USES OF MACHINERY.] 



APPLIED MECHANICS. 



783 



inclined plane, wedge, and screw.* Next, in order of 

 complication, may be mentioned such machines as cranes, 

 crabs, capstans and windlasses, slips, tackle and travel- 

 lers, jacks, screw and lever presses, printing presses, and 

 the like. 



II. Machinery for effecting Transit and Communication. 

 This branch has of late years attained immense im- 

 portance by the extended use of railways and steam ves- 

 sels ; and under the head of transit, it embraces the 

 consideration of vehicles for land transport, and vessels 

 for water carriage, and the various modes of putting 

 them in motion. For the communication of intelligence, 

 we now practise an art unknown in former times, and one 

 deserving of detailed consideration from its marvellous 

 nature and the important influences it is likely to exer- 

 cise upon human civilisation. We allude to the electric- 

 telegraph, to which perhaps greater ingenuity has been 

 devoted within a few years than has been displayed in 

 any other branch of mechanical art during preceding 

 ages. 



III. Machinery for Moving Fluids. This branch 

 naturally includes hydraulic apparatus, such as pumps, 

 fire-engines, hydraulic presses and lifts ; and also ma- 

 chinery for moving air, such as bellows, blowing-cylinders, 

 fanners, and the like. 



IV. Machinery for changing the forms of Solid Mate- 

 l. This is perhaps the most extensive branch of 

 : i:mical art, as it includes all apparatus for cutting, 



ing, moulding, bending, crushing, and such like 

 f.<l" ations. It may be subdivided, according to the 

 materials on which the operations are to be effected, as 

 follows : 



1. Machinery for preparing animal and vegetable pro- 

 ducts ; as oil, tallow, leather, flour, sugar, vegetable oils 

 and extracts, caoutchouc, and gutta-percha. 



2. Machinery for preparing mineral products ; as 

 stones, bricks, cements, ores, pottery-ware, glass, pig- 

 ments, and the like. 



3. Machinery for sawing, planing, moulding, bending, 

 and carving timber. 



4. Machinery for working metals ; as in the operations 

 of moulding and casting, forging, rolling, and wire-draw- 

 ing ; bending, shearing, punching, and rivetting ; drill- 

 ing, turning, and boring ; planing, shaping, and the 

 like. 



5. Agricultural implements ; or machinery for opening 

 and triturating the soil, for sowing and reaping, for 

 thrashing, grinding, and otherwise preparing produce. 



V. Machinery used in the manufacture of Textile 

 Fabrics. This is likewise a most extensive and interest- 

 ing branch of mechanical art, and one of the highest 

 importance to us as a nation, as well as to the world at 

 large. It includes directly the apparatus and processes 

 employed in preparing the crude materials, such as wool, 

 flax, cotton, and silk ; the various operations of dressing, 

 carding, spinning, weaving, dyeing, bleaching, calico- 

 printing, and the like. Under the same head may also 

 be classed the machinery for making ropes and cordage, 

 and for the manufacture of paper. 



VI. Machinery for Measuring and Calculating. The 

 apparatus included in this class are mostly of that exact 

 character required for philosophical experiment and ob- 

 servation, such as indicators, dynamometers, gauges, 

 balances, and mathematical and optical instruments ; but 

 there is one extensive and interesting branch, horology, 

 devoted to apparatus for the measurement and division 

 of time, which deserves especial consideration, as well 

 from its usefulness as from the great ingenuity displayed 

 in it. In this class we may include some other apparatus, 

 which, though not distinctly falling within the scope of 

 its title, yet present in some respects considerable simi- 

 larity to some of those included ; we mean automata and 

 musical instruments. 



VII. Implements of War. It is lamentable to think 

 how much mechanical skill has, in all ages, been devoted 

 to the cruel purposes of destruction. In the present age, 

 perhaps no branch of applied mechanics has called forth 

 o much ingenuity as the contrivance of means of offence 



See ante, p. 719, et lej. Section, Mechanical Philoiophy. 



and defence. And so vast and costly have these con- 

 trivances become, that we may almost hope to see wars 

 cease upon the earth because of the very perfection to 

 which its implements have attained. 



These seven classes, we believe, include the greater 

 part of the machinery used in modern times. In what 

 follows, we will not pretend to give detailed descriptions 

 of the different machines included in these classes ; we 

 shall endeavour rather to select a few of a general 

 character, involving in their construction the principles 

 which are applied, in a modified form, to most of the 

 others. 



MECHANICAL EDUCATION. While improved 

 education and extended acquaintance with principles, 

 have placed those who direct mechanical labour in a 

 better position as to knowledge of their art, the division 

 of labour and the extensive use of mechanical contriv- 

 ances, instead of manual labour, have certainly lowered 

 the position of the workmen as to general knowledge of 

 their trade. Formerly, the millwright knew all about 

 the machinery he made, and could turn his hand to all 

 the operations required in its construction ; now, there 

 are mechanics who can only turn, others who can only 

 file, and only very few who, to skill of hand, unite a 

 knowledge of the machinery of which they execute por- 

 tions. We are convinced that this state of things is in- 

 jurious both to workman and to master ; for a man can 

 never labour with hearty good-will at work which he does 

 not understand, and in which he, therefore, takes no in- 

 telligent interest ; he can only act as the machine at 

 which he works, and he is thus morally and intellectually 

 degraded. We would have every workman understand 

 the character and tendency of his operations, and take 

 an interest in them. He would thus be relieved from 

 much of that monotonous drudgery which his ignorance 

 forces him to undergo ; he would be prepared for emer- 

 gencies ; he would see modes of economising labour, and 

 of improving the work on which he might be engaged ; 

 and he would be provided with a source of rational 

 amusement in his leisure hours. 



But not to the mechanical workman alone do we 

 think that a general knowledge of practical mechanics 

 should be supplied ; we think that it should form part 

 of the education of every one, whatever be his position 

 and his prospects. We have seen of late years deplor- 

 able instances of want of contrivance in military affairs, 

 and of sacrifices of blood and treasure in consequence. 

 We are eminently a commercial, manufacturing, agricul- 

 tural, and colonising nation ; our commerce is conducted 

 by means of railways, steam and sailing vessels, and re- 

 quires warehouses, docks, and quays ; our manufactures 

 are all the product of mechanical contrivances ; our agri- 

 culture is now rising to its just position as a mechanical 

 and chemical art ; and our colonies have been successful 

 from the energy displayed by our emigrants, in giving 

 scope to their natural genius for mechanical adaptation 

 of the means to the end. Of late, we have assumed the 

 position of a warlike nation, and we have sadly asked 

 ourselves why there has not been employed in war any of 

 that mechanical skill and ingenuity which characterise 

 our peaceful arts. 



Notwithstanding all this, practical mechanics have 

 never yet been cultivated as a branch of general educa- 

 tion ; and consequently, every man, whatever be the 

 walk of life in which he chooses to tread, has to begin 

 his real education after he leaves school. We think this 

 evil should be remedied that every man should have in- 

 stilled into his mind in his early years, a thorough know- 

 ledge of common things, so that when he advances in 

 life he may enter more readily on any of the professions 

 or trades practised at home, and be the better prepared 

 for the emergencies of commerce, colonisation, or war- 

 like expeditions abroad. Among the population of the 

 land there lies dormant a vast amount of talent and in- 

 genuity, which at present is so much loss of capital to 

 our country and to the world. Let some opening be 

 made for its cultivation, and we doubt not that a few 

 years would bring about a more astonishing development 

 of our resources, extension of our commerce, and im- 



