phosphorus, which
had been regarded as a great enemy of iron, to be eliminated in every way,
was found to be a valuable constituent, and was retained or added to make
phosphorus steel.
The Bessemer process has been modified in various ways: by changing the
mode of introducing the blast from the bottom of the converter to the sides
thereof, and admitting the blast more slowly at certain stages; by changing
the character of the pig iron and fuel to be treated; and by changing the
shape and operation of the converters, making them cylindrical and rotary,
for instance.
The Bessemer process is now largely used in treating copper. By this
method the blowing through the molten metal of a blast of air largely
removes sulphur and other impurities.
The principles of reduction by the old style furnaces and methods we have
described have been revived and combined with improvements. For
instance, the old Catalan style of furnace has been retained to smelt the iron,
but in one method the iron is withdrawn before it is reduced completely and
introduced into another furnace, where, mixed with further reducing
ingredients, a better result by far is produced with less labour.
It would be a long list that would name the modern discoverers and
inventors of the century in the manufacture of iron and steel. But eminent in
the list, in addition to Davy and Bessemer, and others already mentioned,
are Mushet, Sir L. Bell, Percy, Blomfield, Beasley, Giers and Snellus of
England; Martin, Chennot, Du Motay, Pernot and Gruner of France;
Sir Henry Bessemer has lived to gain great fortunes by his inventions, to
see them afford new fields of labour for armies of men, and to increase the
riches of nations, from whom he has received deserved honours.
The Bessemer process led to renewed investigations and discoveries as to
heat and its utilisation, the constituents of different metals and their
decomposition, and as to the parts played by carbon, silicon, and
phosphorus. The carbon introduced by the charge of pig iron in the
Bessemer process was at first supposed to be necessary to produce the
greatest heat, but this was found to be a mistake; and phosphorus, which
had been regarded as a great enemy of iron, to be eliminated in every way,
was found to be a valuable constituent, and was retained or added to make
phosphorus steel.
The Bessemer process has been modified in various ways: by changing the
mode of introducing the blast from the bottom of the converter to the sides
thereof, and admitting the blast more slowly at certain stages; by changing
the character of the pig iron and fuel to be treated; and by changing the
shape and operation of the converters, making them cylindrical and rotary,
for instance.
The Bessemer process is now largely used in treating copper. By this
method the blowing through the molten metal of a blast of air largely
removes sulphur and other impurities.
The principles of reduction by the old style furnaces and methods we have
described have been revived and combined with improvements. For
instance, the old Catalan style of furnace has been retained to smelt the iron,
but in one method the iron is withdrawn before it is reduced completely and
introduced into another furnace, where, mixed with further reducing
ingredients, a better result by far is produced with less labour.
It would be a long list that would name the modern discoverers and
inventors of the century in the manufacture of iron and steel. But eminent in
the list, in addition to Davy and Bessemer, and others already mentioned,
are Mushet, Sir L. Bell, Percy, Blomfield, Beasley, Giers and Snellus of
England; Martin, Chennot, Du Motay, Pernot and Gruner of France;
Page 170
Lohage, Dr. C. L. Siemens and Höpfer of Germany; Prof Sarnstrom and
Akerman of Sweden; Turner of Austria; and Holley, Slade, Blair, Jones,
Sellers, Clapp, Griffiths and Eames of the United States.
Some of the new metals discovered in the last century have in this century
been combined with iron to make harder steel. Thus we have nickel,
chromium, and tungsten steel. Processes for hardening steel, as the
“Harveyized” steel, have given rise to a contest between “irresistible”
projectiles and “impenetrable” armour plate.
If there are some who regard modern discoveries and inventions in iron and
steel as lessening the number of workmen and cheapening the product too
much, thus causing trouble due to labour-saving machinery, let them glance,
among other great works in the world, at Krupp’s at Essen, where on
January 1st, 1899, 41,750 persons were employed, and at which works
during the previous year 1,199,610 tons of coal and coke were consumed,
or about 4000 tons daily. Workers in iron will not be out of employment in
the United States, where 16,000,000 tons of coke are produced annually,
196,405,953 tons of coal mined, 11,000,000 tons of pig iron and about
9,000,000 tons of steel made. The increase of population within the last
hundred years bears no comparison with this enormous increase in iron and
fuel. It shows that as inventions multiply, so does the demand for their
better and cheaper products increase.
As the other metals, gold, silver, copper and lead often occur together, and
in the same deposits with iron, the same general modes of treatment to
extract them are often applied. These are known as the dry and the wet
methods, and electro-reduction.
Ever since Mammon bowed his head in search for gold, every means that
the mind of man could suggest to obtain it have been tried, but the devices
of this century have been more numerous and more successful than any
before. The ancient methods of simply melting and “skimming the bullion
dross” have been superseded. Modern methods may be divided into two
general classes, the mechanical and the chemical. Of the former methods,
when gold was found loose in sand or gravel, washing was the earliest and
most universally practised, and was called panning. In this method mercury
is often used to take up and secure the fine gold. Rockers like a child’s
Akerman of Sweden; Turner of Austria; and Holley, Slade, Blair, Jones,
Sellers, Clapp, Griffiths and Eames of the United States.
Some of the new metals discovered in the last century have in this century
been combined with iron to make harder steel. Thus we have nickel,
chromium, and tungsten steel. Processes for hardening steel, as the
“Harveyized” steel, have given rise to a contest between “irresistible”
projectiles and “impenetrable” armour plate.
If there are some who regard modern discoveries and inventions in iron and
steel as lessening the number of workmen and cheapening the product too
much, thus causing trouble due to labour-saving machinery, let them glance,
among other great works in the world, at Krupp’s at Essen, where on
January 1st, 1899, 41,750 persons were employed, and at which works
during the previous year 1,199,610 tons of coal and coke were consumed,
or about 4000 tons daily. Workers in iron will not be out of employment in
the United States, where 16,000,000 tons of coke are produced annually,
196,405,953 tons of coal mined, 11,000,000 tons of pig iron and about
9,000,000 tons of steel made. The increase of population within the last
hundred years bears no comparison with this enormous increase in iron and
fuel. It shows that as inventions multiply, so does the demand for their
better and cheaper products increase.
As the other metals, gold, silver, copper and lead often occur together, and
in the same deposits with iron, the same general modes of treatment to
extract them are often applied. These are known as the dry and the wet
methods, and electro-reduction.
Ever since Mammon bowed his head in search for gold, every means that
the mind of man could suggest to obtain it have been tried, but the devices
of this century have been more numerous and more successful than any
before. The ancient methods of simply melting and “skimming the bullion
dross” have been superseded. Modern methods may be divided into two
general classes, the mechanical and the chemical. Of the former methods,
when gold was found loose in sand or gravel, washing was the earliest and
most universally practised, and was called panning. In this method mercury
is often used to take up and secure the fine gold. Rockers like a child’s
Page 171
cradle, into which the dirt is shovelled and washed over retaining riffles,
were used; coarse-haired blankets and hides; sluices and separators, with or
without quicksilver linings to catch the gold; and powerful streams of water
worked by compressed air to tear down the banks. Where water could not
be obtained the ore and soil were pulverised and dried, and then thrown
against the wind or a blast of air, and the heavier gold, falling before the
lighter dust, was caught on hides or blankets. For the crushing of the quartz
in which gold was found, innumerable inventions in stamp mills, rollers,
crushers, abraders, pulverisers and amalgamators have been invented; and
so with roasters, and furnaces, and crucibles to melt the precious metal,
separate the remaining impurities and convert it to use.
As to chemical methods for the precious metals, the process of lixiviation,
or leaching, by which the ore is washed out by a solution of potash, or with
dilute sulphuric acid, or boiling with concentrated sulphuric acid, is quite
modern. About 1889 came out the great cyanide process, also known as the
MacArthur-Forrest process (they being the first to obtain patents and
introduce the invention), consisting of the use of cyanide potassium in
solution, which dissolves the gold, and which is then precipitated by the
employment of zinc. This process is best adapted to what are known as free
milling or porous ores, where the gold is free and very fine and is attracted
readily by mercury.
In 1807, Sir Humphry Davy discovered the metal potassium by subjecting
moistened potash to the action of a powerful voltaic battery; the positive
pole gave off oxygen and the metallic globules of pure potassium appeared
at the negative pole. It is never found uncombined in nature. Now if
potassium is heated in cyanogen gas (a gas procured by heating mercury) or
obtained on a large scale by the decomposition of yellow prussiate of
potash, a white crystalline body very soluble in water, and exceedingly
poisonous, is obtained. When gold, for instance, obtained by pulverising the
ore, or found free in sand, is treated to such a solution it is dissolved from
its surrounding constituents and precipitated by the zinc, as before stated.
Chlorine is another metal discovered by Scheele in 1774, but not known as
an elementary element until so established by Davy’s investigations in
1810, when he gave it the name it now bears, from the Greek chloras,
yellowish green. It is found abundantly in the mineral world in combination
were used; coarse-haired blankets and hides; sluices and separators, with or
without quicksilver linings to catch the gold; and powerful streams of water
worked by compressed air to tear down the banks. Where water could not
be obtained the ore and soil were pulverised and dried, and then thrown
against the wind or a blast of air, and the heavier gold, falling before the
lighter dust, was caught on hides or blankets. For the crushing of the quartz
in which gold was found, innumerable inventions in stamp mills, rollers,
crushers, abraders, pulverisers and amalgamators have been invented; and
so with roasters, and furnaces, and crucibles to melt the precious metal,
separate the remaining impurities and convert it to use.
As to chemical methods for the precious metals, the process of lixiviation,
or leaching, by which the ore is washed out by a solution of potash, or with
dilute sulphuric acid, or boiling with concentrated sulphuric acid, is quite
modern. About 1889 came out the great cyanide process, also known as the
MacArthur-Forrest process (they being the first to obtain patents and
introduce the invention), consisting of the use of cyanide potassium in
solution, which dissolves the gold, and which is then precipitated by the
employment of zinc. This process is best adapted to what are known as free
milling or porous ores, where the gold is free and very fine and is attracted
readily by mercury.
In 1807, Sir Humphry Davy discovered the metal potassium by subjecting
moistened potash to the action of a powerful voltaic battery; the positive
pole gave off oxygen and the metallic globules of pure potassium appeared
at the negative pole. It is never found uncombined in nature. Now if
potassium is heated in cyanogen gas (a gas procured by heating mercury) or
obtained on a large scale by the decomposition of yellow prussiate of
potash, a white crystalline body very soluble in water, and exceedingly
poisonous, is obtained. When gold, for instance, obtained by pulverising the
ore, or found free in sand, is treated to such a solution it is dissolved from
its surrounding constituents and precipitated by the zinc, as before stated.
Chlorine is another metal discovered by Scheele in 1774, but not known as
an elementary element until so established by Davy’s investigations in
1810, when he gave it the name it now bears, from the Greek chloras,
yellowish green. It is found abundantly in the mineral world in combination
Page 172
with common salt. Now it was found that chlorine is one of the most
energetic of bodies, surpassing even oxygen under some circumstances, and
that a chlorine solution will readily dissolve gold.
These, the cyanide and chlorination processes, have almost entirely
superseded the old washing and amalgamating methods of treating free gold
—and the cyanide seems to be now taking the lead.
Alloys.—The art of fusing different metals to make new compounds,
although always practised, has been greatly advanced by the discoverers
and inventors of the century. As we have seen, amalgamating to extract gold
and silver, and the making of bronze from tin and copper were very early
followed. One of the most notable and useful of modern inventions or
improvements of the kind was that of Isaac Babbitt of Boston in 1839, who
in that year obtained patents for what ever since has been known as
“babbitting.” The great and undesirable friction produced by the rubbing of
the ends of journals and shafts in their bearings of the same metal, cast or
wrought iron, amounting to one-fifth of the amount of power exerted to turn
them, had long been experienced. Lubricants of all kinds had been and are
used; but Babbitt’s invention was an anti-friction metal. It is composed of
tin, antimony, and copper, and although the proportions and ingredients
have since been varied, the whole art is still known as babbitting.
Other successful alloys have been made for gun metal, sheathing of ships,
horseshoes, organ pipes, plough shares, roofing, eyelets, projectiles, faucets,
and many and various articles of hardware, ornamental ware, and jewelry.
Valuable metals, such as were not always rare or scarce, but very hard to
reduce, have been rendered far less in cost of production and more
extensive in use by modern processes. Thus, aluminium, an abundant
element in rocks and clay, discovered by the German chemist Wöhler, in
1827, a precious metal, so light, bright, and tough, non-oxidizing, harder
than zinc, more sonorous than silver, malleable and ductile as iron, and
more tenacious, has been brought to the front from an expensive and mere
laboratory production to common and useful purposes in all the arts by the
processes commencing in 1854 with that of St. Clair Deoville, of France,
followed by those of H. Rose, Morin, Castner, Tissier, Hall, and others.
energetic of bodies, surpassing even oxygen under some circumstances, and
that a chlorine solution will readily dissolve gold.
These, the cyanide and chlorination processes, have almost entirely
superseded the old washing and amalgamating methods of treating free gold
—and the cyanide seems to be now taking the lead.
Alloys.—The art of fusing different metals to make new compounds,
although always practised, has been greatly advanced by the discoverers
and inventors of the century. As we have seen, amalgamating to extract gold
and silver, and the making of bronze from tin and copper were very early
followed. One of the most notable and useful of modern inventions or
improvements of the kind was that of Isaac Babbitt of Boston in 1839, who
in that year obtained patents for what ever since has been known as
“babbitting.” The great and undesirable friction produced by the rubbing of
the ends of journals and shafts in their bearings of the same metal, cast or
wrought iron, amounting to one-fifth of the amount of power exerted to turn
them, had long been experienced. Lubricants of all kinds had been and are
used; but Babbitt’s invention was an anti-friction metal. It is composed of
tin, antimony, and copper, and although the proportions and ingredients
have since been varied, the whole art is still known as babbitting.
Other successful alloys have been made for gun metal, sheathing of ships,
horseshoes, organ pipes, plough shares, roofing, eyelets, projectiles, faucets,
and many and various articles of hardware, ornamental ware, and jewelry.
Valuable metals, such as were not always rare or scarce, but very hard to
reduce, have been rendered far less in cost of production and more
extensive in use by modern processes. Thus, aluminium, an abundant
element in rocks and clay, discovered by the German chemist Wöhler, in
1827, a precious metal, so light, bright, and tough, non-oxidizing, harder
than zinc, more sonorous than silver, malleable and ductile as iron, and
more tenacious, has been brought to the front from an expensive and mere
laboratory production to common and useful purposes in all the arts by the
processes commencing in 1854 with that of St. Clair Deoville, of France,
followed by those of H. Rose, Morin, Castner, Tissier, Hall, and others.
Page 173
Electro-metallurgy, so far, has chiefly to do with the decomposition of
metals by the electric current, and the production of very high temperatures
for furnaces, by which the most refractory ores, metals, and other
substances may be melted, and results produced not obtainable in any other
way. By placing certain mixtures of carbon and sand, or of carbon and clay,
between the terminals of a powerful current, a material resembling
diamonds, but harder, has been produced. It has been named carbonundrum.
The production of diamonds themselves is looked for. Steel wire is now
tempered and annealed by electricity, as well as welding done, of which
mention further on will be made.
Thus we have seen how the birth of ideas of former generations has given
rise in the present age to children of a larger growth. Arts have grown only
as machinery for the accomplishment of their objects has developed, and
machinery has waited on the development of the metals composing it. The
civilisation of to-day would not have been possible if the successors of
Tubal Cain had not been like him, instructors “of every artificer in brass and
iron.”
metals by the electric current, and the production of very high temperatures
for furnaces, by which the most refractory ores, metals, and other
substances may be melted, and results produced not obtainable in any other
way. By placing certain mixtures of carbon and sand, or of carbon and clay,
between the terminals of a powerful current, a material resembling
diamonds, but harder, has been produced. It has been named carbonundrum.
The production of diamonds themselves is looked for. Steel wire is now
tempered and annealed by electricity, as well as welding done, of which
mention further on will be made.
Thus we have seen how the birth of ideas of former generations has given
rise in the present age to children of a larger growth. Arts have grown only
as machinery for the accomplishment of their objects has developed, and
machinery has waited on the development of the metals composing it. The
civilisation of to-day would not have been possible if the successors of
Tubal Cain had not been like him, instructors “of every artificer in brass and
iron.”
Page 174
CHAPTER XV.
METAL WORKING.
We referred in the last chapter to the fact that metal when it came from the
melting and puddling furnace was formerly rolled into sheets; but, when the
manufacturers and consumers got these sheets then came the severe,
laborious work by hand of cutting, hammering, boring, shaping and fitting
the parts for use and securing them in place.
It is one of the glories of this century that metal-working tools and
machinery have been invented that take the metal from its inception, mould
and adapt it to man’s will in every situation with an infinite saving of time
and labour, and with a perfection and uniformity of operation entirely
impossible by hand.
Although the tools for boring holes in wood, such as the gimlet, auger, and
the lathe to hold, turn and guide the article to be operated on by the tool, are
common in some respects with those for drilling and turning metal, yet, the
adaptation to use with metal constitutes a class of metal-working appliances
distinct in themselves, and with some exceptions not interchangeable with
wood-working utensils. The metal-working tools and machines forming the
subject of this chapter are not those which from time immemorial have been
used to pierce, hammer, cut, and shape metals, directed by the eye and hand
of man, but rather those invented to take the place of the hand and eye and
be operated by other powers.
It needs other than manual power to subdue the metals to the present wants
of man, and until those modern motor powers, such as steam, compressed
air, gas and electricity, and modern hydraulic machinery, were developed,
automatic machine tools to any extent were not invented. So, too, the tools
that are designed to operate on hard metal should themselves be of the best
metal, and until modern inventors rediscovered the art of making cast steel
METAL WORKING.
We referred in the last chapter to the fact that metal when it came from the
melting and puddling furnace was formerly rolled into sheets; but, when the
manufacturers and consumers got these sheets then came the severe,
laborious work by hand of cutting, hammering, boring, shaping and fitting
the parts for use and securing them in place.
It is one of the glories of this century that metal-working tools and
machinery have been invented that take the metal from its inception, mould
and adapt it to man’s will in every situation with an infinite saving of time
and labour, and with a perfection and uniformity of operation entirely
impossible by hand.
Although the tools for boring holes in wood, such as the gimlet, auger, and
the lathe to hold, turn and guide the article to be operated on by the tool, are
common in some respects with those for drilling and turning metal, yet, the
adaptation to use with metal constitutes a class of metal-working appliances
distinct in themselves, and with some exceptions not interchangeable with
wood-working utensils. The metal-working tools and machines forming the
subject of this chapter are not those which from time immemorial have been
used to pierce, hammer, cut, and shape metals, directed by the eye and hand
of man, but rather those invented to take the place of the hand and eye and
be operated by other powers.
It needs other than manual power to subdue the metals to the present wants
of man, and until those modern motor powers, such as steam, compressed
air, gas and electricity, and modern hydraulic machinery, were developed,
automatic machine tools to any extent were not invented. So, too, the tools
that are designed to operate on hard metal should themselves be of the best
metal, and until modern inventors rediscovered the art of making cast steel
Page 175
such tools were not obtainable. The monuments and records of ancient and
departed races show that it was known by them how to bore holes in wood,
stone and glass by some sharp instruments turned by hand, or it may be by
leather cords, as a top is turned.
The lathe, a machine to hold an object, and at the same time revolve it while
it is formed by the hand, or cut by a tool, is as old as the art of pottery, and
is illustrated in the oldest Egyptian monuments, in which the god Ptah is
shown in the act of moulding man upon the throwing wheel. It is a device
as necessary to the industrial growth of man as the axe or the spade. Its use
by the Egyptians appears to have been confined to pottery, but the ancient
Greeks, Chinese, Africans, and Hindoos used lathes, for wood working in
which the work was suspended on horizontal supports, and adapted to be
rotated by means of a rope and treadle and a spring bar, impelled by the
operator as he held the cutting tool on the object. Joseph Holtzapffel in his
learned work on Turning and Mechanical Manipulation, gives a list of old
publications describing lathes for turning both wood and metal. Among
these is Hartman Schapper’s book published at Frankfort, in 1548. A lathe
on which was formed wood screws is described in a work of Jacques
Besson, published at Lyons, France, in 1582.
It is stated that there is on exhibition in the Abbott museum of the Historical
Society, New York, a bronze drinking vessel, five inches in diameter, that
was exhumed from an ancient tomb in Thebes, and which bears evidence of
having been turned on a lathe. It is thought by those skilled in the art that it
was not possible to have constructed the works of metal in Solomon’s
Temple without a turning lathe. One of the earliest published descriptions of
a metal turning lathe in its leading features is that found in a book published
in London, in 1677-83, by Joseph Moxon, “hydographer” to King Charles
II., entitled, Mechanical Exercises, or the Doctrine of Handy Works. He
therein also described a machine for planing metal. Although there is some
evidence that these inventions of the learned gentleman were made and put
to some use, yet they were soon forgotten and were not revived until a
century later, when, as before intimated, the steam engine had been
invented and furnished the power for working them.
Wood-working implements in which the cutting tool was carried by a
sliding block were described in the English patents of General Sir Samuel
departed races show that it was known by them how to bore holes in wood,
stone and glass by some sharp instruments turned by hand, or it may be by
leather cords, as a top is turned.
The lathe, a machine to hold an object, and at the same time revolve it while
it is formed by the hand, or cut by a tool, is as old as the art of pottery, and
is illustrated in the oldest Egyptian monuments, in which the god Ptah is
shown in the act of moulding man upon the throwing wheel. It is a device
as necessary to the industrial growth of man as the axe or the spade. Its use
by the Egyptians appears to have been confined to pottery, but the ancient
Greeks, Chinese, Africans, and Hindoos used lathes, for wood working in
which the work was suspended on horizontal supports, and adapted to be
rotated by means of a rope and treadle and a spring bar, impelled by the
operator as he held the cutting tool on the object. Joseph Holtzapffel in his
learned work on Turning and Mechanical Manipulation, gives a list of old
publications describing lathes for turning both wood and metal. Among
these is Hartman Schapper’s book published at Frankfort, in 1548. A lathe
on which was formed wood screws is described in a work of Jacques
Besson, published at Lyons, France, in 1582.
It is stated that there is on exhibition in the Abbott museum of the Historical
Society, New York, a bronze drinking vessel, five inches in diameter, that
was exhumed from an ancient tomb in Thebes, and which bears evidence of
having been turned on a lathe. It is thought by those skilled in the art that it
was not possible to have constructed the works of metal in Solomon’s
Temple without a turning lathe. One of the earliest published descriptions of
a metal turning lathe in its leading features is that found in a book published
in London, in 1677-83, by Joseph Moxon, “hydographer” to King Charles
II., entitled, Mechanical Exercises, or the Doctrine of Handy Works. He
therein also described a machine for planing metal. Although there is some
evidence that these inventions of the learned gentleman were made and put
to some use, yet they were soon forgotten and were not revived until a
century later, when, as before intimated, the steam engine had been
invented and furnished the power for working them.
Wood-working implements in which the cutting tool was carried by a
sliding block were described in the English patents of General Sir Samuel
Page 176
Bentham and Joseph Bramah, in 1793-94. But until this century, and fairly
within its borders, man was content generally to use the metal lathe simply
as a holding and turning support, while he with such skill and strength as he
could command, and with an expenditure of time, labour and patience truly
marvellous, held and guided with his hands the cutting tool with which the
required form was made upon or from the slowly turning object before him.
The contrivance which was to take the place of the hand and eye of man in
holding, applying, directing and impelling a cutting tool to the surface of
the metal work was the slide-rest. In its modern successful automatic form
Henry Maudsley, an engineer in London, is claimed to be the first inventor,
in the early part of the century. The leading feature of his form of this
device consists of an iron block which constitutes the rest, cut with grooves
so as to adapt it to slide upon its iron supports, means to secure the cutting
tool solidly to this block, and two screw handles, one to adjust the tool
towards and against the object to be cut in the lathe, and the other to slide
the rest and tool lengthwise as the work progresses, which latter motion
may be given by the hand, or effected automatically by a connection of the
screw handle of the slide and the rotating object on the lathe.
A vast variety of inventions and operations have been effected by changes
in these main features. Of the value of this invention, Nasmyth, a devoted
pupil of Maudsley and himself an eminent engineer and inventor, thus
writes:—“It was this holding of a tool by means of an iron hand, and
constraining it to move along the surface of the work in so certain a manner,
and with such definite and precise motion, which formed the great era in the
history of mechanics, inasmuch as we thenceforward became possessed, by
its means, of the power of operating alike on the most ponderous or delicate
pieces of machinery with a degree of minute precision, of which language
cannot convey an adequate idea; and in many cases we have, through its
agency, equal facility in carrying on the most perfect workmanship in the
interior parts of certain machines where neither the hand nor the eye can
reach, and nevertheless we can give to these parts their required form with a
degree of accuracy as if we had the power of transforming our-selves into
pigmy workmen, and so apply our labour to the innermost holes and corners
of our machinery.”
The scope of the lathe, slide-rest and operating tool, by its adaptation to cut
out from a vast roll of steel a ponderous gun, or by a change in the size of
within its borders, man was content generally to use the metal lathe simply
as a holding and turning support, while he with such skill and strength as he
could command, and with an expenditure of time, labour and patience truly
marvellous, held and guided with his hands the cutting tool with which the
required form was made upon or from the slowly turning object before him.
The contrivance which was to take the place of the hand and eye of man in
holding, applying, directing and impelling a cutting tool to the surface of
the metal work was the slide-rest. In its modern successful automatic form
Henry Maudsley, an engineer in London, is claimed to be the first inventor,
in the early part of the century. The leading feature of his form of this
device consists of an iron block which constitutes the rest, cut with grooves
so as to adapt it to slide upon its iron supports, means to secure the cutting
tool solidly to this block, and two screw handles, one to adjust the tool
towards and against the object to be cut in the lathe, and the other to slide
the rest and tool lengthwise as the work progresses, which latter motion
may be given by the hand, or effected automatically by a connection of the
screw handle of the slide and the rotating object on the lathe.
A vast variety of inventions and operations have been effected by changes
in these main features. Of the value of this invention, Nasmyth, a devoted
pupil of Maudsley and himself an eminent engineer and inventor, thus
writes:—“It was this holding of a tool by means of an iron hand, and
constraining it to move along the surface of the work in so certain a manner,
and with such definite and precise motion, which formed the great era in the
history of mechanics, inasmuch as we thenceforward became possessed, by
its means, of the power of operating alike on the most ponderous or delicate
pieces of machinery with a degree of minute precision, of which language
cannot convey an adequate idea; and in many cases we have, through its
agency, equal facility in carrying on the most perfect workmanship in the
interior parts of certain machines where neither the hand nor the eye can
reach, and nevertheless we can give to these parts their required form with a
degree of accuracy as if we had the power of transforming our-selves into
pigmy workmen, and so apply our labour to the innermost holes and corners
of our machinery.”
The scope of the lathe, slide-rest and operating tool, by its adaptation to cut
out from a vast roll of steel a ponderous gun, or by a change in the size of
Page 177
parts to operate in cutting or drilling the most delicate portions of that most
delicate of all mechanisms, a watch, reminds one of that other marvel of
mechanical adaptation, the steam hammer, which makes the earth tremble
with its mighty blows upon a heated mass of iron, or lightly taps and cracks
the soft-shelled nut without the slightest touch of violence upon its enclosed
and fragile fruit.
The adaptation of the lathe and slide to wood-working tools will be referred
to in the chapter relating to wood-working.
Following the invention of the lathe and the slide-rest, came the metal-
planing machines. It is stated in Buchanan’s Practical Essays, published in
1841, that a French engineer in 1751, in constructing the Marly Water
Works on the Seine in France, employed a machine for planing out the
wrought iron pump-barrels used in that work, and this is thought to be the
first instance in which iron was reduced to a plane surface without chipping
or filing. But it needed the invention of the slide-rest and its application to
metal-turning lathes to suggest and render successful metal-planing
machines. These were supplied in England from 1811 to 1840 by the genius
of Bramah, Clement, Fox, Roberts, Rennie, Whitworth, Fletcher, and a few
others. When it is considered how many different forms are essential to the
completion of metal machines of every description, the usefulness of
machinery that will produce them with the greatest accuracy and despatch
can be imagined. The many modifications of the planing machine have
names that indicate to the workman the purpose for which they are adapted
—as the jack, a small portable machine, quick and handy; the jim crow, a
machine for planing both ways by reversal of the movement of the bed, and
it gets its name because it can “wheel about and turn about and do just so”;
the key groove machine, the milling machine with a serrated-faced cutter
bar, shaping machine and shaping bar, slotting machine, crank planer, screw
cutting, car-wheel turning, bolt and nut screwing, etc.
As to the mutual evolution and important results of these combined
inventions, the slide-rest and the planer, we again quote Nasmyth:—
“The first planing machine enabled us to produce the second still better, and
that a better still, and then slide rests of the most perfect kind came
streaming forth from them, and they again assisted in making better still, so
delicate of all mechanisms, a watch, reminds one of that other marvel of
mechanical adaptation, the steam hammer, which makes the earth tremble
with its mighty blows upon a heated mass of iron, or lightly taps and cracks
the soft-shelled nut without the slightest touch of violence upon its enclosed
and fragile fruit.
The adaptation of the lathe and slide to wood-working tools will be referred
to in the chapter relating to wood-working.
Following the invention of the lathe and the slide-rest, came the metal-
planing machines. It is stated in Buchanan’s Practical Essays, published in
1841, that a French engineer in 1751, in constructing the Marly Water
Works on the Seine in France, employed a machine for planing out the
wrought iron pump-barrels used in that work, and this is thought to be the
first instance in which iron was reduced to a plane surface without chipping
or filing. But it needed the invention of the slide-rest and its application to
metal-turning lathes to suggest and render successful metal-planing
machines. These were supplied in England from 1811 to 1840 by the genius
of Bramah, Clement, Fox, Roberts, Rennie, Whitworth, Fletcher, and a few
others. When it is considered how many different forms are essential to the
completion of metal machines of every description, the usefulness of
machinery that will produce them with the greatest accuracy and despatch
can be imagined. The many modifications of the planing machine have
names that indicate to the workman the purpose for which they are adapted
—as the jack, a small portable machine, quick and handy; the jim crow, a
machine for planing both ways by reversal of the movement of the bed, and
it gets its name because it can “wheel about and turn about and do just so”;
the key groove machine, the milling machine with a serrated-faced cutter
bar, shaping machine and shaping bar, slotting machine, crank planer, screw
cutting, car-wheel turning, bolt and nut screwing, etc.
As to the mutual evolution and important results of these combined
inventions, the slide-rest and the planer, we again quote Nasmyth:—
“The first planing machine enabled us to produce the second still better, and
that a better still, and then slide rests of the most perfect kind came
streaming forth from them, and they again assisted in making better still, so
Page 178
that in a very short time a most important branch of engineering business,
namely, tool-making, arose, which had its existence not merely owing to the
pre-existing demand for such tools, but in fact raised a demand of its own
creating. One has only to go into any of these vast establishments which
have sprung up in the last thirty years to find that nine-tenths of all the fine
mechanisms in use and in process of production are through the agency,
more or less direct, of the slide rest and planing machine.”
Springing out of these inventions, as from a fruitful soil, came the metal-
boring machines, one class for turning the outside of cylinders to make
them true, and another class for boring and drilling holes through solid
metal plates. The principle of the lathe was applied to those machines in
which the shaft carrying the cutting or boring tool was held either in a
vertical or in a horizontal position.
Now flowed forth, as from some Vulcan’s titanic workshop, machines for
making bolts, nuts, rivets, screws, chains, staples, car wheels, shafts, etc.,
and other machines for applying them to the objects with which they were
to be used.
The progress of screw-making had been such that in 1840, by the machines
then in use for cutting, slotting, shaving, threading, and heading, twenty
men and boys were enabled to manufacture 20,000 screws in a day. Thirty-
five years later two girls tending two machines were enabled to
manufacture 240,000 screws a day. Since then the process has proceeded at
even a greater rate. So great is the consumption of screws that it would be
utterly impossible to supply the demand by the processes in vogue sixty
years ago.
In England’s first great International Fair, in 1851, a new world of
metallurgical products, implements, processes, and metal-working tools,
were among the grand results of the half century’s inventions which were
exhibited to the assembled nations. The leading exhibitor in the line of self-
acting lathes, planing, slotting, drilling and boring machines was J.
Whitworth & Co., of Manchester, England. Here were for the first time
revealed in a compact form those machines which shaped metal as wood
alone had been previously shaped. But another quarter of a century brought
namely, tool-making, arose, which had its existence not merely owing to the
pre-existing demand for such tools, but in fact raised a demand of its own
creating. One has only to go into any of these vast establishments which
have sprung up in the last thirty years to find that nine-tenths of all the fine
mechanisms in use and in process of production are through the agency,
more or less direct, of the slide rest and planing machine.”
Springing out of these inventions, as from a fruitful soil, came the metal-
boring machines, one class for turning the outside of cylinders to make
them true, and another class for boring and drilling holes through solid
metal plates. The principle of the lathe was applied to those machines in
which the shaft carrying the cutting or boring tool was held either in a
vertical or in a horizontal position.
Now flowed forth, as from some Vulcan’s titanic workshop, machines for
making bolts, nuts, rivets, screws, chains, staples, car wheels, shafts, etc.,
and other machines for applying them to the objects with which they were
to be used.
The progress of screw-making had been such that in 1840, by the machines
then in use for cutting, slotting, shaving, threading, and heading, twenty
men and boys were enabled to manufacture 20,000 screws in a day. Thirty-
five years later two girls tending two machines were enabled to
manufacture 240,000 screws a day. Since then the process has proceeded at
even a greater rate. So great is the consumption of screws that it would be
utterly impossible to supply the demand by the processes in vogue sixty
years ago.
In England’s first great International Fair, in 1851, a new world of
metallurgical products, implements, processes, and metal-working tools,
were among the grand results of the half century’s inventions which were
exhibited to the assembled nations. The leading exhibitor in the line of self-
acting lathes, planing, slotting, drilling and boring machines was J.
Whitworth & Co., of Manchester, England. Here were for the first time
revealed in a compact form those machines which shaped metal as wood
alone had been previously shaped. But another quarter of a century brought
Page 179
still grander results, which were displayed at the Centennial Exhibition at
Philadelphia, in 1876.
As J. Whitworth & Co. were the leading exhibitors at London in 1851, so
were William Sellers & Co., of Philadelphia, the leading exhibitors in the
1876 exhibition. As showing the progress of the century, the official report,
made in this class by citizens of other countries than America, set forth that
this exhibit of the latter company, “in extent and value, in extraordinary
variety and originality, was probably without parallel in the past history of
international exhibitions.” Language seemed to be inadequate to enable the
committee to describe satisfactorily the extreme refinement in every detail,
the superior quality of material and workmanship, the mathematical
accuracy, the beautiful outlines, the perfection in strength and form, and the
scientific skill displayed in the remarkable assemblage of this class of
machinery at that exhibition.
An exhibit on that occasion made by Messrs. Hoopes & Townsend of
Philadelphia attracted great attention by the fact that the doctrine of the
flow of solid metal, so well expounded by that eminent French scientist, M.
Tresca, was therein well illustrated. It consisted of a large collection of bolts
and screws which had been cold-punched, as well as of elevator and carrier
chains, the links of which had been so punched. This punching of the cold
metal without cutting, boring, drilling, hammering, or otherwise shaping the
metal, was indeed a revelation.
So also at this Exhibition was a finer collection of machine-made
horseshoes than had ever previously been presented to the world. A better
and more intelligent and refined treatment of that noble animal, the horse,
and especially in the care of his feet, had sprung up during the last half
century, conspicuously advocated by Mr. Fleming in England, and followed
promptly in America and elsewhere. Within the last forty years nearly two
hundred patents have been taken out in the United States alone for
machines for making horseshoes. Prejudices, jealousies and objections of
all kinds were raised at first against the machine-made horseshoe, as well as
the horseshoe nail, but the horses have won, and the blacksmiths have been
benefited despite their early objections. The smiths make larger incomes in
buying and applying the machine-made shoes. The shoes are not only
hammered into shape on the machine, but there are machines for stamping
Philadelphia, in 1876.
As J. Whitworth & Co. were the leading exhibitors at London in 1851, so
were William Sellers & Co., of Philadelphia, the leading exhibitors in the
1876 exhibition. As showing the progress of the century, the official report,
made in this class by citizens of other countries than America, set forth that
this exhibit of the latter company, “in extent and value, in extraordinary
variety and originality, was probably without parallel in the past history of
international exhibitions.” Language seemed to be inadequate to enable the
committee to describe satisfactorily the extreme refinement in every detail,
the superior quality of material and workmanship, the mathematical
accuracy, the beautiful outlines, the perfection in strength and form, and the
scientific skill displayed in the remarkable assemblage of this class of
machinery at that exhibition.
An exhibit on that occasion made by Messrs. Hoopes & Townsend of
Philadelphia attracted great attention by the fact that the doctrine of the
flow of solid metal, so well expounded by that eminent French scientist, M.
Tresca, was therein well illustrated. It consisted of a large collection of bolts
and screws which had been cold-punched, as well as of elevator and carrier
chains, the links of which had been so punched. This punching of the cold
metal without cutting, boring, drilling, hammering, or otherwise shaping the
metal, was indeed a revelation.
So also at this Exhibition was a finer collection of machine-made
horseshoes than had ever previously been presented to the world. A better
and more intelligent and refined treatment of that noble animal, the horse,
and especially in the care of his feet, had sprung up during the last half
century, conspicuously advocated by Mr. Fleming in England, and followed
promptly in America and elsewhere. Within the last forty years nearly two
hundred patents have been taken out in the United States alone for
machines for making horseshoes. Prejudices, jealousies and objections of
all kinds were raised at first against the machine-made horseshoe, as well as
the horseshoe nail, but the horses have won, and the blacksmiths have been
benefited despite their early objections. The smiths make larger incomes in
buying and applying the machine-made shoes. The shoes are not only
hammered into shape on the machine, but there are machines for stamping
Page 180
them out from metal at a single blow; for compressing several thicknesses
of raw hide and moulding them in a steel mould, producing a light, elastic
shoe, and without calks; furnishing shoes for defective hoofs, flexible shoes
for the relief and cure of contracted or flat feet, shoes formed with a joint at
the toe, and light, hard shoes made of aluminium.
Tube Making.—Instead of heating strips of metal and welding the edges
together, tubes may now be made seamless by rolling the heated metal
around a solid heated rod; or by placing a hot ingot in a die and forcing a
mandrel through the ingot. And as to tube and metal bending, there are
wonderful machines which bend sheets of metal into great tubes, funnels,
ship masts and cylinders.
Welding.—As to welding—the seams, instead of being hammered, are now
formed by melting and condensing the edges, or adjoining parts, by the
electric current.
Annealing and Tempering.—Steel wire and plates are now tempered and
annealed by electricity. It is found that they can be heated to a high
temperature more quickly and evenly by the electric current passed through
them than by combustion, and the process is much used in making clock
and watch springs.
One way of hardening plates, especially armour plates, by what is called the
Harveyized process, is by embedding the face of the plate in carbon,
protecting the back and sides with sand, heating to about the melting point
of cast iron, and then hardening the face by chilling, or otherwise.
Coating with Metal.—Although covering metal with metal has been
practised from the earliest times, accomplished by heating and hammering,
it was not until this century that electro-plating, and plating by chemical
processes, as by dipping the metal into certain chemical solutions, and by
the use of automatic machinery, were adopted. It was in the early part of the
century that Volta discovered that in the voltaic battery certain metallic salts
were reduced to their elements and deposited at the negative pole; and that
Wollaston demonstrated how a silver plate in bath of sulphate of copper
through which a current was passed became covered with copper. Then in
1838, Spencer applied these principles in making casts, and Jacobi in
Russia shortly after electro-gilded a dome of a cathedral in St. Petersburg.
of raw hide and moulding them in a steel mould, producing a light, elastic
shoe, and without calks; furnishing shoes for defective hoofs, flexible shoes
for the relief and cure of contracted or flat feet, shoes formed with a joint at
the toe, and light, hard shoes made of aluminium.
Tube Making.—Instead of heating strips of metal and welding the edges
together, tubes may now be made seamless by rolling the heated metal
around a solid heated rod; or by placing a hot ingot in a die and forcing a
mandrel through the ingot. And as to tube and metal bending, there are
wonderful machines which bend sheets of metal into great tubes, funnels,
ship masts and cylinders.
Welding.—As to welding—the seams, instead of being hammered, are now
formed by melting and condensing the edges, or adjoining parts, by the
electric current.
Annealing and Tempering.—Steel wire and plates are now tempered and
annealed by electricity. It is found that they can be heated to a high
temperature more quickly and evenly by the electric current passed through
them than by combustion, and the process is much used in making clock
and watch springs.
One way of hardening plates, especially armour plates, by what is called the
Harveyized process, is by embedding the face of the plate in carbon,
protecting the back and sides with sand, heating to about the melting point
of cast iron, and then hardening the face by chilling, or otherwise.
Coating with Metal.—Although covering metal with metal has been
practised from the earliest times, accomplished by heating and hammering,
it was not until this century that electro-plating, and plating by chemical
processes, as by dipping the metal into certain chemical solutions, and by
the use of automatic machinery, were adopted. It was in the early part of the
century that Volta discovered that in the voltaic battery certain metallic salts
were reduced to their elements and deposited at the negative pole; and that
Wollaston demonstrated how a silver plate in bath of sulphate of copper
through which a current was passed became covered with copper. Then in
1838, Spencer applied these principles in making casts, and Jacobi in
Russia shortly after electro-gilded a dome of a cathedral in St. Petersburg.
Page 181
Space will not permit the enumeration of the vast variety of processes and
machines for coating and gilding that have since followed.
Metal Founding.—The treatment of metal after it flows from the furnaces,
or is poured from the crucibles into moulds, by the operations of facing,
drying, covering, casting and stripping, has given rise to a multitude of
machines and methods for casting a great variety of objects. The most
interesting inventions in this class have for their object the chilling, or chill
hardening, of the outer surfaces of articles which are subject to the most and
hardest wear, as axle boxes, hammers, anvils, etc., which is effected by
exposing the red-hot metal to a blast of cold air, or by introducing a piece of
iron into a mould containing the molten metal.
In casting steel ingots, in order to produce a uniform compact structure,
Giers of England invented “soaking pits of sand” into which the ingot from
the mould is placed and then covered, so that the heat radiating outward re-
heats the exterior, and the ingot is then rolled without re-heating.
Sheet Metal Ware.—Important improvements have been made in this line.
Wonderful machines have been made which, receiving within them a piece
of flat metal, will, by a single blow of a plunger in a die, stamp out a metal
can or box with tightly closed seams, and all ready for the cover, which is
made in another similar machine; or by which an endless chain of cans are
carried into a machine and there automatically soldered at their seams; and
another which solders the heads on filled cans as fast as they can be fed into
the machine.
Metal Personal Ware.—Buckles, clasps, hooks and eyelets, shanked
buttons, and similar objects are now stamped up and out, without more
manual labour than is necessary to supply the machines with the metal, and
to take care of the completed articles.
Wire Working.—Not only unsightly but useful barbed wire fences, and the
most ornamental wire work and netting for many purposes, such as fences,
screens, cages, etc., are now made by ingenious machines, and not by hand
tools.
In stepping into some one of the great modern works where varied
industries are carried on under one general management, one cannot help
machines for coating and gilding that have since followed.
Metal Founding.—The treatment of metal after it flows from the furnaces,
or is poured from the crucibles into moulds, by the operations of facing,
drying, covering, casting and stripping, has given rise to a multitude of
machines and methods for casting a great variety of objects. The most
interesting inventions in this class have for their object the chilling, or chill
hardening, of the outer surfaces of articles which are subject to the most and
hardest wear, as axle boxes, hammers, anvils, etc., which is effected by
exposing the red-hot metal to a blast of cold air, or by introducing a piece of
iron into a mould containing the molten metal.
In casting steel ingots, in order to produce a uniform compact structure,
Giers of England invented “soaking pits of sand” into which the ingot from
the mould is placed and then covered, so that the heat radiating outward re-
heats the exterior, and the ingot is then rolled without re-heating.
Sheet Metal Ware.—Important improvements have been made in this line.
Wonderful machines have been made which, receiving within them a piece
of flat metal, will, by a single blow of a plunger in a die, stamp out a metal
can or box with tightly closed seams, and all ready for the cover, which is
made in another similar machine; or by which an endless chain of cans are
carried into a machine and there automatically soldered at their seams; and
another which solders the heads on filled cans as fast as they can be fed into
the machine.
Metal Personal Ware.—Buckles, clasps, hooks and eyelets, shanked
buttons, and similar objects are now stamped up and out, without more
manual labour than is necessary to supply the machines with the metal, and
to take care of the completed articles.
Wire Working.—Not only unsightly but useful barbed wire fences, and the
most ornamental wire work and netting for many purposes, such as fences,
screens, cages, etc., are now made by ingenious machines, and not by hand
tools.
In stepping into some one of the great modern works where varied
industries are carried on under one general management, one cannot help
Page 182
realising the vast difference between old systems and the new. In one
portion of the establishment the crude ores are received and smelted and
treated, with a small force and with ease, until the polished metal is
complete and ready for manipulation in the manufacture of a hundred
different objects. In another part ponderous or smaller lathes and planing
machines are turning forth many varied forms; in quiet corners the boring,
drilling, and riveting machines are doing their work without the clang of
hammers; in another, an apparently young student is conducting the
scientific operation of coating or gilding metals; in another, girls may be
seen with light machines, stamping, or burnishing, or assembling the
different parts of finished metal ware; and the motive power of all this is the
silent but all-powerful electric current received from the smooth-running
dynamo giant who works with vast but unseen energy in a den by himself,
not a smoky or a dingy den, but light, clean, polished, and beautiful as the
workshop of a god.
portion of the establishment the crude ores are received and smelted and
treated, with a small force and with ease, until the polished metal is
complete and ready for manipulation in the manufacture of a hundred
different objects. In another part ponderous or smaller lathes and planing
machines are turning forth many varied forms; in quiet corners the boring,
drilling, and riveting machines are doing their work without the clang of
hammers; in another, an apparently young student is conducting the
scientific operation of coating or gilding metals; in another, girls may be
seen with light machines, stamping, or burnishing, or assembling the
different parts of finished metal ware; and the motive power of all this is the
silent but all-powerful electric current received from the smooth-running
dynamo giant who works with vast but unseen energy in a den by himself,
not a smoky or a dingy den, but light, clean, polished, and beautiful as the
workshop of a god.
Page 183
CHAPTER XVI.
ORDNANCE, ARMS AND EXPLOSIVES.
Although the progress in the invention of fire-arms of all descriptions seems
slow during the ages preceding the 19th century, yet it will be found on
investigation that no art progressed faster. No other art was spurred to
activity by such strong incentives, and none received the same
encouragement and reward for its development. The art of war was the
trade of kings and princes, and princely was the reward to the subject who
was the first to invent the most destructive weapon. Under such high
patronage most of the ideas and principles of ordnance now prevailing were
discovered or suggested, but were embodied for the most part in rude and
inefficient contrivances.
The art waited for its success on the development of other arts, and on the
mental expansion and freedom giving rise to scientific investigation and
results.
The cannon and musket themselves became the greatest instruments for the
advancement of the new civilisation, however much it was intended
otherwise by their kingly proprietors, and the new civilisation returned the
compliment through its trained intellects by giving to war its present
destructive efficiency.
To this efficiency, great as the paradox may seem, Peace holds what quiet
fields it has, or will have, until most men learn to love peace and hate the
arts of war.
As to the Chinese is given the credit for the invention of gunpowder, so
they must also be regarded as the first to throw projectiles by its means. But
their inventions in these directions may be classed as fireworks, and have
no material bearing on the modern art of Ordnance. It is supposed that the
ORDNANCE, ARMS AND EXPLOSIVES.
Although the progress in the invention of fire-arms of all descriptions seems
slow during the ages preceding the 19th century, yet it will be found on
investigation that no art progressed faster. No other art was spurred to
activity by such strong incentives, and none received the same
encouragement and reward for its development. The art of war was the
trade of kings and princes, and princely was the reward to the subject who
was the first to invent the most destructive weapon. Under such high
patronage most of the ideas and principles of ordnance now prevailing were
discovered or suggested, but were embodied for the most part in rude and
inefficient contrivances.
The art waited for its success on the development of other arts, and on the
mental expansion and freedom giving rise to scientific investigation and
results.
The cannon and musket themselves became the greatest instruments for the
advancement of the new civilisation, however much it was intended
otherwise by their kingly proprietors, and the new civilisation returned the
compliment through its trained intellects by giving to war its present
destructive efficiency.
To this efficiency, great as the paradox may seem, Peace holds what quiet
fields it has, or will have, until most men learn to love peace and hate the
arts of war.
As to the Chinese is given the credit for the invention of gunpowder, so
they must also be regarded as the first to throw projectiles by its means. But
their inventions in these directions may be classed as fireworks, and have
no material bearing on the modern art of Ordnance. It is supposed that the
Page 184
word “cannon,” is derived from the same root as “cane,” originally
signifying a hollow reed; and that these hollow reeds or similar tubes closed
at one end were used to fire rockets by powder.
It is also stated that the practice existed among the Chinese as early as 969
A. D. of tying rockets to their arrows to propel them to greater distances, as
well as for incendiary purposes.
This basic idea had percolated from China through India to the Moors and
Arabs, and in the course of a few centuries had developed into a crude
artillery used by the Moors in the siege of Cordova in 1280. The Spaniards,
thus learning the use of the cannon, turned the lesson upon their instructors,
when under Ferdinand IV. they took Gibraltar from the Moors in 1309.
Then the knowledge of artillery soon spread throughout Europe. The French
used it at the siege of Puy Guillaume in 1338, and the English had three
small guns at Crecy in 1346. These antique guns were made by welding
longitudinal bars of iron together and binding them by iron rings shrunk on
while hot. Being shaped internally and externally like an apothecary’s
mortar, they were called mortars or bombards. Some were breech-loaders,
having a removable chamber at the breech into which the charge of powder
was inserted behind the ball. The balls were stone. These early cannon,
bombards, and mortars were mounted on heavy solid wooden frames and
moved with great difficulty from place to place. Then in the fifteenth
century they commenced to make wrought-iron cannon, and hollow
projectiles, containing a bursting charge of powder to be exploded by a fuse
lit before the shell was fired. In the next century cannon were cast.
The Hindoos, when their acquaintance was made by the Europeans, were as
far advanced as the latter in cannon and fire-arms. One cannon was found at
Bejapoor, in India, cast of bronze, bearing date 1548, and called the “Master
of the Field,” which weighed 89,600 pounds, and others of similar size of
later dates. Great cast bronze guns of about the same weight as the Hindoo
guns were also produced at St. Petersburg, Russia, in the sixteenth century.
Many and strange were the names given by Europeans to their cannon in
the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries to denote their size and the weight of
the ball they carried: such as the Assick, the Bombard, the Basilisk, the
signifying a hollow reed; and that these hollow reeds or similar tubes closed
at one end were used to fire rockets by powder.
It is also stated that the practice existed among the Chinese as early as 969
A. D. of tying rockets to their arrows to propel them to greater distances, as
well as for incendiary purposes.
This basic idea had percolated from China through India to the Moors and
Arabs, and in the course of a few centuries had developed into a crude
artillery used by the Moors in the siege of Cordova in 1280. The Spaniards,
thus learning the use of the cannon, turned the lesson upon their instructors,
when under Ferdinand IV. they took Gibraltar from the Moors in 1309.
Then the knowledge of artillery soon spread throughout Europe. The French
used it at the siege of Puy Guillaume in 1338, and the English had three
small guns at Crecy in 1346. These antique guns were made by welding
longitudinal bars of iron together and binding them by iron rings shrunk on
while hot. Being shaped internally and externally like an apothecary’s
mortar, they were called mortars or bombards. Some were breech-loaders,
having a removable chamber at the breech into which the charge of powder
was inserted behind the ball. The balls were stone. These early cannon,
bombards, and mortars were mounted on heavy solid wooden frames and
moved with great difficulty from place to place. Then in the fifteenth
century they commenced to make wrought-iron cannon, and hollow
projectiles, containing a bursting charge of powder to be exploded by a fuse
lit before the shell was fired. In the next century cannon were cast.
The Hindoos, when their acquaintance was made by the Europeans, were as
far advanced as the latter in cannon and fire-arms. One cannon was found at
Bejapoor, in India, cast of bronze, bearing date 1548, and called the “Master
of the Field,” which weighed 89,600 pounds, and others of similar size of
later dates. Great cast bronze guns of about the same weight as the Hindoo
guns were also produced at St. Petersburg, Russia, in the sixteenth century.
Many and strange were the names given by Europeans to their cannon in
the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries to denote their size and the weight of
the ball they carried: such as the Assick, the Bombard, the Basilisk, the
Page 185
cannon Royal, or Carthoun, the Culverin, Demi-culverin, Falcon, Siren,
Serpentine, etc.
The bombards in the fifteenth century were made so large and heavy,
especially in France, that they could not be moved without being taken
apart.
When the heavy, unwieldy bombards with stone balls were used, artillery
was mostly confined to castles, towns, forts, and ships. When used in the
field they were dragged about by many yokes of oxen. But in the latter part
of the fifteenth century, when France under Louis XI. had learned to cast
lighter brass cannon, to mount them on carriages that could be drawn by
four or six horses, and which carriages had trunnions in which the cannon
were swung so as to be elevated or depressed, and cast-iron projectiles were
used instead of stones, field artillery took its rise, and by its use the maps of
the world were changed. Thus with their artillery the French under Charles
VIII., the successor of Louis XI., conquered Italy.
In the sixteenth century Europe was busy in adopting these and other
changes. Cannon were made of all sizes and calibres, but were not arranged
in battle with much precision. Case shot were invented in Germany but not
brought into general use. Shells were invented by the Italians and fired from
mortars, but their mode of construction was preserved in great secrecy. The
early breech-loaders had been discarded, as it was not known how to make
the breech gas-tight, and the explosions rendered the guns more dangerous
to their users than to the enemy.
In the seventeenth century Holland began to make useful mortar shells and
hand grenades. Maurice and Henry Frederick of Nassau, and Gustave
Adolphus, made many improvements in the sizes and construction of
cannon. In 1674, Coehorn, an officer in the service of the Prince of Orange,
invented the celebrated mortar which bears his name, and the use of which
has continued to the present time. The Dutch also invented the howitzer, a
short gun in which the projectiles could be introduced by hand. About the
same time Comminges of France invented mortars which threw projectiles
weighing 550 pounds. In this part of that century also great improvements
were made under Louis XIV. Limbers, by which the front part of the gun
carriage was made separable from the cannon part and provided with the
Serpentine, etc.
The bombards in the fifteenth century were made so large and heavy,
especially in France, that they could not be moved without being taken
apart.
When the heavy, unwieldy bombards with stone balls were used, artillery
was mostly confined to castles, towns, forts, and ships. When used in the
field they were dragged about by many yokes of oxen. But in the latter part
of the fifteenth century, when France under Louis XI. had learned to cast
lighter brass cannon, to mount them on carriages that could be drawn by
four or six horses, and which carriages had trunnions in which the cannon
were swung so as to be elevated or depressed, and cast-iron projectiles were
used instead of stones, field artillery took its rise, and by its use the maps of
the world were changed. Thus with their artillery the French under Charles
VIII., the successor of Louis XI., conquered Italy.
In the sixteenth century Europe was busy in adopting these and other
changes. Cannon were made of all sizes and calibres, but were not arranged
in battle with much precision. Case shot were invented in Germany but not
brought into general use. Shells were invented by the Italians and fired from
mortars, but their mode of construction was preserved in great secrecy. The
early breech-loaders had been discarded, as it was not known how to make
the breech gas-tight, and the explosions rendered the guns more dangerous
to their users than to the enemy.
In the seventeenth century Holland began to make useful mortar shells and
hand grenades. Maurice and Henry Frederick of Nassau, and Gustave
Adolphus, made many improvements in the sizes and construction of
cannon. In 1674, Coehorn, an officer in the service of the Prince of Orange,
invented the celebrated mortar which bears his name, and the use of which
has continued to the present time. The Dutch also invented the howitzer, a
short gun in which the projectiles could be introduced by hand. About the
same time Comminges of France invented mortars which threw projectiles
weighing 550 pounds. In this part of that century also great improvements
were made under Louis XIV. Limbers, by which the front part of the gun
carriage was made separable from the cannon part and provided with the
Page 186
ammunition chest; the prolonge, a cord and hook by which the gun part
could be moved around by hand; and the elevating screw, by which the
muzzle of the gun could be raised or depressed,—were invented.
In the early part of the eighteenth century it was thought by artillerists in
England that the longer the gun the farther it would carry. One, called
“Queen Ann’s Pocket Piece” still preserved at Dover, is twenty-five feet
long and carries a ball only twenty-five pounds in weight. It was only after
repeated experiments that it was learned that the shorter guns carried the
projectile the greatest distance.
The greatest improvements in the eighteenth century were made by
Gribeauval, the celebrated French artillerist, about 1765. He had guns made
of such material and of such size as to adapt them to the different services
to which they were to be put, as field, siege, garrison, and sea coast. He
gave greater mobility to the system by introducing six-pound howitzers, and
making gun carriages lighter; he introduced the system of fixed
ammunition, separate compartments in the gun carriages for the projectiles,
and the charges of powder in paper or cloth bags or cylinders; improved the
construction of the elevating screw, adapted the tangent scale, formed the
artillery into horse batteries, and devised new equipments and a new system
of tactics.
It was with Gribeauval’s improved system that “Citizen Bonaparte, young
artillery officer,” took Toulon; with which the same young “bronze artillery
officer” let go his great guns in the Cul-de-Sac Dauphin against the church
of St. Roch; on the Port Royal; at the Theatre de la Republique; “and the
thing we specifically call French Revolution is blown into space by it, and
became a thing that was.”
It was with this system that this same young officer won his first brilliant
victories in Italy. When the fruit of these victories had been lost during his
absence he reappeared with his favorite artillery, and on the threshold of the
century, in May 1800, as “First Consul of the Republic” re-achieved at
Marengo the supremacy of France over Austria.
As to small arms, as before suggested, they doubtless had their origin in the
practice of the Chinese in throwing fire balls from bamboo barrels by the
explosion of light charges of powder, as illustrated to this day in what are
could be moved around by hand; and the elevating screw, by which the
muzzle of the gun could be raised or depressed,—were invented.
In the early part of the eighteenth century it was thought by artillerists in
England that the longer the gun the farther it would carry. One, called
“Queen Ann’s Pocket Piece” still preserved at Dover, is twenty-five feet
long and carries a ball only twenty-five pounds in weight. It was only after
repeated experiments that it was learned that the shorter guns carried the
projectile the greatest distance.
The greatest improvements in the eighteenth century were made by
Gribeauval, the celebrated French artillerist, about 1765. He had guns made
of such material and of such size as to adapt them to the different services
to which they were to be put, as field, siege, garrison, and sea coast. He
gave greater mobility to the system by introducing six-pound howitzers, and
making gun carriages lighter; he introduced the system of fixed
ammunition, separate compartments in the gun carriages for the projectiles,
and the charges of powder in paper or cloth bags or cylinders; improved the
construction of the elevating screw, adapted the tangent scale, formed the
artillery into horse batteries, and devised new equipments and a new system
of tactics.
It was with Gribeauval’s improved system that “Citizen Bonaparte, young
artillery officer,” took Toulon; with which the same young “bronze artillery
officer” let go his great guns in the Cul-de-Sac Dauphin against the church
of St. Roch; on the Port Royal; at the Theatre de la Republique; “and the
thing we specifically call French Revolution is blown into space by it, and
became a thing that was.”
It was with this system that this same young officer won his first brilliant
victories in Italy. When the fruit of these victories had been lost during his
absence he reappeared with his favorite artillery, and on the threshold of the
century, in May 1800, as “First Consul of the Republic” re-achieved at
Marengo the supremacy of France over Austria.
As to small arms, as before suggested, they doubtless had their origin in the
practice of the Chinese in throwing fire balls from bamboo barrels by the
explosion of light charges of powder, as illustrated to this day in what are
Page 187
known as “Roman Candles.” Fire-crackers and grenades were also known
to the Chinese and the Greeks.
Among ancient fire-arms the principal ones were the arquebus, also
bombardelle, and the blunderbuss. They were invented in the fourteenth
century but were not much used until the fifteenth century. These guns for
the most part were so heavy that they had to be rested on some object to be
fired. The soldiers carried a sort of tripod for this purpose. The gun was
fired by a slow-burning cord, a live coal, a lit stick, or a long rod heated at
one end, and called a match. The blunderbuss was invented in Holland. It
was a large, short, funnel-shaped muzzle-loader, and loaded with nails,
slugs, etc. The injuries and hardships suffered by the men who used it,
rather than by the enemy, rendered its name significant. Among the earliest
fire-arms of this period one was invented which was a breech-loader and
revolver. The breech had four chambers and was rotated by hand on an
arbour parallel to the barrel. The extent of its use is not learned. To ignite
the powder the “wheel-lock” and “snap-haunce” were invented by the
Germans in the sixteenth century. The wheel lock consisted of a furrowed
wheel and was turned by the trigger and chain against a fixed piece of iron
on the stock to excite sparks which fell on to the priming. The snap-haunce,
a straight piece of furrowed steel, superseded the wheel-lock. The sixteenth
century had got well started before the English could be induced to give up
the cross-bow and arrow, and adopt the musket. After they had introduced
the musket with the snap-haunce and wooden ramrod, it became known, in
the time of Queen Elizabeth, as the “Brown Bess.”
The “old flint-lock” was quite a modern invention, not appearing until the
seventeenth century. It was a bright idea to fix a piece of flint into the cock
and arrange it to strike a steel cap on the priming pan when the trigger was
fired; and it superseded the old match, wheel-lock, and snap-haunce. The
flint-lock was used by armies well into the nineteenth century, and is still in
private use in remote localities. As the arquebus succeeded the bow and
arrow, so the musket, a smooth and single-barrel muzzle-loader with a flint-
lock and a wooden ramrod, succeeded the arquebus. Rifles, which were the
old flint-lock muskets with their barrels provided with spiral grooves to
give the bullet a rotary motion and cause it to keep one point constantly in
front during its flight, is claimed as the invention of Augustin Kutler of
Germany in 1520, and also of Koster of Birmingham, England, about 1620.
to the Chinese and the Greeks.
Among ancient fire-arms the principal ones were the arquebus, also
bombardelle, and the blunderbuss. They were invented in the fourteenth
century but were not much used until the fifteenth century. These guns for
the most part were so heavy that they had to be rested on some object to be
fired. The soldiers carried a sort of tripod for this purpose. The gun was
fired by a slow-burning cord, a live coal, a lit stick, or a long rod heated at
one end, and called a match. The blunderbuss was invented in Holland. It
was a large, short, funnel-shaped muzzle-loader, and loaded with nails,
slugs, etc. The injuries and hardships suffered by the men who used it,
rather than by the enemy, rendered its name significant. Among the earliest
fire-arms of this period one was invented which was a breech-loader and
revolver. The breech had four chambers and was rotated by hand on an
arbour parallel to the barrel. The extent of its use is not learned. To ignite
the powder the “wheel-lock” and “snap-haunce” were invented by the
Germans in the sixteenth century. The wheel lock consisted of a furrowed
wheel and was turned by the trigger and chain against a fixed piece of iron
on the stock to excite sparks which fell on to the priming. The snap-haunce,
a straight piece of furrowed steel, superseded the wheel-lock. The sixteenth
century had got well started before the English could be induced to give up
the cross-bow and arrow, and adopt the musket. After they had introduced
the musket with the snap-haunce and wooden ramrod, it became known, in
the time of Queen Elizabeth, as the “Brown Bess.”
The “old flint-lock” was quite a modern invention, not appearing until the
seventeenth century. It was a bright idea to fix a piece of flint into the cock
and arrange it to strike a steel cap on the priming pan when the trigger was
fired; and it superseded the old match, wheel-lock, and snap-haunce. The
flint-lock was used by armies well into the nineteenth century, and is still in
private use in remote localities. As the arquebus succeeded the bow and
arrow, so the musket, a smooth and single-barrel muzzle-loader with a flint-
lock and a wooden ramrod, succeeded the arquebus. Rifles, which were the
old flint-lock muskets with their barrels provided with spiral grooves to
give the bullet a rotary motion and cause it to keep one point constantly in
front during its flight, is claimed as the invention of Augustin Kutler of
Germany in 1520, and also of Koster of Birmingham, England, about 1620.
Page 188
Muskets with straight grooves are said to have been used in the fifteenth
century.
The rifle with a long barrel and its flint-lock was a favourite weapon of the
American settler. It was made in America, and he fought the Indian wars
and the war of the Revolution with it.
It would not do to conclude this sketch of antique cannon and fire-arms
without referring to Puckle’s celebrated English patent No. 418, of May 15,
1718, for “A Defence.” The patent starts out with the motto:
“Defending King George, your Country, and Lawes,
Is defending Yourselves and Protestant Cause.”
It proceeds to describe a “Portable Gun or Machine” having a single barrel,
with a set of removable chambers which are charged with bullets before
they are placed in the gun, a handle to turn the chambers to bring each
chamber in line with the barrel, a tripod on which the gun is mounted and
on which it is to be turned, a screw for elevating and turning the gun in
different directions, a set of square chambers “for shooting square bullets
against Turks,” a set of round chambers “for shooting round bullets against
the Christians;” and separate drawings show the square bullets for the Turks
and the round bullets for the Christians. History is silent as to whether Mr.
Puckle’s patent was put in practice, but it contained the germs of some
modern inventions.
Among the first inventions of the century was a very important one made
by a clergyman, the Rev. Mr. Forsyth, a Scotchman, who in 1803 invented
the percussion principle in fire-arms. In 1807 he patented in England
detonating powder and pellets which were used for artillery. About 1808
General Shrapnel of the English army invented the celebrated shell known
by his name. It then consisted of a comparatively thin shell filled with
bullets, having a fuse lit by the firing of the gun, and adapted to explode the
shell in front of the object fired at. This fuse was superseded by one
invented by General Bormann of Belgium, which greatly added to the value
of case shot.
In 1814 Joshua Shaw of England invented the percussion cap. Thus, by the
invention of the percussion principle by Forsyth, and that little copper
century.
The rifle with a long barrel and its flint-lock was a favourite weapon of the
American settler. It was made in America, and he fought the Indian wars
and the war of the Revolution with it.
It would not do to conclude this sketch of antique cannon and fire-arms
without referring to Puckle’s celebrated English patent No. 418, of May 15,
1718, for “A Defence.” The patent starts out with the motto:
“Defending King George, your Country, and Lawes,
Is defending Yourselves and Protestant Cause.”
It proceeds to describe a “Portable Gun or Machine” having a single barrel,
with a set of removable chambers which are charged with bullets before
they are placed in the gun, a handle to turn the chambers to bring each
chamber in line with the barrel, a tripod on which the gun is mounted and
on which it is to be turned, a screw for elevating and turning the gun in
different directions, a set of square chambers “for shooting square bullets
against Turks,” a set of round chambers “for shooting round bullets against
the Christians;” and separate drawings show the square bullets for the Turks
and the round bullets for the Christians. History is silent as to whether Mr.
Puckle’s patent was put in practice, but it contained the germs of some
modern inventions.
Among the first inventions of the century was a very important one made
by a clergyman, the Rev. Mr. Forsyth, a Scotchman, who in 1803 invented
the percussion principle in fire-arms. In 1807 he patented in England
detonating powder and pellets which were used for artillery. About 1808
General Shrapnel of the English army invented the celebrated shell known
by his name. It then consisted of a comparatively thin shell filled with
bullets, having a fuse lit by the firing of the gun, and adapted to explode the
shell in front of the object fired at. This fuse was superseded by one
invented by General Bormann of Belgium, which greatly added to the value
of case shot.
In 1814 Joshua Shaw of England invented the percussion cap. Thus, by the
invention of the percussion principle by Forsyth, and that little copper
Page 189
cylinder of Shaw, having a flake of fulminating powder inside and adapted
to fit the nipple of a gun and be exploded by the fall of the hammer, was
sounded the death knell of the old flint-locks with which the greatest battles
of the world had been and were at that time being fought. The advantages
gained by the cap were the certain and instantaneous fire, the saving in
time, power, and powder obtained by making smaller the orifice through
which the ignition was introduced, and the protection from moisture given
by the covering cap. And yet so slow is the growth of inventions sometimes
that all Europe continued to make the flint-locks for many years after the
percussion cap was invented; and General Scott, in the war between the
United States and Mexico in 1847, declined to give the army the percussion
cap musket. The cap suggested the necessity and invention of machines for
making them quickly and in great quantities.
The celebrated “Colt’s” revolver was invented by Colonel Samuel Colt of
the United States, in 1835. He continued to improve it, and in 1851
exhibited it at the World’s Fair, London, where it excited great surprise and
attention. Since then the revolver has become a great weapon in both
private and public warfare. The next great inventions in small arms were the
readoption and improvement of the breech-loader, the making of metallic
cartridges, the magazine gun, smokeless powder and other explosives, to
which further reference will be made.
To return to cannons:—In 1812 Colonel Bomford, an American officer,
invented what is called the “Columbiad,” a kind of cannon best adapted for
sea-coast purposes. They are long-chambered pieces, combining certain
qualities of the gun, howitzer and mortar, and capable of projecting shells
and solid shot with heavy charges of powder at high angles of elevation,
and peculiarly adapted to defend narrow channels and sea-coast defences. A
similar gun was invented by General Paixhans of the French army in 1822.
The adoption of the Paixhans long-chambered guns, designed to throw
heavy shells horizontally as well as at a slight elevation and as easily as
solid shot, was attended with great results. Used by the French in 1832, in
the quick victorious siege of Antwerp, by the allies at Sebastopol, where the
whole Russian fleet was destroyed in about an hour, and in the fight of the
Kearsarge and the doomed Alabama off Cherbourg in the American civil
war, it forced inventors in the different countries to devise new and better
armour for the defence of ships. This was followed by guns of still greater
to fit the nipple of a gun and be exploded by the fall of the hammer, was
sounded the death knell of the old flint-locks with which the greatest battles
of the world had been and were at that time being fought. The advantages
gained by the cap were the certain and instantaneous fire, the saving in
time, power, and powder obtained by making smaller the orifice through
which the ignition was introduced, and the protection from moisture given
by the covering cap. And yet so slow is the growth of inventions sometimes
that all Europe continued to make the flint-locks for many years after the
percussion cap was invented; and General Scott, in the war between the
United States and Mexico in 1847, declined to give the army the percussion
cap musket. The cap suggested the necessity and invention of machines for
making them quickly and in great quantities.
The celebrated “Colt’s” revolver was invented by Colonel Samuel Colt of
the United States, in 1835. He continued to improve it, and in 1851
exhibited it at the World’s Fair, London, where it excited great surprise and
attention. Since then the revolver has become a great weapon in both
private and public warfare. The next great inventions in small arms were the
readoption and improvement of the breech-loader, the making of metallic
cartridges, the magazine gun, smokeless powder and other explosives, to
which further reference will be made.
To return to cannons:—In 1812 Colonel Bomford, an American officer,
invented what is called the “Columbiad,” a kind of cannon best adapted for
sea-coast purposes. They are long-chambered pieces, combining certain
qualities of the gun, howitzer and mortar, and capable of projecting shells
and solid shot with heavy charges of powder at high angles of elevation,
and peculiarly adapted to defend narrow channels and sea-coast defences. A
similar gun was invented by General Paixhans of the French army in 1822.
The adoption of the Paixhans long-chambered guns, designed to throw
heavy shells horizontally as well as at a slight elevation and as easily as
solid shot, was attended with great results. Used by the French in 1832, in
the quick victorious siege of Antwerp, by the allies at Sebastopol, where the
whole Russian fleet was destroyed in about an hour, and in the fight of the
Kearsarge and the doomed Alabama off Cherbourg in the American civil
war, it forced inventors in the different countries to devise new and better
armour for the defence of ships. This was followed by guns of still greater
Page 190
penetrative power. Then as another result effected by these greater guns
came the passing away of the old-fashioned brick and stone forts as a means
of defence.
In an interesting address by Major Clarence E. Dutton of the Ordnance
Department, U.S.A., at the Centennial Patent Congress at Washington in
1891, he thus stated what the fundamental improvements were that have
characterised the modern ordnance during the century:
1. The regulation and control of the action of gunpowder in such a manner
as to exert less strain upon the gun, and to impart more energy to the
projectile.
2. To so construct the gun as to transfer a portion of the strain from the
interior parts of the walls which had borne too much of it, to the exterior
parts which had borne too little, thus nearly equalising the strain throughout
the entire thickness of the walls.
3. To provide a metal which should be at once stronger and safer than any
which had been used before.
In the United States General Rodman, “one of the pioneers of armed
science,” commenced about 1847 a series of investigations and experiments
on the power and action of gunpowder and the strains received by every
part of the gun by the exploding gases, of very great importance; and in this
matter he was assisted greatly by Dr. W. E. Woodbridge, who invented an
ingenious apparatus termed a “piezometer,” or a pressure measurer, by
which the pressure of the gases at the various parts of the gun was
determined with mathematical certainty.
Dr. Woodbridge also added greatly to the success of rifled cannon. The
success in rifling small arms, by which an elongated ball is made to retain
the same end foremost during its flight, led again to the attempts of rifling
cannon for the same purpose, which were finally successful. But this
success was due not to the spiral grooves in the cannon bore, but in
attachments to the ball compelling it to follow the course of the grooves and
giving it the proper initial movement. The trouble with these attachments
was that they were either stripped off, or stripped away, by the gun spirals.
Woodbridge in 1850 overcame the difficulty by inventing an improved
came the passing away of the old-fashioned brick and stone forts as a means
of defence.
In an interesting address by Major Clarence E. Dutton of the Ordnance
Department, U.S.A., at the Centennial Patent Congress at Washington in
1891, he thus stated what the fundamental improvements were that have
characterised the modern ordnance during the century:
1. The regulation and control of the action of gunpowder in such a manner
as to exert less strain upon the gun, and to impart more energy to the
projectile.
2. To so construct the gun as to transfer a portion of the strain from the
interior parts of the walls which had borne too much of it, to the exterior
parts which had borne too little, thus nearly equalising the strain throughout
the entire thickness of the walls.
3. To provide a metal which should be at once stronger and safer than any
which had been used before.
In the United States General Rodman, “one of the pioneers of armed
science,” commenced about 1847 a series of investigations and experiments
on the power and action of gunpowder and the strains received by every
part of the gun by the exploding gases, of very great importance; and in this
matter he was assisted greatly by Dr. W. E. Woodbridge, who invented an
ingenious apparatus termed a “piezometer,” or a pressure measurer, by
which the pressure of the gases at the various parts of the gun was
determined with mathematical certainty.
Dr. Woodbridge also added greatly to the success of rifled cannon. The
success in rifling small arms, by which an elongated ball is made to retain
the same end foremost during its flight, led again to the attempts of rifling
cannon for the same purpose, which were finally successful. But this
success was due not to the spiral grooves in the cannon bore, but in
attachments to the ball compelling it to follow the course of the grooves and
giving it the proper initial movement. The trouble with these attachments
was that they were either stripped off, or stripped away, by the gun spirals.
Woodbridge in 1850 overcame the difficulty by inventing an improved
Page 191
sabot, consisting of a ring composed of metal softer than the projectile or
cannon, fixed on the inner end of the projectile and grooved at its rear end,
so that when the gun is fired and the ball driven forward these grooves
expand, acting valvularly to fill the grooves in the gun, thus preventing the
escape of the gases, while the ring at the same time is forced forward on to
the shell so tightly and forcibly that the projectile is invariably given a
rotary motion and made to advance strictly in the line of axis of the bore,
and in the same line during the course of its flight. This invention in
principle has been followed ever since, although other forms have been
given the sabot, and it is due to this invention that modern rifled cannon
have been so wonderfully accurate in range and efficient in the penetrating
and destructive power both on sea and land.
Woodbridge also invented the wire-wound cannon, and a machine for
winding the wire upon the gun, thus giving the breach part, especially,
immense strength.
In England, among the first notable and greater inventors in ordnance
during the latter half of the century, a period which embraces the reduction
to practice of the most wonderful and successful inventions in weapons of
war which the world had up to that time seen, are Lancaster, who invented
the elliptical bore; Sir William Armstrong, who, commencing in 1885,
constructed a gun built of wrought-iron bars twisted into coils and applied
over a steel core and bound by one or more wrought-iron rings, all applied
at white heat and shrunk on by contraction due to cooling, by which method
smooth-bore, muzzle-loading cannon of immense calibre, one weighing one
hundred tons, were made. They were followed by Armstrong, inventor of
breech-loaders; Blakely, inventor of cannon made of steel tubes and an
outer jacket of cast iron; and Sir Joseph Whitworth, inventor of most
powerful steel cannon and compressed steel projectiles.
In Germany, Friedrich Krupp at Essen, Prussia, invented and introduced
such improvements in breech-loading cannon as revolutionised the
manufacture of that species of ordnance, and established the foundation of
the greatest ordnance works in the world. The first of his great breech-
loading steel guns was exhibited at the Paris Exhibition in 1867. A Krupp
gun finished at Essen in the 70’s was then the largest steel gun the world
had ever seen. It weighed seventy-two tons, and was thirty-two feet long.
cannon, fixed on the inner end of the projectile and grooved at its rear end,
so that when the gun is fired and the ball driven forward these grooves
expand, acting valvularly to fill the grooves in the gun, thus preventing the
escape of the gases, while the ring at the same time is forced forward on to
the shell so tightly and forcibly that the projectile is invariably given a
rotary motion and made to advance strictly in the line of axis of the bore,
and in the same line during the course of its flight. This invention in
principle has been followed ever since, although other forms have been
given the sabot, and it is due to this invention that modern rifled cannon
have been so wonderfully accurate in range and efficient in the penetrating
and destructive power both on sea and land.
Woodbridge also invented the wire-wound cannon, and a machine for
winding the wire upon the gun, thus giving the breach part, especially,
immense strength.
In England, among the first notable and greater inventors in ordnance
during the latter half of the century, a period which embraces the reduction
to practice of the most wonderful and successful inventions in weapons of
war which the world had up to that time seen, are Lancaster, who invented
the elliptical bore; Sir William Armstrong, who, commencing in 1885,
constructed a gun built of wrought-iron bars twisted into coils and applied
over a steel core and bound by one or more wrought-iron rings, all applied
at white heat and shrunk on by contraction due to cooling, by which method
smooth-bore, muzzle-loading cannon of immense calibre, one weighing one
hundred tons, were made. They were followed by Armstrong, inventor of
breech-loaders; Blakely, inventor of cannon made of steel tubes and an
outer jacket of cast iron; and Sir Joseph Whitworth, inventor of most
powerful steel cannon and compressed steel projectiles.
In Germany, Friedrich Krupp at Essen, Prussia, invented and introduced
such improvements in breech-loading cannon as revolutionised the
manufacture of that species of ordnance, and established the foundation of
the greatest ordnance works in the world. The first of his great breech-
loading steel guns was exhibited at the Paris Exhibition in 1867. A Krupp
gun finished at Essen in the 70’s was then the largest steel gun the world
had ever seen. It weighed seventy-two tons, and was thirty-two feet long.
Page 192
The charge consisted of 385 pounds of powder, the shell weighed 1,660
pounds, having a bursting charge of powder of 22 pounds, and a velocity of
1,640 feet per second. It was estimated that if the gun were fired at an angle
of 43° the shell would be carried a distance of fifteen miles. It was in the
Krupp guns, and also in the Armstrong breech-loaders, that a simple feature
was for the first time introduced which proved of immense importance in
giving great additional expansive force to the explosion of the powder. This
was an increase in the size of the powder chamber so as to allow a vacant
space in it unfilled with powder.
In the United States, Rodman, commencing in 1847, and Dahlgren in 1850,
and Parrott in 1860, invented and introduced some noticeable
improvements in cast-iron, smooth-bore, and rifled cannon.
In France General Paixhans and Colonel Treuille de Beaulieu improved the
shells and ordnance.
The latest improvements in cannon indicate that the old smooth-bore
muzzle-loader guns are to be entirely superseded by breech-loaders, just as
in small arms the muzzle-loading musket has given way to the breech-
loading rifle.
A single lever is now employed, a single turn of which will close or open
the breech, and when opened expel the shell by the same movement.
Formerly breech-loaders were confined to the heaviest ordnance; now they
are a part of the lightest field pieces.
As to the operation of those immense guns above referred to, which
constitute principally sea-coast defences and the heavy armament for forts,
gun carriages have been invented whereby the huge guns are quickly raised
from behind immense embrasures by pneumatic or hydraulic cylinders,
quickly fired (the range having been before accurately ascertained) and then
as quickly lowered out of sight, the latter movement being aided by the
recoil action of the gun.
It is essential that the full force of the gases of explosion shall be exerted
against the base of the projectile, and therefore all escape of such gases be
prevented. To this end valuable improvements in gas checks have been
made,—one kind consisting of an annular canvas sack containing asbestos
pounds, having a bursting charge of powder of 22 pounds, and a velocity of
1,640 feet per second. It was estimated that if the gun were fired at an angle
of 43° the shell would be carried a distance of fifteen miles. It was in the
Krupp guns, and also in the Armstrong breech-loaders, that a simple feature
was for the first time introduced which proved of immense importance in
giving great additional expansive force to the explosion of the powder. This
was an increase in the size of the powder chamber so as to allow a vacant
space in it unfilled with powder.
In the United States, Rodman, commencing in 1847, and Dahlgren in 1850,
and Parrott in 1860, invented and introduced some noticeable
improvements in cast-iron, smooth-bore, and rifled cannon.
In France General Paixhans and Colonel Treuille de Beaulieu improved the
shells and ordnance.
The latest improvements in cannon indicate that the old smooth-bore
muzzle-loader guns are to be entirely superseded by breech-loaders, just as
in small arms the muzzle-loading musket has given way to the breech-
loading rifle.
A single lever is now employed, a single turn of which will close or open
the breech, and when opened expel the shell by the same movement.
Formerly breech-loaders were confined to the heaviest ordnance; now they
are a part of the lightest field pieces.
As to the operation of those immense guns above referred to, which
constitute principally sea-coast defences and the heavy armament for forts,
gun carriages have been invented whereby the huge guns are quickly raised
from behind immense embrasures by pneumatic or hydraulic cylinders,
quickly fired (the range having been before accurately ascertained) and then
as quickly lowered out of sight, the latter movement being aided by the
recoil action of the gun.
It is essential that the full force of the gases of explosion shall be exerted
against the base of the projectile, and therefore all escape of such gases be
prevented. To this end valuable improvements in gas checks have been
made,—one kind consisting of an annular canvas sack containing asbestos
Page 193
and tallow placed between the front face of the breech block and a
mushroom-shaped piece, against which the explosion impinges.
As among projectiles and shells for cannon those have been invented which
are loaded with dynamite or other high explosive, a new class of
Compressed air ordnance has been started, in which air or gas is used for
the propelling power in place of powder, whereby the chances of exploding
such shells in the bore of the gun are greatly lessened.
The construction of metals, both for cannon to resist most intense
explosives and for plates to resist the penetration of the best projectiles,
have received great attention. They are matters pertaining to metallurgy, and
are treated of under that head. The strife still continues between
impenetrable armour plate and irresistible projectiles. Within the last decade
or so shells have been invented with the design simply to shatter or fracture
the plate by which the way is broken for subsequent shots. Other shells
have been invented carrying a high explosive and capable of penetrating
armour plates of great thickness, and exploding after such penetration has
taken place.
A great accompaniment to artillery is “The Range Finder,” a telescopic
apparatus for ascertaining accurately the location and distance of objects to
be fired at.
Returning to small arms,—at the time percussion caps were invented in
England, 1803-1814, John H. Hall of the United States invented a breech-
loading rifle. It was in substance an ordinary musket cut in two at the
breech, with the rear piece connected by a hinge and trunnion to the front
piece, the bore of the two pieces being in line when clamped, and the ball
and cartridge inserted when the chamber was thrown up. A large number
were at once manufactured and used in the U.S. Army. A smaller size,
called carbines, were used by the mounted troops. After about twenty years’
use these guns began to be regarded as dangerous in some respects, and
their manufacture and use stopped, although the carbines continued in use
to some extent in the cavalry. A breech-loading rifle was also invented by
Colonel Pauly of France in 1812, and improved by Dreyse in 1835; also in
Norway in 1838, and in a few years adopted by Sweden as superior to all
muzzle-loading arms. About 1841 the celebrated “Needle Gun” was
mushroom-shaped piece, against which the explosion impinges.
As among projectiles and shells for cannon those have been invented which
are loaded with dynamite or other high explosive, a new class of
Compressed air ordnance has been started, in which air or gas is used for
the propelling power in place of powder, whereby the chances of exploding
such shells in the bore of the gun are greatly lessened.
The construction of metals, both for cannon to resist most intense
explosives and for plates to resist the penetration of the best projectiles,
have received great attention. They are matters pertaining to metallurgy, and
are treated of under that head. The strife still continues between
impenetrable armour plate and irresistible projectiles. Within the last decade
or so shells have been invented with the design simply to shatter or fracture
the plate by which the way is broken for subsequent shots. Other shells
have been invented carrying a high explosive and capable of penetrating
armour plates of great thickness, and exploding after such penetration has
taken place.
A great accompaniment to artillery is “The Range Finder,” a telescopic
apparatus for ascertaining accurately the location and distance of objects to
be fired at.
Returning to small arms,—at the time percussion caps were invented in
England, 1803-1814, John H. Hall of the United States invented a breech-
loading rifle. It was in substance an ordinary musket cut in two at the
breech, with the rear piece connected by a hinge and trunnion to the front
piece, the bore of the two pieces being in line when clamped, and the ball
and cartridge inserted when the chamber was thrown up. A large number
were at once manufactured and used in the U.S. Army. A smaller size,
called carbines, were used by the mounted troops. After about twenty years’
use these guns began to be regarded as dangerous in some respects, and
their manufacture and use stopped, although the carbines continued in use
to some extent in the cavalry. A breech-loading rifle was also invented by
Colonel Pauly of France in 1812, and improved by Dreyse in 1835; also in
Norway in 1838, and in a few years adopted by Sweden as superior to all
muzzle-loading arms. About 1841 the celebrated “Needle Gun” was
Page 194
invented in Prussia, and its superiority over all muzzle-loaders was
demonstrated in 1848 in the first Schleswig-Holstein war.
Cartridges, in which the ball and powder were secured together in one
package, were old in artillery, as has been shown, but their use for small
arms is a later invention. Metallic cartridges, made of sheet metal with a
fulminate cap in one end and a rim on the end of the shell by which it could
be extracted after the explosion, were invented by numerous persons in
Europe and America during the evolution of the breech-loader. Combined
metal case and paper patented in England in 1816, and numerous wholly
metallic cartridge shells were patented in England, France, and United
States between 1840 and 1860. M. Lefaucheux of France, in the later
period, devised a metal gas check cartridge which was a great advance.
A number of inventors in the United States besides Hall had produced
breech-loading small arms before the Civil War of 1861, but with the
exception of Colt’s revolver and Sharp’s carbine, the latter used by the
cavalry to a small extent, none were first adopted in that great conflict.
Later, the Henry or Winchester breech-loading rifle and the Spencer
magazine gun were introduced and did good service. But the whole known
system of breech-loading small arms was officially condemned by the U.S.
Military authorities previous to that war. The absence of machines to make
a suitable cartridge in large quantities and vast immediate necessities
compelled the authorities to ignore the tested Prussian and Swedish breech-
loaders and those of their own countrymen and to ransack Europe for
muskets of ancient pattern. These were worked by the soldiers under the
ancient tactics, of load, ram, charge and fire, until a stray bullet struck the
ramrod, or the discharge of a few rammed cartridges so over-heated the
musket as to thereby dispense with the soldier and his gun for further
service in that field. However, private individuals and companies continued
to invent and improve, and the civil war in America revolutionised the
systems of warfare and its weapons. The wooden walls of the navies
disappeared as a defence after the conflict between the Monitor and the
Merrimac, and muzzle-loading muskets became things of the past.
Torpedoes, both stationary and movable, then became a successful weapon
of warfare. Soon after that war, and when the United States had adopted the
Springfield breech-loading rifle, the works at Springfield were equipped
demonstrated in 1848 in the first Schleswig-Holstein war.
Cartridges, in which the ball and powder were secured together in one
package, were old in artillery, as has been shown, but their use for small
arms is a later invention. Metallic cartridges, made of sheet metal with a
fulminate cap in one end and a rim on the end of the shell by which it could
be extracted after the explosion, were invented by numerous persons in
Europe and America during the evolution of the breech-loader. Combined
metal case and paper patented in England in 1816, and numerous wholly
metallic cartridge shells were patented in England, France, and United
States between 1840 and 1860. M. Lefaucheux of France, in the later
period, devised a metal gas check cartridge which was a great advance.
A number of inventors in the United States besides Hall had produced
breech-loading small arms before the Civil War of 1861, but with the
exception of Colt’s revolver and Sharp’s carbine, the latter used by the
cavalry to a small extent, none were first adopted in that great conflict.
Later, the Henry or Winchester breech-loading rifle and the Spencer
magazine gun were introduced and did good service. But the whole known
system of breech-loading small arms was officially condemned by the U.S.
Military authorities previous to that war. The absence of machines to make
a suitable cartridge in large quantities and vast immediate necessities
compelled the authorities to ignore the tested Prussian and Swedish breech-
loaders and those of their own countrymen and to ransack Europe for
muskets of ancient pattern. These were worked by the soldiers under the
ancient tactics, of load, ram, charge and fire, until a stray bullet struck the
ramrod, or the discharge of a few rammed cartridges so over-heated the
musket as to thereby dispense with the soldier and his gun for further
service in that field. However, private individuals and companies continued
to invent and improve, and the civil war in America revolutionised the
systems of warfare and its weapons. The wooden walls of the navies
disappeared as a defence after the conflict between the Monitor and the
Merrimac, and muzzle-loading muskets became things of the past.
Torpedoes, both stationary and movable, then became a successful weapon
of warfare. Soon after that war, and when the United States had adopted the
Springfield breech-loading rifle, the works at Springfield were equipped
Page 195
with nearly forty different machines, each for making a separate part of a
gun in great quantities. Many of these had been invented by Thomas
Blanchard forty years before. That great inventor of labour-saving
machinery had then designed machines for the shaping and making of gun
stocks and for forming the accompanying parts. Blanchard was a
contemporary of Hall, and Hall, to perfect his breech-loader, was the first to
invent machines for making its various parts. His was the first
interchangeable system in the making of small arms.
Army officers had come to regard “the gun as only the casket while the
cartridge is the jewel;” and to this end J. G. Gill at the U.S. Arsenal at
Frankford, Philadelphia, devised a series of cartridge-making machines
which ranked among the highest triumphs of American invention.
The single breech-loader is now being succeeded by the magazine gun, by
which a supply of cartridges in a chamber is automatically fed into the
barrel. The Springfield, has been remodelled as a magazine loader. Among
later types of repeating rifles, known from the names of their inventors, are
the “Krag-Jorgensen,” and the “Mauser,” and the crack of these is heard
around the world. Modern rifles are rendered more deadly by the fact that
they can be loaded and fired in a recumbent position, and with smokeless
powder, by which the soldier and his location remain concealed from his
foe.
The recoil of the gun in both large and small arms is now utilised to expel
the fired cartridge shell, and to withdraw a fresh one from its magazine and
place it in position in the chamber. Compressed air and explosive gases
have been used for the same purpose. A small electric battery has been
placed in the stock to explode the cartridge when the trigger is pulled.
Sporting guns have kept pace with other small arms in improvements, and
among modern forms are those which discharge in alternative succession
the two barrels by a single trigger. Revolvers have been improved and the
Smith and Wesson is known throughout the world.
The idea of Machine Guns, or Mitrailleuses, was not a new one, as we have
seen from Puckle’s celebrated patent of 1718. Also history mentions a gun
composed of four breech-loading tubes of small calibre, placed on a two-
wheeled cart used in Flanders as early as 1347, and of four-tubed guns used
gun in great quantities. Many of these had been invented by Thomas
Blanchard forty years before. That great inventor of labour-saving
machinery had then designed machines for the shaping and making of gun
stocks and for forming the accompanying parts. Blanchard was a
contemporary of Hall, and Hall, to perfect his breech-loader, was the first to
invent machines for making its various parts. His was the first
interchangeable system in the making of small arms.
Army officers had come to regard “the gun as only the casket while the
cartridge is the jewel;” and to this end J. G. Gill at the U.S. Arsenal at
Frankford, Philadelphia, devised a series of cartridge-making machines
which ranked among the highest triumphs of American invention.
The single breech-loader is now being succeeded by the magazine gun, by
which a supply of cartridges in a chamber is automatically fed into the
barrel. The Springfield, has been remodelled as a magazine loader. Among
later types of repeating rifles, known from the names of their inventors, are
the “Krag-Jorgensen,” and the “Mauser,” and the crack of these is heard
around the world. Modern rifles are rendered more deadly by the fact that
they can be loaded and fired in a recumbent position, and with smokeless
powder, by which the soldier and his location remain concealed from his
foe.
The recoil of the gun in both large and small arms is now utilised to expel
the fired cartridge shell, and to withdraw a fresh one from its magazine and
place it in position in the chamber. Compressed air and explosive gases
have been used for the same purpose. A small electric battery has been
placed in the stock to explode the cartridge when the trigger is pulled.
Sporting guns have kept pace with other small arms in improvements, and
among modern forms are those which discharge in alternative succession
the two barrels by a single trigger. Revolvers have been improved and the
Smith and Wesson is known throughout the world.
The idea of Machine Guns, or Mitrailleuses, was not a new one, as we have
seen from Puckle’s celebrated patent of 1718. Also history mentions a gun
composed of four breech-loading tubes of small calibre, placed on a two-
wheeled cart used in Flanders as early as 1347, and of four-tubed guns used
Page 196
by the Scotch during the civil war in 1644. The machine gun invented by
Dr. Gatling of the United States during the Civil War and subsequently
perfected, has become a part of the armament of every civilised nation. The
object of the gun is to combine in one piece the destructive effect of a great
many, and to throw a continuous hail of projectiles. The gun is mounted on
a tripod; the cartridges are contained in a hopper mounted on the breech of
the gun and are fed from locks into the barrels (which are usually five or ten
in number) as the locks and barrels are revolved by a hand crank. As the
handle is turned the cartridges are first given a forward motion, which
thrusts them into the barrels, closes the breech and fires the cartridges in
succession, and then a backward motion which extracts the empty shells.
The gun weighs one hundred pounds and firing may be kept up with a ten-
barreled gun at one thousand shots a minute.
The Hotchkiss revolving cannon is another celebrated American production
named from its inventor, and constructed to throw heavier projectiles than
the Gatling. It also has revolving barrels and great solidity in the breech
mechanism. It has been found to be of great service in resisting the attacks
of torpedo boats. It is adapted to fire long-range shells with great rapidity
and powerful effect, and is exceedingly efficient in defence of ditches and
entrenchments.
Explosives.—The desire to make the most effective explosives for gunnery
led to their invention not only for that purpose but for the more peaceful
pursuit of blasting. Gun Cotton, that mixture of nitric acid and cotton, made
by Schönbein in 1846, and experimented with for a long time as a substitute
for gunpowder in cannon and small arms and finally discarded for that
purpose, is now being again revived, but used chiefly for blasting. This was
followed by the discovery of nitro-glycerine, a still more powerful
explosive agent—too powerful and uncontrollable for guns as originally
made. They did not supersede gunpowder, but smokeless powders have
come, containing nitro-cellulose, or nitro-glycerine rendered plastic,
coherent and homogeneous, and converted into rods or grains of free
running powder, to aid the breech-loaders and magazine guns, while the
high explosives, gun-cotton, nitro-glycerine, dynamite, dualine, etc., have
become the favorite agencies for those fearful offensive and defensive
weapons, the Torpedoes. From about the time of the discovery of
gunpowder, stationary and floating chambers and mines of powder, to be
Dr. Gatling of the United States during the Civil War and subsequently
perfected, has become a part of the armament of every civilised nation. The
object of the gun is to combine in one piece the destructive effect of a great
many, and to throw a continuous hail of projectiles. The gun is mounted on
a tripod; the cartridges are contained in a hopper mounted on the breech of
the gun and are fed from locks into the barrels (which are usually five or ten
in number) as the locks and barrels are revolved by a hand crank. As the
handle is turned the cartridges are first given a forward motion, which
thrusts them into the barrels, closes the breech and fires the cartridges in
succession, and then a backward motion which extracts the empty shells.
The gun weighs one hundred pounds and firing may be kept up with a ten-
barreled gun at one thousand shots a minute.
The Hotchkiss revolving cannon is another celebrated American production
named from its inventor, and constructed to throw heavier projectiles than
the Gatling. It also has revolving barrels and great solidity in the breech
mechanism. It has been found to be of great service in resisting the attacks
of torpedo boats. It is adapted to fire long-range shells with great rapidity
and powerful effect, and is exceedingly efficient in defence of ditches and
entrenchments.
Explosives.—The desire to make the most effective explosives for gunnery
led to their invention not only for that purpose but for the more peaceful
pursuit of blasting. Gun Cotton, that mixture of nitric acid and cotton, made
by Schönbein in 1846, and experimented with for a long time as a substitute
for gunpowder in cannon and small arms and finally discarded for that
purpose, is now being again revived, but used chiefly for blasting. This was
followed by the discovery of nitro-glycerine, a still more powerful
explosive agent—too powerful and uncontrollable for guns as originally
made. They did not supersede gunpowder, but smokeless powders have
come, containing nitro-cellulose, or nitro-glycerine rendered plastic,
coherent and homogeneous, and converted into rods or grains of free
running powder, to aid the breech-loaders and magazine guns, while the
high explosives, gun-cotton, nitro-glycerine, dynamite, dualine, etc., have
become the favorite agencies for those fearful offensive and defensive
weapons, the Torpedoes. From about the time of the discovery of
gunpowder, stationary and floating chambers and mines of powder, to be
Page 197
discharged in early times by fuses (later by percussion or electricity), have
existed, but modern inventions have rendered them of more fearful
importance than was ever dreamed of before this century. The latest
invention in this class is the submarine torpedo boat, which, moving rapidly
towards an enemy’s vessel, suddenly disappears from sight beneath the
water, and strikes the vessel at its lowest or most vulnerable point.
To the inquiry as to whether all this vast array of modern implements of
destruction is to lessen the destruction of human life, shorten war, mitigate
its horrors and tend toward peace, there can be but one answer. All these
desirable results have been accomplished whenever the new inventions of
importance have been used. “Warlike Tribes” have been put to flight so
easily by civilised armies in modern times that such tribes have been
doubted as possessing their boasted or even natural courage. Nations with a
glorious past as to bravery but with a poor armament have gone down
suddenly before smaller forces armed with modern ordnance. The results
would have been reversed, and the derision would have proceeded from the
other side, if the conditions had been reversed, and those tribes and brave
peoples been armed with the best weapons and the knowledge of their use.
The courage of the majority of men on the battle-field is begot of
confidence and enthusiasm, but this confidence and enthusiasm, however
great the cause, soon fail, and discretion becomes the better part of valour,
if men find that their weapons are weak and useless against vastly superior
arms of the enemy. The slaughter and destruction in a few hours with
modern weapons may not be more terrible than could be inflicted with the
old arms by far greater forces at close quarters in a greater length of time in
the past, but the end comes sooner; and the prolongation of the struggle
with renewed sacrifices of life, and the long continued and exhausting
campaigns, giving rise to diseases more destructive than shot or shell, are
thereby greatly lessened, if not altogether avoided.
existed, but modern inventions have rendered them of more fearful
importance than was ever dreamed of before this century. The latest
invention in this class is the submarine torpedo boat, which, moving rapidly
towards an enemy’s vessel, suddenly disappears from sight beneath the
water, and strikes the vessel at its lowest or most vulnerable point.
To the inquiry as to whether all this vast array of modern implements of
destruction is to lessen the destruction of human life, shorten war, mitigate
its horrors and tend toward peace, there can be but one answer. All these
desirable results have been accomplished whenever the new inventions of
importance have been used. “Warlike Tribes” have been put to flight so
easily by civilised armies in modern times that such tribes have been
doubted as possessing their boasted or even natural courage. Nations with a
glorious past as to bravery but with a poor armament have gone down
suddenly before smaller forces armed with modern ordnance. The results
would have been reversed, and the derision would have proceeded from the
other side, if the conditions had been reversed, and those tribes and brave
peoples been armed with the best weapons and the knowledge of their use.
The courage of the majority of men on the battle-field is begot of
confidence and enthusiasm, but this confidence and enthusiasm, however
great the cause, soon fail, and discretion becomes the better part of valour,
if men find that their weapons are weak and useless against vastly superior
arms of the enemy. The slaughter and destruction in a few hours with
modern weapons may not be more terrible than could be inflicted with the
old arms by far greater forces at close quarters in a greater length of time in
the past, but the end comes sooner; and the prolongation of the struggle
with renewed sacrifices of life, and the long continued and exhausting
campaigns, giving rise to diseases more destructive than shot or shell, are
thereby greatly lessened, if not altogether avoided.
Page 198
CHAPTER XVII.
PAPER AND PRINTING.
Paper-making.—“The art preservative of all arts”—itself must have means
of preservation, and hence the art of paper-making precedes the art of
printing.
It was Pliny who wrote, at the beginning of the Christian era, that “All the
usages of civilised life depend in a remarkable degree upon the employment
of paper. At all events the remembrance of past events.”
Naturally to the Chinese, the Hindoo, and the Egyptian, we go with
inquiries as to origin, and find that as to both arts they were making the
most delicate paper from wood and vegetable fibres and printing with great
nicety, long before Europeans had even learned to use papyrus or
parchment, or had conceived the idea of type.
So far as we know the wasp alone preceded the ancient Orientals in the
making of paper. Its gray shingled house made in layers, worked up into
paper by a master hand from decayed wood, pulped, and glutinised,
waterproofed, with internal tiers of chambers, a fortress, a home, and an
airy habitation, is still beyond the power of human invention to reproduce.
Papyrus—the paper of the Egyptians: Not only their paper, but its pith one
of their articles of food, and its outer portions material for paper, boxes,
baskets, boats, mats, medicines, cloths and other articles of merchandise.
Once one of the fruits of the Nile, now no longer growing there. On its
fragile leaves were recorded and preserved the ancient literatures—the
records of dynasties—the songs of the Hebrew prophets—the early annals
of Greece and Rome—the vast, lost tomes of Alexandria. Those which were
fortunately preserved and transferred to more enduring forms now
PAPER AND PRINTING.
Paper-making.—“The art preservative of all arts”—itself must have means
of preservation, and hence the art of paper-making precedes the art of
printing.
It was Pliny who wrote, at the beginning of the Christian era, that “All the
usages of civilised life depend in a remarkable degree upon the employment
of paper. At all events the remembrance of past events.”
Naturally to the Chinese, the Hindoo, and the Egyptian, we go with
inquiries as to origin, and find that as to both arts they were making the
most delicate paper from wood and vegetable fibres and printing with great
nicety, long before Europeans had even learned to use papyrus or
parchment, or had conceived the idea of type.
So far as we know the wasp alone preceded the ancient Orientals in the
making of paper. Its gray shingled house made in layers, worked up into
paper by a master hand from decayed wood, pulped, and glutinised,
waterproofed, with internal tiers of chambers, a fortress, a home, and an
airy habitation, is still beyond the power of human invention to reproduce.
Papyrus—the paper of the Egyptians: Not only their paper, but its pith one
of their articles of food, and its outer portions material for paper, boxes,
baskets, boats, mats, medicines, cloths and other articles of merchandise.
Once one of the fruits of the Nile, now no longer growing there. On its
fragile leaves were recorded and preserved the ancient literatures—the
records of dynasties—the songs of the Hebrew prophets—the early annals
of Greece and Rome—the vast, lost tomes of Alexandria. Those which were
fortunately preserved and transferred to more enduring forms now
Page 199
constitute the greater part of all we have of the writings of those departed
ages.
In making paper from papyrus, the inner portion next to the pith was
separated into thin leaves; these were laid in two or more layers, moistened
and pressed together to form a leaf; two or more leaves united at their edges
if desired, or end to end, beaten smooth with a mallet, polished with a piece
of iron or shell, the ends, or sides, or both, of the sheet sometimes neatly
ornamented, and then rolled on a wooden cylinder. The Romans and other
ancient nations imported most of their papyrus from Egypt, although raising
it to considerable extent in their own swamps.
In the seventh century, the Saracens conquered Egypt and carried back
therefrom, papyrus, and the knowledge of how to make paper from it to
Europe.
Parchment manufactured from the skins of young calves, kids, lambs,
sheep, and goats, was an early rival of papyrus, and was known and used in
Europe before papyrus was there introduced.
The softening of vegetable and woody fibre of various kinds, flax and raw
cotton and rags, and reducing it into pulp, drying, beating, and rolling it into
paper, seem to have been suggested to Europe by the introduction of
papyrus, for we learn of the first appearance of such paper by the Arabians,
Saracens, Spaniards and the French along through the eighth, ninth, and
tenth and eleventh centuries. Papyrus does not, however, appear to have
been superseded until the twelfth century.
Public documents are still extant written in the twelfth century on paper
made from flax and rags; and paper mills began to put in an appearance in
Germany in the fourteenth century, in which the fibre was reduced to pulp
by stampers. England began to make paper in the next century. Pulping the
fibre by softening it in water and beating the same had then been practised
for four centuries. Rollers in the mills for rolling the pulp into sheets were
introduced in the fifteenth century, and paper makers began to distinguish
their goods from those made by others by water marks impressed in the
pulp sheets. The jug and the pot was one favourite water mark in that
century, succeeded by a fool’s cap, which name has since adhered to paper
of a certain size, with or without the cap. So far was the making of paper
ages.
In making paper from papyrus, the inner portion next to the pith was
separated into thin leaves; these were laid in two or more layers, moistened
and pressed together to form a leaf; two or more leaves united at their edges
if desired, or end to end, beaten smooth with a mallet, polished with a piece
of iron or shell, the ends, or sides, or both, of the sheet sometimes neatly
ornamented, and then rolled on a wooden cylinder. The Romans and other
ancient nations imported most of their papyrus from Egypt, although raising
it to considerable extent in their own swamps.
In the seventh century, the Saracens conquered Egypt and carried back
therefrom, papyrus, and the knowledge of how to make paper from it to
Europe.
Parchment manufactured from the skins of young calves, kids, lambs,
sheep, and goats, was an early rival of papyrus, and was known and used in
Europe before papyrus was there introduced.
The softening of vegetable and woody fibre of various kinds, flax and raw
cotton and rags, and reducing it into pulp, drying, beating, and rolling it into
paper, seem to have been suggested to Europe by the introduction of
papyrus, for we learn of the first appearance of such paper by the Arabians,
Saracens, Spaniards and the French along through the eighth, ninth, and
tenth and eleventh centuries. Papyrus does not, however, appear to have
been superseded until the twelfth century.
Public documents are still extant written in the twelfth century on paper
made from flax and rags; and paper mills began to put in an appearance in
Germany in the fourteenth century, in which the fibre was reduced to pulp
by stampers. England began to make paper in the next century. Pulping the
fibre by softening it in water and beating the same had then been practised
for four centuries. Rollers in the mills for rolling the pulp into sheets were
introduced in the fifteenth century, and paper makers began to distinguish
their goods from those made by others by water marks impressed in the
pulp sheets. The jug and the pot was one favourite water mark in that
century, succeeded by a fool’s cap, which name has since adhered to paper
of a certain size, with or without the cap. So far was the making of paper
Page 200
advanced in Europe that about 1640 wall paper began to be made as a
substitute for tapestry; although as to this fashion the Chinese were still
ahead some indefinite number of centuries.
Holland was far advanced in paper-making in the seventeenth century. The
revolution of 1688 having seriously interrupted the art in England, that
country imported paper from Holland during that period amounting to
£100,000. It was a native of Holland, Rittenhouse, who introduced paper-
making in America and erected a mill near Philadelphia in the early years of
the eighteenth century, and there made paper from linen rags.
The Dutch also had substituted cylinders armed with blades in place of
stampers and used their windmills to run them. The Germans and French
experimented with wood and straw.
In the latter part of the eighteenth century some manufacturers in Europe
had learned to make white paper from white rags, and as good in quality,
and some think better, than is made at the present day. The essentials of
paper making by hand from rags and raw vegetable fibres, the soaking of
fibres in water and boiling them in lyes, the beating, rolling, smoothing,
sizing and polishing of the paper, were then known and practised. But the
best paper was then a dear commodity. The art of bleaching coloured stock
was unknown, and white paper was made alone from stock that came white
into the mill. The processes were nearly all hand operations. “Beating” was
pounding in a mortar. The pulp was laid by hand upon moulds made of
parallel strands of coarse brass wire; and the making of the pulp by grinding
wood and treating it chemically to soften it was experimental.
The nineteenth century produced a revolution. It introduced the use of
modern machinery, and modern chemical processes, by which all known
varieties and sizes of paper, of all colours, as well as paper vessels, are
made daily in immense quantities in all civilised countries, from all sorts of
fibrous materials.
Knight, in his Mechanical Dictionary, gives a list of nearly 400 different
materials for paper making that had been used or suggested, for the most
part within the century and up to twenty years ago, and the number has
since increased.
substitute for tapestry; although as to this fashion the Chinese were still
ahead some indefinite number of centuries.
Holland was far advanced in paper-making in the seventeenth century. The
revolution of 1688 having seriously interrupted the art in England, that
country imported paper from Holland during that period amounting to
£100,000. It was a native of Holland, Rittenhouse, who introduced paper-
making in America and erected a mill near Philadelphia in the early years of
the eighteenth century, and there made paper from linen rags.
The Dutch also had substituted cylinders armed with blades in place of
stampers and used their windmills to run them. The Germans and French
experimented with wood and straw.
In the latter part of the eighteenth century some manufacturers in Europe
had learned to make white paper from white rags, and as good in quality,
and some think better, than is made at the present day. The essentials of
paper making by hand from rags and raw vegetable fibres, the soaking of
fibres in water and boiling them in lyes, the beating, rolling, smoothing,
sizing and polishing of the paper, were then known and practised. But the
best paper was then a dear commodity. The art of bleaching coloured stock
was unknown, and white paper was made alone from stock that came white
into the mill. The processes were nearly all hand operations. “Beating” was
pounding in a mortar. The pulp was laid by hand upon moulds made of
parallel strands of coarse brass wire; and the making of the pulp by grinding
wood and treating it chemically to soften it was experimental.
The nineteenth century produced a revolution. It introduced the use of
modern machinery, and modern chemical processes, by which all known
varieties and sizes of paper, of all colours, as well as paper vessels, are
made daily in immense quantities in all civilised countries, from all sorts of
fibrous materials.
Knight, in his Mechanical Dictionary, gives a list of nearly 400 different
materials for paper making that had been used or suggested, for the most
part within the century and up to twenty years ago, and the number has
since increased.
Page 201
The modern revolution commenced in 1799, when Louis Robert, an
employee of François Didot of Essones, France, invented and patented the
first machine for making paper in a long, wide, continuous web. The French
government in 1800 granted him a reward of 8,000 francs. The machine
was then exhibited in England and there tested with success. It was there
that Messrs. Fourdrinier, a wealthy stationery firm, purchased the patents,
expended £60,000 for improvements on the machine, and first gave to the
world its practical benefits. This expenditure bankrupted them, as the
machines were not at once remunerative, and parliament refused to grant
them pecuniary assistance. Gamble, Donkin, Koops, the Fourdriniers,
Dickenson, and Wilkes, were the first inventors to improve the Robert
machine, and to give it that form which in many essential features remains
to-day. They, together with later inventors, gave to the world a new system
of paper making.
By 1872 two hundred and ninety-nine Fourdrinier machines were running
in the United States alone. In the improved Fourdrinier machine or system,
rags, or wood, or straw are ground or otherwise reduced to pulp, and then
the pulp, when properly soaked and drained, is dumped into a regulating
box, passing under a copper gate to regulate the amount and depth of feed,
then carried along through strainers, screeners or dressers, to free the mass
from clots and reduce it to the proper fineness, over an endless wire apron,
spread evenly over this apron by a shaking motion, subjected to the action
of a suction box by which the water is drawn off by air-suction pumps,
carried between cloth-covered rollers which press and cohere it, carried on
to a moving long felt blanket to further free it from moisture, and which
continues to hold the sheet of pulp in form; then with the blanket through
press rolls adjustable to a desired pressure and provided with means to
remove therefrom adhering pulp and to arrest the progress of the paper if
necessary; then through another set of compression rollers, when the
condensed and matted pulp, now paper, is carried on to a second blanket,
passed through a series of steam cylinders, where the web is partially dried,
and again compressed, thence through another series of rollers and drying
cylinders, which still further dry and stretch it, and now, finally completed,
the sheet is wound on a receiving cylinder. The number of rollers and
cylinders and the position and the length of the process to fully dry,
compact, stretch and finish the sheet, may be, and are, varied greatly. If it is
employee of François Didot of Essones, France, invented and patented the
first machine for making paper in a long, wide, continuous web. The French
government in 1800 granted him a reward of 8,000 francs. The machine
was then exhibited in England and there tested with success. It was there
that Messrs. Fourdrinier, a wealthy stationery firm, purchased the patents,
expended £60,000 for improvements on the machine, and first gave to the
world its practical benefits. This expenditure bankrupted them, as the
machines were not at once remunerative, and parliament refused to grant
them pecuniary assistance. Gamble, Donkin, Koops, the Fourdriniers,
Dickenson, and Wilkes, were the first inventors to improve the Robert
machine, and to give it that form which in many essential features remains
to-day. They, together with later inventors, gave to the world a new system
of paper making.
By 1872 two hundred and ninety-nine Fourdrinier machines were running
in the United States alone. In the improved Fourdrinier machine or system,
rags, or wood, or straw are ground or otherwise reduced to pulp, and then
the pulp, when properly soaked and drained, is dumped into a regulating
box, passing under a copper gate to regulate the amount and depth of feed,
then carried along through strainers, screeners or dressers, to free the mass
from clots and reduce it to the proper fineness, over an endless wire apron,
spread evenly over this apron by a shaking motion, subjected to the action
of a suction box by which the water is drawn off by air-suction pumps,
carried between cloth-covered rollers which press and cohere it, carried on
to a moving long felt blanket to further free it from moisture, and which
continues to hold the sheet of pulp in form; then with the blanket through
press rolls adjustable to a desired pressure and provided with means to
remove therefrom adhering pulp and to arrest the progress of the paper if
necessary; then through another set of compression rollers, when the
condensed and matted pulp, now paper, is carried on to a second blanket,
passed through a series of steam cylinders, where the web is partially dried,
and again compressed, thence through another series of rollers and drying
cylinders, which still further dry and stretch it, and now, finally completed,
the sheet is wound on a receiving cylinder. The number of rollers and
cylinders and the position and the length of the process to fully dry,
compact, stretch and finish the sheet, may be, and are, varied greatly. If it is
Page 202
desired to impress on or into the paper water marks, letters, words, or
ornamental matter, the paper in its moist stage, after it passes through the
suction boxes, is passed under a “dandy” or fancy scrolled roll provided on
its surface with the desired design. When it is desired to give it a smooth,
glossy surface, the paper, after its completion, is passed through animal
sizing material, and then between drying and smoothing rollers. Or this
sizing may be applied to the pulp at the outset of the operation. Colouring
material, when desired, is applied to the pulp, before pressing. By the use of
machines under this system, a vast amount of material, cast-off rags, etc.,
before regarded as waste, was utilised for paper making.
The modern discoveries of the chemists of the century as to the nature of
fibres, best modes and materials for reducing them to pulp, and bleaching
processes, have brought the art of paper making from wood and other
fibrous materials to its present high and prosperous condition.
What are known as the soda-pulp and the sulphite processes are examples
of this. The latter and other acid processes were not successful until cement-
lined digesters were invented to withstand their corroding action. But now it
is only necessary to have a convenient forest of almost any kind of wood to
justify the establishment of a paper mill.
It was the scarcity of rags, especially of linen rags, that forced inventors to
find other paper-producing materials.
It would be impossible and uninteresting in a work of this character to
enumerate the mechanical details constituting the improvements of the
century in paper-making machinery of all kinds. Thousands of patents have
been granted for such inventions. With one modern Fourdrinier machine,
and a few beating engines, a small paper mill will now turn out daily as
much paper as could be made by twelve mills a hundred years ago.
In moulding pulp into articles of manufacture, satisfactory machines have
been invented, not only for the mere forming them into shape, but for
water-proofing and indurating the same. From the making of a ponderous
paper car wheel to a lady’s delicate work basket, success has been attained.
Paper bag machines, machines for making paper boxes, applying and
staying corners of such boxes, for making cell cases used in packing eggs
ornamental matter, the paper in its moist stage, after it passes through the
suction boxes, is passed under a “dandy” or fancy scrolled roll provided on
its surface with the desired design. When it is desired to give it a smooth,
glossy surface, the paper, after its completion, is passed through animal
sizing material, and then between drying and smoothing rollers. Or this
sizing may be applied to the pulp at the outset of the operation. Colouring
material, when desired, is applied to the pulp, before pressing. By the use of
machines under this system, a vast amount of material, cast-off rags, etc.,
before regarded as waste, was utilised for paper making.
The modern discoveries of the chemists of the century as to the nature of
fibres, best modes and materials for reducing them to pulp, and bleaching
processes, have brought the art of paper making from wood and other
fibrous materials to its present high and prosperous condition.
What are known as the soda-pulp and the sulphite processes are examples
of this. The latter and other acid processes were not successful until cement-
lined digesters were invented to withstand their corroding action. But now it
is only necessary to have a convenient forest of almost any kind of wood to
justify the establishment of a paper mill.
It was the scarcity of rags, especially of linen rags, that forced inventors to
find other paper-producing materials.
It would be impossible and uninteresting in a work of this character to
enumerate the mechanical details constituting the improvements of the
century in paper-making machinery of all kinds. Thousands of patents have
been granted for such inventions. With one modern Fourdrinier machine,
and a few beating engines, a small paper mill will now turn out daily as
much paper as could be made by twelve mills a hundred years ago.
In moulding pulp into articles of manufacture, satisfactory machines have
been invented, not only for the mere forming them into shape, but for
water-proofing and indurating the same. From the making of a ponderous
paper car wheel to a lady’s delicate work basket, success has been attained.
Paper bag machines, machines for making paper boxes, applying and
staying corners of such boxes, for making cell cases used in packing eggs
Page 203
and fruit, and for wrapping fruit; machines for affixing various forms of
labels and addresses, are among the wonders of modern inventions relating
to paper. It is wonderful how art and ingenuity united about thirty years ago
to produce attractive wall papers. Previous to that time they were dull and
conventional in appearance. Now beautiful designs are rolled out from
machines.
Printing.—We have already seen how paper making and printing grew up
together an indefinite number of centuries ago in the Far East. Both block
printing and movable types were the production of the Chinese, with which
on their little pages of many-coloured paper they printed myriads of
volumes of their strange literature in stranger characters during centuries
when Europeans were painfully inscribing their thoughts with the stylus and
crude pens upon papyrus and the dried skins of animals.
But the European and his descendants delight to honour most the early
inventors of their own countries. Italy refers with pride to the printing from
blocks practised by the Venetians, and at Ravenna, from 1280 to 1300; from
type at Subiaco in the Roman territory in 1465, and to the first Roman book
printed in 1470; the Dutch to Laurens Coster, whom they allege invented
movable type in 1423. Some of the Dutch have doubted this, and pin their
faith on Jacob Bellaert, as the first printer, and Gerard Leeu, his workman,
who made the types at Haarlem, in 1483. The Germans rely with confidence
on John Guttenberg, who at Strasburg, as early as 1436, had wooden blocks,
and wooden movable types, and who, two or three years after, printed
several works; on the partnership of Faust and Guttenberg in 1450 at Mentz,
and their Bible in Latin printed in 1456 on vellum with types imitating
manuscript in form, and illustrated by hand; and, finally, on Peter Schoeffer
of Gernsheim, who then made matrices in which were cast the letters singly,
and who thereby so pleased his master, Faust, that the latter gave him his
daughter, Christina, in marriage.
From Germany the art spread to Paris and thence to England. About 1474
Caxton was printing his black-letter books in England. Spain followed, and
it is stated that in 1500 there were two hundred printing offices in Europe.
The religious and political turmoils in Germany in the sixteenth century
gave an immense impetus to printing there. The printing press was the
handmaid of the Reformation. In America the first printing press was set up
labels and addresses, are among the wonders of modern inventions relating
to paper. It is wonderful how art and ingenuity united about thirty years ago
to produce attractive wall papers. Previous to that time they were dull and
conventional in appearance. Now beautiful designs are rolled out from
machines.
Printing.—We have already seen how paper making and printing grew up
together an indefinite number of centuries ago in the Far East. Both block
printing and movable types were the production of the Chinese, with which
on their little pages of many-coloured paper they printed myriads of
volumes of their strange literature in stranger characters during centuries
when Europeans were painfully inscribing their thoughts with the stylus and
crude pens upon papyrus and the dried skins of animals.
But the European and his descendants delight to honour most the early
inventors of their own countries. Italy refers with pride to the printing from
blocks practised by the Venetians, and at Ravenna, from 1280 to 1300; from
type at Subiaco in the Roman territory in 1465, and to the first Roman book
printed in 1470; the Dutch to Laurens Coster, whom they allege invented
movable type in 1423. Some of the Dutch have doubted this, and pin their
faith on Jacob Bellaert, as the first printer, and Gerard Leeu, his workman,
who made the types at Haarlem, in 1483. The Germans rely with confidence
on John Guttenberg, who at Strasburg, as early as 1436, had wooden blocks,
and wooden movable types, and who, two or three years after, printed
several works; on the partnership of Faust and Guttenberg in 1450 at Mentz,
and their Bible in Latin printed in 1456 on vellum with types imitating
manuscript in form, and illustrated by hand; and, finally, on Peter Schoeffer
of Gernsheim, who then made matrices in which were cast the letters singly,
and who thereby so pleased his master, Faust, that the latter gave him his
daughter, Christina, in marriage.
From Germany the art spread to Paris and thence to England. About 1474
Caxton was printing his black-letter books in England. Spain followed, and
it is stated that in 1500 there were two hundred printing offices in Europe.
The religious and political turmoils in Germany in the sixteenth century
gave an immense impetus to printing there. The printing press was the
handmaid of the Reformation. In America the first printing press was set up
Page 204
in Mexico in 1536, and in Lima, Brazil, in 1586. In 1639, nineteen years
after the landing of the Pilgrims on the bleak rock at Plymouth, they set up
a printing press at Cambridge, Mass.
The art of printing soon resolved itself into two classes: first, composition,
the arranging of the type in the proper order into words and pages; and
second, press work; the taking of impressions from the types, or from casts
of types in plates—being a facsimile of a type bed. This was stereotyping—
the invention of William Ged, of Edinburgh, in 1731.
Types soon came to be made everywhere of uniform height; that of England
and America being 92-100 of an inch, and became universally classified by
names according to their sizes, as pica, small pica, long primer, minion,
nonpareil, etc.
After movable types came the invention of Presses. The earliest were
composed of a wooden frame on which were placed the simple screw and a
lever to force a plate down upon a sheet of paper placed on the bed of type
which had been set in the press, with a spring to automatically raise the
screw and plate after the delivery of the impression. This was invented by
Blaew of Amsterdam in 1620. Such, also, was the Ramage press, and on
such a one Benjamin Franklin worked at his trade as a printer, both in
America and in London. His London press, on which he worked in 1725,
was carried to the United States, and is now on exhibition in Washington.
This was substantially the state of the art at the beginning of the century.
Then Earl Stanhope in England invented a press entirely of iron, and the
power consisted of the combination of a toggle joint and lever. The first
American improvement was invented by George Clymer, of Philadelphia, in
1817, the power being an improved lever consisting of three simple levers
of the second order. This was superseded by the “Washington” press
invented by Samuel Rust in 1829. It has as essential parts the toggle joint
and lever, and in the frame work, as in the Stanhope, type bed, rails on
which the bed was moved in and out, means to move the bed, the platen, the
tympan on which the sheet is placed, the frisket, a perforated sheet of paper,
to preserve the printed sheet, an inking roller and frame. In this was
subsequently introduced an automatic device for inking the roller, as it was
after the landing of the Pilgrims on the bleak rock at Plymouth, they set up
a printing press at Cambridge, Mass.
The art of printing soon resolved itself into two classes: first, composition,
the arranging of the type in the proper order into words and pages; and
second, press work; the taking of impressions from the types, or from casts
of types in plates—being a facsimile of a type bed. This was stereotyping—
the invention of William Ged, of Edinburgh, in 1731.
Types soon came to be made everywhere of uniform height; that of England
and America being 92-100 of an inch, and became universally classified by
names according to their sizes, as pica, small pica, long primer, minion,
nonpareil, etc.
After movable types came the invention of Presses. The earliest were
composed of a wooden frame on which were placed the simple screw and a
lever to force a plate down upon a sheet of paper placed on the bed of type
which had been set in the press, with a spring to automatically raise the
screw and plate after the delivery of the impression. This was invented by
Blaew of Amsterdam in 1620. Such, also, was the Ramage press, and on
such a one Benjamin Franklin worked at his trade as a printer, both in
America and in London. His London press, on which he worked in 1725,
was carried to the United States, and is now on exhibition in Washington.
This was substantially the state of the art at the beginning of the century.
Then Earl Stanhope in England invented a press entirely of iron, and the
power consisted of the combination of a toggle joint and lever. The first
American improvement was invented by George Clymer, of Philadelphia, in
1817, the power being an improved lever consisting of three simple levers
of the second order. This was superseded by the “Washington” press
invented by Samuel Rust in 1829. It has as essential parts the toggle joint
and lever, and in the frame work, as in the Stanhope, type bed, rails on
which the bed was moved in and out, means to move the bed, the platen, the
tympan on which the sheet is placed, the frisket, a perforated sheet of paper,
to preserve the printed sheet, an inking roller and frame. In this was
subsequently introduced an automatic device for inking the roller, as it was
Page 205
moved back from over the bed of type on to an inking table. This,
substantially, has been the hand press ever since.
With one of these hand-presses and the aid of two men about two hundred
and fifty sheets an hour could be printed on one side. The increase in the
circulation of newspapers before the opening of the 19th century demanded
greater rapidity of production and turned the attention of inventors to the
construction of power or machine presses. Like the paper-making machine,
the power press was conceived in the last decade of the eighteenth century,
and like that art was also not developed until the nineteenth century.
William Nicholson of England is believed to have been the first inventor of
a machine printing press. He obtained an English patent for it in 1720. The
type were to be placed on the face of one cylinder, which was designed to
be in gear, revolved with, and press upon another cylinder covered with soft
leather, the type cylinder to be inked by a third cylinder to which the inking
apparatus, was applied, and the paper to be printed by being passed between
the type and the impression cylinder. These ideas were incorporated into the
best printing machines that have since been made. But the first successful
machine printing press was the invention of two Saxons, König and Bauer,
in 1813, who introduced their ideas from Germany, constructed the machine
in London, and on which on the 28th of November, 1814, an issue of the
London Times was printed. The Times announced to its readers that day that
they were for the first time perusing a paper printed upon a machine driven
by steam power. What a union of mighty forces was heralded in this simple
announcement! The union of the steam engine, the printing press, and a
great and powerful journal! An Archimedean lever had been found at last
with which to move the world.
The production of printed sheets per hour over the hand-press was at once
quadrupled, and very shortly 1800 sheets per hour were printed. This
machine was of that class known as cylinder presses. In this machine
ordinary type was used, and the type-form was flat and passed beneath a
large impression cylinder on which the paper was held by tapes. The type-
form was reciprocated beneath an inking apparatus and the paper cylinder
alternately. The inking apparatus consisted of a series of rollers, to the first
of which the ink was ejected from a trough and distributed to the others. In
1815 Cowper patented in England electrotype plates to be affixed to a
cylinder. Applegath and Cowper improved the König machine in the matter
substantially, has been the hand press ever since.
With one of these hand-presses and the aid of two men about two hundred
and fifty sheets an hour could be printed on one side. The increase in the
circulation of newspapers before the opening of the 19th century demanded
greater rapidity of production and turned the attention of inventors to the
construction of power or machine presses. Like the paper-making machine,
the power press was conceived in the last decade of the eighteenth century,
and like that art was also not developed until the nineteenth century.
William Nicholson of England is believed to have been the first inventor of
a machine printing press. He obtained an English patent for it in 1720. The
type were to be placed on the face of one cylinder, which was designed to
be in gear, revolved with, and press upon another cylinder covered with soft
leather, the type cylinder to be inked by a third cylinder to which the inking
apparatus, was applied, and the paper to be printed by being passed between
the type and the impression cylinder. These ideas were incorporated into the
best printing machines that have since been made. But the first successful
machine printing press was the invention of two Saxons, König and Bauer,
in 1813, who introduced their ideas from Germany, constructed the machine
in London, and on which on the 28th of November, 1814, an issue of the
London Times was printed. The Times announced to its readers that day that
they were for the first time perusing a paper printed upon a machine driven
by steam power. What a union of mighty forces was heralded in this simple
announcement! The union of the steam engine, the printing press, and a
great and powerful journal! An Archimedean lever had been found at last
with which to move the world.
The production of printed sheets per hour over the hand-press was at once
quadrupled, and very shortly 1800 sheets per hour were printed. This
machine was of that class known as cylinder presses. In this machine
ordinary type was used, and the type-form was flat and passed beneath a
large impression cylinder on which the paper was held by tapes. The type-
form was reciprocated beneath an inking apparatus and the paper cylinder
alternately. The inking apparatus consisted of a series of rollers, to the first
of which the ink was ejected from a trough and distributed to the others. In
1815 Cowper patented in England electrotype plates to be affixed to a
cylinder. Applegath and Cowper improved the König machine in the matter
Page 206
of the ink distributing rollers, and in the adaptation of four printing
cylinders to the reciprocating type bed, whereby, with some other minor
changes, 5000 impressions on one side were produced per hour. Again
Applegath greatly changed the arrangement of cylinders and multiplied
their number, and the number of the other parts, so that in 1848 the sheets
printed on one side were first 8000 and then 12,000 an hour.
In the United States, Daniel Treadwell of Boston invented the first power
printing machine in 1822. Two of these machines were at that time set up in
New York city. It was a flat bed press and was long used in Washington in
printing for the government. David Bruce of New York, in 1838, invented
the first successful type-casting machine, which, when shortly afterward it
was perfected, became the model for type-casting machines for Europe and
America. Previous to that time type were generally made by casting them in
hand-moulds—the metal being poured in with a spoon.
Robert Hoe, an English inventor, went to New York in 1803, and turned his
attention to the making of printing presses. His son, Richard March Hoe,
inherited his father’s inventive genius. While in England in 1837-1840,
obtaining a patent on and introducing a circular saw, he became interested
in the printing presses of the London Times. Returning home, he invented
and perfected a rotary machine which received the name of the “Lightning
Press.” It first had four and then ten cylinders arranged in a circle. As
finally completed, it printed from a continuous roll of paper several miles in
length, and on both sides at the same time, cutting off and folding ready for
delivery, 15,000 to 20,000 newspapers an hour, the paper being drawn
through the press at the rate of 1,000 feet in a minute. Before it was in this
final, completed shape, it was adopted by the London Times. John Walter of
London in the meantime invented a machine of a similar class. He also used
a sheet of paper miles long. It was first damped, passed through blotting
rolls, and then to the printing cylinders. It gave out 11,000 perfected sheets,
or 22,000 impressions an hour, and as each sheet was printed, it was cut by
a knife on the cylinder, and the sheets piled on the paper boards. It was
adopted by the London Times and the New York Times.
A German press at Augsburg, and the Campbell presses of the United
States, have also become celebrated as web perfecting presses, in which the
web is printed, the sheets cut, associated, folded, and delivered at high
cylinders to the reciprocating type bed, whereby, with some other minor
changes, 5000 impressions on one side were produced per hour. Again
Applegath greatly changed the arrangement of cylinders and multiplied
their number, and the number of the other parts, so that in 1848 the sheets
printed on one side were first 8000 and then 12,000 an hour.
In the United States, Daniel Treadwell of Boston invented the first power
printing machine in 1822. Two of these machines were at that time set up in
New York city. It was a flat bed press and was long used in Washington in
printing for the government. David Bruce of New York, in 1838, invented
the first successful type-casting machine, which, when shortly afterward it
was perfected, became the model for type-casting machines for Europe and
America. Previous to that time type were generally made by casting them in
hand-moulds—the metal being poured in with a spoon.
Robert Hoe, an English inventor, went to New York in 1803, and turned his
attention to the making of printing presses. His son, Richard March Hoe,
inherited his father’s inventive genius. While in England in 1837-1840,
obtaining a patent on and introducing a circular saw, he became interested
in the printing presses of the London Times. Returning home, he invented
and perfected a rotary machine which received the name of the “Lightning
Press.” It first had four and then ten cylinders arranged in a circle. As
finally completed, it printed from a continuous roll of paper several miles in
length, and on both sides at the same time, cutting off and folding ready for
delivery, 15,000 to 20,000 newspapers an hour, the paper being drawn
through the press at the rate of 1,000 feet in a minute. Before it was in this
final, completed shape, it was adopted by the London Times. John Walter of
London in the meantime invented a machine of a similar class. He also used
a sheet of paper miles long. It was first damped, passed through blotting
rolls, and then to the printing cylinders. It gave out 11,000 perfected sheets,
or 22,000 impressions an hour, and as each sheet was printed, it was cut by
a knife on the cylinder, and the sheets piled on the paper boards. It was
adopted by the London Times and the New York Times.
A German press at Augsburg, and the Campbell presses of the United
States, have also become celebrated as web perfecting presses, in which the
web is printed, the sheets cut, associated, folded, and delivered at high
Page 207
speed. One of the latest quadruple stereotype perfecting presses made by
Hoe & Co. of New York has a running capacity of 48,000 papers per hour.
On another, a New York paper has turned off nearly six hundred thousand
copies in a single day, requiring for their printing ninety-four tons of paper.
Among other celebrated inventors of printing presses in the United States
were Isaac Adams, Taylor, Gordon, Potter, Hawkins, Bullock, Cottrell,
Campbell, Babcock, and Firm.
Mail-marking Machines, in which provision is made for holding the
printing mechanism out of operative position in case a letter is not in
position to be stamped; address-printing machines, including machines for
printing addresses by means of a stencil; machines for automatically setting
and distributing the type, including those in which the individual types are
caused to enter the proper receptacle by means of nicks in the type, which
engage corresponding projections on a stationary guard plate, and automatic
type justifying machines. All such have been invented, developed, and
perfected in the last half century.
Another invention which has added wonderfully to push the century along,
is the Typewriter. It has long been said that “The pen is mightier than the
sword,” but from present indications, it is proper to add that the typewriter
is mightier than the pen.
A machine in which movable types are caused to yield impressions on
paper to form letters by means of key levers operated by hand, has been one
of slow growth from its conception to its present practical and successful
form.
Some one suggested the idea in England in a patent in 1714. The idea rested
until 1840, when a French inventor revived it in a patent. At the same time
patents began to come out in England and the United States; and about forty
patents in each of these two countries were granted from that time until
1875. Since that date about 1400 patents more have been issued in the
United States, and a large number in other countries. It was, however, only
that year and before 1880, that the first popular commercially successful
machines were made and introduced.
The leading generic idea of all subsequent successful devices of this kind
was clearly set forth in the patent of S. W. Francis of the United States in
Hoe & Co. of New York has a running capacity of 48,000 papers per hour.
On another, a New York paper has turned off nearly six hundred thousand
copies in a single day, requiring for their printing ninety-four tons of paper.
Among other celebrated inventors of printing presses in the United States
were Isaac Adams, Taylor, Gordon, Potter, Hawkins, Bullock, Cottrell,
Campbell, Babcock, and Firm.
Mail-marking Machines, in which provision is made for holding the
printing mechanism out of operative position in case a letter is not in
position to be stamped; address-printing machines, including machines for
printing addresses by means of a stencil; machines for automatically setting
and distributing the type, including those in which the individual types are
caused to enter the proper receptacle by means of nicks in the type, which
engage corresponding projections on a stationary guard plate, and automatic
type justifying machines. All such have been invented, developed, and
perfected in the last half century.
Another invention which has added wonderfully to push the century along,
is the Typewriter. It has long been said that “The pen is mightier than the
sword,” but from present indications, it is proper to add that the typewriter
is mightier than the pen.
A machine in which movable types are caused to yield impressions on
paper to form letters by means of key levers operated by hand, has been one
of slow growth from its conception to its present practical and successful
form.
Some one suggested the idea in England in a patent in 1714. The idea rested
until 1840, when a French inventor revived it in a patent. At the same time
patents began to come out in England and the United States; and about forty
patents in each of these two countries were granted from that time until
1875. Since that date about 1400 patents more have been issued in the
United States, and a large number in other countries. It was, however, only
that year and before 1880, that the first popular commercially successful
machines were made and introduced.
The leading generic idea of all subsequent successful devices of this kind
was clearly set forth in the patent of S. W. Francis of the United States in
Page 208
1857. This feature is the arranging of a row of hammers in a circle so that
when put in motion they will all strike the same place, which is the centre
of that circle. The arrangement of a row of pivoted hammers or type levers,
each operated by a separate key lever to strike an inked ribbon in front of a
sheet of paper, means to automatically move the carriage carrying the paper
roll from right to left as the letters are successfully printed, leaving a space
between each letter and word, and sounding a signal when the end of a line
is reached, so that the carriage may be returned to its former position—all
these and some other minor but necessary operations may seem simple
enough when stated, but their accomplishment required the careful study of
many inventors for years.
One of the most modern of typewriters has a single electro-magnet to
actuate all the type bars of a set, and to throw each type from its normal
position to the printing centre. By an extremely light touch given to each
key lever the circuit is closed and causes the lever to strike without the
necessity of pressing the key down its whole extent and releasing it before
the next key strikes. By this device, the operator is relieved of fatigue, as his
fingers may glide quickly from one key to another, the printing is made
uniform, and far greater speed attained by reason of the quick and delicate
action. Mr. Thaddeus Cahill of Washington appears to be the first to have
invented the most successful of this type of machines.
Book-binding Machinery is another new production of the century. It may
be that the old hand methods would give to a book a stronger binding than
is found on most books to-day, but the modern public demands and has
obtained machinery that will take the loose sheets and bind them ready for
delivery, at the rate of ten or fifteen thousand volumes a day.
The “quaint and curious volumes of forgotten lore,” the Latin folios in oak
or ivory boards with brass clasps, or bound in velvet, or in crimson satin,
ornamented with finest needlework or precious stones, or the more humble
beech boards, and calf and sheep skins with metal edges and iron clasps, in
all of which the sheets were stoutly sewed together and glued, when glue
was known, to the covers, are now but relics of the past. Machinery came to
the front quite rapidly after 1825, at which time cloth had been introduced
as cheaper than leather, and as cheap and a more enduring binder than
paper. The processes in book-binding are enumerated as follows; and for
when put in motion they will all strike the same place, which is the centre
of that circle. The arrangement of a row of pivoted hammers or type levers,
each operated by a separate key lever to strike an inked ribbon in front of a
sheet of paper, means to automatically move the carriage carrying the paper
roll from right to left as the letters are successfully printed, leaving a space
between each letter and word, and sounding a signal when the end of a line
is reached, so that the carriage may be returned to its former position—all
these and some other minor but necessary operations may seem simple
enough when stated, but their accomplishment required the careful study of
many inventors for years.
One of the most modern of typewriters has a single electro-magnet to
actuate all the type bars of a set, and to throw each type from its normal
position to the printing centre. By an extremely light touch given to each
key lever the circuit is closed and causes the lever to strike without the
necessity of pressing the key down its whole extent and releasing it before
the next key strikes. By this device, the operator is relieved of fatigue, as his
fingers may glide quickly from one key to another, the printing is made
uniform, and far greater speed attained by reason of the quick and delicate
action. Mr. Thaddeus Cahill of Washington appears to be the first to have
invented the most successful of this type of machines.
Book-binding Machinery is another new production of the century. It may
be that the old hand methods would give to a book a stronger binding than
is found on most books to-day, but the modern public demands and has
obtained machinery that will take the loose sheets and bind them ready for
delivery, at the rate of ten or fifteen thousand volumes a day.
The “quaint and curious volumes of forgotten lore,” the Latin folios in oak
or ivory boards with brass clasps, or bound in velvet, or in crimson satin,
ornamented with finest needlework or precious stones, or the more humble
beech boards, and calf and sheep skins with metal edges and iron clasps, in
all of which the sheets were stoutly sewed together and glued, when glue
was known, to the covers, are now but relics of the past. Machinery came to
the front quite rapidly after 1825, at which time cloth had been introduced
as cheaper than leather, and as cheap and a more enduring binder than
paper. The processes in book-binding are enumerated as follows; and for
Page 209
each process a machine has been invented within the last sixty years to do
the work:
Folding the sheets;
Gathering the consecutive sheets;
Rolling the backs of folded sheets;
Saw cutting the backs for the combs;
Sewing;
Rounding the back of the sewed sheets.
Edge cutting;
Binding, securing the books to the sides, covering
with muslin, leather or paper. Tooling and lettering.
Edge gilting.
One of the best modern illustrations of human thought and complicated
manual operations contained in automatic machinery is the Linotype.
It is a great step from the humble invention of Schoeffer five hundred and
fifty years ago of cast movable type to that of another German,
Mergenthaler, in 1890-92.
The Linotype (a line of type) was pronounced by the London Engineering
“as the most remarkable machine of this century.” It was the outcome of
twelve years of continuous experiment and invention, and the expenditure
of more than a million dollars. A brief description of this invention is given
in the report of the United States commissioner of patents for 1895 as
follows: “In the present Mergenthaler construction there is a magazine
containing a series of tubes for the letter or character moulds, each of which
moulds is provided with a single character. There are a number of
duplicates of each character, and the moulds containing the same character
are all arranged in one tube. The machine is provided with a series of finger
keys, which, when pressed like the keys of a typewriter, cause the letter
moulds to assemble in a line in their proper order for print. A line mould
and a melting pot are then brought into proper relation to the assembled line
of letter moulds and a cast is taken, called the linotype, which represents the
entire line, a column wide, of the matter to be printed. The letter moulds are
then automatically returned to their proper magazine tube. The
Mergenthaler machine is largely in use in the principal newspaper offices,
the work:
Folding the sheets;
Gathering the consecutive sheets;
Rolling the backs of folded sheets;
Saw cutting the backs for the combs;
Sewing;
Rounding the back of the sewed sheets.
Edge cutting;
Binding, securing the books to the sides, covering
with muslin, leather or paper. Tooling and lettering.
Edge gilting.
One of the best modern illustrations of human thought and complicated
manual operations contained in automatic machinery is the Linotype.
It is a great step from the humble invention of Schoeffer five hundred and
fifty years ago of cast movable type to that of another German,
Mergenthaler, in 1890-92.
The Linotype (a line of type) was pronounced by the London Engineering
“as the most remarkable machine of this century.” It was the outcome of
twelve years of continuous experiment and invention, and the expenditure
of more than a million dollars. A brief description of this invention is given
in the report of the United States commissioner of patents for 1895 as
follows: “In the present Mergenthaler construction there is a magazine
containing a series of tubes for the letter or character moulds, each of which
moulds is provided with a single character. There are a number of
duplicates of each character, and the moulds containing the same character
are all arranged in one tube. The machine is provided with a series of finger
keys, which, when pressed like the keys of a typewriter, cause the letter
moulds to assemble in a line in their proper order for print. A line mould
and a melting pot are then brought into proper relation to the assembled line
of letter moulds and a cast is taken, called the linotype, which represents the
entire line, a column wide, of the matter to be printed. The letter moulds are
then automatically returned to their proper magazine tube. The
Mergenthaler machine is largely in use in the principal newspaper offices,
Page 210
with the result that a single operator does at least the work of four average
compositors.”
Mr Rogers obtained a United States patent, September 23, 1890, for a
machine for casting lines of type, the principal feature of which is that the
letter moulds are strung on wires secured on a hinged frame. “When the
frame is in one position, the letter moulds are released by the keys, slide
down the wires by gravity and are assembled in line at the casting point.
After the cast is taken, the lower ends of the guide wires are elevated, which
causes the letter moulds to slide back on the wires to their original position,
when the operation is repeated for the next line.” Operated by a single
person, the Mergenthaler produces and assembles linotypes ready for the
press or stereotyping table at the rate of from 3,600 to 7,000 ems (type
characters) per hour. It permits the face or style of type to be changed at
will and it permits the operator to read and correct his matter as he
proceeds.
To the aid of the ordinary printing press came electrotyping, stenographic
colour printing, engraving, and smaller job and card presses, all entirely
new creations within the century, and of infinite variety, each in itself
forming a new class in typographic art, and a valuable addition to the
marvellous transformation.
The introduction of the linotype and other modern machines into printing
offices has without doubt many times reduced and displaced manual labour,
and caused at those times at least temporary suffering among employees.
But statistics do not show that as a whole there are fewer printers in the
land. On the contrary, the force seems to increase, just as the number of
printing establishments increase, with the multiplication of new inventions.
As in other arts, the distress caused by the displacement of hand-labour by
machinery is local and temporary. The whole art rests for its development
on the demand for reading matter, and the demand never seems to let up. It
increases as fast as the means of the consumers increase for procuring it.
One hundred years ago a decent private library, consisting of a hundred or
so volumes, one or two weekly newspapers, and an occasional periodical,
was the badge and possession alone of the wealthy few. Now nearly every
reading citizen of every village has piled up in some corner of his house a
better supply than that, of bound or unbound literature, and of a far superior
compositors.”
Mr Rogers obtained a United States patent, September 23, 1890, for a
machine for casting lines of type, the principal feature of which is that the
letter moulds are strung on wires secured on a hinged frame. “When the
frame is in one position, the letter moulds are released by the keys, slide
down the wires by gravity and are assembled in line at the casting point.
After the cast is taken, the lower ends of the guide wires are elevated, which
causes the letter moulds to slide back on the wires to their original position,
when the operation is repeated for the next line.” Operated by a single
person, the Mergenthaler produces and assembles linotypes ready for the
press or stereotyping table at the rate of from 3,600 to 7,000 ems (type
characters) per hour. It permits the face or style of type to be changed at
will and it permits the operator to read and correct his matter as he
proceeds.
To the aid of the ordinary printing press came electrotyping, stenographic
colour printing, engraving, and smaller job and card presses, all entirely
new creations within the century, and of infinite variety, each in itself
forming a new class in typographic art, and a valuable addition to the
marvellous transformation.
The introduction of the linotype and other modern machines into printing
offices has without doubt many times reduced and displaced manual labour,
and caused at those times at least temporary suffering among employees.
But statistics do not show that as a whole there are fewer printers in the
land. On the contrary, the force seems to increase, just as the number of
printing establishments increase, with the multiplication of new inventions.
As in other arts, the distress caused by the displacement of hand-labour by
machinery is local and temporary. The whole art rests for its development
on the demand for reading matter, and the demand never seems to let up. It
increases as fast as the means of the consumers increase for procuring it.
One hundred years ago a decent private library, consisting of a hundred or
so volumes, one or two weekly newspapers, and an occasional periodical,
was the badge and possession alone of the wealthy few. Now nearly every
reading citizen of every village has piled up in some corner of his house a
better supply than that, of bound or unbound literature, and of a far superior
Page 211
quality. Besides the tons of reading matter of all kinds turned out daily by
the city presses, every village wants its own paper and its town library, and
every one of its business men has recourse to the typewriter and the printer
for his letters, his cards, and his advertisements.
To supply the present demand for printed matter with the implements of a
hundred years ago, it would be necessary to draw upon and exhaust the
supply of labourers in nearly every other occupation. Printing would
become the one universal profession.
The roar of the guns at Waterloo and the click of the first power printing
press in London were nearly simultaneous. The military Colossus then
tumbled, and the Press began to lead mankind. Wars still continue, and will,
until men are civilised; but the vanguard of civilisation are the printers, and
not the warriors. The marvellous glory of the nineteenth century has
proceeded from the intelligence of the people, awakened, stimulated, and
guided by the press. But the press itself, and its servitors and messengers,
speeding on the wings of electricity, are the children of the inventors.
These inventions have made the book and the newspaper the poor man’s
University. They are mirrors which throw into his humble home reflections
of the scenes of busy life everywhere. By them knowledge is spread,
thought aroused, and universal education established.
the city presses, every village wants its own paper and its town library, and
every one of its business men has recourse to the typewriter and the printer
for his letters, his cards, and his advertisements.
To supply the present demand for printed matter with the implements of a
hundred years ago, it would be necessary to draw upon and exhaust the
supply of labourers in nearly every other occupation. Printing would
become the one universal profession.
The roar of the guns at Waterloo and the click of the first power printing
press in London were nearly simultaneous. The military Colossus then
tumbled, and the Press began to lead mankind. Wars still continue, and will,
until men are civilised; but the vanguard of civilisation are the printers, and
not the warriors. The marvellous glory of the nineteenth century has
proceeded from the intelligence of the people, awakened, stimulated, and
guided by the press. But the press itself, and its servitors and messengers,
speeding on the wings of electricity, are the children of the inventors.
These inventions have made the book and the newspaper the poor man’s
University. They are mirrors which throw into his humble home reflections
of the scenes of busy life everywhere. By them knowledge is spread,
thought aroused, and universal education established.
Page 212
CHAPTER XVIII.
TEXTILES.
Spinning:—A bunch of combed fibre fixed in the forked end of a stick
called a distaff, held under the left arm, while with the right forefinger and
thumb the housewife or maiden deftly drew out and twisted a thread of yarn
of the fibre and wound it upon a stick called a spindle, was the art of
spinning that came down to Europe from Ancient Egypt or India without a
change through all the centuries to at least the middle of the fourteenth
century, and in England to the time of Henry VIII. Then the spinning wheel
was introduced, which is said to have also been long in use in India. By the
use of the wheel the spindle was no longer held in the hand, but, set upon a
frame and connected by a cord or belt to the wheel, was made to whirl by
turning the wheel by hand, or by a treadle. The spindle was connected to the
bunch of cotton by a cord, or by a single roving of cotton or wool attached
to the spindle, which was held between the finger and thumb, and as the
spindle revolved the thread was drawn out and twisted and wound by the
spindle upon itself.
In the cloth of the ancient East the warp and weft were both of cotton. In
England the warp was linen and the weft was cotton. The warp was made
by the cloth and linen manufacturers, and the weft yarns furnished by the
woman spinsters throughout the country. By both these methods only a
single thread at a time was spun. The principle of the spinning operation,
the drawing out and twisting a thread or cord from a bunch or roll of fibre,
has remained the same through all time.
The light and delicate work, the pure and soft material, and the beauty and
usefulness of raiments produced, have all through time made woman the
natural goddess, the priestess, the patroness, and the votary of this art. The
object of all modern machinery, however complicated or wonderful, has
TEXTILES.
Spinning:—A bunch of combed fibre fixed in the forked end of a stick
called a distaff, held under the left arm, while with the right forefinger and
thumb the housewife or maiden deftly drew out and twisted a thread of yarn
of the fibre and wound it upon a stick called a spindle, was the art of
spinning that came down to Europe from Ancient Egypt or India without a
change through all the centuries to at least the middle of the fourteenth
century, and in England to the time of Henry VIII. Then the spinning wheel
was introduced, which is said to have also been long in use in India. By the
use of the wheel the spindle was no longer held in the hand, but, set upon a
frame and connected by a cord or belt to the wheel, was made to whirl by
turning the wheel by hand, or by a treadle. The spindle was connected to the
bunch of cotton by a cord, or by a single roving of cotton or wool attached
to the spindle, which was held between the finger and thumb, and as the
spindle revolved the thread was drawn out and twisted and wound by the
spindle upon itself.
In the cloth of the ancient East the warp and weft were both of cotton. In
England the warp was linen and the weft was cotton. The warp was made
by the cloth and linen manufacturers, and the weft yarns furnished by the
woman spinsters throughout the country. By both these methods only a
single thread at a time was spun. The principle of the spinning operation,
the drawing out and twisting a thread or cord from a bunch or roll of fibre,
has remained the same through all time.
The light and delicate work, the pure and soft material, and the beauty and
usefulness of raiments produced, have all through time made woman the
natural goddess, the priestess, the patroness, and the votary of this art. The
object of all modern machinery, however complicated or wonderful, has
Page 213
simply been to increase the speed and efficiency of the ancient mode of
operation and to multiply its results. The loom, that antique frame on which
the threads were laid in one direction to form the warp, and crossed by the
yarns in the opposite direction, carried through the warp by the shuttle
thrown by hand, to form the woof, or weft, comprised a device as old as, if
not older than, the distaff and spindle.
The ancient and isolated races of Mexico had also learned the art of
spinning and weaving. When the Spaniards first entered that country they
found the natives clothed in cotton, woven plain, or in many colours.
After forty centuries of unchanged life, it occurred to John Kay of Bury,
England, that the weaving process might be improved. In 1733 he had
succeeded in inventing the picker motion, “picker peg,” or “fly.” This
consisted of mechanical means for throwing the shuttle across the web by a
sudden jerk of a bar—one at each side—operated by pulling a cord. He
could thus throw the shuttle farther and quicker than by hand—make wider
cloth, and do as much work in the same time as two men had done before.
This improvement put weaving ahead of spinning, and the weavers were
continually calling on the spindlers for more weft yarns. This set the wits of
inventors at work to better the spinning means.
At the same time that Kay was struggling with his invention of the flying
shuttle, another poor man, but with less success, had conceived another
idea, as to spinning. John Wyatt of Lichfield thought it would be a good
thing to draw out the sliver of cotton or wool between two sets of rollers,
one end of the sliver being held and fed by one set of rollers, while the
opposite end was being drawn by the other set of rollers moving at a greater
speed. His invention, although not then used, was patented in 1738 by
Lewis Paul, who in time won a fortune by it, while Wyatt died poor, and it
was claimed that Paul and not Wyatt was the true inventor.
About 1764 a little accident occurring in the home of James Hargreaves, an
English weaver of Blackburn, suggested to that observant person an
invention that was as important as that of Kay. He was studying hard how to
get up a machine to meet the weavers’ demands for cotton yarns. One day
while Hargreaves was spinning, surrounded by his children, one of them
upset the spinning wheel, probably in a children’s frolic, and after it fell and
operation and to multiply its results. The loom, that antique frame on which
the threads were laid in one direction to form the warp, and crossed by the
yarns in the opposite direction, carried through the warp by the shuttle
thrown by hand, to form the woof, or weft, comprised a device as old as, if
not older than, the distaff and spindle.
The ancient and isolated races of Mexico had also learned the art of
spinning and weaving. When the Spaniards first entered that country they
found the natives clothed in cotton, woven plain, or in many colours.
After forty centuries of unchanged life, it occurred to John Kay of Bury,
England, that the weaving process might be improved. In 1733 he had
succeeded in inventing the picker motion, “picker peg,” or “fly.” This
consisted of mechanical means for throwing the shuttle across the web by a
sudden jerk of a bar—one at each side—operated by pulling a cord. He
could thus throw the shuttle farther and quicker than by hand—make wider
cloth, and do as much work in the same time as two men had done before.
This improvement put weaving ahead of spinning, and the weavers were
continually calling on the spindlers for more weft yarns. This set the wits of
inventors at work to better the spinning means.
At the same time that Kay was struggling with his invention of the flying
shuttle, another poor man, but with less success, had conceived another
idea, as to spinning. John Wyatt of Lichfield thought it would be a good
thing to draw out the sliver of cotton or wool between two sets of rollers,
one end of the sliver being held and fed by one set of rollers, while the
opposite end was being drawn by the other set of rollers moving at a greater
speed. His invention, although not then used, was patented in 1738 by
Lewis Paul, who in time won a fortune by it, while Wyatt died poor, and it
was claimed that Paul and not Wyatt was the true inventor.
About 1764 a little accident occurring in the home of James Hargreaves, an
English weaver of Blackburn, suggested to that observant person an
invention that was as important as that of Kay. He was studying hard how to
get up a machine to meet the weavers’ demands for cotton yarns. One day
while Hargreaves was spinning, surrounded by his children, one of them
upset the spinning wheel, probably in a children’s frolic, and after it fell and
Page 214
while lying in a horizontal position, with the spindle in a vertical position,
and the wheel and the spindle still running, the idea flashed into
Hargreaves’ mind that a number of spindles might be placed upright and run
from the same power. Thus prompted he commenced work, working in
secret and at odd hours, and finally, after two or three years, completed a
crude machine, which he called the spinning jenny, some say after his wife,
and others that the name came from “gin,” the common abbreviated name
of an engine. This machine had eight or ten spindles driven by cords or
belts from the same wheel, and operated by hand or foot. The rovings at one
end were attached to the spindles and their opposite portions held together
and drawn out by a clasp held in the hand. When the thread yarn was drawn
out sufficiently it was wound upon the spindles by a reverse movement of
the wheel. Thus finally were means provided to supply the demand for the
weft yarns. One person with one of Hargreaves’ machines could in the same
time spin as much as twenty or thirty persons with their wheels. But those
who were to be most benefited by the invention were the most alarmed, for
fear of the destruction of their business, and they arose in their wrath, and
demolished Hargreaves’ labours. It was a hard time for inventors. The law
of England then was that patents were invalid if the invention was made
known before the patent was applied for, and part of the public insisted on
demolishing the invention if it was so made known, so that to avoid the law
and the lawless the harassed inventors kept and worked their inventions in
secret as long as they could. Hargreaves fled to Nottingham, where works
were soon started with his spinning jennys. The ideas of Kay, Wyatt and
Hargreaves are said to have been anticipated in Italy. There were makers of
cloths at Florence, and also in Spain and the Netherlands, who were far in
advance of the English and French in this art, but the descriptions of
machinery employed by them are too vague and scanty to sustain the
allegation.
And now the long ice age of hand working was breaking up, and the age of
machine production was fast setting in. Hargreaves was in the midst of his
troubles and his early triumphs, in 1765-1769, when Richard Arkwright
entered the field. Arkwright, first a barber, and then a travelling buyer of
hair, and finally a knight, learned, as he travelled through Lancashire,
Lichfield, Blackburn and Nottingham, of the inventions and labours of
Wyatt, Kay and Hargreaves. Possessed as he was of some mechanical skill
and the wheel and the spindle still running, the idea flashed into
Hargreaves’ mind that a number of spindles might be placed upright and run
from the same power. Thus prompted he commenced work, working in
secret and at odd hours, and finally, after two or three years, completed a
crude machine, which he called the spinning jenny, some say after his wife,
and others that the name came from “gin,” the common abbreviated name
of an engine. This machine had eight or ten spindles driven by cords or
belts from the same wheel, and operated by hand or foot. The rovings at one
end were attached to the spindles and their opposite portions held together
and drawn out by a clasp held in the hand. When the thread yarn was drawn
out sufficiently it was wound upon the spindles by a reverse movement of
the wheel. Thus finally were means provided to supply the demand for the
weft yarns. One person with one of Hargreaves’ machines could in the same
time spin as much as twenty or thirty persons with their wheels. But those
who were to be most benefited by the invention were the most alarmed, for
fear of the destruction of their business, and they arose in their wrath, and
demolished Hargreaves’ labours. It was a hard time for inventors. The law
of England then was that patents were invalid if the invention was made
known before the patent was applied for, and part of the public insisted on
demolishing the invention if it was so made known, so that to avoid the law
and the lawless the harassed inventors kept and worked their inventions in
secret as long as they could. Hargreaves fled to Nottingham, where works
were soon started with his spinning jennys. The ideas of Kay, Wyatt and
Hargreaves are said to have been anticipated in Italy. There were makers of
cloths at Florence, and also in Spain and the Netherlands, who were far in
advance of the English and French in this art, but the descriptions of
machinery employed by them are too vague and scanty to sustain the
allegation.
And now the long ice age of hand working was breaking up, and the age of
machine production was fast setting in. Hargreaves was in the midst of his
troubles and his early triumphs, in 1765-1769, when Richard Arkwright
entered the field. Arkwright, first a barber, and then a travelling buyer of
hair, and finally a knight, learned, as he travelled through Lancashire,
Lichfield, Blackburn and Nottingham, of the inventions and labours of
Wyatt, Kay and Hargreaves. Possessed as he was of some mechanical skill
Page 215
and inventive genius, and realising that the harvest was ripe and the
labourers few, entered the field of inventions, and with the help of Kay,
revived the old ideas of John Wyatt and Lewis Paul of spinning by rollers,
which had now slumbered for thirty years. Kay and Arkwright constructed a
working model, and on this Arkwright by hard pushing and hard work
obtained capital, and improved, completed and patented his machine. The
machine was first used by him in a mill erected at Nottingham and worked
by horses; then at Cromford, and in this mill the power used to drive the
spinning machine was a water wheel. His invention was therefore given the
name of the water frame, which it retained long after steam had been
substituted for water as the driving power. It was also named the throstle,
from the fact that it gave a humming or singing sound while at work; but it
is commonly known as the drawing frame. Arkwright patented useful
improvements. He had to contend with mobs and with the courts, which
combined to destroy his machines and his patent, but he finally succeeded
in establishing mills, and in earning from the Government, manufacturers,
and the public a great and well-merited munificence.
It is a remarkable coincidence that Watt’s steam engine patent and
Arkwright’s first patent for his spinning machine were issued in the same
year—1769. The new era of invention was dawning fast.
Then, in 1776, came Samuel Crompton of Bolton, who invented a
combination of the jenny of Hargreaves and the roller water frame of
Arkwright, and to distinguish his invention from the others he named it the
“mule.” The mule was a carriage on wheels to which the spindles were
attached. When the mule was drawn out one way on its frame the rovings
were drawn from bobbins through rollers on a stationary frame, stretched
and twisted into threads, and then as the mule was run back the spun threads
were wound on spools on the spindles. The mule entirely superseded the
use of the jenny. Notwithstanding the advantage in names the mule did
more delicate work than the jenny. It avoided the continuous stretch on the
thread of the jenny by first completing the thread and then winding it.
Crompton’s mule was moved back and forth by hand. Roberts subsequently
made it self-acting. Next, followed in England the Rev. Edward Cartwright,
who, turning his attention to looms, invented the first loom run by
machinery, the first power loom, 1784-85. Then the rioters turned on him,
and he experienced the same attentions received by Hargreaves and
labourers few, entered the field of inventions, and with the help of Kay,
revived the old ideas of John Wyatt and Lewis Paul of spinning by rollers,
which had now slumbered for thirty years. Kay and Arkwright constructed a
working model, and on this Arkwright by hard pushing and hard work
obtained capital, and improved, completed and patented his machine. The
machine was first used by him in a mill erected at Nottingham and worked
by horses; then at Cromford, and in this mill the power used to drive the
spinning machine was a water wheel. His invention was therefore given the
name of the water frame, which it retained long after steam had been
substituted for water as the driving power. It was also named the throstle,
from the fact that it gave a humming or singing sound while at work; but it
is commonly known as the drawing frame. Arkwright patented useful
improvements. He had to contend with mobs and with the courts, which
combined to destroy his machines and his patent, but he finally succeeded
in establishing mills, and in earning from the Government, manufacturers,
and the public a great and well-merited munificence.
It is a remarkable coincidence that Watt’s steam engine patent and
Arkwright’s first patent for his spinning machine were issued in the same
year—1769. The new era of invention was dawning fast.
Then, in 1776, came Samuel Crompton of Bolton, who invented a
combination of the jenny of Hargreaves and the roller water frame of
Arkwright, and to distinguish his invention from the others he named it the
“mule.” The mule was a carriage on wheels to which the spindles were
attached. When the mule was drawn out one way on its frame the rovings
were drawn from bobbins through rollers on a stationary frame, stretched
and twisted into threads, and then as the mule was run back the spun threads
were wound on spools on the spindles. The mule entirely superseded the
use of the jenny. Notwithstanding the advantage in names the mule did
more delicate work than the jenny. It avoided the continuous stretch on the
thread of the jenny by first completing the thread and then winding it.
Crompton’s mule was moved back and forth by hand. Roberts subsequently
made it self-acting. Next, followed in England the Rev. Edward Cartwright,
who, turning his attention to looms, invented the first loom run by
machinery, the first power loom, 1784-85. Then the rioters turned on him,
and he experienced the same attentions received by Hargreaves and
Page 216
Arkwright. The ignorance of ages died in this branch of human progress, as
it often dies in others, with a violent wrench. But the age of steam had at
last come, and with it the spinning machine, the power loom, the printing
press, and the discovery among men of the powers of the mind, their
freedom to exercise such powers, and their right to possess the fruits of
their labours.
The completed inventions of Arkwright and others, combined with Watt’s
steam engine, revolutionised trade, and resulted in the establishment of
mills and factories. A thousand spindles whirled where one hummed before.
The factory life which drew the women and girls from their country homes
to heated, and closely occupied, ill ventilated buildings within town limits,
was, however, not regarded as an improvement in the matter of health; and
it was a long time before mills were constructed and operated with the view
to the correction of this evil.
The great increase in demand for cotton produced by these machine
inventions could not have been met had it not been for Eli Whitney’s
invention of the saw gin in America in 1793. The cleaning of the seed from
the cotton accomplished by this machine produced as great a revolution in
the culture of cotton in America as the inventions of Arkwright and others
accomplished in spinning and weaving in England. America had also
learned of Arkwright’s machinery. Samuel Slater, a former employee of
Arkwright, introduced it to Rhode Island in 1789, and built a great cotton
mill there in 1793. Others followed in Massachusetts. Within twenty years
after the introduction of Arkwright’s machines in the United States there
were a hundred mills there with a hundred thousand spindles.
As has been said, it was customary for weavers to make the warp on their
looms at one place, and the spinners to furnish the yarns for the weft from
their homes, and even after the spinning machines were invented the
spinning and weaving were done at separate places. It remained for Francis
C. Lowell of Boston, who had been studying the art of spinning and
weaving in England and Scotland and the inventions of Arkwright and
Crompton, to establish in 1813 at Waltham, Mass., with the aid of Paul
Moody, machinist, the first factory in the world wherein were combined
under one roof all the processes for converting cotton into cloth.
it often dies in others, with a violent wrench. But the age of steam had at
last come, and with it the spinning machine, the power loom, the printing
press, and the discovery among men of the powers of the mind, their
freedom to exercise such powers, and their right to possess the fruits of
their labours.
The completed inventions of Arkwright and others, combined with Watt’s
steam engine, revolutionised trade, and resulted in the establishment of
mills and factories. A thousand spindles whirled where one hummed before.
The factory life which drew the women and girls from their country homes
to heated, and closely occupied, ill ventilated buildings within town limits,
was, however, not regarded as an improvement in the matter of health; and
it was a long time before mills were constructed and operated with the view
to the correction of this evil.
The great increase in demand for cotton produced by these machine
inventions could not have been met had it not been for Eli Whitney’s
invention of the saw gin in America in 1793. The cleaning of the seed from
the cotton accomplished by this machine produced as great a revolution in
the culture of cotton in America as the inventions of Arkwright and others
accomplished in spinning and weaving in England. America had also
learned of Arkwright’s machinery. Samuel Slater, a former employee of
Arkwright, introduced it to Rhode Island in 1789, and built a great cotton
mill there in 1793. Others followed in Massachusetts. Within twenty years
after the introduction of Arkwright’s machines in the United States there
were a hundred mills there with a hundred thousand spindles.
As has been said, it was customary for weavers to make the warp on their
looms at one place, and the spinners to furnish the yarns for the weft from
their homes, and even after the spinning machines were invented the
spinning and weaving were done at separate places. It remained for Francis
C. Lowell of Boston, who had been studying the art of spinning and
weaving in England and Scotland and the inventions of Arkwright and
Crompton, to establish in 1813 at Waltham, Mass., with the aid of Paul
Moody, machinist, the first factory in the world wherein were combined
under one roof all the processes for converting cotton into cloth.
Page 217
The task of the century in this art has been to greatly extend the dominion
of machinery in the treatment of cotton and wool in all stages, from the
reception of the raw material at the door of the factory to its final
completion in the form of the choicest cloth, and to increase the capacity of
machines sufficiently to meet an ever-increasing and enormous
consumption. There are from twenty to forty separate and distinct
operations performed both in spinning and weaving and the completion of a
piece of cloth from cotton or wool, and nearly all of these operations are
accomplished by machinery.
The century’s improvements and inventions in machines for treating and
spinning cotton comprise machines for first opening and tearing the matted
mass apart as it is taken from the bales, then cleaning, carding, drawing,
roving, stretching, spinning, winding, doubling, dressing, warping,
weaving, etc. Formerly, the opening machines were simply cylinders armed
with spikes, to which the cotton was led through nipping rollers, and then
delivered in a loose, fluffy condition. When such a machine was associated
with a blowing machine to blow out the dust and cleanse the fibre, the loose
and scattered condition in which the cotton was left gave rise to a great
danger from fire, and destructive fires often occurred. The object of the later
opening machinery is to confine the cotton within a casing in its passage
through the machine, during which passage it is thoroughly stretched,
beaten and blown and then rolled into a continuous sheet or lap. At the same
time, by nice devices, it is evened, that is, freed from all knots, and made of
uniform thickness, while a certain quantity only of cotton of known weight
is allowed to pass through to constitute the required lap. Finally the lap is
wound upon a roller, which when filled is removed to the carder. Although
the cotton is now a white, soft, clean, downy sheet, still the fibres cross
each other in every direction, and they require to be straightened and laid
parallel before the spinning. This is done by carding. Paul, Hargreaves,
Robert Peel, and Arkwright had worked in constructing a machine to take
the place of hand carding, and it was finally reduced by Arkwright, towards
the close of the 18th century, to its present form and principle.
But to make those narrow, ribbon-like, clean, long lines of rolled cotton,
known as slivers, by machinery with greater precision and uniformity than
is possible by hand, and with a thousand times greater rapidity, has been the
work of many inventors at different times and in different countries. The
of machinery in the treatment of cotton and wool in all stages, from the
reception of the raw material at the door of the factory to its final
completion in the form of the choicest cloth, and to increase the capacity of
machines sufficiently to meet an ever-increasing and enormous
consumption. There are from twenty to forty separate and distinct
operations performed both in spinning and weaving and the completion of a
piece of cloth from cotton or wool, and nearly all of these operations are
accomplished by machinery.
The century’s improvements and inventions in machines for treating and
spinning cotton comprise machines for first opening and tearing the matted
mass apart as it is taken from the bales, then cleaning, carding, drawing,
roving, stretching, spinning, winding, doubling, dressing, warping,
weaving, etc. Formerly, the opening machines were simply cylinders armed
with spikes, to which the cotton was led through nipping rollers, and then
delivered in a loose, fluffy condition. When such a machine was associated
with a blowing machine to blow out the dust and cleanse the fibre, the loose
and scattered condition in which the cotton was left gave rise to a great
danger from fire, and destructive fires often occurred. The object of the later
opening machinery is to confine the cotton within a casing in its passage
through the machine, during which passage it is thoroughly stretched,
beaten and blown and then rolled into a continuous sheet or lap. At the same
time, by nice devices, it is evened, that is, freed from all knots, and made of
uniform thickness, while a certain quantity only of cotton of known weight
is allowed to pass through to constitute the required lap. Finally the lap is
wound upon a roller, which when filled is removed to the carder. Although
the cotton is now a white, soft, clean, downy sheet, still the fibres cross
each other in every direction, and they require to be straightened and laid
parallel before the spinning. This is done by carding. Paul, Hargreaves,
Robert Peel, and Arkwright had worked in constructing a machine to take
the place of hand carding, and it was finally reduced by Arkwright, towards
the close of the 18th century, to its present form and principle.
But to make those narrow, ribbon-like, clean, long lines of rolled cotton,
known as slivers, by machinery with greater precision and uniformity than
is possible by hand, and with a thousand times greater rapidity, has been the
work of many inventors at different times and in different countries. The
Page 218
machine cards are cylinders clothed with leather and provided with separate
sets of slender, sharp, bent fingers. The different cards are arranged to move
past each other in opposite directions, so as to catch and disentangle the
fibres. Flat, overhead stationary cards are also used through which the
cotton is carried. As one operation of carding is not sufficient for most
purposes the cotton is subjected to one or more successive cardings. So
ingenious is the structure in some of its parts that as the stream of cotton
passes on, any existing knots do not fail to excite the attention of the
machine, which at once arrests them and holds them until disentangled. In
connection with the cards, combers and strippers are used to assist in further
cleaning and straightening the fibre, which is finally removed from the
cards and the combs by the doffer. The cotton is stripped from the doffer by
the doffer knife and in the form of delicate, flat narrow ribbons, which are
drawn through a small funnel to consolidate them, and finally delivered in a
coiled form into a tall tin can. The material is then carried to a drawing
frame, which takes the spongy slivers, and, carrying them through
successive sets of rollers moving at increased speed, elongates, equalises,
straightens and “doubles” them, and finally condenses them into two or
more rolls by passing the same through a trumpet-shaped funnel. As the
yarns still need to be twisted, they are passed through a roving frame
similar to a drawing frame. An ingenious device connected with the
winding of the roving yarns upon bobbins may be here noted. Formerly the
bobbins on which the yarns were wound increased in speed as they were
filled, thus endangering and often breaking the thread, and at all times
increasing the tension. In 1823 Asa Arnold of Rhode Island invented “a
differential motion” by which the velocity of the bobbin is kept uniform.
The roving having been reduced to proper size for the intended number of
yarns, now goes to the spinning machine, to still further draw out the
threads and give to them a more uniform twist and tenuity. The spinning
machine is simply an improved form of Crompton’s mule, already
described.
Great as have been the improvements in many matters in spindle structure,
the drawing, the stretching and the twisting still remain fundamentally the
same in principle as in the singing throstle of Arkwright and the steady
mule of Crompton. And yet so great and rapid has been the advancement of
inventions as to details and to meet the great demand, that the machinery of
sets of slender, sharp, bent fingers. The different cards are arranged to move
past each other in opposite directions, so as to catch and disentangle the
fibres. Flat, overhead stationary cards are also used through which the
cotton is carried. As one operation of carding is not sufficient for most
purposes the cotton is subjected to one or more successive cardings. So
ingenious is the structure in some of its parts that as the stream of cotton
passes on, any existing knots do not fail to excite the attention of the
machine, which at once arrests them and holds them until disentangled. In
connection with the cards, combers and strippers are used to assist in further
cleaning and straightening the fibre, which is finally removed from the
cards and the combs by the doffer. The cotton is stripped from the doffer by
the doffer knife and in the form of delicate, flat narrow ribbons, which are
drawn through a small funnel to consolidate them, and finally delivered in a
coiled form into a tall tin can. The material is then carried to a drawing
frame, which takes the spongy slivers, and, carrying them through
successive sets of rollers moving at increased speed, elongates, equalises,
straightens and “doubles” them, and finally condenses them into two or
more rolls by passing the same through a trumpet-shaped funnel. As the
yarns still need to be twisted, they are passed through a roving frame
similar to a drawing frame. An ingenious device connected with the
winding of the roving yarns upon bobbins may be here noted. Formerly the
bobbins on which the yarns were wound increased in speed as they were
filled, thus endangering and often breaking the thread, and at all times
increasing the tension. In 1823 Asa Arnold of Rhode Island invented “a
differential motion” by which the velocity of the bobbin is kept uniform.
The roving having been reduced to proper size for the intended number of
yarns, now goes to the spinning machine, to still further draw out the
threads and give to them a more uniform twist and tenuity. The spinning
machine is simply an improved form of Crompton’s mule, already
described.
Great as have been the improvements in many matters in spindle structure,
the drawing, the stretching and the twisting still remain fundamentally the
same in principle as in the singing throstle of Arkwright and the steady
mule of Crompton. And yet so great and rapid has been the advancement of
inventions as to details and to meet the great demand, that the machinery of
Page 219
half a century ago has been almost entirely discarded and supplanted by
different types. A great improvement on the spinning frame of the 18th
century is the ring frame invented by Jenks. In this the spindles, arranged
vertically in the frame, are driven by bands from a central cylinder, and
project through apertures in a horizontal bar. A flanged ridge around each
aperture forms a ring and affords a track for a little steel hoop called a
traveller, which is sprung over the ring. The traveller guides the thread on to
the spool. As the spindles revolve, the thread passing through the traveller
revolves it rapidly, and the horizontal bar rising and falling has the effect of
winding the yarn alternately and regularly upon the spools.
The bobbins of the spindle frame were found not large enough to contain a
sufficient amount of yarn to permit of a long continuous operation when the
warp came to be applied, and besides there were occasional defects in the
thread which could not be detected until it broke, if the yarn was used
directly from the bobbins. So to save much time and trouble spooling
machines were invented which wind the yarn from the bobbins holding
1200 to 1800 yards, to large spools, each holding 18,000 to 20,000 yards;
and then by passing the yarn through fine slots in guides which lead to the
spool, lumps or weak places, which would break the yarns at the guide,
could at once be discovered and the yarn retied firmly, so that there would
be no further breaking in the warper. After the yarn is finally spooled it is
found that its surface is still rough and covered with fuzz. It is desirable,
therefore, that it shall be smoothed out and be given somewhat of a lustre
before weaving. These final operations are performed by the warping and
dressing machines. In the warping machine the threads are drawn between
rollers, the tension of which can be regulated, and then through a “reed,” a
comb-shaped device which separates the threads, and then finally wound
upon a large cylinder. In this machine a device is also arranged which
operates to stop the machine at once if any thread is broken. When the
cylinder is filled it is then taken to the dresser, which in its modern and
useful form is known as the “slusher,” by which the yarns are drawn
through hot starch, the superfluous starch squeezed out, and the yarns, kept
separated all the time, dried by passing them around large drying cylinders,
or through a closed box heated by steam pipes, and then wound upon the
loom beam or cylinder.
different types. A great improvement on the spinning frame of the 18th
century is the ring frame invented by Jenks. In this the spindles, arranged
vertically in the frame, are driven by bands from a central cylinder, and
project through apertures in a horizontal bar. A flanged ridge around each
aperture forms a ring and affords a track for a little steel hoop called a
traveller, which is sprung over the ring. The traveller guides the thread on to
the spool. As the spindles revolve, the thread passing through the traveller
revolves it rapidly, and the horizontal bar rising and falling has the effect of
winding the yarn alternately and regularly upon the spools.
The bobbins of the spindle frame were found not large enough to contain a
sufficient amount of yarn to permit of a long continuous operation when the
warp came to be applied, and besides there were occasional defects in the
thread which could not be detected until it broke, if the yarn was used
directly from the bobbins. So to save much time and trouble spooling
machines were invented which wind the yarn from the bobbins holding
1200 to 1800 yards, to large spools, each holding 18,000 to 20,000 yards;
and then by passing the yarn through fine slots in guides which lead to the
spool, lumps or weak places, which would break the yarns at the guide,
could at once be discovered and the yarn retied firmly, so that there would
be no further breaking in the warper. After the yarn is finally spooled it is
found that its surface is still rough and covered with fuzz. It is desirable,
therefore, that it shall be smoothed out and be given somewhat of a lustre
before weaving. These final operations are performed by the warping and
dressing machines. In the warping machine the threads are drawn between
rollers, the tension of which can be regulated, and then through a “reed,” a
comb-shaped device which separates the threads, and then finally wound
upon a large cylinder. In this machine a device is also arranged which
operates to stop the machine at once if any thread is broken. When the
cylinder is filled it is then taken to the dresser, which in its modern and
useful form is known as the “slusher,” by which the yarns are drawn
through hot starch, the superfluous starch squeezed out, and the yarns, kept
separated all the time, dried by passing them around large drying cylinders,
or through a closed box heated by steam pipes, and then wound upon the
loom beam or cylinder.
Page 220
In weaving, as in spinning, however advanced, complicated and improved
the means may be beyond the hand methods and simple looms of past ages,
the general principles in the process are still the same. These means,
generally and broadly speaking, consist of a frame for two sets of threads, a
roller, called the warp beam, for receiving and holding the threads which
form the warp, a cloth beam upon which the cloth is wound as it is woven,
the warp threads, being first laid parallel, carried from the warp beam and
attached to the cloth beam; means called heddles, which with their moving
frames constitute “a harness,” consisting of a set of vertical strings or rods
having central loops through which the threads are passed, two or more sets
of which receive alternate threads, and by the reciprocation of which the
threads are separated into sets, decussated, forming between them what is
called a shed through which the shuttle is thrown; means for throwing the
shuttle; and means, called the batten, lay or lathe, for forcing or packing the
weft tight into the angle formed by the opened warp and so rendering the
fabric tight and compact, and then the motive power for turning the cloth
beam and winding the cloth as fast as completed. It is along these lines that
the inventors have wrought their marvellous changes from hand to power
looms.
Prior to 1800, in the weaving of figures into cloths, it was customary to
employ boys to pull the cords in the loom harness in order to arrange the
coloured threads in their relative positions. In that year appeared at the front
Joseph Marie Jacquard, a French mechanician and native of Lyons, whose
parents were weavers, a prolific inventor in his youth, a wayward wanderer
after fortune and a wife, a soldier in the Revolution, losing a son fighting by
his side, eking out a poor living with his wife’s help at straw weaving,
finally employed by a silk manufacturer, and while thus engaged, producing
that loom which has ever since been known by his name. This loom was
personally inspected by Napoleon, who rewarded the inventor with honours
and a pension. It was then demolished by a mob and its inventor reviled, but
it afterward became the pride of Lyons and the means of its renown and
wealth in the weaving of silks of rich designs.
The leading feature of the Jacquard loom consists of a chain of perforated
pattern cards made to pass over a drum, through which cards certain needles
pass, causing certain threads of the warp to rise and fall, according to the
holes in the cards, and thus admitting at certain places in the warp coloured
the means may be beyond the hand methods and simple looms of past ages,
the general principles in the process are still the same. These means,
generally and broadly speaking, consist of a frame for two sets of threads, a
roller, called the warp beam, for receiving and holding the threads which
form the warp, a cloth beam upon which the cloth is wound as it is woven,
the warp threads, being first laid parallel, carried from the warp beam and
attached to the cloth beam; means called heddles, which with their moving
frames constitute “a harness,” consisting of a set of vertical strings or rods
having central loops through which the threads are passed, two or more sets
of which receive alternate threads, and by the reciprocation of which the
threads are separated into sets, decussated, forming between them what is
called a shed through which the shuttle is thrown; means for throwing the
shuttle; and means, called the batten, lay or lathe, for forcing or packing the
weft tight into the angle formed by the opened warp and so rendering the
fabric tight and compact, and then the motive power for turning the cloth
beam and winding the cloth as fast as completed. It is along these lines that
the inventors have wrought their marvellous changes from hand to power
looms.
Prior to 1800, in the weaving of figures into cloths, it was customary to
employ boys to pull the cords in the loom harness in order to arrange the
coloured threads in their relative positions. In that year appeared at the front
Joseph Marie Jacquard, a French mechanician and native of Lyons, whose
parents were weavers, a prolific inventor in his youth, a wayward wanderer
after fortune and a wife, a soldier in the Revolution, losing a son fighting by
his side, eking out a poor living with his wife’s help at straw weaving,
finally employed by a silk manufacturer, and while thus engaged, producing
that loom which has ever since been known by his name. This loom was
personally inspected by Napoleon, who rewarded the inventor with honours
and a pension. It was then demolished by a mob and its inventor reviled, but
it afterward became the pride of Lyons and the means of its renown and
wealth in the weaving of silks of rich designs.
The leading feature of the Jacquard loom consists of a chain of perforated
pattern cards made to pass over a drum, through which cards certain needles
pass, causing certain threads of the warp to rise and fall, according to the
holes in the cards, and thus admitting at certain places in the warp coloured
Page 221
weft threads thrown by the shuttle, and reproducing the pattern which is
perforated in the cards. The Jacquard device could be applied to any loom,
and it worked a revolution in the manufacture of figured goods. The
complexity and expensiveness of Jacquard’s loom were greatly reduced by
subsequent improvements. In 1854 M. Bonelli constructed an electric loom
in which the cards of the Jacquard apparatus are superseded by an endless
band of tin-foiled paper, which serves as an electrical conductor to operate
the warp thread needles, which before had each been actuated by a spiral
spring. The Jacquard loom was also greatly improved by the English
inventors, Barlow, Taylor, Martain and others.
Radcliffe and Johnson, also of England, had invented and introduced the
machines for dressing the yarns in one operation before the weaving;
Horrocks and Marsland of Stockport greatly improved the adaptation of
steam to the driving of looms, and Roberts of Manchester made striking
advances in their mechanical parts and in bringing them to their present
state of wonderful efficiency.
In America, in 1836, George Crompton of Taunton, Massachusetts,
commenced a series of inventions in power looms for the manufacture of
fancy woollen goods, and in the details of such looms generally, particularly
in increasing the speed of the shuttle, which vastly increased the production
of such goods and gave to his looms a world-wide reputation.
E. B. Bigelow of Massachusetts in 1848 invented a power loom, which was
exhibited at the Exhibition at London in 1851, and astonished the world by
his exhibition of carpets superior to any woven by hand. By the later
improvements, and the aid of steam power, a single American Bigelow
carpet loom can turn out now one hundred yards of Brussels carpet in a day,
far superior in quality to any carpet which could possibly be made by hand,
when a man toiled painfully to produce five yards a day. Mr. Bigelow was
also a pioneer inventor of power machines for weaving coach lace, and
cotton checks and ginghams. James Lyall of New York invented a power
loom applicable either to the weaving of very wide and heavy fabrics, such
as jute canvas for the foundation of floor oil cloth, or to fabrics made of the
finest and most delicate yarns.
perforated in the cards. The Jacquard device could be applied to any loom,
and it worked a revolution in the manufacture of figured goods. The
complexity and expensiveness of Jacquard’s loom were greatly reduced by
subsequent improvements. In 1854 M. Bonelli constructed an electric loom
in which the cards of the Jacquard apparatus are superseded by an endless
band of tin-foiled paper, which serves as an electrical conductor to operate
the warp thread needles, which before had each been actuated by a spiral
spring. The Jacquard loom was also greatly improved by the English
inventors, Barlow, Taylor, Martain and others.
Radcliffe and Johnson, also of England, had invented and introduced the
machines for dressing the yarns in one operation before the weaving;
Horrocks and Marsland of Stockport greatly improved the adaptation of
steam to the driving of looms, and Roberts of Manchester made striking
advances in their mechanical parts and in bringing them to their present
state of wonderful efficiency.
In America, in 1836, George Crompton of Taunton, Massachusetts,
commenced a series of inventions in power looms for the manufacture of
fancy woollen goods, and in the details of such looms generally, particularly
in increasing the speed of the shuttle, which vastly increased the production
of such goods and gave to his looms a world-wide reputation.
E. B. Bigelow of Massachusetts in 1848 invented a power loom, which was
exhibited at the Exhibition at London in 1851, and astonished the world by
his exhibition of carpets superior to any woven by hand. By the later
improvements, and the aid of steam power, a single American Bigelow
carpet loom can turn out now one hundred yards of Brussels carpet in a day,
far superior in quality to any carpet which could possibly be made by hand,
when a man toiled painfully to produce five yards a day. Mr. Bigelow was
also a pioneer inventor of power machines for weaving coach lace, and
cotton checks and ginghams. James Lyall of New York invented a power
loom applicable either to the weaving of very wide and heavy fabrics, such
as jute canvas for the foundation of floor oil cloth, or to fabrics made of the
finest and most delicate yarns.
Page 222
It would be interesting, if space permitted, to describe the great variety of
machines that have been invented for dressing, finishing and treating cloths
after they are woven: The teasling machine, by which the nap of woollen
cloth is raised; the cloth drying machine, with heated rollers, over which the
cloth is passed to drive off the moisture acquired in dyeing, washing, etc.,
the cloth printing, figuring, colouring and embossing machines, with
engraved cylinders; cloth pressing and creasing machines, and the cloth
cutting machines for cutting the cloth into strips of all lengths, or for cutting
piles of cloth in a single operation into parts of garments corresponding to
the prearranged pattern; machines for making felt cloth, and stamping or
moulding different articles of apparel from felt, etc., etc.
For the making of ribbons and other kind of narrow ware, the needle power
loom has been invented, in which the fine weft thread is carried through the
web by a needle instead of a shuttle. This adaptation of the needle to looms
has placed ribbons within the reach of the poor as well as the rich girl.
What a comparison between the work of the virtuous Penelopes and the
weavers of a century ago and to-day! Then with her wheel, and by walking
to and from it as the yarn was drawn out, and wound up, a maiden could
spin twelve skeins of thread in ten hours, producing a thread a little more
than three miles in length, while the length of her walk to and fro was about
five miles. Now one Penelope can attend to six or eight hundred spindles,
each of which spins five thousand yards of thread a day, or, with the eight
hundred spindles, four million yards, or nearly twenty-one hundred miles of
thread in a day, while she need not walk at all.
It was when the weaver threw the shuttle through the warp by hand that
Job’s exclamation, “My days are like a weaver’s shuttle” was an appropriate
text on the brevity of human life. It may be just as appropriate now, but far
more striking, when it is realised that machines now throw the shuttle one
hundred and eighty times a minute, or three times a second. Flying as fast
as it does, when the shuttle becomes exhausted of yarn a late invention
presents a new bobbin and a new supply of yarn to the shuttle without
stopping the machine.
As to knitting, the century has seen the day pass when all hosiery was knit
by hand. First, machines were invented for knitting the leg or the foot of the
machines that have been invented for dressing, finishing and treating cloths
after they are woven: The teasling machine, by which the nap of woollen
cloth is raised; the cloth drying machine, with heated rollers, over which the
cloth is passed to drive off the moisture acquired in dyeing, washing, etc.,
the cloth printing, figuring, colouring and embossing machines, with
engraved cylinders; cloth pressing and creasing machines, and the cloth
cutting machines for cutting the cloth into strips of all lengths, or for cutting
piles of cloth in a single operation into parts of garments corresponding to
the prearranged pattern; machines for making felt cloth, and stamping or
moulding different articles of apparel from felt, etc., etc.
For the making of ribbons and other kind of narrow ware, the needle power
loom has been invented, in which the fine weft thread is carried through the
web by a needle instead of a shuttle. This adaptation of the needle to looms
has placed ribbons within the reach of the poor as well as the rich girl.
What a comparison between the work of the virtuous Penelopes and the
weavers of a century ago and to-day! Then with her wheel, and by walking
to and from it as the yarn was drawn out, and wound up, a maiden could
spin twelve skeins of thread in ten hours, producing a thread a little more
than three miles in length, while the length of her walk to and fro was about
five miles. Now one Penelope can attend to six or eight hundred spindles,
each of which spins five thousand yards of thread a day, or, with the eight
hundred spindles, four million yards, or nearly twenty-one hundred miles of
thread in a day, while she need not walk at all.
It was when the weaver threw the shuttle through the warp by hand that
Job’s exclamation, “My days are like a weaver’s shuttle” was an appropriate
text on the brevity of human life. It may be just as appropriate now, but far
more striking, when it is realised that machines now throw the shuttle one
hundred and eighty times a minute, or three times a second. Flying as fast
as it does, when the shuttle becomes exhausted of yarn a late invention
presents a new bobbin and a new supply of yarn to the shuttle without
stopping the machine.
As to knitting, the century has seen the day pass when all hosiery was knit
by hand. First, machines were invented for knitting the leg or the foot of the
Page 223
stocking, which were then joined by hand, and then came machines that
made the stocking complete. The social industry so quietly but slowly
followed by the good women in their chimney corners with their knitting
needles, by which a woman might possibly knit a pair a day, was succeeded
a quarter of a century ago by machines, twelve of which could be attended
to by a boy, which would knit and complete five thousand pairs a week.
Such a machine commences with the stocking at the top, knits down,
widening and narrowing, changes the stitch as it goes on to the heel, shapes
the heel, and finishes at the end of the toe, all one thread, and then it
recommences the operation and goes on with another and another. Fancy
stockings, with numerous colours blended, are so knit, and if the yarn holds
out a mile of stockings may be thus knit, without a break and without an
attendant. By these machines the astounding result was reached of making
the stockings at the cost of one-sixth of a mill per pair.
The wonderful reduction in the cost of all kinds of textile fabrics due to the
perfection of spinning and loom mechanisms, and its power to meet the
resulting enormous increase in demand, has enabled the poor of to-day to be
clad better and with a far greater variety of apparel than it was possible for
the rich a hundred years ago; and the increased consumption and demand
have brought into these fields of labour, and into other fields of labour
created by these, great armies of men and women, notwithstanding the
labour-saving devices.
The wants of the world can no longer be supplied by skilled hand labour.
And it is better that machines do the skilled labour, if the product is
increased while made better and cheaper, and the number of labourers in the
end increased by the development and demands of the art.
Among the recent devices is one which dispenses with the expensive and
skilful work by hand of drawing the warp threads into the eyes of the
heddles and through the reed of the loom.
Cane-backed and bottomed chairs and lounges only a few years ago were a
luxury of the rich and made slowly by hand. Now the open mesh cane
fabric, having diagonal strands, and other varieties, are made rapidly by
machinery. Turkish carpets are woven, and floors the world over are
carpeted with those rich materials the sight of which would have astonished
made the stocking complete. The social industry so quietly but slowly
followed by the good women in their chimney corners with their knitting
needles, by which a woman might possibly knit a pair a day, was succeeded
a quarter of a century ago by machines, twelve of which could be attended
to by a boy, which would knit and complete five thousand pairs a week.
Such a machine commences with the stocking at the top, knits down,
widening and narrowing, changes the stitch as it goes on to the heel, shapes
the heel, and finishes at the end of the toe, all one thread, and then it
recommences the operation and goes on with another and another. Fancy
stockings, with numerous colours blended, are so knit, and if the yarn holds
out a mile of stockings may be thus knit, without a break and without an
attendant. By these machines the astounding result was reached of making
the stockings at the cost of one-sixth of a mill per pair.
The wonderful reduction in the cost of all kinds of textile fabrics due to the
perfection of spinning and loom mechanisms, and its power to meet the
resulting enormous increase in demand, has enabled the poor of to-day to be
clad better and with a far greater variety of apparel than it was possible for
the rich a hundred years ago; and the increased consumption and demand
have brought into these fields of labour, and into other fields of labour
created by these, great armies of men and women, notwithstanding the
labour-saving devices.
The wants of the world can no longer be supplied by skilled hand labour.
And it is better that machines do the skilled labour, if the product is
increased while made better and cheaper, and the number of labourers in the
end increased by the development and demands of the art.
Among the recent devices is one which dispenses with the expensive and
skilful work by hand of drawing the warp threads into the eyes of the
heddles and through the reed of the loom.
Cane-backed and bottomed chairs and lounges only a few years ago were a
luxury of the rich and made slowly by hand. Now the open mesh cane
fabric, having diagonal strands, and other varieties, are made rapidly by
machinery. Turkish carpets are woven, and floors the world over are
carpeted with those rich materials the sight of which would have astonished
Page 224
the ordinary beholder a half century ago. Matting is woven; wire, cane,
straw, spun glass; in fact, everything that can be woven by hand into useful
articles now finds its especially constructed machine for weaving it.
straw, spun glass; in fact, everything that can be woven by hand into useful
articles now finds its especially constructed machine for weaving it.
Page 225
CHAPTER XIX.
GARMENTS.
“Man is a tool-using animal. Weak in himself, and of small stature, he
stands on a basis, at most for the flattest-soled, of some half square foot,
insecurely enough; has to straddle out his legs lest the very wind supplant
him. Feeblest of bipeds! Three quintals are a crushing load for him; the
steer of the meadow tosses him aloft, like a waste rag. Nevertheless he can
use tools, can devise tools; with these the granite mountain melts into light
dust before him; he kneads glowing iron as if it were paste; seas are his
smooth highway, winds and fire his unwearying steeds. Nowhere do you
find him without tools; without tools he is nothing, with tools he is all....
Man is a tool-using animal, of which truth, clothes are but one example.”—
Sartor Resartus.
In looking through the records of man’s achievements to find the
beginnings of inventions, we discover the glimmering of a change in the
form of the immemorial needle, in an English patent granted to Charles F.
Weisenthal, June 24, 1775. It was a needle with a centrally located eye, and
with both ends pointed, designed for embroidery work by hand, and the
object of the two points was to prevent the turning of the needle end for end
after its passage through the cloth. But it was not until the 19th century that
the idea was reduced to practice in sewing machines.
To Thomas Saint, a cabinet maker by trade, of Greenhills Rents, in the
Parish of St. Sepulchre, Middlesex County, England, the world is indebted
for the first clear conception of a sewing machine. Saint’s attention was
attracted to the slow way of sewing boots and shoes and other leather work,
so he determined to improve the method. He took out a patent September
17, 1790, and although the germs of some of the leading parts of the
modern sewing machine are there described, it does not appear that his
GARMENTS.
“Man is a tool-using animal. Weak in himself, and of small stature, he
stands on a basis, at most for the flattest-soled, of some half square foot,
insecurely enough; has to straddle out his legs lest the very wind supplant
him. Feeblest of bipeds! Three quintals are a crushing load for him; the
steer of the meadow tosses him aloft, like a waste rag. Nevertheless he can
use tools, can devise tools; with these the granite mountain melts into light
dust before him; he kneads glowing iron as if it were paste; seas are his
smooth highway, winds and fire his unwearying steeds. Nowhere do you
find him without tools; without tools he is nothing, with tools he is all....
Man is a tool-using animal, of which truth, clothes are but one example.”—
Sartor Resartus.
In looking through the records of man’s achievements to find the
beginnings of inventions, we discover the glimmering of a change in the
form of the immemorial needle, in an English patent granted to Charles F.
Weisenthal, June 24, 1775. It was a needle with a centrally located eye, and
with both ends pointed, designed for embroidery work by hand, and the
object of the two points was to prevent the turning of the needle end for end
after its passage through the cloth. But it was not until the 19th century that
the idea was reduced to practice in sewing machines.
To Thomas Saint, a cabinet maker by trade, of Greenhills Rents, in the
Parish of St. Sepulchre, Middlesex County, England, the world is indebted
for the first clear conception of a sewing machine. Saint’s attention was
attracted to the slow way of sewing boots and shoes and other leather work,
so he determined to improve the method. He took out a patent September
17, 1790, and although the germs of some of the leading parts of the
modern sewing machine are there described, it does not appear that his
Page 226
patent was applied to practice. In fact, it slumbered in the archives of the
British patent office for two generations, and after the leading sewing
machines of the century had been invented and introduced, before it was
rediscovered, and its contents appreciated in the light of more recent
developments. Probably Saint’s machine, if constructed in accordance with
his plans, would not have done much good work, certainly not with woven
cloth, as he proposed to employ a hooked needle to carry a loop through the
material, which would have been snarled by the cloth threads; but from his
drawings and description it is clearly established that he was first to
conceive of a vertically reciprocating needle for forming a seam from a
continuous thread drawn from a spool; a seam in which each loop is locked,
or enchained with a subsequent loop, to form what is known as the chain, or
single thread stitch; and a horizontal sliding plate, to support the material to
be sewed, and by which the material was also moved sideways after each
stitch.
May 30, 1804, John Duncan received an English patent for “tamboring on
cloth.” He proposed to employ a series of hooked needles attached in a
straight line to a horizontal bar, which, when threaded, were first thrust
forward and their hooked ends carried through the cloth, where each needle
hook was supplied with a thread by a thread carrier. Then the motion of the
bar was reversed, which drew the thread back through the cloth in the form
of loops, and through the loops first formed, thus producing a chain stitch.
The cloth was automatically shifted to correspond to the pattern to be
produced, and thus was chain stitch embroidery first manufactured. From
this point of time successful embroidery machines were made.
In 1807 another Englishman patented a machine for making a sort of rope
matting, in which he describes two eye-pointed, thread-carrying, perforating
needles, each held in a reciprocating needle bar, and designed to unite
several small ropes laid parallel, by a reciprocating movement.
A German publication, the Kunst and Generbe Blatt, for 1817, and
Karmarsch’s History of Technology, made mention of a sewing machine
invented by one Mr. Joseph Madersperger of Vienna, formerly from
Kuefstein in the Tyrol, and for which he received royal letters patent in
1814. From these descriptions it appears Madersperger used a needle
pointed at both ends, and the eye in the centre, invented many years before
British patent office for two generations, and after the leading sewing
machines of the century had been invented and introduced, before it was
rediscovered, and its contents appreciated in the light of more recent
developments. Probably Saint’s machine, if constructed in accordance with
his plans, would not have done much good work, certainly not with woven
cloth, as he proposed to employ a hooked needle to carry a loop through the
material, which would have been snarled by the cloth threads; but from his
drawings and description it is clearly established that he was first to
conceive of a vertically reciprocating needle for forming a seam from a
continuous thread drawn from a spool; a seam in which each loop is locked,
or enchained with a subsequent loop, to form what is known as the chain, or
single thread stitch; and a horizontal sliding plate, to support the material to
be sewed, and by which the material was also moved sideways after each
stitch.
May 30, 1804, John Duncan received an English patent for “tamboring on
cloth.” He proposed to employ a series of hooked needles attached in a
straight line to a horizontal bar, which, when threaded, were first thrust
forward and their hooked ends carried through the cloth, where each needle
hook was supplied with a thread by a thread carrier. Then the motion of the
bar was reversed, which drew the thread back through the cloth in the form
of loops, and through the loops first formed, thus producing a chain stitch.
The cloth was automatically shifted to correspond to the pattern to be
produced, and thus was chain stitch embroidery first manufactured. From
this point of time successful embroidery machines were made.
In 1807 another Englishman patented a machine for making a sort of rope
matting, in which he describes two eye-pointed, thread-carrying, perforating
needles, each held in a reciprocating needle bar, and designed to unite
several small ropes laid parallel, by a reciprocating movement.
A German publication, the Kunst and Generbe Blatt, for 1817, and
Karmarsch’s History of Technology, made mention of a sewing machine
invented by one Mr. Joseph Madersperger of Vienna, formerly from
Kuefstein in the Tyrol, and for which he received royal letters patent in
1814. From these descriptions it appears Madersperger used a needle
pointed at both ends, and the eye in the centre, invented many years before
Page 227
by Weisenthal, as above stated, which was moved vertically up and down,
piercing alternately the top and bottom of the stuff, and which carried a
short thread, enough to make about one hundred and thirty stitches, which
machine was driven by a crank and handle, on which sewing was made of
many different shaped forms, by slight changes, and which sewed with far
greater accuracy and rapidity than hand work. The inventor was striving to
simplify the machine, but to what extent it had been used or had been
improved, or what finally became of it, does not appear. Yet it is a bit of
evidence showing that Germany came next to England in the earlier ideas,
conceptions of, and struggles after a sewing machine.
France then entered the list, and it was in 1830 that Barthelmy Thimonnier
there produced and patented a sewing machine, which he continued to
improve and to further patent in 1848 and in 1850 in France, England, and
the United States. The Thimonnier resembled in some prominent respects
the machine that had been described in the Saint patent, but unlike Saint’s,
it was reduced to successful practice, and possessed some points in
common with more modern machines. These were the flat cloth plate,
vertical post, overhung arm, vertically reciprocating needle, and continuous
thread. The crochet or barbed needle was worked by a treadle, and upon
pushing the needle down through the cloth, it there caught a thread from a
carrier, carried the loop to and laid it upon the upper surface of the cloth.
Again descending, it brought up another loop, enchained it with the one last
made, making a chain stitch, consisting of a series of loops on the upper
side.
Thimonnier made quite a large number of machines, constructed mostly of
wood, and which were used to make army clothing at Paris. They were best
adapted to work on leather and in embroidering. They were so far
successful as to arouse the jealousy and fear of the workmen and working
women, and, as in the case of Hargreaves, Jacquard, and others, a mob
broke into his shop, destroyed his machines, ruined his business, and he
died penniless in 1857.
In the meantime an English patent, No. 8948, of May 4, 1841, had been
issued to Newton and Archbold for a machine for embroidering the backs of
gloves, having an eye-pointed needle, worked by a vibrating lever, and
piercing alternately the top and bottom of the stuff, and which carried a
short thread, enough to make about one hundred and thirty stitches, which
machine was driven by a crank and handle, on which sewing was made of
many different shaped forms, by slight changes, and which sewed with far
greater accuracy and rapidity than hand work. The inventor was striving to
simplify the machine, but to what extent it had been used or had been
improved, or what finally became of it, does not appear. Yet it is a bit of
evidence showing that Germany came next to England in the earlier ideas,
conceptions of, and struggles after a sewing machine.
France then entered the list, and it was in 1830 that Barthelmy Thimonnier
there produced and patented a sewing machine, which he continued to
improve and to further patent in 1848 and in 1850 in France, England, and
the United States. The Thimonnier resembled in some prominent respects
the machine that had been described in the Saint patent, but unlike Saint’s,
it was reduced to successful practice, and possessed some points in
common with more modern machines. These were the flat cloth plate,
vertical post, overhung arm, vertically reciprocating needle, and continuous
thread. The crochet or barbed needle was worked by a treadle, and upon
pushing the needle down through the cloth, it there caught a thread from a
carrier, carried the loop to and laid it upon the upper surface of the cloth.
Again descending, it brought up another loop, enchained it with the one last
made, making a chain stitch, consisting of a series of loops on the upper
side.
Thimonnier made quite a large number of machines, constructed mostly of
wood, and which were used to make army clothing at Paris. They were best
adapted to work on leather and in embroidering. They were so far
successful as to arouse the jealousy and fear of the workmen and working
women, and, as in the case of Hargreaves, Jacquard, and others, a mob
broke into his shop, destroyed his machines, ruined his business, and he
died penniless in 1857.
In the meantime an English patent, No. 8948, of May 4, 1841, had been
issued to Newton and Archbold for a machine for embroidering the backs of
gloves, having an eye-pointed needle, worked by a vibrating lever, and
Page 228
adapted to carry a thread through the back of the glove, held on a frame—
the frame and glove moving together after each stitch.
The germs of inventions often develop and fructify simultaneously in
distant places, without, so far as any one can ascertain, the slightest mutual
knowledge or co-operation on the part of the separate inventors. Between
1832 and 1834, while Thimonnier was in the midst of his early struggles in
Paris, Walter Hunt was inventing a sewing machine in New York, which he
completed at that time and on which he sewed one or two garments. But as
it was experimental in form, and Hunt was full of other inventions and
schemes, he put it aside, and it probably would never have been heard of
had not Elias Howe of Massachusetts, ten years after Hunt had abandoned
his invention, but without knowledge of Hunt’s efforts, made the first
practical successful sewing machine for commercial purposes the world had
ever seen, obtained his patent, and made claims therein which covered not
only his special form of improvements, but Hunt’s old device as well.
Howe’s patent was issued September 10, 1846. In that he claimed to be the
first and original inventor of “A sewing machine, constructed and operated
to form a seam, substantially as described.”
Also “The combination of a needle and a shuttle, or equivalent, and holding
surfaces, constructed and operating substantially as described.”
Also “The combination of holding surfaces with a baster plate or
equivalent, constructed and operating substantially as described.”
Also “A grooved and eye-pointed needle, constructed and adapted for rapid
machine sewing substantially as described.”
When the machine commenced to be a practical success this patent was
infringed, and when Howe sued upon it a few years after its issue, it woke
up Hunt and all other alleged prior inventors; and all prior patents and
publications the world over, relating to sewing machines, were raked up to
defeat Howe’s claims.
But the courts, after long deliberation, held that although, so far as Hunt
was concerned he had without doubt made a machine in many respects like
Howe’s machine, that it had a curved, eye-pointed needle similar to Howe’s
operated by a vibrating arm and going through the cloth, a shuttle carrying
the frame and glove moving together after each stitch.
The germs of inventions often develop and fructify simultaneously in
distant places, without, so far as any one can ascertain, the slightest mutual
knowledge or co-operation on the part of the separate inventors. Between
1832 and 1834, while Thimonnier was in the midst of his early struggles in
Paris, Walter Hunt was inventing a sewing machine in New York, which he
completed at that time and on which he sewed one or two garments. But as
it was experimental in form, and Hunt was full of other inventions and
schemes, he put it aside, and it probably would never have been heard of
had not Elias Howe of Massachusetts, ten years after Hunt had abandoned
his invention, but without knowledge of Hunt’s efforts, made the first
practical successful sewing machine for commercial purposes the world had
ever seen, obtained his patent, and made claims therein which covered not
only his special form of improvements, but Hunt’s old device as well.
Howe’s patent was issued September 10, 1846. In that he claimed to be the
first and original inventor of “A sewing machine, constructed and operated
to form a seam, substantially as described.”
Also “The combination of a needle and a shuttle, or equivalent, and holding
surfaces, constructed and operating substantially as described.”
Also “The combination of holding surfaces with a baster plate or
equivalent, constructed and operating substantially as described.”
Also “A grooved and eye-pointed needle, constructed and adapted for rapid
machine sewing substantially as described.”
When the machine commenced to be a practical success this patent was
infringed, and when Howe sued upon it a few years after its issue, it woke
up Hunt and all other alleged prior inventors; and all prior patents and
publications the world over, relating to sewing machines, were raked up to
defeat Howe’s claims.
But the courts, after long deliberation, held that although, so far as Hunt
was concerned he had without doubt made a machine in many respects like
Howe’s machine, that it had a curved, eye-pointed needle similar to Howe’s
operated by a vibrating arm and going through the cloth, a shuttle carrying
Page 229
the thread that passed through the loop made by the needle thread, thus
making a lock stitch by drawing it up to one side of the cloth, and that this
machine did, to a certain extent, sew, yet that it ended in an experiment, was
laid aside, destroyed, and never perfected nor used so as to give to the
public the knowledge and benefit of a completed invention, and was not
therefore an anticipation in the eye of the law of Howe’s completed, more
successful and patented machine.
Public successful use is the fact in many cases which alone establishes the
title of an inventor, when all other tests fail. And this is right in one sense,
as the laws of all countries in respect to protection by patents for inventions
are based upon the primary condition of benefit to society. This benefit is
not derived from the inventor who hides his completed invention for years
in his closet, or throws it on a dust heap. As to previous patents and
publications, some were not published before Howe’s inventions were
made, and others were insufficient in showing substantially the same
machine and mode of operation. And as to prior use abroad, it was not
regarded under the law of his country as competent evidence.
Seldom have the lives of great inventors presented a more striking example
of the vicissitudes, the despair, and the final triumphs of fortune, which are
commonly their lot, than is shown in the case of Howe. A machinist with a
wife and children to support, his health too feeble to earn hardly a scanty
living, he watches his faithful wife ply her constant needle, and wonders
why a machine cannot be made to do the work. The idea cannot be put
aside, and with such poor aids as he can command he commences his task.
At last, amid the trials of bitter poverty, he brings his invention to that stage
in which he induces a friend to advance some money, by the promise of a
share in the future patent, and thereby gains a temporary home for his
family and a garret for his workshop. Day after day and night after night he
labours, and finally, in April, 1845, the rather crude machine is completed,
and two woollen suits of clothing are sewed thereon, one for a friend, and
one for himself.
Then came the effort to make more machines and place them on the market.
People admired the machines as a curiosity, but none were induced to buy
them or help him pecuniarily. Finally, in September, 1846, he obtained his
making a lock stitch by drawing it up to one side of the cloth, and that this
machine did, to a certain extent, sew, yet that it ended in an experiment, was
laid aside, destroyed, and never perfected nor used so as to give to the
public the knowledge and benefit of a completed invention, and was not
therefore an anticipation in the eye of the law of Howe’s completed, more
successful and patented machine.
Public successful use is the fact in many cases which alone establishes the
title of an inventor, when all other tests fail. And this is right in one sense,
as the laws of all countries in respect to protection by patents for inventions
are based upon the primary condition of benefit to society. This benefit is
not derived from the inventor who hides his completed invention for years
in his closet, or throws it on a dust heap. As to previous patents and
publications, some were not published before Howe’s inventions were
made, and others were insufficient in showing substantially the same
machine and mode of operation. And as to prior use abroad, it was not
regarded under the law of his country as competent evidence.
Seldom have the lives of great inventors presented a more striking example
of the vicissitudes, the despair, and the final triumphs of fortune, which are
commonly their lot, than is shown in the case of Howe. A machinist with a
wife and children to support, his health too feeble to earn hardly a scanty
living, he watches his faithful wife ply her constant needle, and wonders
why a machine cannot be made to do the work. The idea cannot be put
aside, and with such poor aids as he can command he commences his task.
At last, amid the trials of bitter poverty, he brings his invention to that stage
in which he induces a friend to advance some money, by the promise of a
share in the future patent, and thereby gains a temporary home for his
family and a garret for his workshop. Day after day and night after night he
labours, and finally, in April, 1845, the rather crude machine is completed,
and two woollen suits of clothing are sewed thereon, one for a friend, and
one for himself.
Then came the effort to make more machines and place them on the market.
People admired the machines as a curiosity, but none were induced to buy
them or help him pecuniarily. Finally, in September, 1846, he obtained his
Page 230
patent, but by that time his best friends had become discouraged, and he
was compelled to return with his family to his father’s house in Cambridge,
Mass. To earn his bread he sought and found employment on a railway
locomotive. By some means his brother sold one of his machines to Mr.
William Thomas, a corset maker of London, and Howe was induced to go
there to make stays, and his machines. He took his wife and children with
him. The arrangement made with his employer was not such as to enable
him to keep his family there, and he soon sent them home.
Unable to sell his machines, he was soon reduced to want. He pawned his
patent and his last machine, and procured money to return to New York,
where he arrived penniless in 1849. He then learned that his wife was dying
of consumption at Cambridge. He was compelled to wait until money could
be sent him to pay his passage home, and reached there just before his
wife’s death.
He then learned that during his absence his patent and machine had
attracted attention, that others had taken the matter up, added their
improvements to his machines, and that many in various places were being
made and sold which were infringements of his patent. A great demand for
sewing machines had sprung up. He induced friends to again help him.
Suits were commenced which, although bitterly fought for six years, were
finally successful.
Now fortune turned her smiling face upon him. Medals and diplomas, the
Cross of the Legion of Honour, and millions of money became his. When
the great civil war broke out in 1861, he entered the army as a private
soldier, and advanced the money to pay the regiment to which he belonged,
when the Government paymaster had been long delayed. His life was
saddened by the fact that his wife had not lived to share his fortune. He died
in Brooklyn, New York, October 3, 1867, in the midst of life, riches, and
honour, at the comparatively early age of forty-eight.
In referring to the early inventors of sewing machines in America who
entered the field about the same time with Howe, mention should be made
of J. J. Greenough and George Corliss, who had machines patented
respectively in 1842 and 1843, for sewing leather, with double pointed
needles; and the running stitch sewing machine used for basting, made and
was compelled to return with his family to his father’s house in Cambridge,
Mass. To earn his bread he sought and found employment on a railway
locomotive. By some means his brother sold one of his machines to Mr.
William Thomas, a corset maker of London, and Howe was induced to go
there to make stays, and his machines. He took his wife and children with
him. The arrangement made with his employer was not such as to enable
him to keep his family there, and he soon sent them home.
Unable to sell his machines, he was soon reduced to want. He pawned his
patent and his last machine, and procured money to return to New York,
where he arrived penniless in 1849. He then learned that his wife was dying
of consumption at Cambridge. He was compelled to wait until money could
be sent him to pay his passage home, and reached there just before his
wife’s death.
He then learned that during his absence his patent and machine had
attracted attention, that others had taken the matter up, added their
improvements to his machines, and that many in various places were being
made and sold which were infringements of his patent. A great demand for
sewing machines had sprung up. He induced friends to again help him.
Suits were commenced which, although bitterly fought for six years, were
finally successful.
Now fortune turned her smiling face upon him. Medals and diplomas, the
Cross of the Legion of Honour, and millions of money became his. When
the great civil war broke out in 1861, he entered the army as a private
soldier, and advanced the money to pay the regiment to which he belonged,
when the Government paymaster had been long delayed. His life was
saddened by the fact that his wife had not lived to share his fortune. He died
in Brooklyn, New York, October 3, 1867, in the midst of life, riches, and
honour, at the comparatively early age of forty-eight.
In referring to the early inventors of sewing machines in America who
entered the field about the same time with Howe, mention should be made
of J. J. Greenough and George Corliss, who had machines patented
respectively in 1842 and 1843, for sewing leather, with double pointed
needles; and the running stitch sewing machine used for basting, made and
Page 231
patented by B. W. Bean in 1843. About this time, both in England and
America, machines had been devised for sewing lengths of calico and other
cloths together, previous to bleaching, dyeing or printing. The edges of the
cloths were first crimped or fluted and then sewed by a running stitch.
The decade of 1849-1859, immediately following the development of the
Howe machine, was the greatest in the century for producing those
successful sewing machines which were the foundation of the art,
established a new industrial epoch, and converted Hood’s “Song of the
Shirt” into a lament commemorative of the miseries of a slavish but dying
industry.
It was during that decade that, in the United States, Batcheller invented the
perpetual feed for moving the cloth horizontally under and past the needle.
In Howe’s the cloth could be sewed but a certain distance at a time, and
then the machine must be readjusted for a new length. Then Blodgett and
Lerow imparted to the eye-pointed needle what is called the “dip
motion,”—the needle being made to descend completely through the
material, then to rise a little to form a loop; the shuttle then entered the loop,
the needle descended again a short distance, while the shuttle passed
through the loop of the needle thread, and then the needle was raised above
the cloth.
It was then that Allen B. Wilson invented the still more famous “four-
motion feed” for feeding the cloth forward. He employed a bar having saw
like teeth on one edge which projected up through a slotted plate and
engaged the cloth. He then first moved the bar forward carrying the cloth;
second, dropped the bar; third, moved it back under the plate; and fourth,
raised it to its first position to again engage the cloth. These motions were
so timed with the movement of the needle and so quickly done that the
cloth was carried forward while the needle was raised, the passage and
quick action of the needle was not interfered with, and the feeding and the
sewing seem to be simultaneous. The intermittent grasp and feed of the
cloth were hardly perceptible, and yet it permitted the cloth to be turned to
make a curved seam. Wilson also invented the rotating hook which catches
the loop of the upper thread, and drops a disk bobbin through it to form the
stitch. The shuttle was thus dispensed with, and an entirely new departure
America, machines had been devised for sewing lengths of calico and other
cloths together, previous to bleaching, dyeing or printing. The edges of the
cloths were first crimped or fluted and then sewed by a running stitch.
The decade of 1849-1859, immediately following the development of the
Howe machine, was the greatest in the century for producing those
successful sewing machines which were the foundation of the art,
established a new industrial epoch, and converted Hood’s “Song of the
Shirt” into a lament commemorative of the miseries of a slavish but dying
industry.
It was during that decade that, in the United States, Batcheller invented the
perpetual feed for moving the cloth horizontally under and past the needle.
In Howe’s the cloth could be sewed but a certain distance at a time, and
then the machine must be readjusted for a new length. Then Blodgett and
Lerow imparted to the eye-pointed needle what is called the “dip
motion,”—the needle being made to descend completely through the
material, then to rise a little to form a loop; the shuttle then entered the loop,
the needle descended again a short distance, while the shuttle passed
through the loop of the needle thread, and then the needle was raised above
the cloth.
It was then that Allen B. Wilson invented the still more famous “four-
motion feed” for feeding the cloth forward. He employed a bar having saw
like teeth on one edge which projected up through a slotted plate and
engaged the cloth. He then first moved the bar forward carrying the cloth;
second, dropped the bar; third, moved it back under the plate; and fourth,
raised it to its first position to again engage the cloth. These motions were
so timed with the movement of the needle and so quickly done that the
cloth was carried forward while the needle was raised, the passage and
quick action of the needle was not interfered with, and the feeding and the
sewing seem to be simultaneous. The intermittent grasp and feed of the
cloth were hardly perceptible, and yet it permitted the cloth to be turned to
make a curved seam. Wilson also invented the rotating hook which catches
the loop of the upper thread, and drops a disk bobbin through it to form the
stitch. The shuttle was thus dispensed with, and an entirely new departure
Page 232
was made in the art. These with other improvements made up the celebrated
“Wheeler and Wilson” machine.
Now also appeared “the Singer,” consisting chiefly of the invention of T. M.
Singer. He improved the operation of the needle bar, devised a roughened
feed wheel, as a substitute for Wilson’s serrated bar, introduced a spring
presser foot, alongside the needle, to hold the work down in proper position
while permitting it to be moved forward or in any other direction. A
“friction pad” was also placed between the cloth seam and the spool, to
prevent the thread from kinking or twisting under the point of the
descending needle. He was the first to give the shuttle an additional forward
movement after it had once stopped, to draw the stitch tight,—such
operation being taken while the feed moved the cloth in the reverse
direction, and while, the needle completed its upward motion, so that the
two threads were simultaneously drawn, and finally a spring guide upon the
shuttle to control the slack of the thread, and prevent its catching by the
needle.
By reason of these improvements it is thought by many that Singer was the
first to furnish the people with a successful operating and practical sewing
machine. At any rate, the world at last so highly appreciated his machines,
that it lifted him from poverty to an estate which was valued at between
eight and ten millions of dollars at the time of his death in 1875. Singer was
also the first to invent the “ruffler,” a machine for ruffling or gathering
cloth, and a device which laid an embroidering thread upon the surface of
the cloth under the needle thread.
The “Grover and Baker” another celebrated American machine, was
invented by William O. Grover and William E. Baker in 1851. By certain
changes they made in the thread carrier and connections, they were enabled
to make a double looped stitch. This required more thread, but the stitch
made was unexcelled in strength.
And so the work went on, from step to step, and from the completion of one
machine after another, until when the Centennial Exhibition came to be held
in Philadelphia in 1876, a fine array of excellent sewing machines was had,
from the United States, principally, but also those of inventors and
“Wheeler and Wilson” machine.
Now also appeared “the Singer,” consisting chiefly of the invention of T. M.
Singer. He improved the operation of the needle bar, devised a roughened
feed wheel, as a substitute for Wilson’s serrated bar, introduced a spring
presser foot, alongside the needle, to hold the work down in proper position
while permitting it to be moved forward or in any other direction. A
“friction pad” was also placed between the cloth seam and the spool, to
prevent the thread from kinking or twisting under the point of the
descending needle. He was the first to give the shuttle an additional forward
movement after it had once stopped, to draw the stitch tight,—such
operation being taken while the feed moved the cloth in the reverse
direction, and while, the needle completed its upward motion, so that the
two threads were simultaneously drawn, and finally a spring guide upon the
shuttle to control the slack of the thread, and prevent its catching by the
needle.
By reason of these improvements it is thought by many that Singer was the
first to furnish the people with a successful operating and practical sewing
machine. At any rate, the world at last so highly appreciated his machines,
that it lifted him from poverty to an estate which was valued at between
eight and ten millions of dollars at the time of his death in 1875. Singer was
also the first to invent the “ruffler,” a machine for ruffling or gathering
cloth, and a device which laid an embroidering thread upon the surface of
the cloth under the needle thread.
The “Grover and Baker” another celebrated American machine, was
invented by William O. Grover and William E. Baker in 1851. By certain
changes they made in the thread carrier and connections, they were enabled
to make a double looped stitch. This required more thread, but the stitch
made was unexcelled in strength.
And so the work went on, from step to step, and from the completion of one
machine after another, until when the Centennial Exhibition came to be held
in Philadelphia in 1876, a fine array of excellent sewing machines was had,
from the United States, principally, but also those of inventors and
Page 233
manufacturers in Great Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Belgium,
Sweden and Denmark.
Up to that time about twenty-two hundred patents had been granted in the
United States, all of which, with the exception of a very few, were for
inventions made within the preceding quarter of a century. And during the
last quarter of the century about five thousand more United States patents
have been issued for devices in this art. This number includes many, of
course, to inventors of other countries. When it is remembered that these
patents were issued only after an examination in each case as to its novelty,
and although slight as may have been the changes or additions, yet
substantially different they must have been in nearly all respects, it may to
some extent be realized how great and incessant has been the exercise of
invention in this useful class of machines.
On this point of the exercise of invention in sewing machines, as well as on
some others growing out of the subject, Knight, writing in his Mechanical
Dictionary, about twenty years ago, remarks: “If required to name the three
subjects on which the most extraordinary versatility of invention has been
expended, the answer would be without hesitation, the sewing machine,
reaping machine and breech-loading firearm. Each of these has thousands
of patents, and although each is the growth of the last forty years, it is only
during the last twenty-five years that they have filled any notable place in
the world. It was then only by a combination of talents that any of these
three important inventions was enabled to achieve remarkable success. The
sewing machine previous to 1851, made without the admirable division of
labour which is a feature in all well conducted factories, was hard to make,
and comparatively hard to run. The system of assembling, first introduced
in the artillery service of France by General Gribeauval in 1765 and brought
to proximate perfection by Colonel Colt in the manufacture of the revolver
at Hartford, Connecticut, has economised material and time, improved the
quality as well as cheapened the product. There is to-day, and in fact has
been for some years, more actual invention in the special machines for
making sewing machines than in the machines themselves. The assembling
system, that is, making the component parts of an article in distinct pieces
of pattern, so as to be interchangeable, and the putting them together, is the
only system of order. How else should the Providence Tool Company
execute their order for 600,000 rifles for the Turkish Government? How
Sweden and Denmark.
Up to that time about twenty-two hundred patents had been granted in the
United States, all of which, with the exception of a very few, were for
inventions made within the preceding quarter of a century. And during the
last quarter of the century about five thousand more United States patents
have been issued for devices in this art. This number includes many, of
course, to inventors of other countries. When it is remembered that these
patents were issued only after an examination in each case as to its novelty,
and although slight as may have been the changes or additions, yet
substantially different they must have been in nearly all respects, it may to
some extent be realized how great and incessant has been the exercise of
invention in this useful class of machines.
On this point of the exercise of invention in sewing machines, as well as on
some others growing out of the subject, Knight, writing in his Mechanical
Dictionary, about twenty years ago, remarks: “If required to name the three
subjects on which the most extraordinary versatility of invention has been
expended, the answer would be without hesitation, the sewing machine,
reaping machine and breech-loading firearm. Each of these has thousands
of patents, and although each is the growth of the last forty years, it is only
during the last twenty-five years that they have filled any notable place in
the world. It was then only by a combination of talents that any of these
three important inventions was enabled to achieve remarkable success. The
sewing machine previous to 1851, made without the admirable division of
labour which is a feature in all well conducted factories, was hard to make,
and comparatively hard to run. The system of assembling, first introduced
in the artillery service of France by General Gribeauval in 1765 and brought
to proximate perfection by Colonel Colt in the manufacture of the revolver
at Hartford, Connecticut, has economised material and time, improved the
quality as well as cheapened the product. There is to-day, and in fact has
been for some years, more actual invention in the special machines for
making sewing machines than in the machines themselves. The assembling
system, that is, making the component parts of an article in distinct pieces
of pattern, so as to be interchangeable, and the putting them together, is the
only system of order. How else should the Providence Tool Company
execute their order for 600,000 rifles for the Turkish Government? How
Page 234
otherwise could the Champion Harvesting Machine Company of
Springfield, Ohio, turn out an equipped machine every four minutes each
working day of ten hours? Or, to draw the illustration from the subject in
hand, how by any other than the nicest arrangement of detail can the Singer
Sewing Machine Company make 6,000 machines per week at
Elizabethport, New Jersey?”
When sewing machines were so far completed as to be easily run by a hand
crank, or treadle, the application of power to run them singly, or in series,
and to run machines of a larger and more powerful description, soon
naturally followed—so that garment-making factories of all kinds, whether
of cloth or leather, have been established in many countries—in which
steam or electric power is utilised as the motor, and thus human strain and
labour saved, while the amount of production is increased.
No radical changes in the principle or mode of operation of sewing
machines have been made in the last twenty-five years; but the efforts of
inventors have been directed to improve the previously established types,
and to devise attachments of all kinds, by the aid of which anything that can
be sewed, can be sewed upon a machine. Tucking, ruffling, braiding,
cording, hemming, turning, plaiting, gaging, and other attachment devices
are numerous. Inventors have rivalled one another in originating new forms
of stitches. About seventy-five distinct stitches have been devised, each of
which must of course be produced by a change in mechanism.
When sewing machines were in their infancy, and confined to sewing
straight seams and other plain sewing, it was predicted that it was not
possible to take from the hands of women the making of fine embroidery
from intricate patterns, or the working of button-holes, and the destruction
of the quilting party was not apprehended. Nor was it expected that human
hands could be dispensed with in the cutting out of garments. And yet these
things have followed. Machines, by a beautiful but complex system of
needles, working to some extent on the Jacquard system of perforated card
boards, and by the help of pneumatic or electrical power, will work out on
most delicate cloths embroidery of exquisite patterns.
The button-hole machines will take the garment, cut the button-hole at the
desired point, and either, as in one class of machines, by moving the fabric
Springfield, Ohio, turn out an equipped machine every four minutes each
working day of ten hours? Or, to draw the illustration from the subject in
hand, how by any other than the nicest arrangement of detail can the Singer
Sewing Machine Company make 6,000 machines per week at
Elizabethport, New Jersey?”
When sewing machines were so far completed as to be easily run by a hand
crank, or treadle, the application of power to run them singly, or in series,
and to run machines of a larger and more powerful description, soon
naturally followed—so that garment-making factories of all kinds, whether
of cloth or leather, have been established in many countries—in which
steam or electric power is utilised as the motor, and thus human strain and
labour saved, while the amount of production is increased.
No radical changes in the principle or mode of operation of sewing
machines have been made in the last twenty-five years; but the efforts of
inventors have been directed to improve the previously established types,
and to devise attachments of all kinds, by the aid of which anything that can
be sewed, can be sewed upon a machine. Tucking, ruffling, braiding,
cording, hemming, turning, plaiting, gaging, and other attachment devices
are numerous. Inventors have rivalled one another in originating new forms
of stitches. About seventy-five distinct stitches have been devised, each of
which must of course be produced by a change in mechanism.
When sewing machines were in their infancy, and confined to sewing
straight seams and other plain sewing, it was predicted that it was not
possible to take from the hands of women the making of fine embroidery
from intricate patterns, or the working of button-holes, and the destruction
of the quilting party was not apprehended. Nor was it expected that human
hands could be dispensed with in the cutting out of garments. And yet these
things have followed. Machines, by a beautiful but complex system of
needles, working to some extent on the Jacquard system of perforated card
boards, and by the help of pneumatic or electrical power, will work out on
most delicate cloths embroidery of exquisite patterns.
The button-hole machines will take the garment, cut the button-hole at the
desired point, and either, as in one class of machines, by moving the fabric
Page 235
about the stitch-forming mechanism, or, as in another class, moving the
stitch-forming mechanism about the button-hole, complete the delicate task
in the nicest and most effective manner.
Quilting machines have their own bees, consisting of a guide which
regulates the spaces between the seams, and adjusts them to any width, and
a single needle, or gang of needles, the latter under the control of cams
which force the needles to quilt certain desired patterns.
And as to cutting, it is only necessary to place the number of pieces of
fabric desired to be cut in cutting dies, or upon a table, and over them an
“over-board” cutter, which comprises a reciprocating band-saw, or a rotary
knife, all quick, keen and delicate, in an apparatus guided by hand, in order
to produce in the operation a great pile of the parts formerly so slowly
produced, one at a time, by scissors or shears.
If men were contented with that single useful garment of some savages, a
blanket with a slit cut in it for the passage of the head and neck, not only
would a vast portion of the joys and sorrows of social philosophy have been
avoided, but an immense strain and trouble on the part of inventors of the
century would have been obviated.
But man’s propensity for wearing clothes has led to the invention of every
variety of tools for making them faster, cheaper, and better.
No machine has yet been invented that will take the place of the deft fingers
of women in certain lines of ornamentation, as in final completion and
trimming of their hats. The airy and erratic demands of fashion are too
nimble to be supplied by the slow processes of machinery, although the
crude ground-work, the frame, has been shaped, moulded and sewed by
machines; and women themselves have invented and patented bonnet
frames and patterns.
But no such difficulty in invention has occurred in hat-making for men.
From the treating and cutting of the raw material, from the outer bound
edge, and the band about the body, to the tip of the crown, a machine may
be found for performing each separate step. Especially is this the case with
the hard felt and the high silk hats.
stitch-forming mechanism about the button-hole, complete the delicate task
in the nicest and most effective manner.
Quilting machines have their own bees, consisting of a guide which
regulates the spaces between the seams, and adjusts them to any width, and
a single needle, or gang of needles, the latter under the control of cams
which force the needles to quilt certain desired patterns.
And as to cutting, it is only necessary to place the number of pieces of
fabric desired to be cut in cutting dies, or upon a table, and over them an
“over-board” cutter, which comprises a reciprocating band-saw, or a rotary
knife, all quick, keen and delicate, in an apparatus guided by hand, in order
to produce in the operation a great pile of the parts formerly so slowly
produced, one at a time, by scissors or shears.
If men were contented with that single useful garment of some savages, a
blanket with a slit cut in it for the passage of the head and neck, not only
would a vast portion of the joys and sorrows of social philosophy have been
avoided, but an immense strain and trouble on the part of inventors of the
century would have been obviated.
But man’s propensity for wearing clothes has led to the invention of every
variety of tools for making them faster, cheaper, and better.
No machine has yet been invented that will take the place of the deft fingers
of women in certain lines of ornamentation, as in final completion and
trimming of their hats. The airy and erratic demands of fashion are too
nimble to be supplied by the slow processes of machinery, although the
crude ground-work, the frame, has been shaped, moulded and sewed by
machines; and women themselves have invented and patented bonnet
frames and patterns.
But no such difficulty in invention has occurred in hat-making for men.
From the treating and cutting of the raw material, from the outer bound
edge, and the band about the body, to the tip of the crown, a machine may
be found for performing each separate step. Especially is this the case with
the hard felt and the high silk hats.
Page 236
Seventy-five years ago the making of hats was by hand processes. Now in
all hat factories machines are employed, and the ingenuity displayed in the
construction of some of them is marvellous. It is exceedingly difficult to
find many of the old hand implements existing even as relics.
Wool and fur each has its special machines for turning it into a hat. The
operations of cleaning and preparing the material, felting the fur, when fur
is used, shaping the hat body, and then the brim, washing, dying, hardening
and stiffening it, stretching, smoothing, finishing, sizing, lining, trimming,
all are now done by machines devised for each special purpose. A
description of these processes would be interesting, but even in an
abbreviated form would fill a book.
The wonderful things done in the manufacture of boots and shoes and
rubber goods will be referred to in subsequent chapters.
Although it was old from time immemorial to colour cotton goods, and the
calico power printing cylinder was invented and introduced into England in
the latter part of the 18th century and began to turn out at once immense
quantities of decorated calicoes and chintz, yet figured woven goods were a
novelty sixty years ago.
In 1834, Mr. Bonjeau, a prominent wool manufacturer in Sedan, France,
and an élève of the Polytechnic School, conceived the idea of modifying the
plain cloths, universally made, by the union of different tints and patterns.
This he was enabled to do by the Jacquard loom. The manufacture of fancy
woven cloths, cassimeres, worsted coatings, etc., of great beauty, combined
with strength of fabrication, followed in all civilised countries, but their
universal adoption as wearing apparel was due in part to the lessening of the
expense in the making them into garments by the sewing machine.
As to the effect of modern inventions on wearing apparel, it is not apparent
that they were necessary to supply the wardrobes of the rich. The Solomons
and the Queen of Sheba of ancient days, and all their small and great
successors in the halls of Fortune, have had their rich robes, their purple and
their fine linen, whether made in one way or another; but modern inventions
have banished the day when the poor man’s hard labour of a long day will
not suffice to bring his wife a yard of cheapest cloth. Toil, then, as hard as
he and his poor wife and children might, their united labours would hardly
all hat factories machines are employed, and the ingenuity displayed in the
construction of some of them is marvellous. It is exceedingly difficult to
find many of the old hand implements existing even as relics.
Wool and fur each has its special machines for turning it into a hat. The
operations of cleaning and preparing the material, felting the fur, when fur
is used, shaping the hat body, and then the brim, washing, dying, hardening
and stiffening it, stretching, smoothing, finishing, sizing, lining, trimming,
all are now done by machines devised for each special purpose. A
description of these processes would be interesting, but even in an
abbreviated form would fill a book.
The wonderful things done in the manufacture of boots and shoes and
rubber goods will be referred to in subsequent chapters.
Although it was old from time immemorial to colour cotton goods, and the
calico power printing cylinder was invented and introduced into England in
the latter part of the 18th century and began to turn out at once immense
quantities of decorated calicoes and chintz, yet figured woven goods were a
novelty sixty years ago.
In 1834, Mr. Bonjeau, a prominent wool manufacturer in Sedan, France,
and an élève of the Polytechnic School, conceived the idea of modifying the
plain cloths, universally made, by the union of different tints and patterns.
This he was enabled to do by the Jacquard loom. The manufacture of fancy
woven cloths, cassimeres, worsted coatings, etc., of great beauty, combined
with strength of fabrication, followed in all civilised countries, but their
universal adoption as wearing apparel was due in part to the lessening of the
expense in the making them into garments by the sewing machine.
As to the effect of modern inventions on wearing apparel, it is not apparent
that they were necessary to supply the wardrobes of the rich. The Solomons
and the Queen of Sheba of ancient days, and all their small and great
successors in the halls of Fortune, have had their rich robes, their purple and
their fine linen, whether made in one way or another; but modern inventions
have banished the day when the poor man’s hard labour of a long day will
not suffice to bring his wife a yard of cheapest cloth. Toil, then, as hard as
he and his poor wife and children might, their united labours would hardly
Page 237
suffice to clothe them in more than the poorly-dressed skins of animals and
the coarsest of homespun wool.
Now, cottons and calicoes are made and sold at a profit for three cents a
yard; and the poorest woman in the land may appear in neat, comfortable
and tasteful dress, the entire cost of material and labor of which need not
exceed fifty cents. The comfort, respectability and dignity of a large family,
which depend so much on clothes, may be ensured at the cost of a few
dollars.
And as to the condition of the sewing woman, trying and poor as it is in
many instances, yet she can earn more money with less physical exhaustion
than under the old system.
The epoch of good clothes for the people, with all that it means in the fight
upward from degradation, began in this century, and it was due to the
inventions which have been above outlined.
the coarsest of homespun wool.
Now, cottons and calicoes are made and sold at a profit for three cents a
yard; and the poorest woman in the land may appear in neat, comfortable
and tasteful dress, the entire cost of material and labor of which need not
exceed fifty cents. The comfort, respectability and dignity of a large family,
which depend so much on clothes, may be ensured at the cost of a few
dollars.
And as to the condition of the sewing woman, trying and poor as it is in
many instances, yet she can earn more money with less physical exhaustion
than under the old system.
The epoch of good clothes for the people, with all that it means in the fight
upward from degradation, began in this century, and it was due to the
inventions which have been above outlined.
Page 238
CHAPTER XX.
INDUSTRIAL MACHINES.
One invention engenders another, or co-operates with another. None lives,
or stands, or dies, alone.
So, in the humble but extensive art of broom-making, men and women
worked along through ages binding with their hands the supple twigs of
trees or bushes, or of corn, by thongs, or cords, or wire, upon the rudely-
formed collar of a hand-smoothed stick, until the modern lathe and hollow
mandrel armed with cutters, the power-driven shuttle, and the sewing
machine, were invented.
The lathe and mandrel to hold the stick while it was cut was used before,
but it was long within the century that a hollow mandrel was first invented,
which was provided internally with cutting bevelled knives, and into which
the stick was placed, carried through longitudinally, and during its passage
cut smooth and finished. As broom corn became the chief product from
which brooms are made, it became desirable to have a machine, after the
corn had been scraped of its seed, to size and prepare the stems in regular
lengths for the various sizes of brooms, and accordingly such a machine
was invented. Then a machine was needed and invented to wind the corn-
brush with the cord or wire and tie it in a round bunch, preparatory to
flattening and sewing it.
Then followed different forms of broom-sewing machines. Among the
pioneers was one which received the round bunch between two
compressing jaws, and pressed it flat. While so held a needle with its coarse
thread was forced through the broom above the binding and the cord twined
around it. Then a shuttle, also carrying a stout thread, was thrown over the
cord, the needle receded and was then forced through the broom again
under the binding cord. Thus in conjunction with the shuttle the stitches
INDUSTRIAL MACHINES.
One invention engenders another, or co-operates with another. None lives,
or stands, or dies, alone.
So, in the humble but extensive art of broom-making, men and women
worked along through ages binding with their hands the supple twigs of
trees or bushes, or of corn, by thongs, or cords, or wire, upon the rudely-
formed collar of a hand-smoothed stick, until the modern lathe and hollow
mandrel armed with cutters, the power-driven shuttle, and the sewing
machine, were invented.
The lathe and mandrel to hold the stick while it was cut was used before,
but it was long within the century that a hollow mandrel was first invented,
which was provided internally with cutting bevelled knives, and into which
the stick was placed, carried through longitudinally, and during its passage
cut smooth and finished. As broom corn became the chief product from
which brooms are made, it became desirable to have a machine, after the
corn had been scraped of its seed, to size and prepare the stems in regular
lengths for the various sizes of brooms, and accordingly such a machine
was invented. Then a machine was needed and invented to wind the corn-
brush with the cord or wire and tie it in a round bunch, preparatory to
flattening and sewing it.
Then followed different forms of broom-sewing machines. Among the
pioneers was one which received the round bunch between two
compressing jaws, and pressed it flat. While so held a needle with its coarse
thread was forced through the broom above the binding and the cord twined
around it. Then a shuttle, also carrying a stout thread, was thrown over the
cord, the needle receded and was then forced through the broom again
under the binding cord. Thus in conjunction with the shuttle the stitches
Page 239
were formed alternately above and below the binding twine, the holding
jaws being raised intermittently for that purpose. As each stitch was formed
the machine fed the broom along laterally and intermittently. By another
ingenious device the cord was tied and cut, when the sewing was
completed.
It is only by such machines which treat the entire article from the first to the
last step, that the immense number of brooms now necessary to supply the
market are made. True it is that at first labour was displaced. At one time
seventeen skilled workmen would manufacture five hundred dozen brooms
per week.
They had reduced the force of earlier times by making larger quantities by
better processes. Then when the broom-sewing machines and other
inventions got fairly to work, nine men would turn out twelve hundred
dozen brooms per week. Thus, while the force was reduced nearly one-half,
the quantity of product was more than doubled. But as the cost of labour
decreased and the product increased, the product became more plentiful and
cheaper, the demand and use became greater, more broom-corn was raised,
more broom-factories started, and soon the temporary displacement of
labour was succeeded by a permanent increase in manufacture and in
labourers, an increase in their wages, and an improvement in their
condition.
Useful and extensive as is its use, the broom does not compare in variety
and wide application to the brush. The human body, cloth, leather, metals,
wood and grains, everything that needs rubbing, cleaning, painting and
polishing, meets the acquaintance of the brush. Nearly a hundred species of
brushes might be enumerated, each having an especial construction for a
particular use.
Although the majority of brushes are still made by hand, yet a few most
ingenious machines have been made which greatly facilitate and speed the
operation, and many mechanical appliances have been invented in aid of
hand-work. These machines and appliances, together with those which cut,
turn, bore, smooth, and polish the handles and backs, to which the brush
part is secured, have greatly changed and improved the art of brush-making
during the last fifty years.
jaws being raised intermittently for that purpose. As each stitch was formed
the machine fed the broom along laterally and intermittently. By another
ingenious device the cord was tied and cut, when the sewing was
completed.
It is only by such machines which treat the entire article from the first to the
last step, that the immense number of brooms now necessary to supply the
market are made. True it is that at first labour was displaced. At one time
seventeen skilled workmen would manufacture five hundred dozen brooms
per week.
They had reduced the force of earlier times by making larger quantities by
better processes. Then when the broom-sewing machines and other
inventions got fairly to work, nine men would turn out twelve hundred
dozen brooms per week. Thus, while the force was reduced nearly one-half,
the quantity of product was more than doubled. But as the cost of labour
decreased and the product increased, the product became more plentiful and
cheaper, the demand and use became greater, more broom-corn was raised,
more broom-factories started, and soon the temporary displacement of
labour was succeeded by a permanent increase in manufacture and in
labourers, an increase in their wages, and an improvement in their
condition.
Useful and extensive as is its use, the broom does not compare in variety
and wide application to the brush. The human body, cloth, leather, metals,
wood and grains, everything that needs rubbing, cleaning, painting and
polishing, meets the acquaintance of the brush. Nearly a hundred species of
brushes might be enumerated, each having an especial construction for a
particular use.
Although the majority of brushes are still made by hand, yet a few most
ingenious machines have been made which greatly facilitate and speed the
operation, and many mechanical appliances have been invented in aid of
hand-work. These machines and appliances, together with those which cut,
turn, bore, smooth, and polish the handles and backs, to which the brush
part is secured, have greatly changed and improved the art of brush-making
during the last fifty years.
Page 240
The first machine which attracted general attention was invented by Oscar
D. and E. C. Woodbury of New York, and patented in 1870. As in hand-
making and before subjected to the action of the machine, the bristles are
sorted as to length and color. A brush-back, bored with holes by a gang of
bits, which holes do not extend, however, all the way through the back, is
placed in the machine under a cone-jointed plunger, adapted to enter the
hole in the brush-back. A comb-shaped slitted plate in the machine has then
each slit filled with bristles, sufficient in number to form a single tuft. When
the machine is started, the bristles in a slit are forced out therefrom through
a twisted guideway, which forms them into a round tuft, and which is laid
horizontally beneath a plunger, which, descending, first doubles the tuft,
and as the plunger continues to descend, forces the double end down into
the hole. The plunger is supplied with a wire from a reel, turns as it
descends, and twists the wire around the lower end of the tuft, the wire
being directed in that way by a spiral groove within the plunger. The
continuing action of the plunger is such as to screw the wire into the back.
The wire is cut when the rotary plunger commences its descent, and when
the tuft is thus secured the plunger ascends, the block is moved for another
hole, and another set of bristles is presented for manipulation. Brushes with
70 holes can be turned out by this machine at the rate of one a minute.
Another most ingenious machine for this purpose is that of Kennedy, Diss,
and Cannan, patented in the United States in 1892. In this, brush blocks of
varying sizes, but of the same pattern, are bored by the same machine which
receives the bristles, and the tufts are inserted as fast as the holes are bored.
Both machines are automatic in operation.
Street-sweeping machines began to appear about 1831 in England, shortly
after in France, and then in cities in other countries.
The simplest form and most effective sweeper comprises a large cylinder
armed with spiral rows of splints and hung diagonally on the under side and
across a frame having two or four wheels. This cylinder is connected by
bevelled gearing with the wheels, and in revolving throws the dirt from the
street into a ridge on one side thereof, where it is swept into heaps by hand
sweepers, and is then carted off. King of the United States was the inventor.
D. and E. C. Woodbury of New York, and patented in 1870. As in hand-
making and before subjected to the action of the machine, the bristles are
sorted as to length and color. A brush-back, bored with holes by a gang of
bits, which holes do not extend, however, all the way through the back, is
placed in the machine under a cone-jointed plunger, adapted to enter the
hole in the brush-back. A comb-shaped slitted plate in the machine has then
each slit filled with bristles, sufficient in number to form a single tuft. When
the machine is started, the bristles in a slit are forced out therefrom through
a twisted guideway, which forms them into a round tuft, and which is laid
horizontally beneath a plunger, which, descending, first doubles the tuft,
and as the plunger continues to descend, forces the double end down into
the hole. The plunger is supplied with a wire from a reel, turns as it
descends, and twists the wire around the lower end of the tuft, the wire
being directed in that way by a spiral groove within the plunger. The
continuing action of the plunger is such as to screw the wire into the back.
The wire is cut when the rotary plunger commences its descent, and when
the tuft is thus secured the plunger ascends, the block is moved for another
hole, and another set of bristles is presented for manipulation. Brushes with
70 holes can be turned out by this machine at the rate of one a minute.
Another most ingenious machine for this purpose is that of Kennedy, Diss,
and Cannan, patented in the United States in 1892. In this, brush blocks of
varying sizes, but of the same pattern, are bored by the same machine which
receives the bristles, and the tufts are inserted as fast as the holes are bored.
Both machines are automatic in operation.
Street-sweeping machines began to appear about 1831 in England, shortly
after in France, and then in cities in other countries.
The simplest form and most effective sweeper comprises a large cylinder
armed with spiral rows of splints and hung diagonally on the under side and
across a frame having two or four wheels. This cylinder is connected by
bevelled gearing with the wheels, and in revolving throws the dirt from the
street into a ridge on one side thereof, where it is swept into heaps by hand
sweepers, and is then carted off. King of the United States was the inventor.
Page 241
A more recent improvement consists in the use of pneumatic means for
removing the dust that is caused by the use of revolving brooms or brushes,
such removal being effected by means of a hood that covers the area of the
street beneath the body of the machine, and incloses an air exhaust, the
sweepings being drawn through the exhaust mechanism and deposited in a
receptacle for the purpose, or in some instances deposited in a furnace
carried by the machine and there burned.
In cities having hard, smooth, paved streets and sufficient municipal funds,
the most effective, but most expensive way, has been found to keep a large
force of men constantly at work with hoes, shovels, brooms, bags and carts,
removing the dirt as fast as it accumulates.
Abrading Machines.
One of the most striking inventions of the century is the application of the
sand-blast to industrial and artistic purposes.
For ages the sands of the desert and wild mountain plains, lifted and driven
by the whirling winds, had sheared and polished the edges and faces of
rocks, and cut them into fantastic shapes, and the sands of the shore, tossed
by the winds of the sea, had long scratched and bleared the windows of the
fisherman’s hut, before it occurred to the mind of man that here were a
force and an agent which could be harnessed into his service.
It was due finally to the inventive genius of B. F. Tilghman of Philadelphia,
Pa., who, in 1870, patented a process by which common sand, powdered
quartz, emery, or other comminuted sharp cutting material, may be blown
or driven with such force upon the surface of the hardest materials, as to
cut, clean, engrave, and otherwise abrade them, in the most wonderful and
satisfactory manner.
Diamonds are abraded; glass depolished, or engraved, or bored; metal
castings cleaned; lithographic zinc plates grained; silverware frosted; stone
and glass for jewelry shaped and figured; the inscriptions and ornaments of
monuments and tombstones cut thereon; engravings and photographs
copied; steel files cleaned and sharpened, and stones and marble carved into
removing the dust that is caused by the use of revolving brooms or brushes,
such removal being effected by means of a hood that covers the area of the
street beneath the body of the machine, and incloses an air exhaust, the
sweepings being drawn through the exhaust mechanism and deposited in a
receptacle for the purpose, or in some instances deposited in a furnace
carried by the machine and there burned.
In cities having hard, smooth, paved streets and sufficient municipal funds,
the most effective, but most expensive way, has been found to keep a large
force of men constantly at work with hoes, shovels, brooms, bags and carts,
removing the dirt as fast as it accumulates.
Abrading Machines.
One of the most striking inventions of the century is the application of the
sand-blast to industrial and artistic purposes.
For ages the sands of the desert and wild mountain plains, lifted and driven
by the whirling winds, had sheared and polished the edges and faces of
rocks, and cut them into fantastic shapes, and the sands of the shore, tossed
by the winds of the sea, had long scratched and bleared the windows of the
fisherman’s hut, before it occurred to the mind of man that here were a
force and an agent which could be harnessed into his service.
It was due finally to the inventive genius of B. F. Tilghman of Philadelphia,
Pa., who, in 1870, patented a process by which common sand, powdered
quartz, emery, or other comminuted sharp cutting material, may be blown
or driven with such force upon the surface of the hardest materials, as to
cut, clean, engrave, and otherwise abrade them, in the most wonderful and
satisfactory manner.
Diamonds are abraded; glass depolished, or engraved, or bored; metal
castings cleaned; lithographic zinc plates grained; silverware frosted; stone
and glass for jewelry shaped and figured; the inscriptions and ornaments of
monuments and tombstones cut thereon; engravings and photographs
copied; steel files cleaned and sharpened, and stones and marble carved into
Page 242
forms of beauty with more exactness and in far less time than by the chisel
of the artisan.
The gist of the process is the employment of a jet of sand or other hard
abrading material, driven at a high velocity by a blast of air or steam, under
a certain pressure, in accordance with the character of the work to be done.
The sand is placed in a box-like receptacle into which the air or steam is
forced, and the sand flowing into the same chamber is driven through a
narrow slit or slits in the form of a thin sheet, directly on to the object to be
abraded.
By one method the surface of the object is first coated with tinfoil on which
the artist traces his design, and this is then coated with melted transparent
wax. Then when the wax is hardened it is cut away along the lines already
indicated, and seen through the wax. The object now is subjected to the
blast, and as the sand will not penetrate a softened material sufficient to
abrade a surface beneath, the exposed portions alone will be cut away. The
sand after it strikes is carried off by a blast to some receptacle, from which
it is returned to its former place for further use. Other means may be used in
the place of a slitted box, as a small or larger blow-pipe; but the driving of
the sand, or similar abrading material, with great force by the steam or air
blast, is the essential feature of the process.
Emery, that variety of the mineral corundum, consisting of crystalline
alumina, resembling in appearance dark, fine-grained iron ore, ranking next
to the diamond in hardness, and a sister of the sapphire and the ruby, has
long been used as an abradant. The Eastern nations have used corundum for
this purpose for ages. Turkey and Greece once had a monopoly of it. Knight
says: “The corundum stone used by the Hindoos and Chinese is composed
of corundum powdered, two parts; lac resin, one part. The two are
intimately mixed in an earthen vessel, kneaded and flattened, shaped and
polished. A hole in the stone for the axis is made by a heated copper rod.”
However ancient the use of artificial stones for grinding and polishing,
nevertheless it is true that the solid emery wheel in the form that has made it
generally useful, in machines known as emery grinders, is a modern
invention, and of American origin.
of the artisan.
The gist of the process is the employment of a jet of sand or other hard
abrading material, driven at a high velocity by a blast of air or steam, under
a certain pressure, in accordance with the character of the work to be done.
The sand is placed in a box-like receptacle into which the air or steam is
forced, and the sand flowing into the same chamber is driven through a
narrow slit or slits in the form of a thin sheet, directly on to the object to be
abraded.
By one method the surface of the object is first coated with tinfoil on which
the artist traces his design, and this is then coated with melted transparent
wax. Then when the wax is hardened it is cut away along the lines already
indicated, and seen through the wax. The object now is subjected to the
blast, and as the sand will not penetrate a softened material sufficient to
abrade a surface beneath, the exposed portions alone will be cut away. The
sand after it strikes is carried off by a blast to some receptacle, from which
it is returned to its former place for further use. Other means may be used in
the place of a slitted box, as a small or larger blow-pipe; but the driving of
the sand, or similar abrading material, with great force by the steam or air
blast, is the essential feature of the process.
Emery, that variety of the mineral corundum, consisting of crystalline
alumina, resembling in appearance dark, fine-grained iron ore, ranking next
to the diamond in hardness, and a sister of the sapphire and the ruby, has
long been used as an abradant. The Eastern nations have used corundum for
this purpose for ages. Turkey and Greece once had a monopoly of it. Knight
says: “The corundum stone used by the Hindoos and Chinese is composed
of corundum powdered, two parts; lac resin, one part. The two are
intimately mixed in an earthen vessel, kneaded and flattened, shaped and
polished. A hole in the stone for the axis is made by a heated copper rod.”
However ancient the use of artificial stones for grinding and polishing,
nevertheless it is true that the solid emery wheel in the form that has made it
generally useful, in machines known as emery grinders, is a modern
invention, and of American origin.
Page 243
In the manufacture of such machines great attention and the highest
scientific skill has been paid, first, to the material composing the wheel, and
to the cementing substances by which the emery is compacted and bound in
the strongest manner, to prevent bursting when driven at great speed;
secondly, to the construction of machines and wheels of a composition
varying from the finest to the coarsest; and thirdly, to the proper balancing
of the wheels in the machines, an operation of great nicety, in order that the
wheel may be used on delicate tools, when driven at high speed, without
producing uneven work, marking the objects, or endangering the breaking,
or bursting of the wheel.
Such machines, when properly constructed, although not adapted to take the
place of the file, other steel-cutting tools, and the grindstone for many
purposes, yet have very extensively displaced those tools for cutting edges,
and the grinding and polishing of hardened metals, by reason chiefly of
their greater convenience, speed, and general adaptability. Not only tools of
all sizes are ground and polished, but ploughshares, stove and wrought-iron
plates, iron castings, the inner surfaces of hollow ironware, the bearings of
spindles, arbours, and the surfaces of steel, chilled or cast-iron rolls, etc.
In the great class of Industrial Mechanics, no machines of the century have
contributed more to the comfort and cleanliness of mankind than those by
which wearing apparel in its vast quantities is washed and ironed more
thoroughly, speedily, and satisfactorily in every way than is possible by the
old hand systems. When it is remembered how under the old system such a
large part of humanity, and this the weaker part, devoted such immense time
and labour to the universal washing and ironing days, the invention of these
machines and appliances must be regarded as among the great labour-
saving blessings of the century.
True, the individual washerwoman and washerman, and ironers, have by no
means disappeared, and are still in evidence everywhere, yet the universal
and general devotion of one-half the human race to the wash-tub and
ironing-table for two or more days in the week is no longer necessary. And
even for the individual worker, the convenient appliances and helps that
have been invented have greatly relieved the occupation of pain and
drudgery.
scientific skill has been paid, first, to the material composing the wheel, and
to the cementing substances by which the emery is compacted and bound in
the strongest manner, to prevent bursting when driven at great speed;
secondly, to the construction of machines and wheels of a composition
varying from the finest to the coarsest; and thirdly, to the proper balancing
of the wheels in the machines, an operation of great nicety, in order that the
wheel may be used on delicate tools, when driven at high speed, without
producing uneven work, marking the objects, or endangering the breaking,
or bursting of the wheel.
Such machines, when properly constructed, although not adapted to take the
place of the file, other steel-cutting tools, and the grindstone for many
purposes, yet have very extensively displaced those tools for cutting edges,
and the grinding and polishing of hardened metals, by reason chiefly of
their greater convenience, speed, and general adaptability. Not only tools of
all sizes are ground and polished, but ploughshares, stove and wrought-iron
plates, iron castings, the inner surfaces of hollow ironware, the bearings of
spindles, arbours, and the surfaces of steel, chilled or cast-iron rolls, etc.
In the great class of Industrial Mechanics, no machines of the century have
contributed more to the comfort and cleanliness of mankind than those by
which wearing apparel in its vast quantities is washed and ironed more
thoroughly, speedily, and satisfactorily in every way than is possible by the
old hand systems. When it is remembered how under the old system such a
large part of humanity, and this the weaker part, devoted such immense time
and labour to the universal washing and ironing days, the invention of these
machines and appliances must be regarded as among the great labour-
saving blessings of the century.
True, the individual washerwoman and washerman, and ironers, have by no
means disappeared, and are still in evidence everywhere, yet the universal
and general devotion of one-half the human race to the wash-tub and
ironing-table for two or more days in the week is no longer necessary. And
even for the individual worker, the convenient appliances and helps that
have been invented have greatly relieved the occupation of pain and
drudgery.
Page 244
Among modern devices in the laundry, worked by hand, is, first, the
washing-machine, in which the principle is adapted of rolling over or
kneading the clothes. By moving a lever by hand up and down, the clothes
are thoroughly rubbed, squeezed and lifted at each stroke. Then comes the
wringer, a common form of which consists of two parallel rolls of
vulcanized and otherwise specially treated rubber, fitted to shafts which, by
an arrangement of cog-wheels, gearing and springs in the framework at the
ends of rolls, and a crank handle, are made to roll on each other. The clothes
are passed between the rollers, the springs permit the rollers to yield and
part more or less, according to the thickness of the clothes.
Then the old-fashioned, or the new-fashioned mangle is brought into play.
The old-style mangle had a box, weighted with stone, which was
reciprocated on rollers, and was run back and forth upon the clothes spread
upon a polished table beneath. One of the more modern styles is on the
principle of the wringer above described, or a series of rollers arranged
around a central drum, and each having a rubber spring attached, by which
means the clothes are not subjected to undue pressure at one or two points,
as in the first mentioned kind.
Starch is also applied by a similar machine. The cloth is dipped into a body
of starch, or the same is applied by hand, and then the superfluous starch
squeezed out as the clothes are passed through the rollers.
But for hotels and other large institutions washing is now done by steam-
power machinery.
It is an attractive sight to step into a modern laundry, operated with the
latest machinery on the largest scale. The first thing necessary in many
localities is to clarify the water. This is done by attaching to the service pipe
tanks filled with filtering material, through which the water flows before
reaching the boiler. The driving engine and shafting are compactly placed at
one end or side of the room, with boilers and kettles conveniently adjacent.
The water and clothes are supplied to the washing-machine, and operated
by the engine. Steam may be used in addition to the engine to keep it
boiling hot, or steam may be substituted entirely for the water.
The machine may be one of several types selected especially for the
particular class of goods to be washed. There is the dash-wheel, constructed
washing-machine, in which the principle is adapted of rolling over or
kneading the clothes. By moving a lever by hand up and down, the clothes
are thoroughly rubbed, squeezed and lifted at each stroke. Then comes the
wringer, a common form of which consists of two parallel rolls of
vulcanized and otherwise specially treated rubber, fitted to shafts which, by
an arrangement of cog-wheels, gearing and springs in the framework at the
ends of rolls, and a crank handle, are made to roll on each other. The clothes
are passed between the rollers, the springs permit the rollers to yield and
part more or less, according to the thickness of the clothes.
Then the old-fashioned, or the new-fashioned mangle is brought into play.
The old-style mangle had a box, weighted with stone, which was
reciprocated on rollers, and was run back and forth upon the clothes spread
upon a polished table beneath. One of the more modern styles is on the
principle of the wringer above described, or a series of rollers arranged
around a central drum, and each having a rubber spring attached, by which
means the clothes are not subjected to undue pressure at one or two points,
as in the first mentioned kind.
Starch is also applied by a similar machine. The cloth is dipped into a body
of starch, or the same is applied by hand, and then the superfluous starch
squeezed out as the clothes are passed through the rollers.
But for hotels and other large institutions washing is now done by steam-
power machinery.
It is an attractive sight to step into a modern laundry, operated with the
latest machinery on the largest scale. The first thing necessary in many
localities is to clarify the water. This is done by attaching to the service pipe
tanks filled with filtering material, through which the water flows before
reaching the boiler. The driving engine and shafting are compactly placed at
one end or side of the room, with boilers and kettles conveniently adjacent.
The water and clothes are supplied to the washing-machine, and operated
by the engine. Steam may be used in addition to the engine to keep it
boiling hot, or steam may be substituted entirely for the water.
The machine may be one of several types selected especially for the
particular class of goods to be washed. There is the dash-wheel, constructed
Page 245
on the principle of the cylinder churn; the outer case being stationary and
the revolving dash-wheel water-tight, or perforated, which is the preferred
form for collars and cuffs. In place of the dash-wheel cylinders are
sometimes used, having from sixty to seventy revolutions a minute. Another
form has vibrating arms or beaters, giving between four hundred and five
hundred strokes a minute, and by which the clothes are squeezed between
rubbing corrugated boards. The rubbing boards also roll the clothes over
and over until they are thoroughly washed. In another form a rotating
cylinder for the clothes is provided with an arrangement of pipes by which
either steam, water or blueing can be introduced as desired, into the
cylinder, through its hollow journals, so that the clothes can be washed,
rinsed, and blued without removal from the machine.
Another type has perforated, reciprocating pistons, between which the
clothes are alternately squeezed and released, a supply of fresh water being
constantly introduced through one of the hollow cylinder journals, while the
used water is discharged through the opposite journal; and in still another
the clothes are placed in a perforated cylinder within an outer casing, and
propeller blades, assisted by other spiral blades, force a continuous current
of water through the clothes.
In ironing, hollow polishing rolls of various sizes are used, heated either by
steam or gas. The articles to be ironed are placed in proper position upon a
table and carried under and in contact with the rolls. Or the goods are ironed
between a heated cylinder and a revolving drum covered with felting, and
the polishing effected by the cylinder revolving faster than the drum.
Ingenious forms of hand-operated ironing machines for turning over and
ironing the edges of collars, and other articles, are in successful use.
the revolving dash-wheel water-tight, or perforated, which is the preferred
form for collars and cuffs. In place of the dash-wheel cylinders are
sometimes used, having from sixty to seventy revolutions a minute. Another
form has vibrating arms or beaters, giving between four hundred and five
hundred strokes a minute, and by which the clothes are squeezed between
rubbing corrugated boards. The rubbing boards also roll the clothes over
and over until they are thoroughly washed. In another form a rotating
cylinder for the clothes is provided with an arrangement of pipes by which
either steam, water or blueing can be introduced as desired, into the
cylinder, through its hollow journals, so that the clothes can be washed,
rinsed, and blued without removal from the machine.
Another type has perforated, reciprocating pistons, between which the
clothes are alternately squeezed and released, a supply of fresh water being
constantly introduced through one of the hollow cylinder journals, while the
used water is discharged through the opposite journal; and in still another
the clothes are placed in a perforated cylinder within an outer casing, and
propeller blades, assisted by other spiral blades, force a continuous current
of water through the clothes.
In ironing, hollow polishing rolls of various sizes are used, heated either by
steam or gas. The articles to be ironed are placed in proper position upon a
table and carried under and in contact with the rolls. Or the goods are ironed
between a heated cylinder and a revolving drum covered with felting, and
the polishing effected by the cylinder revolving faster than the drum.
Ingenious forms of hand-operated ironing machines for turning over and
ironing the edges of collars, and other articles, are in successful use.
Page 246
CHAPTER XXI.
WOOD-WORKING.
In surveying the wonderful road along which have travelled the toiling
inventors, until the splendid fields of the present century have been reached,
the mind indulges in contrasts and reverts to the far gone period of man’s
deprivations, when man, the animal, was fighting for food and shelter.
“Poor naked wretches, wheresoe’er you are,
That bide the pelting of this pitiless storm,
How shall your houseless heads and unfed sides,
Your loop’d and window’d raggedness, defend you
From seasons such as these?”
—King Lear III, IV.
When the implements of labour and the weapons of war were chiefly made
of stone, or bronze, or iron, such periods became the “age” of stone, or
bronze, or iron; and we sometimes hear of the ages of steam, steel and
electricity. But the age of wood has always existed, wherever forests
abounded. It was, doubtless, the earliest “age” in the industries of man, but
is not likely to be the latest, as the class of inventions we are about to
consider, although giving complete dominion to man over the forests, are
hastening their destruction.
As in every other class of inventions, there had been inventions in the class
of wood-working through the ages preceding this century, in tools,
implements and machines; but not until near the close of the eighteenth
century had there been much of a break in the universal toil by hand. The
implements produced were, for the most part, the result of the slow growth
of experience and mechanical skill, rather than the product of inventive
genius.
WOOD-WORKING.
In surveying the wonderful road along which have travelled the toiling
inventors, until the splendid fields of the present century have been reached,
the mind indulges in contrasts and reverts to the far gone period of man’s
deprivations, when man, the animal, was fighting for food and shelter.
“Poor naked wretches, wheresoe’er you are,
That bide the pelting of this pitiless storm,
How shall your houseless heads and unfed sides,
Your loop’d and window’d raggedness, defend you
From seasons such as these?”
—King Lear III, IV.
When the implements of labour and the weapons of war were chiefly made
of stone, or bronze, or iron, such periods became the “age” of stone, or
bronze, or iron; and we sometimes hear of the ages of steam, steel and
electricity. But the age of wood has always existed, wherever forests
abounded. It was, doubtless, the earliest “age” in the industries of man, but
is not likely to be the latest, as the class of inventions we are about to
consider, although giving complete dominion to man over the forests, are
hastening their destruction.
As in every other class of inventions, there had been inventions in the class
of wood-working through the ages preceding this century, in tools,
implements and machines; but not until near the close of the eighteenth
century had there been much of a break in the universal toil by hand. The
implements produced were, for the most part, the result of the slow growth
of experience and mechanical skill, rather than the product of inventive
genius.
Page 247
True, the turning-lathe, the axe, the hammer, the chisel, the saw, the auger,
the plane, the screw, and cutting and other wood-shaping instruments in
simple forms existed in abundance. The Egyptians used their saws of
bronze. The Greeks deified their supposed inventor of the saw, Talus, or
Perdix, and they claimed Theodore of Lamos as the inventor of the turning-
lathe; although the main idea of pivoting an object between two supports, so
that it could be turned while the hands were free to apply a tool to its
shaping, was old in the potter’s wheel of the Egyptians, which was turned
while the vessel resting upon it was shaped and ornamented by the hand and
tools. It appears also to have been known by the Hindoos and the Africans.
Pliny refers to the curled chips raised by the plane, and Ansonius refers to
mills driven by the waters of the Moselle for sawing marble into slabs.
Early records mention saw-mills run by water-power in the thirteenth
century in France, Germany and Norway; and Sweden had them in the next
century. Holland had them one hundred years at least before they were
introduced into England.
Fearful of the entire destruction of the forests by the wood used in the
manufacture of iron, and incited by the opposition and jealousy of hand
sawyers, England passed some rigid laws on the subject in the sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries, which, although preserving the forests, gave for a
long time the almost exclusive manufacture of iron and lumber to Germany
and Holland. Even as late as 1768, a saw-mill, built at Limehouse, under the
encouragement of the Society of Arts, by James Stansfield, was destroyed
by a mob. Saw-mills designed to be run by water-power had been
introduced into the American colonies by the Dutch more than a century
before they made their appearance in England. William Penn found that
they had long been at work on the Delaware when he reached its shores in
1682.
It was nothing indigenous to the climate or race that rendered the
Americans inventors. The early colonists, drawn from the most civilised
countries of Europe, carried to the new world knowledge of the latest and
best appliances known to their respective countries in the various arts. With
three thousand miles of water between them and the source of such
appliances, and between them and the source of arbitrary power and laws to
hamper efforts and enterprise, with stern necessity on every hand prompting
the plane, the screw, and cutting and other wood-shaping instruments in
simple forms existed in abundance. The Egyptians used their saws of
bronze. The Greeks deified their supposed inventor of the saw, Talus, or
Perdix, and they claimed Theodore of Lamos as the inventor of the turning-
lathe; although the main idea of pivoting an object between two supports, so
that it could be turned while the hands were free to apply a tool to its
shaping, was old in the potter’s wheel of the Egyptians, which was turned
while the vessel resting upon it was shaped and ornamented by the hand and
tools. It appears also to have been known by the Hindoos and the Africans.
Pliny refers to the curled chips raised by the plane, and Ansonius refers to
mills driven by the waters of the Moselle for sawing marble into slabs.
Early records mention saw-mills run by water-power in the thirteenth
century in France, Germany and Norway; and Sweden had them in the next
century. Holland had them one hundred years at least before they were
introduced into England.
Fearful of the entire destruction of the forests by the wood used in the
manufacture of iron, and incited by the opposition and jealousy of hand
sawyers, England passed some rigid laws on the subject in the sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries, which, although preserving the forests, gave for a
long time the almost exclusive manufacture of iron and lumber to Germany
and Holland. Even as late as 1768, a saw-mill, built at Limehouse, under the
encouragement of the Society of Arts, by James Stansfield, was destroyed
by a mob. Saw-mills designed to be run by water-power had been
introduced into the American colonies by the Dutch more than a century
before they made their appearance in England. William Penn found that
they had long been at work on the Delaware when he reached its shores in
1682.
It was nothing indigenous to the climate or race that rendered the
Americans inventors. The early colonists, drawn from the most civilised
countries of Europe, carried to the new world knowledge of the latest and
best appliances known to their respective countries in the various arts. With
three thousand miles of water between them and the source of such
appliances, and between them and the source of arbitrary power and laws to
hamper efforts and enterprise, with stern necessity on every hand prompting
Page 248
them to avail themselves of every means to meet their daily wants, all
known inventions were put to use, and brains were constantly exercised in
devising new means to aid, or take the place of, manual labour, which was
scarce. Surrounded, too, by vast forests, from which their houses, their
churches and their schools must be constructed, these pioneers naturally
turned their thoughts toward wood-working machinery. The attention to this
art necessarily created interest in and developed other arts. Thus constant
devotion to pursuits strenuously demanding labour-saving devices evolved
a race of keen inventors and mechanics. So that when Watt had developed
his wonderful application of steam to industrial purposes, America was
ready to substitute steam for water-power in the running of saw-mills.
Steam saw-mills commenced to buzz with the opening of the century.
As to the relation of that humble machine, the saw-mill, to the progress of
civilisation, it was once said: “The axe produces the log hut, but not until
the saw-mill is introduced do framed dwellings and villages arise; it is
civilisation’s pioneer machine; the precursor of the carpenter, wheelwright
and turner, the painter, the joiner, and legions of other professions. Progress
is unknown where it is not. Its comparative absence in the Southern
American continent was not the least cause of the trifling advancement
made there during three centuries and a half. Surrounded by forests of the
most valuable and variegated timber, with water-power in mountain
streams, equally neglected, the masses of the people lived in shanties and
mud hovels, not more commodious than those of the aborigines, nor more
durable than the annual structures of birds. Wherever man has not fixed and
comfortable homes, he is, as regards civilisation, stationary; improvement
under such circumstances has never taken place, nor can it.”
Miller, in England, in 1777, had described in his patent a circular saw, and
Hatton, in 1776, had vaguely described a planing machine; but the inception
of the marvellous growth in wood-working machinery in the nineteenth
century occurred in England during the last decade of the eighteenth. It was
due to the splendid efforts of General Samuel Bentham, and of Bramah and
Branch, both as to metal-working and wood-working machinery.
General Bentham, a brother of the celebrated jurist, Jeremy Bentham, had
his attention drawn to the slow, laborious, and crude methods of working in
known inventions were put to use, and brains were constantly exercised in
devising new means to aid, or take the place of, manual labour, which was
scarce. Surrounded, too, by vast forests, from which their houses, their
churches and their schools must be constructed, these pioneers naturally
turned their thoughts toward wood-working machinery. The attention to this
art necessarily created interest in and developed other arts. Thus constant
devotion to pursuits strenuously demanding labour-saving devices evolved
a race of keen inventors and mechanics. So that when Watt had developed
his wonderful application of steam to industrial purposes, America was
ready to substitute steam for water-power in the running of saw-mills.
Steam saw-mills commenced to buzz with the opening of the century.
As to the relation of that humble machine, the saw-mill, to the progress of
civilisation, it was once said: “The axe produces the log hut, but not until
the saw-mill is introduced do framed dwellings and villages arise; it is
civilisation’s pioneer machine; the precursor of the carpenter, wheelwright
and turner, the painter, the joiner, and legions of other professions. Progress
is unknown where it is not. Its comparative absence in the Southern
American continent was not the least cause of the trifling advancement
made there during three centuries and a half. Surrounded by forests of the
most valuable and variegated timber, with water-power in mountain
streams, equally neglected, the masses of the people lived in shanties and
mud hovels, not more commodious than those of the aborigines, nor more
durable than the annual structures of birds. Wherever man has not fixed and
comfortable homes, he is, as regards civilisation, stationary; improvement
under such circumstances has never taken place, nor can it.”
Miller, in England, in 1777, had described in his patent a circular saw, and
Hatton, in 1776, had vaguely described a planing machine; but the inception
of the marvellous growth in wood-working machinery in the nineteenth
century occurred in England during the last decade of the eighteenth. It was
due to the splendid efforts of General Samuel Bentham, and of Bramah and
Branch, both as to metal-working and wood-working machinery.
General Bentham, a brother of the celebrated jurist, Jeremy Bentham, had
his attention drawn to the slow, laborious, and crude methods of working in
Page 249
wood, while making a tour of Europe, and especially in Russia, and
engaged in inspecting the art of ship-building in those countries, in behalf
of the British Admiralty. On his return, 1791-1792, he converted his home
into a shop for making wood-working machines. These included “Planing,
moulding, rabbeting, grooving, mortising, and sawing, both in coarse and
fine work, in curved, winding, and transverse directions, and shaping wood
in complicated forms.”
Of the amount of bills presented to and paid for by the Admiralty for these
machines, General Bentham received about £20,000.
These machines were developed and in use just as the new century
approached. Thus, with the exception of the saw-mill, it may be again said
that prior to this century the means mankind had to aid them in their work
in metals and in wood were confined to hand tools, and these were for the
most part of a simple and crude description.
The ground-work now being laid, the century advanced into a region of
invention in tools and machinery for wood-working of every description,
far beyond the wildest dreams of all former carpenters and joiners. Not only
were the machines themselves invented, but they gave rise in turn to a host
of inventions in metal-working for making them.
In the same line of inventions there appeared in the first decade of the
century one of the most ingenious of men, and a most fitting type of that
great class of Yankee inventors who have carved their way to renown with
all implements, from the jack-knife to the electrically-driven universal
shaping machine.
Thomas Blanchard, born in Massachusetts in 1788, while a boy, was
accustomed to astonish his companions by the miniature wind-wheels and
water-wheels that he whittled out with his knife. While attending the parties
of young people who gathered on winter evenings at different homes in the
country to pare apples, the idea of a paring machine occurred to him, and
when only thirteen years of age, he invented and made the first apple-paring
machine, with which more apples could be pared in a given time than any
twelve of his girl acquaintances could pare with a knife.
engaged in inspecting the art of ship-building in those countries, in behalf
of the British Admiralty. On his return, 1791-1792, he converted his home
into a shop for making wood-working machines. These included “Planing,
moulding, rabbeting, grooving, mortising, and sawing, both in coarse and
fine work, in curved, winding, and transverse directions, and shaping wood
in complicated forms.”
Of the amount of bills presented to and paid for by the Admiralty for these
machines, General Bentham received about £20,000.
These machines were developed and in use just as the new century
approached. Thus, with the exception of the saw-mill, it may be again said
that prior to this century the means mankind had to aid them in their work
in metals and in wood were confined to hand tools, and these were for the
most part of a simple and crude description.
The ground-work now being laid, the century advanced into a region of
invention in tools and machinery for wood-working of every description,
far beyond the wildest dreams of all former carpenters and joiners. Not only
were the machines themselves invented, but they gave rise in turn to a host
of inventions in metal-working for making them.
In the same line of inventions there appeared in the first decade of the
century one of the most ingenious of men, and a most fitting type of that
great class of Yankee inventors who have carved their way to renown with
all implements, from the jack-knife to the electrically-driven universal
shaping machine.
Thomas Blanchard, born in Massachusetts in 1788, while a boy, was
accustomed to astonish his companions by the miniature wind-wheels and
water-wheels that he whittled out with his knife. While attending the parties
of young people who gathered on winter evenings at different homes in the
country to pare apples, the idea of a paring machine occurred to him, and
when only thirteen years of age, he invented and made the first apple-paring
machine, with which more apples could be pared in a given time than any
twelve of his girl acquaintances could pare with a knife.
Page 250
At eighteen, while working in a shop, driving the heads down on tacks, on
an anvil, with a hammer, he invented the first tack-forming machine, which,
when perfected by him, made five hundred tacks a minute, and which has
never since been improved in principle. He improved the steam engine, and
invented one of the first envelope machines. He made the first metal lathe
for cutting out the butts of gun-barrels. But his greatest triumphs were in
wood-working machinery.
Challenged to make a machine that would make a gun stock, always before
that time regarded an impossible task, its every part being so irregular in
form, he secluded himself in his workshop for six months, and after
constant labour and experiments he at the end of that time had produced a
machine that more than astonished the entire world, and which worked a
revolution in the making of all irregular forms from wood. This was in
1819. This machine would not only make a perfect gun-stock, but shoe
lasts, and ships’ tackle-blocks, axe-handles, and a multitude of irregular-
shaped blocks which before had always required the most expert hand
operatives to produce. This machine became the subject of parliamentary
inquiry on the part of England, and so great were the doubts concerning it,
that successive commissions were appointed to examine and report upon it.
Finally the English government ordered eight or ten of such machines for
the making of gun-stocks for its army, and paid Blanchard about $40,000
for them. He was once jestingly asked at the navy department at
Washington if he could turn a seventy-four? He at once replied, “Yes, if you
will furnish me the block.” Of course infringers appeared, but he
maintained his rights and title as first and original inventor after the most
searching trials in court.
The generic idea of Blanchard’s lathe for turning irregular forms consists in
the use of a pattern of the device which is to be shaped from the rough
material, placing such pattern in a lathe, alongside of the rough block, and
having a guide wheel which has an arm having cutters, and which guide
follows all the lines of the pattern, and which cutters, extending to the rough
material, chip it away to the depth and in the direction imparted by the
pattern lines to the guide, thus producing from the rough block a perfect
representation of the pattern.
an anvil, with a hammer, he invented the first tack-forming machine, which,
when perfected by him, made five hundred tacks a minute, and which has
never since been improved in principle. He improved the steam engine, and
invented one of the first envelope machines. He made the first metal lathe
for cutting out the butts of gun-barrels. But his greatest triumphs were in
wood-working machinery.
Challenged to make a machine that would make a gun stock, always before
that time regarded an impossible task, its every part being so irregular in
form, he secluded himself in his workshop for six months, and after
constant labour and experiments he at the end of that time had produced a
machine that more than astonished the entire world, and which worked a
revolution in the making of all irregular forms from wood. This was in
1819. This machine would not only make a perfect gun-stock, but shoe
lasts, and ships’ tackle-blocks, axe-handles, and a multitude of irregular-
shaped blocks which before had always required the most expert hand
operatives to produce. This machine became the subject of parliamentary
inquiry on the part of England, and so great were the doubts concerning it,
that successive commissions were appointed to examine and report upon it.
Finally the English government ordered eight or ten of such machines for
the making of gun-stocks for its army, and paid Blanchard about $40,000
for them. He was once jestingly asked at the navy department at
Washington if he could turn a seventy-four? He at once replied, “Yes, if you
will furnish me the block.” Of course infringers appeared, but he
maintained his rights and title as first and original inventor after the most
searching trials in court.
The generic idea of Blanchard’s lathe for turning irregular forms consists in
the use of a pattern of the device which is to be shaped from the rough
material, placing such pattern in a lathe, alongside of the rough block, and
having a guide wheel which has an arm having cutters, and which guide
follows all the lines of the pattern, and which cutters, extending to the rough
material, chip it away to the depth and in the direction imparted by the
pattern lines to the guide, thus producing from the rough block a perfect
representation of the pattern.
Page 251
In the midst of his studies in the construction of his inventions Blanchard’s
attention was drawn to the operations of a boring worm upon an old oak
log. Closely examining and watching the same by the aid of a microscope,
he gained valuable ideas from the work of his humble teacher, which he
incorporated into his new cutting and boring machines.
His series of machines in gun-making were designed to make and shape
automatically every part of the gun, whether of wood or metal. His
machines, and subsequent improvements by others, for boring, mortising
and turning, display wonderful ingenuity. A modern mortising machine, for
instance, is adapted to quickly and accurately cut a square or oblong hole to
any desired depth, width, and length by cutting blades; to automatically
reciprocate the cutters both vertically and horizontally in order to cut the
mortise, both as to length and depth, at one time, and to automatically
withdraw the cutters when they have finished cutting the mortise. They are
provided with simple means for setting and feeding the cutters to do this
work, and while giving the cutters a positive action, ample clearance is
provided for the removal of the chips as fast as they are cut.
From what such inventions will produce in the way of complicated and
ornamental workmanship we may conclude that it is a law of invention that
whatever can be made by hand may be made by a machine, and made
better.
Carving Machines made their appearance early in the century. In 1800 a
Mr. Watt of London produced one, on which he carved medallions and
figures in ivory and ebony. Also subsequently, John Hawkins of the same
city, and a Mr. Cheverton, invented machines for the same purpose. Another
Englishman, Braithwaite, in 1840, invented a most attractive carving
process in which, instead of cutting tools, he employed burning as his
agent. Heated casts of previously carved models were pressed into or on to
wet wood, and the charcoal surfaces then brushed off with hard brushes.
After Blanchard’s turning-lathes and boring apparatus, appeared machines
in which a series of cutters were employed, guided by a tracing lever
attached to a carved model, and actuating the cutter to reproduce on
material placed upon an adjusting table a copy of the model.
attention was drawn to the operations of a boring worm upon an old oak
log. Closely examining and watching the same by the aid of a microscope,
he gained valuable ideas from the work of his humble teacher, which he
incorporated into his new cutting and boring machines.
His series of machines in gun-making were designed to make and shape
automatically every part of the gun, whether of wood or metal. His
machines, and subsequent improvements by others, for boring, mortising
and turning, display wonderful ingenuity. A modern mortising machine, for
instance, is adapted to quickly and accurately cut a square or oblong hole to
any desired depth, width, and length by cutting blades; to automatically
reciprocate the cutters both vertically and horizontally in order to cut the
mortise, both as to length and depth, at one time, and to automatically
withdraw the cutters when they have finished cutting the mortise. They are
provided with simple means for setting and feeding the cutters to do this
work, and while giving the cutters a positive action, ample clearance is
provided for the removal of the chips as fast as they are cut.
From what such inventions will produce in the way of complicated and
ornamental workmanship we may conclude that it is a law of invention that
whatever can be made by hand may be made by a machine, and made
better.
Carving Machines made their appearance early in the century. In 1800 a
Mr. Watt of London produced one, on which he carved medallions and
figures in ivory and ebony. Also subsequently, John Hawkins of the same
city, and a Mr. Cheverton, invented machines for the same purpose. Another
Englishman, Braithwaite, in 1840, invented a most attractive carving
process in which, instead of cutting tools, he employed burning as his
agent. Heated casts of previously carved models were pressed into or on to
wet wood, and the charcoal surfaces then brushed off with hard brushes.
After Blanchard’s turning-lathes and boring apparatus, appeared machines
in which a series of cutters were employed, guided by a tracing lever
attached to a carved model, and actuating the cutter to reproduce on
material placed upon an adjusting table a copy of the model.
Page 252
Machines have been invented which consist of hard iron or steel rollers on
the surface of which are cut beautiful patterns, and between which wood
previously softened by steam is passed, and designs thus impressed thereon.
A similar process of embossing, was devised in Paris and called Xyloplasty,
by which steam-softened wood is compressed in carved moulds, which give
it bas-relief impressions.
But in the carving of wood by hand, a beautiful art, which has been revived
within the past generation, there are touches of sentiment, taste and human
toil, which, like the touches of the painter and the master of music, appeal
to cultivated minds in a higher than mechanical sense. The mills of the
modern gods, the inventors, grind with exceeding and exact fineness, but
the work of a human hand upon a manufactured article still appeals to
human sympathy.
The bending of wood when heated by fire or steam had been known and
practised to a limited extent, but Blanchard invented a clamping machine, to
which improvements have been added, and by which ship timbers,
furniture, ploughs, piano frames, carriage bows, stair and house banisters
and balusters, wheel rims, staves, etc., etc., are bent to the desired forms,
and without breaking. Bending to a certain extent does not weaken wood,
but stretching the same has been found to impair and destroy its strength.
The principal problems which the inventors of the century have solved in
the class of wood-working have been the adaptation to rapid-working
machinery of the saw and other blades, to sever; the plane to smooth, the
auger, the bit and the gimlet to bore, the hammer to drive, and a
combination of all or a part of these to shape and finish the completed
article.
It was a great step from the reciprocating hand saw, worked painfully by
one or two men, to the band saw, invented by a London mechanic, William
Newbury, in 1808. This was an endless steel belt serrated on one edge,
mounted on pulleys, and driven continuously by the power of steam
through the hardest and the heaviest work. Pliable, to conform to the faces
of the wheels over which it is carried, it will bend with all the sinuosities of
long timber, no time is lost in its operation, and no labour of human hands
is necessary to guide it or the object on which it works.
the surface of which are cut beautiful patterns, and between which wood
previously softened by steam is passed, and designs thus impressed thereon.
A similar process of embossing, was devised in Paris and called Xyloplasty,
by which steam-softened wood is compressed in carved moulds, which give
it bas-relief impressions.
But in the carving of wood by hand, a beautiful art, which has been revived
within the past generation, there are touches of sentiment, taste and human
toil, which, like the touches of the painter and the master of music, appeal
to cultivated minds in a higher than mechanical sense. The mills of the
modern gods, the inventors, grind with exceeding and exact fineness, but
the work of a human hand upon a manufactured article still appeals to
human sympathy.
The bending of wood when heated by fire or steam had been known and
practised to a limited extent, but Blanchard invented a clamping machine, to
which improvements have been added, and by which ship timbers,
furniture, ploughs, piano frames, carriage bows, stair and house banisters
and balusters, wheel rims, staves, etc., etc., are bent to the desired forms,
and without breaking. Bending to a certain extent does not weaken wood,
but stretching the same has been found to impair and destroy its strength.
The principal problems which the inventors of the century have solved in
the class of wood-working have been the adaptation to rapid-working
machinery of the saw and other blades, to sever; the plane to smooth, the
auger, the bit and the gimlet to bore, the hammer to drive, and a
combination of all or a part of these to shape and finish the completed
article.
It was a great step from the reciprocating hand saw, worked painfully by
one or two men, to the band saw, invented by a London mechanic, William
Newbury, in 1808. This was an endless steel belt serrated on one edge,
mounted on pulleys, and driven continuously by the power of steam
through the hardest and the heaviest work. Pliable, to conform to the faces
of the wheels over which it is carried, it will bend with all the sinuosities of
long timber, no time is lost in its operation, and no labour of human hands
is necessary to guide it or the object on which it works.
Page 253
At the Vienna Exposition in 1873, the first mammoth saw of this
description was exhibited. The saw itself was made by the celebrated firm
of Perin & Co., of Paris, upon machinery the drawings of which were made
by Mr. Van Pelt of New York, and constructed by Richards, Loudon and
Kelly of Philadelphia. The saw was fifty-five feet long, and sawed planks
from a pine log three feet thick, at the rate of sixty superficial feet per
minute. The difficulty of securing a perfectly reliable weld in the endless
steel band was overcome by M. Perin, who received at the Paris Exhibition
in 1867 the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour. Now gangs of such saws
may be found in America and elsewhere, and circular saws have also been
added. Saws that both cut, form, and plane the boards at the same time are
now known.
Boring tools, both for hand and machinery, demanded improvement.
Formerly augers and similar boring tools had merely a curved sharpened
end and a concavity to hold the chips, and the whole tool had to be
withdrawn to empty the chips. It was known as a pod auger. In 1809,
L’Hommedieu, a Frenchman, invented an auger with two pods and cutting
lips, a central screw and a twisted shank. About the same time Lilley of
Connecticut made a twisted auger, and these screw-form, twisted, cutting
tools of various kinds, with their cutting lips, and by which the shavings or
chips were withdrawn continuously from the hole as the cutting proceeded,
became so improved in the United States that they were known as the
American augers and bits. The planing machines of General Bentham were
improved by Bramah, and he and Maudsley also greatly improved other
wood-working machines and tools in England—1802-1810.
We have before, in the chapter on metal-working, shown the importance of
the slide-rest, planer and lathe, when combined, and which also are
extensively adapted to wood-working. In Bramah’s machine, a vertical
spindle carried at its lower extremity a horizontal wheel having twenty-
eight cutter blades, followed by a plane also attached to a wheel. A board
was by these means perfectly trimmed and smoothed from end to end, as it
was carried against the cutters by suitable moving means. William
Woodworth of New York, in 1828, patented a celebrated planing machine
which became so popular and its use was regarded so necessary in the
wood-working trades, that the patent was looked upon as an odious
monopoly. It consisted of a combination of rollers armed with cutters,
description was exhibited. The saw itself was made by the celebrated firm
of Perin & Co., of Paris, upon machinery the drawings of which were made
by Mr. Van Pelt of New York, and constructed by Richards, Loudon and
Kelly of Philadelphia. The saw was fifty-five feet long, and sawed planks
from a pine log three feet thick, at the rate of sixty superficial feet per
minute. The difficulty of securing a perfectly reliable weld in the endless
steel band was overcome by M. Perin, who received at the Paris Exhibition
in 1867 the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour. Now gangs of such saws
may be found in America and elsewhere, and circular saws have also been
added. Saws that both cut, form, and plane the boards at the same time are
now known.
Boring tools, both for hand and machinery, demanded improvement.
Formerly augers and similar boring tools had merely a curved sharpened
end and a concavity to hold the chips, and the whole tool had to be
withdrawn to empty the chips. It was known as a pod auger. In 1809,
L’Hommedieu, a Frenchman, invented an auger with two pods and cutting
lips, a central screw and a twisted shank. About the same time Lilley of
Connecticut made a twisted auger, and these screw-form, twisted, cutting
tools of various kinds, with their cutting lips, and by which the shavings or
chips were withdrawn continuously from the hole as the cutting proceeded,
became so improved in the United States that they were known as the
American augers and bits. The planing machines of General Bentham were
improved by Bramah, and he and Maudsley also greatly improved other
wood-working machines and tools in England—1802-1810.
We have before, in the chapter on metal-working, shown the importance of
the slide-rest, planer and lathe, when combined, and which also are
extensively adapted to wood-working. In Bramah’s machine, a vertical
spindle carried at its lower extremity a horizontal wheel having twenty-
eight cutter blades, followed by a plane also attached to a wheel. A board
was by these means perfectly trimmed and smoothed from end to end, as it
was carried against the cutters by suitable moving means. William
Woodworth of New York, in 1828, patented a celebrated planing machine
which became so popular and its use was regarded so necessary in the
wood-working trades, that the patent was looked upon as an odious
monopoly. It consisted of a combination of rollers armed with cutters,
Page 254
attached to a horizontal shaft revolving at a great speed, and of means for
feeding the boards to the cutters. With Bentham’s, Bramah’s, Blanchard’s,
and Woodworth’s ideas for a basis, those innumerable improvements have
been made in machinery, by which wood is converted with almost lightning
rapidity into all the forms in which we see it, whether ornamental or useful,
in modern homes and other structures.
Some machines are known as “Universal Wood Workers.” In these a single
machine is provided with various tools, and adapted to perform a great
variety of work by shifting the position of the material and the tools. The
following operations can be performed on such a machine:—Planing,
bevelling, tapering, tenoning, tongueing and grooving (grooves straight,
circular or angular), making of joints, twisting and a number of other
operations.
The later invention by Stow of Philadelphia of a flexible shaft, made up of a
series of coils of steel wire, given a leather covering, and to which can be
attached augers, bits, or metal drills, the tool applied to its work from any
direction, and its direction varied while at work, has excited great attention.
Shingles are as old in the art as the framework of buildings. Rome was
roofed with shingles for centuries, made of oak or pine.
Tiles, plain and fancy, and slates, have to a certain extent superseded wood
shingling, but the wood will always be used where it can be found in plenty,
as machines will now turn them out complete faster than they can be hauled
away. A shingle is a thin piece of wood, thicker at one end than at the other,
having parallel sides, about three times as long as it is wide, having
generally smooth surfaces and edges. All these features are now given to the
shingle by modern machines.
A great log is rolled into a mill at one end and soon comes out at the other
in bundles of shingles; the logs sawed into blocks, the blocks split or sawed
again into shingle sizes, tapered, planed in the direction of the grain of the
wood, the complete shingles collected and bound in bundles, each operation
by a special machine, or by a series of mechanisms.
Veneering, that art of covering cheap or ordinary wood with a thin covering
of more ornamental and valuable wood, known from the days of the
feeding the boards to the cutters. With Bentham’s, Bramah’s, Blanchard’s,
and Woodworth’s ideas for a basis, those innumerable improvements have
been made in machinery, by which wood is converted with almost lightning
rapidity into all the forms in which we see it, whether ornamental or useful,
in modern homes and other structures.
Some machines are known as “Universal Wood Workers.” In these a single
machine is provided with various tools, and adapted to perform a great
variety of work by shifting the position of the material and the tools. The
following operations can be performed on such a machine:—Planing,
bevelling, tapering, tenoning, tongueing and grooving (grooves straight,
circular or angular), making of joints, twisting and a number of other
operations.
The later invention by Stow of Philadelphia of a flexible shaft, made up of a
series of coils of steel wire, given a leather covering, and to which can be
attached augers, bits, or metal drills, the tool applied to its work from any
direction, and its direction varied while at work, has excited great attention.
Shingles are as old in the art as the framework of buildings. Rome was
roofed with shingles for centuries, made of oak or pine.
Tiles, plain and fancy, and slates, have to a certain extent superseded wood
shingling, but the wood will always be used where it can be found in plenty,
as machines will now turn them out complete faster than they can be hauled
away. A shingle is a thin piece of wood, thicker at one end than at the other,
having parallel sides, about three times as long as it is wide, having
generally smooth surfaces and edges. All these features are now given to the
shingle by modern machines.
A great log is rolled into a mill at one end and soon comes out at the other
in bundles of shingles; the logs sawed into blocks, the blocks split or sawed
again into shingle sizes, tapered, planed in the direction of the grain of the
wood, the complete shingles collected and bound in bundles, each operation
by a special machine, or by a series of mechanisms.
Veneering, that art of covering cheap or ordinary wood with a thin covering
of more ornamental and valuable wood, known from the days of the
Page 255
Egyptians, has been vastly extended by modern machinery. The practice,
however, so emphatically denounced centuries ago by Pliny, as “the
monstrous invention of paint and dyes applied to the woods or veneers, to
imitate other woods,” has yet its practitioners and admirers.
T. M. Brunel, in 1805-1808, devised a set of circular saws run by a steam
engine, which cut sheets of rosewood and mahogany, one-fourteenth of an
inch thick, with great speed and accuracy. Since that day the veneer planing
machine, for delicately smoothing the sheets, the straightening machine, for
straightening scrolls that have been cut from logs, the polishing machines
for giving the sheets their bright and glossy appearance, the pressing
machine for applying them to the surfaces to which they are to be attached,
the hammering machine for forcing out superfluous glue from between a
veneer and the piece to which it is applied; all of these and numerous
modifications of the same have been invented, and resulted in placing in the
homes everywhere many beautiful ornamental articles of furniture, which
before the very rich only could afford to have.
Special forms of machinery for making various articles of wood are about
as numerous as the articles themselves.
We appear before the house and know before entering that its doors and
sills, clapboards and window frames, its sashes and blinds, its cornices, its
embrasures and pillars, and shingles, each or all have had a special machine
invented for its manufacture. We enter the house and find it is so with
objects within—the flooring may be adorned with the beautiful art of
marquetry and parquetry, wood mosaic work, the wainscoting and the
frescoes and ceilings, the stairs and staircases, its carved and ornamental
supporting frames and balusters, the charming mantel frames around the
hospitable fireplaces, and every article of furniture we see in which wood is
a part. So, too, it is with every useful wooden implement and article within
and without the house,—the trays, the buckets, the barrels, the tubs, the
clothes-pins, the broom-handles, the mops, the ironing and bread boards;
and outside the house, the fences, railings and posts—many of these objects
entirely unknown to the poor of former generations, uncommon with the
rich, and the machinery for making them unknown to all.
however, so emphatically denounced centuries ago by Pliny, as “the
monstrous invention of paint and dyes applied to the woods or veneers, to
imitate other woods,” has yet its practitioners and admirers.
T. M. Brunel, in 1805-1808, devised a set of circular saws run by a steam
engine, which cut sheets of rosewood and mahogany, one-fourteenth of an
inch thick, with great speed and accuracy. Since that day the veneer planing
machine, for delicately smoothing the sheets, the straightening machine, for
straightening scrolls that have been cut from logs, the polishing machines
for giving the sheets their bright and glossy appearance, the pressing
machine for applying them to the surfaces to which they are to be attached,
the hammering machine for forcing out superfluous glue from between a
veneer and the piece to which it is applied; all of these and numerous
modifications of the same have been invented, and resulted in placing in the
homes everywhere many beautiful ornamental articles of furniture, which
before the very rich only could afford to have.
Special forms of machinery for making various articles of wood are about
as numerous as the articles themselves.
We appear before the house and know before entering that its doors and
sills, clapboards and window frames, its sashes and blinds, its cornices, its
embrasures and pillars, and shingles, each or all have had a special machine
invented for its manufacture. We enter the house and find it is so with
objects within—the flooring may be adorned with the beautiful art of
marquetry and parquetry, wood mosaic work, the wainscoting and the
frescoes and ceilings, the stairs and staircases, its carved and ornamental
supporting frames and balusters, the charming mantel frames around the
hospitable fireplaces, and every article of furniture we see in which wood is
a part. So, too, it is with every useful wooden implement and article within
and without the house,—the trays, the buckets, the barrels, the tubs, the
clothes-pins, the broom-handles, the mops, the ironing and bread boards;
and outside the house, the fences, railings and posts—many of these objects
entirely unknown to the poor of former generations, uncommon with the
rich, and the machinery for making them unknown to all.
Page 256
It was a noble array of woodwork and machinery with which the nations
surprised and greeted the world, at each of its notable international
Expositions during the century. Each occasion surpassed its predecessor in
the beauty of construction of the machines displayed and efficiency of their
work. The names of the members of this array were hard and uncouth, such
as the axe, the adze, and the bit, the auger, bark-cutting and grinding
machines, blind-slat boring, and tenoning, dovetail, mortising, matching
and planing, wood splitting, turning, wheeling and planing, wood-bending,
rim-boring dowelling, felly-jointing, etc., etc. These names and the clamour
of the machines were painful to the ear, but to the thoughtful, they were
converted into sweeter music, when reflection brought to mind the hard toil
of human hands they had saved, the before unknown comforts and blessings
of civilisation they had brought and were bringing to the human race, and
the enduring forms of beauty they had produced.
To the invention of wood-working machinery we are also indebted for the
awakening of interest in the qualities of wood for a vast number of artistic
purposes. It was a revelation, at the great Philadelphia Exposition of 1876,
to behold the specimens of different woods from all the forests of the earth,
selected and assembled to display their wonderful grain and other qualities,
and showing how well nature was storing up for us in its silent shades those
growths which were waiting the genius of invention to convert into forms
of use and beauty for every home.
surprised and greeted the world, at each of its notable international
Expositions during the century. Each occasion surpassed its predecessor in
the beauty of construction of the machines displayed and efficiency of their
work. The names of the members of this array were hard and uncouth, such
as the axe, the adze, and the bit, the auger, bark-cutting and grinding
machines, blind-slat boring, and tenoning, dovetail, mortising, matching
and planing, wood splitting, turning, wheeling and planing, wood-bending,
rim-boring dowelling, felly-jointing, etc., etc. These names and the clamour
of the machines were painful to the ear, but to the thoughtful, they were
converted into sweeter music, when reflection brought to mind the hard toil
of human hands they had saved, the before unknown comforts and blessings
of civilisation they had brought and were bringing to the human race, and
the enduring forms of beauty they had produced.
To the invention of wood-working machinery we are also indebted for the
awakening of interest in the qualities of wood for a vast number of artistic
purposes. It was a revelation, at the great Philadelphia Exposition of 1876,
to behold the specimens of different woods from all the forests of the earth,
selected and assembled to display their wonderful grain and other qualities,
and showing how well nature was storing up for us in its silent shades those
growths which were waiting the genius of invention to convert into forms
of use and beauty for every home.
Page 257
CHAPTER XXII.
FURNITURE.
So far as machinery is concerned for converting wood into furniture, the
same has been anticipated in the previous chapter, but much remains to be
said about the articles of furniture themselves.
Although from ancient days the most ancient countries provided by hand
elaborate and beautiful articles of furniture of many descriptions, yet it has
been left for modern advances in machinery and kindred arts to yield that
universal supply of convenient and ornamental furniture which now
prevails.
The Egyptians used chairs and tables of a more modern form than the
Greeks or Romans, who lolled about on couches even at their meals; but the
Egyptians did not have the convenient section tables built in sliding
sections, which permit the table to be enlarged to accommodate an
increased number of guests. And now recently this modern form of table
has been improved, by arranging the sections and leaves so that when the
sections are slid out the leaves are automatically raised and placed in
position, which is done either by lazy-tongs mechanism, or by a series of
parallel links: Tables constructed with folding detachable and adjustable
legs, tables constructed for special purposes as sewing machines, and
typewriting machine tables, by which the machine head may be dropped
beneath the table top when not in use; tables combined with desks wherein
the table part may be slid into the desk part when not in use and the sliding
cover pulled down to cover and lock from sight both the table and desk;
surgical tables, adapted to be raised or lowered at either end or at either side
and to be extended; “knock down” tables, adapted to be taken all apart for
shipment or storage; tables combined with chairs to be folded down by the
FURNITURE.
So far as machinery is concerned for converting wood into furniture, the
same has been anticipated in the previous chapter, but much remains to be
said about the articles of furniture themselves.
Although from ancient days the most ancient countries provided by hand
elaborate and beautiful articles of furniture of many descriptions, yet it has
been left for modern advances in machinery and kindred arts to yield that
universal supply of convenient and ornamental furniture which now
prevails.
The Egyptians used chairs and tables of a more modern form than the
Greeks or Romans, who lolled about on couches even at their meals; but the
Egyptians did not have the convenient section tables built in sliding
sections, which permit the table to be enlarged to accommodate an
increased number of guests. And now recently this modern form of table
has been improved, by arranging the sections and leaves so that when the
sections are slid out the leaves are automatically raised and placed in
position, which is done either by lazy-tongs mechanism, or by a series of
parallel links: Tables constructed with folding detachable and adjustable
legs, tables constructed for special purposes as sewing machines, and
typewriting machine tables, by which the machine head may be dropped
beneath the table top when not in use; tables combined with desks wherein
the table part may be slid into the desk part when not in use and the sliding
cover pulled down to cover and lock from sight both the table and desk;
surgical tables, adapted to be raised or lowered at either end or at either side
and to be extended; “knock down” tables, adapted to be taken all apart for
shipment or storage; tables combined with chairs to be folded down by the
Page 258
side of the chair when not in use; and many other useful forms have been
added to the list.
Much ingenuity has been displayed in the construction of desks, to save and
economise space. Mention has been made of a combined folding desk and
extensible table. Another form is an arrangement of desk drawers, whereby
when one drawer is locked or unlocked all the rest are locked or unlocked
automatically. Whatever shape or function anyone desires in a desk may be
met, except, perhaps, the performance of the actual work of the occupant.
In the matter of beds, the principal developments have been due to the
advancement of wood-working machinery, and the manufacture of iron,
steel, and brass. The old-fashioned ponderous bedsteads, put together by
heavy screws, have given way to those mortised and tenoned, joined and
matched, and by which they can easily be put up and taken down; and to
iron and brass bedsteads, which are both ornamental and more healthful. No
bed may be without an inexpensive steel spring frame or mattress for the
support of the bedding. Folding beds made to economise space, and when
folded upright become an ornamental bureau; and invalid bedsteads,
designed for shifting the position of the invalid, are among the many
modern improvements.
Kitchen Utensils.—A vast amount of drudgery in the kitchen has been
relieved by the convenient inventions in labor-saving appliances: coffee and
spice mills, can-openers, stationary washtubs, stopper extractors,
superseding the old style of hand-corkscrews where large numbers of
bottles are to be uncorked; refrigerators and provision safes, attaching and
lifting devices and convenient culinary dishes and utensils of great variety.
Curtains, shades and screens have been wonderfully improved and their use
made widely possible by modern inventions and new adaptation of old
methods. Wood, cotton, silk, paper, combined or uncombined with other
materials, in many novel ways unknown to our ancestors, have rendered
these articles available in thousands of homes where their use was unknown
and impossible a century ago. Among the most convenient attachments to
shades is the spring roller, invented by Hartshorn of America, in 1864,
whereby the shade is automatically rolled upon its stick to raise or lower it.
added to the list.
Much ingenuity has been displayed in the construction of desks, to save and
economise space. Mention has been made of a combined folding desk and
extensible table. Another form is an arrangement of desk drawers, whereby
when one drawer is locked or unlocked all the rest are locked or unlocked
automatically. Whatever shape or function anyone desires in a desk may be
met, except, perhaps, the performance of the actual work of the occupant.
In the matter of beds, the principal developments have been due to the
advancement of wood-working machinery, and the manufacture of iron,
steel, and brass. The old-fashioned ponderous bedsteads, put together by
heavy screws, have given way to those mortised and tenoned, joined and
matched, and by which they can easily be put up and taken down; and to
iron and brass bedsteads, which are both ornamental and more healthful. No
bed may be without an inexpensive steel spring frame or mattress for the
support of the bedding. Folding beds made to economise space, and when
folded upright become an ornamental bureau; and invalid bedsteads,
designed for shifting the position of the invalid, are among the many
modern improvements.
Kitchen Utensils.—A vast amount of drudgery in the kitchen has been
relieved by the convenient inventions in labor-saving appliances: coffee and
spice mills, can-openers, stationary washtubs, stopper extractors,
superseding the old style of hand-corkscrews where large numbers of
bottles are to be uncorked; refrigerators and provision safes, attaching and
lifting devices and convenient culinary dishes and utensils of great variety.
Curtains, shades and screens have been wonderfully improved and their use
made widely possible by modern inventions and new adaptation of old
methods. Wood, cotton, silk, paper, combined or uncombined with other
materials, in many novel ways unknown to our ancestors, have rendered
these articles available in thousands of homes where their use was unknown
and impossible a century ago. Among the most convenient attachments to
shades is the spring roller, invented by Hartshorn of America, in 1864,
whereby the shade is automatically rolled upon its stick to raise or lower it.
Page 259
Window screens for the purpose of excluding flies, mosquitoes, and other
insects, while freely admitting the air, are now made extensible and
adjustable in different ways to fit different sizes of windows. Curtains and
shades are provided with neat and most attractive supporting rods, to which
they are attached by brass or wooden rings, and provided with easily
manipulated devices to raise and securely hold them in any desired position.
The art of steaming wood and bending it, by iron pattern forms adjustable
to the forms desired, as particularly devised in principle by Blanchard in
America in 1828-1840, referred to in Wood-working, has produced great
changes in the art of furniture making, especially in chairs. A particularly
interesting illustration of the results of this art occurred in Austria. About
forty years ago the manufacture in Germany and Austria of furniture by
machinery, especially of bent wood-ware, became well established there;
and by the time of the Vienna Exposition in 1873, factories on a most
extensive scale for the construction of bed furniture were in operation
among the vast mountain beech forests of Moravia and Hungary. The
greatest of these works were located in Great Urgroez, Hungary, and
Bisritz, Moravia, with twenty or more auxiliary establishments. Between
five and six thousand work people were employed, the greater part of whom
were females, and it was necessary to use steam and water motors, to the
extent of many hundred horse power.
The forests were felled, and the tree-tops removed and made into charcoal
for use in the glass works of Bohemia. The trunks were hauled to the mills
and sawed into planks of suitable thickness by gang-saws. The planks in
turn were cut with circular saws into square pieces for turning, and then the
pieces turned and cut on lathes, to give them the size required and the
rounded shape; the pieces then steamed while in their green state for
twenty-four hours in suitable boilers, then taken out and bent to the desired
shape on a cast-iron frame by hand, then subjected, with the desired pattern,
to the pattern-turning table, and cut; then kept locked in the pattern’s iron
embrace until the pieces were dried and permanently set in shape, then
clamped to a bench, filed, rasped, stained, and French polished by the deft
hands of the women; then assembled in proper position in frames of the
form of the chair or other article to be made, their contact surface sawed to
fit at the joints, and then finally the parts glued together and further secured
by the addition of a few screws or balls.
insects, while freely admitting the air, are now made extensible and
adjustable in different ways to fit different sizes of windows. Curtains and
shades are provided with neat and most attractive supporting rods, to which
they are attached by brass or wooden rings, and provided with easily
manipulated devices to raise and securely hold them in any desired position.
The art of steaming wood and bending it, by iron pattern forms adjustable
to the forms desired, as particularly devised in principle by Blanchard in
America in 1828-1840, referred to in Wood-working, has produced great
changes in the art of furniture making, especially in chairs. A particularly
interesting illustration of the results of this art occurred in Austria. About
forty years ago the manufacture in Germany and Austria of furniture by
machinery, especially of bent wood-ware, became well established there;
and by the time of the Vienna Exposition in 1873, factories on a most
extensive scale for the construction of bed furniture were in operation
among the vast mountain beech forests of Moravia and Hungary. The
greatest of these works were located in Great Urgroez, Hungary, and
Bisritz, Moravia, with twenty or more auxiliary establishments. Between
five and six thousand work people were employed, the greater part of whom
were females, and it was necessary to use steam and water motors, to the
extent of many hundred horse power.
The forests were felled, and the tree-tops removed and made into charcoal
for use in the glass works of Bohemia. The trunks were hauled to the mills
and sawed into planks of suitable thickness by gang-saws. The planks in
turn were cut with circular saws into square pieces for turning, and then the
pieces turned and cut on lathes, to give them the size required and the
rounded shape; the pieces then steamed while in their green state for
twenty-four hours in suitable boilers, then taken out and bent to the desired
shape on a cast-iron frame by hand, then subjected, with the desired pattern,
to the pattern-turning table, and cut; then kept locked in the pattern’s iron
embrace until the pieces were dried and permanently set in shape, then
clamped to a bench, filed, rasped, stained, and French polished by the deft
hands of the women; then assembled in proper position in frames of the
form of the chair or other article to be made, their contact surface sawed to
fit at the joints, and then finally the parts glued together and further secured
by the addition of a few screws or balls.
Page 260
Chairs, lounges and lighter furniture were thus made from bent pieces of
wood with very few joints, having a neat and attractive appearance, and
possessing great strength. The art has spread to other forests and other
countries, and the turned, bent, highly polished and beautiful furniture of
this generation would have been but a dream of beauty to the householder
of a century ago.
Children’s chairs are made so that the seat may be raised or lowered, or the
chair converted into a perambulator. Dentist’s chairs have been developed
until it is only necessary for the operator to turn a valve governing a fluid,
generally oil, under pressure to raise or lower the chair and the patient. In
the more agreeable situation at the theatre or concert one may hang his hat
on the bottom of the chair, upturned to afford access to it through a crowded
row, and turning down the chair, sit with pleasure, as the curtain is rolled up
by compressed air, or electricity, at the touch of a button.
To the unthinking and unobserving, the subject of bottle stoppers is not
entrancing, but those acquainted with the art know with what long,
continuous, earnest efforts, thousands of inventors have sought for the best
and cheapest bottle stopper to take the place of corks—the enormous
demand for which was exhausting the supply and rendering their price
almost prohibitive.
One of the most successful types is a stopper of rubber combined with a
metal disk, and hung by a wire on the neck of the bottle, so that the stopper
can be used over and over again; another form composed of glass, or
porcelain, and cork; another is a thin disk of cork placed in a thin metal cap
which is crimped over a shoulder on the neck of the bottle, and still another
is a thin disk of pasteboard adapted for milk bottles and pressed tightly
within a rim on the inside of the neck of the bottle.
In this connection should be mentioned that self-sealing fruit jar, known
from its inventor as “Mason’s fruit jar,” which came into such universal use
—that combination of screw cap, screw-threaded jar-neck and the rubber
ring, or gasket, on which the cap was screwed so tightly as to seal the jar
hermetically.
In lamplighting, what a wonderful change from the old oil lamps of former
ages! The modern lamp may be said to be an improved means of grace, as it
wood with very few joints, having a neat and attractive appearance, and
possessing great strength. The art has spread to other forests and other
countries, and the turned, bent, highly polished and beautiful furniture of
this generation would have been but a dream of beauty to the householder
of a century ago.
Children’s chairs are made so that the seat may be raised or lowered, or the
chair converted into a perambulator. Dentist’s chairs have been developed
until it is only necessary for the operator to turn a valve governing a fluid,
generally oil, under pressure to raise or lower the chair and the patient. In
the more agreeable situation at the theatre or concert one may hang his hat
on the bottom of the chair, upturned to afford access to it through a crowded
row, and turning down the chair, sit with pleasure, as the curtain is rolled up
by compressed air, or electricity, at the touch of a button.
To the unthinking and unobserving, the subject of bottle stoppers is not
entrancing, but those acquainted with the art know with what long,
continuous, earnest efforts, thousands of inventors have sought for the best
and cheapest bottle stopper to take the place of corks—the enormous
demand for which was exhausting the supply and rendering their price
almost prohibitive.
One of the most successful types is a stopper of rubber combined with a
metal disk, and hung by a wire on the neck of the bottle, so that the stopper
can be used over and over again; another form composed of glass, or
porcelain, and cork; another is a thin disk of cork placed in a thin metal cap
which is crimped over a shoulder on the neck of the bottle, and still another
is a thin disk of pasteboard adapted for milk bottles and pressed tightly
within a rim on the inside of the neck of the bottle.
In this connection should be mentioned that self-sealing fruit jar, known
from its inventor as “Mason’s fruit jar,” which came into such universal use
—that combination of screw cap, screw-threaded jar-neck and the rubber
ring, or gasket, on which the cap was screwed so tightly as to seal the jar
hermetically.
In lamplighting, what a wonderful change from the old oil lamps of former
ages! The modern lamp may be said to be an improved means of grace, as it
Page 261
will hold out much longer, and shed a far more attractive light for the
sinner, whose return, by its genial light, is, even to the end, so greatly
desired.
The discovery of petroleum and its introduction as a light produced a
revolution in the construction of lamps. Wicks were not discarded, but
changed in shape from round to flat, and owing to the coarseness and
disagreeable odour of coal oil, especially in its early unrefined days, devices
first had for their object the easy feeding of the wick, and perfect
combustion. To this end the burner portion through which the wick passed
was perforated at its base to create a proper draft, and later the cap over the
base was also perforated. But with refined oil the disagreeable odour
continued. It was found that this was mainly due to the fact that both in
lamps and stoves the oil would ooze out of the wick on to the adjacent parts
of the lamps or stove, and when the wick was lit the heat would burn or heat
the oil and thus produce the odour. Inventors therefore contrived to separate
the oil reservoir and wick part when the lamp or stove were not in use; and
finally, in stoves, to dispense with the wick altogether. As wickless oil
stoves are now in successful use the wickless lamp may be expected to
follow.
The lamp, however, that throws all others into the shade is that odourless,
heatless, magic, mellow, tempered light of electricity, that springs out from
the little filament, in its hermetically sealed glass cage, and shines with
unsurpassed loveliness on all those fortunate enough to possess it.
sinner, whose return, by its genial light, is, even to the end, so greatly
desired.
The discovery of petroleum and its introduction as a light produced a
revolution in the construction of lamps. Wicks were not discarded, but
changed in shape from round to flat, and owing to the coarseness and
disagreeable odour of coal oil, especially in its early unrefined days, devices
first had for their object the easy feeding of the wick, and perfect
combustion. To this end the burner portion through which the wick passed
was perforated at its base to create a proper draft, and later the cap over the
base was also perforated. But with refined oil the disagreeable odour
continued. It was found that this was mainly due to the fact that both in
lamps and stoves the oil would ooze out of the wick on to the adjacent parts
of the lamps or stove, and when the wick was lit the heat would burn or heat
the oil and thus produce the odour. Inventors therefore contrived to separate
the oil reservoir and wick part when the lamp or stove were not in use; and
finally, in stoves, to dispense with the wick altogether. As wickless oil
stoves are now in successful use the wickless lamp may be expected to
follow.
The lamp, however, that throws all others into the shade is that odourless,
heatless, magic, mellow, tempered light of electricity, that springs out from
the little filament, in its hermetically sealed glass cage, and shines with
unsurpassed loveliness on all those fortunate enough to possess it.
Page 262
CHAPTER XXIII.
LEATHER.
It is interesting to speculate how prehistoric man came to use the skin of the
beasts of the field for warmth and shelter. Originally no doubt, and for
untold centuries, the use was confined to the hairy, undressed, fresh, or
dried skins, known as pelts. Then came the use of better tools. The garments
have perished, but the tools of stone and of bronze survived, which, when
compared with those employed among the earliest historic tribes of men,
were found to be adapted to cut and strip the hairy covering from the bodies
of animals, and clean, pound, scrape and otherwise adapt them to use.
And ever since the story of man began to be preserved in lasting records
from farthest Oriental to the northernmost limits of Europe and America,
memorials of the early implements of labour in the preparation of hides for
human wear have been found. The aborigines knew how to sharpen bones
of the animals they killed to scrape, clean, soften or roughen their skins.
They knew how to sweat, dry, and smoke the skins, and this crude
seasoning process was the forerunner of modern tanning. But leather as we
know it now, that soft, flexible, insoluble combination of the gelatine and
fibrine of the skin with tannic acid, producing a durable and imputrescible
article, that will withstand decay from the joint attack of moisture, warmth
and air, was unknown to the earlier races of men, for its production was due
to thorough tanning, and thorough tanning was a later art.
When men were skin-dressed animals they knew little or nothing of
tanning. Tannic acid is found in nearly every plant that grows, and its
combination with the fresh skins spread or thrown thereon, may have given
rise to the observation of the beneficial result and subsequent practice. But
whether discovered by chance, accident or experience, or invented from
necessity, the art of tanning should have rendered the name of the
LEATHER.
It is interesting to speculate how prehistoric man came to use the skin of the
beasts of the field for warmth and shelter. Originally no doubt, and for
untold centuries, the use was confined to the hairy, undressed, fresh, or
dried skins, known as pelts. Then came the use of better tools. The garments
have perished, but the tools of stone and of bronze survived, which, when
compared with those employed among the earliest historic tribes of men,
were found to be adapted to cut and strip the hairy covering from the bodies
of animals, and clean, pound, scrape and otherwise adapt them to use.
And ever since the story of man began to be preserved in lasting records
from farthest Oriental to the northernmost limits of Europe and America,
memorials of the early implements of labour in the preparation of hides for
human wear have been found. The aborigines knew how to sharpen bones
of the animals they killed to scrape, clean, soften or roughen their skins.
They knew how to sweat, dry, and smoke the skins, and this crude
seasoning process was the forerunner of modern tanning. But leather as we
know it now, that soft, flexible, insoluble combination of the gelatine and
fibrine of the skin with tannic acid, producing a durable and imputrescible
article, that will withstand decay from the joint attack of moisture, warmth
and air, was unknown to the earlier races of men, for its production was due
to thorough tanning, and thorough tanning was a later art.
When men were skin-dressed animals they knew little or nothing of
tanning. Tannic acid is found in nearly every plant that grows, and its
combination with the fresh skins spread or thrown thereon, may have given
rise to the observation of the beneficial result and subsequent practice. But
whether discovered by chance, accident or experience, or invented from
necessity, the art of tanning should have rendered the name of the
Page 263
discoverer immortal. The earliest records, however, describe the art, but not
the inventor.
From the time the Hebrews covered the altars of their tabernacles with
rams’ skins dyed red, as recorded in Exodus; when they and the Egyptians
worked their leather, currying and stretching it with their knives, awls,
stones, and other implements, making leather water buckets, resembling
very much those now made by machinery, covering their harps and shields
with leather, ornamental and embossed; from the days of the early Africans,
famous for their yellow, red and black morocco; from the days of the old
national dress of the Persians with their leather trousers, aprons, helmets,
belts and shirts; from the time that the ancient Scythians utilised the skins of
their enemies, and Herodotus described the beauty and other good qualities
of the human hide; from the early days of that peculiar fine and agreeable
leather of the Russians, fragrant with the oil of the birch; from the days of
the white leather of the Hungarians, the olive-tanned leather of the
Saracens; from the time of the celebrated Cordovan leather of the
Spaniards; from the ancient cold periods of the Esquimaux and the
Scandinavians, who, clad in the warm skins of the Arctic bears, stretched
tough-tanned sealskin over the frame work of their boats; from the time of
the introduction of the art of the leather worker to the naked Briton, down to
almost the nineteenth century, substantially the same hand tools, hard hand
labour, and the old elbow lubricant were known and practised.
Hand tools have improved, of course, as other arts in wood and iron making
have developed, but the operations are about the same. There were and must
be fleshing knives to scrape from off the hide the adherent flesh and lime,—
for this the hide is placed over the convex edge of an inclined beam and the
work is called beaming; the curriers’ knife for removing the hair; skiving, or
the cutting off the rough edges and fleshy parts on the border of the hide;
shaving and flattening; the cutting away of the inequalities left after
skiving; stoning, the rubbing of the leather by a scouring stone to render it
smooth; slicking, to remove the water and grease; or to smooth and polish,
by a rectangular sharpened stone, steel or glass tool; whitening, to shave off
thin strips of the flesh, leaving the leather thinner, whiter and more pliable;
stuffing, to soften the scraped and pounded hides and make them porous;
graining, the giving to the hair or grain side a granular appearance by
rubbing with a grooved or roughened piece of wood; bruising or boarding
the inventor.
From the time the Hebrews covered the altars of their tabernacles with
rams’ skins dyed red, as recorded in Exodus; when they and the Egyptians
worked their leather, currying and stretching it with their knives, awls,
stones, and other implements, making leather water buckets, resembling
very much those now made by machinery, covering their harps and shields
with leather, ornamental and embossed; from the days of the early Africans,
famous for their yellow, red and black morocco; from the days of the old
national dress of the Persians with their leather trousers, aprons, helmets,
belts and shirts; from the time that the ancient Scythians utilised the skins of
their enemies, and Herodotus described the beauty and other good qualities
of the human hide; from the early days of that peculiar fine and agreeable
leather of the Russians, fragrant with the oil of the birch; from the days of
the white leather of the Hungarians, the olive-tanned leather of the
Saracens; from the time of the celebrated Cordovan leather of the
Spaniards; from the ancient cold periods of the Esquimaux and the
Scandinavians, who, clad in the warm skins of the Arctic bears, stretched
tough-tanned sealskin over the frame work of their boats; from the time of
the introduction of the art of the leather worker to the naked Briton, down to
almost the nineteenth century, substantially the same hand tools, hard hand
labour, and the old elbow lubricant were known and practised.
Hand tools have improved, of course, as other arts in wood and iron making
have developed, but the operations are about the same. There were and must
be fleshing knives to scrape from off the hide the adherent flesh and lime,—
for this the hide is placed over the convex edge of an inclined beam and the
work is called beaming; the curriers’ knife for removing the hair; skiving, or
the cutting off the rough edges and fleshy parts on the border of the hide;
shaving and flattening; the cutting away of the inequalities left after
skiving; stoning, the rubbing of the leather by a scouring stone to render it
smooth; slicking, to remove the water and grease; or to smooth and polish,
by a rectangular sharpened stone, steel or glass tool; whitening, to shave off
thin strips of the flesh, leaving the leather thinner, whiter and more pliable;
stuffing, to soften the scraped and pounded hides and make them porous;
graining, the giving to the hair or grain side a granular appearance by
rubbing with a grooved or roughened piece of wood; bruising or boarding
Page 264
to make the leather supple and pliable by bringing the two flesh sides
together and rubbing with a graining board; scouring, by aid of a stream of
water to whiten the leather by rubbing with a slicking stone or steel.
The inventions of the century consist in labour-saving machinery for these
purposes, new tanning and dressing processes, and innumerable machines
for making special articles of leather.
As before stated, the epoch of modern machinery commenced with the
practical application of water power to other than grinding mills, and of
steam in place of water, contemporaneously with the invention of spinning
and weaving machinery in the last half of the eighteenth century. These got
fairly to work at the beginning of the century, and the uses of machinery
spread to the treatment of leather. John Bull was the appropriate name of
the man who first patented a scraping machine in England, about 1780, and
Joseph Weeks the next one, some years later.
One of the earliest machines of the century was the hide mill, which, after
the hand tools had scraped and stoned, shaved and hardened the hides, was
used to rub and dub them, and soften and swell them for tanning. Pegged
rollers were the earliest form for this purpose, and later corrugated rollers
and power-worked hammers were employed. Hundreds of hides could be
softened daily by these means.
Then came ingenious machines to take the place of the previous operations
of the hand tools,—the fleshing machine, in one form of which the hides are
placed on a curved bed, and the fleshy parts scraped off or removed by
revolving glass blades, or by curved teeth of steel and wood in a roller
under which a table is given a to-and-fro movement; tanning apparatus of a
great variety, by which hides, after they are thoroughly washed and
softened, and the pores opened by swelling, are subjected to movements in
the tanning liquor vats, such as rocking or oscillating, rotary, or vertical; or
treated by an air exhaust, known as the vacuum process; in all of which the
object is to thoroughly impregnate in the shortest time all the interstices and
pores of the skin with the tannic acid, by which the fibrous and gelatinous
matter is made to combine to form leather, and by which process, also, the
hide is greatly increased in weight.
together and rubbing with a graining board; scouring, by aid of a stream of
water to whiten the leather by rubbing with a slicking stone or steel.
The inventions of the century consist in labour-saving machinery for these
purposes, new tanning and dressing processes, and innumerable machines
for making special articles of leather.
As before stated, the epoch of modern machinery commenced with the
practical application of water power to other than grinding mills, and of
steam in place of water, contemporaneously with the invention of spinning
and weaving machinery in the last half of the eighteenth century. These got
fairly to work at the beginning of the century, and the uses of machinery
spread to the treatment of leather. John Bull was the appropriate name of
the man who first patented a scraping machine in England, about 1780, and
Joseph Weeks the next one, some years later.
One of the earliest machines of the century was the hide mill, which, after
the hand tools had scraped and stoned, shaved and hardened the hides, was
used to rub and dub them, and soften and swell them for tanning. Pegged
rollers were the earliest form for this purpose, and later corrugated rollers
and power-worked hammers were employed. Hundreds of hides could be
softened daily by these means.
Then came ingenious machines to take the place of the previous operations
of the hand tools,—the fleshing machine, in one form of which the hides are
placed on a curved bed, and the fleshy parts scraped off or removed by
revolving glass blades, or by curved teeth of steel and wood in a roller
under which a table is given a to-and-fro movement; tanning apparatus of a
great variety, by which hides, after they are thoroughly washed and
softened, and the pores opened by swelling, are subjected to movements in
the tanning liquor vats, such as rocking or oscillating, rotary, or vertical; or
treated by an air exhaust, known as the vacuum process; in all of which the
object is to thoroughly impregnate in the shortest time all the interstices and
pores of the skin with the tannic acid, by which the fibrous and gelatinous
matter is made to combine to form leather, and by which process, also, the
hide is greatly increased in weight.
Page 265
Reel machines are then employed to transfer the hides from one vat to
another, thus subjecting them to liquors of increasing strength. Soaking in
vats formerly occupied twelve or eighteen months, but under the new
methods the time has been greatly reduced. And now since 1880, the
chemists are pushing aside the vegetable processes, and substituting mineral
processes, by which tanning is still further shortened and cheapened. The
new processes depend chiefly on the use of chromium compounds.
Then came scouring machines, in which a rapidly revolving stiff brush is
used to scour the grain or hair side, removing the superfluous colouring
matter, called the bloom, and softening and cleansing the hide; the slicking
or polishing machines to clean, stretch and smooth the leather by glass,
stone, or copper blades on a rapidly-moving belt carried over pulleys;
whitening, buffing, skiving, fleshing and shaving machines, all for cutting
off certain portions and inequalities of the leather, and reducing its
thickness.
In one form of this class of machines an oscillating pendulum lever is
employed, carrying at its end a revolving cylinder having thirty or more
spiral blades. The pendulum swings to and fro at the rate of ninety
movements a minute, while the cylinder rolls over the leather at the rate of
2780 revolutions per minute. Scarfing, skiving, chamfering, bevelling,
feather-edging, appear to be synonymous terms for a variety of machines
for cutting the edges of leather obliquely, for the purpose chiefly of making
lap seams, scarf-joints, and reducing the thickness and stiffness of leather at
those and certain other points.
Then there are leather-splitting machines, consisting of one or more rollers
and a pressure bar, which draw and press the leather against a horizontally
arranged and adjustable knife, which nicely splits the leather in two parts,
and thus doubles the quantity. This thin split leather is much used in making
a cheap quality of boots and shoes and other articles.
There are also corrugating, creasing, fluting, pebbling, piercing and
punching machines; machines for grinding the bark and also for grinding
the leather; machines for gluing sections of leather together, and machines
for sewing them; machines for rounding flat strips of leather, for the making
of whips and tubes; machines for scalloping the edges; and a very ingenious
another, thus subjecting them to liquors of increasing strength. Soaking in
vats formerly occupied twelve or eighteen months, but under the new
methods the time has been greatly reduced. And now since 1880, the
chemists are pushing aside the vegetable processes, and substituting mineral
processes, by which tanning is still further shortened and cheapened. The
new processes depend chiefly on the use of chromium compounds.
Then came scouring machines, in which a rapidly revolving stiff brush is
used to scour the grain or hair side, removing the superfluous colouring
matter, called the bloom, and softening and cleansing the hide; the slicking
or polishing machines to clean, stretch and smooth the leather by glass,
stone, or copper blades on a rapidly-moving belt carried over pulleys;
whitening, buffing, skiving, fleshing and shaving machines, all for cutting
off certain portions and inequalities of the leather, and reducing its
thickness.
In one form of this class of machines an oscillating pendulum lever is
employed, carrying at its end a revolving cylinder having thirty or more
spiral blades. The pendulum swings to and fro at the rate of ninety
movements a minute, while the cylinder rolls over the leather at the rate of
2780 revolutions per minute. Scarfing, skiving, chamfering, bevelling,
feather-edging, appear to be synonymous terms for a variety of machines
for cutting the edges of leather obliquely, for the purpose chiefly of making
lap seams, scarf-joints, and reducing the thickness and stiffness of leather at
those and certain other points.
Then there are leather-splitting machines, consisting of one or more rollers
and a pressure bar, which draw and press the leather against a horizontally
arranged and adjustable knife, which nicely splits the leather in two parts,
and thus doubles the quantity. This thin split leather is much used in making
a cheap quality of boots and shoes and other articles.
There are also corrugating, creasing, fluting, pebbling, piercing and
punching machines; machines for grinding the bark and also for grinding
the leather; machines for gluing sections of leather together, and machines
for sewing them; machines for rounding flat strips of leather, for the making
of whips and tubes; machines for scalloping the edges; and a very ingenious
Page 266
machine for assorting leather strips or strings according to their size or
thickness.
The most important improvements of the century in leather working relate
to the manufacture of boots and shoes. It could well be said of boots and
shoes, especially those made for the great mass of humanity, before the
modern improvements in means and processes had been invented: “Their
feet through faithless leather met the dirt.”
It is true that in the eighteenth century, both in Europe and America, the art
of leather and boot and shoe making had so far advanced that good durable
foot wear was produced by long and tedious processes of tanning, and by
careful making up of the leather into boots and shoes by hand; the knife, the
awl, the waxed thread, the nails and hammer and other hand tools of the
character above referred to being employed. But the process was a tedious
and costly one and the articles produced were beyond the limits of the poor
man’s purse. Hence the wooden shoes, and those made of coarse hide and
dressed and undressed skins, and of coarse cloth, mixed or unmixed with
leather.
In 1809, David Mead Randolph of England patented machinery for riveting
soles and heels to the uppers instead of sewing them together.
The celebrated civil engineer, Isambard M. Brunel, shortly thereafter added
several machines of his own invention to Randolph’s method, and he
established a large manufactory for the making chiefly of army shoes. The
various separate processes performed by his machines involved the cutting
out of the leather, hardening it by rolling, securing the welt on to the inner
sole by small nails, and studding the outer sole with larger nails. Divisions
of men were employed to work each separate step, and the shoes were
passed from one process to another until complete.
Large quantities of shoes were made at reduced prices, but complaints were
made as to the nails penetrating into the shoe and hurting the feet. The
demand for army shoes fell off, and the system was abandoned; but it had
incited invention in the direction of machine-made shoes and the day of
exclusive hand labour was doomed.
thickness.
The most important improvements of the century in leather working relate
to the manufacture of boots and shoes. It could well be said of boots and
shoes, especially those made for the great mass of humanity, before the
modern improvements in means and processes had been invented: “Their
feet through faithless leather met the dirt.”
It is true that in the eighteenth century, both in Europe and America, the art
of leather and boot and shoe making had so far advanced that good durable
foot wear was produced by long and tedious processes of tanning, and by
careful making up of the leather into boots and shoes by hand; the knife, the
awl, the waxed thread, the nails and hammer and other hand tools of the
character above referred to being employed. But the process was a tedious
and costly one and the articles produced were beyond the limits of the poor
man’s purse. Hence the wooden shoes, and those made of coarse hide and
dressed and undressed skins, and of coarse cloth, mixed or unmixed with
leather.
In 1809, David Mead Randolph of England patented machinery for riveting
soles and heels to the uppers instead of sewing them together.
The celebrated civil engineer, Isambard M. Brunel, shortly thereafter added
several machines of his own invention to Randolph’s method, and he
established a large manufactory for the making chiefly of army shoes. The
various separate processes performed by his machines involved the cutting
out of the leather, hardening it by rolling, securing the welt on to the inner
sole by small nails, and studding the outer sole with larger nails. Divisions
of men were employed to work each separate step, and the shoes were
passed from one process to another until complete.
Large quantities of shoes were made at reduced prices, but complaints were
made as to the nails penetrating into the shoe and hurting the feet. The
demand for army shoes fell off, and the system was abandoned; but it had
incited invention in the direction of machine-made shoes and the day of
exclusive hand labour was doomed.
Page 267
About 1818 Joseph Walker of Hopkinston, Massachusetts invented the
wooden peg. Making and applying pegs by hand was too slow work, and
machines were at once contrived for making them. As one invention
necessitates and begets others, so special forms of machines for sawing and
working up wood into pegs were devised.
Such machinery was for first sawing the selected log of wood into slices
across the grain a little thicker than the length of a peg and cutting out knots
in the wood; then planing the head of the block smooth; grooving the block
with a V-shaped cutting tool; splitting the pegs apart, and then bleaching,
drying, polishing and winnowing them.
It took forty or fifty years to perfect these and kindred machines, but at the
end of that time there was a factory at Burlington, Vermont, which from
four cords of wood, made every day four hundred bushels of shoe pegs.
About 1858 B. F. Sturtevant of Massachusetts made a great improvement in
this line. He was a very poor man, getting a living by pegging on the soles
of a few pair of shoes each day. He devised a pegging machine, and out of
his scanty earnings and at odd hours, with much pain and labour, and by
borrowing money, he finally completed it. The machine made what was
called “peg wood,” a long ribbon strip of seasoned wood, sharpened on one
edge and designed to be fed into the machine for pegging shoes. The shoes
were punctured by awls driven by machinery, and then as the peg strip was
carried to it the machine severed the strip into chisel-edged pegs, and peg-
driving mechanism drove them into the holes. Nine hundred pegs a minute
were driven. It soon almost supplanted all other peg-driving machines, and
after the machines were quite generally introduced, there were made in one
year alone in New England fifty-five million pairs of boots and shoes
pegged by the Sturtevant machines.
Other forms of pegs followed, such as the metal screw pegs, and machines
to cut them off from a continuous spiral wire from which they were made.
Lasts on which the shoes were made had been manufactured by the hundred
thousand on the wood-turning lathes invented by Blanchard, described in
the chapter on Wood-Working.
In 1858 also, about the same time the Sturtevant pegging machine was
introduced, the shoe-sewing machine was developed. The McKay Shoe-
wooden peg. Making and applying pegs by hand was too slow work, and
machines were at once contrived for making them. As one invention
necessitates and begets others, so special forms of machines for sawing and
working up wood into pegs were devised.
Such machinery was for first sawing the selected log of wood into slices
across the grain a little thicker than the length of a peg and cutting out knots
in the wood; then planing the head of the block smooth; grooving the block
with a V-shaped cutting tool; splitting the pegs apart, and then bleaching,
drying, polishing and winnowing them.
It took forty or fifty years to perfect these and kindred machines, but at the
end of that time there was a factory at Burlington, Vermont, which from
four cords of wood, made every day four hundred bushels of shoe pegs.
About 1858 B. F. Sturtevant of Massachusetts made a great improvement in
this line. He was a very poor man, getting a living by pegging on the soles
of a few pair of shoes each day. He devised a pegging machine, and out of
his scanty earnings and at odd hours, with much pain and labour, and by
borrowing money, he finally completed it. The machine made what was
called “peg wood,” a long ribbon strip of seasoned wood, sharpened on one
edge and designed to be fed into the machine for pegging shoes. The shoes
were punctured by awls driven by machinery, and then as the peg strip was
carried to it the machine severed the strip into chisel-edged pegs, and peg-
driving mechanism drove them into the holes. Nine hundred pegs a minute
were driven. It soon almost supplanted all other peg-driving machines, and
after the machines were quite generally introduced, there were made in one
year alone in New England fifty-five million pairs of boots and shoes
pegged by the Sturtevant machines.
Other forms of pegs followed, such as the metal screw pegs, and machines
to cut them off from a continuous spiral wire from which they were made.
Lasts on which the shoes were made had been manufactured by the hundred
thousand on the wood-turning lathes invented by Blanchard, described in
the chapter on Wood-Working.
In 1858 also, about the same time the Sturtevant pegging machine was
introduced, the shoe-sewing machine was developed. The McKay Shoe-
Page 268
Sewing Machine Co. of Massachusetts after an expenditure of $130,000,
and three years’ time in experiments, were enabled to put their machines in
practical operation. The pegging machines and sewing machines worked a
revolution in shoemaking.
A revolution in the art of shoemaking thus started was followed up by
wondrous machines invented to meet every part of the manufacture. Lasting
machines for drawing and fitting the leather over lasts, in which the outer
edges of the leather are drawn over the bottom of the last and tacked thereto
by the hands and fingers of the machine instead of those of the human hand,
were invented.
Indenting machines:—The welt is known as that strip of leather around the
shoe between the upper and the sole, and machines were invented for
cutting and placing this, indenting it for the purpose of rendering it flexible
and separating the stitches, all a work until recently entirely done by hand.
Machines for twining the seams in the uppers, and forming the scallops;
machines especially adapted to the making of the heel, as heel trimming and
compressing, rounding and polishing, and for nailing the finished heel to
the boot or shoe; machines for treating the sole in every way, rolling it, in
place of the good old way of pounding it on a lap stone; trimming,
rounding, smoothing, and polishing it; machines for cutting out gores;
machines for marking the uppers so that at one operation every shoe will be
stamped by its size, number, name of manufacture, number of case, and any
other convenient symbols; machines for setting the buttons and eyelets; all
these are simply members in the long line of inventions in this art.
The old style of boot has given way to the modern shoe and gaiter, but for
the benefit of those who still wear them, special machines for shaping the
leg, called boot trees, have been contrived.
So far had the art advanced that twenty years ago one workingman with
much of this improved machinery combined in one machine called the
“bootmaker,” could make three hundred pairs of boots or shoes a day.
Upward of three thousand such machines were then at work throughout the
world; and one hundred and fifty million pairs of boots were then being
made annually thereon. Now the number of machines and pairs of boots and
shoes has been quadrupled.
and three years’ time in experiments, were enabled to put their machines in
practical operation. The pegging machines and sewing machines worked a
revolution in shoemaking.
A revolution in the art of shoemaking thus started was followed up by
wondrous machines invented to meet every part of the manufacture. Lasting
machines for drawing and fitting the leather over lasts, in which the outer
edges of the leather are drawn over the bottom of the last and tacked thereto
by the hands and fingers of the machine instead of those of the human hand,
were invented.
Indenting machines:—The welt is known as that strip of leather around the
shoe between the upper and the sole, and machines were invented for
cutting and placing this, indenting it for the purpose of rendering it flexible
and separating the stitches, all a work until recently entirely done by hand.
Machines for twining the seams in the uppers, and forming the scallops;
machines especially adapted to the making of the heel, as heel trimming and
compressing, rounding and polishing, and for nailing the finished heel to
the boot or shoe; machines for treating the sole in every way, rolling it, in
place of the good old way of pounding it on a lap stone; trimming,
rounding, smoothing, and polishing it; machines for cutting out gores;
machines for marking the uppers so that at one operation every shoe will be
stamped by its size, number, name of manufacture, number of case, and any
other convenient symbols; machines for setting the buttons and eyelets; all
these are simply members in the long line of inventions in this art.
The old style of boot has given way to the modern shoe and gaiter, but for
the benefit of those who still wear them, special machines for shaping the
leg, called boot trees, have been contrived.
So far had the art advanced that twenty years ago one workingman with
much of this improved machinery combined in one machine called the
“bootmaker,” could make three hundred pairs of boots or shoes a day.
Upward of three thousand such machines were then at work throughout the
world; and one hundred and fifty million pairs of boots were then being
made annually thereon. Now the number of machines and pairs of boots and
shoes has been quadrupled.
Page 269
And the world is having its feet clothed far more extensively, better and at
less cost than was ever possible by the hand system. The number of workers
in the art, both men and women, has vastly increased instead of being
diminished, while their wages have greatly advanced over the old rates.
As an illustration of how rapidly modern enterprise and invention proceeds
in Yankeeland, it has been related that some years ago in Massachusetts,
after many of these shoe-making machines had got into use, a factory which
was turning out 2400 pairs of shoes every day was completely destroyed by
fire on a Wednesday night. On Thursday the manufacturer hired a
neighbouring building and set carpenters at work fitting it up. On Friday he
ordered a new and complete outfit of machinery from Boston; on Saturday
the machinery arrived and the men set it up; on Monday work was started,
and on Tuesday the manufacturer was filling his orders to the full number of
2400 pairs a day.
There are very many people in the world who still prefer the hand-made
shoe, and there is nothing to prevent the world generally from going back to
that system if they choose; but St. Crispin’s gentle art has blossomed into a
vaster field of blessings for mankind under the fruitful impetus of invention
than if left to vegetate under the simple processes of primitive man.
Horses, no less than man, have shared in the improvement in leather
manufacture. The harnesses of the farmer’s and labouring man’s horses a
century ago, when they were fortunate enough to own horses, were of the
crudest description. Ropes, cords, coarse bands of leather were the common
provisions. Now the strength and cheapness of harnesses enable the poor
man to equip his horse with a working suit impossible to have been
produced a hundred years ago.
To the beautiful effects produced by the use of modern embossing machines
on paper and wood have been added many charming patterns in embossed
leather. Books and leather cases, saddlery and household ornamentation of
various descriptions have been either moulded into forms of beauty, or
stamped or rolled by cameo and intaglio designs cut into the surface of fast-
moving cylinders.
The leather manufactures have become so vastly important and valuable in
some countries, especially in the United States—second, almost to
less cost than was ever possible by the hand system. The number of workers
in the art, both men and women, has vastly increased instead of being
diminished, while their wages have greatly advanced over the old rates.
As an illustration of how rapidly modern enterprise and invention proceeds
in Yankeeland, it has been related that some years ago in Massachusetts,
after many of these shoe-making machines had got into use, a factory which
was turning out 2400 pairs of shoes every day was completely destroyed by
fire on a Wednesday night. On Thursday the manufacturer hired a
neighbouring building and set carpenters at work fitting it up. On Friday he
ordered a new and complete outfit of machinery from Boston; on Saturday
the machinery arrived and the men set it up; on Monday work was started,
and on Tuesday the manufacturer was filling his orders to the full number of
2400 pairs a day.
There are very many people in the world who still prefer the hand-made
shoe, and there is nothing to prevent the world generally from going back to
that system if they choose; but St. Crispin’s gentle art has blossomed into a
vaster field of blessings for mankind under the fruitful impetus of invention
than if left to vegetate under the simple processes of primitive man.
Horses, no less than man, have shared in the improvement in leather
manufacture. The harnesses of the farmer’s and labouring man’s horses a
century ago, when they were fortunate enough to own horses, were of the
crudest description. Ropes, cords, coarse bands of leather were the common
provisions. Now the strength and cheapness of harnesses enable the poor
man to equip his horse with a working suit impossible to have been
produced a hundred years ago.
To the beautiful effects produced by the use of modern embossing machines
on paper and wood have been added many charming patterns in embossed
leather. Books and leather cases, saddlery and household ornamentation of
various descriptions have been either moulded into forms of beauty, or
stamped or rolled by cameo and intaglio designs cut into the surface of fast-
moving cylinders.
The leather manufactures have become so vastly important and valuable in
some countries, especially in the United States—second, almost to
Page 270
agricultural products—that it would be very interesting to extend the
description to many processes and machines, and to facts displaying the
enormous traffic in leather, now necessarily omitted for want of space.
description to many processes and machines, and to facts displaying the
enormous traffic in leather, now necessarily omitted for want of space.
Page 271
CHAPTER XXIV.
MINERALS—WELLS.
Dost thou hear the hammer of Thor,
Wielded in his gloves of iron?
As with leather, so with stone, the hand tools and hard labour have not
changed in principle since the ancient days. The hammer for breaking, the
lever for lifting, the saw for cutting, rubbing-stones and irons for smoothing
and polishing, sand and water for the same purpose, the mallet and chisel,
and other implements for ornamenting, the square, the level, and the plumb
for their respective purposes, all are as old as the art of building.
And as for buildings and sculpture of stone and marble made by hand tools,
we have yet to excel the pyramids, the Parthenon of Athens, which “Earth
proudly wears as the best gem upon her zone,” the palaces, coliseums, and
aqueducts of Rome, the grand and polished tombs of India, the exquisite
halls of the Alhambra, and the Gothic cathedrals.
But the time came when human blood and toil became too dear to be the
possession solely of the rulers and the wealthy, and to be used alone to
perpetuate and commemorate riches, power and glory.
Close on the expansion of men’s minds came the expansion of steam and
the development of modern inventions. The first application of the steam
engine in fields of human labour was the drawing of water from the coal
mines of England; then in drawing the coal itself.
It was only a step for the steam engine into a new field of labour when
General Bentham introduced his system of wood-sawing machinery in
1800; and from sawing wood to sawing stone was only one more step. We
find that taken in 1803 in Pennsylvania, when Oliver Evans of Philadelphia
MINERALS—WELLS.
Dost thou hear the hammer of Thor,
Wielded in his gloves of iron?
As with leather, so with stone, the hand tools and hard labour have not
changed in principle since the ancient days. The hammer for breaking, the
lever for lifting, the saw for cutting, rubbing-stones and irons for smoothing
and polishing, sand and water for the same purpose, the mallet and chisel,
and other implements for ornamenting, the square, the level, and the plumb
for their respective purposes, all are as old as the art of building.
And as for buildings and sculpture of stone and marble made by hand tools,
we have yet to excel the pyramids, the Parthenon of Athens, which “Earth
proudly wears as the best gem upon her zone,” the palaces, coliseums, and
aqueducts of Rome, the grand and polished tombs of India, the exquisite
halls of the Alhambra, and the Gothic cathedrals.
But the time came when human blood and toil became too dear to be the
possession solely of the rulers and the wealthy, and to be used alone to
perpetuate and commemorate riches, power and glory.
Close on the expansion of men’s minds came the expansion of steam and
the development of modern inventions. The first application of the steam
engine in fields of human labour was the drawing of water from the coal
mines of England; then in drawing the coal itself.
It was only a step for the steam engine into a new field of labour when
General Bentham introduced his system of wood-sawing machinery in
1800; and from sawing wood to sawing stone was only one more step. We
find that taken in 1803 in Pennsylvania, when Oliver Evans of Philadelphia
Page 272
drove with a high-pressure steam engine, “twelve saws in heavy frames,
sawing at the rate of one hundred feet of marble in twelve hours.” How long
would it have taken hand sawyers of marble at ancient Paros and Naxos to
have done the same?
Stone-cutting machines of other forms than sawing then followed.
It was desired to divide large blocks generally at the quarries to facilitate
transportation. Machines for this purpose are called stone-channelling
machines. They consist of a gang of chisels bound together and set on a
framework which travels on a track adjacent to the stone to be cut, and so
arranged that the cutters may be set to the stone at desired angles, moved
automatically forward and back in the grooves they are cutting, be fed in or
out, raised or lowered, detached, and otherwise manipulated in the
operation.
Other stone-cutting machines had for their objects the cutting and moulding
the edges of tables, mantels and slabs; and the cutting of circular and other
curved work. In the later style of machine the cutter fixed on the end of a
spindle is guided in the desired directions on the surface of the stone by a
pointer, which, attached to the cutter spindle, moves in the grooves of a
pattern also connected to the rotating support carrying the cutter.
Other forms of most ingenious stone-dressing and carving machines have
been devised for cutting mouldings, and ornamental figures and devices, in
accordance with a model or pattern fixed to the under side of the table
which carries the stone or marble to be dressed; and in which, by means of
a guide moving in the pattern, the diamond cutter or cutters, carried in a
circular frame above the work and adjusted to its surface, are moved in the
varying directions determined by the pattern. A stream of water is directed
on the stone to clear it of the dust during the operations. The carving of
stone by machinery is now a sister branch of wood carving. Monuments,
ornamentation, and intricate forms of figures and characters are wrought
with great accuracy by cutting and dressing tools guided by the patterns, or
directed by the hand of the operator.
For the dressing of the faces of grindstones, special forms of cutting
machines have been devised.
sawing at the rate of one hundred feet of marble in twelve hours.” How long
would it have taken hand sawyers of marble at ancient Paros and Naxos to
have done the same?
Stone-cutting machines of other forms than sawing then followed.
It was desired to divide large blocks generally at the quarries to facilitate
transportation. Machines for this purpose are called stone-channelling
machines. They consist of a gang of chisels bound together and set on a
framework which travels on a track adjacent to the stone to be cut, and so
arranged that the cutters may be set to the stone at desired angles, moved
automatically forward and back in the grooves they are cutting, be fed in or
out, raised or lowered, detached, and otherwise manipulated in the
operation.
Other stone-cutting machines had for their objects the cutting and moulding
the edges of tables, mantels and slabs; and the cutting of circular and other
curved work. In the later style of machine the cutter fixed on the end of a
spindle is guided in the desired directions on the surface of the stone by a
pointer, which, attached to the cutter spindle, moves in the grooves of a
pattern also connected to the rotating support carrying the cutter.
Other forms of most ingenious stone-dressing and carving machines have
been devised for cutting mouldings, and ornamental figures and devices, in
accordance with a model or pattern fixed to the under side of the table
which carries the stone or marble to be dressed; and in which, by means of
a guide moving in the pattern, the diamond cutter or cutters, carried in a
circular frame above the work and adjusted to its surface, are moved in the
varying directions determined by the pattern. A stream of water is directed
on the stone to clear it of the dust during the operations. The carving of
stone by machinery is now a sister branch of wood carving. Monuments,
ornamentation, and intricate forms of figures and characters are wrought
with great accuracy by cutting and dressing tools guided by the patterns, or
directed by the hand of the operator.
For the dressing of the faces of grindstones, special forms of cutting
machines have been devised.
Page 273
It was a slow and tedious task to drill holes through stone by hand tools;
and it was indeed a revolution in this branch of the art when steam engines
were employed to rotate a rod armed at its end with diamond or other
cutters against the hardest stone. This mode of drilling also effected a
revolution in the art of blasting. Then, neither height, nor depth, nor
thickness of the stone could prevent the progress of the drill rod. Tunnels
through mountain walls, and wells through solid quartz are cut to the depth
of thousands of feet.
One instance is related of the wonderful efficiency on a smaller scale of
such a machine: The immense columns of the State Capitol at Columbus,
Ohio, were considered too heavy for the foundation on which they rested.
The American Diamond Rock Boring Company of Providence, Rhode
Island, bored out a twenty-four inch core from each of the great pillars, and
thus relieved the danger.
In the most economical and successful stone drills compressed air is
employed as the motive power to drive the drills, which may be used singly
or in gangs, and which may be adjusted against the rock or quarry in any
direction. When in position and ready for work a few moments will suffice
to bore the holes, apply the explosive and blast the ledge. The cleaning
away of submarine ledges in harbours, such as the great work at Hell Gate
in the harbour of New York, has thus been effected.
Crushing:—Among the most useful inventions relating to stone working are
machines for crushing stones and ores, and assorting them. The old way of
hammering by hand was first succeeded by powerful stamp hammers
worked by steam. Both methods of course are still followed, but they
demand too great an expenditure of force and time.
About a third of a century ago, Eli Whitney Blake of New Haven,
Connecticut, was a pioneer inventor of a new and most successful type of
stone breaking machine, which ever since has been known as the “Blake
Crusher.” This crusher consists of two ponderous upright jaws, one fixed
and the other movable, between which the stones or ores to be crushed are
fed. Each of the jaws is lined with the hardest kind of chilled steel. The
movable jaw is inclined from its lower end from the fixed jaw and at its
upper end is pivoted to swing on a heavy round iron bar. The movable jaw
and it was indeed a revolution in this branch of the art when steam engines
were employed to rotate a rod armed at its end with diamond or other
cutters against the hardest stone. This mode of drilling also effected a
revolution in the art of blasting. Then, neither height, nor depth, nor
thickness of the stone could prevent the progress of the drill rod. Tunnels
through mountain walls, and wells through solid quartz are cut to the depth
of thousands of feet.
One instance is related of the wonderful efficiency on a smaller scale of
such a machine: The immense columns of the State Capitol at Columbus,
Ohio, were considered too heavy for the foundation on which they rested.
The American Diamond Rock Boring Company of Providence, Rhode
Island, bored out a twenty-four inch core from each of the great pillars, and
thus relieved the danger.
In the most economical and successful stone drills compressed air is
employed as the motive power to drive the drills, which may be used singly
or in gangs, and which may be adjusted against the rock or quarry in any
direction. When in position and ready for work a few moments will suffice
to bore the holes, apply the explosive and blast the ledge. The cleaning
away of submarine ledges in harbours, such as the great work at Hell Gate
in the harbour of New York, has thus been effected.
Crushing:—Among the most useful inventions relating to stone working are
machines for crushing stones and ores, and assorting them. The old way of
hammering by hand was first succeeded by powerful stamp hammers
worked by steam. Both methods of course are still followed, but they
demand too great an expenditure of force and time.
About a third of a century ago, Eli Whitney Blake of New Haven,
Connecticut, was a pioneer inventor of a new and most successful type of
stone breaking machine, which ever since has been known as the “Blake
Crusher.” This crusher consists of two ponderous upright jaws, one fixed
and the other movable, between which the stones or ores to be crushed are
fed. Each of the jaws is lined with the hardest kind of chilled steel. The
movable jaw is inclined from its lower end from the fixed jaw and at its
upper end is pivoted to swing on a heavy round iron bar. The movable jaw
Page 274
is forced toward the fixed jaw by two opposite toggle levers set, in one form
of the crusher, at their inner ends in steel bearings of a vertical vibrating,
rocking lever, one of the toggles bearing at its outer end against the
movable jaw and the outer toggle against a solid frame-work. The rocking
lever is operated through a crank by a steam engine, and as it is vibrated,
the toggle joint forces the lever end of the movable jaw towards the fixed
jaw with immense force, breaking the hardest stone like an eggshell.
The setting of the movable jaw at an incline enables the large stone to be
first cracked, the movable jaw then opens, and as the stone falls lower
between the more contracted jaws, it is broken finer, until it is finally
crushed or pulverized and falls through at the bottom. The movable jaw is
adjustable and can be set to crush stones to a certain size.
As the rock drill made a revolution in blasting and tunnelling, so the Blake
crusher revolutionised the art of road making. “Road metal,” as the supply
of broken stones for roads is now called, is the fruit of the crusher.
Hundreds of tons of stone per day can be crushed to just the size desired,
and the machine may be moved from place to place where most convenient
to use.
Other crushers have been invented, formed on the principle of abrasion. The
stones, or ore, fall between two great revolving disks, having corrugated
steel faces, which are set the desired distance apart, and between which the
stones are crushed by the rubbing action. In this style of machine the
principle of a gradual breaking from a coarse to a finer grade, is maintained
by setting the disks farther apart at the centre where the stone enters, and
nearer together at their peripheries where the broken stone is discharged.
Large smooth or corrugated rollers, conical disks, concentric rollers armed
with teeth of varying sizes, and yet so arranged as to preserve the feature of
the narrowing throat at the bottom or place of discharge, have also been
devised and extensively used.
A long line of inventions has appeared especially adapted to break up and
separate coal into different sizes. To view the various monstrous heaps of
assorted coals at the mouth of a coal mine creates an impression that some
great witch had imposed on a poor victim the gigantic and seemingly
impossible task of breaking and assorting a vast heap of coal into these
of the crusher, at their inner ends in steel bearings of a vertical vibrating,
rocking lever, one of the toggles bearing at its outer end against the
movable jaw and the outer toggle against a solid frame-work. The rocking
lever is operated through a crank by a steam engine, and as it is vibrated,
the toggle joint forces the lever end of the movable jaw towards the fixed
jaw with immense force, breaking the hardest stone like an eggshell.
The setting of the movable jaw at an incline enables the large stone to be
first cracked, the movable jaw then opens, and as the stone falls lower
between the more contracted jaws, it is broken finer, until it is finally
crushed or pulverized and falls through at the bottom. The movable jaw is
adjustable and can be set to crush stones to a certain size.
As the rock drill made a revolution in blasting and tunnelling, so the Blake
crusher revolutionised the art of road making. “Road metal,” as the supply
of broken stones for roads is now called, is the fruit of the crusher.
Hundreds of tons of stone per day can be crushed to just the size desired,
and the machine may be moved from place to place where most convenient
to use.
Other crushers have been invented, formed on the principle of abrasion. The
stones, or ore, fall between two great revolving disks, having corrugated
steel faces, which are set the desired distance apart, and between which the
stones are crushed by the rubbing action. In this style of machine the
principle of a gradual breaking from a coarse to a finer grade, is maintained
by setting the disks farther apart at the centre where the stone enters, and
nearer together at their peripheries where the broken stone is discharged.
Large smooth or corrugated rollers, conical disks, concentric rollers armed
with teeth of varying sizes, and yet so arranged as to preserve the feature of
the narrowing throat at the bottom or place of discharge, have also been
devised and extensively used.
A long line of inventions has appeared especially adapted to break up and
separate coal into different sizes. To view the various monstrous heaps of
assorted coals at the mouth of a coal mine creates an impression that some
great witch had imposed on a poor victim the gigantic and seemingly
impossible task of breaking and assorting a vast heap of coal into these
Page 275
separate piles within a certain time—a task which also seems to have been
miraculously and successfully performed within such an exceedingly short
time as to either satisfy or confuse the presiding evil genius.
Modern civilisation has been developed mostly from steam and coal, and
they have been to each other as strong brothers, growing more and more
mutually dependent to meet the demands made upon them.
The mining of coal, and its subsequent treatment for burning, before the
invention of the steam engine, were long, painful, and laborious tasks, and
the steam engine could never have had its modern wants supplied if its
power had not been used to supplement, with a hundredfold increased
effect, the labour of human hands.
It being impracticable to carry steam or the steam engine to the bottom of
the mine for work there, compressed air is there employed, which is
compressed by a steam engine up at the mouth. By this compressed air
operated in a cylinder to drive a piston, and a connecting rod and a pick, a
massive steel pick attached to the rod may be driven in any direction against
the wall of coal at the rate of from ninety to one hundred and twenty blows
per minute; and at the same time the discharged compressed, cold, pure,
fresh air flows into and through the mine, affording ventilation when and
where most needed.
In addition to these great drills, more recent inventors have brought out
small machines for single operators, worked by the electric motor.
After the coal is lifted out, broken and assorted, it needs to be washed free
of the adhering dust and dirt; and for this purpose machines are provided, as
well as for screening, loading and weighing. The operations of breaking,
assorting and washing are often combined in one machine, while an
intermediate hand process for separating the pieces of slate from the coal
may be employed; but additional automatic means for separating the coal
and slate are provided, consisting in forcing with great power water through
the coal as it falls into a chamber, which carries the lighter slate to the top of
the chamber, where it is at once drawn off.
The chief of machines with ores is the ore mill, which not only breaks up
the ore but grinds or pulverises it.
miraculously and successfully performed within such an exceedingly short
time as to either satisfy or confuse the presiding evil genius.
Modern civilisation has been developed mostly from steam and coal, and
they have been to each other as strong brothers, growing more and more
mutually dependent to meet the demands made upon them.
The mining of coal, and its subsequent treatment for burning, before the
invention of the steam engine, were long, painful, and laborious tasks, and
the steam engine could never have had its modern wants supplied if its
power had not been used to supplement, with a hundredfold increased
effect, the labour of human hands.
It being impracticable to carry steam or the steam engine to the bottom of
the mine for work there, compressed air is there employed, which is
compressed by a steam engine up at the mouth. By this compressed air
operated in a cylinder to drive a piston, and a connecting rod and a pick, a
massive steel pick attached to the rod may be driven in any direction against
the wall of coal at the rate of from ninety to one hundred and twenty blows
per minute; and at the same time the discharged compressed, cold, pure,
fresh air flows into and through the mine, affording ventilation when and
where most needed.
In addition to these great drills, more recent inventors have brought out
small machines for single operators, worked by the electric motor.
After the coal is lifted out, broken and assorted, it needs to be washed free
of the adhering dust and dirt; and for this purpose machines are provided, as
well as for screening, loading and weighing. The operations of breaking,
assorting and washing are often combined in one machine, while an
intermediate hand process for separating the pieces of slate from the coal
may be employed; but additional automatic means for separating the coal
and slate are provided, consisting in forcing with great power water through
the coal as it falls into a chamber, which carries the lighter slate to the top of
the chamber, where it is at once drawn off.
The chief of machines with ores is the ore mill, which not only breaks up
the ore but grinds or pulverises it.
Page 276
Some chemical and other processes for reducing ores have been referred to
in the Chapter on Metallurgy.
Other mechanical processes consist of separators of various descriptions—
a prominent one of which acts on the principal of centrifugal force. The
crushed material from a spout being led to the centre of a rapidly rotating
disk is thrown off by centrifugal force; and as the lighter portions are
thrown farther from the disk, and the heavier portions nearer to the same,
the material is automatically assorted as to size and weight. As the disk
revolves these assorted portions fall through properly graded apertures into
separate channels of a circular trough, from whence they are swept out by
brushes secured to a support revolving with the disk.
Many forms of ore washing machines have been invented to treat the ore
after it has been reduced to powder. These are known by various names, as
jiggers, rifflers, concentrators, washing frames, etc. A stream of water is
directed on, into, and through the mass of pulverised ore and dirt, the dirt
and kindred materials, lighter than the ore, are raised and floated towards
the top of the receptacle and carried away, while the ore settles.
This operation is frequently carried on in connection with amalgamated
surfaces over which the metal is passed to still further attract and
concentrate the ore. An endless apron travelling over cylinders is sometimes
employed, composed of slats the surface of each of which is coated with an
amalgam, and on this belt the powdered ore is spread thinly and carried
forward. The vibrations of the belt tend to shake and distribute the ore
particles, the amalgam attracts them, the refuse is thrown off as the belt
passes down over the cylinder, while the ore particles are retained and
brushed off into a proper receptacle. Amalgamators themselves form a large
class of inventions. They are known as electric, lead, mercury, plate,
vacuum, vapour, etc.
By the help of these and a vast number of other kindred inventions, the
business of mining in all its branches has been revolutionised and
transformed, even within the last half century. With the vast increase in the
output of coal, and of ores, and the incalculable saving of hand labour, the
number of operators has been increased in the same proportion, their wages
increased, their hours of labour shortened, and their comforts multiplied in
in the Chapter on Metallurgy.
Other mechanical processes consist of separators of various descriptions—
a prominent one of which acts on the principal of centrifugal force. The
crushed material from a spout being led to the centre of a rapidly rotating
disk is thrown off by centrifugal force; and as the lighter portions are
thrown farther from the disk, and the heavier portions nearer to the same,
the material is automatically assorted as to size and weight. As the disk
revolves these assorted portions fall through properly graded apertures into
separate channels of a circular trough, from whence they are swept out by
brushes secured to a support revolving with the disk.
Many forms of ore washing machines have been invented to treat the ore
after it has been reduced to powder. These are known by various names, as
jiggers, rifflers, concentrators, washing frames, etc. A stream of water is
directed on, into, and through the mass of pulverised ore and dirt, the dirt
and kindred materials, lighter than the ore, are raised and floated towards
the top of the receptacle and carried away, while the ore settles.
This operation is frequently carried on in connection with amalgamated
surfaces over which the metal is passed to still further attract and
concentrate the ore. An endless apron travelling over cylinders is sometimes
employed, composed of slats the surface of each of which is coated with an
amalgam, and on this belt the powdered ore is spread thinly and carried
forward. The vibrations of the belt tend to shake and distribute the ore
particles, the amalgam attracts them, the refuse is thrown off as the belt
passes down over the cylinder, while the ore particles are retained and
brushed off into a proper receptacle. Amalgamators themselves form a large
class of inventions. They are known as electric, lead, mercury, plate,
vacuum, vapour, etc.
By the help of these and a vast number of other kindred inventions, the
business of mining in all its branches has been revolutionised and
transformed, even within the last half century. With the vast increase in the
output of coal, and of ores, and the incalculable saving of hand labour, the
number of operators has been increased in the same proportion, their wages
increased, their hours of labour shortened, and their comforts multiplied in
Page 277
variety and quantity, with a diminished cost. The whole business of mining
has been raised from ceaseless darkness and drudgery to light and dignity.
Opportunity has been created for miners to become men of standing in the
community in which they live; and means provided for educating their
children and for obtaining comfortable homes adorned with the refinements
of civilisation.
Well boring is an ancient art—known to the Egyptians and the Chinese.
Wells were coeval with Abraham when his servant had the celebrated
interview with Rebecca. “Jacob’s well at Sychar—the ancient Shechim—
has been visited by travellers in all ages and has been minutely described. It
is nine feet in diameter and one hundred and five feet deep, made entirely
through rock. When visited by Maundrel it contained fifteen feet of
water.”—Knight. Some kind of a drill must have been used to have cut so
great a depth through rock. The Chinese method of boring wells from time
immemorial has been by the use of a sharp chisel-like piece of hard iron on
the end of a heavy iron and wood frame weighing four or five hundred
pounds, lifted by a lever and turned by a rattan cord operated by hand, and
by which wells from fifteen hundred to eighteen hundred feet in depth and
five or six inches in diameter have been bored.
This method has lately been improved by attaching the chisel part, which is
made very heavy, to a rope of peculiar manufacture, which gives the chisel
a turn as it strikes, combined with an air pump to suck up from the hole the
accumulating dirt and water.
Artesian wells appear to have first been known in Europe in the province of
Artois, France, in the thirteenth century. Hence their name. The previous
state of the art in Egypt, China and elsewhere was not then known.
Other modern inventions in well-making machinery have consisted in
innumerable devices to supplant manual labour and to meet new conditions.
Coal Oil:—Reichenbach, the German chemist, discovered paraffine. Young,
soon after, in 1850, patented paraffine oil made from coal. These
discoveries, added to the long observed fact of coal oil floating on streams
in Pennsylvania and elsewhere, led to the search for its natural source. The
discovery of the reservoirs of petroleum in Pennsylvania in 1855-1860, and
subsequently of gas, which nature had concealed for so long a time, gave a
has been raised from ceaseless darkness and drudgery to light and dignity.
Opportunity has been created for miners to become men of standing in the
community in which they live; and means provided for educating their
children and for obtaining comfortable homes adorned with the refinements
of civilisation.
Well boring is an ancient art—known to the Egyptians and the Chinese.
Wells were coeval with Abraham when his servant had the celebrated
interview with Rebecca. “Jacob’s well at Sychar—the ancient Shechim—
has been visited by travellers in all ages and has been minutely described. It
is nine feet in diameter and one hundred and five feet deep, made entirely
through rock. When visited by Maundrel it contained fifteen feet of
water.”—Knight. Some kind of a drill must have been used to have cut so
great a depth through rock. The Chinese method of boring wells from time
immemorial has been by the use of a sharp chisel-like piece of hard iron on
the end of a heavy iron and wood frame weighing four or five hundred
pounds, lifted by a lever and turned by a rattan cord operated by hand, and
by which wells from fifteen hundred to eighteen hundred feet in depth and
five or six inches in diameter have been bored.
This method has lately been improved by attaching the chisel part, which is
made very heavy, to a rope of peculiar manufacture, which gives the chisel
a turn as it strikes, combined with an air pump to suck up from the hole the
accumulating dirt and water.
Artesian wells appear to have first been known in Europe in the province of
Artois, France, in the thirteenth century. Hence their name. The previous
state of the art in Egypt, China and elsewhere was not then known.
Other modern inventions in well-making machinery have consisted in
innumerable devices to supplant manual labour and to meet new conditions.
Coal Oil:—Reichenbach, the German chemist, discovered paraffine. Young,
soon after, in 1850, patented paraffine oil made from coal. These
discoveries, added to the long observed fact of coal oil floating on streams
in Pennsylvania and elsewhere, led to the search for its natural source. The
discovery of the reservoirs of petroleum in Pennsylvania in 1855-1860, and
subsequently of gas, which nature had concealed for so long a time, gave a
Page 278
great impetus to inventions to obtain and control these riches. With earth-
augurs, drills, and drill cleaning and clearing and “fishing” apparatus, and
devices for creating a new flow of oil, and tubing, new forms of packing,
etc., inventors created a new industry.
Colonel E. Drake sank the first oil well in Pennsylvania in 1859. Since then,
125,000 oil wells have been drilled in that and neighbouring localities. The
world has seldom seen such excitement, except in California on the
discovery of gold, as attended the coal oil discovery. The first wells sunk
gushed thousands of barrels a day. Farmers and other labouring men went to
bed poor and woke up rich. Rocky wildernesses and barren fields suddenly
became Eldorados. The burning rivers of oil were a reflection of the golden
treasures which flowed into the hands and pockets of thousands as from a
perpetual fountain touched by some great magician’s wand.
Old methods of boring wells were too slow, and although the underlying
principle was the same, the new methods and means invented enabled wells
to be bored with one-tenth the labour, in one-tenth the time, and at one-tenth
the cost. Many great cities and plains and deserts have been provided with
these wells owing to the ease with which they can now be sunk.
Another ingenious method of sinking wells was invented by Colonel N. W.
Greene at Cortland, New York, in 1862. It became known as the “driven
well,” and consisted of a pointed tube provided with holes above the
pointed end, and an inclosed tube to prevent the passage of sand or gravel
through the holes in the outer tube. When the pointed tube was driven until
water was reached the inner tube was withdrawn and a pump mechanism
inserted. This well, so simple, so cheap and effective, has been used in all
countries by thousands of farmers on dry plains and by soldiers in many
desert lands. With these and modern forms of artesian wells the deserts have
literally been made to blossom as the rose.
augurs, drills, and drill cleaning and clearing and “fishing” apparatus, and
devices for creating a new flow of oil, and tubing, new forms of packing,
etc., inventors created a new industry.
Colonel E. Drake sank the first oil well in Pennsylvania in 1859. Since then,
125,000 oil wells have been drilled in that and neighbouring localities. The
world has seldom seen such excitement, except in California on the
discovery of gold, as attended the coal oil discovery. The first wells sunk
gushed thousands of barrels a day. Farmers and other labouring men went to
bed poor and woke up rich. Rocky wildernesses and barren fields suddenly
became Eldorados. The burning rivers of oil were a reflection of the golden
treasures which flowed into the hands and pockets of thousands as from a
perpetual fountain touched by some great magician’s wand.
Old methods of boring wells were too slow, and although the underlying
principle was the same, the new methods and means invented enabled wells
to be bored with one-tenth the labour, in one-tenth the time, and at one-tenth
the cost. Many great cities and plains and deserts have been provided with
these wells owing to the ease with which they can now be sunk.
Another ingenious method of sinking wells was invented by Colonel N. W.
Greene at Cortland, New York, in 1862. It became known as the “driven
well,” and consisted of a pointed tube provided with holes above the
pointed end, and an inclosed tube to prevent the passage of sand or gravel
through the holes in the outer tube. When the pointed tube was driven until
water was reached the inner tube was withdrawn and a pump mechanism
inserted. This well, so simple, so cheap and effective, has been used in all
countries by thousands of farmers on dry plains and by soldiers in many
desert lands. With these and modern forms of artesian wells the deserts have
literally been made to blossom as the rose.
Page 279
CHAPTER XXV.
HOROLOGY AND INSTRUMENTS OF
PRECISION.
“Time measures all things, but I measure it.”
So far as we at present know there were four forms of time-measuring
instruments known to antiquity—the sun-dial, the clepsydra or water clock,
the hour-glass, and the graduated candle.
The sun-dial, by which time was measured by the shadow cast from a pin,
rod or pillar upon a graduated horizontal plate—the graduations consisting
of twelve equal parts, in which the hours of the day were divided, were,
both as to the instrument and the division of the day into hours, invented by
the Babylonians or other Oriental race, set up on the plains of Chaldea,
constructed by the Chinese and Hindoos—put into various forms by these
nations, and adapted, but unimproved, by the learned Greeks and
conquering Romans. It appears to have been unknown to the Assyrians and
Egyptians, or if known, its knowledge confined to their wise men, as it does
not appear in any of their monuments.
The clepsydra, an instrument by which in its earliest form a portion of time
was measured by the escape of water from a small orifice in the bottom of a
shell or vase, or by which the empty vase, placed in another vessel filled
with water, was gradually filled through the orifice and which sank within a
certain time, is supposed by many to have preceded the invention of the
sun-dial. At any rate they were used contemporaneously by the same
peoples.
In its later form, when the day and night were each divided into twelve
hours, the vessel was correspondingly graduated, and a float raised by the
HOROLOGY AND INSTRUMENTS OF
PRECISION.
“Time measures all things, but I measure it.”
So far as we at present know there were four forms of time-measuring
instruments known to antiquity—the sun-dial, the clepsydra or water clock,
the hour-glass, and the graduated candle.
The sun-dial, by which time was measured by the shadow cast from a pin,
rod or pillar upon a graduated horizontal plate—the graduations consisting
of twelve equal parts, in which the hours of the day were divided, were,
both as to the instrument and the division of the day into hours, invented by
the Babylonians or other Oriental race, set up on the plains of Chaldea,
constructed by the Chinese and Hindoos—put into various forms by these
nations, and adapted, but unimproved, by the learned Greeks and
conquering Romans. It appears to have been unknown to the Assyrians and
Egyptians, or if known, its knowledge confined to their wise men, as it does
not appear in any of their monuments.
The clepsydra, an instrument by which in its earliest form a portion of time
was measured by the escape of water from a small orifice in the bottom of a
shell or vase, or by which the empty vase, placed in another vessel filled
with water, was gradually filled through the orifice and which sank within a
certain time, is supposed by many to have preceded the invention of the
sun-dial. At any rate they were used contemporaneously by the same
peoples.
In its later form, when the day and night were each divided into twelve
hours, the vessel was correspondingly graduated, and a float raised by the
Page 280
inflowing water impelled a pointer attached to the float against the
graduations.
Plato, it is said, contrived a bell so connected with the pointer that it was
struck at each hour of the night. But the best of ancient clepsydras was
invented by Ctesibius of Alexandria about the middle of the third century B.
C. He was the pupil of Archimedes, and adopting his master’s idea of
geared wheels, he mounted a toothed wheel on a shaft extending through
the vessel and carrying at one end outside of the vessel a pointer adapted to
move around the face of a dial graduated with the 24 hours. The vertical
toothed rod or rack, adapted to be raised or lowered by a float in a vessel
gradually filled with water, engaged a pinion fixed on another horizontal
shaft, which pinion in turn engaged the larger wheel. It was not difficult to
proportion the parts and control the supply of water to make the point
complete its circuit regularly. Then the same inventor dispensed with the
wheel, rack, and pinion, and substituted a cord to which a float was
attached, passing the cord over a grooved pulley and securing a weight at its
other end. The pulley was fixed on the shaft which carried the hour hand.
The float was a counterbalance to the weight, and as it was lifted by the
water the weight stretched the cord and turned the pulley, which caused the
pointer to move on the dial and indicate the hour. The water thus acted as an
escapement to control the motive power. In one form the water dropped on
wheels which had their motion communicated to a small statue that
gradually rose and pointed with a rod to the hour upon the dial.
Thus the essential parts of a clock—an escapement, which is a device to
control the power in a clock or watch so that it shall act intermittently on
the time index, a motive power, which was then water or a weight, a dial to
display the hours, and an index to point them out—were invented at this
early age. But the art advanced practically no further for many centuries.
The hour-glass is too familiar to need description.
The incense sticks of the Chinese, the combustion of which proceeded so
slowly and regularly as to render them available for time measures, were
the precursors of the graduated candles.
With the ungraduated sun-dial the Greeks fixed their times for bathing and
eating. When the shadow was six feet long it was time to bathe, when twice
graduations.
Plato, it is said, contrived a bell so connected with the pointer that it was
struck at each hour of the night. But the best of ancient clepsydras was
invented by Ctesibius of Alexandria about the middle of the third century B.
C. He was the pupil of Archimedes, and adopting his master’s idea of
geared wheels, he mounted a toothed wheel on a shaft extending through
the vessel and carrying at one end outside of the vessel a pointer adapted to
move around the face of a dial graduated with the 24 hours. The vertical
toothed rod or rack, adapted to be raised or lowered by a float in a vessel
gradually filled with water, engaged a pinion fixed on another horizontal
shaft, which pinion in turn engaged the larger wheel. It was not difficult to
proportion the parts and control the supply of water to make the point
complete its circuit regularly. Then the same inventor dispensed with the
wheel, rack, and pinion, and substituted a cord to which a float was
attached, passing the cord over a grooved pulley and securing a weight at its
other end. The pulley was fixed on the shaft which carried the hour hand.
The float was a counterbalance to the weight, and as it was lifted by the
water the weight stretched the cord and turned the pulley, which caused the
pointer to move on the dial and indicate the hour. The water thus acted as an
escapement to control the motive power. In one form the water dropped on
wheels which had their motion communicated to a small statue that
gradually rose and pointed with a rod to the hour upon the dial.
Thus the essential parts of a clock—an escapement, which is a device to
control the power in a clock or watch so that it shall act intermittently on
the time index, a motive power, which was then water or a weight, a dial to
display the hours, and an index to point them out—were invented at this
early age. But the art advanced practically no further for many centuries.
The hour-glass is too familiar to need description.
The incense sticks of the Chinese, the combustion of which proceeded so
slowly and regularly as to render them available for time measures, were
the precursors of the graduated candles.
With the ungraduated sun-dial the Greeks fixed their times for bathing and
eating. When the shadow was six feet long it was time to bathe, when twice
Page 281
that length it was time to sup. The clepsydra became in Greece a useful
instrument to enforce the law in restricting loquacious orators and lawyers
to reasonable limits in their addresses. And in Rome the sun-dials, the
clepsydras and the hour-glass were used for the same purpose, and more
generally than in Greece, to regulate the hours of business and pleasure.
The graduated candles are chiefly notable as to their use, if not invention,
by Alfred the Great in about 883. They were 12 inches long, divided into 12
parts, of which three would burn in one hour. In use they were shielded
from the wind by thin pieces of horn, and thus the “horn lantern” originated.
With them he divided the day into three equal parts, one for religion, one
for public affairs, and one for rest and recreation.
Useful clocks of wondrous make were described in the annals of the middle
ages, especially in Germany, made by monks and others for Kings,
monasteries and churches. The old Saxon and Teutonic words cligga, and
glocke, signifying the striking of a bell, and from which the name clock is
derived, indicates the early combination of striking and time-keeping
mechanism. The records are scant as to the particulars of inventions in
horology during the middle ages and down to the sixteenth century, but we
know that weights, and trains of wheels and springs, and some say
pendulums, were used in clockwork, and that the tones of hourly bells
floated forth from the dim religious light of old cathedrals. They all appear
to have involved in different forms the principle of the old clepsydra, using
either weights or water as the motive power to drive a set of wheels and to
move a pointer over the face of a dial.
Henry de Vick of France about 1370 constructed a celebrated clock for
Charles V., the first nearest approach to modern weight clocks. The weight
was used to unwind a cord from a barrel. The barrel was connected to a
ratchet and there were combined therewith a train of toothed wheels and
pinions, an escapement consisting of a crown wheel controlled by two
pallets, which in turn were operated alternately by two weights on a
balanced rod. An hour hand was carried by a shaft of the great wheel, and a
dial plate divided into hours. This was a great advance, as a more accurate
division of time was had by improving the isochronous properties of the
vibrating escapement. But the world was still wanting a time-keeper to
instrument to enforce the law in restricting loquacious orators and lawyers
to reasonable limits in their addresses. And in Rome the sun-dials, the
clepsydras and the hour-glass were used for the same purpose, and more
generally than in Greece, to regulate the hours of business and pleasure.
The graduated candles are chiefly notable as to their use, if not invention,
by Alfred the Great in about 883. They were 12 inches long, divided into 12
parts, of which three would burn in one hour. In use they were shielded
from the wind by thin pieces of horn, and thus the “horn lantern” originated.
With them he divided the day into three equal parts, one for religion, one
for public affairs, and one for rest and recreation.
Useful clocks of wondrous make were described in the annals of the middle
ages, especially in Germany, made by monks and others for Kings,
monasteries and churches. The old Saxon and Teutonic words cligga, and
glocke, signifying the striking of a bell, and from which the name clock is
derived, indicates the early combination of striking and time-keeping
mechanism. The records are scant as to the particulars of inventions in
horology during the middle ages and down to the sixteenth century, but we
know that weights, and trains of wheels and springs, and some say
pendulums, were used in clockwork, and that the tones of hourly bells
floated forth from the dim religious light of old cathedrals. They all appear
to have involved in different forms the principle of the old clepsydra, using
either weights or water as the motive power to drive a set of wheels and to
move a pointer over the face of a dial.
Henry de Vick of France about 1370 constructed a celebrated clock for
Charles V., the first nearest approach to modern weight clocks. The weight
was used to unwind a cord from a barrel. The barrel was connected to a
ratchet and there were combined therewith a train of toothed wheels and
pinions, an escapement consisting of a crown wheel controlled by two
pallets, which in turn were operated alternately by two weights on a
balanced rod. An hour hand was carried by a shaft of the great wheel, and a
dial plate divided into hours. This was a great advance, as a more accurate
division of time was had by improving the isochronous properties of the
vibrating escapement. But the world was still wanting a time-keeper to
Page 282
record smaller portions of the day than the hour and a more accurate
machine than Vick’s.
Two hundred years, nearly, elapsed before the next important advance in
horology. By this time great astronomers like Tycho Brahe and Valherius
had divided the time-recording dials into minutes and seconds.
About 1525 Jacob Zech of Prague invented the fusee, which was re-
invented and improved by the celebrated Dr. Hooke, 125 years later.
Small portable clocks, the progenitors of the modern watch, commenced to
appear about 1500. It was then that Peter Hele of Nuremberg substituted for
weights as the motive power a ribbon of steel, which he wound around a
central spindle, connecting one end to a train of wheels to which it gave
motion as it unwound.
Then followed the famous observation of the swinging lamp by the then
young Galileo, about 1582, while lounging in the cathedral of Pisa. The
isochronism of the vibrations of the pendulum inferred from this
observation was not published or put to practical application in clocks for
nearly sixty years afterward. In 1639 Galileo, then old and blind, dictated to
his son one of his books in which he discussed the isochronal properties of
oscillating bodies, and their adaptation as time measures. He and others had
used the pendulum for dividing time, but moved it by hand and counted its
vibrations. But Huygens, the great Dutch scientist, about 1556 was the first
to explain the principles and properties of the pendulum as a time measurer
and to apply it most successfully to clocks. His application of it was to the
old clock of Vick’s.
The seventeenth century thus opened up a new era in clock and watch
making. The investigations, discoveries, and inventions of Huygens and
other Dutch clock-makers, of Dr. Hooke and David Ramsey of England,
Hautefeuille of France, and a few others placed the art of clock and watch
making on the scientific basis on which it has ever since rested.
The pendulum and watch-springs needed to have their movements
controlled and balanced by better escapements. Huygens thought that the
pendulum should be long and swing in a cycloidal course, but Dr. Hooke
found the better way to produce perfect isochronous movements was to
machine than Vick’s.
Two hundred years, nearly, elapsed before the next important advance in
horology. By this time great astronomers like Tycho Brahe and Valherius
had divided the time-recording dials into minutes and seconds.
About 1525 Jacob Zech of Prague invented the fusee, which was re-
invented and improved by the celebrated Dr. Hooke, 125 years later.
Small portable clocks, the progenitors of the modern watch, commenced to
appear about 1500. It was then that Peter Hele of Nuremberg substituted for
weights as the motive power a ribbon of steel, which he wound around a
central spindle, connecting one end to a train of wheels to which it gave
motion as it unwound.
Then followed the famous observation of the swinging lamp by the then
young Galileo, about 1582, while lounging in the cathedral of Pisa. The
isochronism of the vibrations of the pendulum inferred from this
observation was not published or put to practical application in clocks for
nearly sixty years afterward. In 1639 Galileo, then old and blind, dictated to
his son one of his books in which he discussed the isochronal properties of
oscillating bodies, and their adaptation as time measures. He and others had
used the pendulum for dividing time, but moved it by hand and counted its
vibrations. But Huygens, the great Dutch scientist, about 1556 was the first
to explain the principles and properties of the pendulum as a time measurer
and to apply it most successfully to clocks. His application of it was to the
old clock of Vick’s.
The seventeenth century thus opened up a new era in clock and watch
making. The investigations, discoveries, and inventions of Huygens and
other Dutch clock-makers, of Dr. Hooke and David Ramsey of England,
Hautefeuille of France, and a few others placed the art of clock and watch
making on the scientific basis on which it has ever since rested.
The pendulum and watch-springs needed to have their movements
controlled and balanced by better escapements. Huygens thought that the
pendulum should be long and swing in a cycloidal course, but Dr. Hooke
found the better way to produce perfect isochronous movements was to
Page 283
cause the pendulum to swing in short arcs, which he accomplished by his
invention of the anchor escapement.
The fusee which Dr. Hooke re-invented consists of a conical spirally-
grooved pulley, around which a chain is wound, and which is connected at
one end to a barrel, in which the main actuating spring is tightly coiled. The
fusee is thus interposed between the wheel train and the spring to equalise
the power of the latter.
To Dr. Hooke must also be credited the invention of that delicate but
efficient device, the hair-spring balance for watches. His inventions in this
line were directed to the best means of utilising and controlling the force of
springs, his motto being “ut tensio sic vis,” (as the tension is so is the force.)
Repeating watches to strike the hours, half-hours and quarters, made their
appearance in the seventeenth century. In the next century Arnold made one
for George III., as small as an English sixpence. This repeated the hours,
halves and quarters, and in it for the first time in the art a jewel was used as
a bearing for the arbors, and this particular one was a ruby made into a
minute cylinder.
After the discovery and practical application of weights, springs, wheels,
levers and escapements to time mechanisms, subsequent inventions,
numerous as they have been, have consisted chiefly, not in the discovery of
new principles, but in new methods in the application of old ones. Prior to
the eighteenth century, however, clocks were cumbrous and expensive, and
the watches rightly regarded as costly toys; and as to their accuracy in time-
measuring, the cheaper ones were hardly as satisfactory as the ancient sun-
dials.
With the coming of the machine inventions and the new industrial and
social ideas of the eighteenth century came an almost sudden new
appreciation of the value of time. Hours, minutes and seconds began to be
carefully prized, both by the trades and professions, and the demand from
the common people for accurate time records became great. This demand it
has been the office of the nineteenth century to supply, and to place clocks
and watches within the reach of the poor as well as the rich. While thus
lessening the cost of time-keepers their value has been enhanced by
increasing their accuracy and durability.
invention of the anchor escapement.
The fusee which Dr. Hooke re-invented consists of a conical spirally-
grooved pulley, around which a chain is wound, and which is connected at
one end to a barrel, in which the main actuating spring is tightly coiled. The
fusee is thus interposed between the wheel train and the spring to equalise
the power of the latter.
To Dr. Hooke must also be credited the invention of that delicate but
efficient device, the hair-spring balance for watches. His inventions in this
line were directed to the best means of utilising and controlling the force of
springs, his motto being “ut tensio sic vis,” (as the tension is so is the force.)
Repeating watches to strike the hours, half-hours and quarters, made their
appearance in the seventeenth century. In the next century Arnold made one
for George III., as small as an English sixpence. This repeated the hours,
halves and quarters, and in it for the first time in the art a jewel was used as
a bearing for the arbors, and this particular one was a ruby made into a
minute cylinder.
After the discovery and practical application of weights, springs, wheels,
levers and escapements to time mechanisms, subsequent inventions,
numerous as they have been, have consisted chiefly, not in the discovery of
new principles, but in new methods in the application of old ones. Prior to
the eighteenth century, however, clocks were cumbrous and expensive, and
the watches rightly regarded as costly toys; and as to their accuracy in time-
measuring, the cheaper ones were hardly as satisfactory as the ancient sun-
dials.
With the coming of the machine inventions and the new industrial and
social ideas of the eighteenth century came an almost sudden new
appreciation of the value of time. Hours, minutes and seconds began to be
carefully prized, both by the trades and professions, and the demand from
the common people for accurate time records became great. This demand it
has been the office of the nineteenth century to supply, and to place clocks
and watches within the reach of the poor as well as the rich. While thus
lessening the cost of time-keepers their value has been enhanced by
increasing their accuracy and durability.
Page 284
Among the other ideas for which the eighteenth century was famous in
watch-making was that of dispensing with the key for winding, thus saving
the losing of keys and preventing access of dust, an idea which, however,
was perfected only in the last half of the nineteenth century.
The eighteenth century was chiefly distinguished by its scientific
improvements in time-keepers, to adapt them for astronomical observations
and for use at sea, in not only accurately determining the time, but the
degrees of longitude. Chronometers were invented, distinguished from
watches and clocks, by means by which the fluctuation of the parts caused
by the variations in temperature are obviated or compensated. In clocks
what are known as the mercurial and gridiron pendulums were invented
respectively toward the close of the eighteenth century by Graham and
Harrison, and the latter also subsequently invented the expanding and
contracting balance wheel for watches. The principle in these appliances is
the employment of two different metals which expand unequally, and thus
maintain an uniformity of operation.
The Dutch, with Huygens in the lead, were long among the leading clock-
makers. Germany ranked next. It was in the seventeenth century that a
wonderful industry in clock-making there commenced, which lasted for two
centuries. The Black Forest region of South Germany became a famous
locality for the manufacture of cheap wooden clocks. The system adopted
was a minute division of labour. From fourteen to twenty thousand hands
twenty years ago were employed in the Schwarzwald district. Labour-
saving machines were ignored almost entirely. The annual production
finally reached nearly two million clocks, of the value of about five million
dollars.
Switzerland in watch-making followed precisely the example of Germany
in clock-making. It commenced there in the seventeenth and culminated in
the nineteenth century. Many thousands of its population were engaged in
the business and it flourished under the fostering care of the government—
by the establishment of astronomical observations for testing the adjustment
of the best watches, the giving of prizes, and the establishment and
encouragement of schools of horology conducted on thorough scientific
methods. A quarter of a century ago it was estimated that in Switzerland
40,000 persons out of a population of 150,000 were engaged in watch-
watch-making was that of dispensing with the key for winding, thus saving
the losing of keys and preventing access of dust, an idea which, however,
was perfected only in the last half of the nineteenth century.
The eighteenth century was chiefly distinguished by its scientific
improvements in time-keepers, to adapt them for astronomical observations
and for use at sea, in not only accurately determining the time, but the
degrees of longitude. Chronometers were invented, distinguished from
watches and clocks, by means by which the fluctuation of the parts caused
by the variations in temperature are obviated or compensated. In clocks
what are known as the mercurial and gridiron pendulums were invented
respectively toward the close of the eighteenth century by Graham and
Harrison, and the latter also subsequently invented the expanding and
contracting balance wheel for watches. The principle in these appliances is
the employment of two different metals which expand unequally, and thus
maintain an uniformity of operation.
The Dutch, with Huygens in the lead, were long among the leading clock-
makers. Germany ranked next. It was in the seventeenth century that a
wonderful industry in clock-making there commenced, which lasted for two
centuries. The Black Forest region of South Germany became a famous
locality for the manufacture of cheap wooden clocks. The system adopted
was a minute division of labour. From fourteen to twenty thousand hands
twenty years ago were employed in the Schwarzwald district. Labour-
saving machines were ignored almost entirely. The annual production
finally reached nearly two million clocks, of the value of about five million
dollars.
Switzerland in watch-making followed precisely the example of Germany
in clock-making. It commenced there in the seventeenth and culminated in
the nineteenth century. Many thousands of its population were engaged in
the business and it flourished under the fostering care of the government—
by the establishment of astronomical observations for testing the adjustment
of the best watches, the giving of prizes, and the establishment and
encouragement of schools of horology conducted on thorough scientific
methods. A quarter of a century ago it was estimated that in Switzerland
40,000 persons out of a population of 150,000 were engaged in watch-
Page 285
making, and that the annual production sometimes reached 1,600,000
completed movements. The whole world was their market. The United
States alone was in 1875 importing 134,000 watches annually from that
country.
As in Germany, so one characteristic of the Swiss system was a minute sub-
division of the labour. Individuals and entire families had certain parts only
to make. It is said that the Swiss watch passed through the hands of one
hundred and thirty different workmen before it was put upon the market.
The use of machines was also, as in Germany, ignored. By this national
devotion to a single trade and its sub-division of labour, the successful
production of complicated watches became great and their prices
comparatively low.
The United States in the commencement of its career and at the opening of
the century had no clocks or watches of its own manufacture. But it soon
followed the example of Germany and Switzerland and established cheap
clock manufactories, first of wood, and then of metal, which became
famous and of world-wide use. But it could make no headway against the
cheap labour of Europe in watch-making, and the country was flooded with
watches of all qualities, principally from Switzerland and England. Finally,
at the half-way mark in the century, the inquiry arose among Americans,
why could not the system of the minute sub-division of human labour
followed in watch-making countries so cheaply and profitably, be
accomplished by machinery? The field was open, the prize was great, and
the government stood ready to grant exclusive patents to every inventor
who would devise a new and useful machine. The problem was great, as the
fields abroad had been filled for generations by skilled artisans who had
reduced the complicated mechanism of watch-making to a fine art.
Fortunately the habit had been established in America in several of the
leading industries, principally in that of fire-arms, of fabricating separate
machinery for the independent making of numerous parts of the same
implement, whereby uniformity and interchangeability were established.
Under such a practice, which was known as the American system, a
duplicate of the smallest part of a complicated machine, lost or worn out
thousands of miles from the factory, could soon be furnished by simply
sending the number or name of such required part to the manufacturer, or to
the nearest dealer in such machines.
completed movements. The whole world was their market. The United
States alone was in 1875 importing 134,000 watches annually from that
country.
As in Germany, so one characteristic of the Swiss system was a minute sub-
division of the labour. Individuals and entire families had certain parts only
to make. It is said that the Swiss watch passed through the hands of one
hundred and thirty different workmen before it was put upon the market.
The use of machines was also, as in Germany, ignored. By this national
devotion to a single trade and its sub-division of labour, the successful
production of complicated watches became great and their prices
comparatively low.
The United States in the commencement of its career and at the opening of
the century had no clocks or watches of its own manufacture. But it soon
followed the example of Germany and Switzerland and established cheap
clock manufactories, first of wood, and then of metal, which became
famous and of world-wide use. But it could make no headway against the
cheap labour of Europe in watch-making, and the country was flooded with
watches of all qualities, principally from Switzerland and England. Finally,
at the half-way mark in the century, the inquiry arose among Americans,
why could not the system of the minute sub-division of human labour
followed in watch-making countries so cheaply and profitably, be
accomplished by machinery? The field was open, the prize was great, and
the government stood ready to grant exclusive patents to every inventor
who would devise a new and useful machine. The problem was great, as the
fields abroad had been filled for generations by skilled artisans who had
reduced the complicated mechanism of watch-making to a fine art.
Fortunately the habit had been established in America in several of the
leading industries, principally in that of fire-arms, of fabricating separate
machinery for the independent making of numerous parts of the same
implement, whereby uniformity and interchangeability were established.
Under such a practice, which was known as the American system, a
duplicate of the smallest part of a complicated machine, lost or worn out
thousands of miles from the factory, could soon be furnished by simply
sending the number or name of such required part to the manufacturer, or to
the nearest dealer in such machines.
Page 286
With such encouragement and example the scheme of watch-making was
commenced. Soon large factories were built, and by the time of the
Centennial Exhibition in 1876, the American Watch Company of Waltham,
Massachusetts, were enabled to present an exhibit of watch movements
made by machinery, which astonished the world. Other great companies in
different parts of the country soon followed with the same general system.
Machines, working with the apparent intelligence and facility of human
minds and hands, and with greater mathematical accuracy than was possible
with the hands, appeared:—for cutting out the finest teeth from blank
wheels stamped out from steel or brass; for making and cutting the smallest,
finest threaded screws by the thousands per hour and with greatest
uniformity and accuracy; for jewel-making; for cutting and polishing by
diamonds, or sapphire-armed tools, the rough, unpolished diamond and
ruby, crysolite, garnet, or aqua-marine, and for boring, finishing and setting
the same; for the formation of the most delicate pins or arbors; for the
making of the escapements, including forks, pallets, rollers, and scape
wheels; for making springs and balances, including the main-springs and
hair-springs; for making and setting the stem-winding parts; for making the
cases, and engraving the same, etc. The list would be too long to simply
name all the ingenious machines there exhibited and subsequently invented
for every important operation.
It was the aim of these manufacturers to locate every great factory in some
quiet and attractive spot, free from the dust of town, and city, and divide it
into many departments, from the blacksmithing to the packing and
transportation of the completed article; and to conduct every department
with the best mechanical and mathematical skill that money and brains
could provide.
The same system was followed with equal success in producing the first-
class pocket-chronometer for the nicest work to which chronometers can be
put.
Thus with every watch and its every part made the exact duplicate of its
fellow, uniformity in time-keeping has been established; and the simile of
Pope is no longer so correct, “’Tis with our judgments as our watches, none
go just alike, yet each believes his own.” A simple statement of this system
illustrates with greater force than an entire volume the revolution the
commenced. Soon large factories were built, and by the time of the
Centennial Exhibition in 1876, the American Watch Company of Waltham,
Massachusetts, were enabled to present an exhibit of watch movements
made by machinery, which astonished the world. Other great companies in
different parts of the country soon followed with the same general system.
Machines, working with the apparent intelligence and facility of human
minds and hands, and with greater mathematical accuracy than was possible
with the hands, appeared:—for cutting out the finest teeth from blank
wheels stamped out from steel or brass; for making and cutting the smallest,
finest threaded screws by the thousands per hour and with greatest
uniformity and accuracy; for jewel-making; for cutting and polishing by
diamonds, or sapphire-armed tools, the rough, unpolished diamond and
ruby, crysolite, garnet, or aqua-marine, and for boring, finishing and setting
the same; for the formation of the most delicate pins or arbors; for the
making of the escapements, including forks, pallets, rollers, and scape
wheels; for making springs and balances, including the main-springs and
hair-springs; for making and setting the stem-winding parts; for making the
cases, and engraving the same, etc. The list would be too long to simply
name all the ingenious machines there exhibited and subsequently invented
for every important operation.
It was the aim of these manufacturers to locate every great factory in some
quiet and attractive spot, free from the dust of town, and city, and divide it
into many departments, from the blacksmithing to the packing and
transportation of the completed article; and to conduct every department
with the best mechanical and mathematical skill that money and brains
could provide.
The same system was followed with equal success in producing the first-
class pocket-chronometer for the nicest work to which chronometers can be
put.
Thus with every watch and its every part made the exact duplicate of its
fellow, uniformity in time-keeping has been established; and the simile of
Pope is no longer so correct, “’Tis with our judgments as our watches, none
go just alike, yet each believes his own.” A simple statement of this system
illustrates with greater force than an entire volume the revolution the
Page 287
nineteenth century has produced in the useful art of horology. And yet the
story should not omit reference to the application of the electric system to
clocks, whereby clocks at distant points of a city or country are connected,
automatically corrected and set to standard time from a central observatory
or other time station.
Great as were the advances in horology during the seventeenth and
eighteenth centuries, the number of inventions that have been made in the
nineteenth century is evidenced by the fact that in the United States alone
about 4,000 patents have been granted since 1800, which, however,
represent not only American inventors but very many of other countries.
Registering Devices.—Devices for recording fares and money have
employed the keenest wits of many inventors and is an art of quite recent
origin. Attention was first directed to fare registers in public vehicles, the
object of which is to accurately report to the proper office of the company at
the end of a trip, or of the day, the number of passengers carried and the
fares received. Portable registers, to be carried by the conductor and
operated in front of the passenger have been almost universally succeeded
by stationary ones set up at one end of the vehicle in open view of all the
passengers and operated by a strap and lever by the conductor. These fare
registers have been called “A mechanical conscience for street car
conductors.”
Cash Registers, intended to compel honesty on the part of retail salesmen,
are required to be operated by them, and when the proper lever, or levers, or
it may be a crank handle, is or are touched, the machine automatically
records the amount of the sale, the amount of change given, and the total
amount of all the sales and money received and paid out.
Voting Machines—designed to overcome the difficulties, expenditure of
time, and the commission of errors and frauds experienced in the reading
and counting of votes—have received great attention from inventors, and
are not yet in a satisfactory condition. The problem involves the dispensing
of printing the ballots, the prevention of fraudulent deposition of ballots, the
automatic correct counting of the same, and a display of the result as soon
as the balloting is closed.
story should not omit reference to the application of the electric system to
clocks, whereby clocks at distant points of a city or country are connected,
automatically corrected and set to standard time from a central observatory
or other time station.
Great as were the advances in horology during the seventeenth and
eighteenth centuries, the number of inventions that have been made in the
nineteenth century is evidenced by the fact that in the United States alone
about 4,000 patents have been granted since 1800, which, however,
represent not only American inventors but very many of other countries.
Registering Devices.—Devices for recording fares and money have
employed the keenest wits of many inventors and is an art of quite recent
origin. Attention was first directed to fare registers in public vehicles, the
object of which is to accurately report to the proper office of the company at
the end of a trip, or of the day, the number of passengers carried and the
fares received. Portable registers, to be carried by the conductor and
operated in front of the passenger have been almost universally succeeded
by stationary ones set up at one end of the vehicle in open view of all the
passengers and operated by a strap and lever by the conductor. These fare
registers have been called “A mechanical conscience for street car
conductors.”
Cash Registers, intended to compel honesty on the part of retail salesmen,
are required to be operated by them, and when the proper lever, or levers, or
it may be a crank handle, is or are touched, the machine automatically
records the amount of the sale, the amount of change given, and the total
amount of all the sales and money received and paid out.
Voting Machines—designed to overcome the difficulties, expenditure of
time, and the commission of errors and frauds experienced in the reading
and counting of votes—have received great attention from inventors, and
are not yet in a satisfactory condition. The problem involves the dispensing
of printing the ballots, the prevention of fraudulent deposition of ballots, the
automatic correct counting of the same, and a display of the result as soon
as the balloting is closed.
Page 288
Successful electrical devices have been made for recording the votes of a
great number of persons in a large assembly by the touch of an “aye” or
“nay” button at the seat of the voter and the recording of the same on paper
at a central desk.
The invention and extensive use of bicycles, automobiles, etc., have given
rise to the invention of cyclometers, which are small devices connected to
some part of the vehicle to indicate to the rider or driver the rate at which he
is riding, and the number of miles ridden.
Speed Indicators.—Many municipalities having adopted ordinances
limiting the rate of speed for street and steam cars, bicycles, automobiles,
and other vehicles, a want was created, which has been met, for devices to
indicate to the passengers, drivers or conductors the rate at which the
vehicle is travelling, and to sound an alarm in case of excess of speed, so
that brakes can be applied and the speed reduced. Or to relieve persons of
anxiety and trouble in this respect, ingenious devices have been contrived
which automatically reduce the speed when the prescribed limit has been
exceeded.
Weighing Scales and Machines.—“Just balances and just weights” have
been required from the day of the declaration, “a false weight is an
abomination unto the Lord.” And therefore strict accuracy must always be
the measure of merit of a weighing machine. To this standard the inventions
of the century in weighing scales have come. Until this century the ordinary
balance with equal even arms suspended from a central point, and each
carrying means for suspending articles to be weighed, or compared in
weights, and the later steelyard with its unequal arms, with its graduated
long arms and a sliding weight and holding pan, were the principal forms of
weighing machines. Platform scales were described in an English patent to
one Salman in 1796, but their use is not recorded. The compound lever
scale on the principle of the steelyard, but arranged to be used with a
platform, was invented and came into use in the United States about 1831.
Thaddeus and Erastus Fairbanks of St. Johnsbury, Vermont, were the
inventors, and it was found to meet the want of farmers in weighing hemp,
hay, etc., by more convenient means than the ordinary steelyard. They
converted the steelyard into platform scales. The leading characteristics of
such machines are, first, a convenient platform nicely balanced on knife
great number of persons in a large assembly by the touch of an “aye” or
“nay” button at the seat of the voter and the recording of the same on paper
at a central desk.
The invention and extensive use of bicycles, automobiles, etc., have given
rise to the invention of cyclometers, which are small devices connected to
some part of the vehicle to indicate to the rider or driver the rate at which he
is riding, and the number of miles ridden.
Speed Indicators.—Many municipalities having adopted ordinances
limiting the rate of speed for street and steam cars, bicycles, automobiles,
and other vehicles, a want was created, which has been met, for devices to
indicate to the passengers, drivers or conductors the rate at which the
vehicle is travelling, and to sound an alarm in case of excess of speed, so
that brakes can be applied and the speed reduced. Or to relieve persons of
anxiety and trouble in this respect, ingenious devices have been contrived
which automatically reduce the speed when the prescribed limit has been
exceeded.
Weighing Scales and Machines.—“Just balances and just weights” have
been required from the day of the declaration, “a false weight is an
abomination unto the Lord.” And therefore strict accuracy must always be
the measure of merit of a weighing machine. To this standard the inventions
of the century in weighing scales have come. Until this century the ordinary
balance with equal even arms suspended from a central point, and each
carrying means for suspending articles to be weighed, or compared in
weights, and the later steelyard with its unequal arms, with its graduated
long arms and a sliding weight and holding pan, were the principal forms of
weighing machines. Platform scales were described in an English patent to
one Salman in 1796, but their use is not recorded. The compound lever
scale on the principle of the steelyard, but arranged to be used with a
platform, was invented and came into use in the United States about 1831.
Thaddeus and Erastus Fairbanks of St. Johnsbury, Vermont, were the
inventors, and it was found to meet the want of farmers in weighing hemp,
hay, etc., by more convenient means than the ordinary steelyard. They
converted the steelyard into platform scales. The leading characteristics of
such machines are, first, a convenient platform nicely balanced on knife
Page 289
edges of steel levers, and second, a graduated horizontal beam, a sliding
weight thereon connected by an upright rod at one end to the beam, and at
its opposite end to the balance frame beneath the platform.
The modification in size and adaptation of this machine for the weighing of
different commodities amounted to some 400 different varieties—running
from the delicately-constructed apparatus for weighing the fraction of a
grain, to the ponderous machines for weighing and recording the loaded
freight car of fifty or sixty tons, or the canal-boat or other vessel with its
load of five or six hundred tons. The adaptation of a balance platform on
which to place a light load, or to drive thereon with heavy loads, whether of
horses, steam, or water vehicles, was a great blessing to mankind. No
wonder that they were soon sold all over the world, and that monarchs and
people hastened to heap honors on the inventors.
Spring weighing scales have recently been invented, which will accurately
and automatically show not only the weight but the total price of the goods
weighed, the price per unit being known and fixed.
In the weighing of large masses of coarse material, such as grain, coal,
cotton seed, and the like, machines have been constructed which
automatically weigh such materials and at the same time register the
weight.
Previous to this century no method was known, except the exercise of good
judgment in the light of experience, of accurately testing the strength of
materials. Wood and metals were used in unnecessarily cumbrous forms for
the purpose to which they were put, in order to ensure safety, or else the
strength of the parts failed where it was most needed.
The idea of testing the tensile, transverse, and cubical resisting strength of
materials has been applied to many other objects than beams and bars of
wood and metals; to belts, cloths, cables, wires, fibres, paper, twine, yarn,
cement, and to liquids. Kiraldy, Kennedy, and others of England, Thomasset
of France, Riehle of Germany, and Fairbanks, Thurston and Emery of the
United States, are among the noted inventors of such machines.
In the Emery system of machines, consisting of scales, gages, and
dynamometers, the power exerted on the material tested is transmitted from
weight thereon connected by an upright rod at one end to the beam, and at
its opposite end to the balance frame beneath the platform.
The modification in size and adaptation of this machine for the weighing of
different commodities amounted to some 400 different varieties—running
from the delicately-constructed apparatus for weighing the fraction of a
grain, to the ponderous machines for weighing and recording the loaded
freight car of fifty or sixty tons, or the canal-boat or other vessel with its
load of five or six hundred tons. The adaptation of a balance platform on
which to place a light load, or to drive thereon with heavy loads, whether of
horses, steam, or water vehicles, was a great blessing to mankind. No
wonder that they were soon sold all over the world, and that monarchs and
people hastened to heap honors on the inventors.
Spring weighing scales have recently been invented, which will accurately
and automatically show not only the weight but the total price of the goods
weighed, the price per unit being known and fixed.
In the weighing of large masses of coarse material, such as grain, coal,
cotton seed, and the like, machines have been constructed which
automatically weigh such materials and at the same time register the
weight.
Previous to this century no method was known, except the exercise of good
judgment in the light of experience, of accurately testing the strength of
materials. Wood and metals were used in unnecessarily cumbrous forms for
the purpose to which they were put, in order to ensure safety, or else the
strength of the parts failed where it was most needed.
The idea of testing the tensile, transverse, and cubical resisting strength of
materials has been applied to many other objects than beams and bars of
wood and metals; to belts, cloths, cables, wires, fibres, paper, twine, yarn,
cement, and to liquids. Kiraldy, Kennedy, and others of England, Thomasset
of France, Riehle of Germany, and Fairbanks, Thurston and Emery of the
United States, are among the noted inventors of such machines.
In the Emery system of machines, consisting of scales, gages, and
dynamometers, the power exerted on the material tested is transmitted from
Page 290
the load to an indicating device by means of liquid acting on diaphragms.
The same principle is employed in his weighing machines.
By one of these hydraulic testing machines the tensile strength of forged
links has been ascertained by the exertion of a power amounting to over
700,000 pounds before breaking a link, the chain breaking with a loud
report.
The most delicate materials are tested by the same machine—the tensile
strength of a horsehair, some of which are found to stand the strain of one
and two pounds. Eggs and nuts are cracked without being crushed, and the
power exerted and the strain endured automatically recorded. Steel beams
and rods have been subjected to a strain of a million pounds before
breaking.
Governments, municipalities, and the people generally are thus provided
with means by which they can proceed with the greatest confidence in the
safe and economical construction and completion of their buildings and
public works.
The same principle is employed in his weighing machines.
By one of these hydraulic testing machines the tensile strength of forged
links has been ascertained by the exertion of a power amounting to over
700,000 pounds before breaking a link, the chain breaking with a loud
report.
The most delicate materials are tested by the same machine—the tensile
strength of a horsehair, some of which are found to stand the strain of one
and two pounds. Eggs and nuts are cracked without being crushed, and the
power exerted and the strain endured automatically recorded. Steel beams
and rods have been subjected to a strain of a million pounds before
breaking.
Governments, municipalities, and the people generally are thus provided
with means by which they can proceed with the greatest confidence in the
safe and economical construction and completion of their buildings and
public works.
Page 291
CHAPTER XXVI.
MUSIC, ACOUSTICS, OPTICS, FINE ARTS.
Neither the historic nor prehistoric records find man without musical
instruments of some sort. They are as old as religion, and have been found
wherever evidence of religious rites of any description have been found, as
they constituted part of the instrumentalities of such rites. They are found as
relics of worship and the dance, ages after the worshippers and the dancers
have become part of the earth’s strata. They have been found wherever the
earliest civilisations have been discovered; and they appear to have been
regarded as desirable and necessary as the weapons and the labour
implements of those civilisations. They abounded in China, in India, and in
Egypt before the lyre of Apollo was invented, or the charming harp of
Orpheus was conceived.
There was little melody according to modern standards, but the musical
instruments, like all other inventions, the fruit of the brain of man, were
slowly evolved as he wanted them, and to meet the conditions surrounding
him.
There were the conch shell trumpet, the stone, bone, wood and metal dance
rattles, the beaks of birds, and the horns and teeth of beasts, for the same
rattling purpose. The simple reed pipes, the hollow wooden drums, the skin
drum-heads, the stretched strings of fibre and of tendons, the flutes, the
harps, the guitars, the psalteries, and hundreds of other forms of musical
instruments, varied as the skill and fancy of man varied, and in accordance
with their taste and wants, along the entire gamut of noises and rude
melodies. The ancient races had the instruments, but their voices, except as
they existed in the traditions of their gods, were not harmonious.
As modern wants and tastes developed and music became a science the
demands of the nineteenth century were met by a Helmholtz, who
MUSIC, ACOUSTICS, OPTICS, FINE ARTS.
Neither the historic nor prehistoric records find man without musical
instruments of some sort. They are as old as religion, and have been found
wherever evidence of religious rites of any description have been found, as
they constituted part of the instrumentalities of such rites. They are found as
relics of worship and the dance, ages after the worshippers and the dancers
have become part of the earth’s strata. They have been found wherever the
earliest civilisations have been discovered; and they appear to have been
regarded as desirable and necessary as the weapons and the labour
implements of those civilisations. They abounded in China, in India, and in
Egypt before the lyre of Apollo was invented, or the charming harp of
Orpheus was conceived.
There was little melody according to modern standards, but the musical
instruments, like all other inventions, the fruit of the brain of man, were
slowly evolved as he wanted them, and to meet the conditions surrounding
him.
There were the conch shell trumpet, the stone, bone, wood and metal dance
rattles, the beaks of birds, and the horns and teeth of beasts, for the same
rattling purpose. The simple reed pipes, the hollow wooden drums, the skin
drum-heads, the stretched strings of fibre and of tendons, the flutes, the
harps, the guitars, the psalteries, and hundreds of other forms of musical
instruments, varied as the skill and fancy of man varied, and in accordance
with their taste and wants, along the entire gamut of noises and rude
melodies. The ancient races had the instruments, but their voices, except as
they existed in the traditions of their gods, were not harmonious.
As modern wants and tastes developed and music became a science the
demands of the nineteenth century were met by a Helmholtz, who
Page 292
discovered and explained the laws of harmony, and by many ingenious
manufacturers, who so revolutionised the pianoforte action, and the action
of musical instruments constructed on these principles, that their
predecessors would hardly be recognised as prototypes.
The story of the piano, that queen of musical instruments, involves the
whole history of the art of music. Its evolution from the ancient harp,
gleaned by man from the wind, “that grand old harper, who smote his
thunder harp of pines,” is too long a story to here recite in detail. It must
suffice to say, it started with the harp, in its simplest form, composed of a
frame with animal tendons stretched tight thereon and twanged by the
fingers. Then followed strings of varied length, size, and tension, to obtain
different tones, soon accompanied by an instrument called the plectrum—a
bone or ivory stick with which to vibrate the strings, to save the fingers.
This was the harp of the Egyptians, and of Jubal, “the father of all such as
handle the harp and the organ,” and half-brother of Tubal Cain, the great
teacher “of every artificer in brass and iron.” Then the harp was laid
prostrate, its strings stretched over a sounding board, and each held and
adapted to be tightened by pegs, and played upon by little hammers having
soft pellets or corks at their ends. This was the psaltery and the dulcimer of
the Assyrians and the Hebrews.
The Greeks derived their musical instruments from the Egyptians, and the
Romans borrowed theirs from the Greeks, but neither the Greeks nor the
Romans invented any.
Then, after fourteen or fifteen centuries, we find the harp, both in a
horizontal and an upright position, with its strings played upon by keys.
This was the clavicitherium. In the sixteenth century came the virginal, and
the spinet, those soft, tinkling instruments favoured by Queen Elizabeth and
Queen Mary, and which, recently brought from obscurity, have been made
to revive the ancient Elizabethan melodies, to the delight of modern hearers.
These were followed in the seventeenth century by the clavichord, the
favourite instrument of Bach. Then appeared the harpsichord, a still nearer
approach to the piano, having a hand or knee-worked pedal, and on which
Mozart and Handel and Haydn brought out their grand productions. The
ancient Italian cembello was another spinet.
manufacturers, who so revolutionised the pianoforte action, and the action
of musical instruments constructed on these principles, that their
predecessors would hardly be recognised as prototypes.
The story of the piano, that queen of musical instruments, involves the
whole history of the art of music. Its evolution from the ancient harp,
gleaned by man from the wind, “that grand old harper, who smote his
thunder harp of pines,” is too long a story to here recite in detail. It must
suffice to say, it started with the harp, in its simplest form, composed of a
frame with animal tendons stretched tight thereon and twanged by the
fingers. Then followed strings of varied length, size, and tension, to obtain
different tones, soon accompanied by an instrument called the plectrum—a
bone or ivory stick with which to vibrate the strings, to save the fingers.
This was the harp of the Egyptians, and of Jubal, “the father of all such as
handle the harp and the organ,” and half-brother of Tubal Cain, the great
teacher “of every artificer in brass and iron.” Then the harp was laid
prostrate, its strings stretched over a sounding board, and each held and
adapted to be tightened by pegs, and played upon by little hammers having
soft pellets or corks at their ends. This was the psaltery and the dulcimer of
the Assyrians and the Hebrews.
The Greeks derived their musical instruments from the Egyptians, and the
Romans borrowed theirs from the Greeks, but neither the Greeks nor the
Romans invented any.
Then, after fourteen or fifteen centuries, we find the harp, both in a
horizontal and an upright position, with its strings played upon by keys.
This was the clavicitherium. In the sixteenth century came the virginal, and
the spinet, those soft, tinkling instruments favoured by Queen Elizabeth and
Queen Mary, and which, recently brought from obscurity, have been made
to revive the ancient Elizabethan melodies, to the delight of modern hearers.
These were followed in the seventeenth century by the clavichord, the
favourite instrument of Bach. Then appeared the harpsichord, a still nearer
approach to the piano, having a hand or knee-worked pedal, and on which
Mozart and Handel and Haydn brought out their grand productions. The
ancient Italian cembello was another spinet.
Page 293
Thus, through the centuries these instruments had slowly grown. By 1711 in
Italy, under the inventive genius of Bartolommeo Cristofori of Florence,
they had culminated in the modern piano. The piano as devised by him
differed from the instruments preceding it chiefly in this, that in the latter
the strings were vibrated by striking and pulling on them by pieces of quills
attached to levers and operated by keys, whereas, in the piano there were
applied hammers in place of quills.
In the 1876 exhibition at Philadelphia, a piano was displayed which had
been made by Johannes Christian Schreiber of Germany in 1741.
Then in the latter part of the eighteenth century Broadwood and Clementi of
London and Erard of Strasburg and Petzold of Paris commenced the
manufacture of their fine instruments. Erard particularly made many
improvements in that and in the nineteenth century in the piano, its
hammers and keys, and Southwell of Dublin in the dampers.
By them and the Collards of London, Bechstein of Berlin, and Chickering,
Steinway, Weber, Schomacher, Decker and Knabe of America, was the
piano “ripened after the lapse of more than 2,000 years into the perfectness
of the magnificent instruments of modern times, with their better materials,
more exact appliances, finer adjustments, greater strength of parts, increase
of compass and power, elastic responsiveness of touch, enlarged sonority,
satisfying delicacy, and singing character in tone.”
A piano comprises five principal parts: first, the framing; second, the
sounding board; third, the stringing; fourth, the key mechanism, or action,
and fifth, the ornamental case. To supply these several parts separate classes
of skilled artisans have arisen, the forests have been ransacked for their
choicest woods, the mines have been made to yield their choicest stores,
and the forge to weld its finest work. Science has given to music the ardent
devotion of a lover, and resolved a confused mass of more or less pleasant
noises into liquid harmonies. In 1862 appeared Helmholtz’s great work on
the “Law and Tones and the Theory of Music.” He it was who invented the
method of analysing sound. By the use of hollow bodies called resonators
he found that every sound as it generally occurs in nature and as it is
produced by most of our musical instruments, or the human voice, is not a
single simple sound, but a compound of several tones of different intensity
Italy, under the inventive genius of Bartolommeo Cristofori of Florence,
they had culminated in the modern piano. The piano as devised by him
differed from the instruments preceding it chiefly in this, that in the latter
the strings were vibrated by striking and pulling on them by pieces of quills
attached to levers and operated by keys, whereas, in the piano there were
applied hammers in place of quills.
In the 1876 exhibition at Philadelphia, a piano was displayed which had
been made by Johannes Christian Schreiber of Germany in 1741.
Then in the latter part of the eighteenth century Broadwood and Clementi of
London and Erard of Strasburg and Petzold of Paris commenced the
manufacture of their fine instruments. Erard particularly made many
improvements in that and in the nineteenth century in the piano, its
hammers and keys, and Southwell of Dublin in the dampers.
By them and the Collards of London, Bechstein of Berlin, and Chickering,
Steinway, Weber, Schomacher, Decker and Knabe of America, was the
piano “ripened after the lapse of more than 2,000 years into the perfectness
of the magnificent instruments of modern times, with their better materials,
more exact appliances, finer adjustments, greater strength of parts, increase
of compass and power, elastic responsiveness of touch, enlarged sonority,
satisfying delicacy, and singing character in tone.”
A piano comprises five principal parts: first, the framing; second, the
sounding board; third, the stringing; fourth, the key mechanism, or action,
and fifth, the ornamental case. To supply these several parts separate classes
of skilled artisans have arisen, the forests have been ransacked for their
choicest woods, the mines have been made to yield their choicest stores,
and the forge to weld its finest work. Science has given to music the ardent
devotion of a lover, and resolved a confused mass of more or less pleasant
noises into liquid harmonies. In 1862 appeared Helmholtz’s great work on
the “Law and Tones and the Theory of Music.” He it was who invented the
method of analysing sound. By the use of hollow bodies called resonators
he found that every sound as it generally occurs in nature and as it is
produced by most of our musical instruments, or the human voice, is not a
single simple sound, but a compound of several tones of different intensity
Page 294
and pitch; all of which different tones combined are heard as one; and that
the difference of quality or timbre of the sounds of different musical
instruments resides in the different composition of these sounds; that
different compound sounds contain the same fundamental tone but
differently mixed with other tones. He explained how these fundamental
and compound tones might be fully developed to produce either
harmonious or dissonant sensations. His researches were carried farther and
added to by Prof. Mayer of New Jersey. These theories were practically
applied in the pianos produced by the celebrated firm of Steinway and Sons
of New York; and their inventions and improvements in the iron framing, in
laying of strings in relation to the centre of the sounding-board, in
“resonators” in upright frames, and in other features, from 1866 to 1876,
produced a revolution in the art of piano making.
If the piano is properly the queen of musical instruments, the organ may be
rightly regarded, as it has been named, “King in the realm of music.” It is
an instrument, the notes of which are produced by the rush of air through
pipes of different lengths, the air being supplied by bellows or other means,
and controlled by valves which are operated by keys, and by which the
supply of air is admitted or cut off.
The earliest description appears to be that in the “Spiritalia” of Hero of
Alexandria (150-200 B. C.) and Ctesibius of Alexandria was the inventor. A
series of pipes of varying lengths were filled by an air-pump which was
operated by a wind-mill. Organs were again originated in the early Christian
centuries; and a Greek epigram of the fourth century refers to one as
provided with “reeds of a new species agitated by blasts of wind that rush
from a leathern cavern beneath their roots, while a robust mortal, running
with swift fingers over the concordant keys, makes them smoothly dance
and emit harmonious sounds.”
The same in principle to-day, but more complicated in structure, “yet of
easy control under the hands of experts, fertile in varied symphonious
effects, giving with equal and satisfying success the gentlest and most
sympathetic tones as well as complete and sublimely full utterances of
musical inspiration.”
the difference of quality or timbre of the sounds of different musical
instruments resides in the different composition of these sounds; that
different compound sounds contain the same fundamental tone but
differently mixed with other tones. He explained how these fundamental
and compound tones might be fully developed to produce either
harmonious or dissonant sensations. His researches were carried farther and
added to by Prof. Mayer of New Jersey. These theories were practically
applied in the pianos produced by the celebrated firm of Steinway and Sons
of New York; and their inventions and improvements in the iron framing, in
laying of strings in relation to the centre of the sounding-board, in
“resonators” in upright frames, and in other features, from 1866 to 1876,
produced a revolution in the art of piano making.
If the piano is properly the queen of musical instruments, the organ may be
rightly regarded, as it has been named, “King in the realm of music.” It is
an instrument, the notes of which are produced by the rush of air through
pipes of different lengths, the air being supplied by bellows or other means,
and controlled by valves which are operated by keys, and by which the
supply of air is admitted or cut off.
The earliest description appears to be that in the “Spiritalia” of Hero of
Alexandria (150-200 B. C.) and Ctesibius of Alexandria was the inventor. A
series of pipes of varying lengths were filled by an air-pump which was
operated by a wind-mill. Organs were again originated in the early Christian
centuries; and a Greek epigram of the fourth century refers to one as
provided with “reeds of a new species agitated by blasts of wind that rush
from a leathern cavern beneath their roots, while a robust mortal, running
with swift fingers over the concordant keys, makes them smoothly dance
and emit harmonious sounds.”
The same in principle to-day, but more complicated in structure, “yet of
easy control under the hands of experts, fertile in varied symphonious
effects, giving with equal and satisfying success the gentlest and most
sympathetic tones as well as complete and sublimely full utterances of
musical inspiration.”
Page 295
The improvements of the century have consisted in adding a great variety of
stops; in connections and couplers of the great keyboard and pipes; in the
pedal part; in the construction of the pipes and wind chests; and principally
in the adaptation of steam, water, air, and electricity, in place of the muscles
of men, as powers in furnishing the supply of air. Some of the great organs
of the century, having three or four thousand pipes, with all the modern
improvements, and combining great power with the utmost brilliancy and
delicacy of utterance, and with a blended effect which is grand, solemn and
most impressive, render indeed this noble instrument the “king” in the
realm of music.
In the report of 1895 of the United States Commissioner of patents it is
stated that “the autoharp has been developed within the past few years,
having bars arranged transversely across the strings and provided with
dampers which, when depressed, silence all the strings except those
producing the desired chords.
“An ingenious musical instrument of the class having keyboards like the
piano or organ has been recently invented. All keyboard instruments in
ordinary use produce tones that are only approximately correct in pitch,
because these must be limited in number to twelve, to the octave, while the
tones of the violin are absolute or untempered. The improved instrument
produces untempered tones without requiring extraordinary variations from
the usual arrangement of the keys.”
Self-playing musical instruments have been known for more than forty
years, but it is within the past twenty-five years that devices have been
invented for controlling tones by pneumatic or electrical appliances to
produce expressions. Examples of the later of these three kinds of musical
instruments may be found in the United States patents of Zimmermann in
1882, Tanaka, 1890, and Gally, 1879.
The science of acoustics and its practical applications have greatly
advanced, chiefly due to the researches of Helmholtz, referred to above.
When the nature and laws of the waves of sound became fully known a
great field of inventions was opened. Then came the telephone,
phonograph, graphophone and gramophone.
stops; in connections and couplers of the great keyboard and pipes; in the
pedal part; in the construction of the pipes and wind chests; and principally
in the adaptation of steam, water, air, and electricity, in place of the muscles
of men, as powers in furnishing the supply of air. Some of the great organs
of the century, having three or four thousand pipes, with all the modern
improvements, and combining great power with the utmost brilliancy and
delicacy of utterance, and with a blended effect which is grand, solemn and
most impressive, render indeed this noble instrument the “king” in the
realm of music.
In the report of 1895 of the United States Commissioner of patents it is
stated that “the autoharp has been developed within the past few years,
having bars arranged transversely across the strings and provided with
dampers which, when depressed, silence all the strings except those
producing the desired chords.
“An ingenious musical instrument of the class having keyboards like the
piano or organ has been recently invented. All keyboard instruments in
ordinary use produce tones that are only approximately correct in pitch,
because these must be limited in number to twelve, to the octave, while the
tones of the violin are absolute or untempered. The improved instrument
produces untempered tones without requiring extraordinary variations from
the usual arrangement of the keys.”
Self-playing musical instruments have been known for more than forty
years, but it is within the past twenty-five years that devices have been
invented for controlling tones by pneumatic or electrical appliances to
produce expressions. Examples of the later of these three kinds of musical
instruments may be found in the United States patents of Zimmermann in
1882, Tanaka, 1890, and Gally, 1879.
The science of acoustics and its practical applications have greatly
advanced, chiefly due to the researches of Helmholtz, referred to above.
When the nature and laws of the waves of sound became fully known a
great field of inventions was opened. Then came the telephone,
phonograph, graphophone and gramophone.
Page 296
The telephone depends upon a combination of electricity and the waves of
the human voice. The phonograph and its modifications depend alone on
sound waves—the recording of the waves from one vibrating membrane
and their exact reproduction on another vibrating membrane.
The acoustic properties of churches and other buildings were improved by
the adaptation of banks of fine wires to prevent the re-echoing of sounds.
Auricular tubes adapted to be applied to the ears and concealed by the hair,
and other forms of aural instruments, were devised.
The Megaphone of Edison appeared, consisting of two large funnels having
elastic conducting tubes from their apices to the aural orifice. Conversation
in moderate tones has been heard and understood by their use at a distance
of one and a half miles. The megaphone has been found very useful in
speaking to large outdoor crowds.
But let us go back a little: In 1845, Chas. Bourseuil of France published the
idea that the vibrations of speech uttered against a diaphragm might break
or make an electric contact, and the electric pulsations thereby produced
might set another diaphragm vibrating which should produce the
transmitted sound waves. In 1857, another Frenchman, Leon Scott, patented
in France his Phonautograph—an instrument consisting of a large barrel-
like mouth-piece into which words were spoken, a membrane therein
against which the voice vibrations were received, a stylus attached to this
vibrating membrane, and a rotating cylinder covered with blackened paper,
against which the stylus bore and on which it recorded the sound waves in
exact form received on the vibrating diaphragm. Then came the researches
and publications of Helmholtz and König on acoustic science, 1862-1866.
Then young Philip Reis of Frankfort, Germany, attempted to put all these
theories into an apparatus to reproduce speech, but did not quite succeed.
Then in 1874-1875, Bell took up the matter, and at the Philadelphia
exhibition, 1876, astonished the world by the revelations of the telephone.
In April, 1877, Charles Cros, a Frenchman, in a communication to the
Academy of Sciences in Paris, after describing an apparatus like the Scott
phonautograph, set forth how traced undulating lines of voice vibrations
might be reproduced in intaglio or in relief, and reproduced upon a
vibrating membrane by a pointed stylus attached thereto and following the
line of the original pulsations. The communication seems to have been
the human voice. The phonograph and its modifications depend alone on
sound waves—the recording of the waves from one vibrating membrane
and their exact reproduction on another vibrating membrane.
The acoustic properties of churches and other buildings were improved by
the adaptation of banks of fine wires to prevent the re-echoing of sounds.
Auricular tubes adapted to be applied to the ears and concealed by the hair,
and other forms of aural instruments, were devised.
The Megaphone of Edison appeared, consisting of two large funnels having
elastic conducting tubes from their apices to the aural orifice. Conversation
in moderate tones has been heard and understood by their use at a distance
of one and a half miles. The megaphone has been found very useful in
speaking to large outdoor crowds.
But let us go back a little: In 1845, Chas. Bourseuil of France published the
idea that the vibrations of speech uttered against a diaphragm might break
or make an electric contact, and the electric pulsations thereby produced
might set another diaphragm vibrating which should produce the
transmitted sound waves. In 1857, another Frenchman, Leon Scott, patented
in France his Phonautograph—an instrument consisting of a large barrel-
like mouth-piece into which words were spoken, a membrane therein
against which the voice vibrations were received, a stylus attached to this
vibrating membrane, and a rotating cylinder covered with blackened paper,
against which the stylus bore and on which it recorded the sound waves in
exact form received on the vibrating diaphragm. Then came the researches
and publications of Helmholtz and König on acoustic science, 1862-1866.
Then young Philip Reis of Frankfort, Germany, attempted to put all these
theories into an apparatus to reproduce speech, but did not quite succeed.
Then in 1874-1875, Bell took up the matter, and at the Philadelphia
exhibition, 1876, astonished the world by the revelations of the telephone.
In April, 1877, Charles Cros, a Frenchman, in a communication to the
Academy of Sciences in Paris, after describing an apparatus like the Scott
phonautograph, set forth how traced undulating lines of voice vibrations
might be reproduced in intaglio or in relief, and reproduced upon a
vibrating membrane by a pointed stylus attached thereto and following the
line of the original pulsations. The communication seems to have been
Page 297
pigeon-holed, and not read in open session until December, 1877, and until
after Thomas A. Edison had actually completed and used his phonograph in
the United States. Cros rested on the suggestion. Edison, without knowing
of Cros’ suggestion, was first to make and actually use the same invention.
Edison’s cylinder, on which the sounds were recorded and from which they
were reproduced, was covered by tin foil. A great advance was made by Dr.
Chichester A. Bell and Mr. C. S. Tainter, who in 1886 patented in the
United States means of cutting or engraving the sound waves in a solid
body. The solid body they employed was a thin pasteboard cylinder covered
with wax. This apparatus they called the graphophone. Two years
thereafter, Mr. Emile Berliner of Washington had invented the gramophone,
which consists in etching on a metallic plate the record of voice waves. He
has termed his invention, “the art of etching the human voice.” He prepares
a polished metal plate, generally zinc, with an extremely thin coating of
film or fatty milk, which dries upon and adheres to the plate. The stylus
penetrates this film, meeting from it the slightest possible resistance, and
traces thereon the message. The record plate is then subjected to a
particularly constituted acid bath, which, entering the groove or grooves
formed by the stylus, cuts or etches the same into the plate. The groove thus
formed may be deepened by another acid solution. When thus produced, as
many copies of the record as desired may be made by the electrotyper or
print plater.
The public is now familiar with the different forms of this wonderful
instrument, and like the telephone, they no longer seem marvellous. Yet it is
only within the age of a youth or a maiden when the allegations or
predictions that the human voice would soon be carried over the land, and
reproduced across a continent, or be preserved or engraven on tablets and
reproduced at pleasure anywhere, in this or any subsequent generation,
were themselves regarded as strange messages of dreamers and madmen.
Optical Instruments.—There were practical inventions in optical
instruments long before this century. Achromatic and other lenses were
known, and the microscope, the telescope and spectacles.
The inventive genius of this century in the field of optics has not eclipsed
the telescope and microscope of former ages. They were the fruits of the
efforts of many ages and of many minds, although Hans Lippersheim of
after Thomas A. Edison had actually completed and used his phonograph in
the United States. Cros rested on the suggestion. Edison, without knowing
of Cros’ suggestion, was first to make and actually use the same invention.
Edison’s cylinder, on which the sounds were recorded and from which they
were reproduced, was covered by tin foil. A great advance was made by Dr.
Chichester A. Bell and Mr. C. S. Tainter, who in 1886 patented in the
United States means of cutting or engraving the sound waves in a solid
body. The solid body they employed was a thin pasteboard cylinder covered
with wax. This apparatus they called the graphophone. Two years
thereafter, Mr. Emile Berliner of Washington had invented the gramophone,
which consists in etching on a metallic plate the record of voice waves. He
has termed his invention, “the art of etching the human voice.” He prepares
a polished metal plate, generally zinc, with an extremely thin coating of
film or fatty milk, which dries upon and adheres to the plate. The stylus
penetrates this film, meeting from it the slightest possible resistance, and
traces thereon the message. The record plate is then subjected to a
particularly constituted acid bath, which, entering the groove or grooves
formed by the stylus, cuts or etches the same into the plate. The groove thus
formed may be deepened by another acid solution. When thus produced, as
many copies of the record as desired may be made by the electrotyper or
print plater.
The public is now familiar with the different forms of this wonderful
instrument, and like the telephone, they no longer seem marvellous. Yet it is
only within the age of a youth or a maiden when the allegations or
predictions that the human voice would soon be carried over the land, and
reproduced across a continent, or be preserved or engraven on tablets and
reproduced at pleasure anywhere, in this or any subsequent generation,
were themselves regarded as strange messages of dreamers and madmen.
Optical Instruments.—There were practical inventions in optical
instruments long before this century. Achromatic and other lenses were
known, and the microscope, the telescope and spectacles.
The inventive genius of this century in the field of optics has not eclipsed
the telescope and microscope of former ages. They were the fruits of the
efforts of many ages and of many minds, although Hans Lippersheim of
Page 298
Holland in 1608 appears to have made the first successful instrument “for
seeing things at a distance.” Galileo soon thereafter greatly improved and
increased its capacity, and was the first to direct it towards the heavens. And
as to the microscope, Dr. Lieberkulm, of Berlin, in 1740, made the first
successful solar microscope. As well known, it consisted essentially of two
lenses and a mirror, by which the sun’s rays are reflected on the first lens,
concentrated on the object and further magnified by the second lens.
The depths of the stars and the minutest mote that floats in the sun beam
reflect the glory of those inventions.
The invention of John Dolland of London, about 1758, of the achromatic
lens should be borne in mind in connection with telescopes, microscopes,
etc. He it was who invented the combination of two lenses, one concave and
the other convex, one of flint glass and the other of crown glass, which,
refracting in contrary ways, neutralised the dispersion of colour rays and
produced a clear, colourless light.
Many improvements and discoveries in optics and optical instruments have
been made during the century, due to the researches of such scientists as
Arago, Brewster, Young, Fresnel, Airy, Hamilton, Lloyd, Cauchy and
others, and of the labours of the army of skilled experts and mechanicians
who have followed their lead.
Sir David Brewster, born in Scotland in 1781, made (1810-1840) many
improvements in the construction of the microscope and telescope, invented
the kaleidoscope, introduced in the stereoscope the principles and leading
features which those beautiful instruments still embody, and rendered it
popular among scientists and artists.
It is said that Prof. Eliot of Edinburgh in 1834 was the first to conceive of
the idea of a stereoscope, by which two different pictures of the same
object, taken by photography, to correspond to the two different positions of
an object as viewed by the two eyes, are combined into one view by two
reflecting mirrors set at an angle of about 45°, and conveying to the eyes a
single reflection of the object as a solid body. But Sir Charles Wheaton in
1838 constructed the first instrument, and in 1849 Brewster introduced the
present form of lenticular lenses.
seeing things at a distance.” Galileo soon thereafter greatly improved and
increased its capacity, and was the first to direct it towards the heavens. And
as to the microscope, Dr. Lieberkulm, of Berlin, in 1740, made the first
successful solar microscope. As well known, it consisted essentially of two
lenses and a mirror, by which the sun’s rays are reflected on the first lens,
concentrated on the object and further magnified by the second lens.
The depths of the stars and the minutest mote that floats in the sun beam
reflect the glory of those inventions.
The invention of John Dolland of London, about 1758, of the achromatic
lens should be borne in mind in connection with telescopes, microscopes,
etc. He it was who invented the combination of two lenses, one concave and
the other convex, one of flint glass and the other of crown glass, which,
refracting in contrary ways, neutralised the dispersion of colour rays and
produced a clear, colourless light.
Many improvements and discoveries in optics and optical instruments have
been made during the century, due to the researches of such scientists as
Arago, Brewster, Young, Fresnel, Airy, Hamilton, Lloyd, Cauchy and
others, and of the labours of the army of skilled experts and mechanicians
who have followed their lead.
Sir David Brewster, born in Scotland in 1781, made (1810-1840) many
improvements in the construction of the microscope and telescope, invented
the kaleidoscope, introduced in the stereoscope the principles and leading
features which those beautiful instruments still embody, and rendered it
popular among scientists and artists.
It is said that Prof. Eliot of Edinburgh in 1834 was the first to conceive of
the idea of a stereoscope, by which two different pictures of the same
object, taken by photography, to correspond to the two different positions of
an object as viewed by the two eyes, are combined into one view by two
reflecting mirrors set at an angle of about 45°, and conveying to the eyes a
single reflection of the object as a solid body. But Sir Charles Wheaton in
1838 constructed the first instrument, and in 1849 Brewster introduced the
present form of lenticular lenses.
Page 299
Brewster also demonstrated the utility of dioptric lenses, and zones in
lighthouse illumination; and in which field Faraday and Tyndall also
subsequently worked with the addition of electrical appliances. The labours
of these three men have illuminated the wildest waters of the sea and
preserved a thousand fleets of commerce and of war from awful shipwreck.
As illustrating the difficulties sometimes encountered in introducing an
invention into use, the American Journal of Chemistry some years ago
related that the Abbé Moigno, in introducing the stereoscope to the savants
of France, first took it to Arago, but Arago had a defect of vision which
made him see double, and he could only see in it a medley of four pictures;
then the Abbé went to Savart, but unfortunately Savart had but one eye and
was quite incapable of appreciating the thing. Then Becquerel was next
visited, but he was nearly blind and could see nothing in the new optical
toy. Not discouraged, the Abbé then called upon Puillet of the Conservatoire
des Arts et Metiers. Puillet was much interested, but he was troubled with a
squint which presented to his anxious gaze but a blurred mixture of images.
Lastly Brot was tried. Brot believed in the corpuscular theory of light, and
was opposed to the undulatory theory, and the good Abbé not being able to
assure him that the instrument did not contradict his theory, Brot refused to
have anything to do with it. In spite, however, of the physical disabilities of
scientists, the stereoscope finally made its way in France.
Besides increasing the power of the eye to discover the secrets and beauties
of nature, modern invention has turned upon the eye itself and displayed the
wonders existing there, behind its dark glass doors. It was Helmholtz who
in 1851 described his Ophthalmoscope. He arranged a candle so that its rays
of light, falling on an inclined reflector, were thrown through the pupil of
the patient’s eye, whose retina reflected the image received on the retina
back to the mirror where it could be viewed by the observer. This image
was the background of the eye, and its delicate blood vessels and tissues
could thus be observed. This instrument was improved and it gave rise to
the contrivance of many delicate surgical instruments for operating on the
eye.
The Spectroscope is an instrument by which the colours of the solar rays are
separated and viewed, as well as those of other incandescent bodies. By it,
not only the elements of the heavenly bodies have been determined, but
lighthouse illumination; and in which field Faraday and Tyndall also
subsequently worked with the addition of electrical appliances. The labours
of these three men have illuminated the wildest waters of the sea and
preserved a thousand fleets of commerce and of war from awful shipwreck.
As illustrating the difficulties sometimes encountered in introducing an
invention into use, the American Journal of Chemistry some years ago
related that the Abbé Moigno, in introducing the stereoscope to the savants
of France, first took it to Arago, but Arago had a defect of vision which
made him see double, and he could only see in it a medley of four pictures;
then the Abbé went to Savart, but unfortunately Savart had but one eye and
was quite incapable of appreciating the thing. Then Becquerel was next
visited, but he was nearly blind and could see nothing in the new optical
toy. Not discouraged, the Abbé then called upon Puillet of the Conservatoire
des Arts et Metiers. Puillet was much interested, but he was troubled with a
squint which presented to his anxious gaze but a blurred mixture of images.
Lastly Brot was tried. Brot believed in the corpuscular theory of light, and
was opposed to the undulatory theory, and the good Abbé not being able to
assure him that the instrument did not contradict his theory, Brot refused to
have anything to do with it. In spite, however, of the physical disabilities of
scientists, the stereoscope finally made its way in France.
Besides increasing the power of the eye to discover the secrets and beauties
of nature, modern invention has turned upon the eye itself and displayed the
wonders existing there, behind its dark glass doors. It was Helmholtz who
in 1851 described his Ophthalmoscope. He arranged a candle so that its rays
of light, falling on an inclined reflector, were thrown through the pupil of
the patient’s eye, whose retina reflected the image received on the retina
back to the mirror where it could be viewed by the observer. This image
was the background of the eye, and its delicate blood vessels and tissues
could thus be observed. This instrument was improved and it gave rise to
the contrivance of many delicate surgical instruments for operating on the
eye.
The Spectroscope is an instrument by which the colours of the solar rays are
separated and viewed, as well as those of other incandescent bodies. By it,
not only the elements of the heavenly bodies have been determined, but
Page 300
remarkable results have been had in analysing well-known metals and
discovering new ones. Its powers and its principles have been so developed
during the century by the discoveries, inventions and investigations of
Herschel, Wollaston, Fraunhofer, Bronsen and Kirchoff, Steinheil, Tyndall,
Huggins, Draper and others, that spectrum analysis has grown from the
separation of light into its colours by the prism of Newton, to what Dr.
Huggins has aptly termed “a new sense.”
We have further referred to this wonderful discovery in the Chapter on
Chemistry.
The inventions and improvements in optical instruments gave rise to great
advances in the making of lenses, based on scientific principles, and not
resting alone on hard work and experience. Alvan Clark a son of America,
and Prof. Ernst Abbe of Germany, have within the last third of the century
produced a revolution in the manufacture of lenses, and thereby extended
the realms of knowledge to new worlds of matter in the heavens and on
earth.
Solarmeter.—In 1895 a United States patent was granted to Mr. Bechler for
an instrument called a solarmeter. It is designed for taking observations of
heavenly bodies and recording mechanically the parts of the astronomical
triangle used in navigation and like work. Its chief purpose is to determine
the position of the compass error of a ship at sea independently of the
visibility of the sea horizon. If the horizon is clouded, and the sun or a
known star is visible, a ship’s position can still be determined by the
solarmeter.
Instruments for Measuring the Position and Distances of Unseen Objects.
—Some of the latest of such instruments will enable one to see and shoot at
an object around a corner, or at least out of sight. Thus a United States
patent was granted to Fiske in 1889, wherein it is set forth that by stationing
observers at points distant from a gun, which points are at the extremities of
a known base line, and which command a view of the area within the range
of the gun, the observers discover the position and range of the object by
triangulation and set certain pointers. By means of electrical connection
between those pointers and pointers at the gun station based on the system
of the Wheatstone bridge, the latter pointers, or the guns themselves serving
discovering new ones. Its powers and its principles have been so developed
during the century by the discoveries, inventions and investigations of
Herschel, Wollaston, Fraunhofer, Bronsen and Kirchoff, Steinheil, Tyndall,
Huggins, Draper and others, that spectrum analysis has grown from the
separation of light into its colours by the prism of Newton, to what Dr.
Huggins has aptly termed “a new sense.”
We have further referred to this wonderful discovery in the Chapter on
Chemistry.
The inventions and improvements in optical instruments gave rise to great
advances in the making of lenses, based on scientific principles, and not
resting alone on hard work and experience. Alvan Clark a son of America,
and Prof. Ernst Abbe of Germany, have within the last third of the century
produced a revolution in the manufacture of lenses, and thereby extended
the realms of knowledge to new worlds of matter in the heavens and on
earth.
Solarmeter.—In 1895 a United States patent was granted to Mr. Bechler for
an instrument called a solarmeter. It is designed for taking observations of
heavenly bodies and recording mechanically the parts of the astronomical
triangle used in navigation and like work. Its chief purpose is to determine
the position of the compass error of a ship at sea independently of the
visibility of the sea horizon. If the horizon is clouded, and the sun or a
known star is visible, a ship’s position can still be determined by the
solarmeter.
Instruments for Measuring the Position and Distances of Unseen Objects.
—Some of the latest of such instruments will enable one to see and shoot at
an object around a corner, or at least out of sight. Thus a United States
patent was granted to Fiske in 1889, wherein it is set forth that by stationing
observers at points distant from a gun, which points are at the extremities of
a known base line, and which command a view of the area within the range
of the gun, the observers discover the position and range of the object by
triangulation and set certain pointers. By means of electrical connection
between those pointers and pointers at the gun station based on the system
of the Wheatstone bridge, the latter pointers, or the guns themselves serving
Page 301
as pointers, may be placed in position to indicate the line of fire. By a nice
arrangement of mirror and lenses attached to a firearm the same object may
be accomplished. Similar apparatuses in which the reflectory surfaces of
mirrors mounted on an elevated frame-work, and known as Polemoscopes
and Altiscopes and Range-Finders, have also been invented, and used with
artillery. But such devices may be profitably used for more peaceful and
amusing purposes.
Born with the ear attuned to music and the eye to observe beauty, the hand
of Art was to trace and make permanent the fleeting forms which melody
and the eye impressed upon the soul of man.
In fact modern science has demonstrated that tones and colours are
inseparable. Bell and Tainter with their photophone have converted the
undulatory waves of light into the sweetest music. Reversing the process,
beautiful flashes of light have been produced from musical vibrations by the
phonophote of M. Coulon and the phonoscope of Henry Edmunds.
Entrancing as the story is, we can only here allude to a few of those
discoveries and inventions that have become the handmaidens of the art
which guided the chisel of Phidias and inspired the brush of Raphael.
Photography.—The art of producing permanent images of the “human face
divine,” natural scenes, and other objects, by the agency of light, is due
more to the discoveries of the chemist than to the inventions of the
mechanic; and to the chemists of this century. At the same time a
mechanical invention of old times became a necessary appliance in the
reduction of the theories of the chemists to practice:—The Camera
Obscura, that dark box in which a mirror is placed, provided also with a
piece of ground glass or white cardboard paper, and having a projecting part
at one end in which a lens is placed, whereby when the lens part is directed
to an object an image of the same is thrown by the rays of light focused by
the lens upon the mirror, and reflected by the mirror to the glass or paper
board, was invented by Roger Bacon about 1297, or by Alberta in 1437,
described by Leonardo da Vinci in 1500 as an imitation of the structure of
the eye, again by Baptista Porta in 1589, and remodelled by Sir Isaac
Newton in 1700. Until the 19th century it was used only in the taking of
arrangement of mirror and lenses attached to a firearm the same object may
be accomplished. Similar apparatuses in which the reflectory surfaces of
mirrors mounted on an elevated frame-work, and known as Polemoscopes
and Altiscopes and Range-Finders, have also been invented, and used with
artillery. But such devices may be profitably used for more peaceful and
amusing purposes.
Born with the ear attuned to music and the eye to observe beauty, the hand
of Art was to trace and make permanent the fleeting forms which melody
and the eye impressed upon the soul of man.
In fact modern science has demonstrated that tones and colours are
inseparable. Bell and Tainter with their photophone have converted the
undulatory waves of light into the sweetest music. Reversing the process,
beautiful flashes of light have been produced from musical vibrations by the
phonophote of M. Coulon and the phonoscope of Henry Edmunds.
Entrancing as the story is, we can only here allude to a few of those
discoveries and inventions that have become the handmaidens of the art
which guided the chisel of Phidias and inspired the brush of Raphael.
Photography.—The art of producing permanent images of the “human face
divine,” natural scenes, and other objects, by the agency of light, is due
more to the discoveries of the chemist than to the inventions of the
mechanic; and to the chemists of this century. At the same time a
mechanical invention of old times became a necessary appliance in the
reduction of the theories of the chemists to practice:—The Camera
Obscura, that dark box in which a mirror is placed, provided also with a
piece of ground glass or white cardboard paper, and having a projecting part
at one end in which a lens is placed, whereby when the lens part is directed
to an object an image of the same is thrown by the rays of light focused by
the lens upon the mirror, and reflected by the mirror to the glass or paper
board, was invented by Roger Bacon about 1297, or by Alberta in 1437,
described by Leonardo da Vinci in 1500 as an imitation of the structure of
the eye, again by Baptista Porta in 1589, and remodelled by Sir Isaac
Newton in 1700. Until the 19th century it was used only in the taking of
Page 302
sketches and scenes on or from the card or glass on which the reflection
was thrown.
Celebrated chemists such as Sheele of the 18th century, and Ritter,
Wollaston, Sir Humphry Davy, Young, Gay-Lussac, Thenard, and others in
the early part of the 19th century, began to turn their attention to the
chemical and molecular changes which the sunlight and its separate rays
effected in certain substances, and especially upon certain compounds of
silver. In sensitising the receiving paper, glass, or metal with such a
compound it must necessarily be protected from exposure to sunlight, and
this fact, together with the desire to sensitise the image produced by the
camera, not only suggested but seemed to render that instrument
indispensable to photography. Nevertheless the experiments of chemists fell
short of the high mark, and it was reserved for an artist to unite the efforts
of the sun and the chemists in a successful instrument.
It was Louis Jacques Mandé Daguerre, born at Corneilles, France, in 1789,
and who died in 1851, who was the first to reduce to practice the invention
called after his name. He was a brilliant scene painter, and especially
successful in painting panoramas. In 1822, assisted by Bouton, he had
invented the diorama, by which coloured lights representing the various
changes of the day and season were thrown upon the canvasses in his
beautiful panoramas of Rome, London, Naples and other great cities.
Several years previous to 1839 he and Joseph N. Niepce, learning of the
efforts of chemists in that line, began independently, and then together, to
develop the art of obtaining permanent copies of objects produced by the
chemical action of the sun. Niepce died while they were thus engaged.
Daguerre prosecuted his researches alone, and toward the close of 1838 his
success was such that he made known his invention to Arago, and Arago
announced it in an eloquent and enthusiastic address to the French Academy
of Sciences in January 1839. It at once excited great attention, which was
heightened by the pictures produced by the new process. The French
Government, in consideration of the details of the invention and its
improvements being made public and on request of Daguerre, granted him
an annuity and one also to Niepce’s son.
At first only pictures of natural objects were taken; but in learning of
Daguerre’s process Dr. John William Draper of New York, a native of
was thrown.
Celebrated chemists such as Sheele of the 18th century, and Ritter,
Wollaston, Sir Humphry Davy, Young, Gay-Lussac, Thenard, and others in
the early part of the 19th century, began to turn their attention to the
chemical and molecular changes which the sunlight and its separate rays
effected in certain substances, and especially upon certain compounds of
silver. In sensitising the receiving paper, glass, or metal with such a
compound it must necessarily be protected from exposure to sunlight, and
this fact, together with the desire to sensitise the image produced by the
camera, not only suggested but seemed to render that instrument
indispensable to photography. Nevertheless the experiments of chemists fell
short of the high mark, and it was reserved for an artist to unite the efforts
of the sun and the chemists in a successful instrument.
It was Louis Jacques Mandé Daguerre, born at Corneilles, France, in 1789,
and who died in 1851, who was the first to reduce to practice the invention
called after his name. He was a brilliant scene painter, and especially
successful in painting panoramas. In 1822, assisted by Bouton, he had
invented the diorama, by which coloured lights representing the various
changes of the day and season were thrown upon the canvasses in his
beautiful panoramas of Rome, London, Naples and other great cities.
Several years previous to 1839 he and Joseph N. Niepce, learning of the
efforts of chemists in that line, began independently, and then together, to
develop the art of obtaining permanent copies of objects produced by the
chemical action of the sun. Niepce died while they were thus engaged.
Daguerre prosecuted his researches alone, and toward the close of 1838 his
success was such that he made known his invention to Arago, and Arago
announced it in an eloquent and enthusiastic address to the French Academy
of Sciences in January 1839. It at once excited great attention, which was
heightened by the pictures produced by the new process. The French
Government, in consideration of the details of the invention and its
improvements being made public and on request of Daguerre, granted him
an annuity and one also to Niepce’s son.
At first only pictures of natural objects were taken; but in learning of
Daguerre’s process Dr. John William Draper of New York, a native of
Page 303
England and adopted son of America, the brilliant author of The Intellectual
Development of Europe, and other great works, in the same year, 1839, took
portraits of persons by photography, and he was the first to do this. Draper
was also the first in America to reveal the wonders of the spectroscope; and
he was first to show that each colour of the spectrum had its own peculiar
chemical effect. This was in 1847.
The sun was now fairly harnessed in the service of man in the new great art
of Photography. Natural philosophers, chemists, inventors, mechanics, all
now pressed forward, and still press forward to improve the art, to establish
new growths from the old art, and extend its domains. Those domains have
the generic term of Photo-Processes. Daguerreotypy, while the father of
them all, is now hardly practised as Daguerre practised it, and has become a
small subordinate sub-division of the great class. Yet more faithful
likenesses are not yet produced than by this now old process. Among the
children of the Photo-Process family are the Calotype, Ambrotype,
Ferreotype, Collodion and Silver Printing, Carbon Printing, Heliotype,
Heliogravure, Photoengraving (relief intaglio-Woodburytype),
Photolithography; Alberttype; Photozincograph, Photogelatine-printing;
Photomicrography (to depict microscopic objects), Kinetographs, and
Photosculpture. A world of mechanical contrivances have been invented:—
Octnometers, Baths, Burnishing tools, Cameras and Camera stands,
Magazine and Roll holders; Dark rooms and Focussing devices, Heaters
and Driers; Exposure Meters, etc. etc.
The Kinetograph, for taking a series of pictures of rapidly moving objects,
and by which the living object, person or persons, are made to appear
moving before us as they moved when the picture was taken, is a
marvellous invention; and yet simple when the process is understood.
Photography and printing have combined to revolutionise the art of
illustration. Exact copies of an original, whether of a painting or a
photograph, are now produced on paper with all the original shades and
colours. The long-sought-for problem of photographing in colours has in a
measure been solved. The “three colour processes” is the name given to the
new offspring of the inventors which reproduces by the camera the natural
colours of objects.
Development of Europe, and other great works, in the same year, 1839, took
portraits of persons by photography, and he was the first to do this. Draper
was also the first in America to reveal the wonders of the spectroscope; and
he was first to show that each colour of the spectrum had its own peculiar
chemical effect. This was in 1847.
The sun was now fairly harnessed in the service of man in the new great art
of Photography. Natural philosophers, chemists, inventors, mechanics, all
now pressed forward, and still press forward to improve the art, to establish
new growths from the old art, and extend its domains. Those domains have
the generic term of Photo-Processes. Daguerreotypy, while the father of
them all, is now hardly practised as Daguerre practised it, and has become a
small subordinate sub-division of the great class. Yet more faithful
likenesses are not yet produced than by this now old process. Among the
children of the Photo-Process family are the Calotype, Ambrotype,
Ferreotype, Collodion and Silver Printing, Carbon Printing, Heliotype,
Heliogravure, Photoengraving (relief intaglio-Woodburytype),
Photolithography; Alberttype; Photozincograph, Photogelatine-printing;
Photomicrography (to depict microscopic objects), Kinetographs, and
Photosculpture. A world of mechanical contrivances have been invented:—
Octnometers, Baths, Burnishing tools, Cameras and Camera stands,
Magazine and Roll holders; Dark rooms and Focussing devices, Heaters
and Driers; Exposure Meters, etc. etc.
The Kinetograph, for taking a series of pictures of rapidly moving objects,
and by which the living object, person or persons, are made to appear
moving before us as they moved when the picture was taken, is a
marvellous invention; and yet simple when the process is understood.
Photography and printing have combined to revolutionise the art of
illustration. Exact copies of an original, whether of a painting or a
photograph, are now produced on paper with all the original shades and
colours. The long-sought-for problem of photographing in colours has in a
measure been solved. The “three colour processes” is the name given to the
new offspring of the inventors which reproduces by the camera the natural
colours of objects.
Page 304
The scientists Maxwell Young and Helmholtz established the theory that the
three colours, red, green, and blue, were the primary colours, and from a
mixture of these, secondary colours are produced. Henry Collen in 1865
laid down the lines on which the practical reduction should take place; and
within the last decade F. E. Ives of Philadelphia has invented the
Photochromoscope for producing pictures in their natural colours. The
process consists in blending in one picture the separate photographic views
taken on separate negative plates, each sensitised to receive one of the
primary colours, which are then exposed and blended simultaneously in a
triple camera.
Plates and films and many other articles and processes have helped to
establish the Art of Photography on its new basis.
Among the minor inventions relating to Art, mention may be made of that
very useful article the lead pencil, which all have employed so much time in
sharpening to the detriment of time and clean hands. Within a decade,
pencils in which the lead or crayon is covered instead of with wood, with
slitted, perforated or creased paper, spirally rolled thereon, and on which by
unrolling a portion at a time a new point is exposed; or that other style in
which a number of short, sharpened marking leads, or crayons, are arranged
in series and adapted to be projected one after the other as fast as worn
away.
In Painting modern inventions and discoveries have simply added to the
instrumentalities of genius but have created no royal road to the art made
glorious by Titian and Raphael. It has given to the artists, through its
chemists, a world of new colours, and through its mechanics new and
convenient appliances.
Air Brushes have proved a great help by which the paint or other colouring
matter is sprayed in heavy, light, or almost invisible showers to produce
backgrounds by the force of air blown upon the pigments held in drops at
the end of a fine spraying tube. Made of larger proportions, this brush has
been used for fresco painting, and for painting large objects, such as
buildings, which it admits of doing with great rapidity.
A description of modern methods of applying colours to porcelain and
pottery is given in the chapter treating of those subjects.
three colours, red, green, and blue, were the primary colours, and from a
mixture of these, secondary colours are produced. Henry Collen in 1865
laid down the lines on which the practical reduction should take place; and
within the last decade F. E. Ives of Philadelphia has invented the
Photochromoscope for producing pictures in their natural colours. The
process consists in blending in one picture the separate photographic views
taken on separate negative plates, each sensitised to receive one of the
primary colours, which are then exposed and blended simultaneously in a
triple camera.
Plates and films and many other articles and processes have helped to
establish the Art of Photography on its new basis.
Among the minor inventions relating to Art, mention may be made of that
very useful article the lead pencil, which all have employed so much time in
sharpening to the detriment of time and clean hands. Within a decade,
pencils in which the lead or crayon is covered instead of with wood, with
slitted, perforated or creased paper, spirally rolled thereon, and on which by
unrolling a portion at a time a new point is exposed; or that other style in
which a number of short, sharpened marking leads, or crayons, are arranged
in series and adapted to be projected one after the other as fast as worn
away.
In Painting modern inventions and discoveries have simply added to the
instrumentalities of genius but have created no royal road to the art made
glorious by Titian and Raphael. It has given to the artists, through its
chemists, a world of new colours, and through its mechanics new and
convenient appliances.
Air Brushes have proved a great help by which the paint or other colouring
matter is sprayed in heavy, light, or almost invisible showers to produce
backgrounds by the force of air blown upon the pigments held in drops at
the end of a fine spraying tube. Made of larger proportions, this brush has
been used for fresco painting, and for painting large objects, such as
buildings, which it admits of doing with great rapidity.
A description of modern methods of applying colours to porcelain and
pottery is given in the chapter treating of those subjects.
Page 305
Telegraphic pictures:—Perhaps it is appropriate in closing this chapter that
reference be made to that process by which the likeness of the distant reader
may be taken telegraphically. A picture in relief is first made by the swelled
gelatine or other process; a tracing point is then moved in the lines across
the undulating surface of the pictures, and the movements of this tracer are
imparted by suitable electrical apparatus to a cutter or engraving tool at the
opposite end of the line and there reproduced upon a suitable substance.
reference be made to that process by which the likeness of the distant reader
may be taken telegraphically. A picture in relief is first made by the swelled
gelatine or other process; a tracing point is then moved in the lines across
the undulating surface of the pictures, and the movements of this tracer are
imparted by suitable electrical apparatus to a cutter or engraving tool at the
opposite end of the line and there reproduced upon a suitable substance.
Page 306
CHAPTER XXVII.
SAFES AND LOCKS.
Prior to the century safes were not constructed to withstand the test of
intense heat. Efforts were numerous, however, to render them safe against
the entrance of thieves, but the ingenuity of the thieves advanced more
rapidly than the ingenuity of safe-makers. And the race between these two
classes of inventors still continues. For with the exercise of a vast amount
of ingenuity in intricate locks, aided by all the advancement of science as to
the nature of metals, their tough manufacture and their resistance to
explosives, thieves still manage to break in and steal. The only sure
protection against burglars at the close of the nineteenth century appears to
consist of what it was at the close of any previous century—the
preponderance of physical force and the best weapons. Among the latest
inventions are electrical connections with the safe, whereby tampering
therewith alarms one or more watchmen at a near station.
A classification of safes embraces, Fire-proof, Burglar-proof, Safe Bolt
Works, Express and Deposit Safes and Boxes, Circular Doors, Pressure
Mechanism, and Water and Air Protective Devices.
The attention of the earliest inventors of the century were directed toward
making safes fire-proof. In England the first patent granted for a fire-proof
safe was to Richard Scott in 1801. It had two casings, an inner and outer
one, including the door, and the interspace was filled in with charcoal, or
wood, and treated with a solution of alkaline salt.
This idea of interspacing filled in with non-combustible material has been
generally followed ever since. The particular inventions in that line consist
in the discovery and appliance of new lining materials, variations in the
form of the interspacing, and new methods in the construction of the
casings, and the selection of the best metals for such construction.
SAFES AND LOCKS.
Prior to the century safes were not constructed to withstand the test of
intense heat. Efforts were numerous, however, to render them safe against
the entrance of thieves, but the ingenuity of the thieves advanced more
rapidly than the ingenuity of safe-makers. And the race between these two
classes of inventors still continues. For with the exercise of a vast amount
of ingenuity in intricate locks, aided by all the advancement of science as to
the nature of metals, their tough manufacture and their resistance to
explosives, thieves still manage to break in and steal. The only sure
protection against burglars at the close of the nineteenth century appears to
consist of what it was at the close of any previous century—the
preponderance of physical force and the best weapons. Among the latest
inventions are electrical connections with the safe, whereby tampering
therewith alarms one or more watchmen at a near station.
A classification of safes embraces, Fire-proof, Burglar-proof, Safe Bolt
Works, Express and Deposit Safes and Boxes, Circular Doors, Pressure
Mechanism, and Water and Air Protective Devices.
The attention of the earliest inventors of the century were directed toward
making safes fire-proof. In England the first patent granted for a fire-proof
safe was to Richard Scott in 1801. It had two casings, an inner and outer
one, including the door, and the interspace was filled in with charcoal, or
wood, and treated with a solution of alkaline salt.
This idea of interspacing filled in with non-combustible material has been
generally followed ever since. The particular inventions in that line consist
in the discovery and appliance of new lining materials, variations in the
form of the interspacing, and new methods in the construction of the
casings, and the selection of the best metals for such construction.
Page 307
In 1834 William Marr of England patented a lining for a double metallic
chest, filled with non-combustible materials such as mica, or talc clay, lime,
and graphite. Asbestos commenced to be used about the same time.
The great fire in New York City in 1835, destroying hundreds of millions of
dollars’ worth of property of every description, gave a great impetus to the
invention of fire-proof safes in America.
B. G. Wilder there patented in 1843 his celebrated safe, now extensively
used throughout the world. It consisted of a double box of wrought-iron
plates strengthened at the edges with bar iron, with a bar across the middle;
and as a filling for the interspaces he used hydrated gypsum, hydraulic
cement, plaster of paris, steatite, alum, and the dried residuum of soda
water.
Herring was another American who invented celebrated safes, made with a
boiler-iron exterior, a hardened steel inner safe, with the interior filled with
a casting of franklinite around rods of soft steel. Thus the earth, air and
water were ransacked for lining materials, in some cases more for the
purpose of obtaining a patent than to accomplish any real advance in the art.
Water itself was introduced as a lining, made to flow through the safes,
sometimes from the city mains, and so retained that when the temperature
in case of fire reached 212° F. it became steam; and an arrangement for
introducing steam in place of water was contrived. Among other lining
materials found suitable were soapstone, alumina, ammonia, copperas,
starch, Epsom salts, and gypsum, paper, pulp, and alum, and a mixture of
various other materials.
After safes were produced that would come out of fiery furnaces where they
had been buried for days without even the smell of fire or smoke upon their
contents, inventors commenced to direct their attention to burglar-proof
safes.
Chubb, in 1835, patented a process of rendering wooden safes burglar proof
by lining them with steel, or case-hardened iron plate. Newton in 1853
produced one made of an outer shell of cast iron, an interior network of
wrought iron rods, and fluid iron poured between these, so that a compound
mass was formed of different degrees of resistance to turn aside the
burglar’s tools. Chubb again, in 1857, and in subsequent years, and
chest, filled with non-combustible materials such as mica, or talc clay, lime,
and graphite. Asbestos commenced to be used about the same time.
The great fire in New York City in 1835, destroying hundreds of millions of
dollars’ worth of property of every description, gave a great impetus to the
invention of fire-proof safes in America.
B. G. Wilder there patented in 1843 his celebrated safe, now extensively
used throughout the world. It consisted of a double box of wrought-iron
plates strengthened at the edges with bar iron, with a bar across the middle;
and as a filling for the interspaces he used hydrated gypsum, hydraulic
cement, plaster of paris, steatite, alum, and the dried residuum of soda
water.
Herring was another American who invented celebrated safes, made with a
boiler-iron exterior, a hardened steel inner safe, with the interior filled with
a casting of franklinite around rods of soft steel. Thus the earth, air and
water were ransacked for lining materials, in some cases more for the
purpose of obtaining a patent than to accomplish any real advance in the art.
Water itself was introduced as a lining, made to flow through the safes,
sometimes from the city mains, and so retained that when the temperature
in case of fire reached 212° F. it became steam; and an arrangement for
introducing steam in place of water was contrived. Among other lining
materials found suitable were soapstone, alumina, ammonia, copperas,
starch, Epsom salts, and gypsum, paper, pulp, and alum, and a mixture of
various other materials.
After safes were produced that would come out of fiery furnaces where they
had been buried for days without even the smell of fire or smoke upon their
contents, inventors commenced to direct their attention to burglar-proof
safes.
Chubb, in 1835, patented a process of rendering wooden safes burglar proof
by lining them with steel, or case-hardened iron plate. Newton in 1853
produced one made of an outer shell of cast iron, an interior network of
wrought iron rods, and fluid iron poured between these, so that a compound
mass was formed of different degrees of resistance to turn aside the
burglar’s tools. Chubb again, in 1857, and in subsequent years, and
Page 308
Chartwood, Glocker, and Thompson and Tann and others in England
invented new forms to prevent the insertion of wedges and the drilling by
tools. Hall and Marvin of the United States also invented safes for the same
purpose. Hall had thick steel plates dovetailed together; and angle irons
tenoned at the corners. Marvin’s safe was globeshaped, to present no salient
points for the action of tools, made of chrome steel, mounted in this shape
on a platform, or enclosed in a fire-proof safe. Herring also invented a safe
in which he hinged and grooved the doors with double casings, and which
he hung with a lever-hinge, provided the doors with separate locks and
packed all the joints with rubber to prevent the operation of the air pump—
which had become a dangerous device of burglars with which to introduce
explosives to blow open the doors.
Still later and more elaborate means have been used to frustrate the
burglars. Electricity has been converted into an automatic warder to guard
the castle and the safe and to give an alarm to convenient stations when the
locks or doors are meddled with and the proper manipulation not used.
Express safes for railroad cars have been made of parts telescoped or
crowded together by hydraulic power, requiring heavy machinery for
locking and unlocking, and this machinery is located in machine shops
along the route and not accessible to burglars.
About 1815 inventors commenced to produce devices to show with
certainty if a lock had been tampered with. The keyhole was closed by a
revolving metallic curtain, and paper was secured over the keyhole. As a
further means of detection photographs of some irregular object are made,
one of which is placed over the keyhole and the other is retained. This
prevents the substitution of one piece of paper for another piece without
detection. A large number of patents have been taken out on glass coverings
for locks which have to be broken before the lock can be turned. These are
called seal locks.
Locks of various kinds, consisting at least of the two general features of a
bolt and a key to move the bolt, have existed from very ancient days. The
Egyptians, the Hebrews and the Chinese, and Oriental nations generally had
locks and keys of ponderous size. Isaiah speaks of the key of the house of
David; and Homer writes sonorously of the lock in the house of Penelope
with its brazen key, the respondent wards, the flying bars and valves which,
invented new forms to prevent the insertion of wedges and the drilling by
tools. Hall and Marvin of the United States also invented safes for the same
purpose. Hall had thick steel plates dovetailed together; and angle irons
tenoned at the corners. Marvin’s safe was globeshaped, to present no salient
points for the action of tools, made of chrome steel, mounted in this shape
on a platform, or enclosed in a fire-proof safe. Herring also invented a safe
in which he hinged and grooved the doors with double casings, and which
he hung with a lever-hinge, provided the doors with separate locks and
packed all the joints with rubber to prevent the operation of the air pump—
which had become a dangerous device of burglars with which to introduce
explosives to blow open the doors.
Still later and more elaborate means have been used to frustrate the
burglars. Electricity has been converted into an automatic warder to guard
the castle and the safe and to give an alarm to convenient stations when the
locks or doors are meddled with and the proper manipulation not used.
Express safes for railroad cars have been made of parts telescoped or
crowded together by hydraulic power, requiring heavy machinery for
locking and unlocking, and this machinery is located in machine shops
along the route and not accessible to burglars.
About 1815 inventors commenced to produce devices to show with
certainty if a lock had been tampered with. The keyhole was closed by a
revolving metallic curtain, and paper was secured over the keyhole. As a
further means of detection photographs of some irregular object are made,
one of which is placed over the keyhole and the other is retained. This
prevents the substitution of one piece of paper for another piece without
detection. A large number of patents have been taken out on glass coverings
for locks which have to be broken before the lock can be turned. These are
called seal locks.
Locks of various kinds, consisting at least of the two general features of a
bolt and a key to move the bolt, have existed from very ancient days. The
Egyptians, the Hebrews and the Chinese, and Oriental nations generally had
locks and keys of ponderous size. Isaiah speaks of the key of the house of
David; and Homer writes sonorously of the lock in the house of Penelope
with its brazen key, the respondent wards, the flying bars and valves which,
Page 309
“Loud as a bull makes hills and valley ring,
So roared the lock when it released the spring.”
The castles, churches and convents of the middle ages had their often highly
ornamental locks and their warders to guard and open them. Later, locks
were invented with complex wards. These are carved pieces of metal in the
lock which fit into clefts or grooves in the key and prevent the lock from
being opened except by its own proper key.
As early as 1650 the Dutch had invented the Letter lock, the progenitor of
the modern permutation lock, consisting of a lock the bolt of which is
surrounded by several rings on which were cut the letters of the alphabet,
which by a prearrangement on the part of the owner were made to spell a
certain word or number of words before the lock could be opened. Carew,
in verses written in 1621, refers to one of these locks as follows:—
“As doth a lock that goes with letters; for, till every
one be known,
The lock’s as fast as though you had found none.”
The art had also advanced in the eighteenth century to the use of tumblers
in locks, the lever or latch or plate which falls into a notch of the bolt and
prevents it from being shot until it has been raised or released by the action
of the key. Barron in England in 1778 obtained a patent for such a lock.
Joseph Bramah, who has before been referred to in connection with the
hydraulic press he invented, also in 1784 invented and patented in England
a lock which obtained a world-wide reputation and a century’s extensive
use. It was the first, or among the first of locks which troubled modern
burglars’ picks. Its leading features were a key with longitudinal slots, a
barrel enclosing a spring, plates, called sliders, notched unequally and
resting against the spring, a plate with a central perforation and slits leading
therefrom to engage the notches of the slides simultaneously and allow the
frame to be turned by the key so as to actuate the bolt. Chubb and Hobbs of
England made important improvements in tumbler locks, which for a long
time were regarded as unpickable.
Most important advances have been made during the century in
Combination or Permutation Locks and Time Locks. For a long time
So roared the lock when it released the spring.”
The castles, churches and convents of the middle ages had their often highly
ornamental locks and their warders to guard and open them. Later, locks
were invented with complex wards. These are carved pieces of metal in the
lock which fit into clefts or grooves in the key and prevent the lock from
being opened except by its own proper key.
As early as 1650 the Dutch had invented the Letter lock, the progenitor of
the modern permutation lock, consisting of a lock the bolt of which is
surrounded by several rings on which were cut the letters of the alphabet,
which by a prearrangement on the part of the owner were made to spell a
certain word or number of words before the lock could be opened. Carew,
in verses written in 1621, refers to one of these locks as follows:—
“As doth a lock that goes with letters; for, till every
one be known,
The lock’s as fast as though you had found none.”
The art had also advanced in the eighteenth century to the use of tumblers
in locks, the lever or latch or plate which falls into a notch of the bolt and
prevents it from being shot until it has been raised or released by the action
of the key. Barron in England in 1778 obtained a patent for such a lock.
Joseph Bramah, who has before been referred to in connection with the
hydraulic press he invented, also in 1784 invented and patented in England
a lock which obtained a world-wide reputation and a century’s extensive
use. It was the first, or among the first of locks which troubled modern
burglars’ picks. Its leading features were a key with longitudinal slots, a
barrel enclosing a spring, plates, called sliders, notched unequally and
resting against the spring, a plate with a central perforation and slits leading
therefrom to engage the notches of the slides simultaneously and allow the
frame to be turned by the key so as to actuate the bolt. Chubb and Hobbs of
England made important improvements in tumbler locks, which for a long
time were regarded as unpickable.
Most important advances have been made during the century in
Combination or Permutation Locks and Time Locks. For a long time
Page 310
permutation or combination locks consisted of modifications of one general
principle, and that was the Dutch letter lock already referred to, or the
wheel lock, composed of a series of disks with letters around their edges.
The interior arrangement is such as to prevent the bolt being shot until a
series of letters were in line, forming a combination known only to the
operator. Time locks are constructed on the principle of clockwork, so that
they cannot be opened even with the proper key until a regulated interval of
time has elapsed.
Among the most celebrated combination and time locks of the century are
those known as the Yale locks, chiefly the inventions of Louis Yale, Jr., of
Philadelphia. The Yale double dial lock is a double combination bank or
safe lock having two dials, each operating its own set of tumblers and bolts,
so that two persons, each in possession of his own combination, must be
present at a certain time in order to unlock it. If this double security is not
desired, one person alone may be possessed of both combinations, or the
combinations may be set as one. In their time locks a safe can be set so as to
not only render it impossible to unlock except at a predetermined time each
day, but the arrangement is such that on intervening Sundays the time
mechanism will entirely prevent the operation of the lock or the opening of
the door on that day.
Another feature of the lock is the thin, flat keys with bevel-edged notchings,
or with longitudinal sinuous corrugations to fit a narrow slit of a cylinder
lock. To make locks for use with the corrugated keys machines of as great
ingenuity as the locks were devised. In such a lock the keyhole, which is a
little very narrow slit, is formed sinuously to correspond to the sinuosities
of the key. No other key will fit it, nor can it be picked by a tool, as the tool
must be an exact duplicate of the key in order to enter and move in the
keyhole.
Of late years numerous locks have been invented for the special uses to
which they are to be applied. Thus, one type of lock is that for safety
deposit vaults and boxes, in which a primary key in the keeping of a janitor
operates alone the tumblers or guard mechanism to set the lock, while the
box owner may use a secondary key to completely unlock the box or vault.
principle, and that was the Dutch letter lock already referred to, or the
wheel lock, composed of a series of disks with letters around their edges.
The interior arrangement is such as to prevent the bolt being shot until a
series of letters were in line, forming a combination known only to the
operator. Time locks are constructed on the principle of clockwork, so that
they cannot be opened even with the proper key until a regulated interval of
time has elapsed.
Among the most celebrated combination and time locks of the century are
those known as the Yale locks, chiefly the inventions of Louis Yale, Jr., of
Philadelphia. The Yale double dial lock is a double combination bank or
safe lock having two dials, each operating its own set of tumblers and bolts,
so that two persons, each in possession of his own combination, must be
present at a certain time in order to unlock it. If this double security is not
desired, one person alone may be possessed of both combinations, or the
combinations may be set as one. In their time locks a safe can be set so as to
not only render it impossible to unlock except at a predetermined time each
day, but the arrangement is such that on intervening Sundays the time
mechanism will entirely prevent the operation of the lock or the opening of
the door on that day.
Another feature of the lock is the thin, flat keys with bevel-edged notchings,
or with longitudinal sinuous corrugations to fit a narrow slit of a cylinder
lock. To make locks for use with the corrugated keys machines of as great
ingenuity as the locks were devised. In such a lock the keyhole, which is a
little very narrow slit, is formed sinuously to correspond to the sinuosities
of the key. No other key will fit it, nor can it be picked by a tool, as the tool
must be an exact duplicate of the key in order to enter and move in the
keyhole.
Of late years numerous locks have been invented for the special uses to
which they are to be applied. Thus, one type of lock is that for safety
deposit vaults and boxes, in which a primary key in the keeping of a janitor
operates alone the tumblers or guard mechanism to set the lock, while the
box owner may use a secondary key to completely unlock the box or vault.
Page 311
Master, or secondary key locks, are now in common use in hotels and
apartment-houses, by which the key of the door held by a guest will unlock
only his door, but the master key held by the manager or janitor will unlock
all the doors. This saves the duplication and multiplicity of a vast number of
extra keys.
The value of a simple, cheap, safe, effective lock in a place where its
advantages are appreciated by all classes of people everywhere is illustrated
in the application of the modern rotary registering lock to the single article
of mail bags. Formerly it was not unusual that losses by theft of mail matter
were due in part to the extraction of a portion of the mail matter by
unlocking or removing the lock and then restoring it in place.
The United States, with its 76,000,000 of people, found it necessary to use
in its mail service hundreds of thousands of mail pouches, having locks for
securing packages of valuable matter. But these locks are of such character
that it is impossible for anyone to break into the bag and conceal the
evidence of his crime. The unfortunate thief is reduced to the necessity of
stealing the whole pouch. Losses under this system have grown so small “as
to be almost incapable of mathematical calculation.”
Safe and convenient locks for so very many purposes are now so common,
even to prevent the unauthorised use of an umbrella, or the unfriendly
taking away of a bicycle or other vehicle, that notwithstanding the
nineteenth century dynamite with which burglars still continue to blow open
the best constructed safes and vaults, still a universal sense of greater
security in such matters is beginning to manifest itself; and not only the loss
of valuables by fire and theft is becoming the exception, but the temptation
to steal is being gradually removed.
apartment-houses, by which the key of the door held by a guest will unlock
only his door, but the master key held by the manager or janitor will unlock
all the doors. This saves the duplication and multiplicity of a vast number of
extra keys.
The value of a simple, cheap, safe, effective lock in a place where its
advantages are appreciated by all classes of people everywhere is illustrated
in the application of the modern rotary registering lock to the single article
of mail bags. Formerly it was not unusual that losses by theft of mail matter
were due in part to the extraction of a portion of the mail matter by
unlocking or removing the lock and then restoring it in place.
The United States, with its 76,000,000 of people, found it necessary to use
in its mail service hundreds of thousands of mail pouches, having locks for
securing packages of valuable matter. But these locks are of such character
that it is impossible for anyone to break into the bag and conceal the
evidence of his crime. The unfortunate thief is reduced to the necessity of
stealing the whole pouch. Losses under this system have grown so small “as
to be almost incapable of mathematical calculation.”
Safe and convenient locks for so very many purposes are now so common,
even to prevent the unauthorised use of an umbrella, or the unfriendly
taking away of a bicycle or other vehicle, that notwithstanding the
nineteenth century dynamite with which burglars still continue to blow open
the best constructed safes and vaults, still a universal sense of greater
security in such matters is beginning to manifest itself; and not only the loss
of valuables by fire and theft is becoming the exception, but the temptation
to steal is being gradually removed.
Page 312
CHAPTER XXVIII.
CARRYING MACHINES.
The reflecting observer delights occasionally to shift the scenes of the
present stage and bring to the front the processions of the past. That famous
triumphal one, for instance, of Ptolemy of Philadelphus, at Alexandria,
about 270 B. C., then in the midst of his power and glory, in which there
were chariots and cumbrous wagons drawn by elephants and goats,
antelopes, oryxes, buffaloes, ostriches, gnus and zebras; then a tribe of the
Scythians, when with many scores of oxen they were shifting their light, big
round houses, made of felt cloth and mounted on road carts, to a new
camping place; next a wild, mad dash of the Roman charioteers around the
amphitheatre, or a triumphal march with chariots of carved ivory bearing
aloft the ensigns of victory; and now an army of the ancient Britons driving
through these same charioteers of Cæsar with their own rude chariots,
having sharp hooks and crooked iron blades extending from their axles;
now a “Lady’s Chair” of the fourteenth century—the state carriage of the
time—with a long, wooden-roofed and windowed body, having a door at
each end, resting on a cumbrous frame without springs, and the axles united
rigidly to a long reach; next comes a line of imposing clumsy state coaches
of the sixteenth century, with bodies provided with pillars to support the
roof, and adorned with curtains of cloth and leather, but still destitute of
springs; and here in stately approach comes a line of more curious and more
comfortable “royal coaches” of the seventeenth century, when springs were
for the first time introduced; and now rumbles forward a line of those
famous old English stage coaches originated in the seventeenth century,
which were two days flying from Oxford to London, a distance of fifty-five
miles; but a scene in the next century shows these ponderous vehicles
greatly improved, and the modern English stage mail-coaches of Palmer in
line. Referring to Palmer’s coaches, Knight says: “Palmer, according to De
Quincey, was twice as great a man as Galileo, because he not only invented
CARRYING MACHINES.
The reflecting observer delights occasionally to shift the scenes of the
present stage and bring to the front the processions of the past. That famous
triumphal one, for instance, of Ptolemy of Philadelphus, at Alexandria,
about 270 B. C., then in the midst of his power and glory, in which there
were chariots and cumbrous wagons drawn by elephants and goats,
antelopes, oryxes, buffaloes, ostriches, gnus and zebras; then a tribe of the
Scythians, when with many scores of oxen they were shifting their light, big
round houses, made of felt cloth and mounted on road carts, to a new
camping place; next a wild, mad dash of the Roman charioteers around the
amphitheatre, or a triumphal march with chariots of carved ivory bearing
aloft the ensigns of victory; and now an army of the ancient Britons driving
through these same charioteers of Cæsar with their own rude chariots,
having sharp hooks and crooked iron blades extending from their axles;
now a “Lady’s Chair” of the fourteenth century—the state carriage of the
time—with a long, wooden-roofed and windowed body, having a door at
each end, resting on a cumbrous frame without springs, and the axles united
rigidly to a long reach; next comes a line of imposing clumsy state coaches
of the sixteenth century, with bodies provided with pillars to support the
roof, and adorned with curtains of cloth and leather, but still destitute of
springs; and here in stately approach comes a line of more curious and more
comfortable “royal coaches” of the seventeenth century, when springs were
for the first time introduced; and now rumbles forward a line of those
famous old English stage coaches originated in the seventeenth century,
which were two days flying from Oxford to London, a distance of fifty-five
miles; but a scene in the next century shows these ponderous vehicles
greatly improved, and the modern English stage mail-coaches of Palmer in
line. Referring to Palmer’s coaches, Knight says: “Palmer, according to De
Quincey, was twice as great a man as Galileo, because he not only invented
Page 313
mail-coaches (of more general practical utility than Jupiter’s satellites), but
married the daughter of a duke, and succeeded in getting the post-office to
use them. This revolutionised the whole business.” The coaches were built
with steel springs, windows of great strength and lightness combined, boots
for the baggage, seats for a few outside passengers, and a guard with a
grand uniform, to protect the mail and stand for the dignity of his majesty’s
government.
By the system of changing horses frequently great speed was attained, and
the distance from Edinburgh to London, 400 miles, was made in 40 hours.
Other lines of coaches, arranged to carry double the number of passengers
outside than in, fourteen to six, were made heavier, and took the road more
leisurely.
The carts and conveyances of the poor were cumbrous, heavy contrivances,
without springs, mostly two-wheel, heavy carts.
The middle classes at that time were not seen riding in coaches of their
own, but generally on horseback, as the coaches of the rich were too
expensive, and the conveyances of the poor were too rude in construction,
and too painful in operation.
Let the observer now pass to the largest and most varied exhibition of the
best types of modern vehicles of every description that the world had ever
seen, the International Exhibition at Philadelphia in 1876, and behold what
wonderful changes art, science, invention, and mechanical skill had
wrought in this domain. Here were the carriages of the rich, constructed of
the finest and most appropriate woods that science and experience had
found best adapted for the various parts, requiring the combination of
strength and lightness, the best steel for the springs, embodying in
themselves a world of invention and discovery, and splendid finish and
polish in all parts unknown to former generations.
Here, too, were found vehicles of a great variety for the comfort and
convenience of every family, from the smallest to the largest means.
The farmer and the truckman were especially provided for. One
establishment making an exhibition at that time, employed some six
hundred or seven hundred hands, four hundred horse-power of steam,
married the daughter of a duke, and succeeded in getting the post-office to
use them. This revolutionised the whole business.” The coaches were built
with steel springs, windows of great strength and lightness combined, boots
for the baggage, seats for a few outside passengers, and a guard with a
grand uniform, to protect the mail and stand for the dignity of his majesty’s
government.
By the system of changing horses frequently great speed was attained, and
the distance from Edinburgh to London, 400 miles, was made in 40 hours.
Other lines of coaches, arranged to carry double the number of passengers
outside than in, fourteen to six, were made heavier, and took the road more
leisurely.
The carts and conveyances of the poor were cumbrous, heavy contrivances,
without springs, mostly two-wheel, heavy carts.
The middle classes at that time were not seen riding in coaches of their
own, but generally on horseback, as the coaches of the rich were too
expensive, and the conveyances of the poor were too rude in construction,
and too painful in operation.
Let the observer now pass to the largest and most varied exhibition of the
best types of modern vehicles of every description that the world had ever
seen, the International Exhibition at Philadelphia in 1876, and behold what
wonderful changes art, science, invention, and mechanical skill had
wrought in this domain. Here were the carriages of the rich, constructed of
the finest and most appropriate woods that science and experience had
found best adapted for the various parts, requiring the combination of
strength and lightness, the best steel for the springs, embodying in
themselves a world of invention and discovery, and splendid finish and
polish in all parts unknown to former generations.
Here, too, were found vehicles of a great variety for the comfort and
convenience of every family, from the smallest to the largest means.
The farmer and the truckman were especially provided for. One
establishment making an exhibition at that time, employed some six
hundred or seven hundred hands, four hundred horse-power of steam,
Page 314
turning out sixty wagons a day, or one in every ten minutes of each working
day in the year.
Here England showed her victoria, her broughams, landaus, phætons,
sporting-carts, wagonettes, drays and dog-carts; Canada her splendid
sleighs; France her superb barouches, carriages, double-top sociables, the
celebrated Collinge patent axle-trees and springs; Germany the best carriage
axles, springs and gears; Russia its famous low-wheeled fast-running
carriages; Norway its carryalls, or sulkies, and sleighs strongly built, and
made of wood from those vast forests that ever abound in strength and
beauty. One ancient sleigh there was, demurely standing by its modern
companions, said to have been built in 1625, and it was still good. America
stood foremost in carriage wheels of best materials and beautiful
workmanship, bent rims, turned and finished spokes, mortised hubs, steel
tires, business and farm wagons, carts and baby carriages. Each trade and
field of labour had its own especially adapted complete and finished
vehicle. There were hay wagons and hearses; beer wagons and ice carts;
doctors’ buggies, express wagons, drays, package delivery wagons;
peddlers’ wagons with all the shelves and compartments of a miniature
store, skeleton wagons, and sportsmen’s, and light and graceful two and
four “wheelers.” Beautiful displays of bent and polished woods, a splendid
array of artistic, elegant, and useful harnesses, and all the traps that go to
make modern means of conveyance by animal power so cheap, convenient,
strong and attractive that civilisation seemed to have reached a stop in
principles of construction of vehicles and in their materials, and since
contents itself in improving details.
To this century is due the development of that class of carriages, the generic
term for which is Velocipedes—a word which would imply a vehicle
propelled by the feet, although it has been applied to vehicles propelled by
the hands and steered by the feet. This name originated with the French, and
several Frenchmen patented velocipedes from 1800 to 1821.
Tricycles having three wheels, propelled by the hands and steered with the
feet, were also invented in the early part of the century.
The term Bicycle does not appear to have been used until about 1869.
day in the year.
Here England showed her victoria, her broughams, landaus, phætons,
sporting-carts, wagonettes, drays and dog-carts; Canada her splendid
sleighs; France her superb barouches, carriages, double-top sociables, the
celebrated Collinge patent axle-trees and springs; Germany the best carriage
axles, springs and gears; Russia its famous low-wheeled fast-running
carriages; Norway its carryalls, or sulkies, and sleighs strongly built, and
made of wood from those vast forests that ever abound in strength and
beauty. One ancient sleigh there was, demurely standing by its modern
companions, said to have been built in 1625, and it was still good. America
stood foremost in carriage wheels of best materials and beautiful
workmanship, bent rims, turned and finished spokes, mortised hubs, steel
tires, business and farm wagons, carts and baby carriages. Each trade and
field of labour had its own especially adapted complete and finished
vehicle. There were hay wagons and hearses; beer wagons and ice carts;
doctors’ buggies, express wagons, drays, package delivery wagons;
peddlers’ wagons with all the shelves and compartments of a miniature
store, skeleton wagons, and sportsmen’s, and light and graceful two and
four “wheelers.” Beautiful displays of bent and polished woods, a splendid
array of artistic, elegant, and useful harnesses, and all the traps that go to
make modern means of conveyance by animal power so cheap, convenient,
strong and attractive that civilisation seemed to have reached a stop in
principles of construction of vehicles and in their materials, and since
contents itself in improving details.
To this century is due the development of that class of carriages, the generic
term for which is Velocipedes—a word which would imply a vehicle
propelled by the feet, although it has been applied to vehicles propelled by
the hands and steered by the feet. This name originated with the French, and
several Frenchmen patented velocipedes from 1800 to 1821.
Tricycles having three wheels, propelled by the hands and steered with the
feet, were also invented in the early part of the century.
The term Bicycle does not appear to have been used until about 1869.
Page 315
Although such structures had been referred to in publications before, yet the
modern bicycle appears to have been first practically constructed in
Germany. In 1816 Baron von Drais of Manheim made a vehicle consisting
of two wheels arranged one before the other, and connected by a bar, the
forward wheel axled in a fork which was swiveled to the front end of the
bar and had handles to guide the machine, with a seat on the bar midway
between the two wheels, and arranged so that the driver should bestride the
bar. But there was no support for the rider’s feet, and the vehicle was
propelled by thrusting his feet alternately against the ground. This machine
was called the “Draisine” and undoubtedly was the progenitor of the
modern bicycle. Denis Johnson patented in England in 1818 a similar
vehicle which he named the “Pedestrian Curricle.” Another style was called
the “Dandy Horse.” Another form was that of Gompertz in England in
1821, who contrived a segmental rack connected with a frame over the front
wheel and engaging a pinion on the wheel axle. With some improvements
added by others, the vehicle came into quite extensive and popular use in
some of the cities in Europe and America. It was also named the “Dandy”
and the “Hobby Horse.” Treadles were subsequently applied, but after a
time the machine fell into disuse and was apparently forgotten. In 1863,
however, the idea was revived by a Frenchman, Michaux, who added the
crank to the front wheel axle of the “Draisine” (also called the “célérifèré.”)
In 1866 Pierre Lallement of France, having adapted the idea of the crank
and pedal movement and obtained a patent, went to America, where after
two years of public indifference the machine suddenly sprung into favour.
In 1869 a popular wave in its favour also spread over part of Europe, and all
classes of people were riding it.
But the wheels had hard tires, the roads and many of the streets were not
smooth, the vehicle got the name of the “bone-breaker” and its use ceased.
During the few years following some new styles of frames were invented.
Thus some very high wheels, with a small wheel in front, or one behind,
wheels with levers in addition to the crank, etc., and then for a time the art
rested again.
Some one then recalled the fact that McMillan, a Scotchman, about 1838-
1841, had used two low wheels like the “Draisine” with a driving gear, and
that Dalzell, also of Scotland, had in 1845 made a similar machine. Parts of
these old machines were found and the wheel reconstructed. Then in the
modern bicycle appears to have been first practically constructed in
Germany. In 1816 Baron von Drais of Manheim made a vehicle consisting
of two wheels arranged one before the other, and connected by a bar, the
forward wheel axled in a fork which was swiveled to the front end of the
bar and had handles to guide the machine, with a seat on the bar midway
between the two wheels, and arranged so that the driver should bestride the
bar. But there was no support for the rider’s feet, and the vehicle was
propelled by thrusting his feet alternately against the ground. This machine
was called the “Draisine” and undoubtedly was the progenitor of the
modern bicycle. Denis Johnson patented in England in 1818 a similar
vehicle which he named the “Pedestrian Curricle.” Another style was called
the “Dandy Horse.” Another form was that of Gompertz in England in
1821, who contrived a segmental rack connected with a frame over the front
wheel and engaging a pinion on the wheel axle. With some improvements
added by others, the vehicle came into quite extensive and popular use in
some of the cities in Europe and America. It was also named the “Dandy”
and the “Hobby Horse.” Treadles were subsequently applied, but after a
time the machine fell into disuse and was apparently forgotten. In 1863,
however, the idea was revived by a Frenchman, Michaux, who added the
crank to the front wheel axle of the “Draisine” (also called the “célérifèré.”)
In 1866 Pierre Lallement of France, having adapted the idea of the crank
and pedal movement and obtained a patent, went to America, where after
two years of public indifference the machine suddenly sprung into favour.
In 1869 a popular wave in its favour also spread over part of Europe, and all
classes of people were riding it.
But the wheels had hard tires, the roads and many of the streets were not
smooth, the vehicle got the name of the “bone-breaker” and its use ceased.
During the few years following some new styles of frames were invented.
Thus some very high wheels, with a small wheel in front, or one behind,
wheels with levers in addition to the crank, etc., and then for a time the art
rested again.
Some one then recalled the fact that McMillan, a Scotchman, about 1838-
1841, had used two low wheels like the “Draisine” with a driving gear, and
that Dalzell, also of Scotland, had in 1845 made a similar machine. Parts of
these old machines were found and the wheel reconstructed. Then in the
Page 316
seventies the entire field was thrown open to women by the invention in
England of the “drop frame,” which removed completely the difficulty as to
arrangement of the skirts and thus doubled the interest in and desire for a
comfortable riding machine. But they were still, to a great degree, “bone-
breakers.”
Then J. B. Dunlop, a veterinary surgeon of Belfast, Ireland, in order to meet
the complaints of his son that the wheel was too hard, thought of the
pneumatic rubber tire, and applied it with great success. This was a very
notable and original re-invention. A re-invention, because a man “born
before his time” had invented and patented the pneumatic tire more than
forty years before. It was not wanted then and everybody had forgotten it.
This man was Robert William Thomson, a civil engineer of Adelphi,
Middlesex county, England. In 1845 he obtained a patent in England, and
shortly after in the United States. In both patents he describes how he
proposed to make a tire for all kinds of vehicles consisting of a hollow
rubber tube, with an inner mixed canvas and rubber lining, a tube and a
screw cup by which to inflate it, and several ways for preventing punctures.
To obviate the bad results of punctures he proposed also to make his tire in
sectional compartments, so that if one compartment was punctured the
others would still hold good. He also proposed to use vulcanised rubber,
thus utilising the then very recent discovery of Goodyear of mixing sulphur
with soft rubber, and to apply the same to the canvas lining.
And, now, when the last decade of the century had been reached, and after a
century’s hard work by the inventors, the present wonderful vehicle, known
as the “safety bicycle,” had obtained a successful and permanent foothold
among the vehicles of mankind. Proper proportions, low wheels, chain-
gearing, treadles, pedals and cranks, cushion and pneumatic tires, drop
frames, steel spokes like a spider’s web, ball-bearings for the crank and axle
parts, a spring-supported cushioned seat which could be raised or lowered,
adjustable handles, and the clearest-brained scientific mechanics to
construct all parts from the best materials and with mathematical exactness
—all this has been done. To these accomplishments have been added a great
variety of tires to prevent wear and puncturing, among which are self-
healing tires, having a lining of viscous or plastic rubber to close up
automatically the air holes. Many ways of clamping the tire to the rim have
been contrived. So have brakes of various descriptions, some consisting of
England of the “drop frame,” which removed completely the difficulty as to
arrangement of the skirts and thus doubled the interest in and desire for a
comfortable riding machine. But they were still, to a great degree, “bone-
breakers.”
Then J. B. Dunlop, a veterinary surgeon of Belfast, Ireland, in order to meet
the complaints of his son that the wheel was too hard, thought of the
pneumatic rubber tire, and applied it with great success. This was a very
notable and original re-invention. A re-invention, because a man “born
before his time” had invented and patented the pneumatic tire more than
forty years before. It was not wanted then and everybody had forgotten it.
This man was Robert William Thomson, a civil engineer of Adelphi,
Middlesex county, England. In 1845 he obtained a patent in England, and
shortly after in the United States. In both patents he describes how he
proposed to make a tire for all kinds of vehicles consisting of a hollow
rubber tube, with an inner mixed canvas and rubber lining, a tube and a
screw cup by which to inflate it, and several ways for preventing punctures.
To obviate the bad results of punctures he proposed also to make his tire in
sectional compartments, so that if one compartment was punctured the
others would still hold good. He also proposed to use vulcanised rubber,
thus utilising the then very recent discovery of Goodyear of mixing sulphur
with soft rubber, and to apply the same to the canvas lining.
And, now, when the last decade of the century had been reached, and after a
century’s hard work by the inventors, the present wonderful vehicle, known
as the “safety bicycle,” had obtained a successful and permanent foothold
among the vehicles of mankind. Proper proportions, low wheels, chain-
gearing, treadles, pedals and cranks, cushion and pneumatic tires, drop
frames, steel spokes like a spider’s web, ball-bearings for the crank and axle
parts, a spring-supported cushioned seat which could be raised or lowered,
adjustable handles, and the clearest-brained scientific mechanics to
construct all parts from the best materials and with mathematical exactness
—all this has been done. To these accomplishments have been added a great
variety of tires to prevent wear and puncturing, among which are self-
healing tires, having a lining of viscous or plastic rubber to close up
automatically the air holes. Many ways of clamping the tire to the rim have
been contrived. So have brakes of various descriptions, some consisting of
Page 317
disks on the driving shaft, brought into frictional contact by a touch of the
toe on the pedal, as a substitute for those applied to the surface of the tire,
known as “spoon brakes”; saddles, speed-gearings, men’s machines in
which by the removal of the upper bar the machine is converted into one for
the use of women; the substitution of the direct action, consisting of beveled
gearing for the sprocket chain, etc., etc.
The ideas of William Thomson as to pneumatic and cushioned tires are
now, after a lapse of fifty years, generally adopted. Even sportsmen were
glad to seize upon them, and wheels of sulkies, provided with the
pneumatic tires, have enabled them to lower the record of trotting horses.
Their use on many other vehicles has accomplished his objects, “of
lessening the power required to draw carriages, rendering the motion easier,
and diminishing the noise.”
It is impossible to overlook the fact in connection with this subject that the
processes and machinery especially invented to make the various parts of a
bicycle are as wonderful as the wheel itself. Counting the spokes there are,
it is estimated, more than 300 different parts in such a wheel. The best and
latest inventions and discoveries in the making of metals, wood, rubber and
leather have been drawn upon in supplying these useful carriers. And what a
revolution they have produced in the making of good roads, the saving of
time, the dispatch of business, and more than all else, in the increase of the
pleasure, the health and the amusement of mankind!
It was quite natural that when the rubber cushion and pneumatic tires
rounded the pleasure of easy and noiseless riding in vehicles that Motor
vehicles should be revived and improved. So we have the Automobiles in
great variety. Invention has been and is still being greatly exercised as to the
best motive power, in the adaption of electric motors, oil and gasoline or
vapour engines, springs and air pumps, in attempts to reduce the number of
complicated parts, and to render less strenuous the mental and muscular
strain of the operator.
Traction Engines.—The old road engines that antedated the locomotives are
being revived, and new ideas springing from other arts are being
incorporated in these useful machines to render them more available than in
former generations. Many of the principles and features of motor vehicles,
toe on the pedal, as a substitute for those applied to the surface of the tire,
known as “spoon brakes”; saddles, speed-gearings, men’s machines in
which by the removal of the upper bar the machine is converted into one for
the use of women; the substitution of the direct action, consisting of beveled
gearing for the sprocket chain, etc., etc.
The ideas of William Thomson as to pneumatic and cushioned tires are
now, after a lapse of fifty years, generally adopted. Even sportsmen were
glad to seize upon them, and wheels of sulkies, provided with the
pneumatic tires, have enabled them to lower the record of trotting horses.
Their use on many other vehicles has accomplished his objects, “of
lessening the power required to draw carriages, rendering the motion easier,
and diminishing the noise.”
It is impossible to overlook the fact in connection with this subject that the
processes and machinery especially invented to make the various parts of a
bicycle are as wonderful as the wheel itself. Counting the spokes there are,
it is estimated, more than 300 different parts in such a wheel. The best and
latest inventions and discoveries in the making of metals, wood, rubber and
leather have been drawn upon in supplying these useful carriers. And what a
revolution they have produced in the making of good roads, the saving of
time, the dispatch of business, and more than all else, in the increase of the
pleasure, the health and the amusement of mankind!
It was quite natural that when the rubber cushion and pneumatic tires
rounded the pleasure of easy and noiseless riding in vehicles that Motor
vehicles should be revived and improved. So we have the Automobiles in
great variety. Invention has been and is still being greatly exercised as to the
best motive power, in the adaption of electric motors, oil and gasoline or
vapour engines, springs and air pumps, in attempts to reduce the number of
complicated parts, and to render less strenuous the mental and muscular
strain of the operator.
Traction Engines.—The old road engines that antedated the locomotives are
being revived, and new ideas springing from other arts are being
incorporated in these useful machines to render them more available than in
former generations. Many of the principles and features of motor vehicles,
Page 318
but on a heavier scale, are being introduced to adapt them to the drawing of
far heavier loads. Late devices comprise a spring link between the power
and the traction wheel to prevent too sudden a start, and permit a yielding
motion; steering devices by which the power of the engine is used to steer
the machine; and application of convenient and easily-worked brakes.
An example of a modern traction engine may be found attached to one or
more heavy cars adapted for street work, and on which may be found
apparatus for making the mixed materials of which the roadbed is to be
constructed, and all of which is moved along as the road or street surface is
completed. When these fine roads become the possession of a country light
traction engines for passenger traffic will be found largely supplanting the
horse and the steam railroad engines.
Brakes, railway and electric, have already been referred to in the proper
chapters. In the latest system of railroading greater attention has been paid
to the lives and limbs of those employed as workmen on the trains,
especially to those of brakemen. And if corporations have been slow to
adopt such merciful devices, legislatures have stepped in to help the matter.
One great source of accidents in this respect has been due to the necessity
of the brakemen entering between the cars while they are in motion to
couple them by hand. This is now being abolished by automatic couplers,
by which, when the locking means have been withdrawn from connection
or thrown up, they will be so held until the cars meet again, when the
locking parts on the respective cars will be automatically thrown and
locked, as easily and on the same principle as the hand of one man may
clasp the hand of another.
The comfort of passengers and the safety of freight have also been greatly
increased by the invention of Buffers on railroad cars and trains to prevent
sudden and violent concussion. Fluid pressure car buffers, in which a
constant supply of fluid under pressure is provided by a pump or train pipe
connected to the engine is one of a great variety.
Another notable improvement in this line is the splendid vestibule trains, in
which the cars are connected to one another by enclosed passages and
which at their meeting ends are provided with yieldingly supported door-
like frames engaging one another by frictional contact, usually, whereby the
far heavier loads. Late devices comprise a spring link between the power
and the traction wheel to prevent too sudden a start, and permit a yielding
motion; steering devices by which the power of the engine is used to steer
the machine; and application of convenient and easily-worked brakes.
An example of a modern traction engine may be found attached to one or
more heavy cars adapted for street work, and on which may be found
apparatus for making the mixed materials of which the roadbed is to be
constructed, and all of which is moved along as the road or street surface is
completed. When these fine roads become the possession of a country light
traction engines for passenger traffic will be found largely supplanting the
horse and the steam railroad engines.
Brakes, railway and electric, have already been referred to in the proper
chapters. In the latest system of railroading greater attention has been paid
to the lives and limbs of those employed as workmen on the trains,
especially to those of brakemen. And if corporations have been slow to
adopt such merciful devices, legislatures have stepped in to help the matter.
One great source of accidents in this respect has been due to the necessity
of the brakemen entering between the cars while they are in motion to
couple them by hand. This is now being abolished by automatic couplers,
by which, when the locking means have been withdrawn from connection
or thrown up, they will be so held until the cars meet again, when the
locking parts on the respective cars will be automatically thrown and
locked, as easily and on the same principle as the hand of one man may
clasp the hand of another.
The comfort of passengers and the safety of freight have also been greatly
increased by the invention of Buffers on railroad cars and trains to prevent
sudden and violent concussion. Fluid pressure car buffers, in which a
constant supply of fluid under pressure is provided by a pump or train pipe
connected to the engine is one of a great variety.
Another notable improvement in this line is the splendid vestibule trains, in
which the cars are connected to one another by enclosed passages and
which at their meeting ends are provided with yieldingly supported door-
like frames engaging one another by frictional contact, usually, whereby the
Page 319
shock and rocking of cars are prevented in starting and stopping, and their
oscillation reduced to a minimum.
As collisions and accidents cannot always be prevented, car frames are now
built in which the frames are trussed, and made of rolled steel plates,
angles, and channels, whereby a car body of great resistance to telescoping
or crushing is obtained.
oscillation reduced to a minimum.
As collisions and accidents cannot always be prevented, car frames are now
built in which the frames are trussed, and made of rolled steel plates,
angles, and channels, whereby a car body of great resistance to telescoping
or crushing is obtained.
Page 320
CHAPTER XXIX.
SHIPS AND SHIP-BUILDING.
“Far as the breeze can bear, the billows foam,
Survey our empire, and behold our home.”
“Ships are but boards,” soliloquised the crafty Shylock, and were this still
true, yet this present period has seen wonderful changes in construction.
The high castellated bows and sterns and long prows of The Great Harry, of
the seventeenth century, and its successors in the eighteenth, with some
moderation of cumbersome matter, gave way to lighter, speedier forms, first
appearing in the quick-gliding Yankee clippers, during the first decade of
the nineteenth century.
Eminent naval architects have regarded the proportions of Noah’s ark, 300
cubits long, 50 cubits broad and 30 cubits high, in which the length was six
times the breadth, and the depth three-fifths of the breadth, as the best
combination of the elements of strength, capacity and stability.
Even that most modern mercantile vessel known as the “whale-back” with
its nearly flat bottom, vertical sides, arched top or deck, skegged or spoon-
shaped at bow and stern, straight deck lines, the upper deck cabins and
steering gear raised on hollow turrets, with machinery and cargo in the main
hull, has not departed much from the safe rule of proportions of its ancient
prototype.
But in other respects the ideas of Noah and of the Phœnicians, the best of
ancient ship-builders, as well as the Northmen, the Dutch, the French, and
the English, the best ship-builders of later centuries, were decidedly
improved upon by the Americans, who, as above intimated, were
revolutionizing the art and building the finest vessels in the early part of the
SHIPS AND SHIP-BUILDING.
“Far as the breeze can bear, the billows foam,
Survey our empire, and behold our home.”
“Ships are but boards,” soliloquised the crafty Shylock, and were this still
true, yet this present period has seen wonderful changes in construction.
The high castellated bows and sterns and long prows of The Great Harry, of
the seventeenth century, and its successors in the eighteenth, with some
moderation of cumbersome matter, gave way to lighter, speedier forms, first
appearing in the quick-gliding Yankee clippers, during the first decade of
the nineteenth century.
Eminent naval architects have regarded the proportions of Noah’s ark, 300
cubits long, 50 cubits broad and 30 cubits high, in which the length was six
times the breadth, and the depth three-fifths of the breadth, as the best
combination of the elements of strength, capacity and stability.
Even that most modern mercantile vessel known as the “whale-back” with
its nearly flat bottom, vertical sides, arched top or deck, skegged or spoon-
shaped at bow and stern, straight deck lines, the upper deck cabins and
steering gear raised on hollow turrets, with machinery and cargo in the main
hull, has not departed much from the safe rule of proportions of its ancient
prototype.
But in other respects the ideas of Noah and of the Phœnicians, the best of
ancient ship-builders, as well as the Northmen, the Dutch, the French, and
the English, the best ship-builders of later centuries, were decidedly
improved upon by the Americans, who, as above intimated, were
revolutionizing the art and building the finest vessels in the early part of the
Page 321
century, and these rivalled in speed the steam vessels for some years after
steamships were ploughing the rivers and the ocean.
Discarding the lofty decks fore and aft and ponderous topsides, the
principal characteristics of the American “clippers” were their fine sharp
lines, built long and low, broad of beam before the centre, sharp above the
water, and deep aft. A typical vessel of this sort was the clipper ship Great
Republic, built by Donald McKay of Boston during the first half of the
century. She was 325 feet long, 53 feet wide, 37 feet deep, with a capacity
of about 4000 tons. She had four masts, each provided with a lightning rod.
A single suit of her sails consisted of 15,563 yards of canvas. Her keel rose
for 60 feet forward, gradually curved into the arc of a circle as it blended
with the stern. Vessels of her type ran seventeen and eighteen miles an hour
at a time when steam vessels were making only twelve or fourteen miles an
hour, the latter speed being one which it was predicted by naval engineers
could not with safety be exceeded with ocean steamships.
These vessels directed the attention of ship-builders to two prominent
features, the shape of the bow and the length of the vessel. For the old
convex form of bow and stern, the principal of an elongated wedge was
substituted, the wedge slightly hollowed on its face, by which the waters
were more easily parted and thrown aside.
A departure was early made in the matter of strengthening the “ribs of oak”
to better meet the strains from the rough seas. In 1810 Sir Robert Seppings,
surveyor of the English navy, devised and introduced the system of
diagonal bracing. This was an arrangement of timbers crossing the ribs on
the inside of the ship at angles of about 45°, and braced by diagonals and
struts.
Of course the great and leading event of the nineteenth century in the matter
of inventions relating to ships was the introduction of steam as the motive
power. Of this we have treated in the chapter on steam engineering. The
giant, steam, demanded and received the obeisance of every art before
devoting his inexhaustible strength to their service. Systems of wood-
working and metal manufacture must be revolutionised to give him room to
work, and to withstand the strokes of his mighty arm. Lord Dundas at the
steamships were ploughing the rivers and the ocean.
Discarding the lofty decks fore and aft and ponderous topsides, the
principal characteristics of the American “clippers” were their fine sharp
lines, built long and low, broad of beam before the centre, sharp above the
water, and deep aft. A typical vessel of this sort was the clipper ship Great
Republic, built by Donald McKay of Boston during the first half of the
century. She was 325 feet long, 53 feet wide, 37 feet deep, with a capacity
of about 4000 tons. She had four masts, each provided with a lightning rod.
A single suit of her sails consisted of 15,563 yards of canvas. Her keel rose
for 60 feet forward, gradually curved into the arc of a circle as it blended
with the stern. Vessels of her type ran seventeen and eighteen miles an hour
at a time when steam vessels were making only twelve or fourteen miles an
hour, the latter speed being one which it was predicted by naval engineers
could not with safety be exceeded with ocean steamships.
These vessels directed the attention of ship-builders to two prominent
features, the shape of the bow and the length of the vessel. For the old
convex form of bow and stern, the principal of an elongated wedge was
substituted, the wedge slightly hollowed on its face, by which the waters
were more easily parted and thrown aside.
A departure was early made in the matter of strengthening the “ribs of oak”
to better meet the strains from the rough seas. In 1810 Sir Robert Seppings,
surveyor of the English navy, devised and introduced the system of
diagonal bracing. This was an arrangement of timbers crossing the ribs on
the inside of the ship at angles of about 45°, and braced by diagonals and
struts.
Of course the great and leading event of the nineteenth century in the matter
of inventions relating to ships was the introduction of steam as the motive
power. Of this we have treated in the chapter on steam engineering. The
giant, steam, demanded and received the obeisance of every art before
devoting his inexhaustible strength to their service. Systems of wood-
working and metal manufacture must be revolutionised to give him room to
work, and to withstand the strokes of his mighty arm. Lord Dundas at the
Page 322
beginning of the century had an iron boat built for the Forth and Clyde
Canal, which was propelled by steam.
But the departure from the adage that “ships are but boards” did not take
place, however, until about 1829-30, when the substitution of iron for wood
in the construction of vessels had passed beyond the experimental stage. In
those years the firm of John Laird of Birkenhead began the building of
practical iron vessels, and he was followed soon by Sir William Fairbairn at
Manchester, and Randolph, Elder & Co., and the Fairfield Works on the
Clyde.
The advantage of iron over wood in strength, and in power to withstand
tremendous shocks, was early illustrated in the Great Britain built about
1844, the first large, successful, seagoing vessel constructed. Not long
thereafter this same vessel lay helpless upon the coast of Ireland, driven
there by a great storm, and beaten by the tremendous waves of the Atlantic
with a force that would have in a few hours or days broken up and
pulverised a “ship of boards,” and yet the Great Britain lay there several
weeks, was finally brought off, and again restored to successful service.
Wood and iron both have their peculiar advantages and disadvantages.
Wood is not only lighter, but easily procured and worked, and cheaper, in
many small and private ship-yards where an iron frame and parts would be
difficult and expensive to produce. It is thought that as to the fouling of
ships’ bottoms a wooden hull covered with copper fouls less, and
consequently impedes the speed less; that the damage done by shocks or the
penetration of shot is not so great or difficult to repair, and that the danger
of variation of the compass by reason of local attraction of the metal is less.
But the advantages of iron and steel far outnumber those of wood. Its
strength, its adaptability for all sizes and forms and lines, its increased
cheapness, its resistance to shot penetration, its durability, and now its easy
procurement, constitute qualities which have established iron ship-building
as a great new and modern art. In this modern revolution in iron-clad ships,
their adaptation to naval warfare was due to the genius of John Ericsson,
and dates practically from the celebrated battle between the iron-clads the
Merrimac and the Monitor in Hampton Roads on the Virginia coast in the
Civil war in America in April, 1862.
Canal, which was propelled by steam.
But the departure from the adage that “ships are but boards” did not take
place, however, until about 1829-30, when the substitution of iron for wood
in the construction of vessels had passed beyond the experimental stage. In
those years the firm of John Laird of Birkenhead began the building of
practical iron vessels, and he was followed soon by Sir William Fairbairn at
Manchester, and Randolph, Elder & Co., and the Fairfield Works on the
Clyde.
The advantage of iron over wood in strength, and in power to withstand
tremendous shocks, was early illustrated in the Great Britain built about
1844, the first large, successful, seagoing vessel constructed. Not long
thereafter this same vessel lay helpless upon the coast of Ireland, driven
there by a great storm, and beaten by the tremendous waves of the Atlantic
with a force that would have in a few hours or days broken up and
pulverised a “ship of boards,” and yet the Great Britain lay there several
weeks, was finally brought off, and again restored to successful service.
Wood and iron both have their peculiar advantages and disadvantages.
Wood is not only lighter, but easily procured and worked, and cheaper, in
many small and private ship-yards where an iron frame and parts would be
difficult and expensive to produce. It is thought that as to the fouling of
ships’ bottoms a wooden hull covered with copper fouls less, and
consequently impedes the speed less; that the damage done by shocks or the
penetration of shot is not so great or difficult to repair, and that the danger
of variation of the compass by reason of local attraction of the metal is less.
But the advantages of iron and steel far outnumber those of wood. Its
strength, its adaptability for all sizes and forms and lines, its increased
cheapness, its resistance to shot penetration, its durability, and now its easy
procurement, constitute qualities which have established iron ship-building
as a great new and modern art. In this modern revolution in iron-clad ships,
their adaptation to naval warfare was due to the genius of John Ericsson,
and dates practically from the celebrated battle between the iron-clads the
Merrimac and the Monitor in Hampton Roads on the Virginia coast in the
Civil war in America in April, 1862.
Page 323
Although the tendency at first in building iron and steel vessels, especially
for the navy, was towards an entire metal structure, later experience resulted
in a more composite style, using wood in some parts, where found best
adapted by its capacity of lightness, non-absorption of heat and less
electrical conductivity, etc., and at the same time protecting such interior
portions by an iron shell or frame-work.
One great improvement in ship-building, whether in wood or metal, thought
of and practised to some extent in former times, but after all a child of this
century, is the building of the hull and hold in compartments, water-tight,
and sometimes fire-proof, so that in case of a leakage or a fire in one or
more compartments, the fire or water may be confined there and the
extension of the danger to the entire ship prevented.
In the matter of Marine Propulsion, when the steam engine was made a
practical and useful servant by Watt, and men began to think of driving
boats and ships with it, the problem was how to adapt it to use with
propelling means already known. Paddle-wheels and other wheels to move
boats in place of oars had been suggested, and to some extent used from
time to time, since the days of the Romans; and they were among the first
devices used in steam vessels. Their whirl may still be heard on many
waters. Learned men saw no reason why the screw of Archimedes should
not be used for the same purpose, and the idea was occasionally advocated
by French and English philosophers from at least 1680, by Franklin and
Watt less than a century later, and finally, in 1794, Lyttleton of England
obtained a patent for his “aquatic propeller,” consisting of threads formed
on a cylinder and revolving in a frame at the head, stern, or side of a vessel.
Other means had been also suggested prior to 1800, and by the same set of
philosophers, and experimentally used by practical builders, such as steam-
pumps for receiving the water forward, or amidships, and forcing it out
astern, thus creating a propulsive movement. The latter part of the
eighteenth century teemed with these suggestions and experiments, but it
remained for the nineteenth to see their embodiment and adaptation to
successful commercial use.
The earliest, most successful demonstrations of screw propellers and paddle
wheels in steam vessels in the century were the construction and use of a
for the navy, was towards an entire metal structure, later experience resulted
in a more composite style, using wood in some parts, where found best
adapted by its capacity of lightness, non-absorption of heat and less
electrical conductivity, etc., and at the same time protecting such interior
portions by an iron shell or frame-work.
One great improvement in ship-building, whether in wood or metal, thought
of and practised to some extent in former times, but after all a child of this
century, is the building of the hull and hold in compartments, water-tight,
and sometimes fire-proof, so that in case of a leakage or a fire in one or
more compartments, the fire or water may be confined there and the
extension of the danger to the entire ship prevented.
In the matter of Marine Propulsion, when the steam engine was made a
practical and useful servant by Watt, and men began to think of driving
boats and ships with it, the problem was how to adapt it to use with
propelling means already known. Paddle-wheels and other wheels to move
boats in place of oars had been suggested, and to some extent used from
time to time, since the days of the Romans; and they were among the first
devices used in steam vessels. Their whirl may still be heard on many
waters. Learned men saw no reason why the screw of Archimedes should
not be used for the same purpose, and the idea was occasionally advocated
by French and English philosophers from at least 1680, by Franklin and
Watt less than a century later, and finally, in 1794, Lyttleton of England
obtained a patent for his “aquatic propeller,” consisting of threads formed
on a cylinder and revolving in a frame at the head, stern, or side of a vessel.
Other means had been also suggested prior to 1800, and by the same set of
philosophers, and experimentally used by practical builders, such as steam-
pumps for receiving the water forward, or amidships, and forcing it out
astern, thus creating a propulsive movement. The latter part of the
eighteenth century teemed with these suggestions and experiments, but it
remained for the nineteenth to see their embodiment and adaptation to
successful commercial use.
The earliest, most successful demonstrations of screw propellers and paddle
wheels in steam vessels in the century were the construction and use of a
Page 324
boat with twin screws by Col. John Stevens of Hoboken, N. J., in 1804 and
the paddle-wheel steamboat trial of Fulton on the Hudson in 1807.
But it was left to John Ericsson, that great Swedish inventor, going to
England in 1826 with his brain full of ideas as to steam and solar engines,
to first perfect the screw-propeller. He there patented in 1836 his celebrated
propeller, consisting of several blades or segments of a screw, and based on
such correct principles of twist that they were at once adopted and applied
to steam vessels.
In 1837-1839 the knowledge of his inventions had preceded him to
America, where his propeller was at once introduced and used in the vessels
Frances B. Ogden and the Robert E. Stockton (the latter built by the Lairds
of Birkenhead and launched in 1837). In 1839 or 1840 Ericsson went to
America, and in 1841 he was engaged in the construction of the U.S. ship of
war Princeton, the first naval screw warship built having propelling
machinery under the water line and out of reach of shot.
The idea that steamships could not be safely run at a greater speed than ten
or twelve miles an hour was now abandoned.
Twice Ericsson revolutionised the naval construction of the world by his
inventions in America: first by the introduction of his screw-propeller in the
Princeton; and second, by building the iron-clad Monitor.
Since Ericsson’s day other inventors have made themselves also famous by
giving new twists to the tail of this famous fish and new forms to its iron-
ribbed body.
Pneumatic Propellers operated by the expulsion of air or gas against the
surrounding body of water, and chain-propellers, consisting of a revolving
chain provided with paddles or floats, have also been invented and tested,
with more or less successful results.
A great warship as she lies in some one of the vast modern ship-yards of the
world, resting securely on her long steel backbone, from which great ribs of
steel rise and curve on either side and far overhead, like a monstrous
skeleton of some huge animal that the sea alone can produce, clothed with a
skin, also of steel; her huge interior, lined at bottom with an armoured deck
that stretches across the entire breadth of the vessel, and built upon this
the paddle-wheel steamboat trial of Fulton on the Hudson in 1807.
But it was left to John Ericsson, that great Swedish inventor, going to
England in 1826 with his brain full of ideas as to steam and solar engines,
to first perfect the screw-propeller. He there patented in 1836 his celebrated
propeller, consisting of several blades or segments of a screw, and based on
such correct principles of twist that they were at once adopted and applied
to steam vessels.
In 1837-1839 the knowledge of his inventions had preceded him to
America, where his propeller was at once introduced and used in the vessels
Frances B. Ogden and the Robert E. Stockton (the latter built by the Lairds
of Birkenhead and launched in 1837). In 1839 or 1840 Ericsson went to
America, and in 1841 he was engaged in the construction of the U.S. ship of
war Princeton, the first naval screw warship built having propelling
machinery under the water line and out of reach of shot.
The idea that steamships could not be safely run at a greater speed than ten
or twelve miles an hour was now abandoned.
Twice Ericsson revolutionised the naval construction of the world by his
inventions in America: first by the introduction of his screw-propeller in the
Princeton; and second, by building the iron-clad Monitor.
Since Ericsson’s day other inventors have made themselves also famous by
giving new twists to the tail of this famous fish and new forms to its iron-
ribbed body.
Pneumatic Propellers operated by the expulsion of air or gas against the
surrounding body of water, and chain-propellers, consisting of a revolving
chain provided with paddles or floats, have also been invented and tested,
with more or less successful results.
A great warship as she lies in some one of the vast modern ship-yards of the
world, resting securely on her long steel backbone, from which great ribs of
steel rise and curve on either side and far overhead, like a monstrous
skeleton of some huge animal that the sea alone can produce, clothed with a
skin, also of steel; her huge interior, lined at bottom with an armoured deck
that stretches across the entire breadth of the vessel, and built upon this
Page 325
deck, capacious steel compartments enclosing the engines and boilers, the
coal, the magazines, the electric plant for supplying power to various
motors for lighting the ship and for furnishing the current to powerful
search-lights; having compartments for the sick, the apothecary shop, and
the surgeon’s hospital, the men’s and the officers’ quarters; above these the
conning tower and the armoured pilot-house, then the great guns
interspersed among these various parts, looking like the sunken eyes, or
protruding like the bony prominences of some awful sea monster, is a
structure that gives one an idea of the immense departure which has
occurred during the last half century, not only from the wooden walls of the
navies of all the past, but from all its mechanical arts.
What a great ocean liner contains and what the contributions are to modern
ship-building from other modern arts is set forth in the following extract
from McClure’s Magazine for September, 1900, in describing the
Deutschland. “The Deutschland, for instance has a complete refrigerating
plant, four hospitals, a safety deposit vault for the immense quantities of
gold and silver which pass between the banks of Europe and America, eight
kitchens, a complete post-office with German and American clerks, thirty
electrical motors, thirty-six pumps, most of them of American and English
make, no fewer than seventy-two steam engines, a complete drug store, a
complete fire department, with pumps, hose and other fire-fighting
machinery, a library, 2600 electric lights, two barber shops, room for an
orchestra and brass band, a telegraph system, a telephone system, a
complete printing establishment, a photographic dark room, a cigar store, an
electric fire-alarm system, and a special refrigerator for flowers.”
We have seen, in treating of safes and locks, how burglars keep pace with
the latest inventions to protect property by the use of dynamite and nitro-
glycerine explosions. The reverse of this practice prevails when those
policemen of the seas, the torpedo boats, guard the treasures of the shore. It
is there the defenders are armed with the irresistible explosives. These
explosives are either planted in harbours and discharged by electricity from
the shore, or carried by very swift armoured boats, or by boats capable of
being submerged, directed, and propelled by mechanisms contained there
and controlled from the shore, or from another vessel; or by boats
containing all instrumentalities, crew, and commander, and capable of
submerging and raising itself, and of attacking and exploding the torpedo
coal, the magazines, the electric plant for supplying power to various
motors for lighting the ship and for furnishing the current to powerful
search-lights; having compartments for the sick, the apothecary shop, and
the surgeon’s hospital, the men’s and the officers’ quarters; above these the
conning tower and the armoured pilot-house, then the great guns
interspersed among these various parts, looking like the sunken eyes, or
protruding like the bony prominences of some awful sea monster, is a
structure that gives one an idea of the immense departure which has
occurred during the last half century, not only from the wooden walls of the
navies of all the past, but from all its mechanical arts.
What a great ocean liner contains and what the contributions are to modern
ship-building from other modern arts is set forth in the following extract
from McClure’s Magazine for September, 1900, in describing the
Deutschland. “The Deutschland, for instance has a complete refrigerating
plant, four hospitals, a safety deposit vault for the immense quantities of
gold and silver which pass between the banks of Europe and America, eight
kitchens, a complete post-office with German and American clerks, thirty
electrical motors, thirty-six pumps, most of them of American and English
make, no fewer than seventy-two steam engines, a complete drug store, a
complete fire department, with pumps, hose and other fire-fighting
machinery, a library, 2600 electric lights, two barber shops, room for an
orchestra and brass band, a telegraph system, a telephone system, a
complete printing establishment, a photographic dark room, a cigar store, an
electric fire-alarm system, and a special refrigerator for flowers.”
We have seen, in treating of safes and locks, how burglars keep pace with
the latest inventions to protect property by the use of dynamite and nitro-
glycerine explosions. The reverse of this practice prevails when those
policemen of the seas, the torpedo boats, guard the treasures of the shore. It
is there the defenders are armed with the irresistible explosives. These
explosives are either planted in harbours and discharged by electricity from
the shore, or carried by very swift armoured boats, or by boats capable of
being submerged, directed, and propelled by mechanisms contained there
and controlled from the shore, or from another vessel; or by boats
containing all instrumentalities, crew, and commander, and capable of
submerging and raising itself, and of attacking and exploding the torpedo
Page 326
when and where desired. The latter are now considered as the most
formidable and efficient class of destroyers.
No matter how staunch, sound and grand in dimensions man may build his
ships, old Neptune can still toss them. But Franklin, a century and a half
ago, called attention to his experiments of oiling his locks when in a
tempestuous mood, and thus rendering the temper of the Old Man of the
Sea as placid as a summer pond. Ships that had become unmanageable were
thus enabled, by spreading oil on the waves from the windward side, to be
brought under control, and dangerous surfs subdued, so that boats could
land. Franklin’s idea of pouring oil on the troubled waters has been revived
during the last quarter of the century and various means for doing it
vigorously patented. The means have varied in many instances, but chiefly
consist of bags and other receptacles to hold and distribute the oil upon the
surrounding water with economy and uniformity.
At the close of the century the world was still waiting for the successful Air-
ship.
A few successful experiments in balloon navigation by the aid of small
engines of different forms have been made since 1855. Some believe that
Count Zeppelin, an officer of the German army has solved the great
problem, especially since the ascent of his ship made on July 2, 1900, at
Lake Constance.
It has been asserted that no vessel has yet been made to successfully fly
unless made on the balloon principle, and Count Zeppelin’s boat is on that
principle. According to the description of Eugen Wolf, an aeronaut who
took part in the ascent referred to and who published an account of the same
in the November number of McClure’s, 1900, it is not composed of one
balloon, but of a row of them, and these are not exposed when inflated to
every breeze that blows, but enclosed and combined in an enormous
cylindrical shell, 420 feet in length, about 38 feet in diameter, with a
volume of 14,780 cubic yards and with ends pointed like a cigar. This shell
is a framework made up of aluminium trellis work, and divided into
seventeen compartments, each having its own gas bag. The frame is further
strengthened and the balloons stayed by a network of aluminium wire, and
the entire frame covered with a soft ramie fibre. Over this is placed a water-
formidable and efficient class of destroyers.
No matter how staunch, sound and grand in dimensions man may build his
ships, old Neptune can still toss them. But Franklin, a century and a half
ago, called attention to his experiments of oiling his locks when in a
tempestuous mood, and thus rendering the temper of the Old Man of the
Sea as placid as a summer pond. Ships that had become unmanageable were
thus enabled, by spreading oil on the waves from the windward side, to be
brought under control, and dangerous surfs subdued, so that boats could
land. Franklin’s idea of pouring oil on the troubled waters has been revived
during the last quarter of the century and various means for doing it
vigorously patented. The means have varied in many instances, but chiefly
consist of bags and other receptacles to hold and distribute the oil upon the
surrounding water with economy and uniformity.
At the close of the century the world was still waiting for the successful Air-
ship.
A few successful experiments in balloon navigation by the aid of small
engines of different forms have been made since 1855. Some believe that
Count Zeppelin, an officer of the German army has solved the great
problem, especially since the ascent of his ship made on July 2, 1900, at
Lake Constance.
It has been asserted that no vessel has yet been made to successfully fly
unless made on the balloon principle, and Count Zeppelin’s boat is on that
principle. According to the description of Eugen Wolf, an aeronaut who
took part in the ascent referred to and who published an account of the same
in the November number of McClure’s, 1900, it is not composed of one
balloon, but of a row of them, and these are not exposed when inflated to
every breeze that blows, but enclosed and combined in an enormous
cylindrical shell, 420 feet in length, about 38 feet in diameter, with a
volume of 14,780 cubic yards and with ends pointed like a cigar. This shell
is a framework made up of aluminium trellis work, and divided into
seventeen compartments, each having its own gas bag. The frame is further
strengthened and the balloons stayed by a network of aluminium wire, and
the entire frame covered with a soft ramie fibre. Over this is placed a water-
Page 327
tight covering of pegamoid, and the lower part covered with light silk. An
air space of two feet is left between the cover and the balloons. Beneath the
balloons extends a walking bridge 226 feet long, and from this bridge is
suspended two aluminium cars, at front and rear of the centre, adapted to
hold all the operative machinery and the operator and other passengers.
The balloons, provided with proper valves, served to lift the structure; large
four-winged screws, one on each side of the ship, their shafts mounted on a
light framework extending from the body of the ship, and driven backward
and forward by two light benzine engines, one on each car, constituted the
propelling force. Dirigibility (steering) was provided for by an apparatus
consisting of a double pair of rudders, one pair forward and one aft,
reaching out like great fins, and controlled by light metal cords from the
cars. A ballast of water was carried in a compartment under each car. To
give the ship an upward or a downward movement the plane on which the
ship rests was provided with a weight adapted to slip back and forth on a
cable underneath the balloon shell. When the weight was far aft the tip of
the ship was upward and the movement was upward, when at the forward
end the movement was downward, and when at the centre the ship was
poised and travelled in a horizontal plane. The trip was made over the lake
on a quiet evening. A distance of three and three-quarter miles, at a height
of 1300 feet, was made in seventeen minutes. Evolutions from a straight
course were accomplished. The ship was lowered to the lake, on which it
settled easily and rode smoothly.
The other great plan of air navigation receiving the attention of scientists
and aeronauts is the aeroplane system. Although the cohesive force of the
air is so exceedingly small that it cannot be relied upon as a sufficient
resisting medium through which propulsion may be accomplished alone by
a counter-resisting agent like propeller blades, yet it is known what weight
the air has and it has been ascertained what expanse of a thin plane is
necessary without other means to support the weight of a man in the air.
To this idea must be added the means of flight, of starting and maintaining a
stable flight and of directing its course. Careful observation of the manner
of the flight of large heavy birds, especially in starting, has led to some
successful experiments. They do not rise at once, but require an initiative
force for soaring which they obtain by running on the ground before
air space of two feet is left between the cover and the balloons. Beneath the
balloons extends a walking bridge 226 feet long, and from this bridge is
suspended two aluminium cars, at front and rear of the centre, adapted to
hold all the operative machinery and the operator and other passengers.
The balloons, provided with proper valves, served to lift the structure; large
four-winged screws, one on each side of the ship, their shafts mounted on a
light framework extending from the body of the ship, and driven backward
and forward by two light benzine engines, one on each car, constituted the
propelling force. Dirigibility (steering) was provided for by an apparatus
consisting of a double pair of rudders, one pair forward and one aft,
reaching out like great fins, and controlled by light metal cords from the
cars. A ballast of water was carried in a compartment under each car. To
give the ship an upward or a downward movement the plane on which the
ship rests was provided with a weight adapted to slip back and forth on a
cable underneath the balloon shell. When the weight was far aft the tip of
the ship was upward and the movement was upward, when at the forward
end the movement was downward, and when at the centre the ship was
poised and travelled in a horizontal plane. The trip was made over the lake
on a quiet evening. A distance of three and three-quarter miles, at a height
of 1300 feet, was made in seventeen minutes. Evolutions from a straight
course were accomplished. The ship was lowered to the lake, on which it
settled easily and rode smoothly.
The other great plan of air navigation receiving the attention of scientists
and aeronauts is the aeroplane system. Although the cohesive force of the
air is so exceedingly small that it cannot be relied upon as a sufficient
resisting medium through which propulsion may be accomplished alone by
a counter-resisting agent like propeller blades, yet it is known what weight
the air has and it has been ascertained what expanse of a thin plane is
necessary without other means to support the weight of a man in the air.
To this idea must be added the means of flight, of starting and maintaining a
stable flight and of directing its course. Careful observation of the manner
of the flight of large heavy birds, especially in starting, has led to some
successful experiments. They do not rise at once, but require an initiative
force for soaring which they obtain by running on the ground before
Page 328
spreading their wings. The action of the wings in folding and unfolding for
maintaining the flight and controlling its direction, is then to be noted.
It is along these lines that inventions in this system are now working. An
initiative mechanism to start the ship along the earth or water, to raise it at
an angle, to spread planes of sufficient extent to support the weight of the
machine and its operators on the body of the air column, light engines to
give the wing-planes an opening and closing action, rudders to steer by,
means for maintaining equilibrium, and means when landing to float upon
the water or roll upon the land, these are the principal problems that
navigators of the great seas above us are now at work upon.
maintaining the flight and controlling its direction, is then to be noted.
It is along these lines that inventions in this system are now working. An
initiative mechanism to start the ship along the earth or water, to raise it at
an angle, to spread planes of sufficient extent to support the weight of the
machine and its operators on the body of the air column, light engines to
give the wing-planes an opening and closing action, rudders to steer by,
means for maintaining equilibrium, and means when landing to float upon
the water or roll upon the land, these are the principal problems that
navigators of the great seas above us are now at work upon.
Page 329
CHAPTER XXX.
ILLUMINATING GAS.
“How wonderful that sunbeams absorbed by vegetation in the
primordial ages of the earth and buried in its depths as vegetable
fossils through immeasurable eras of time, until system upon system of
slowly formed rocks have been piled above, should come forth at last,
at the disenchanting touch of science, and turn the light of civilised
man into day.”—Prof. E. L. Youmans.
“The invention of artificial light has extended the available term of
human life, by giving the night to man’s use; it has, by the social
intercourse it encourages, polished his manners and refined his tastes,
and perhaps as much as anything else, has aided his intellectual
progress.”—Draper.
If one desires to know what the condition of cities, towns and peoples was
before the nineteenth century had lightened and enlightened them, let him
step into some poor country town in some out-of-the-way region (and such
may yet be found) at night, pick his way along rough pavements, and no
pavements, by the light of a smoky lamp placed here and there at corners,
and of weeping lamps and limp candles in the windows of shops and
houses, and meet people armed with tin lanterns throwing a dubious light
across the pathways. Let him be prepared to be assailed by the odours of
undrained gutters, ditches, and roads called streets, and escape, if he can,
stumbling and falling into them. Let him take care also that he avoid in the
darkness the drippings from the overhanging eaves or windows, and falling
upon the slippery steps of the dim doorway he may be about to enter.
Within, let him overlook, if he can, in the hospitable reception, the dim and
smoky atmosphere, and observe that the brightest and best as well as the
most cheerful illuminant flashes from the wide open fireplace. Occasionally
ILLUMINATING GAS.
“How wonderful that sunbeams absorbed by vegetation in the
primordial ages of the earth and buried in its depths as vegetable
fossils through immeasurable eras of time, until system upon system of
slowly formed rocks have been piled above, should come forth at last,
at the disenchanting touch of science, and turn the light of civilised
man into day.”—Prof. E. L. Youmans.
“The invention of artificial light has extended the available term of
human life, by giving the night to man’s use; it has, by the social
intercourse it encourages, polished his manners and refined his tastes,
and perhaps as much as anything else, has aided his intellectual
progress.”—Draper.
If one desires to know what the condition of cities, towns and peoples was
before the nineteenth century had lightened and enlightened them, let him
step into some poor country town in some out-of-the-way region (and such
may yet be found) at night, pick his way along rough pavements, and no
pavements, by the light of a smoky lamp placed here and there at corners,
and of weeping lamps and limp candles in the windows of shops and
houses, and meet people armed with tin lanterns throwing a dubious light
across the pathways. Let him be prepared to be assailed by the odours of
undrained gutters, ditches, and roads called streets, and escape, if he can,
stumbling and falling into them. Let him take care also that he avoid in the
darkness the drippings from the overhanging eaves or windows, and falling
upon the slippery steps of the dim doorway he may be about to enter.
Within, let him overlook, if he can, in the hospitable reception, the dim and
smoky atmosphere, and observe that the brightest and best as well as the
most cheerful illuminant flashes from the wide open fireplace. Occasionally
Page 330
a glowing grate might be met. The eighteenth century did have its glowing
grates, and its still more glowing furnaces of coal in which the ore was
melted and by the light of which the castings were made.
It is very strange that year after year for successive generations men saw the
hard black coal break under the influence of heat and burst into flames
which lit up every corner, without learning, beyond sundry accidents and
experiments, that this gast, or geest, or spirit, or vapour, or gas, as it was
variously called, could be led away from its source, ignited at a distance,
and made to give light and heat at other places than just where it was
generated.
Thus Dr. Clayton, Dean of Kildare, Ireland, in 1688 distilled gas from coal
and lit and burned it, and told his learned friend, the Hon. Robert Boyle,
about it, who announced it with interest to the Royal Society, and again it
finds mention in the Philosophical Transactions fifty years later. Then, in
1726, Dr. Hales told how many cubic inches of gas a certain number of
grains of coal would produce. Then Bishop Watson in 1750 passed some
gas through water and carried it in pipes from one place to another; and
then Lord Dundonald in 1786 built some ovens, distilled coal and tar,
burned the gas, and got a patent. In the same year, Dr. Rickel of Würzburg
lighted his laboratory with gas made by the dry distillation of bones; but all
these were experiments. Finally, William Murdock, the owner of large
workshops at Redruth, in Cornwall, a practical man and mechanic, and a
keen observer, using soft coal to a large extent in his shops, tried with
success in 1792 to collect the escaping gas and with it lit up the shops.
Whether he continued steadily to so use the gas or only at intervals, at any
rate it seems to have been experimental and failed to attract attention. It
appears that he repeated the experiment at the celebrated steam engine
works of Boulton and Watt at Soho, near Birmingham, in 1798, and again
illuminated the works in 1802, on occasion of a peace jubilee.
In the meantime, in 1801, Le Bon, a Frenchman at Paris, had succeeded in
making illuminating gas from wood, lit his house therewith, and proposed
to light the whole city of Paris.
Thus it may be said that illuminating gas and the new century were born
together—the former preceding the latter a little and lighting the way.
grates, and its still more glowing furnaces of coal in which the ore was
melted and by the light of which the castings were made.
It is very strange that year after year for successive generations men saw the
hard black coal break under the influence of heat and burst into flames
which lit up every corner, without learning, beyond sundry accidents and
experiments, that this gast, or geest, or spirit, or vapour, or gas, as it was
variously called, could be led away from its source, ignited at a distance,
and made to give light and heat at other places than just where it was
generated.
Thus Dr. Clayton, Dean of Kildare, Ireland, in 1688 distilled gas from coal
and lit and burned it, and told his learned friend, the Hon. Robert Boyle,
about it, who announced it with interest to the Royal Society, and again it
finds mention in the Philosophical Transactions fifty years later. Then, in
1726, Dr. Hales told how many cubic inches of gas a certain number of
grains of coal would produce. Then Bishop Watson in 1750 passed some
gas through water and carried it in pipes from one place to another; and
then Lord Dundonald in 1786 built some ovens, distilled coal and tar,
burned the gas, and got a patent. In the same year, Dr. Rickel of Würzburg
lighted his laboratory with gas made by the dry distillation of bones; but all
these were experiments. Finally, William Murdock, the owner of large
workshops at Redruth, in Cornwall, a practical man and mechanic, and a
keen observer, using soft coal to a large extent in his shops, tried with
success in 1792 to collect the escaping gas and with it lit up the shops.
Whether he continued steadily to so use the gas or only at intervals, at any
rate it seems to have been experimental and failed to attract attention. It
appears that he repeated the experiment at the celebrated steam engine
works of Boulton and Watt at Soho, near Birmingham, in 1798, and again
illuminated the works in 1802, on occasion of a peace jubilee.
In the meantime, in 1801, Le Bon, a Frenchman at Paris, had succeeded in
making illuminating gas from wood, lit his house therewith, and proposed
to light the whole city of Paris.
Thus it may be said that illuminating gas and the new century were born
together—the former preceding the latter a little and lighting the way.
Page 331
Then in 1803 the English periodicals began to take the matter up and
discuss the whole subject. One magazine objected to its use in houses on
the ground that the curtains and furniture would be ruined by the saturation
produced by the oxygen and hydrogen, and that the curtains would have to
be wrung out the next morning after the illumination. There doubtless was
good cause for objection to the smoky, unpleasant smelling light then
produced.
In America in 1806 David Melville of Newport, Rhode Island, lighted with
gas his own house and the street in front of it. In 1813 he took out a patent
and lighted several factories. In 1817 his process was applied to Beaver Tail
Lighthouse on the Atlantic coast—the first use of illuminating gas in
lighthouses. Coal oil and electricity have since been found better
illuminants for this purpose.
Murdoch, Winser, Clegg and others continued to illuminate the public
works and buildings of England. Westminster Bridge and the Houses of
Parliament were lighted in 1813, and the streets of London in 1815. Paris
was lighted in 1820, and the largest American cities from 1816 to 1825. But
it required the work of the chemists as well as the mechanics to produce the
best gas. The rod of Science had touched the rock again and from the earth
had sprung another servant with power to serve mankind, and waited the
skilled brain and hand to direct its course.
Produced almost entirely from bituminous coal, it was found to be
composed chiefly of carbon, oxygen and hydrogen; but various other gases
were mixed therewith. To determine the proper proportions of these gases,
to know which should be increased or wholly or partly eliminated, required
the careful labours of patient chemists. They taught also how the gas should
be distilled, condensed, cleaned, scrubbed, confined in retorts, and its flow
measured and controlled.
Fortunately the latter part of the eighteenth century and the early part of the
nineteenth had produced chemists whose investigations and discoveries
paved the way for success in this revolution in the world of light. Priestley
had discovered oxygen. Dalton had divided matter into atoms, and shown
that in its every form, whether solid, liquid, or gaseous, these atoms had
discuss the whole subject. One magazine objected to its use in houses on
the ground that the curtains and furniture would be ruined by the saturation
produced by the oxygen and hydrogen, and that the curtains would have to
be wrung out the next morning after the illumination. There doubtless was
good cause for objection to the smoky, unpleasant smelling light then
produced.
In America in 1806 David Melville of Newport, Rhode Island, lighted with
gas his own house and the street in front of it. In 1813 he took out a patent
and lighted several factories. In 1817 his process was applied to Beaver Tail
Lighthouse on the Atlantic coast—the first use of illuminating gas in
lighthouses. Coal oil and electricity have since been found better
illuminants for this purpose.
Murdoch, Winser, Clegg and others continued to illuminate the public
works and buildings of England. Westminster Bridge and the Houses of
Parliament were lighted in 1813, and the streets of London in 1815. Paris
was lighted in 1820, and the largest American cities from 1816 to 1825. But
it required the work of the chemists as well as the mechanics to produce the
best gas. The rod of Science had touched the rock again and from the earth
had sprung another servant with power to serve mankind, and waited the
skilled brain and hand to direct its course.
Produced almost entirely from bituminous coal, it was found to be
composed chiefly of carbon, oxygen and hydrogen; but various other gases
were mixed therewith. To determine the proper proportions of these gases,
to know which should be increased or wholly or partly eliminated, required
the careful labours of patient chemists. They taught also how the gas should
be distilled, condensed, cleaned, scrubbed, confined in retorts, and its flow
measured and controlled.
Fortunately the latter part of the eighteenth century and the early part of the
nineteenth had produced chemists whose investigations and discoveries
paved the way for success in this revolution in the world of light. Priestley
had discovered oxygen. Dalton had divided matter into atoms, and shown
that in its every form, whether solid, liquid, or gaseous, these atoms had
Page 332
their own independent, characteristic, unalterable weight, and that gases
diffused themselves in certain proportions.
Berthollet, Graham, and a host of others in England, France, and Germany,
advanced the art. The highest skilled mechanics, like Clegg of England,
supplied the apparatus. He it was who invented a gas purifier, liquid gas
meter, and other useful contrivances.
As the character of the gas as an illuminator depends on the quantity of
hydro-carbon, or olefiant elements it contains, great efforts were made to
invent processes and means of carbureting it.
The manufacture of gas was revolutionised by the invention of water gas.
The main principle of this process is the mixture of hydrogen with the
vapour of some hydro-carbon: Hydrogen burns with very little light and the
purpose of the hydro-carbon is to increase the brilliancy of the flame. The
hydrogen gas is so obtained by the decomposition of water, effected by
passing steam through highly heated coals.
Patents began to be taken out in this line in England in 1823-24; by
Donovan in 1830; Geo. Lowe in 1832, and White in 1847. But in England
water gas could not compete with coal gas in cheapness. On the contrary, in
America, especially after the petroleum wells were opened up, and nature
supplied the hydro-carbon in roaring wells and fountains, water gas came to
the front.
The leading invention there in this line was that of T. S. C. Lowe of
Morristown, Pennsylvania, in 1873. In Lowe’s process anthracite coal
might be used, which was raised in a suitable retort to a great heat, then
superheated steam admitted over this hot bed and decomposed into
hydrogen and carbonic oxide; then a small stream of naphtha or crude
petroleum was thrown upon the surface of the burning coal, and from these
decompositions and mixtures a rich olefiant product and other light-giving
gases were produced.
The Franklin Institute of Philadelphia in 1886 awarded Lowe, or his
representatives, a grand medal of honour, his being the invention exhibited
that year which in their opinion contributed most to the welfare of mankind.
diffused themselves in certain proportions.
Berthollet, Graham, and a host of others in England, France, and Germany,
advanced the art. The highest skilled mechanics, like Clegg of England,
supplied the apparatus. He it was who invented a gas purifier, liquid gas
meter, and other useful contrivances.
As the character of the gas as an illuminator depends on the quantity of
hydro-carbon, or olefiant elements it contains, great efforts were made to
invent processes and means of carbureting it.
The manufacture of gas was revolutionised by the invention of water gas.
The main principle of this process is the mixture of hydrogen with the
vapour of some hydro-carbon: Hydrogen burns with very little light and the
purpose of the hydro-carbon is to increase the brilliancy of the flame. The
hydrogen gas is so obtained by the decomposition of water, effected by
passing steam through highly heated coals.
Patents began to be taken out in this line in England in 1823-24; by
Donovan in 1830; Geo. Lowe in 1832, and White in 1847. But in England
water gas could not compete with coal gas in cheapness. On the contrary, in
America, especially after the petroleum wells were opened up, and nature
supplied the hydro-carbon in roaring wells and fountains, water gas came to
the front.
The leading invention there in this line was that of T. S. C. Lowe of
Morristown, Pennsylvania, in 1873. In Lowe’s process anthracite coal
might be used, which was raised in a suitable retort to a great heat, then
superheated steam admitted over this hot bed and decomposed into
hydrogen and carbonic oxide; then a small stream of naphtha or crude
petroleum was thrown upon the surface of the burning coal, and from these
decompositions and mixtures a rich olefiant product and other light-giving
gases were produced.
The Franklin Institute of Philadelphia in 1886 awarded Lowe, or his
representatives, a grand medal of honour, his being the invention exhibited
that year which in their opinion contributed most to the welfare of mankind.
Page 333
A number of inventors have followed in the direction set by Lowe. The
largest part of gas manufacture, which has become so extensive, embodies
the basic idea of the Lowe process.
The competition set up by the electricians, especially in the production of
the beautiful incandescent light for indoor illumination, has spurred
inventors of gas processes to renewed efforts—much to the benefit of that
great multitude who sit in darkness until corporations furnish them with
light.
It was found by Siemens, the great German inventor of modern gas
regenerative furnace systems, that the quality of the gas was much
improved, and a greater intensity of light obtained, by heating the gases and
air before combustion—a plan particularly adapted in lighting large spaces.
To describe in detail the large number of inventions relating to the
manufacture of gas would require a huge volume—the generators,
carburetors, retorts, mixers, purifiers, metres, scrubbers, holders,
condensers, governors, indicators, registers, chargers, pressure regulators,
etc., etc.
It was a great convenience outside of towns and cities, where gas mains
could not be laid, to have domestic plants and portable gas apparatus,
worked on the same principles, but in miniature form, adapted to a single
house, but the exercise of great ingenuity was required to render such
adaptation successful.
In the use of liquid illuminants, which need a wick to feed them, the Argand
burner—that arrangement of concentric tubes between which the wick is
confined—although invented by Argand in 1784, yet has occupied a vast
field of usefulness in connection with the lamps of the nineteenth century.
A dangerous but very extensively used illuminating liquid before coal oil
was discovered was camphene, distilled from turpentine. It gave a good
light but was not a safe domestic companion.
Great attention has recently been paid to the production of acetylene gas,
produced by the reaction between calcium carbide and water. The making
of the calcium carbide by the decomposition of mixed pulverised lime and
largest part of gas manufacture, which has become so extensive, embodies
the basic idea of the Lowe process.
The competition set up by the electricians, especially in the production of
the beautiful incandescent light for indoor illumination, has spurred
inventors of gas processes to renewed efforts—much to the benefit of that
great multitude who sit in darkness until corporations furnish them with
light.
It was found by Siemens, the great German inventor of modern gas
regenerative furnace systems, that the quality of the gas was much
improved, and a greater intensity of light obtained, by heating the gases and
air before combustion—a plan particularly adapted in lighting large spaces.
To describe in detail the large number of inventions relating to the
manufacture of gas would require a huge volume—the generators,
carburetors, retorts, mixers, purifiers, metres, scrubbers, holders,
condensers, governors, indicators, registers, chargers, pressure regulators,
etc., etc.
It was a great convenience outside of towns and cities, where gas mains
could not be laid, to have domestic plants and portable gas apparatus,
worked on the same principles, but in miniature form, adapted to a single
house, but the exercise of great ingenuity was required to render such
adaptation successful.
In the use of liquid illuminants, which need a wick to feed them, the Argand
burner—that arrangement of concentric tubes between which the wick is
confined—although invented by Argand in 1784, yet has occupied a vast
field of usefulness in connection with the lamps of the nineteenth century.
A dangerous but very extensively used illuminating liquid before coal oil
was discovered was camphene, distilled from turpentine. It gave a good
light but was not a safe domestic companion.
Great attention has recently been paid to the production of acetylene gas,
produced by the reaction between calcium carbide and water. The making
of the calcium carbide by the decomposition of mixed pulverised lime and
Page 334
coal by the use of a powerful electric battery, is a preliminary step in the
production of this gas, and was a subsequent discovery.
The electric light, acetylene, magnesium, and other modern sources of light,
although they may be more brilliant and intense than coal gas, cannot
compete in cheapness of production with the latter. Thus far illuminating
coal gas is still the queen of artificial lights.
After gas was fairly started in lighting streets and buildings its adaptation to
lamps followed; and among the most noted of gas lamps is that of Von
Welsbach, who combined a bunsen gas flame and a glass chimney with a
“mantle” located therein. This mantle is a gauze-like structure made of
refractory quartz, or of certain oxides, which when heated by the gas flame
produce an incandescent glow of intense brilliancy, with a reduced
consumption of gas.
production of this gas, and was a subsequent discovery.
The electric light, acetylene, magnesium, and other modern sources of light,
although they may be more brilliant and intense than coal gas, cannot
compete in cheapness of production with the latter. Thus far illuminating
coal gas is still the queen of artificial lights.
After gas was fairly started in lighting streets and buildings its adaptation to
lamps followed; and among the most noted of gas lamps is that of Von
Welsbach, who combined a bunsen gas flame and a glass chimney with a
“mantle” located therein. This mantle is a gauze-like structure made of
refractory quartz, or of certain oxides, which when heated by the gas flame
produce an incandescent glow of intense brilliancy, with a reduced
consumption of gas.
Page 335
CHAPTER XXXI.
BRICK, POTTERY, GLASS, PLASTICS.
When the nineteenth century dawned, men were making brick in the same
way for the most part that they were fifty centuries before. It is recorded in
the eleventh chapter of Genesis that when “the whole earth was of one
language and one speech, it came to pass as they journeyed from the east
that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there, and they
said to one another, Go to, let us make brick and burn them thoroughly, And
they had brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar.” Then commenced
the building of Babel. Who taught the trade to the brick-makers of Shinar?
The journey from the east continued, and with it went brick making to
Greece and Rome, across the continent of Europe, across the English
channel, until the brick work of Cæsar, stamped by the trade mark of his
legions, was found on the banks of the Thames, and through the fields of
Caerleon and York.
Alfred the Great encouraged the trade, and the manufacture flourished
finely under Henry VIII., Elizabeth and Charles I.
As to Pottery:—Could we only know who among the peoples of the earth
first discovered, used, or invented fire, we might know who were the first
makers of baked earthenware. Doubtless the art of pottery arose before men
learned to bake the plastic clay, in that groping time when men, kneading
the soft clay with their fingers, or imprinting their footsteps in the yielding
surface and learning that the sun’s heat stiffened and dried those forms into
durability, applied the discovery to the making of crude vessels, as children
unto this day make dishes from the tenacious mud. But the artificial burning
of the vessels was no doubt a later imitation of Nature.
BRICK, POTTERY, GLASS, PLASTICS.
When the nineteenth century dawned, men were making brick in the same
way for the most part that they were fifty centuries before. It is recorded in
the eleventh chapter of Genesis that when “the whole earth was of one
language and one speech, it came to pass as they journeyed from the east
that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there, and they
said to one another, Go to, let us make brick and burn them thoroughly, And
they had brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar.” Then commenced
the building of Babel. Who taught the trade to the brick-makers of Shinar?
The journey from the east continued, and with it went brick making to
Greece and Rome, across the continent of Europe, across the English
channel, until the brick work of Cæsar, stamped by the trade mark of his
legions, was found on the banks of the Thames, and through the fields of
Caerleon and York.
Alfred the Great encouraged the trade, and the manufacture flourished
finely under Henry VIII., Elizabeth and Charles I.
As to Pottery:—Could we only know who among the peoples of the earth
first discovered, used, or invented fire, we might know who were the first
makers of baked earthenware. Doubtless the art of pottery arose before men
learned to bake the plastic clay, in that groping time when men, kneading
the soft clay with their fingers, or imprinting their footsteps in the yielding
surface and learning that the sun’s heat stiffened and dried those forms into
durability, applied the discovery to the making of crude vessels, as children
unto this day make dishes from the tenacious mud. But the artificial burning
of the vessels was no doubt a later imitation of Nature.
Page 336
Alongside the rudest and earliest chipped stone implements have been
found the hollow clay dish for holding fire, or food, or water. “As the
fragment of a speech or song, a waking or a sleeping vision, the dream of a
vanished hand, a draught of water from a familiar spring, the almost
perished fragrance of a pressed flower call back the singer, the loved and
lost, the loved and won, the home of childhood, or the parting hour, so in
the same manner there linger in this crowning decade of the crowning
century bits of ancient ingenuity which recall to a whole people the
fragrance and beauty of its past.” Prof. O. T. Mason. The same gifted writer,
adds: “Who has not read, with almost breaking heart, the story of Palissy,
the Huguenot potter? But what have our witnesses to say of that long line of
humble creatures that conjured out of prophetic clay, without wheels or
furnace, forms and decorations of imperishable beauty, which are now
being copied in glorified material in the best factories of the world? In
ceramic as well as textile art the first inventors were women. They quarried
the clay, manipulated it, constructed and decorated the ware, burned it in a
rude furnace and wore it out in a hundred uses.”
From the early dawn of human history to its present noonday civilisation
the progress of man may be traced in his pottery. Before printing was an art,
he inscribed on it his literature. Poets and painters have adorned it; and in
its manufacture have been embodied through all ages the choicest
discoveries of the chemist, the inventor and the mechanic.
It would be pleasant to trace the history of pottery from at least the time of
Homer, who draws a metaphor from the potter seated before his wheel and
twirling it with both hands, as he shapes the plastic clay upon it; to dwell
upon the clay tablets and many-coloured vases, covered with Egyptian
scenes and history; to re-excite wonder over the arts of China, in her
porcelain, the production of its delicacy and bright colours wrapped in such
mystery, and stagnant for so many ages, but revived and rejuvenated in
Japan; to recall to mind the styles and composition of the Phœnician vases
with mythological legends burned immortally therein; the splendid work of
the Greek potteries; to lift the Samian enwreathed bowl, “filled with Samian
wine”; to look upon the Roman pottery, statues and statuettes of Rome’s
earlier and better days; the celebrated Faience (enamelled pottery) at its
home in Faenza, Italy, and from the hands of its master, Luca della Robia;
to trace the history of the rare Italian majolica; to tread with light steps the
found the hollow clay dish for holding fire, or food, or water. “As the
fragment of a speech or song, a waking or a sleeping vision, the dream of a
vanished hand, a draught of water from a familiar spring, the almost
perished fragrance of a pressed flower call back the singer, the loved and
lost, the loved and won, the home of childhood, or the parting hour, so in
the same manner there linger in this crowning decade of the crowning
century bits of ancient ingenuity which recall to a whole people the
fragrance and beauty of its past.” Prof. O. T. Mason. The same gifted writer,
adds: “Who has not read, with almost breaking heart, the story of Palissy,
the Huguenot potter? But what have our witnesses to say of that long line of
humble creatures that conjured out of prophetic clay, without wheels or
furnace, forms and decorations of imperishable beauty, which are now
being copied in glorified material in the best factories of the world? In
ceramic as well as textile art the first inventors were women. They quarried
the clay, manipulated it, constructed and decorated the ware, burned it in a
rude furnace and wore it out in a hundred uses.”
From the early dawn of human history to its present noonday civilisation
the progress of man may be traced in his pottery. Before printing was an art,
he inscribed on it his literature. Poets and painters have adorned it; and in
its manufacture have been embodied through all ages the choicest
discoveries of the chemist, the inventor and the mechanic.
It would be pleasant to trace the history of pottery from at least the time of
Homer, who draws a metaphor from the potter seated before his wheel and
twirling it with both hands, as he shapes the plastic clay upon it; to dwell
upon the clay tablets and many-coloured vases, covered with Egyptian
scenes and history; to re-excite wonder over the arts of China, in her
porcelain, the production of its delicacy and bright colours wrapped in such
mystery, and stagnant for so many ages, but revived and rejuvenated in
Japan; to recall to mind the styles and composition of the Phœnician vases
with mythological legends burned immortally therein; the splendid work of
the Greek potteries; to lift the Samian enwreathed bowl, “filled with Samian
wine”; to look upon the Roman pottery, statues and statuettes of Rome’s
earlier and better days; the celebrated Faience (enamelled pottery) at its
home in Faenza, Italy, and from the hands of its master, Luca della Robia;
to trace the history of the rare Italian majolica; to tread with light steps the
Page 337
bright tiles of the Saracens; to rehearse the story of Bernard Palissy, the
father of the beautiful French enamelled ware; to bring to view the splendid
old ware of Nuremberg, the raised white figures on the deep blue plaques of
Florence, the honest Delft ware of Holland; and finally to relate the
revolution in the production of pottery throughout all Europe caused by the
discoveries and inventions of Wedgwood of England in the eighteenth
century. All this would be interesting, but we must hasten on to the equally
splendid and more practical works of the busy nineteenth century, in which
many toilsome methods of the past have been superseded by labour-saving
contrivances.
The application of machinery to the manufacture of brick began to receive
attention during the latter part of the eighteenth century, after Watt had
harnessed steam, and a few patents were issued in England and America at
that time for such machinery of that character, but little was practically
done.
The operations in brickmaking, to the accomplishment of which by
machines the inventors of the nineteenth century have devoted great talent,
relate:
First, to the preparation of the clay.—In ancient Egypt, in places where
water abounded, it appears that the clay was lifted from the bottoms of
ponds and lakes on the end of poles, was formed into bricks, then sun-dried,
modernly called adobes. The clay for making these required a stiffening
material. For this straw was used, mixed with the clay; and stubble was also
used in the different courses. Hence the old metaphor of worthlessness of
“bricks without straw,” but of course in burning, and in modern processes
of pressing unburnt bricks, straw is no longer used. Sand should abound in
the clay in a certain proportion, or be mixed therewith, otherwise the clay,
whether burned or unburned, will crumble. Stones, gravel and sticks must
be removed, otherwise the contraction of the clay and expansion of the
stones on burning, produce a weak and crumbling structure.
Brick clay generally is coloured by the oxide of iron, and in proportion as
this abounds the burned brick is of a lighter or a deeper red. It may be
desired to add colouring matter or mix different forms of clay, or add sand
or other ingredients. Clay treated by hand was for ages kneaded as dough is
father of the beautiful French enamelled ware; to bring to view the splendid
old ware of Nuremberg, the raised white figures on the deep blue plaques of
Florence, the honest Delft ware of Holland; and finally to relate the
revolution in the production of pottery throughout all Europe caused by the
discoveries and inventions of Wedgwood of England in the eighteenth
century. All this would be interesting, but we must hasten on to the equally
splendid and more practical works of the busy nineteenth century, in which
many toilsome methods of the past have been superseded by labour-saving
contrivances.
The application of machinery to the manufacture of brick began to receive
attention during the latter part of the eighteenth century, after Watt had
harnessed steam, and a few patents were issued in England and America at
that time for such machinery of that character, but little was practically
done.
The operations in brickmaking, to the accomplishment of which by
machines the inventors of the nineteenth century have devoted great talent,
relate:
First, to the preparation of the clay.—In ancient Egypt, in places where
water abounded, it appears that the clay was lifted from the bottoms of
ponds and lakes on the end of poles, was formed into bricks, then sun-dried,
modernly called adobes. The clay for making these required a stiffening
material. For this straw was used, mixed with the clay; and stubble was also
used in the different courses. Hence the old metaphor of worthlessness of
“bricks without straw,” but of course in burning, and in modern processes
of pressing unburnt bricks, straw is no longer used. Sand should abound in
the clay in a certain proportion, or be mixed therewith, otherwise the clay,
whether burned or unburned, will crumble. Stones, gravel and sticks must
be removed, otherwise the contraction of the clay and expansion of the
stones on burning, produce a weak and crumbling structure.
Brick clay generally is coloured by the oxide of iron, and in proportion as
this abounds the burned brick is of a lighter or a deeper red. It may be
desired to add colouring matter or mix different forms of clay, or add sand
or other ingredients. Clay treated by hand was for ages kneaded as dough is
Page 338
kneaded, by the hand or feet, and the clay was often long subjected,
sometimes for years, to exposure to the air, frost and sun to disintegrate and
ripen it. As the clay must be first disintegrated, ground or pulverised, as
grain is first ground to flour to make and mould the bread, so the use of a
grinding mill was long ago suggested. The first machine used to do all this
work goes by the humble name of pug mill.
Many ages ago the Chilians of South America hung two ponderous solid
wood or stone wheels on an axis turned by a vertical shaft and operated by
animal power; the wheels were made to run round on a deep basin in which
ores, or stones, or grain were placed to be crushed. This Chilian mill, in
principle, was adopted a century or so ago in Europe to the grinding of clay.
The pug mill has assumed many different forms in this age; and separate
preliminary mills, consisting of rollers of different forms for grinding, alone
are often used before the mixing operation. In one modern form the pug
mill consists of an inverted conical-shaped cylinder provided with a set of
interior revolving blades arranged horizontally, and below this a spiral
arrangement of blades on a vertical axis, by which the clay is thoroughly
cut up and crushed against the surrounding walls of the mill, in the
meantime softened with water or steam if desired, and mixed with sand if
necessary, and when thus ground and tempered is finally pressed down
through the lower opening of the cylinder and directly into suitable brick
moulds beneath.
Second.—The next operation is for moulding and pressing the brick. To
take the place of that ancient and still used mode of filling a mould of a
certain size by the hands with a lump of soft clay, scraping off the surplus,
and then dumping the mould upon a drying floor, a great variety of
machines have been invented.
In some the pug mill is arranged horizontally to feed out the clay in the
form of a long horizontal slab, which is cut up into proper lengths to form
the bricks. Some machines are in the form of a large horizontal revolving
wheel, having the moulds arranged in its top face, each mould charged with
clay as the wheel presents it under the discharging spout of the grinding
mill, and then the clay is pressed by pistons or plungers worked by a
rocking beam, and adapted to descend and fit into the mould at stated
intervals; or the moulds, carried in a circular direction, may have movable
sometimes for years, to exposure to the air, frost and sun to disintegrate and
ripen it. As the clay must be first disintegrated, ground or pulverised, as
grain is first ground to flour to make and mould the bread, so the use of a
grinding mill was long ago suggested. The first machine used to do all this
work goes by the humble name of pug mill.
Many ages ago the Chilians of South America hung two ponderous solid
wood or stone wheels on an axis turned by a vertical shaft and operated by
animal power; the wheels were made to run round on a deep basin in which
ores, or stones, or grain were placed to be crushed. This Chilian mill, in
principle, was adopted a century or so ago in Europe to the grinding of clay.
The pug mill has assumed many different forms in this age; and separate
preliminary mills, consisting of rollers of different forms for grinding, alone
are often used before the mixing operation. In one modern form the pug
mill consists of an inverted conical-shaped cylinder provided with a set of
interior revolving blades arranged horizontally, and below this a spiral
arrangement of blades on a vertical axis, by which the clay is thoroughly
cut up and crushed against the surrounding walls of the mill, in the
meantime softened with water or steam if desired, and mixed with sand if
necessary, and when thus ground and tempered is finally pressed down
through the lower opening of the cylinder and directly into suitable brick
moulds beneath.
Second.—The next operation is for moulding and pressing the brick. To
take the place of that ancient and still used mode of filling a mould of a
certain size by the hands with a lump of soft clay, scraping off the surplus,
and then dumping the mould upon a drying floor, a great variety of
machines have been invented.
In some the pug mill is arranged horizontally to feed out the clay in the
form of a long horizontal slab, which is cut up into proper lengths to form
the bricks. Some machines are in the form of a large horizontal revolving
wheel, having the moulds arranged in its top face, each mould charged with
clay as the wheel presents it under the discharging spout of the grinding
mill, and then the clay is pressed by pistons or plungers worked by a
rocking beam, and adapted to descend and fit into the mould at stated
intervals; or the moulds, carried in a circular direction, may have movable
Page 339
bottom plates, which may be pressed upwards successively by pistons
attached to them and raised by inclines on which they travel, forcing the
clay against a large circular top plate, and in the last part of the movement
carrying the pressed brick through an aperture to the top of the plate, where
it is met by and carried away on an endless apron.
In some machines two great wheels mesh together, one carrying the moulds
in its face, and the other the presser plate plungers, working in the former,
the bricks being finally forced out on to a moving belt by the action of cam
followers, or by other means.
In others the moulds are passed, each beneath a gravity-descending or cam-
forced plunger, the clay being thus stamped by impact into form; or in other
forms the clay in the moulds may be subjected to successive pressure from
the cam-operated pistons arranged horizontally and on a line with the
discharging belt.
Third, the drying and burning of the brick.—The old methods were
painfully slow and tedious. A long time was occupied in seasoning the clay,
and then after the bricks were moulded, another long time was necessary to
dry them, and a final lengthy period was employed to burn them in crude
kilns. These old methods were too slow for modern wants. But they still are
in vogue alongside of modern inventions, as in all ages the use of old arts
and implements have continued along by the side of later inventions and
discoveries.
No useful contrivances are suddenly or apparently ever entirely supplanted.
The implements of the stone age are still found in use by some whose
environment has deprived them of the knowledge of or desire to use better
tools. The single ox pulling the crooked stick plough, or other similar
ancient earth stirrer, and Ruth with her sickle and sheaves, may be found
not far from the steam plough and the automatic binder.
But the use of antiquated machinery is not followed by those who lead the
procession in this industrial age. Consequently other means than the slow
processes of nature to dry brick and other ceramics, and the crude kilns are
giving way to modern heat distributing structures.
attached to them and raised by inclines on which they travel, forcing the
clay against a large circular top plate, and in the last part of the movement
carrying the pressed brick through an aperture to the top of the plate, where
it is met by and carried away on an endless apron.
In some machines two great wheels mesh together, one carrying the moulds
in its face, and the other the presser plate plungers, working in the former,
the bricks being finally forced out on to a moving belt by the action of cam
followers, or by other means.
In others the moulds are passed, each beneath a gravity-descending or cam-
forced plunger, the clay being thus stamped by impact into form; or in other
forms the clay in the moulds may be subjected to successive pressure from
the cam-operated pistons arranged horizontally and on a line with the
discharging belt.
Third, the drying and burning of the brick.—The old methods were
painfully slow and tedious. A long time was occupied in seasoning the clay,
and then after the bricks were moulded, another long time was necessary to
dry them, and a final lengthy period was employed to burn them in crude
kilns. These old methods were too slow for modern wants. But they still are
in vogue alongside of modern inventions, as in all ages the use of old arts
and implements have continued along by the side of later inventions and
discoveries.
No useful contrivances are suddenly or apparently ever entirely supplanted.
The implements of the stone age are still found in use by some whose
environment has deprived them of the knowledge of or desire to use better
tools. The single ox pulling the crooked stick plough, or other similar
ancient earth stirrer, and Ruth with her sickle and sheaves, may be found
not far from the steam plough and the automatic binder.
But the use of antiquated machinery is not followed by those who lead the
procession in this industrial age. Consequently other means than the slow
processes of nature to dry brick and other ceramics, and the crude kilns are
giving way to modern heat distributing structures.
Page 340
Air and heat are driven by fans through chambers, in which the brick are
openly piled on cars, the surplus heat and steam from an engine-room being
often used for this purpose, and the cars so laden are slowly pushed on the
tracks through heated chambers. Passages and pipes and chimneys for heat
and air controlled by valves are provided, and the waste moisture drawn off
through bottom drains or up chimneys, the draft of which is increased by a
hot blast, or blasts of heated air are driven in one direction through a
chamber while the brick are moved through in the opposite direction, or a
series of drying chambers are separated from each other by iron folding-
doors, the temperature increasing as cars are moved on tracks from one
chamber to another.
Dr. Hoffmann of Berlin invented different forms of drying and burning
chambers which attracted great attention. In his kiln the bricks are stacked
in an annular chamber, and the fire made to progress from one section of
the chamber to another, burning the brick as the heat advances; and as fast
as one section of green brick is dried, or burned, it is withdrawn, and a
green section presented. Austria introduced most successful and thorough
systems of drying brick about 1870. In some great kilns fires are never
allowed to cease. One kiln had been kept thus heated for fifteen years. Thus
great quantities of green brick can at any time be pushed into the kiln on
tracks, and when burned pushed out, and thus the process may go on
continuously day and night.
To return to pottery: As before stated, Wedgwood of England revolutionised
the art of pottery in the eighteenth century. He was aided by Flaxman.
Before their time all earthenware pottery was what is now called “soft
pottery.” That is, it was unglazed, simply baked clay; lustrous or semi-
glazed and enamelled having a harder surface. Wedgwood invented the hard
porcelain surface, and very many beautiful designs. To improve such
earthenware and to best decorate it, are the objects around which modern
inventions have mostly clustered.
The “regenerative” principle of heating above referred to employed in some
kilns, and so successfully incorporated in the regenerators invented since
1850 by Siemens, Frank, Boetius, Bicheroux, Pousard and others,
consisting in using the intensely hot wasted gases from laboratories or
combustion chambers to heat the incoming air, and carrying the mingled
openly piled on cars, the surplus heat and steam from an engine-room being
often used for this purpose, and the cars so laden are slowly pushed on the
tracks through heated chambers. Passages and pipes and chimneys for heat
and air controlled by valves are provided, and the waste moisture drawn off
through bottom drains or up chimneys, the draft of which is increased by a
hot blast, or blasts of heated air are driven in one direction through a
chamber while the brick are moved through in the opposite direction, or a
series of drying chambers are separated from each other by iron folding-
doors, the temperature increasing as cars are moved on tracks from one
chamber to another.
Dr. Hoffmann of Berlin invented different forms of drying and burning
chambers which attracted great attention. In his kiln the bricks are stacked
in an annular chamber, and the fire made to progress from one section of
the chamber to another, burning the brick as the heat advances; and as fast
as one section of green brick is dried, or burned, it is withdrawn, and a
green section presented. Austria introduced most successful and thorough
systems of drying brick about 1870. In some great kilns fires are never
allowed to cease. One kiln had been kept thus heated for fifteen years. Thus
great quantities of green brick can at any time be pushed into the kiln on
tracks, and when burned pushed out, and thus the process may go on
continuously day and night.
To return to pottery: As before stated, Wedgwood of England revolutionised
the art of pottery in the eighteenth century. He was aided by Flaxman.
Before their time all earthenware pottery was what is now called “soft
pottery.” That is, it was unglazed, simply baked clay; lustrous or semi-
glazed and enamelled having a harder surface. Wedgwood invented the hard
porcelain surface, and very many beautiful designs. To improve such
earthenware and to best decorate it, are the objects around which modern
inventions have mostly clustered.
The “regenerative” principle of heating above referred to employed in some
kilns, and so successfully incorporated in the regenerators invented since
1850 by Siemens, Frank, Boetius, Bicheroux, Pousard and others,
consisting in using the intensely hot wasted gases from laboratories or
combustion chambers to heat the incoming air, and carrying the mingled
Page 341
products of combustion into chambers and passages to heat, dry or burn
materials placed therein, has been of great service in the production of
modern pottery; not only in a great saving in the amount of fuel, but in
reduction in loss of pieces of ware spoiled in the firing.
The old method of burning wood, or soft coal, or charcoal at the bottom of a
small old-fashioned cylindrical fire brick kiln attended to by hand, and
heating the articles of pottery arranged on shelves in the chamber above, is
done away with to a great extent in large manufactories for the making of
stone and earthenware—although still followed in many porcelain kilns.
Inventions in the line of pottery kilns have received the aid of woman.
Susan Frackelton of the United States invented a portable kiln for firing
pottery and porcelain, for which she obtained a patent in 1886.
As in drying clay for brick, so in drying clay for porcelain and pottery
generally, great improvements have been made in the drying of the clay, and
other materials to be mixed therewith. A great step was taken to aid drying
by the invention of the filter press, in which the materials, after they are
mixed and while still wet, are subjected to such pressure that all surplus
water is removed and all air squeezed out, by which the inclosure of air
bubbles in the clay is prevented.
Despairing of excelling the China porcelain, although French investigators
having alleged their discovery of such methods, modern inventors have
contented themselves in inventing new methods and compositions. Charles
Aoisseau, the potter of Tours, born in 1796, rediscovered and revived the art
of Palissy. About 1842, Thomas Battam of England invented the method of
imitating marble and other statuary by a composition of silica, alumina,
soda, and traces of lime, magnesia, and iron, reducing it to liquid form and
pouring it into plaster moulds, forming the figure or group. His plaster casts
soon became famous. In the use of materials the aid of chemists was had in
finding the proper ingredients to fuse with sand to produce the best forms of
common and fine Faience.
Porcelain Moulding, and its accompanying ornamentation and the use of
apparatus for moulding by compression and by exhaustion of the air has
become since that time a great industry.
materials placed therein, has been of great service in the production of
modern pottery; not only in a great saving in the amount of fuel, but in
reduction in loss of pieces of ware spoiled in the firing.
The old method of burning wood, or soft coal, or charcoal at the bottom of a
small old-fashioned cylindrical fire brick kiln attended to by hand, and
heating the articles of pottery arranged on shelves in the chamber above, is
done away with to a great extent in large manufactories for the making of
stone and earthenware—although still followed in many porcelain kilns.
Inventions in the line of pottery kilns have received the aid of woman.
Susan Frackelton of the United States invented a portable kiln for firing
pottery and porcelain, for which she obtained a patent in 1886.
As in drying clay for brick, so in drying clay for porcelain and pottery
generally, great improvements have been made in the drying of the clay, and
other materials to be mixed therewith. A great step was taken to aid drying
by the invention of the filter press, in which the materials, after they are
mixed and while still wet, are subjected to such pressure that all surplus
water is removed and all air squeezed out, by which the inclosure of air
bubbles in the clay is prevented.
Despairing of excelling the China porcelain, although French investigators
having alleged their discovery of such methods, modern inventors have
contented themselves in inventing new methods and compositions. Charles
Aoisseau, the potter of Tours, born in 1796, rediscovered and revived the art
of Palissy. About 1842, Thomas Battam of England invented the method of
imitating marble and other statuary by a composition of silica, alumina,
soda, and traces of lime, magnesia, and iron, reducing it to liquid form and
pouring it into plaster moulds, forming the figure or group. His plaster casts
soon became famous. In the use of materials the aid of chemists was had in
finding the proper ingredients to fuse with sand to produce the best forms of
common and fine Faience.
Porcelain Moulding, and its accompanying ornamentation and the use of
apparatus for moulding by compression and by exhaustion of the air has
become since that time a great industry.
Page 342
Porcelain Colours.—Chemists also aided in discovering what metallic
ingredients could best be used when mixed with the clay and sand to
produce the desired colours. As soon as a new metal was discovered, it was
tested to find, among other things, what vitrifiable colour it would produce.
In the production of metallic glazes, the oxides generally are employed. The
colours are usually applied to ware when it is in its unglazed or biscuit
form. In the biscuit or bisque form pottery is bibulous, the prepared glaze
sinks into its pores and when burned forms a vitreous coating.
The application of oil colours and designs to ware before baking by the
“bat” system of printing originated in the eighteenth and was perfected in
the nineteenth century. It consists of impressing oil pictures on a bat of glue
and then pressing the bat on to the porous unbaked clay or porcelain which
transferred the colours. This was another revolution in the art.
One manner for ages of applying colours to ware is first to reduce the
mixture to a liquid form, called “slip,” and then, if the Chinese method is
followed, to dip the colour up on the end of a hollow bamboo rod, which
end is covered with wire gauze, then by blowing through the rod the colour
was sprayed or deposited on the ware. Another method is the use of a brush
and comb. The brush being dipped into the coloured matter, the comb is
passed over the brush in such manner as to cause the paint to spatter the
object with fine drops or particles. A very recent method, by which the
beautiful background and blended colours of the celebrated Rookwood
pottery of Cincinnati, Ohio, have become distinguished, consists in laying
the colour upon the ware in a cloud or sheet of almost imperceptible mist by
the use of an air atomiser blown by the operator. By the use of this simple
instrument, the laying on a single colour, or the delicate blending and
shadings of two or more colours in very beautiful effects is easily produced.
This use of the atomiser commenced in 1884, and was claimed as the
invention of a lady, Miss Laura Fry, who obtained a patent for thus blowing
the atomised spray colouring matter on pottery in 1889; but it was held by
the courts that she was anticipated by experiments of others, and by
descriptions in previous patents of the spraying of paint on other objects by
compressed air apparatus known as the air brush. However, this
introduction of the use of the atomiser caused quite a revolution in the art of
applying colours to pottery in the forming of backgrounds.
ingredients could best be used when mixed with the clay and sand to
produce the desired colours. As soon as a new metal was discovered, it was
tested to find, among other things, what vitrifiable colour it would produce.
In the production of metallic glazes, the oxides generally are employed. The
colours are usually applied to ware when it is in its unglazed or biscuit
form. In the biscuit or bisque form pottery is bibulous, the prepared glaze
sinks into its pores and when burned forms a vitreous coating.
The application of oil colours and designs to ware before baking by the
“bat” system of printing originated in the eighteenth and was perfected in
the nineteenth century. It consists of impressing oil pictures on a bat of glue
and then pressing the bat on to the porous unbaked clay or porcelain which
transferred the colours. This was another revolution in the art.
One manner for ages of applying colours to ware is first to reduce the
mixture to a liquid form, called “slip,” and then, if the Chinese method is
followed, to dip the colour up on the end of a hollow bamboo rod, which
end is covered with wire gauze, then by blowing through the rod the colour
was sprayed or deposited on the ware. Another method is the use of a brush
and comb. The brush being dipped into the coloured matter, the comb is
passed over the brush in such manner as to cause the paint to spatter the
object with fine drops or particles. A very recent method, by which the
beautiful background and blended colours of the celebrated Rookwood
pottery of Cincinnati, Ohio, have become distinguished, consists in laying
the colour upon the ware in a cloud or sheet of almost imperceptible mist by
the use of an air atomiser blown by the operator. By the use of this simple
instrument, the laying on a single colour, or the delicate blending and
shadings of two or more colours in very beautiful effects is easily produced.
This use of the atomiser commenced in 1884, and was claimed as the
invention of a lady, Miss Laura Fry, who obtained a patent for thus blowing
the atomised spray colouring matter on pottery in 1889; but it was held by
the courts that she was anticipated by experiments of others, and by
descriptions in previous patents of the spraying of paint on other objects by
compressed air apparatus known as the air brush. However, this
introduction of the use of the atomiser caused quite a revolution in the art of
applying colours to pottery in the forming of backgrounds.
Page 343
Enamelled ware is no longer confined to pottery. About 1878 Niedringhaus
in the United States began to enamel sheet iron by the application of glaze
and iron oxide, giving such articles a granite appearance; and since then
metallic cooking vessels, bath tubs, etc., have been converted in appearance
into the finest earthenware and porcelain, and far more durable, beautiful
and useful than the plain metal alone for such purposes.
When we remember that for many centuries, wood and pewter, and to some
extent crude earthenware, were the materials from which the dishes of the
great bulk of the human family were made, as well as their table and mantel
ornaments, and compare them in character and plenteousness with the table
and other ware of even the poorest character of to-day, we can appreciate
how much has been done in this direction to help the human family by
modern inventions.
Artificial Stone.—The world as yet has not so far exhausted its supply of
stone and marble as to compel a resort to artificial productions on a great
scale, and yet to meet the demands of those localities wherein the natural
supplies of good building stones and marble are very scarce, necessitating
when used a long and expensive transportation, methods have been adopted
by which, at comparatively small cost, fine imitations of the best stones and
marbles have been produced, having all the durable and artistic qualities of
the originals, as for the most part, they are composed of the same materials
as the stone and marbles themselves.
The characteristic backgrounds, the veins and shadowings, and the soft
colours of various marbles have been quite successfully imitated by treating
dehydrated gypsum with various colouring solutions. Sand stones have
been moulded or pressed from the same ingredients, and with either smooth
or undressed faces. When necessary the mixture is coloured, to resemble
precisely the original stones.
One of the improvements in the manufacture and use of modern cements
and artificial stones consists in their application to the making of streets and
sidewalks. Neat, smooth, hard, beautiful pavements are now taking the
place everywhere of the unsatisfactory gravel, wood, and brick pavements
of former days. We know that the Romans and other ancient peoples had
their hydraulic cements, and the plaster on some of their walls stands to-day
in the United States began to enamel sheet iron by the application of glaze
and iron oxide, giving such articles a granite appearance; and since then
metallic cooking vessels, bath tubs, etc., have been converted in appearance
into the finest earthenware and porcelain, and far more durable, beautiful
and useful than the plain metal alone for such purposes.
When we remember that for many centuries, wood and pewter, and to some
extent crude earthenware, were the materials from which the dishes of the
great bulk of the human family were made, as well as their table and mantel
ornaments, and compare them in character and plenteousness with the table
and other ware of even the poorest character of to-day, we can appreciate
how much has been done in this direction to help the human family by
modern inventions.
Artificial Stone.—The world as yet has not so far exhausted its supply of
stone and marble as to compel a resort to artificial productions on a great
scale, and yet to meet the demands of those localities wherein the natural
supplies of good building stones and marble are very scarce, necessitating
when used a long and expensive transportation, methods have been adopted
by which, at comparatively small cost, fine imitations of the best stones and
marbles have been produced, having all the durable and artistic qualities of
the originals, as for the most part, they are composed of the same materials
as the stone and marbles themselves.
The characteristic backgrounds, the veins and shadowings, and the soft
colours of various marbles have been quite successfully imitated by treating
dehydrated gypsum with various colouring solutions. Sand stones have
been moulded or pressed from the same ingredients, and with either smooth
or undressed faces. When necessary the mixture is coloured, to resemble
precisely the original stones.
One of the improvements in the manufacture and use of modern cements
and artificial stones consists in their application to the making of streets and
sidewalks. Neat, smooth, hard, beautiful pavements are now taking the
place everywhere of the unsatisfactory gravel, wood, and brick pavements
of former days. We know that the Romans and other ancient peoples had
their hydraulic cements, and the plaster on some of their walls stands to-day
Page 344
to attest its good quality. Modern inventors have turned their attention in
recent years to the production of machines to grind, crush, mix and set the
materials, and to apply them to large wall surfaces, in place of hand labour.
Ready-made plaster of a fine quality is now manufactured in great
quantities. It needs only the addition of a little water to reduce it to a
condition for use; and a machine operated by compressed air may be had
for spreading it quickly over the lath work of wood or sheet metal, slats, or
over rough cement ceilings and walls.
Glass.—The Sister of Pottery is Glass. It may have been an accidental
discovery, occurring when men made fire upon a sandy knoll or beach, that
fire could melt and fuse sand and ashes, or sand and lime, or sand and soda
or some other alkali, and with which may also have been mixed some
particles of iron, or lead, or manganese, or alumina to produce that hard,
lustrous, vitreous, brittle article that we call glass.
But who invented the method of blowing the viscid mass into form on the
end of a hollow tube? Who invented the scissors and shears for cutting and
trimming it when soft? Or the use of the diamond, or its dust, for polishing
it when hard? History is silent on these points. The tablets of the most
ancient days of Egypt, yet recovered, show glass blowers at work at their
trade—and the names of the first and original inventors are buried in
oblivion. Each age has handed down to us from many countries specimens
of glass ware which will compare favourably in beauty and finish with any
that can be made to-day.
Yet with the knowledge of making glass of the finest description existing
for centuries, it is strange that its manufacture was not extended to supply
the wants of mankind, to which its use now seems so indispensable. And yet
as late as the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries glass windows were found
only in the houses of the wealthy, in the churches and palaces, and glass
mirrors were unknown except to the rich, as curiosities, and as aids to the
scientists in the early days of telescopy. Poor people used oiled paper,
isinglass, thinly shaved leather, resembling parchment, and thin sheets of
soft pale crystalised stone known as talc, and soapstone.
The nineteenth century has been characterised as the scientific century of
glass, and the term commercial, may well be added to that designation.
recent years to the production of machines to grind, crush, mix and set the
materials, and to apply them to large wall surfaces, in place of hand labour.
Ready-made plaster of a fine quality is now manufactured in great
quantities. It needs only the addition of a little water to reduce it to a
condition for use; and a machine operated by compressed air may be had
for spreading it quickly over the lath work of wood or sheet metal, slats, or
over rough cement ceilings and walls.
Glass.—The Sister of Pottery is Glass. It may have been an accidental
discovery, occurring when men made fire upon a sandy knoll or beach, that
fire could melt and fuse sand and ashes, or sand and lime, or sand and soda
or some other alkali, and with which may also have been mixed some
particles of iron, or lead, or manganese, or alumina to produce that hard,
lustrous, vitreous, brittle article that we call glass.
But who invented the method of blowing the viscid mass into form on the
end of a hollow tube? Who invented the scissors and shears for cutting and
trimming it when soft? Or the use of the diamond, or its dust, for polishing
it when hard? History is silent on these points. The tablets of the most
ancient days of Egypt, yet recovered, show glass blowers at work at their
trade—and the names of the first and original inventors are buried in
oblivion. Each age has handed down to us from many countries specimens
of glass ware which will compare favourably in beauty and finish with any
that can be made to-day.
Yet with the knowledge of making glass of the finest description existing
for centuries, it is strange that its manufacture was not extended to supply
the wants of mankind, to which its use now seems so indispensable. And yet
as late as the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries glass windows were found
only in the houses of the wealthy, in the churches and palaces, and glass
mirrors were unknown except to the rich, as curiosities, and as aids to the
scientists in the early days of telescopy. Poor people used oiled paper,
isinglass, thinly shaved leather, resembling parchment, and thin sheets of
soft pale crystalised stone known as talc, and soapstone.
The nineteenth century has been characterised as the scientific century of
glass, and the term commercial, may well be added to that designation.
Page 345
Its commercial importance and the advancement in its manufacture during
the first half of the century is illustrated in the fact that the Crystal Palace of
the London Industrial Exhibition of 1851, although containing nearly
900,000 square feet of glass, was furnished by a single firm, Messrs.
Chance & Co. of London, without materially delaying their other orders. In
addition to scientific discoveries, the manufacture of glass in England
received a great impetus by the removal of onerous excise duties which had
been imposed on its manufacture.
The principal improvements in the art of glass-making effected during the
nineteenth century may be summarised as follows:
First, Materials.—By the investigations of chemists and practical trials it
was learned what particular effect was produced by the old ingredients
employed, and it was found that the colours and qualities of glass, such as
clearness, strength, tenacity, purity, etc., could be greatly modified and
improved by the addition to the sand of certain new ingredients. By analysis
it was learned what different metallic oxides should be employed to
produce different colours. This knowledge before was either preserved in
secrecy, or accidentally or empirically practised, or unknown. Thus it was
learned and established that lime hardens the glass and adds to its lustre;
that the use of ordinary ingredients, the silicates of lime, magnesia, iron,
soda and potash, in their impure form, will produce the coarser kinds of
glass, such as that of which green bottles are made; that silicates of soda
and lime give the common window glass and French plate; that the
beautiful varieties of Bohemian glass are chiefly a silicate of potash and
lime; that crystal or flint glass, so called because formerly pulverised flints
were used in making it, can be made of a suitable combination of potassia
plumbic silicate; that the plumbic oxide greatly increases its transparency,
brilliancy, and refractive power; that paste—that form of glass from which
imitations of diamonds are cut, may be produced by adding a large
proportion of the oxide of lead; that by the addition of a trace of ferric oxide
or uranic acid the yellow topaz can be had; that by substituting cobaltic
oxide the brilliant blue sapphire is produced; that cuperic oxide will give
the emerald, gold oxide the ruby, manganic oxide the royal purple, and a
mixture of cobaltic and manganic oxides the rich black onyx.
the first half of the century is illustrated in the fact that the Crystal Palace of
the London Industrial Exhibition of 1851, although containing nearly
900,000 square feet of glass, was furnished by a single firm, Messrs.
Chance & Co. of London, without materially delaying their other orders. In
addition to scientific discoveries, the manufacture of glass in England
received a great impetus by the removal of onerous excise duties which had
been imposed on its manufacture.
The principal improvements in the art of glass-making effected during the
nineteenth century may be summarised as follows:
First, Materials.—By the investigations of chemists and practical trials it
was learned what particular effect was produced by the old ingredients
employed, and it was found that the colours and qualities of glass, such as
clearness, strength, tenacity, purity, etc., could be greatly modified and
improved by the addition to the sand of certain new ingredients. By analysis
it was learned what different metallic oxides should be employed to
produce different colours. This knowledge before was either preserved in
secrecy, or accidentally or empirically practised, or unknown. Thus it was
learned and established that lime hardens the glass and adds to its lustre;
that the use of ordinary ingredients, the silicates of lime, magnesia, iron,
soda and potash, in their impure form, will produce the coarser kinds of
glass, such as that of which green bottles are made; that silicates of soda
and lime give the common window glass and French plate; that the
beautiful varieties of Bohemian glass are chiefly a silicate of potash and
lime; that crystal or flint glass, so called because formerly pulverised flints
were used in making it, can be made of a suitable combination of potassia
plumbic silicate; that the plumbic oxide greatly increases its transparency,
brilliancy, and refractive power; that paste—that form of glass from which
imitations of diamonds are cut, may be produced by adding a large
proportion of the oxide of lead; that by the addition of a trace of ferric oxide
or uranic acid the yellow topaz can be had; that by substituting cobaltic
oxide the brilliant blue sapphire is produced; that cuperic oxide will give
the emerald, gold oxide the ruby, manganic oxide the royal purple, and a
mixture of cobaltic and manganic oxides the rich black onyx.
Page 346
Professor Faraday as early as 1824 had noticed a change in colour gradually
produced in glass containing oxide of manganese by exposure to the rays of
the sun. This observation induced an American gentleman, Mr. Thomas
Gaffield, a merchant of Boston, to further experiment in this direction. His
experiments commenced in 1863, and he subjected eighty different kinds of
glass, coloured and uncoloured, and manufactured in many different
countries, to this exposure of the sun’s rays. He found that not only glass
having manganese as an element, but nearly every species of glass, was so
affected, some in shorter and some in longer times; that this discoloration
was not due to the heat rays of the sun, but to its actinic rays; and that the
original colour of the glass could be reproduced by reheating the same.
Mr. Gaffield also extended his experiments to ascertain the power of
different coloured glasses to transmit the actinic or chemical rays, and
found that blue would transmit the most and red and orange the least.
Others proceeded on lines of investigation in ascertaining the best materials
to be employed in glass-making in producing the clearest and most
permanent uncoloured light; the best coloured lights for desired purposes;
glasses having the best effects on the growth of plants; and the best class for
refracting, dispersing and transmitting both natural lights and those great
modern artificial lights, gas and electricity.
Another illustration of modern scientific investigation and success in glass-
making materials is seen at the celebrated German glass works at Jena
under the management of Professors Ernst Abbe and Dr. Schott,
commenced in 1881. They, too, found that many substances had each its
own peculiar effect in the refraction and dispersion of light, and introduced
no fewer than twenty-eight new substances in glass making. Their special
work was the production of glass for the finest scientific and optical
purposes, and the highest grades of commercial glass. They have originated
over one hundred new kinds of glass. Their lenses for telescopes and
microscopes and photographic cameras, and glass and prisms, and for all
chemical and other scientific work, have a worldwide reputation.
So that in materials of composition the old days in which there were
substantially but two varieties of glass—the old-fashioned standard crown,
and flint glass—have passed away.
produced in glass containing oxide of manganese by exposure to the rays of
the sun. This observation induced an American gentleman, Mr. Thomas
Gaffield, a merchant of Boston, to further experiment in this direction. His
experiments commenced in 1863, and he subjected eighty different kinds of
glass, coloured and uncoloured, and manufactured in many different
countries, to this exposure of the sun’s rays. He found that not only glass
having manganese as an element, but nearly every species of glass, was so
affected, some in shorter and some in longer times; that this discoloration
was not due to the heat rays of the sun, but to its actinic rays; and that the
original colour of the glass could be reproduced by reheating the same.
Mr. Gaffield also extended his experiments to ascertain the power of
different coloured glasses to transmit the actinic or chemical rays, and
found that blue would transmit the most and red and orange the least.
Others proceeded on lines of investigation in ascertaining the best materials
to be employed in glass-making in producing the clearest and most
permanent uncoloured light; the best coloured lights for desired purposes;
glasses having the best effects on the growth of plants; and the best class for
refracting, dispersing and transmitting both natural lights and those great
modern artificial lights, gas and electricity.
Another illustration of modern scientific investigation and success in glass-
making materials is seen at the celebrated German glass works at Jena
under the management of Professors Ernst Abbe and Dr. Schott,
commenced in 1881. They, too, found that many substances had each its
own peculiar effect in the refraction and dispersion of light, and introduced
no fewer than twenty-eight new substances in glass making. Their special
work was the production of glass for the finest scientific and optical
purposes, and the highest grades of commercial glass. They have originated
over one hundred new kinds of glass. Their lenses for telescopes and
microscopes and photographic cameras, and glass and prisms, and for all
chemical and other scientific work, have a worldwide reputation.
So that in materials of composition the old days in which there were
substantially but two varieties of glass—the old-fashioned standard crown,
and flint glass—have passed away.
Page 347
Methods.—The revolution in the production of glass has been greatly aided
also by new methods of treatment of the old as well as the new materials.
For instance, the application of the Siemens regenerative furnace, already
alluded to in referring to pottery, in place of old-fashioned kilns, and by
which the amount of smoke is greatly diminished, fuel saved, and the
colour of the glass improved. Pots are used containing the materials to be
melted and not heated in the presence of the burning fuel, but by the heated
gases in separate compartments.
Another process is that of M. de la Bastie, added to by others, of toughening
glass by plunging it while hot and pasty and after it has been shaped,
annealed, and reheated, into a bath of grease, whereby the rapid cooling and
the grease changes its molecular condition so that it is less dense, resists
breaking to a greater degree, and presents no sharp edges when broken.
Another process is that of making plate glass by the cylinder process—
rolling it into large sheets.
Other processes are those for producing hollow ware by pressing in moulds;
for decorating; for surface enamelling of sheet glass whereby beautiful lace
patterns are transferred from the woven or netted fabric itself by using it as
a stencil to distribute upon the surface the pulverised enamel, which is
afterwards burned on; of producing iridescent glass in which is exhibited
the lights and shadows of delicate soap bubble colours by the throwing
against the surface of hydrochloric acid under pressure, or the fumes of
other materials volatilised in a reheating furnace.
Then there is Dode’s process for platinising glass, by which a reflecting
mirror is produced without silvering or otherwise coating its back, by first
applying a thin coating of platinic choride mixed with an oil to the surface
of the glass and heating the same, by which the mirror reflects from its front
face. The platinum film is so thin that the pencil and hand of a draughtsman
may be seen through it, the object to be copied being seen by reflection.
Again there is the process of making glass wool or silk—which is glass
drawn out into such extremely fine threads that it may be used for all
purposes of silk threads in the making of fabrics for decorative purposes
and in some more useful purposes, such as the filtration of water and other
liquids.
also by new methods of treatment of the old as well as the new materials.
For instance, the application of the Siemens regenerative furnace, already
alluded to in referring to pottery, in place of old-fashioned kilns, and by
which the amount of smoke is greatly diminished, fuel saved, and the
colour of the glass improved. Pots are used containing the materials to be
melted and not heated in the presence of the burning fuel, but by the heated
gases in separate compartments.
Another process is that of M. de la Bastie, added to by others, of toughening
glass by plunging it while hot and pasty and after it has been shaped,
annealed, and reheated, into a bath of grease, whereby the rapid cooling and
the grease changes its molecular condition so that it is less dense, resists
breaking to a greater degree, and presents no sharp edges when broken.
Another process is that of making plate glass by the cylinder process—
rolling it into large sheets.
Other processes are those for producing hollow ware by pressing in moulds;
for decorating; for surface enamelling of sheet glass whereby beautiful lace
patterns are transferred from the woven or netted fabric itself by using it as
a stencil to distribute upon the surface the pulverised enamel, which is
afterwards burned on; of producing iridescent glass in which is exhibited
the lights and shadows of delicate soap bubble colours by the throwing
against the surface of hydrochloric acid under pressure, or the fumes of
other materials volatilised in a reheating furnace.
Then there is Dode’s process for platinising glass, by which a reflecting
mirror is produced without silvering or otherwise coating its back, by first
applying a thin coating of platinic choride mixed with an oil to the surface
of the glass and heating the same, by which the mirror reflects from its front
face. The platinum film is so thin that the pencil and hand of a draughtsman
may be seen through it, the object to be copied being seen by reflection.
Again there is the process of making glass wool or silk—which is glass
drawn out into such extremely fine threads that it may be used for all
purposes of silk threads in the making of fabrics for decorative purposes
and in some more useful purposes, such as the filtration of water and other
liquids.
Page 348
We have already had occasion to refer to Tilghman’s sand blast in
describing pneumatic apparatus. In glass manufacture the process is used in
etching on glass designs of every kind, both simple and intricate. The sand
forced by steam, or by compressed air on the exposed portions of the glass
on which the design rests, will cut the same deeply, or most delicately, as
the hand and eye of the operator may direct.
Machines.—In addition to the new styles of furnaces, moulds and melting,
and rolling mills to which we have alluded, mention may be made of
annealing and cooling ovens, by which latter the glass is greatly improved
by being allowed to gradually cool. A large number of instruments have
been invented for special purposes, such as for making the beautiful
expensive cut glass, which is flint glass ground by wheels of iron, stone,
and emery into the desired designs, while water is being applied, and then
polished by wheels of wood, and pumice, or rottenstone; for grinding and
polishing glass for lenses; and for polishing and finishing plate glass; for
applying glass lining to metal pipes, tubes, etc.; for the delicate engraving
of glass by small revolving copper disks, varying in size from the diameter
of a cent down to one-fifteenth of an inch, cutting the finest blade of grass,
a tiny bud, the downy wing of an insect, or the faint shadow of an exquisite
eyebrow.
Cameo cutting and incrustation; porcelain electroplating and moulding
apparatus, and apparatus for making porcelain plates before drying and
burning, may be added to the list.
It would be a much longer list to enumerate the various objects made of
glass unknown or not in common use in former generations. The reader
must call to mind or imagine any article which he thinks desirable to be
made from or covered with this lustrous indestructible material, or any
practicable form of instrument for the transmission of light, and it is quite
likely he will find it already at hand in shops or instruments in factories
ready for its making.
Rubber—Goodyear.
The rubber tree, whether in India with its immense trunk towering above all
its fellows and wearing a lofty crown, hundreds of feet in circumference, of
describing pneumatic apparatus. In glass manufacture the process is used in
etching on glass designs of every kind, both simple and intricate. The sand
forced by steam, or by compressed air on the exposed portions of the glass
on which the design rests, will cut the same deeply, or most delicately, as
the hand and eye of the operator may direct.
Machines.—In addition to the new styles of furnaces, moulds and melting,
and rolling mills to which we have alluded, mention may be made of
annealing and cooling ovens, by which latter the glass is greatly improved
by being allowed to gradually cool. A large number of instruments have
been invented for special purposes, such as for making the beautiful
expensive cut glass, which is flint glass ground by wheels of iron, stone,
and emery into the desired designs, while water is being applied, and then
polished by wheels of wood, and pumice, or rottenstone; for grinding and
polishing glass for lenses; and for polishing and finishing plate glass; for
applying glass lining to metal pipes, tubes, etc.; for the delicate engraving
of glass by small revolving copper disks, varying in size from the diameter
of a cent down to one-fifteenth of an inch, cutting the finest blade of grass,
a tiny bud, the downy wing of an insect, or the faint shadow of an exquisite
eyebrow.
Cameo cutting and incrustation; porcelain electroplating and moulding
apparatus, and apparatus for making porcelain plates before drying and
burning, may be added to the list.
It would be a much longer list to enumerate the various objects made of
glass unknown or not in common use in former generations. The reader
must call to mind or imagine any article which he thinks desirable to be
made from or covered with this lustrous indestructible material, or any
practicable form of instrument for the transmission of light, and it is quite
likely he will find it already at hand in shops or instruments in factories
ready for its making.
Rubber—Goodyear.
The rubber tree, whether in India with its immense trunk towering above all
its fellows and wearing a lofty crown, hundreds of feet in circumference, of
Page 349
mixed green and yellow blossoms; or in South America, more slender and
shorter but still beautiful in clustered leaves and flowers on its long, loosely
pendent branches; or in Africa, still more slender and growing as a giant
creeper upon the highest trees along the water courses, hiding its struggling
support and festooning the whole forest with its glossy dark green leaves,
sweetly scented, pure white, star-like flowers, and its orange-like fruit—
yields from its veins a milk which man has converted into one of the most
useful articles of the century.
The modes of treating this milky juice varies among the natives of the
several countries where the trees abound. In Africa they cut or strip the
bark, and as the milk oozes out the natives catch and smear it thickly over
their limbs and bodies, and when it dries pull it off and cut it into blocks for
transportation. In Brazil the juice is collected in clay vessels and smoked
and dried in a smouldering fire of palm nuts, which gives the material its
dark brown appearance. They mould the softened rubber over clay patterns
in the form of shoes, jars, vases, tubes, etc., and as they are sticky they carry
them separated on poles to the large towns and sea ports and sell them in
this condition. It was some such articles that first attracted the attention of
Europeans, who during the eighteenth century called the attention of their
countrymen to them.
It was in 1736 that La Condamine described rubber to the French Academy.
He afterward resided in the valley of the Amazon ten years, and then he and
MM. Herissent, Macquer, and Grossat, again by their writings and
experiments interested the scientific and commercial world in the matter.
In 1770 Dr. Priestley published the fact that this rubber had become notable
for rubbing out pencil marks, bits of it being sold for a high price for that
purpose. About 1797, some Englishman began to make water-proof varnish
from it, and to take out patents for the same. This was as far as the art had
advanced in caoutchouc, or rubber, in the eighteenth century.
In 1819 Mr. Mackintosh, of Glasgow, began experimenting with the oil of
naphtha obtained from gas works as a solvent for India rubber; and so
successfully that he made a water-proof varnish which was applied to
fabrics, took out his patent in England in 1823, and thus was started the
celebrated “Mackintoshes.”
shorter but still beautiful in clustered leaves and flowers on its long, loosely
pendent branches; or in Africa, still more slender and growing as a giant
creeper upon the highest trees along the water courses, hiding its struggling
support and festooning the whole forest with its glossy dark green leaves,
sweetly scented, pure white, star-like flowers, and its orange-like fruit—
yields from its veins a milk which man has converted into one of the most
useful articles of the century.
The modes of treating this milky juice varies among the natives of the
several countries where the trees abound. In Africa they cut or strip the
bark, and as the milk oozes out the natives catch and smear it thickly over
their limbs and bodies, and when it dries pull it off and cut it into blocks for
transportation. In Brazil the juice is collected in clay vessels and smoked
and dried in a smouldering fire of palm nuts, which gives the material its
dark brown appearance. They mould the softened rubber over clay patterns
in the form of shoes, jars, vases, tubes, etc., and as they are sticky they carry
them separated on poles to the large towns and sea ports and sell them in
this condition. It was some such articles that first attracted the attention of
Europeans, who during the eighteenth century called the attention of their
countrymen to them.
It was in 1736 that La Condamine described rubber to the French Academy.
He afterward resided in the valley of the Amazon ten years, and then he and
MM. Herissent, Macquer, and Grossat, again by their writings and
experiments interested the scientific and commercial world in the matter.
In 1770 Dr. Priestley published the fact that this rubber had become notable
for rubbing out pencil marks, bits of it being sold for a high price for that
purpose. About 1797, some Englishman began to make water-proof varnish
from it, and to take out patents for the same. This was as far as the art had
advanced in caoutchouc, or rubber, in the eighteenth century.
In 1819 Mr. Mackintosh, of Glasgow, began experimenting with the oil of
naphtha obtained from gas works as a solvent for India rubber; and so
successfully that he made a water-proof varnish which was applied to
fabrics, took out his patent in England in 1823, and thus was started the
celebrated “Mackintoshes.”
Page 350
In 1825 Thomas C. Wales, a merchant of Boston, conceived the idea of
sending American boot and shoe lasts to Brazil for use in place of their clay
models. This soon resulted in sending great quantities of rubber overshoes
to Europe and America.
The importation of rubber and the manufacture of water-proof garments and
articles therefrom now rapidly increased in those countries. But nothing that
could be done would prevent the rubber from getting soft in summer and
hard and brittle in the winter. Something was needed to render the rubber
insensible to the changes of temperature.
For fifty years, ever since the manufacturers and inventors of Europe and
America had learned of the water-proof character of rubber, they had been
striving to find something to overcome this difficulty. Finally it became the
lot of one man to supply the want. His name was Charles Goodyear.
Born with the century, in New Haven, Connecticut, and receiving but a
public school education, he engaged with his father in the hardware
business in Philadelphia. This proving a failure, he, in 1830, turned his
attention to the improvement of rubber goods. He became almost a fanatic
on the subject—going from place to place clad in rubber fabrics, talking
about it to merchants, mechanics, scientists, chemists, anybody that would
listen, making his experiments constantly; deeply in debt on account of his
own and his father’s business failures, thrown into jail for debt for months,
continuing his experiments there with philosophical, good-natured
persistence; out of jail steeped to his lips in poverty; his family suffering for
the necessaries of life; selling the school books of his children for material
to continue his work, and taking a patent in 1835 for a rubber cement,
which did not help him much. Finding that nitric acid improved the quality
of the rubber by removing its adhesiveness, he introduced this process,
which met with great favour, was applied generally to the manufacture of
overshoes, and helped his condition. But his trials and troubles continued.
Finally one Nathaniel Haywood suggested the use of sulphurous acid gas,
and this was found an improvement; but still the rubber would get hard in
winter, and although not so soft in summer, yet the odour was offensive. Yet
by the use of this improvement he was enabled to raise more money to get
Haywood a patent for it, while he became its owner. In the midst of his
further troubles, and while experimenting with the sulphur mixed with
sending American boot and shoe lasts to Brazil for use in place of their clay
models. This soon resulted in sending great quantities of rubber overshoes
to Europe and America.
The importation of rubber and the manufacture of water-proof garments and
articles therefrom now rapidly increased in those countries. But nothing that
could be done would prevent the rubber from getting soft in summer and
hard and brittle in the winter. Something was needed to render the rubber
insensible to the changes of temperature.
For fifty years, ever since the manufacturers and inventors of Europe and
America had learned of the water-proof character of rubber, they had been
striving to find something to overcome this difficulty. Finally it became the
lot of one man to supply the want. His name was Charles Goodyear.
Born with the century, in New Haven, Connecticut, and receiving but a
public school education, he engaged with his father in the hardware
business in Philadelphia. This proving a failure, he, in 1830, turned his
attention to the improvement of rubber goods. He became almost a fanatic
on the subject—going from place to place clad in rubber fabrics, talking
about it to merchants, mechanics, scientists, chemists, anybody that would
listen, making his experiments constantly; deeply in debt on account of his
own and his father’s business failures, thrown into jail for debt for months,
continuing his experiments there with philosophical, good-natured
persistence; out of jail steeped to his lips in poverty; his family suffering for
the necessaries of life; selling the school books of his children for material
to continue his work, and taking a patent in 1835 for a rubber cement,
which did not help him much. Finding that nitric acid improved the quality
of the rubber by removing its adhesiveness, he introduced this process,
which met with great favour, was applied generally to the manufacture of
overshoes, and helped his condition. But his trials and troubles continued.
Finally one Nathaniel Haywood suggested the use of sulphurous acid gas,
and this was found an improvement; but still the rubber would get hard in
winter, and although not so soft in summer, yet the odour was offensive. Yet
by the use of this improvement he was enabled to raise more money to get
Haywood a patent for it, while he became its owner. In the midst of his
further troubles, and while experimenting with the sulphur mixed with
Page 351
rubber he found by accidental burning or partly melting of the two together
on a stove, that the part in which the sulphur was embedded was hard and
inelastic, and that the part least impregnated with the sulphur was
proportionately softer and more elastic. At last the great secret was
discovered!
And now at this later day, when $50,000,000 worth of rubber goods are
made annually in the United States alone, the whole immense business is
still divided into but two classes—hard and soft—hard or vulcanized like
that called “ebonite,” or soft, it may be, as a delicate wafer. And these
qualities depend on and vary as a greater or less amount of sulphur is used,
as described in the patents of Goodyear, commencing with his French
patent of 1844.
Then of course the pirates began their attacks, and he was kept poor in
defending his patents, and died comparatively so in 1860; but happy in his
great discovery. He had received, however, the whole world’s honours—the
great council medal at the Nations Fair in London in 1851 the Cross of the
Legion of Honour by Napoleon III., and lesser tributes from other nations.
It can be imagined the riches that flowed into the laps of Goodyear’s
successors; the wide field opened for new inventions in machines and
processes; and the vast added comforts to mankind resulting from
Goodyear’s introduction of a new and useful material to man.—A material
which, takes its place and stands in line with wood, and leather, and glass,
and iron, and steel!
But rubber and steel as we now know them are not the only new fabrics
given to mankind by the inventors of the Nineteenth Century.
The work of the silk worm has been rivalled; and a wool as white and soft
as that clipped from the cleanest lamb has been drawn by the hands of these
magicians from the hot and furious slag that bursts from a blast furnace.
The silk referred to is made from a solution of that inflammable material of
tremendous force known as gun-cotton, or pyroxylin. Dr. Chardonnet was
the inventor of the leading form of the article, which he introduced and
patented about 1888. The solution made is of a viscous character, allowed
to escape from a vessel through small orifices in fine streams; and as the
on a stove, that the part in which the sulphur was embedded was hard and
inelastic, and that the part least impregnated with the sulphur was
proportionately softer and more elastic. At last the great secret was
discovered!
And now at this later day, when $50,000,000 worth of rubber goods are
made annually in the United States alone, the whole immense business is
still divided into but two classes—hard and soft—hard or vulcanized like
that called “ebonite,” or soft, it may be, as a delicate wafer. And these
qualities depend on and vary as a greater or less amount of sulphur is used,
as described in the patents of Goodyear, commencing with his French
patent of 1844.
Then of course the pirates began their attacks, and he was kept poor in
defending his patents, and died comparatively so in 1860; but happy in his
great discovery. He had received, however, the whole world’s honours—the
great council medal at the Nations Fair in London in 1851 the Cross of the
Legion of Honour by Napoleon III., and lesser tributes from other nations.
It can be imagined the riches that flowed into the laps of Goodyear’s
successors; the wide field opened for new inventions in machines and
processes; and the vast added comforts to mankind resulting from
Goodyear’s introduction of a new and useful material to man.—A material
which, takes its place and stands in line with wood, and leather, and glass,
and iron, and steel!
But rubber and steel as we now know them are not the only new fabrics
given to mankind by the inventors of the Nineteenth Century.
The work of the silk worm has been rivalled; and a wool as white and soft
as that clipped from the cleanest lamb has been drawn by the hands of these
magicians from the hot and furious slag that bursts from a blast furnace.
The silk referred to is made from a solution of that inflammable material of
tremendous force known as gun-cotton, or pyroxylin. Dr. Chardonnet was
the inventor of the leading form of the article, which he introduced and
patented about 1888. The solution made is of a viscous character, allowed
to escape from a vessel through small orifices in fine streams; and as the
Page 352
solvent part evaporates rapidly these fine streams become hard, flexible
fibres, which glisten with a beautiful lustre and can be used as a substitute
for some purposes for the fine threads spun by that mysterious master of his
craft—the silk worm.
The gusts of wind that drove against the molten lava thrown from the crater
of Kilauea, producing as it did, a fall of white, metallic, hairy-like material
resembling wool, suggested to man an industrial application of the same
method. And at the great works of Krupp at Essen, Prussia, for instance,
may be witnessed a fine stream of molten slag flowing from an iron
furnace, and as it falls is met by a strong blast of cold air which transforms
it into a silky mass as white and fine as cotton.
fibres, which glisten with a beautiful lustre and can be used as a substitute
for some purposes for the fine threads spun by that mysterious master of his
craft—the silk worm.
The gusts of wind that drove against the molten lava thrown from the crater
of Kilauea, producing as it did, a fall of white, metallic, hairy-like material
resembling wool, suggested to man an industrial application of the same
method. And at the great works of Krupp at Essen, Prussia, for instance,
may be witnessed a fine stream of molten slag flowing from an iron
furnace, and as it falls is met by a strong blast of cold air which transforms
it into a silky mass as white and fine as cotton.
Page 353
INDEX.
Page 354
A.
Abbe, Prof. Ernst, 412, 473.
Abbott Museum, N.Y., 242.
Abrading machines, 332.
Acetylene, 70, 456.
Accumulators, 177.
Achromatic lens, 410.
Acoustics, 406.
Addressing machines, 285.
Aeolipile, 74.
Affixers, 285.
African inventions, 340, 476.
Agriculture, Chap. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.
Agricultural chemistry, 64.
Agricultural societies, 16.
Aeronautics. (See Air Ships and Balloons, 169, 445, 448.)
Air Atomizers, 467.
Air brakes, 89, 108, 193.
Air Brushes, 195, 418.
Air Compressors and propellers, 195.
Air Drills, 194.
Air Engines, 89, 193, 194.
Air propellers. (See Pneumatics.)
Air Pumps, 55, 113, 194, 195, 196, 197, 404.
Air Ships, 446, 449.
Abbe, Prof. Ernst, 412, 473.
Abbott Museum, N.Y., 242.
Abrading machines, 332.
Acetylene, 70, 456.
Accumulators, 177.
Achromatic lens, 410.
Acoustics, 406.
Addressing machines, 285.
Aeolipile, 74.
Affixers, 285.
African inventions, 340, 476.
Agriculture, Chap. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.
Agricultural chemistry, 64.
Agricultural societies, 16.
Aeronautics. (See Air Ships and Balloons, 169, 445, 448.)
Air Atomizers, 467.
Air brakes, 89, 108, 193.
Air Brushes, 195, 418.
Air Compressors and propellers, 195.
Air Drills, 194.
Air Engines, 89, 193, 194.
Air propellers. (See Pneumatics.)
Air Pumps, 55, 113, 194, 195, 196, 197, 404.
Air Ships, 446, 449.
Page 355
Airy, 410.
“Alabama,” The, 261.
Alarm Locks. (See Locks.)
Alchemistry and alchemists. (See Chemistry.)
Alcohol, 65.
Alfred the Great, 386, 457.
Alembert, D., 167.
Alhambra, 373.
Allen, Horatio, 83.
Allen, Dr. John, 168.
Allotropic phosphorus. (See Matches.)
Allen and Yates. (See Puddling.)
Alloys, 237, 238.
Altiscope, 413.
Aluminium, 238.
Amalgamators, 380.
American Inventions, 341.
Ammonia, 191, 215.
Ammoniacal gas engines, 191.
Ampère, 122, 130.
Amontons air engines, 193.
Ancient smelting. (See Metallurgy.)
Anæsthetics, 2, 71.
Aniline dyes, 69.
Annealing and tempering, 248.
“Alabama,” The, 261.
Alarm Locks. (See Locks.)
Alchemistry and alchemists. (See Chemistry.)
Alcohol, 65.
Alfred the Great, 386, 457.
Alembert, D., 167.
Alhambra, 373.
Allen, Horatio, 83.
Allen, Dr. John, 168.
Allotropic phosphorus. (See Matches.)
Allen and Yates. (See Puddling.)
Alloys, 237, 238.
Altiscope, 413.
Aluminium, 238.
Amalgamators, 380.
American Inventions, 341.
Ammonia, 191, 215.
Ammoniacal gas engines, 191.
Ampère, 122, 130.
Amontons air engines, 193.
Ancient smelting. (See Metallurgy.)
Anæsthetics, 2, 71.
Aniline dyes, 69.
Annealing and tempering, 248.
Page 356
Antiseptics, 2, 72.
Antwerp, Siege of, 261. (See Ordnance.)
Aoisseau, Chas., 466.
Apollo, 400.
Applegath, 283, 284.
Aqueducts, 93, 166, 167.
Arabs, 253, 274.
Arabic notation, 2.
Arago, 122, 410, 411, 416.
Arc Lamps, 137.
Archimedes, 9, 165, 185, 442.
Aristotle, 58.
Argand burner, 456.
Arkwright, Richard, 42, 296, 298, 301.
Arlberg tunnel, 107.
Armor, plate, 262, 264, 265, 266.
Arnold, Asa, 301.
Arnold, watchmaker, 389.
Armstrong, Sir William G., 176, 263, 264.
Arquebus. (See Ordnance.)
Artesian Wells, 38.
Artificial Stone. (See Pottery.)
Artificial Silk. (See Glass.)
Arts, Fine, 197, 347, 353, 371, 400, 414, 418.
Art, Scientific, 228.
Antwerp, Siege of, 261. (See Ordnance.)
Aoisseau, Chas., 466.
Apollo, 400.
Applegath, 283, 284.
Aqueducts, 93, 166, 167.
Arabs, 253, 274.
Arabic notation, 2.
Arago, 122, 410, 411, 416.
Arc Lamps, 137.
Archimedes, 9, 165, 185, 442.
Aristotle, 58.
Argand burner, 456.
Arkwright, Richard, 42, 296, 298, 301.
Arlberg tunnel, 107.
Armor, plate, 262, 264, 265, 266.
Arnold, Asa, 301.
Arnold, watchmaker, 389.
Armstrong, Sir William G., 176, 263, 264.
Arquebus. (See Ordnance.)
Artesian Wells, 38.
Artificial Stone. (See Pottery.)
Artificial Silk. (See Glass.)
Arts, Fine, 197, 347, 353, 371, 400, 414, 418.
Art, Scientific, 228.
Page 357
Artificial Teeth. (See Dentistry.)
Artillery. (See Ordnance.)
Asbestos, 421.
Assembling machines and system. (See Sewing machines,
Watch, and Ordnance.)
Assyrians, 24.
Astronomical inventions, 390. (See Horology and Optics.)
Athens. (See Greece.)
Athanor, Alchemist’s stone. (See Chemistry.)
Atmospheric and Gas pressure, 194.
Atoms—atomic theory, 59, 60, 453.
Atomizer, 197, 467.
Attraction of Gravitation, 2.
Augurs, 348, 349.
Auricular instruments, 406.
Australia, 40.
Austria, 24, 50, 358.
Autoharps, 405.
Automobiles, 89, 435.
Axes, 340.
B.
Babbitt, Isaac, metal, 237.
Babylonians, 384.
Bach. (See Pianos.)
Bacon, Roger, 214.
Artillery. (See Ordnance.)
Asbestos, 421.
Assembling machines and system. (See Sewing machines,
Watch, and Ordnance.)
Assyrians, 24.
Astronomical inventions, 390. (See Horology and Optics.)
Athens. (See Greece.)
Athanor, Alchemist’s stone. (See Chemistry.)
Atmospheric and Gas pressure, 194.
Atoms—atomic theory, 59, 60, 453.
Atomizer, 197, 467.
Attraction of Gravitation, 2.
Augurs, 348, 349.
Auricular instruments, 406.
Australia, 40.
Austria, 24, 50, 358.
Autoharps, 405.
Automobiles, 89, 435.
Axes, 340.
B.
Babbitt, Isaac, metal, 237.
Babylonians, 384.
Bach. (See Pianos.)
Bacon, Roger, 214.
Page 358
Bacteria, 213.
Bailey, 1822; 37.
Bain, Alex., 147.
Baling and Bale ties, 51, 52, 53.
Balloons, 169, 446.
Band Saw, 348.
Barber, John, 185.
Barker’s Mill, 171.
Barlow looms, 305.
Barlow, Prof., 123.
Barrel making. (See Wood Working.)
Bartholdi, 105.
Bastie, 473.
Batcheller, 318.
Baths—closets, 178.
Bath system, Porcelain, 466.
Battam, Thomas, artificial marble, 466.
Baude, Peter, 224.
Beadlestone, metallurgist, 231.
Bean, B. W., 318.
Beaulieu, Col. (Ordnance), 264.
Beating engines. (See Paper.)
Becher, 58.
Bechler, 413.
Becquerel, 44.
Bailey, 1822; 37.
Bain, Alex., 147.
Baling and Bale ties, 51, 52, 53.
Balloons, 169, 446.
Band Saw, 348.
Barber, John, 185.
Barker’s Mill, 171.
Barlow looms, 305.
Barlow, Prof., 123.
Barrel making. (See Wood Working.)
Bartholdi, 105.
Bastie, 473.
Batcheller, 318.
Baths—closets, 178.
Bath system, Porcelain, 466.
Battam, Thomas, artificial marble, 466.
Baude, Peter, 224.
Beadlestone, metallurgist, 231.
Bean, B. W., 318.
Beaulieu, Col. (Ordnance), 264.
Beating engines. (See Paper.)
Becher, 58.
Bechler, 413.
Becquerel, 44.
Page 359
Beds, 355.
Bed—printing, 282.
Beer. (See Chemistry.)
Bellaert, Jacob, 280.
Bell, Alex. Graham, 140, 141, 142, 407, 414.
Bell, C. A., 408.
Bell, Sir L., metallurgy, 223.
Bell’s history of metallurgy, 223.
Bell, Rev. Patrick, 36, 38.
Bells and Bell making—Metallurgy.
Bending wood, 349, 357. (See Woodworking.)
Bennett, Richard, 46.
Bentham, Sir Sam’l, 242, 342, 349, 374.
Bergman, 61.
Berliner, Emile, 408.
Bernoulli, D., 167.
Berthollet, 64, 454.
Berzelius, 60.
Bessemer, Henry, and process, 176, 232, 233.
Besson, Prof. J., 75, 242.
Bicheroux, potter, 465.
Bicycles, 431.
Bigelow, E. B., 305.
Billings, Dr., 210.
Binding books. (See Printing.)
Bed—printing, 282.
Beer. (See Chemistry.)
Bellaert, Jacob, 280.
Bell, Alex. Graham, 140, 141, 142, 407, 414.
Bell, C. A., 408.
Bell, Sir L., metallurgy, 223.
Bell’s history of metallurgy, 223.
Bell, Rev. Patrick, 36, 38.
Bells and Bell making—Metallurgy.
Bending wood, 349, 357. (See Woodworking.)
Bennett, Richard, 46.
Bentham, Sir Sam’l, 242, 342, 349, 374.
Bergman, 61.
Berliner, Emile, 408.
Bernoulli, D., 167.
Berthollet, 64, 454.
Berzelius, 60.
Bessemer, Henry, and process, 176, 232, 233.
Besson, Prof. J., 75, 242.
Bicheroux, potter, 465.
Bicycles, 431.
Bigelow, E. B., 305.
Billings, Dr., 210.
Binding books. (See Printing.)
Page 360
Binders, grain and twine, 39.
Bicycles, 431 to 435.
Bischof, Simon, 191.
Blacksmithing. (See Metallurgy.)
Blaew of Amsterdam, 281.
Black, chemist, 58.
Blair, iron and steel, 234.
Blakely Gun. (See Ordnance.)
Blake, Eli. W., Blake crusher, 376, 377.
Blanchard, Thos., 268, 343, 344, 350, 356, 369.
Blasting, 107.
Blast, steel. (See Bessemer.)
Blauofen furnace. (See Metallurgy.)
Bleaching and Dyeing, 69.
Blenkinsop, 82.
Blithe, Walter, 14.
Block Printing. (See Printing.)
Blodgett & Lerow, sewing machines, 318.
Bloomaries. (See Metallurgy.)
Blunderbuss, 257.
Bobbins—spinning, 302.
Boerhaave, 58.
Boetius, 365.
Bohemia, 357.
Boilers. (See Steam Engineering.)
Bicycles, 431 to 435.
Bischof, Simon, 191.
Blacksmithing. (See Metallurgy.)
Blaew of Amsterdam, 281.
Black, chemist, 58.
Blair, iron and steel, 234.
Blakely Gun. (See Ordnance.)
Blake, Eli. W., Blake crusher, 376, 377.
Blanchard, Thos., 268, 343, 344, 350, 356, 369.
Blasting, 107.
Blast, steel. (See Bessemer.)
Blauofen furnace. (See Metallurgy.)
Bleaching and Dyeing, 69.
Blenkinsop, 82.
Blithe, Walter, 14.
Block Printing. (See Printing.)
Blodgett & Lerow, sewing machines, 318.
Bloomaries. (See Metallurgy.)
Blunderbuss, 257.
Bobbins—spinning, 302.
Boerhaave, 58.
Boetius, 365.
Bohemia, 357.
Boilers. (See Steam Engineering.)
Page 361
“Boke of Husbandry,” 1523, 14.
Bollman bridge, 103.
Bolting. (See Milling.)
Bolt making. (See Metal Working.)
Bombards, 254.
Bombs. (See Ordnance.)
Bomford, Col., 260.
Bonaparte, 89, 90, 256.
Bonnets and ladies’ hats, 324.
Bonjeau, M., 325.
Bonelli, M., 305.
Book making and binding, 287, 288.
Boots and shoes, 366 to 371.
Boring machines, 345, 348.
Boring square holes, 346.
Bormann, Genl., 259.
Bottle stoppers, 358.
Boulton and Watt, 84, 452.
Bouton, 415.
Bourseuil, Chas., 407.
Boyce, 1799, 35.
Boyle, Robert, 58, 184, 193, 194.
Box making. (See Woodworking Machinery.)
Braiding. (See Sewing Machines.)
Braithwaite, 83.
Bollman bridge, 103.
Bolting. (See Milling.)
Bolt making. (See Metal Working.)
Bombards, 254.
Bombs. (See Ordnance.)
Bomford, Col., 260.
Bonaparte, 89, 90, 256.
Bonnets and ladies’ hats, 324.
Bonjeau, M., 325.
Bonelli, M., 305.
Book making and binding, 287, 288.
Boots and shoes, 366 to 371.
Boring machines, 345, 348.
Boring square holes, 346.
Bormann, Genl., 259.
Bottle stoppers, 358.
Boulton and Watt, 84, 452.
Bouton, 415.
Bourseuil, Chas., 407.
Boyce, 1799, 35.
Boyle, Robert, 58, 184, 193, 194.
Box making. (See Woodworking Machinery.)
Braiding. (See Sewing Machines.)
Braithwaite, 83.
Page 362
Brakes, bicycle, 433-436.
Brakes, steam, Railway and Electric, 87, 436.
Brakes and gins, 297.
Bramah, Jos., 82, 154, 170, 242, 244, 342, 349, 424.
Branch, 342.
Branco, 75.
Brahe, Tycho, 183, 388.
Brass, 219.
Brayton, G. H., 190.
Brazil, 281, 476, 477.
Breech-loaders, 257, 263, 264, 265, 269. (See Ordnance.)
Brewster, Sir David, 410.
Brickmaking machines, kilns and processes, 457, 464.
Bridges and Bridge Building, 93 to 104, 197.
Bright, John, 138.
Broadwood piano, 403.
Bronsen, 412.
Broom-making, 328, 329.
Brot, 411.
Brothers of the Bridge, 94.
Bronze, 218, 219.
Brooklyn bridge, 98, 99.
Brown, Sir Saml., 95, 187, 188.
“Brown Bess,” 258.
Bruce, David, 284.
Brakes, steam, Railway and Electric, 87, 436.
Brakes and gins, 297.
Bramah, Jos., 82, 154, 170, 242, 244, 342, 349, 424.
Branch, 342.
Branco, 75.
Brahe, Tycho, 183, 388.
Brass, 219.
Brayton, G. H., 190.
Brazil, 281, 476, 477.
Breech-loaders, 257, 263, 264, 265, 269. (See Ordnance.)
Brewster, Sir David, 410.
Brickmaking machines, kilns and processes, 457, 464.
Bridges and Bridge Building, 93 to 104, 197.
Bright, John, 138.
Broadwood piano, 403.
Bronsen, 412.
Broom-making, 328, 329.
Brot, 411.
Brothers of the Bridge, 94.
Bronze, 218, 219.
Brooklyn bridge, 98, 99.
Brown, Sir Saml., 95, 187, 188.
“Brown Bess,” 258.
Bruce, David, 284.
Page 363
Brunel, I. K., 97.
Brunel, I. M., 351, 367.
Brunton, 82.
Brush—Brush light, 137.
Brushes and Brush making, 330.
Buchanan’s Practical Essays, 244.
Buckingham, C. L., 148.
Buffing machines, 365.
Builders’ hardware, 250.
Buildings, tall, 152, 153.
Buffers, 437. (See Railways, Elevator, etc., 160, 161.)
Bunsen, Robt. W., 119, 120, 230.
Bunsen light, 456.
Burden, Henry, 95.
Burdett, Wm., 188.
Burke, Edmund, 182.
Burns, Robert, 31.
Butter, 54, 55.
Button-hole machines, 323.
Bunsen. (See Chemistry.)
C.
Cable transportation, 109.
Cæsar, 457.
Cahill, Thaddeus, 287.
Caissons, 100.
Brunel, I. M., 351, 367.
Brunton, 82.
Brush—Brush light, 137.
Brushes and Brush making, 330.
Buchanan’s Practical Essays, 244.
Buckingham, C. L., 148.
Buffing machines, 365.
Builders’ hardware, 250.
Buildings, tall, 152, 153.
Buffers, 437. (See Railways, Elevator, etc., 160, 161.)
Bunsen, Robt. W., 119, 120, 230.
Bunsen light, 456.
Burden, Henry, 95.
Burdett, Wm., 188.
Burke, Edmund, 182.
Burns, Robert, 31.
Butter, 54, 55.
Button-hole machines, 323.
Bunsen. (See Chemistry.)
C.
Cable transportation, 109.
Cæsar, 457.
Cahill, Thaddeus, 287.
Caissons, 100.
Page 364
Calcium-carbide, 70, 456.
Calico making and printing, 325, 326.
California, 382.
Cameo cutting, 475.
Camera obscura, 414.
Campbell printing press, 285.
Canada, 40, 430.
Canals, and boats for, 84, 106, 107, 109, 110, 440.
Canal locks, 110.
Cane woven goods, 308.
Cannons and firearms, 252-272.
Cantilever bridges, 103, 104.
Caoutchouc. (See Rubber, 476.)
Caps,—gun, 259.
Car heating, 211.
Cars, sleeping, 431. (See Railways.)
Car tracks, 108.
Car rails, 108.
Car wheels, 108.
Carbines, 266. (See Ordnance.)
Carbon—chemistry.
Carbonating, 68.
Carborundum, 70.
Cardan, 183.
Carding, 298, 300.
Calico making and printing, 325, 326.
California, 382.
Cameo cutting, 475.
Camera obscura, 414.
Campbell printing press, 285.
Canada, 40, 430.
Canals, and boats for, 84, 106, 107, 109, 110, 440.
Canal locks, 110.
Cane woven goods, 308.
Cannons and firearms, 252-272.
Cantilever bridges, 103, 104.
Caoutchouc. (See Rubber, 476.)
Caps,—gun, 259.
Car heating, 211.
Cars, sleeping, 431. (See Railways.)
Car tracks, 108.
Car rails, 108.
Car wheels, 108.
Carbines, 266. (See Ordnance.)
Carbon—chemistry.
Carbonating, 68.
Carborundum, 70.
Cardan, 183.
Carding, 298, 300.
Page 365
Cardova. (See Leather.)
Carlyle, 310.
Carnot. (See Ordnance.)
Carpentry, 339, 352.
Carpets and Looms, 305.
Carré Brothers, 214.
Carriages and carrying machines, 82, 428-437.
Carthagenians, 164.
Carts. (See Coaches and Waggons.)
Cartridges, 267.
Cartwright, Rev. Edwd., 297.
Carving machinery, 346.
Case-shot. (See Ordnance.)
Cash registers, 395.
Cast iron, 223.
Catalan furnace, 222. (See Metallurgy.)
Cauchy, 410.
Caus, Salomon de, 75.
Cavendish, 58.
Caxton, 280.
Centennial Exhibition. 1876; 38, 39, 40, 140, 246, 320, 352,
353, 393, 402, 430.
Centrifugal machines (pumps), 172, 173.
Charcoal. (See Metallurgy.)
Chairs. (See Furniture.)
Carlyle, 310.
Carnot. (See Ordnance.)
Carpentry, 339, 352.
Carpets and Looms, 305.
Carré Brothers, 214.
Carriages and carrying machines, 82, 428-437.
Carthagenians, 164.
Carts. (See Coaches and Waggons.)
Cartridges, 267.
Cartwright, Rev. Edwd., 297.
Carving machinery, 346.
Case-shot. (See Ordnance.)
Cash registers, 395.
Cast iron, 223.
Catalan furnace, 222. (See Metallurgy.)
Cauchy, 410.
Caus, Salomon de, 75.
Cavendish, 58.
Caxton, 280.
Centennial Exhibition. 1876; 38, 39, 40, 140, 246, 320, 352,
353, 393, 402, 430.
Centrifugal machines (pumps), 172, 173.
Charcoal. (See Metallurgy.)
Chairs. (See Furniture.)
Page 366
Chaff separator. (See Milling.)
Chain wheels—hydraulics, 156.
Chairs, tables, desks, etc. (See Furniture, 351, 358.)
Challey, M., 97.
“Champion harvesters”—Harvesters.
Chance & Co., Glass makers, 470.
Channelling shoes. (See Leather.)
Chanute, Octave, 110.
Chappe, M., 125.
Charles I. (See Ordnance;
Charles II., 242;
Charles V., 387;
Charles VIII., 265.)
Chemistry, 58, 70.
Chemical Telegraph. (See Telegraphy.)
Chester-dial telegraph, 146.
Chili, 461.
Chill hardening, 250.
Chickering pianos, 403.
Chimes, 196.
China and Chinese inventions, 24, 52, 165, 222, 241, 253,
257, 273, 275, 280, 384, 386, 400, 423, 465.
Chlorates, 70.
Chlorine, 237.
Chlorination, 237.
Chromium, 70.
Chronometers, 390, 394.
Chain wheels—hydraulics, 156.
Chairs, tables, desks, etc. (See Furniture, 351, 358.)
Challey, M., 97.
“Champion harvesters”—Harvesters.
Chance & Co., Glass makers, 470.
Channelling shoes. (See Leather.)
Chanute, Octave, 110.
Chappe, M., 125.
Charles I. (See Ordnance;
Charles II., 242;
Charles V., 387;
Charles VIII., 265.)
Chemistry, 58, 70.
Chemical Telegraph. (See Telegraphy.)
Chester-dial telegraph, 146.
Chili, 461.
Chill hardening, 250.
Chickering pianos, 403.
Chimes, 196.
China and Chinese inventions, 24, 52, 165, 222, 241, 253,
257, 273, 275, 280, 384, 386, 400, 423, 465.
Chlorates, 70.
Chlorine, 237.
Chlorination, 237.
Chromium, 70.
Chronometers, 390, 394.
Page 367
Chubb-safes, 422, 425.
Cigar and cigarette machines, 56, 57.
Cincinnati Bridge. (See Engineering.)
Cincinnatus, 17, 31.
Circulation of blood, 2.
Civil Engineering, 93-110.
Clark, Alvan, 412.
Clavichord, 402.
Clayton, Dr., 1688, 451.
Clay, Treatment of. (See Brick and Pottery making.)
Cleaning grain, etc. (See Mills.)
Clement, metal worker, 244.
Clementi, pianist, 403.
Clepsydra, 384, 385, 386.
“Clermont.” (See Steam Ships.)
Clippers, Ships, 439.
Clocks, 384. (See Horology.)
Clocks, Essential parts of, 386.
Closets. (See Baths.)
Cloth, Making, Finishing, 306;
Drying, 306;
Printing, 306;
Creasing and pressing, 306;
Cutting, 306-324;
Fancy woven, 205-306.
Clothes. (See Garments.)
Clover Header, 32.
Clutches, 161-162.
Cigar and cigarette machines, 56, 57.
Cincinnati Bridge. (See Engineering.)
Cincinnatus, 17, 31.
Circulation of blood, 2.
Civil Engineering, 93-110.
Clark, Alvan, 412.
Clavichord, 402.
Clayton, Dr., 1688, 451.
Clay, Treatment of. (See Brick and Pottery making.)
Cleaning grain, etc. (See Mills.)
Clement, metal worker, 244.
Clementi, pianist, 403.
Clepsydra, 384, 385, 386.
“Clermont.” (See Steam Ships.)
Clippers, Ships, 439.
Clocks, 384. (See Horology.)
Clocks, Essential parts of, 386.
Closets. (See Baths.)
Cloth, Making, Finishing, 306;
Drying, 306;
Printing, 306;
Creasing and pressing, 306;
Cutting, 306-324;
Fancy woven, 205-306.
Clothes. (See Garments.)
Clover Header, 32.
Clutches, 161-162.
Page 368
Clymer, of Philadelphia, press, 282.
Coaches, stages, mail, etc., 428-431.
Coach lace, 306.
Coal, 225, 378, 380;
Coal breakers and cleaners, 378-380.
Coal gas, 450;
Coal tar colors. (See Chemistry.)
Coal mining. (See Ores.)
Coaling Ships, 110.
Coehorn, shell, 255.
Coffin, journalist, 25.
Coke. (See Metallurgy.)
Cold metal punching, working and rolling, 246-247.
Colding of Denmark, 63.
Collards, pianos, 403.
Collen, Henry, 417.
Collins line. (See Steam Ships.)
Collinge, 430.
Coloring cloth, 325.
Colors and coloring, 464-467.
Color process. (See Photography, 417, Printing, 290.)
Colt, revolvers, 260, 267, 322.
Columbiad, 261.
Colossus of Rhodes, 34.
Comminges of France, 255.
Comminuting machines. (See Grinding.)
Coaches, stages, mail, etc., 428-431.
Coach lace, 306.
Coal, 225, 378, 380;
Coal breakers and cleaners, 378-380.
Coal gas, 450;
Coal tar colors. (See Chemistry.)
Coal mining. (See Ores.)
Coaling Ships, 110.
Coehorn, shell, 255.
Coffin, journalist, 25.
Coke. (See Metallurgy.)
Cold metal punching, working and rolling, 246-247.
Colding of Denmark, 63.
Collards, pianos, 403.
Collen, Henry, 417.
Collins line. (See Steam Ships.)
Collinge, 430.
Coloring cloth, 325.
Colors and coloring, 464-467.
Color process. (See Photography, 417, Printing, 290.)
Colt, revolvers, 260, 267, 322.
Columbiad, 261.
Colossus of Rhodes, 34.
Comminges of France, 255.
Comminuting machines. (See Grinding.)
Page 369
Compartment vessels, 442.
Compass, 2.
Compensating devices, 391.
Compound engines, 87-89.
Compressed air drills, 376.
Compressed air and steam, 193, 194, 378.
Compressed air ordnance, 265, 269.
Condensers, 87.
Condamine, 477.
Conservation of forces, 2.
Constitution, U.S., 8.
Convertibility of forces, 2.
Containers, 175.
Conveyors, transportation, 152, 153, 154, 158, 159, 160.
Cook, Telegraphy, 127, 146.
Cooke, Prof. J. P., 59.
Cooke, James, 25.
Cooking. (See Stoves.)
Cooper, Peter, 84.
Coopering. (See Wood Working.)
Copernicus, 183.
Copper, 218, 219, etc.
Corliss, 88.
Corn:
Cultivators, 29-30;
Mills, 46;
Compass, 2.
Compensating devices, 391.
Compound engines, 87-89.
Compressed air drills, 376.
Compressed air and steam, 193, 194, 378.
Compressed air ordnance, 265, 269.
Condensers, 87.
Condamine, 477.
Conservation of forces, 2.
Constitution, U.S., 8.
Convertibility of forces, 2.
Containers, 175.
Conveyors, transportation, 152, 153, 154, 158, 159, 160.
Cook, Telegraphy, 127, 146.
Cooke, Prof. J. P., 59.
Cooke, James, 25.
Cooking. (See Stoves.)
Cooper, Peter, 84.
Coopering. (See Wood Working.)
Copernicus, 183.
Copper, 218, 219, etc.
Corliss, 88.
Corn:
Cultivators, 29-30;
Mills, 46;
Page 370
Planters, 28.
Correlation of forces, 2.
Cort, Henry, 226-231.
Corundum, 70, 334.
Coster, 280.
Cotton, 42, 43;
Gin, 42, 43, 297;
Harvester, 40.
Cotton seed oil, 69.
Cotton and wool machinery, 298. (See Textiles.)
“Counterblast to Tobacco,” 155.
Couplers, 437.
Cowper, 31.
Cowper, printer, 283.
Cowley, 77.
Cradle, grain, 33.
Cranes and derricks, 110, 152, 153, 171.
Crecy, (1346). (See Ordnance.)
Cristofori, pianist, 402.
Crompton, Saml., 42, 297, 298, 301.
Crompton, George, 305.
Crookes, Prof. Wm., 149.
Crooke tubes, 149.
Cros, Charles, 407.
Crushers, stone and ore, 376.
Crystal Palace, 470.
Correlation of forces, 2.
Cort, Henry, 226-231.
Corundum, 70, 334.
Coster, 280.
Cotton, 42, 43;
Gin, 42, 43, 297;
Harvester, 40.
Cotton seed oil, 69.
Cotton and wool machinery, 298. (See Textiles.)
“Counterblast to Tobacco,” 155.
Couplers, 437.
Cowper, 31.
Cowper, printer, 283.
Cowley, 77.
Cradle, grain, 33.
Cranes and derricks, 110, 152, 153, 171.
Crecy, (1346). (See Ordnance.)
Cristofori, pianist, 402.
Crompton, Saml., 42, 297, 298, 301.
Crompton, George, 305.
Crookes, Prof. Wm., 149.
Crooke tubes, 149.
Cros, Charles, 407.
Crushers, stone and ore, 376.
Crystal Palace, 470.
Page 371
Ctesibius, 74, 165, 168, 385.
Cultivators, 29, 30.
Curtet, 121.
Cugnot, 1769, 81.
Culverin. (See Cannon.)
Cunard line, 86.
Cuneus, 115.
Curtains Shades and Screens, 356.
Cyanide. Cyanide process, 236.
Cyclometers, 396.
D.
Daguerre, 415-416.
Daguerreotype, 415.
Dahlgren, Cannon, 264.
Danks, Rotary puddler, 231.
Dalton, John, 59-60, 186, 194, 453.
Damascus Steel, 221. (See Metallurgy.)
Dana, Prof., 126.
Daniell’s battery, 119, 126.
Darby, Abraham, 1777, 95, 225.
Darwin, Dr., 18th cent., 73.
Davy, Humphry, Sir, 16, 63, 64, 70, 118, 122, 125, 188, 209,
236, 415.
David’s harp, 6.
Decker, piano, 403.
Cultivators, 29, 30.
Curtet, 121.
Cugnot, 1769, 81.
Culverin. (See Cannon.)
Cunard line, 86.
Cuneus, 115.
Curtains Shades and Screens, 356.
Cyanide. Cyanide process, 236.
Cyclometers, 396.
D.
Daguerre, 415-416.
Daguerreotype, 415.
Dahlgren, Cannon, 264.
Danks, Rotary puddler, 231.
Dalton, John, 59-60, 186, 194, 453.
Damascus Steel, 221. (See Metallurgy.)
Dana, Prof., 126.
Daniell’s battery, 119, 126.
Darby, Abraham, 1777, 95, 225.
Darwin, Dr., 18th cent., 73.
Davy, Humphry, Sir, 16, 63, 64, 70, 118, 122, 125, 188, 209,
236, 415.
David’s harp, 6.
Decker, piano, 403.
Page 372
Delinter, 43.
Dentistry, 72.
Dental Chairs, 72, 358;
Drills, 72;
Engines, 72;
Hammers, 72;
Pluggers, 72.
Deoville, St. Clair, 238.
Derricks, 110.
“Deutschland,” The, 445.
Desks, 355.
De Susine, 192.
Dewar, Prof., 216.
Dial Telegraphs. (See Telegraphy.)
Diamonds. (See Milling; Polishing; Artificial, 70.)
Diamond Drill, 375.
Diana, Temple of, 34.
Diastase, 54.
Didot, Francois, 1800, 276.
Dickenson, 277.
Digesters. (See Chemistry.)
Differential motion, 301.
Dioptric Lens, 410.
Diorama, 415.
Direct Acting Engines, 88.
Direct Feed Engines, 88.
Discoveries, distinct from inventions, 1, 2.
Dentistry, 72.
Dental Chairs, 72, 358;
Drills, 72;
Engines, 72;
Hammers, 72;
Pluggers, 72.
Deoville, St. Clair, 238.
Derricks, 110.
“Deutschland,” The, 445.
Desks, 355.
De Susine, 192.
Dewar, Prof., 216.
Dial Telegraphs. (See Telegraphy.)
Diamonds. (See Milling; Polishing; Artificial, 70.)
Diamond Drill, 375.
Diana, Temple of, 34.
Diastase, 54.
Didot, Francois, 1800, 276.
Dickenson, 277.
Digesters. (See Chemistry.)
Differential motion, 301.
Dioptric Lens, 410.
Diorama, 415.
Direct Acting Engines, 88.
Direct Feed Engines, 88.
Discoveries, distinct from inventions, 1, 2.
Page 373
Disk Plows, 21, 30.
Distaff and Spindle. (See Textiles, 292.)
Dodge, James M., 159.
Doffers, 301.
Dog Carts. (See Carriages.)
Dollond, John, 410.
Donkin, 277.
Donovan, 454.
Don Quixote, 222.
Douglass, Nicholas, 105.
Draining, 105, 106, 107.
Drags and Drays. (See Waggons, 430-431.)
Drais, Baron Von, 432.
Drake, E. S., Col., 382.
Draper, J. W., Prof., 412, 416, 450.
Drawing Machines, Spinning, 296, 298, 301.
Dredging, 105, 106, 107.
Dressing;
of thread and cloths, 299, 302;
of skins. (See Leather.)
Drills, seeders, 20, 27.
Drills, stone ore and iron, 375, 378.
Drying apparatus. (See Kilns.)
Dreyse, 266.
Dualine, 270.
Duboscq, 137.
Distaff and Spindle. (See Textiles, 292.)
Dodge, James M., 159.
Doffers, 301.
Dog Carts. (See Carriages.)
Dollond, John, 410.
Donkin, 277.
Donovan, 454.
Don Quixote, 222.
Douglass, Nicholas, 105.
Draining, 105, 106, 107.
Drags and Drays. (See Waggons, 430-431.)
Drais, Baron Von, 432.
Drake, E. S., Col., 382.
Draper, J. W., Prof., 412, 416, 450.
Drawing Machines, Spinning, 296, 298, 301.
Dredging, 105, 106, 107.
Dressing;
of thread and cloths, 299, 302;
of skins. (See Leather.)
Drills, seeders, 20, 27.
Drills, stone ore and iron, 375, 378.
Drying apparatus. (See Kilns.)
Dreyse, 266.
Dualine, 270.
Duboscq, 137.
Page 374
Dudley, Dud, 224.
Duncan, John, 311.
Dundas, Charlotte, 84.
Dundonald, Lord, 451.
Dundas, Lord, 83, 440.
Dunlop, J. B., Bicycles, 433.
Duplex Engines, 88.
Dulcimer. (See Music.)
Dust Explosions and Collectors, 50.
Dutch Paper, 277;
Printing, 280.
Dutch Canals, 107.
Dutch Clocks, 388, 391.
Dutch Furnaces and Stoves, 203.
Dutch Locks, 424.
Dutch Ships, 439.
Dutch Ware, 459.
Dutton, Maj. C. E., 261.
Dynamometer, 187, 398.
Dynamite, 270.
Dynamo Electric Machines, 130, 134, 251.
E.
Eads, James B., 102.
Eames of U. S., 234.
East River Bridge, 98, 99.
Duncan, John, 311.
Dundas, Charlotte, 84.
Dundonald, Lord, 451.
Dundas, Lord, 83, 440.
Dunlop, J. B., Bicycles, 433.
Duplex Engines, 88.
Dulcimer. (See Music.)
Dust Explosions and Collectors, 50.
Dutch Paper, 277;
Printing, 280.
Dutch Canals, 107.
Dutch Clocks, 388, 391.
Dutch Furnaces and Stoves, 203.
Dutch Locks, 424.
Dutch Ships, 439.
Dutch Ware, 459.
Dutton, Maj. C. E., 261.
Dynamometer, 187, 398.
Dynamite, 270.
Dynamo Electric Machines, 130, 134, 251.
E.
Eads, James B., 102.
Eames of U. S., 234.
East River Bridge, 98, 99.
Page 375
Eddystone Lighthouse, 105.
Edison, 137, 144, 145, 148, 407, 408.
Egyptian agriculture, arts and inventions, 5, 13, 42, 45, 58,
164, 184, 220, 241, 273, 292, 340, 354, 400, 402, 423, 457,
460, 470.
Eiffel, M., 105.
Electricity, 5, 111-151.
Electric Alarms. (See Locks.)
Electric Batteries, 117-132.
Electric Cable, 138.
Electric Heating, 213.
Electric Lighting, 108, 119, 121 to 137, 360, 456.
Electro-Chemistry, 70.
Electro-magnets, 120-133.
Electro Metallurgy, 70, 238, 249.
Electrodes, 113, 135.
Electrolysis, 129, 131.
Electrometer, 113, 122.
Electrical Music, 148.
Electro Plating, 249.
Electric Railway, 143, 144.
Electric Signals and Stops, 160, 162.
Electric Telegraphy, 2, 114, 122, 123, 145, 146, 147.
Electrotyping, 283, 290.
Electric Type Printing, 147, 148.
Electric Type Writer, 287.
Edison, 137, 144, 145, 148, 407, 408.
Egyptian agriculture, arts and inventions, 5, 13, 42, 45, 58,
164, 184, 220, 241, 273, 292, 340, 354, 400, 402, 423, 457,
460, 470.
Eiffel, M., 105.
Electricity, 5, 111-151.
Electric Alarms. (See Locks.)
Electric Batteries, 117-132.
Electric Cable, 138.
Electric Heating, 213.
Electric Lighting, 108, 119, 121 to 137, 360, 456.
Electro-Chemistry, 70.
Electro-magnets, 120-133.
Electro Metallurgy, 70, 238, 249.
Electrodes, 113, 135.
Electrolysis, 129, 131.
Electrometer, 113, 122.
Electrical Music, 148.
Electro Plating, 249.
Electric Railway, 143, 144.
Electric Signals and Stops, 160, 162.
Electric Telegraphy, 2, 114, 122, 123, 145, 146, 147.
Electrotyping, 283, 290.
Electric Type Printing, 147, 148.
Electric Type Writer, 287.
Page 376
Electric Voters, 396.
Elevators, 6, 148, 152, 153, 154, 155, 156, 157.
Eliot, Prof., 410.
Elizabeth, Queen, 402.
Elton, John, 46.
Elvean, Louis T. van, 155.
Embossing, 346, 347.
Embossing, weaving, 306.
Embroidery, 310, 313.
Emery, abrading, 70, 334.
Emery, testing machines, 398.
England, 8, 17, 25, 50, 188.
Engraving Machines, 290.
Enamelling. (See Pottery.)
Enamelled Ware, 459, 468.
Engineering. (See Civil.)
Electric, 143;
Hydraulic, 168;
Marine, 442;
Mining, 373;
Steam, 2.
Eolipile. (See Hero.)
Erard, pianist, 403.
Erasmus, 183.
Ericsson, John, 83, 86, 441, 443, 444.
Euclid, 9.
Euler, 167, 173.
Evans, Oliver, 1755-1819; 46, 47, 48, 81, 83, 87, 154, 374.
Elevators, 6, 148, 152, 153, 154, 155, 156, 157.
Eliot, Prof., 410.
Elizabeth, Queen, 402.
Elton, John, 46.
Elvean, Louis T. van, 155.
Embossing, 346, 347.
Embossing, weaving, 306.
Embroidery, 310, 313.
Emery, abrading, 70, 334.
Emery, testing machines, 398.
England, 8, 17, 25, 50, 188.
Engraving Machines, 290.
Enamelling. (See Pottery.)
Enamelled Ware, 459, 468.
Engineering. (See Civil.)
Electric, 143;
Hydraulic, 168;
Marine, 442;
Mining, 373;
Steam, 2.
Eolipile. (See Hero.)
Erard, pianist, 403.
Erasmus, 183.
Ericsson, John, 83, 86, 441, 443, 444.
Euclid, 9.
Euler, 167, 173.
Evans, Oliver, 1755-1819; 46, 47, 48, 81, 83, 87, 154, 374.
Page 377
Evaporating, 52.
Evelyn, John, 1699; 25.
Evolution of modern inventions, 153.
Excavating, 105, 106.
Explosives, 270.
Eylewein, 167.
F.
Fabroni, 66, 118.
Faience, 459, 466.
Fairbairn, Sir Wm., 100, 176, 226, 440.
Fairbanks, scales and testing, 397.
Fahrenheit, 183.
Fanning Mills, 45.
Faraday, Michael, 63, 118, 129, 130, 131, 133, 134, 138,
188, 209, 411, 472.
Fan mills, 41.
Fare registers, 395.
Farmer, Moses G., 133, 135, 145.
Factory life, 298.
Faure, M. Camille, 120.
Faur, Faber du, 230.
Faust, 280.
Felt making, 325.
Fermentation, 65, 66, 67.
Fertilizers—machines and compositions. (See Agriculture.)
Evelyn, John, 1699; 25.
Evolution of modern inventions, 153.
Excavating, 105, 106.
Explosives, 270.
Eylewein, 167.
F.
Fabroni, 66, 118.
Faience, 459, 466.
Fairbairn, Sir Wm., 100, 176, 226, 440.
Fairbanks, scales and testing, 397.
Fahrenheit, 183.
Fanning Mills, 45.
Faraday, Michael, 63, 118, 129, 130, 131, 133, 134, 138,
188, 209, 411, 472.
Fan mills, 41.
Fare registers, 395.
Farmer, Moses G., 133, 135, 145.
Factory life, 298.
Faure, M. Camille, 120.
Faur, Faber du, 230.
Faust, 280.
Felt making, 325.
Fermentation, 65, 66, 67.
Fertilizers—machines and compositions. (See Agriculture.)
Page 378
Field, Cyrus W., 138.
Filament-carbon, 360. (See Electric Lighting.)
Filters, filtering, 167, 180, 181.
Filter Press, 465.
Fink bridge, 103.
Fire-arms, 252-272.
Fire crackers, 252.
Fire engines, 76.
Fire place, 205.
Fiske, range finder, 266.
Fiske, 148, 413.
Fitch, John, 1784, 81.
Fitzherbert, Sir A., 1523, 14.
Fireproof safes. (See Locks.)
Flax machines, 42.
Flax brakes, 42.
Flaxman, 464.
Flax-threshers, 41, 42.
Fleming, 247.
Fleshing machines, 364.
Fletcher, 244.
Flexible shafts, 350.
Florence, 459.
Flour. (See Mills.)
Fly Shuttle. (See Spinning and Weaving.)
Filament-carbon, 360. (See Electric Lighting.)
Filters, filtering, 167, 180, 181.
Filter Press, 465.
Fink bridge, 103.
Fire-arms, 252-272.
Fire crackers, 252.
Fire engines, 76.
Fire place, 205.
Fiske, range finder, 266.
Fiske, 148, 413.
Fitch, John, 1784, 81.
Fitzherbert, Sir A., 1523, 14.
Fireproof safes. (See Locks.)
Flax machines, 42.
Flax brakes, 42.
Flaxman, 464.
Flax-threshers, 41, 42.
Fleming, 247.
Fleshing machines, 364.
Fletcher, 244.
Flexible shafts, 350.
Florence, 459.
Flour. (See Mills.)
Fly Shuttle. (See Spinning and Weaving.)
Page 379
Foods, preparation of, 53, 54.
Force feed-seeders, 26.
Forneyron, 171, 172.
Forsythe, Rev. Mr., 259, 260.
Foucault, 137.
Fourcroy, 64.
Fourdrinier, 277. (See Paper making.)
Frackelton, Susan, portable kiln, 465.
France, 63, 203, 253, 274, 275, 313.
Francis, S. W., 286.
Frank, pottery, 463.
Franklin, Benj., 5, 111, 112, 115, 116, 117, 121, 125, 168,
203, 281, 446.
Franklin Institute, 455.
Fraunhofer, von, Jos., 61, 412.
Frederick, Henry, 255.
Freiberg Mining Academy, Metallurgy, 223.
Fresnel, 410.
Frictional Electricity, 111.
Frieburg Bridge. (See Bridges.)
Frogs, R. R., 108.
Flintlock, firearms, 258.
Froment, 146.
Frontinus, on Roman aqueducts, 166.
Fruits, Preparation of, 51, 53.
Force feed-seeders, 26.
Forneyron, 171, 172.
Forsythe, Rev. Mr., 259, 260.
Foucault, 137.
Fourcroy, 64.
Fourdrinier, 277. (See Paper making.)
Frackelton, Susan, portable kiln, 465.
France, 63, 203, 253, 274, 275, 313.
Francis, S. W., 286.
Frank, pottery, 463.
Franklin, Benj., 5, 111, 112, 115, 116, 117, 121, 125, 168,
203, 281, 446.
Franklin Institute, 455.
Fraunhofer, von, Jos., 61, 412.
Frederick, Henry, 255.
Freiberg Mining Academy, Metallurgy, 223.
Fresnel, 410.
Frictional Electricity, 111.
Frieburg Bridge. (See Bridges.)
Frogs, R. R., 108.
Flintlock, firearms, 258.
Froment, 146.
Frontinus, on Roman aqueducts, 166.
Fruits, Preparation of, 51, 53.
Page 380
Fruit jars, 359.
Fry, Laura, 467.
Fulton, Robt., 84-85.
Furnaces, hot air; hot water, 206, 207.
Furniture, 351, 354, 359.
Furniture machinery, 351, 352.
Fuses, 259.
G.
Gaffield, Thos., glass, 472.
Gale, Prof., 126.
Galileo, 1, 166, 183, 388, 409.
Gally, self-playing pianos, 406.
Galton, Capt. Douglas, 205.
Galvani, 5, 117, 118, 125.
Galvanism, 112,121.
Galvanic batteries, 121, 122.
Galvanic music, 148, 406.
Galvanometer, 122, 139.
Gamble, 277.
Garay, Blasco de, 75.
Garments, 310-327.
Gas, 450;
illuminating, 69, 185, 450-456.
Gases, motors, 188, 190.
Gas checks, 266.
Fry, Laura, 467.
Fulton, Robt., 84-85.
Furnaces, hot air; hot water, 206, 207.
Furniture, 351, 354, 359.
Furniture machinery, 351, 352.
Fuses, 259.
G.
Gaffield, Thos., glass, 472.
Gale, Prof., 126.
Galileo, 1, 166, 183, 388, 409.
Gally, self-playing pianos, 406.
Galton, Capt. Douglas, 205.
Galvani, 5, 117, 118, 125.
Galvanism, 112,121.
Galvanic batteries, 121, 122.
Galvanic music, 148, 406.
Galvanometer, 122, 139.
Gamble, 277.
Garay, Blasco de, 75.
Garments, 310-327.
Gas, 450;
illuminating, 69, 185, 450-456.
Gases, motors, 188, 190.
Gas checks, 266.
Page 381
Gas engines, 76, 18, 184-194.
Gasoline and stoves, 213.
Gas pumps, 190.
Gatling, Dr., gun, 269.
Gaul, 32, 33.
Gauss, 126.
Gay-Lussac, 60, 185, 194, 209.
Ged, Wm., 281.
Geissler tubes, 135, 149.
Generator, Electric, 113.
Gentleman Farmer, 1768, 20.
George III., 389.
German inventions, 50, 203, 255, 313, 387, 391, 430, 473.
Germ theory, 67.
German clock and watch making, 387.
Gibraltar, 253.
Giffard-injector, 173.
Gilbert, Dr., 1600, 5, 113.
Gill, J. G., 268.
Giers, 234, 250.
Gin-cotton, 297.
Gladstone, inventor, 1806, 35.
Glass, 469, 474.
Glass, wool, and silk, 474, 480.
Glazes, 475. (See Porcelain.)
Gasoline and stoves, 213.
Gas pumps, 190.
Gatling, Dr., gun, 269.
Gaul, 32, 33.
Gauss, 126.
Gay-Lussac, 60, 185, 194, 209.
Ged, Wm., 281.
Geissler tubes, 135, 149.
Generator, Electric, 113.
Gentleman Farmer, 1768, 20.
George III., 389.
German inventions, 50, 203, 255, 313, 387, 391, 430, 473.
Germ theory, 67.
German clock and watch making, 387.
Gibraltar, 253.
Giffard-injector, 173.
Gilbert, Dr., 1600, 5, 113.
Gill, J. G., 268.
Giers, 234, 250.
Gin-cotton, 297.
Gladstone, inventor, 1806, 35.
Glass, 469, 474.
Glass, wool, and silk, 474, 480.
Glazes, 475. (See Porcelain.)
Page 382
Glauber, 58.
Glycerine, 69.
Gold. (See Metallurgy.)
Goodyear, Chas., 434, 476, 478, 479, 480.
Googe, Barnaby, 14.
Gompertz, 432.
Gordon, 82.
Gothic architecture, 373.
Governors, 87.
Graham (chemist), 391.
Graham. (See Horology.)
Grain Binder. (See Harvesters.)
Grain cradles, drills, and seeders. (See Agriculture.)
Grain elevator, 110.
Grain Separators, 49.
Gramme, Z., 134, 136, 137.
Gramophone, 406, 408.
Graphophone, 406, 408.
Grass burning stoves, 211.
Gray, Elisha. (See Electricity.)
Gray, S., 1729, 114, 125.
“Great Britain,” The, 440.
“Great Republic,” The, 439.
Great Urgroez, 357.
Greece and Greek antiquities and inventions, 9, 13, 18, 45,
74, 113, 164, 182, 218, 257, 340, 386, 457, 459.
Glycerine, 69.
Gold. (See Metallurgy.)
Goodyear, Chas., 434, 476, 478, 479, 480.
Googe, Barnaby, 14.
Gompertz, 432.
Gordon, 82.
Gothic architecture, 373.
Governors, 87.
Graham (chemist), 391.
Graham. (See Horology.)
Grain Binder. (See Harvesters.)
Grain cradles, drills, and seeders. (See Agriculture.)
Grain elevator, 110.
Grain Separators, 49.
Gramme, Z., 134, 136, 137.
Gramophone, 406, 408.
Graphophone, 406, 408.
Grass burning stoves, 211.
Gray, Elisha. (See Electricity.)
Gray, S., 1729, 114, 125.
“Great Britain,” The, 440.
“Great Republic,” The, 439.
Great Urgroez, 357.
Greece and Greek antiquities and inventions, 9, 13, 18, 45,
74, 113, 164, 182, 218, 257, 340, 386, 457, 459.
Page 383
Grenades, 255.
Green, N. W., driven well, 383.
Greenough, J. J., 318.
Gribeauval, 256.
Griffith, Julius, 82.
Griffiths of U. S., 234.
Grinding by stones, 45 to 49.
Grinding glass, 475.
Grindstones, 375.
Grossat, 477.
Grover and Baker sewing mach., 320.
Grooving, 245.
Grove, Sir Wm. Robert, 119.
Gruner, 234.
Gun carriages. (See Ordnance.)
Gun cotton, 270.
Gun making, 345.
Gunpowder, 253, 262, 263, 270.
Gunpowder eng., 192.
Gun-stock, 345.
Guericke, Otto von, 113, 183, 193.
Guillaume, Puy, 253.
Gurney, 82.
Guttenberg, John, 280.
Green, N. W., driven well, 383.
Greenough, J. J., 318.
Gribeauval, 256.
Griffith, Julius, 82.
Griffiths of U. S., 234.
Grinding by stones, 45 to 49.
Grinding glass, 475.
Grindstones, 375.
Grossat, 477.
Grover and Baker sewing mach., 320.
Grooving, 245.
Grove, Sir Wm. Robert, 119.
Gruner, 234.
Gun carriages. (See Ordnance.)
Gun cotton, 270.
Gun making, 345.
Gunpowder, 253, 262, 263, 270.
Gunpowder eng., 192.
Gun-stock, 345.
Guericke, Otto von, 113, 183, 193.
Guillaume, Puy, 253.
Gurney, 82.
Guttenberg, John, 280.
Page 384
H.
Hales, Dr., 451.
Hall, John H., 267.
Hall safes, 422.
Hamberg, 58.
Hamblet, 146.
Hamilton (stove inventor), 212.
Hammers, steam and air, 88, 244.
Hanckwitz, Godfrey, 1680, 199.
Hancock, Walter, 82.
Handel, 402.
Hanging Gardens, 34.
Hardening metals, 249.
Hardware. (See Metal Working.)
Hargreaves, Jas., 42, 294, 297.
Harnesses, 431.
Harp, The, and the Harpsichord, 6, 402.
Harvesters, 32, 33, 35, 39, 40, 41, 322.
Hartshorn, spring roller shades, 356.
Harveyized steel, 234, 249.
Harrows, 22, 28.
Hautefeuille, 77.
Hauteville, Abbé, 185, 389.
Hat making, 325.
Haydn, 402.
Hales, Dr., 451.
Hall, John H., 267.
Hall safes, 422.
Hamberg, 58.
Hamblet, 146.
Hamilton (stove inventor), 212.
Hammers, steam and air, 88, 244.
Hanckwitz, Godfrey, 1680, 199.
Hancock, Walter, 82.
Handel, 402.
Hanging Gardens, 34.
Hardening metals, 249.
Hardware. (See Metal Working.)
Hargreaves, Jas., 42, 294, 297.
Harnesses, 431.
Harp, The, and the Harpsichord, 6, 402.
Harvesters, 32, 33, 35, 39, 40, 41, 322.
Hartshorn, spring roller shades, 356.
Harveyized steel, 234, 249.
Harrows, 22, 28.
Hautefeuille, 77.
Hauteville, Abbé, 185, 389.
Hat making, 325.
Haydn, 402.
Page 385
Hay, rakes and tedders, 15, 40.
Headers, 32.
Heat as power, 186, 187.
Heating, 86, 199, 210.
Hebrews, 45, 362, 423.
Hele, P., 388.
Helmont, J. van, 58, 184.
Hell Gate, 107.
Helmholtz, 66, 131, 141, 403, 406, 407, 411, 417.
Hendley, Wm., 82.
Henry, Joseph, 63, 123, 124, 126, 131, 146, 210.
Henry, rifle, 267.
Henry, Wm., 78.
Herissent, M., 477.
Hermetical sealing, 359.
Herodotus, 362.
Hero of Alexander, 5, 9, 74, 76, 87, 89, 165, 171, 404.
Herring, safes, 421.
Herschel, 228, 412.
Hides, treatment of. (See Leather.)
Hide mills, 364.
High and low pressure engines, 87, 88.
Hindoos, 220, 241, 254, 273, 292, 340, 384.
Hodges, James, of Montreal, 101.
Hoe, Robert, and son, R. M., 284.
Headers, 32.
Heat as power, 186, 187.
Heating, 86, 199, 210.
Hebrews, 45, 362, 423.
Hele, P., 388.
Helmont, J. van, 58, 184.
Hell Gate, 107.
Helmholtz, 66, 131, 141, 403, 406, 407, 411, 417.
Hendley, Wm., 82.
Henry, Joseph, 63, 123, 124, 126, 131, 146, 210.
Henry, rifle, 267.
Henry, Wm., 78.
Herissent, M., 477.
Hermetical sealing, 359.
Herodotus, 362.
Hero of Alexander, 5, 9, 74, 76, 87, 89, 165, 171, 404.
Herring, safes, 421.
Herschel, 228, 412.
Hides, treatment of. (See Leather.)
Hide mills, 364.
High and low pressure engines, 87, 88.
Hindoos, 220, 241, 254, 273, 292, 340, 384.
Hodges, James, of Montreal, 101.
Hoe, Robert, and son, R. M., 284.
Page 386
Hoe drill-seeders, 27.
Hoes, 29, 30.
Hoffman, Dr., 464.
Hoisting, conveying, and storing, 152-163.
Holland, 18, 255, 257, 275.
Holley, A. L., 232.
Holtzapffel, J., 241.
Homer, 459.
Hooke, Dr., 388, 389.
Hoopes and Townsend, 247.
Hoppers. (See Mills.)
Hopper boy. (See Mills.)
Hoosac tunnel, 107.
Hornblower, 1781, 87.
Horrocks, 305.
Horse power, 187.
Horseshoes, 248.
Horology, 384-395.
Hot air engines, 185.
Hot air blast, 231.
Hot furnaces. (See Heating.)
Hot water circulation. (See Heating.)
Hotchkiss gun, 270.
Houdin regulator, 137.
Houses, their construction, 351, 352.
Hoes, 29, 30.
Hoffman, Dr., 464.
Hoisting, conveying, and storing, 152-163.
Holland, 18, 255, 257, 275.
Holley, A. L., 232.
Holtzapffel, J., 241.
Homer, 459.
Hooke, Dr., 388, 389.
Hoopes and Townsend, 247.
Hoppers. (See Mills.)
Hopper boy. (See Mills.)
Hoosac tunnel, 107.
Hornblower, 1781, 87.
Horrocks, 305.
Horse power, 187.
Horseshoes, 248.
Horology, 384-395.
Hot air engines, 185.
Hot air blast, 231.
Hot furnaces. (See Heating.)
Hot water circulation. (See Heating.)
Hotchkiss gun, 270.
Houdin regulator, 137.
Houses, their construction, 351, 352.
Page 387
Houston. (See Telegraphy.)
Howe, Elias, 314-318.
Howe bridge, 103.
Howitzer. (See Ordnance.)
Hunt, Walter, 314, 315.
Hungary, 357.
Huggins, Dr., 63, 412.
Hughes, D. E., 147.
Hugon, 189.
Hulls, Jonathan, 78.
Huntsman, Benj., 225.
“Husbandry, The whole art of.” (See Agriculture.)
Huskisson, 83.
Hussey, 1833, 37, 38.
Huxley, 65.
Huygens, 61, 77, 183, 184, 192, 388, 391.
Hydraulicising, 174.
Hydraulic elevators, 156, 157, 164, 165, 166.
Hydraulic jacks, 174.
Hydraulic motors, 164-181;
pumps, rams, 166, 168;
press, 52, 53, 154, 155, 168, 171, 175;
testing, 398, 399.
Hydrogen gas, 454.
Hydrostatic engines and presses, 166, 190, 194.
I.
Howe, Elias, 314-318.
Howe bridge, 103.
Howitzer. (See Ordnance.)
Hunt, Walter, 314, 315.
Hungary, 357.
Huggins, Dr., 63, 412.
Hughes, D. E., 147.
Hugon, 189.
Hulls, Jonathan, 78.
Huntsman, Benj., 225.
“Husbandry, The whole art of.” (See Agriculture.)
Huskisson, 83.
Hussey, 1833, 37, 38.
Huxley, 65.
Huygens, 61, 77, 183, 184, 192, 388, 391.
Hydraulicising, 174.
Hydraulic elevators, 156, 157, 164, 165, 166.
Hydraulic jacks, 174.
Hydraulic motors, 164-181;
pumps, rams, 166, 168;
press, 52, 53, 154, 155, 168, 171, 175;
testing, 398, 399.
Hydrogen gas, 454.
Hydrostatic engines and presses, 166, 190, 194.
I.
Page 388
Ida, mountains of, iron, 218.
Illuminating gas. (See Gas.)
Impulse pump. (See Ram.)
Incandescent light, 135, 456.
Incubators, 207.
India, 373, 400.
Industrial mechanics, 328-338.
Injectors, 173.
Intensifiers, 174.
International Exposition, London, 246, 352.
Invention, what it is, how induced, distinctions, growth,
protection of, 1-8.
Iron, 218.
Iron Ships. (See Ships.)
Iridescent glass, 474.
Ironing machines, 338.
Italy, 255, 280.
Ives. F. E. (three-color process), 417.
J.
Jablochoff, M. Paul, 136.
Jacks, 245.
Jacobi, of Russia, 249.
Jackson, C. T., Dr., 71.
Jacquard Loom, The, 304, 323, 326.
Jacquard, Joseph Marie, 304, 305.
Illuminating gas. (See Gas.)
Impulse pump. (See Ram.)
Incandescent light, 135, 456.
Incubators, 207.
India, 373, 400.
Industrial mechanics, 328-338.
Injectors, 173.
Intensifiers, 174.
International Exposition, London, 246, 352.
Invention, what it is, how induced, distinctions, growth,
protection of, 1-8.
Iron, 218.
Iron Ships. (See Ships.)
Iridescent glass, 474.
Ironing machines, 338.
Italy, 255, 280.
Ives. F. E. (three-color process), 417.
J.
Jablochoff, M. Paul, 136.
Jacks, 245.
Jacobi, of Russia, 249.
Jackson, C. T., Dr., 71.
Jacquard Loom, The, 304, 323, 326.
Jacquard, Joseph Marie, 304, 305.
Page 389
Jenk’s ring frame, 302.
Jenkins, Prof. F., 192.
Jefferson, Thos., 16,18.
Jenkin, Prof. Fleeming, 144.
Jewelry, 333.
“Jimcrow,” 245.
Johnson, Denis. (See Bicycle.)
Jones, iron and steel, 234.
Jonval, 172.
Joule, 2.
Jupiter, statue of, 34.
K.
Kaleidoscope, 410.
Karnes, Lord, 1768, 20.
Kaolin. (See Lighting.)
Kay, John, 293, 295.
“Kearsarge,” The, 261.
Kepler, 183.
Kennedy, Diss and Cannan, 331.
Kilns, 463, 464, 465.
Kinetic energy, Age of, 86.
Kinetograph, 417.
Kirchoff, G. R., 62, 412.
Kitchen and table utensils, 356.
Knabe piano, 403.
Jenkins, Prof. F., 192.
Jefferson, Thos., 16,18.
Jenkin, Prof. Fleeming, 144.
Jewelry, 333.
“Jimcrow,” 245.
Johnson, Denis. (See Bicycle.)
Jones, iron and steel, 234.
Jonval, 172.
Joule, 2.
Jupiter, statue of, 34.
K.
Kaleidoscope, 410.
Karnes, Lord, 1768, 20.
Kaolin. (See Lighting.)
Kay, John, 293, 295.
“Kearsarge,” The, 261.
Kepler, 183.
Kennedy, Diss and Cannan, 331.
Kilns, 463, 464, 465.
Kinetic energy, Age of, 86.
Kinetograph, 417.
Kirchoff, G. R., 62, 412.
Kitchen and table utensils, 356.
Knabe piano, 403.
Page 390
Knight, Edward, 36, 51, 170, 202, 232, 276, 321, 429.
Knitting, 307, 308.
König and Bauer, 283.
König, acoustics, 407.
Koops, 277.
Koster, 1620, rifle, 258.
Krag-Jorgensen rifle, 268.
Kramer, 146.
Krupp, steel, 234.
Krupp, Fredk., guns, 264.
Krupp, glass, 480.
Kutler, Augustin, 258.
L.
La Condamine, 477.
Labor organizations, 11.
Labor, how affected by inventions; reducing, and increasing,
152, 153, 162, 163, 293, 308, 380, 381, 460.
Lace making, 306.
Laconium, 202.
Ladd electric machine, 133.
La Hire, 167, 170.
Laird, John, 440, 443.
Lallement, P. (See Bicycle.)
Lamps and lamp lighting, 359, 450.
Lancaster, cannon, 263.
Knitting, 307, 308.
König and Bauer, 283.
König, acoustics, 407.
Koops, 277.
Koster, 1620, rifle, 258.
Krag-Jorgensen rifle, 268.
Kramer, 146.
Krupp, steel, 234.
Krupp, Fredk., guns, 264.
Krupp, glass, 480.
Kutler, Augustin, 258.
L.
La Condamine, 477.
Labor organizations, 11.
Labor, how affected by inventions; reducing, and increasing,
152, 153, 162, 163, 293, 308, 380, 381, 460.
Lace making, 306.
Laconium, 202.
Ladd electric machine, 133.
La Hire, 167, 170.
Laird, John, 440, 443.
Lallement, P. (See Bicycle.)
Lamps and lamp lighting, 359, 450.
Lancaster, cannon, 263.
Page 391
Land reclamation, 107.
Lane, 1828, 37.
Lane-Fox light,
Lane, 1828, 37.
Lane-Fox light,
Page 392
137.
Langen and Otto. (See Gas Engine.)
Langley, Prof., 4.
L’Hommedieu, 348.
Lapping-cotton, 299, 300.
Lasts, making of, 344, 345.
Lathes, 241-243, 340, 345, 349;
for turning irregular forms of wood, 344.
Lattice work bridges, 103.
Laundry, 335.
Lavoisier, 58, 60, 63.
Lawn mowers, 40.
Lazy tongs mechanism, 160.
Le Bon, 1801, 185, 452.
Leaching, 236.
Lead, 219. (See Metallurgy.)
Leather, 361-372.
Leeuwenhoek of Holland, 65.
Leeu, 280.
Leckie, 41.
Le Conte, 63.
Lefaucheux, M., 267.
Leibnitz, 183.
Lenoir, 189.
Lesage, 121.
Lescatello, 1662, 24.
Langen and Otto. (See Gas Engine.)
Langley, Prof., 4.
L’Hommedieu, 348.
Lapping-cotton, 299, 300.
Lasts, making of, 344, 345.
Lathes, 241-243, 340, 345, 349;
for turning irregular forms of wood, 344.
Lattice work bridges, 103.
Laundry, 335.
Lavoisier, 58, 60, 63.
Lawn mowers, 40.
Lazy tongs mechanism, 160.
Le Bon, 1801, 185, 452.
Leaching, 236.
Lead, 219. (See Metallurgy.)
Leather, 361-372.
Leeuwenhoek of Holland, 65.
Leeu, 280.
Leckie, 41.
Le Conte, 63.
Lefaucheux, M., 267.
Leibnitz, 183.
Lenoir, 189.
Lesage, 121.
Lescatello, 1662, 24.
Page 393
Leyden jar, 114.
Libavius, 58.
Liebig, 64.
Lieberkulm, Dr., 409.
Light, 2.
Lighting. (See Lamps and Gas.)
Light Houses, illumination, 105, 410.
Linotype, 288, 289, 290.
Linville bridge, 103.
Lippersheim, 409.
Liquid air, 216, 217.
Livingstone, Dr., 221.
Livingston, Robt., 84, 85.
Lixiviation, 236.
Locks, 420-427.
Locomotives, 82, 83, 84, 88.
Looms, 293, 297, 302. (See Textiles.)
Loomis, Mahlen, 150.
“London Engineering,” 288.
London exhibition, 1851, 470.
London Times, 283, 285.
Lontin regulator, 137.
Lost arts, 219.
Louis XI., XIV., 254, 255.
Lowell, Francis C., 298.
Libavius, 58.
Liebig, 64.
Lieberkulm, Dr., 409.
Light, 2.
Lighting. (See Lamps and Gas.)
Light Houses, illumination, 105, 410.
Linotype, 288, 289, 290.
Linville bridge, 103.
Lippersheim, 409.
Liquid air, 216, 217.
Livingstone, Dr., 221.
Livingston, Robt., 84, 85.
Lixiviation, 236.
Locks, 420-427.
Locomotives, 82, 83, 84, 88.
Looms, 293, 297, 302. (See Textiles.)
Loomis, Mahlen, 150.
“London Engineering,” 288.
London exhibition, 1851, 470.
London Times, 283, 285.
Lontin regulator, 137.
Lost arts, 219.
Louis XI., XIV., 254, 255.
Lowell, Francis C., 298.
Page 394
Lowe, T. S. C., gas, 454, 455.
Lubricants, 237.
Lyall, James, 306.
Lyttleton, 442.
M.
MacArthur-Forrest, cyanide process, 236.
Macaulay, Lord, 10.
Mackintosh, of Glasgow, 477.
Machine guns, 269.
Madersperger, Jos., 312.
Magdeburg, 193.
Magic lantern. (See Optics.)
Magnets and Magnetic Electricity, 112, 122, 123, 124, 130,
133.
Mail bags and locks, 427.
Mail service, 427.
Mail marking, 285.
Majolica. (See Pottery.)
Malt, 65, 66.
Man a tool-using animal, 310.
Manning, 1831, 37.
Marble, artificial, 468, 469.
Marine propulsion, 442.
Marconi, 151.
Mariotte’s law of gases, 184, 194.
Lubricants, 237.
Lyall, James, 306.
Lyttleton, 442.
M.
MacArthur-Forrest, cyanide process, 236.
Macaulay, Lord, 10.
Mackintosh, of Glasgow, 477.
Machine guns, 269.
Madersperger, Jos., 312.
Magdeburg, 193.
Magic lantern. (See Optics.)
Magnets and Magnetic Electricity, 112, 122, 123, 124, 130,
133.
Mail bags and locks, 427.
Mail service, 427.
Mail marking, 285.
Majolica. (See Pottery.)
Malt, 65, 66.
Man a tool-using animal, 310.
Manning, 1831, 37.
Marble, artificial, 468, 469.
Marine propulsion, 442.
Marconi, 151.
Mariotte’s law of gases, 184, 194.
Page 395
Markers and cutters, 324.
Markham, 30.
Marsland, looms, 301.
Marr, Wm., 421.
Martin, Prof., 63.
Marvin’s safes, 421.
McClure’s Magazine, 445, 447.
McCormick reaper, 37, 38.
McCallum bridge, 103.
McKay, ships, 439.
McKay, shoe machines, 369.
McMillan bicycle, 433.
Mary, Queen, 402.
Mason, Prof. O. T., 458.
Massachusetts, mills, 298, 369.
Massachusetts, shoe making, 370.
Master locks, 423, 426.
Matches, 199, 200, 201.
Matting, 309, 312.
Maudsley, Henry, 243, 349.
Maurice of Nassau, 255.
Maurice, Peter, 167.
Mauser rifle, 269.
Mausoleum, 34.
Maxim electric light, 137.
Markham, 30.
Marsland, looms, 301.
Marr, Wm., 421.
Martin, Prof., 63.
Marvin’s safes, 421.
McClure’s Magazine, 445, 447.
McCormick reaper, 37, 38.
McCallum bridge, 103.
McKay, ships, 439.
McKay, shoe machines, 369.
McMillan bicycle, 433.
Mary, Queen, 402.
Mason, Prof. O. T., 458.
Massachusetts, mills, 298, 369.
Massachusetts, shoe making, 370.
Master locks, 423, 426.
Matches, 199, 200, 201.
Matting, 309, 312.
Maudsley, Henry, 243, 349.
Maurice of Nassau, 255.
Maurice, Peter, 167.
Mauser rifle, 269.
Mausoleum, 34.
Maxim electric light, 137.
Page 396
Maxwell, 417.
Mayer, Prof., 404.
Meares, 1800, 35.
Meat, Preparation of, 55.
Mechanical powers, 4.
Medicine and surgery, 70, 71, 72.
Meigs, General M. C., 102.
Meikle, 1786, 41.
Megaphone, 407.
Melville, David, 452.
Menai Straits bridges, 96.
Mendeljeff, 2.
Menzies of Scotland, 41.
Mergenthaler, 288.
Merrimac and Monitor, 268, 441.
Metals and Metallurgy, 218-239.
Metal founding, 249.
Metal working and turning, 240;
boring, planing, 251;
hammering, shaping, 240;
modern metal working plant, 250.
Metal, personal ware, buckles, clasps, hooks, buttons, etc.,
250.
Meters, gas and water, 178.
Mexico, 281, 292.
Microphone, 148.
Microscope, 409.
Mayer, Prof., 404.
Meares, 1800, 35.
Meat, Preparation of, 55.
Mechanical powers, 4.
Medicine and surgery, 70, 71, 72.
Meigs, General M. C., 102.
Meikle, 1786, 41.
Megaphone, 407.
Melville, David, 452.
Menai Straits bridges, 96.
Mendeljeff, 2.
Menzies of Scotland, 41.
Mergenthaler, 288.
Merrimac and Monitor, 268, 441.
Metals and Metallurgy, 218-239.
Metal founding, 249.
Metal working and turning, 240;
boring, planing, 251;
hammering, shaping, 240;
modern metal working plant, 250.
Metal, personal ware, buckles, clasps, hooks, buttons, etc.,
250.
Meters, gas and water, 178.
Mexico, 281, 292.
Microphone, 148.
Microscope, 409.
Page 397
Middlings purifier, 49, 50.
Milk, milkers, 54, 55.
Millet, 30.
Mills, 45 to 51.
Milling, high, low, 49.
Miller, wood working, 342.
Miller and Taylor, 81.
Millwright, The Young, 47.
Milton, 105, 218.
Mineral wool, minerals and mining, 373-383.
Minneapolis mills, 50.
Mitrailleuses, 269.
Modern machinery, its commencement, 364.
Mohl, von, Hugo, 67.
Moigno, Abbé, 411.
Mold, aging. (See Chemistry.)
Moulding. (See Wood-working and Glass making.)
Monks, 387.
“Monitor,” The, 268, 441.
Montgolfier, 169.
Moody, Paul, 298.
Moors, 253.
Morin, Genl., 209, 238.
Morland, Sir Sam’l, 77.
Morrison, Chas., 115.
Milk, milkers, 54, 55.
Millet, 30.
Mills, 45 to 51.
Milling, high, low, 49.
Miller, wood working, 342.
Miller and Taylor, 81.
Millwright, The Young, 47.
Milton, 105, 218.
Mineral wool, minerals and mining, 373-383.
Minneapolis mills, 50.
Mitrailleuses, 269.
Modern machinery, its commencement, 364.
Mohl, von, Hugo, 67.
Moigno, Abbé, 411.
Mold, aging. (See Chemistry.)
Moulding. (See Wood-working and Glass making.)
Monks, 387.
“Monitor,” The, 268, 441.
Montgolfier, 169.
Moody, Paul, 298.
Moors, 253.
Morin, Genl., 209, 238.
Morland, Sir Sam’l, 77.
Morrison, Chas., 115.
Page 398
Morse, S. B. F., 126, 127, 128, 129.
Mortars, 253.
Mortise making, 345.
Morton, Dr. W. T. G., 71.
Motor vehicles, 435.
Mont Cenis Tunnel, 107.
Mowers, 32, 33, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39.
Moxon, Jos., 242.
Mozart, 402.
Murdock, Wm., 185, 452.
Music, 400-406.
Musical instruments, 6, 400.
Musical electrical apparatus, 406.
Muschenbroeck, Prof., 1745, 114, 115.
Mushet, iron and steel, 234.
Muskets. (See Ordnance.)
Muzzle loaders, 263, 264.
N.
National Assembly, France, 9.
Napoleon. (See Bonaparte.)
Naphtha, 454.
Nasmyth, 243, 245.
Needle, 310, 313.
Needle gun, 266.
Mortars, 253.
Mortise making, 345.
Morton, Dr. W. T. G., 71.
Motor vehicles, 435.
Mont Cenis Tunnel, 107.
Mowers, 32, 33, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39.
Moxon, Jos., 242.
Mozart, 402.
Murdock, Wm., 185, 452.
Music, 400-406.
Musical instruments, 6, 400.
Musical electrical apparatus, 406.
Muschenbroeck, Prof., 1745, 114, 115.
Mushet, iron and steel, 234.
Muskets. (See Ordnance.)
Muzzle loaders, 263, 264.
N.
National Assembly, France, 9.
Napoleon. (See Bonaparte.)
Naphtha, 454.
Nasmyth, 243, 245.
Needle, 310, 313.
Needle gun, 266.
Page 399
Niedringhaus, 468.
Netting. (See Spinning.)
Newcomen, 5, 77, 78, 79, 167, 187.
Newbold, Chas., 19.
Newbury, Wm., 348.
Newton, Sir Isaac, 9, 11, 61, 114, 167, 183, 414.
Niagara bridges, 97, 98, 104.
Niagara power, 171, 172.
Nicholson and Carlisle, 118.
Nicholson, Wm., of England, 282.
Nickel. (See Metallurgy.)
Niepce, Jas. N., 415.
Nitro-glycerine, 270.
Noah’s Ark, 438.
Nobel, A., 192.
Nollet, Prof., 132.
Noria, The, 165.
Norway, 266, 430, 439.
Nozzles, flexible, 174;
water, 179.
O.
Oersted, 121, 130.
Ogle, 1822, 36.
Ohm, G. S., 125.
Oils and fats, 69.
Netting. (See Spinning.)
Newcomen, 5, 77, 78, 79, 167, 187.
Newbold, Chas., 19.
Newbury, Wm., 348.
Newton, Sir Isaac, 9, 11, 61, 114, 167, 183, 414.
Niagara bridges, 97, 98, 104.
Niagara power, 171, 172.
Nicholson and Carlisle, 118.
Nicholson, Wm., of England, 282.
Nickel. (See Metallurgy.)
Niepce, Jas. N., 415.
Nitro-glycerine, 270.
Noah’s Ark, 438.
Nobel, A., 192.
Nollet, Prof., 132.
Noria, The, 165.
Norway, 266, 430, 439.
Nozzles, flexible, 174;
water, 179.
O.
Oersted, 121, 130.
Ogle, 1822, 36.
Ohm, G. S., 125.
Oils and fats, 69.
Page 400
Oil cloth, 306.
Oil lamps, 359.
Oil stoves and furnaces, 190, 212.
Oiling waves, 446.
Oil wells, 190, 382.
Omnibus. (See Stages and Carriers.)
Opening and blowing machines, cotton, 299.
Opthalmoscope, 411.
Optical instruments, 409-412.
Ordnance, arms, explosives, 252 to 272.
Ores, treatment of, 229, 250, 251, 373 to 380.
Ore separators, 379. (See Metallurgy.)
Organs, 404.
Ornamental iron work. (See Metal Working.)
Ornamental wood work. (See Wood Working.)
Oscillating engines. (See Steam.)
Osmund furnaces. (See Metallurgy.)
Otis elevators, 155.
Otto, Nicolaus A., Otto engine, 190, 191.
Oxygen, 58, 453. (See Priestley.)
P.
Paddle wheels and vessels, 443.
Paints, 466.
Painting, 418, 419, 459.
Painting machines, 193, 418, 467.
Oil lamps, 359.
Oil stoves and furnaces, 190, 212.
Oiling waves, 446.
Oil wells, 190, 382.
Omnibus. (See Stages and Carriers.)
Opening and blowing machines, cotton, 299.
Opthalmoscope, 411.
Optical instruments, 409-412.
Ordnance, arms, explosives, 252 to 272.
Ores, treatment of, 229, 250, 251, 373 to 380.
Ore separators, 379. (See Metallurgy.)
Organs, 404.
Ornamental iron work. (See Metal Working.)
Ornamental wood work. (See Wood Working.)
Oscillating engines. (See Steam.)
Osmund furnaces. (See Metallurgy.)
Otis elevators, 155.
Otto, Nicolaus A., Otto engine, 190, 191.
Oxygen, 58, 453. (See Priestley.)
P.
Paddle wheels and vessels, 443.
Paints, 466.
Painting, 418, 419, 459.
Painting machines, 193, 418, 467.
Page 401
Paixhans, Genl., 261, 264.
Page, Prof. C. G., 132, 141.
Page, Ralph, 224.
Palissy, Bernard, 458.
Palmer, stage-coaches, 429.
Palladius, 32.
Panoramas, 415.
Paper and printing, 273-291.
Paper bag machinery, 279.
Papin, 5, 77, 184, 192, 193.
Papyrus, 273, 274.
Paraffine. (See Oils.)
Parchment, 274.
Parkinson, Thos., 194.
Parliament, House of, 209.
Parquetry. (See Wood-working.)
Parrott, gun, 264.
Parthenon, 373.
Partridge, Reuben, matches, 200.
Pascal, 166, 168, 170, 183.
Pasteur, 68.
Patents, their origin and purpose, 8, 21.
Pattern making. (See Wood, Metal, and Textiles.)
Pauley, Col., 266.
Pegs, 367, 368.
Page, Prof. C. G., 132, 141.
Page, Ralph, 224.
Palissy, Bernard, 458.
Palmer, stage-coaches, 429.
Palladius, 32.
Panoramas, 415.
Paper and printing, 273-291.
Paper bag machinery, 279.
Papin, 5, 77, 184, 192, 193.
Papyrus, 273, 274.
Paraffine. (See Oils.)
Parchment, 274.
Parkinson, Thos., 194.
Parliament, House of, 209.
Parquetry. (See Wood-working.)
Parrott, gun, 264.
Parthenon, 373.
Partridge, Reuben, matches, 200.
Pascal, 166, 168, 170, 183.
Pasteur, 68.
Patents, their origin and purpose, 8, 21.
Pattern making. (See Wood, Metal, and Textiles.)
Pauley, Col., 266.
Pegs, 367, 368.
Page 402
Pencils, 418.
Pendulum. (See Horology.)
Pendulum machines, 365.
Penelope, 306.
Pennsylvania fireplace, 203.
Percussion caps, 259, 260.
Percy. (See Metallurgy.)
Permutation locks, 425.
Pernot, 234.
Perin & Co., saws, 348.
Persians, 362.
Petroleum, 359, 382.
Petzold, 403.
Pfaff, 121.
Pharos of Alexandria, 34.
Phelps, G. M., 147.
Phœnicians, 439, 459.
“Phœnix,” The. (See Ships.)
Phonautograph, 141, 407.
Phonograph, 2, 406.
Phonophone, 414.
Phonoscope, 414.
Photophone, 414.
Phosphorus matches, 200.
Photochromoscope, 417.
Pendulum. (See Horology.)
Pendulum machines, 365.
Penelope, 306.
Pennsylvania fireplace, 203.
Percussion caps, 259, 260.
Percy. (See Metallurgy.)
Permutation locks, 425.
Pernot, 234.
Perin & Co., saws, 348.
Persians, 362.
Petroleum, 359, 382.
Petzold, 403.
Pfaff, 121.
Pharos of Alexandria, 34.
Phelps, G. M., 147.
Phœnicians, 439, 459.
“Phœnix,” The. (See Ships.)
Phonautograph, 141, 407.
Phonograph, 2, 406.
Phonophone, 414.
Phonoscope, 414.
Photophone, 414.
Phosphorus matches, 200.
Photochromoscope, 417.
Page 403
Photography, 410, 414, 416, 418.
Photo-processes, 417.
Piano, 6, 401-404.
Picking machine, 298, 299.
Picker-motion, looms, 297.
Piezometer, 262.
Pigments, 70.
Pitt, inventor, 1786, 33.
Pixii, 131.
Planes, 340, 350. (See Wood-working.)
Planing machines, 245, 349, 350. (See Wood-working.)
Planté, G., 120.
Planters. (See Chap. III.)
Plaster, 469.
Plato, 385.
Platt, Sir Hugh, 14.
Platt, Senator, 35.
Pliny, 32, 164, 223, 227, 273, 340.
Ploughs, 5, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 24, 27, 28,
29, 30.
Plucknett, 1808, 35.
Pneumatics, 165, 182 to 198.
Pneumatic machines, 195, 197, 198.
Pneumatic propellers, 444.
Pneumatic tires, 433.
Photo-processes, 417.
Piano, 6, 401-404.
Picking machine, 298, 299.
Picker-motion, looms, 297.
Piezometer, 262.
Pigments, 70.
Pitt, inventor, 1786, 33.
Pixii, 131.
Planes, 340, 350. (See Wood-working.)
Planing machines, 245, 349, 350. (See Wood-working.)
Planté, G., 120.
Planters. (See Chap. III.)
Plaster, 469.
Plato, 385.
Platt, Sir Hugh, 14.
Platt, Senator, 35.
Pliny, 32, 164, 223, 227, 273, 340.
Ploughs, 5, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 24, 27, 28,
29, 30.
Plucknett, 1808, 35.
Pneumatics, 165, 182 to 198.
Pneumatic machines, 195, 197, 198.
Pneumatic propellers, 444.
Pneumatic tires, 433.
Page 404
Pneumatic tubes and transmission, 159, 196.
Polemoscope, 413.
Polishing glass, 475.
Pope, Alexander, 394.
Porcelain, 465, 466.
Poririer (match machine), 201.
Porta Baptista, 414.
Porta G. della, 75.
Portable engines, 88.
Potato planters, 28.
Potassium, 236.
Potter, Humphrey, 78.
Pottery, 457-469.
Pousard, 465.
Powder, 253.
Power, measure of, 187.
Prehistoric inventions. (See beginning of each Chapter.)
Pressing machines, 51, 52, 53.
Priestley, 58, 453, 477.
“Princeton,” The, 443.
Printing press, 2, 6, 273-291.
Prince of Orange, 255.
Projectiles, 253-270.
Prometheus, 199, 200.
Protoplasm, 67.
Polemoscope, 413.
Polishing glass, 475.
Pope, Alexander, 394.
Porcelain, 465, 466.
Poririer (match machine), 201.
Porta Baptista, 414.
Porta G. della, 75.
Portable engines, 88.
Potato planters, 28.
Potassium, 236.
Potter, Humphrey, 78.
Pottery, 457-469.
Pousard, 465.
Powder, 253.
Power, measure of, 187.
Prehistoric inventions. (See beginning of each Chapter.)
Pressing machines, 51, 52, 53.
Priestley, 58, 453, 477.
“Princeton,” The, 443.
Printing press, 2, 6, 273-291.
Prince of Orange, 255.
Projectiles, 253-270.
Prometheus, 199, 200.
Protoplasm, 67.
Page 405
Prussia, 266.
Providence, R. I., Tool Co., 322.
Psalteries, 401.
Ptah, 241.
Puckle’s patent breech loader, 258, 259.
Puddling, 226, 227, 231.
Pug mills, 461.
Pullman car, 107.
Pulp, 275-279.
Pumps, 187.
Ptolemy, 428.
Puillet, 411.
Puy Guillaume, battle of, 1338, 253.
Pyramids, 34, 93.
Q.
Quadruplex telegraphy. (See Telegraphy.)
“Queen Ann’s Pocket Piece,” 256.
Queen of Sheba, 326.
Quern, 45.
Quilting machine, 324.
R.
Radcliffe, 305.
Radiation and radiators, 205, 206.
Railways, rails and tracks, 106, 108;
cars, 108, 109;
Providence, R. I., Tool Co., 322.
Psalteries, 401.
Ptah, 241.
Puckle’s patent breech loader, 258, 259.
Puddling, 226, 227, 231.
Pug mills, 461.
Pullman car, 107.
Pulp, 275-279.
Pumps, 187.
Ptolemy, 428.
Puillet, 411.
Puy Guillaume, battle of, 1338, 253.
Pyramids, 34, 93.
Q.
Quadruplex telegraphy. (See Telegraphy.)
“Queen Ann’s Pocket Piece,” 256.
Queen of Sheba, 326.
Quern, 45.
Quilting machine, 324.
R.
Radcliffe, 305.
Radiation and radiators, 205, 206.
Railways, rails and tracks, 106, 108;
cars, 108, 109;
Page 406
frogs, 108.
Railway cars, 436, 437.
Rakes. (See Agriculture.)
Ramage Press, 281.
Ramseye, David, 1630, 76.
Ramelli, Cardan, 75.
Ramsey, David, 1738, 168, 389.
Ram, water. (See Pumps.)
Randolph, David M., 367.
Randolph, Elder and Co., 440.
Ranges. (See Stoves.)
Range finder, 413.
Raphael, 418.
Rawhides. (See Leather.)
Read, Nathan, 1791, 87.
Reapers. (See Harvesters, 32, 33, 36, 37, 38.)
Reichenbach, 382.
Reis, Prof., 141, 407.
Refining metals, 227.
Refrigeration, 213, 214, 216.
Regenerators, 465.
Regenerative furnace. (See Metallurgy, also, 464.)
Registers, 395.
Regulators, Electric, 137;
time, 137.
Rennie, 244.
Railway cars, 436, 437.
Rakes. (See Agriculture.)
Ramage Press, 281.
Ramseye, David, 1630, 76.
Ramelli, Cardan, 75.
Ramsey, David, 1738, 168, 389.
Ram, water. (See Pumps.)
Randolph, David M., 367.
Randolph, Elder and Co., 440.
Ranges. (See Stoves.)
Range finder, 413.
Raphael, 418.
Rawhides. (See Leather.)
Read, Nathan, 1791, 87.
Reapers. (See Harvesters, 32, 33, 36, 37, 38.)
Reichenbach, 382.
Reis, Prof., 141, 407.
Refining metals, 227.
Refrigeration, 213, 214, 216.
Regenerators, 465.
Regenerative furnace. (See Metallurgy, also, 464.)
Registers, 395.
Regulators, Electric, 137;
time, 137.
Rennie, 244.
Page 407
Repeating watches, 389.
Reservoirs, 166, 180.
Resonators, 404.
Revault, 1605, 75.
Revolvers. (See Fire Arms.)
Rhode Island, 298.
Ribbon making, 306.
Rickel, Dr., 451.
Rider bridge, 103.
Riehle, testing mach., 398.
Rifles, 258, 259, 260.
Rifled cannon, 262, 263.
Ring frame-spinning, 302.
Ritter, 118, 121.
Riveting, 176.
Road carriage, steam, 83.
Roads, 106, 107.
Road making, 106.
Robia, Luca della, 459.
Robert, Louis, 276.
Roberts, 244.
Rock drilling, 107.
Rockers, ore, 235.
Rockets, 253.
Rodman, General, gun, 264.
Reservoirs, 166, 180.
Resonators, 404.
Revault, 1605, 75.
Revolvers. (See Fire Arms.)
Rhode Island, 298.
Ribbon making, 306.
Rickel, Dr., 451.
Rider bridge, 103.
Riehle, testing mach., 398.
Rifles, 258, 259, 260.
Rifled cannon, 262, 263.
Ring frame-spinning, 302.
Ritter, 118, 121.
Riveting, 176.
Road carriage, steam, 83.
Roads, 106, 107.
Road making, 106.
Robia, Luca della, 459.
Robert, Louis, 276.
Roberts, 244.
Rock drilling, 107.
Rockers, ore, 235.
Rockets, 253.
Rodman, General, gun, 264.
Page 408
Roebling, John A., engineer, 98, 99.
Roebling, Washington, 98, 100.
Roentgen, X rays, 149.
Rohes, M. Beau de, 189.
Rogers, Saml. B., metallurgist, 229, 230.
Rogers, type maker, 289.
Roller press, 283, 284.
Roman arts, inventions, etc., 10, 13, 14, 45, 93, 164, 166,
178, 202, 274, 457, 459.
Rookwood pottery, 467.
Romagnosi, G. D., 121.
Roscoe, Prof. (See Chemistry.)
Rose, H., 238.
Rotary engines. (See Steam.)
Rotary printing press, 284. (See Printing.)
Rotary pumps. (See Water and Steam Eng.)
Roving, spinning, 298, 299.
Rubber, 69, 434.
Ruhmkorff coil, 132.
Rumford, Count, 63.
Rumsey, James, 81, 168.
Russia, 40, 254, 430.
Russian leather, 362.
Rust, Saml., 282.
Ruth, 16.
Roebling, Washington, 98, 100.
Roentgen, X rays, 149.
Rohes, M. Beau de, 189.
Rogers, Saml. B., metallurgist, 229, 230.
Rogers, type maker, 289.
Roller press, 283, 284.
Roman arts, inventions, etc., 10, 13, 14, 45, 93, 164, 166,
178, 202, 274, 457, 459.
Rookwood pottery, 467.
Romagnosi, G. D., 121.
Roscoe, Prof. (See Chemistry.)
Rose, H., 238.
Rotary engines. (See Steam.)
Rotary printing press, 284. (See Printing.)
Rotary pumps. (See Water and Steam Eng.)
Roving, spinning, 298, 299.
Rubber, 69, 434.
Ruhmkorff coil, 132.
Rumford, Count, 63.
Rumsey, James, 81, 168.
Russia, 40, 254, 430.
Russian leather, 362.
Rust, Saml., 282.
Ruth, 16.
Page 409
S.
Sabot, projectiles, 262, 263.
Safes and locks, 420-427.
Safety valves, 87.
Saint, Thomas, sewing machine, 311.
Salman, scales maker, 396.
Salonen, 1807, mower, 36.
Samians and Samos, 459.
Sand blast, 332, 334, 475.
Sand filters. (See Filters.)
Sandwich, Earl, 1699, 25.
Saracens, 274.
Sarnstrom, Prof., 234.
Savery, Thos., 5, 77.
Saws, 340, 341, 342, 348, 351.
Saw mills, 341, 342.
Saxton, Jos., 131.
Scales, 395.
Scaliger, 183.
Scandinavians, 363.
Scarborough, 85.
Schilling, Baron, 126.
Schönbein, 270.
Schapper, Hartman, 241.
Schoeffer, Peter, 270.
Sabot, projectiles, 262, 263.
Safes and locks, 420-427.
Safety valves, 87.
Saint, Thomas, sewing machine, 311.
Salman, scales maker, 396.
Salonen, 1807, mower, 36.
Samians and Samos, 459.
Sand blast, 332, 334, 475.
Sand filters. (See Filters.)
Sandwich, Earl, 1699, 25.
Saracens, 274.
Sarnstrom, Prof., 234.
Savery, Thos., 5, 77.
Saws, 340, 341, 342, 348, 351.
Saw mills, 341, 342.
Saxton, Jos., 131.
Scales, 395.
Scaliger, 183.
Scandinavians, 363.
Scarborough, 85.
Schilling, Baron, 126.
Schönbein, 270.
Schapper, Hartman, 241.
Schoeffer, Peter, 270.
Page 410
Schreiber, 403.
Schrotter (matches), 200.
Schweigger, S. C., 126.
Scoops, 178.
Scotland, 19, 20, 33.
Scott, phonautograph, 141, 407.
Scott, Sir Walter, 45, 80.
Scott, Gen. W., 260.
Scott, Rich’d, 420.
Scouring machines. (See Leather and Cloth, and Grain.)
Screw, Archimedean. (See Ships and Propeller.)
Screw, press, 52.
Screw propeller, 85, 443.
Screw making, 245, 246.
Scythians, 362, 428.
Scythes, 32, 33, 35.
Seed drills, 24, 25, 26, 27.
Seely, F. A., 3.
Self-playing Instruments, 406.
Seguin, 83.
Sellers, Wm., 234, 247.
Separators, Grain, 48, 49;
milk, 54;
ore, 379. (See Mills.)
Seppings, Sir Robert, 440.
Serrin, 137.
Schrotter (matches), 200.
Schweigger, S. C., 126.
Scoops, 178.
Scotland, 19, 20, 33.
Scott, phonautograph, 141, 407.
Scott, Sir Walter, 45, 80.
Scott, Gen. W., 260.
Scott, Rich’d, 420.
Scouring machines. (See Leather and Cloth, and Grain.)
Screw, Archimedean. (See Ships and Propeller.)
Screw, press, 52.
Screw propeller, 85, 443.
Screw making, 245, 246.
Scythians, 362, 428.
Scythes, 32, 33, 35.
Seed drills, 24, 25, 26, 27.
Seely, F. A., 3.
Self-playing Instruments, 406.
Seguin, 83.
Sellers, Wm., 234, 247.
Separators, Grain, 48, 49;
milk, 54;
ore, 379. (See Mills.)
Seppings, Sir Robert, 440.
Serrin, 137.
Page 411
Serviere, 166.
Seward, Wm. H., 3.
Seven Wonders, The, 34, 35.
Sewing machines, 311-323.
Sewer construction, 107.
Shades and screens, 356.
Shaping machines, 245.
Sharp’s carbine, 267.
Shaw, Joshua, 260.
Sheele, 415.
Sheet metal ware, 250.
Shells, 264.
Shingle making, 350.
Shinar, Brick making in, 457.
Ships, war, and others, 261, 343, 438-449.
Shoes and machinery, 365-371.
Sholes, inventor, type writing, 286.
Shrapnel, 259.
Shuttles, 293. (See Textiles.)
Sickle, 32, 33.
Side wheel steamboats, 85.
Siemens, Dr. Werner, 133.
Siemens, Wm., Sir., 144, 171.
Siemens and Halske, 144, 146.
Siemens, C. L., 147, 234, 465.
Seward, Wm. H., 3.
Seven Wonders, The, 34, 35.
Sewing machines, 311-323.
Sewer construction, 107.
Shades and screens, 356.
Shaping machines, 245.
Sharp’s carbine, 267.
Shaw, Joshua, 260.
Sheele, 415.
Sheet metal ware, 250.
Shells, 264.
Shingle making, 350.
Shinar, Brick making in, 457.
Ships, war, and others, 261, 343, 438-449.
Shoes and machinery, 365-371.
Sholes, inventor, type writing, 286.
Shrapnel, 259.
Shuttles, 293. (See Textiles.)
Sickle, 32, 33.
Side wheel steamboats, 85.
Siemens, Dr. Werner, 133.
Siemens, Wm., Sir., 144, 171.
Siemens and Halske, 144, 146.
Siemens, C. L., 147, 234, 465.
Page 412
Silk making. (See Spinning.)
Silk, artificial. (See Glass.)
Silver, 219.
Singer, sewing machine, 319, 320.
Sinking shafts, Mode of, 106, 107.
Skiving. (See Leather.)
Slade, J. T., 155.
Slater, Thomas, 298.
Slaughtering, 55.
Sleighs, 430, 431.
Slide, rest, 243, 349.
Slotting machines, 245.
Small arms, 266. (See Ordnance.)
Small, Jas., 1784, 18.
Smeaton, 87, 105.
Smelting, 220. (See Metallurgy.)
Smiles, Self Help, 95.
Smith & Wesson, revolvers, 269.
Snellus, 234.
Snow ploughs, 109.
Soda, pulp, 278.
Solarmeter, 413.
Solomon’s temple, 242.
Somerset, Marquis of Worcester. (See Steam.)
Sound, 406. (See Acoustics.)
Silk, artificial. (See Glass.)
Silver, 219.
Singer, sewing machine, 319, 320.
Sinking shafts, Mode of, 106, 107.
Skiving. (See Leather.)
Slade, J. T., 155.
Slater, Thomas, 298.
Slaughtering, 55.
Sleighs, 430, 431.
Slide, rest, 243, 349.
Slotting machines, 245.
Small arms, 266. (See Ordnance.)
Small, Jas., 1784, 18.
Smeaton, 87, 105.
Smelting, 220. (See Metallurgy.)
Smiles, Self Help, 95.
Smith & Wesson, revolvers, 269.
Snellus, 234.
Snow ploughs, 109.
Soda, pulp, 278.
Solarmeter, 413.
Solomon’s temple, 242.
Somerset, Marquis of Worcester. (See Steam.)
Sound, 406. (See Acoustics.)
Page 413
Sowing, 23.
Spanish inventions, 25, 75, 253, 274, 280, 292.
Spectacles. (See Optics.)
Spectrum, analysis, 60, 61, 62, 63, 412.
Spectroscope, 2, 412.
Speed Indicators, 396.
Spencer, gun, 267.
Spencer, metal coating, 249.
Spinet, 402.
Spinning, 6, 292, 296, 300. (See Textiles.)
“Spinning Jenny,” 297.
Spinning Mule, 297, 300.
“Spiritalia,” 404.
Splitting, leather, 366.
Spooling, 302.
Springfield musket, 268.
Spun glass. (See Spinning and 474.)
Stamp mills and metal working, 236, 250.
Standard time, 394.
Stanhope, Earl, 282.
St. Gothard tunnel, 107.
St. Louis bridge, 102.
Steam engines, 2, 5, 73 to 95;
boilers, 86;
heating, 207;
pumps, 79, 81, 88.
Spanish inventions, 25, 75, 253, 274, 280, 292.
Spectacles. (See Optics.)
Spectrum, analysis, 60, 61, 62, 63, 412.
Spectroscope, 2, 412.
Speed Indicators, 396.
Spencer, gun, 267.
Spencer, metal coating, 249.
Spinet, 402.
Spinning, 6, 292, 296, 300. (See Textiles.)
“Spinning Jenny,” 297.
Spinning Mule, 297, 300.
“Spiritalia,” 404.
Splitting, leather, 366.
Spooling, 302.
Springfield musket, 268.
Spun glass. (See Spinning and 474.)
Stamp mills and metal working, 236, 250.
Standard time, 394.
Stanhope, Earl, 282.
St. Gothard tunnel, 107.
St. Louis bridge, 102.
Steam engines, 2, 5, 73 to 95;
boilers, 86;
heating, 207;
pumps, 79, 81, 88.
Page 414
Steam ships, 2, 84, 85, 440.
Stearns, 145.
Steel, manufacture of. (See Metallurgy.)
Steinheil, 126, 412.
Steinway, pianos, 403.
Stenographing, 290.
Stereoscope, 410, 411.
Stereotyping, 281.
Sterilisation, 54, 213.
Stephenson, Geo., 82, 83, 84, 85, 98.
Stephenson, Robert, 98, 100, 101, 155.
Stevens, John C., 84, 85, 86, 443.
Stevinus, 166.
Stitching machines. (See Sewing.)
Stocking making, 307.
Stone cutting, carving and dressing, 374, 375.
Stone crushing, 376.
Stone, artificial, 468.
Storage battery, 120.
Storm, W. M. (Gunpowder Engine,) 192.
Store service, 152, 153, 158, 159.
Stoves, 200-206.
Street, Robert, 185.
Street sweeping, 331.
Stow, 350.
Stearns, 145.
Steel, manufacture of. (See Metallurgy.)
Steinheil, 126, 412.
Steinway, pianos, 403.
Stenographing, 290.
Stereoscope, 410, 411.
Stereotyping, 281.
Sterilisation, 54, 213.
Stephenson, Geo., 82, 83, 84, 85, 98.
Stephenson, Robert, 98, 100, 101, 155.
Stevens, John C., 84, 85, 86, 443.
Stevinus, 166.
Stitching machines. (See Sewing.)
Stocking making, 307.
Stone cutting, carving and dressing, 374, 375.
Stone crushing, 376.
Stone, artificial, 468.
Storage battery, 120.
Storm, W. M. (Gunpowder Engine,) 192.
Store service, 152, 153, 158, 159.
Stoves, 200-206.
Street, Robert, 185.
Street sweeping, 331.
Stow, 350.
Page 415
Stückofen, metallurgy, 224.
Sturgeon, inventor, 122, 123, 124.
Sturtevant, B. F. (shoes), 368.
Submarine blasting, etc., 107.
Suez canal, 107.
Sugar, 69.
Sun-dial, 384.
Subdivision of labor, 392. (See Ordnance and Sewing
Machines.)
Surgery and instruments, 70.
Suspension bridges, 95, 96-100.
Swan, light, 137.
Sweden, 266.
Sweeping machines, 331.
Swiss manufactures, (See Watches, etc.)
Switzerland, 16, 46, 391.
Symington, 81, 83, 85.
Syphon recorder, 139.
T.
T-rail, 108.
Tables, 354. (See Furniture.)
Tachenius, 58.
Tack making, 344.
Tainter, C. S., 408, 414.
Takamine, 68.
Sturgeon, inventor, 122, 123, 124.
Sturtevant, B. F. (shoes), 368.
Submarine blasting, etc., 107.
Suez canal, 107.
Sugar, 69.
Sun-dial, 384.
Subdivision of labor, 392. (See Ordnance and Sewing
Machines.)
Surgery and instruments, 70.
Suspension bridges, 95, 96-100.
Swan, light, 137.
Sweden, 266.
Sweeping machines, 331.
Swiss manufactures, (See Watches, etc.)
Switzerland, 16, 46, 391.
Symington, 81, 83, 85.
Syphon recorder, 139.
T.
T-rail, 108.
Tables, 354. (See Furniture.)
Tachenius, 58.
Tack making, 344.
Tainter, C. S., 408, 414.
Takamine, 68.
Page 416
Talus, or Perdix, saw inventor, 340.
Tanning. (See Leather.)
Tapestry, 275.
Teasling, 306.
Tedders, 40.
Telegraph, 124-128, 139, 140.
Telegraphic pictures, 419.
Telephone, 2, 140, 141, 142, 406.
Telescope, 2, 409.
Telpherage, 144.
Telford, 95, 96.
Tennyson, 67.
Tesla, 145.
Testing machines, 398.
Textiles, 292-309.
Thermo-electricity, 112, 120.
Theodore of Samos, 340.
Thimonnier, 313.
Thomson, Sir Wm., 63, 139.
Thompson, Robt. Wm., 433, 435.
Thompson & Houston, 137.
“Three color process,” 417.
Thread making. (See Spinning.)
Threshing machines, 40, 41.
Throstle, 296.
Tanning. (See Leather.)
Tapestry, 275.
Teasling, 306.
Tedders, 40.
Telegraph, 124-128, 139, 140.
Telegraphic pictures, 419.
Telephone, 2, 140, 141, 142, 406.
Telescope, 2, 409.
Telpherage, 144.
Telford, 95, 96.
Tennyson, 67.
Tesla, 145.
Testing machines, 398.
Textiles, 292-309.
Thermo-electricity, 112, 120.
Theodore of Samos, 340.
Thimonnier, 313.
Thomson, Sir Wm., 63, 139.
Thompson, Robt. Wm., 433, 435.
Thompson & Houston, 137.
“Three color process,” 417.
Thread making. (See Spinning.)
Threshing machines, 40, 41.
Throstle, 296.
Page 417
Thurston, Prof. R. H., 86.
Tiles, 350.
Tilghman, B. F., sand blast, 332, 475.
Time locks, 425.
Time measuring of the ancients, 384.
Tissier, 238.
Tobacco and machinery, 55, 56, 57.
Tools, primitive, 310, 328, 339.
Torpedo vessels, 271, 445.
Torpedoes, 271.
Torricelli, 166, 183.
Tour, Cagniard de la, 65.
Towne’s lattice bridge, 103.
Traction railways and engines, 436.
Transplanters, 29.
Transportation, 107, 109.
Treadwell, Daniel, 284.
Tresca, M., 247.
Trevithick, Richard, 81, 82.
Tripler, C. E., liquid air, 216.
Trolley lines. (See Electric, etc.)
Trough batteries. (See Electricity.)
Truss bridges, 102, 103.
Tubal Cain, 218, 239.
Tubes and tubing, making, 248.
Tiles, 350.
Tilghman, B. F., sand blast, 332, 475.
Time locks, 425.
Time measuring of the ancients, 384.
Tissier, 238.
Tobacco and machinery, 55, 56, 57.
Tools, primitive, 310, 328, 339.
Torpedo vessels, 271, 445.
Torpedoes, 271.
Torricelli, 166, 183.
Tour, Cagniard de la, 65.
Towne’s lattice bridge, 103.
Traction railways and engines, 436.
Transplanters, 29.
Transportation, 107, 109.
Treadwell, Daniel, 284.
Tresca, M., 247.
Trevithick, Richard, 81, 82.
Tripler, C. E., liquid air, 216.
Trolley lines. (See Electric, etc.)
Trough batteries. (See Electricity.)
Truss bridges, 102, 103.
Tubal Cain, 218, 239.
Tubes and tubing, making, 248.
Page 418
Tubular bridges, 100, 102.
Tull, Jethro, 1680-1740, 14, 25.
Tungsten. (See Metals.)
Tunnels, 106, 107.
Turbines, 89, 168, 171, 172.
Turning, Art of, 242, 339, 344.
Tusser, Thomas, 14.
Tweddle, 176.
Twine binders. (See Harvesters.)
Twinings (inventor, refrigerator), 215.
Tympanum, 164.
Tyndall, John, 411, 412.
Type, 280, 281.
Type Distributor, 279.
Type setter, 278, 279.
Type writers, 6, 286.
V.
Vail, Alfred, 126.
Valerius, 388.
Valves, valve gear, 87, 89.
Vapor engines, 190-192.
Vapor stoves, 200-206, 212.
Varley, Alfred, 133.
Varro, 32.
Vegetable cutters, 51.
Tull, Jethro, 1680-1740, 14, 25.
Tungsten. (See Metals.)
Tunnels, 106, 107.
Turbines, 89, 168, 171, 172.
Turning, Art of, 242, 339, 344.
Tusser, Thomas, 14.
Tweddle, 176.
Twine binders. (See Harvesters.)
Twinings (inventor, refrigerator), 215.
Tympanum, 164.
Tyndall, John, 411, 412.
Type, 280, 281.
Type Distributor, 279.
Type setter, 278, 279.
Type writers, 6, 286.
V.
Vail, Alfred, 126.
Valerius, 388.
Valves, valve gear, 87, 89.
Vapor engines, 190-192.
Vapor stoves, 200-206, 212.
Varley, Alfred, 133.
Varro, 32.
Vegetable cutters, 51.
Page 419
Velocipedes, 431.
Venetians, 280.
Ventilation, 209.
Veneering, 351.
Vestibule cars, 437.
Vick, Henry de, clockmaker, 387.
Victoria bridge. (See Bridges.)
Vienna, 38.
Vienna exposition, 348.
Vince, Leonardo de, 75.
Virgil, 32.
Virginal, 6, 402.
Vitruvius, 227.
Volta, voltaic electricity, 112, 117, 118, 112 to 120, 125, 133,
134, 249.
Von Alteneck, H., 138.
Von Drais, 432.
Vortex theory, 2;
Vortex wheel, 171.
Voting machines, 395.
Vulcan, 246.
Vulcanisation. (See Rubber.)
W.
Waggons, 431.
Walker, John (matches), 200.
Venetians, 280.
Ventilation, 209.
Veneering, 351.
Vestibule cars, 437.
Vick, Henry de, clockmaker, 387.
Victoria bridge. (See Bridges.)
Vienna, 38.
Vienna exposition, 348.
Vince, Leonardo de, 75.
Virgil, 32.
Virginal, 6, 402.
Vitruvius, 227.
Volta, voltaic electricity, 112, 117, 118, 112 to 120, 125, 133,
134, 249.
Von Alteneck, H., 138.
Von Drais, 432.
Vortex theory, 2;
Vortex wheel, 171.
Voting machines, 395.
Vulcan, 246.
Vulcanisation. (See Rubber.)
W.
Waggons, 431.
Walker, John (matches), 200.
Page 420
Walker, Joseph, 367.
Wales, Thos. C., 477.
Wallace and Maxim, 137.
Wall paper, 275, 279.
Walter, John, 285.
Watches, 391. (See Clocks.)
Waltham watches, 393.
War, effect on by inventions, 271, 272.
Washington, 15, 16.
Washing and ironing machines, 335-338.
Wasp, first paper maker, 273.
Watches. (See Horology.)
Water. (See Hydraulics.)
Water clocks, 385, 386.
Water closets, 178.
Water distribution, 167, 178;
gas, 454.
Water wheels, 165;
mills, 167;
engines, 178.
Water frame. (See Spinning.)
Water metres, 178;
scoops, 178.
Watts’ Dictionary of Chemistry, 59.
Watt, James, 5, 8, 78, 79, 80, 81, 86, 154, 167, 170, 176,
182, 203, 206, 296, 341, 460.
Watson, Bishop, 451.
Weaving, 6, 292, 304. (See Textiles.)
Wales, Thos. C., 477.
Wallace and Maxim, 137.
Wall paper, 275, 279.
Walter, John, 285.
Watches, 391. (See Clocks.)
Waltham watches, 393.
War, effect on by inventions, 271, 272.
Washington, 15, 16.
Washing and ironing machines, 335-338.
Wasp, first paper maker, 273.
Watches. (See Horology.)
Water. (See Hydraulics.)
Water clocks, 385, 386.
Water closets, 178.
Water distribution, 167, 178;
gas, 454.
Water wheels, 165;
mills, 167;
engines, 178.
Water frame. (See Spinning.)
Water metres, 178;
scoops, 178.
Watts’ Dictionary of Chemistry, 59.
Watt, James, 5, 8, 78, 79, 80, 81, 86, 154, 167, 170, 176,
182, 203, 206, 296, 341, 460.
Watson, Bishop, 451.
Weaving, 6, 292, 304. (See Textiles.)
Page 421
Weaver’s shuttle, 307.
Weber piano, 403.
Webster, Daniel, 91.
Wedgwood, 459, 460, 464.
Weeks, Jos., 364.
Weighing, scales, etc., 396, 397, 398.
Weisenthal, C. F., 310, 312.
Welding, 248.
Wellington, Duke of, 83.
Wells, making and boring of, 373, 379-383;
driven, 382;
Artesian, 381.
Welsbach lamp, 456.
Westinghouse, electric light, 137, 138.
Weston, Sir Richard, 14.
Weston, electrician, 137.
West (destroyer of bacteria), 213.
Whaleback ships, 438.
Wheat, its cultivation, 25, 26.
Wheatstone, Chas., 127, 133, 146, 147, 410.
Wheeler and Wilson, 319.
Wheelbarrow, seeder, 24.
Whewell, 166.
Whitehurst, Geo., 168.
Whitney, Eli, cotton gin, 42, 43, 297.
Whitworth, Sir J., 244, 246, 263.
Weber piano, 403.
Webster, Daniel, 91.
Wedgwood, 459, 460, 464.
Weeks, Jos., 364.
Weighing, scales, etc., 396, 397, 398.
Weisenthal, C. F., 310, 312.
Welding, 248.
Wellington, Duke of, 83.
Wells, making and boring of, 373, 379-383;
driven, 382;
Artesian, 381.
Welsbach lamp, 456.
Westinghouse, electric light, 137, 138.
Weston, Sir Richard, 14.
Weston, electrician, 137.
West (destroyer of bacteria), 213.
Whaleback ships, 438.
Wheat, its cultivation, 25, 26.
Wheatstone, Chas., 127, 133, 146, 147, 410.
Wheeler and Wilson, 319.
Wheelbarrow, seeder, 24.
Whewell, 166.
Whitehurst, Geo., 168.
Whitney, Eli, cotton gin, 42, 43, 297.
Whitworth, Sir J., 244, 246, 263.
Page 422
Wilde, electric magnet, 133.
Wilder, safes, 421.
Wilkes, 277.
William of Malmesbury, 75.
Wilson, A. B., sewing machinery, 319.
Wilson, Genl. John M., 180.
Winchester rifle, 267.
Wind mills, wheels, etc., 404. (See Mills.)
Window glass, window screens, 359.
Wine making. (See Chemistry.)
Winter, Sir John, 225.
Wire working, 250.
Wire wound gun, 263.
Wireless telegraphy, 150, 151.
Wolf, aeronaut, 447.
Wöhler, chemist, 238.
Wollaston, 60, 249, 412.
Woodbridge, Dr. W. E., 262, 263.
Woodbury, Oscar D. and E. C., 330.
Woodworth, Wm., planing machinery, 349.
Wood, lathe turning, 344.
Wood, bending and trenting of, 347, 352, 356.
Wood working machinery, 242, 339, 352, 369.
Woods, variety and beauty, 352.
Wood carving, 346.
Wilder, safes, 421.
Wilkes, 277.
William of Malmesbury, 75.
Wilson, A. B., sewing machinery, 319.
Wilson, Genl. John M., 180.
Winchester rifle, 267.
Wind mills, wheels, etc., 404. (See Mills.)
Window glass, window screens, 359.
Wine making. (See Chemistry.)
Winter, Sir John, 225.
Wire working, 250.
Wire wound gun, 263.
Wireless telegraphy, 150, 151.
Wolf, aeronaut, 447.
Wöhler, chemist, 238.
Wollaston, 60, 249, 412.
Woodbridge, Dr. W. E., 262, 263.
Woodbury, Oscar D. and E. C., 330.
Woodworth, Wm., planing machinery, 349.
Wood, lathe turning, 344.
Wood, bending and trenting of, 347, 352, 356.
Wood working machinery, 242, 339, 352, 369.
Woods, variety and beauty, 352.
Wood carving, 346.
Page 423
Wool. (See Spinning, Weaving, Textiles.)
Wool, mineral, 474, 480.
Wooden shoes, making of, 367.
Worcester, Marquis of, 5, 75, 77, 81.
Work shop, a modern, 251.
World’s fair, 1851, 36, 38.
Woven goods, variety of, 308, 309.
Wright (gas engine), 188.
Wren, architect, 209.
Wyatt of Lichfield, 294, 295.
X.
X rays, 149, 150.
Xyloplasty, 347.
Y.
Yale, Linus, Jr., locks, 425.
Yankee clippers, 438.
Yarn. (See Weaving, etc.)
Yeast, 65.
York, Duke of, 124, 125.
Young of America, 63, 417.
Young, Arthur, 1741-1800, 14, 15.
Youmans, Prof., 450.
Z.
Wool, mineral, 474, 480.
Wooden shoes, making of, 367.
Worcester, Marquis of, 5, 75, 77, 81.
Work shop, a modern, 251.
World’s fair, 1851, 36, 38.
Woven goods, variety of, 308, 309.
Wright (gas engine), 188.
Wren, architect, 209.
Wyatt of Lichfield, 294, 295.
X.
X rays, 149, 150.
Xyloplasty, 347.
Y.
Yale, Linus, Jr., locks, 425.
Yankee clippers, 438.
Yarn. (See Weaving, etc.)
Yeast, 65.
York, Duke of, 124, 125.
Young of America, 63, 417.
Young, Arthur, 1741-1800, 14, 15.
Youmans, Prof., 450.
Z.
Page 424
Zanon, 1764, 24.
Zech, Jacob, 388.
Zeppelin, Count, 446.
Zimmermann, self-playing pianos, 406.
Zinc, 236.
Zinc batteries. (See Electricity.)
Zech, Jacob, 388.
Zeppelin, Count, 446.
Zimmermann, self-playing pianos, 406.
Zinc, 236.
Zinc batteries. (See Electricity.)
Page 425
Page 426
THE NINETEENTH CENTURY
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Price 5s. each net.
By W. H. Withrow, M. A., D.
Religious Progress in the Century.
D., F. R. S. C.
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Literature of the Century.
A.
By George McCall Theal, D.
Progress of South Africa in the Century.
Lit., LL. D.
Medicine, Surgery, and Hygiene in the By Ezra Hurlburt Stafford, M.
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Progress of India, Japan, and China in By Sir Richard Temple, Bart.,
the Century. LL. D., &c.
Progress of the United States of America By Prof. Wm. Peterfield Trent,
in the Century. M. A., LL. D.
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Continental Rulers in the Century.
M. P.
British Sovereigns in the Century. By T. H. S. Escott, M. A.
Progress of British Empire in the
By James Stanley Little.
Century.
Progress of Canada in the Century. By J. Castell Hopkins, F. S. S.
By T. A. Coghlan, F. S. S., and
Progress of Australasia in the Century.
Thomas T. Ewing.
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Progress of New Zealand in the Century.
T. J. Alpers, M. A.
SERIES.
Price 5s. each net.
By W. H. Withrow, M. A., D.
Religious Progress in the Century.
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Literature of the Century.
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By George McCall Theal, D.
Progress of South Africa in the Century.
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Continental Rulers in the Century.
M. P.
British Sovereigns in the Century. By T. H. S. Escott, M. A.
Progress of British Empire in the
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Century.
Progress of Canada in the Century. By J. Castell Hopkins, F. S. S.
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Progress of New Zealand in the Century.
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Page 427
Political Progress of the Century. By Thomas Macknight.
Discoveries and Explorations of the By Professor C. G. D. Roberts,
Century. M. A.
Economic and Industrial Progress of the By H. de Beltgens Gibbins, D.
Century. Lit., M. A., F. R. G. S.
Inventions of the Century. By William H. Doolittle.
Wars of the Century, and the By Professor Oscar Browning,
Development of Military Science. M. A.
By Rear-Admiral Francis John
Naval Battles of the Century.
Higginson.
By Sir Nathaniel Barnaby, K.
Naval Development of the Century.
C. B.
Presidents of the United States in the
By Francis Bellamy.
Century (from Jefferson to Fillmore).
Presidents of the United States in the
Francis Knowles.
Century (from Pierce to McKinley).
The Fine Arts in the Century. By William Sharp.
By James Laughlin Hughes and
Progress of Education in the Century.
Louis R. Klemm, Ph. D.
Temperance and Social Progress of the By the Hon. John G. Woolley,
Century. M. A.
By Professor J. Arthur
Progress of Science in the Century.
Thomson, M. A.
Edinburgh: Printed by W. & R. Chambers,
Limited.
Discoveries and Explorations of the By Professor C. G. D. Roberts,
Century. M. A.
Economic and Industrial Progress of the By H. de Beltgens Gibbins, D.
Century. Lit., M. A., F. R. G. S.
Inventions of the Century. By William H. Doolittle.
Wars of the Century, and the By Professor Oscar Browning,
Development of Military Science. M. A.
By Rear-Admiral Francis John
Naval Battles of the Century.
Higginson.
By Sir Nathaniel Barnaby, K.
Naval Development of the Century.
C. B.
Presidents of the United States in the
By Francis Bellamy.
Century (from Jefferson to Fillmore).
Presidents of the United States in the
Francis Knowles.
Century (from Pierce to McKinley).
The Fine Arts in the Century. By William Sharp.
By James Laughlin Hughes and
Progress of Education in the Century.
Louis R. Klemm, Ph. D.
Temperance and Social Progress of the By the Hon. John G. Woolley,
Century. M. A.
By Professor J. Arthur
Progress of Science in the Century.
Thomson, M. A.
Edinburgh: Printed by W. & R. Chambers,
Limited.
Page 428
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