THE COPYING OF AMERICAN MACHINERY 261 



American machinery has made its way in England in 

 spite of the strongest prejudices. I know firms, who, having 

 vented their antagonism in spiteful terms against American 

 machinery, have afterwards labored with feverish haste to 

 copy, and, if possible, to improve upon it, for sale in Great 

 Britain. The number of firms who now manufacture ma- 

 chines which are modelled after those of successful American 

 t3q)es is constantly increasing, and a considerable business 

 is now being done with these in this country. These efforts, 

 however, do not result from any love which was borne to 

 American designs in the first place, but because of the pres- 

 sure of their competition which is making itself felt here. 



Neither is it in Great Britain alone that American ma- 

 chinery is being imitated. The Paris exposition was an eye 

 opener in this respect. Many of the leading continental 

 firms have adoptecl American designs, sometimes absolutely, 

 in other cases in the matter of certain details only. 



The two main reasons why these machines are imitated 

 are either because they produce more cheaply than those 

 which they displace, or they yield more accurate results. 

 But a cheaper and a better product also often go hand in 

 hand as a result of employing the best modern machines. 

 The following are a few of the more notable examples of 

 British imitation of American inventions. 



To cut a long screw in a British lathe, a certain number 

 of toothed or cog wheels have to be set up by the workman, 

 — a different set also for every different class of screw. This 

 change of wheels seldom occupies less than fifteen minutes, 

 and may take half an hour. It is repeated many times a 

 day in a large shop. A few years ago an American devised 

 a permanent arrangement of wheels by which the changes 

 for different screws could be effected within a minute by 

 the simple movement of a handle. This excellent device 

 is now copied on several lathes, both British and continental. 



Machines for making small screws in large quantities 

 in place of producing them singly by the older and inaccurate 

 processes, were invented and highly developed in America 

 before British firms took them up. The Cleveland, the 

 Hartford, the Brown & Sharpe, the Spencer, the Acme, are 



