336 



FRENCH EXHIBITION. 



itself is not more surprisingly simple than the 

 practical expedient devised for getting rid of 

 its difficulties. It was this, to form a dove- 

 tailed groove on the face of the iron wheels or 

 pulleys, and to fill this groove with gutta 

 percha driven hard into it. These wheels, it 

 should be remembered, are about 6 feet diam- 

 eter. The block of gutta percha has a section 

 of about double the area of a section of the 

 wire-rope. The pulleys thus faced neither pre- 

 sent any sign of wearing themselves nor of 

 wearing the wire-rope, and the earliest of them 

 are now in perfect order in their seventh year 

 of continuous work. 



Cutting Tools. England is still in advance 

 of France, Belgium, and Germany for the high- 

 est excellence in the perfection of model and 

 of a cutting edge in saws and tools (without 

 regard to their price), principally owing to the 

 finer quality of the steel and greater care in 

 their grinding, having great natural advan- 

 tages for superior grinding and facilities for 

 power. The same does not apply to Ameri- 

 can tools, however, axes more especially, which 

 for exactitude and finish have the appearance 

 of being die-struck, so uniform are they in 

 every respect. They are models of their kind. 

 There is a French machine for sharpening 

 saws by steam that does its work very regu- 

 larly. It has a band-saw under operation. 

 The file passes straight through, when an in- 

 dex opens the vice and slides the saw a tooth 

 in advance, then the vice closes on it again, 

 and so on repeatedly. 



Somrnelet and Wichard, Courcelles, Haute 

 Marne, exhibit good scissors, including speci- 

 mens in various stages of manufacture; some 

 of these are stamped in dies. 



In scythes America sends the best specimens 

 in the Exhibition. They are made by the 

 Greenwoods' Scythe Company, and the grind- 

 ing and finishing are excellent. 



On the whol,e, the continental exhibitors 

 show less variety and more rudely-finished cut- 

 lery than either America or England. In all 

 articles which require a keen-cutting edge, as 

 razors, table-cutlery, penknives, amputating- 

 knives or scissors, Sheffield stands at the head 

 of all her competitors. 



The best of machines for cutting the screws 

 of iron tube, bolts, nuts, etc., are contributed 

 by Messrs. Morris, Tasker and Co., Philadel- 

 phia. Proportions and workmanship excel- 

 lent. 



Darling, Browne, and Sharp, Providence, 

 Rhode Island, exhibit a screw-making machine, 

 suitable for gun or lock work. It consists of 

 several cutters, fixed horizontally in a disk, on 

 the top of a saddle or slide-rest. The work 

 being fixed in an ordinary hollow mandril 

 lathe, the saddle is brought up by a lever ; No. 

 1 cutter then roughs down the iron; the saddle 

 is then brought back, and the disk moves 

 round one division ; No. 2 cutter cuts it down 

 to the exact size, No. 3 cuts the head, No. 4 

 holds a die for threading, No. 5 finishes the 



point. These screws are all exactly one size 

 and length. 



The only nail-cutting machine exhibited is by 

 "Wickersham, Boston, Mass. The nails cut by 

 this machine are from a sheet of iron any 

 width, an advantage which is obvious, as the 

 nails can be made with the grain of the iron 

 longitudinally. The nails are chisel-pointed, 

 being cut alternately heads and points, and are 

 produced with great rapidity, 2^-inch nails 

 about 1,200 per minute, the nails requiring no 

 heading; the machine exhibited had sixteen 

 pairs of cutters or shears placed at slightly dif- 

 ferent angles alternately, the first stroke of the 

 shears cut one side of the nails, the sheet of 

 iron then advances the width of the nail, at the 

 same time moving transversely the length of 

 the nail ; this movement brings the previous 

 cutting under the other -shears and produces 

 the nails, the first set of shears cutting one side 

 of eight more at the same time. 



The display of machine-tools is large and im- 

 portant, both from England and the Continent. 

 Among American firms -Sellers & Co., of Phila- 

 delphia, have the largest display, and, together 

 with those of Bement and Dougherty, in finish 

 and design are equal to any exhibited. As has 

 been said by an English writer, of all the Amer- 

 ican departments, " what was wanting in num- 

 ber and variety was made up in the practical 

 nature of the machines and objects sent, and 

 in the quality of the work." 



At the former Exhibition of Paris there were 

 but few examples of wood-cutting machinery, 

 and those exhibited were of a very imperfect 

 type. At the Exhibition in London, in 1862, 

 there was no lack of machinery for wood-work- 

 ing, and great improvements, appear to have 

 rapidly taken place. Since 1862, the improve- 

 ments have been more in amplifying the ar- 

 rangements and improving the construction of 

 machines than in novelty of design. The 

 American machine, exhibited by Armstrong, 

 of New York, is decidedly the best and most 

 novel machine of its class, and is in nearly every 

 point original. 



With respect to the machinery in the Expo- 

 sition for the making of hosiery goods, both ro- 

 tary and circular, there was little that was 

 new, with the exception of some improvement 

 in the racks of the cleared carriers, which were 

 good, and well adapted for the self-acting nar- 

 rowing machine. Two large circular frames, 

 which had the electric wire applied to them, 

 which on the least mishap in the work taking 

 place the battery is set in motion, Avhich causes 

 the machine to stand still, and a little bell to 

 ring to let the workmen know that something 

 is wrong. There was a small flat frame, 

 of American construction, worked by latch- 

 needles, which made a round hose complete, 

 finished and narrowed off at the toe to one 

 jack. 



In agricultural macl lines England makes the 

 best show, but McCormick and Wood, from our 

 own country, have both taken gold medals 



