400 



COMB COMBATS. 



two unequal bladi 1 * ; the first cut of this saw ha< 

 ulrriuly made two nicks in the material, that by the 

 longer blade to the full depth of the tooth, and 

 that by the shorter to half the depth ; the longer 

 blade is now placed in the shallow nick, which it 

 deepens to its full extent, while a third nick is 

 made by the shorter blade : in this manner the 

 whole of the teeth were gradually marked out, 

 and were afterwards finished by means of files. 



A much better mode of making combs is to fix 

 upon a shaft or arbour in a lathe a series of circu- 

 lar saws, with intervening brass washers or discs 

 to keep them at suitable distances ; to set in a 

 frame like a vice, in front of these saws, the piece 

 of ivory or horn to be cut ; and to press it forward 

 upon the saws at an angle of forty-tire degrees, by 

 means of a regulated screw motion. When the 

 teeth are thus cut, they are smoothed and polished 

 with files, pumice stone and tripoli. 



The manner in which combs are cut at present 

 is an apt illustration of the advantage derived to 

 manufactures and the arts by the invention of in- 

 genious men, directed frequently by accident. 

 About twenty years ago, the principal house in 

 London for the sale of combs had received from 

 abroad some patterns of ornaments, like the spikes 

 and balls of coronets, to be attached to tortoise- 

 shell combs. They gave the order to execute these 

 to an ingenious artist of the name of Ricketts, 

 who contrived a punch, by the successive pressure 

 of which, on a thin piece of warm tortoise-shell, 

 he cut out the pattern piece by piece ; on disengag- 

 ing the pattern from the other part, he observed 

 to himself, " Here are two combs cut out of the 

 material for only one." He improved on this hint, 

 and constructed a machine in which he employed a 

 cutter like a chisel, which, descending upon the 

 shell, cut one side of a tooth at a time, and then 

 by shifting the bed on which the shell was laid and 

 moving it forward a short distance, the other of the 

 tooth was cut: the result of this operation maybe 



seen in fig. 2, which represents a piece of shell 

 very little larger than necessary for one comb, 

 but which, by this means, is made to produce 

 two. 



Various contrivances have been adopted to guide 

 the direction of the cutter, so as to cause it to de- 

 scend obliquely and at regular intervals; but this 

 oblique action was next avoided by the employ- 

 ment of two cutters, or chisels, placed at an angle 

 with each other, by means of which a perfect tooth 

 is cut at one blow. The scales of tortoise-shell 

 being much thinner on one edge than the other, 

 were not so well adapted for this invention as horn, 

 the thin edge not being thick enough for the back 

 of the comb : but this can be remedied by solder- 

 ing another piece of shell upon the thin edge; it is 

 effected in this manner. The two surfaces to be 

 united are nicely rasped and smoothed, placed be- 

 tween two thin boards, and submitted to the ac- 

 tion of a screw-press. The press is put for some 

 hours in boiling water and tightened from time to 

 time, until at length a complete junction takes 

 place. 



Fig. 3. 



Tlie cutters are seen at A A, 

 fig. 3 ; they are arranged in this 

 manner: a a are the edges of the 

 chisels set at an angle by c, whidi 

 is called the filliny-vp piece: It is 

 a smaller chisel which cuts away 

 the point of the tooth from the 

 shell, to which it would otherwise 

 be attached; but this small chisel only eflVcts this 

 operation on one of the combs: the opposite t<fth 

 are cut away by the bent ends d d ot the longer 

 chisels, which at each blow half sejKinitu two 

 teeth. 



Fig. 4. 



The shell is firmly fixed beneath the cutter A, 

 and the engine acts in the following manner : B in 

 a strong bar firmly jointed behind to the frame- 

 work; it is kept steady by the loop C, and is 

 moved downwards by means of the crank in front, 

 carrying along with it its cutters upon the shell. 

 This crank is moved by the handle and winch E ; 

 and is so fixed that it brings down the cutter upon 

 the shell at that part of the revolution of the 

 winch, when the wheel with a few teeth which is 

 fitted to its axis, is clear of the teeth of the larger 

 wheel. As soon as the tooth is cut, the crank in 

 its revolution raises the lever and cutter, and the 

 teeth on the small wheel entering those of the 

 larger, move the large wheel a part of a revolution. 

 This large wheel is fixed to a screw which is at- 

 tached to a sliding table, on which the tortoise- 

 shell is placed ; the screw is consequently turned a 

 part of a revolution, and the shell and table thrust 

 forward proportionately. The smaller wheel be- 

 comes again disengaged from the larger, the crank 

 again brings down the cutter on the shell, and an- 

 other tooth is cut, and this alternate action takes 

 place until the two combs are cut out. Another 

 piece of shell is supplied, and the movement of the 

 handle of the winch being reversed, the shell and 

 the table move back to their former position, and 

 two more combs are separated. If combs with 

 finer teeth are required, the large wheel is changed 

 for another with more teeth on its circumference, 

 and the cutters are also set at an acuter angle. 



COMBATS, JUDICIAL (a.) The custom of 

 judicial combats, of which traces were discoverable 

 in our laws until the beginning of the reign of 

 George IV., was introduced into civilized Europe 

 by the barbarous tribes of Germany who over- 

 whelmed the Roman empire. It appears to have 

 been first legally established by Gondebald, king 

 of the Franks, by an edict published at Lyons, 

 March 29, A.D. 501, in which the monarch assigns 

 his reasons for establishing, or rather sanctioning 

 the institution : " Let causes be decided by wager 

 of battle, to the end that rash oaths should no 

 longer be taken respecting obscure facts, nor fal<e 

 oaths respecting certainties." 



