}M7.-] 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



77 



■wards was generally adopted for axes, but as some of Ihera, which were 

 improperly made, i;a\e way, ilie application of cast iron in other machinery 

 was in some measure retarded, until M att applied his sleam-ensine to 

 drive mills. Tl'e Alhion Mills, constructed by h'cnnie, in 17H4, and worked 

 byM'alt's steam engine, n]ay be considered as the first complete example of 

 Iheemplojmeul of iron ine^ery part of mailiinery, except for the teeth of some 

 of the wheels, which were made of hard wood, for working into the iron 

 teeth of other wheels; that example also sliowing the true form of teeth, 

 with a fine pitcli, and adequate depth and breadih and adjustment with 

 each other, so as to work well together with the least friction, and the use 

 of bevel gear, which is the perfection of modern milhvork. 



The great improvement effected in the design, proportion, and construc- 

 tion of millwork, together with the steam-engine, enabled machinery to be 

 driven with greater velocity, increased action, and diminished friction, and 

 thus greater etl'ect was produced with the same amount of power. 



Me are indebted to our honorary member, Professor \Villis, for his able 

 investigation of the teeth of wheels, and to Whewell, Mosely, Jamieson, G. 

 liencie (for his new edition of Buchanan), and others, for their valuable 

 treatises on mechanical and engineering subjects. 



The Invention of the Spinning-Jcnnij, by Hargreaves, in 1767, and of the 

 means of drawing out the fibres of cotton between successive pairs of re- 

 volving rollers in the WMter-lwist spinning, by Arkwright, in 17(j9, follow. 

 ed by his system of machinery for carding and preparing fibres of cotton for 

 spinning, in 1775, occasioned a complete revolution in the arts of manufac- 

 turing, and led to the establishment of the factory system, with its self- 

 acting machinery. A somewhat similar system haj, however, been intro- 

 duced in the Silk BIiUs at Derby, nearly lialf a century before ; but inas- 

 much as s-ilk naturally consists of a series of fine threads, it is only neces- 

 sary to twist or retwist them, in order to combine them together, which is 

 a very simple operation, compared with forming the short detached fibres 

 of cotton into a thread, without ihe aid of the hand to guide them ; and to 

 accomplish this by machinery was extremely diflicult ; it was, however, 

 very ingeniously overcome by Hargreaves and Arkwright in diiierent ways, 

 both of which were combined together by Crompion in the mule in 1771. 

 Arkwrighl's water-spinning was subsequently simplified into what is tech- 

 nically termed throstle-spinning, and together with his preparing machinery 

 of 1775, was adopted for spinning worsted by Toplis, and for flax by Mar- 

 shall, The carding machinery was also adopted, with suitable modifica- 

 tions, for preparing short wool, Hargreaves' spinning-jenny being used for 

 spinning it inio yarn for woollen cloth. The mule for a long while was 

 only employed for cotton, but was adapted by Kelly in 17'J0, to be partly 

 worked by power in aid of manual labour, and was soon after improved 

 £0 as to spin extremely fine threads. 



All these valuable inventions, together with a multiplicity of other in- 

 genius contrivances connected with the factory system, were completed 

 and brought into extensive use in the short period of 20 years. Machinery 

 for printing calico was introduced by Peel, and perfected by others. Watt, 

 in 1787, introduced chemical bleaching, which was afterwards carried to 

 great perfection by Teunaut. Cartwright, in 17b7, invented clolh-weaving 

 by power, although it was not brought into use until twenty years after, 

 and, in 17'Jt), he invented machinery for combing and preparing long wool, 

 in preparation for being spun into worsted. Machinery for dressing woollen 

 cloth by teazles was perfected, and Harmer invented machinery for shear- 

 ing it in 17S7. This has since been carried to greater perfection by Lewis. 

 Bramah, in 1796, introduced the hydraulic press, which furnished the 

 means of pressing cloth, books, papers, and other articles with a degree of 

 force which could be accomplished by no other means, and its general 

 adoption has been of great service. Self-acting machines for making but- 

 ton-shanks were invented by Heaton. Boulton's large manufactory at 

 Soho contained many inventions besides those of Watt. He invented ma- 

 chinery for coining money by steam power in 1791), and erected a complete 

 establishment at Soho, where, for a long lime, he executed contracts for 

 coining money for the British, and various foreign governments. His plan 

 for stamping the pieces consisted in exhausting air, by pumps worked by 

 a steam-engine, from vessels properly adapted for the purpose, and con- 

 nected by valves with air cylinders, having jiistons working the balance- 

 beams of the coining-presses. By opening a valve, air is exhausted from 

 within the cylinder, and the atmospheric pressure acfing upon the piston, 

 turns down the screw of the press which stamps the coin ; by re-admitting 

 air, the piston rises and with it the screw, thus producing an alternate ris- 

 ing and falling motion so as to strike from 50 to CO pieces per minute ; as 

 the screw rises and falls, it works a feeding apparatus for supplying blank 

 pieces, ready prepared for stamping, and as fast as one piece is stamped it 

 is pushed olf the die, and is replaced by another. The apparatus for cut- 

 ting out the blank pieces is of a similar description ; the whole is self-act- 

 ing, and is a most beautiful and ingenious contrivance. These improve- 

 ments were introduced into the Royal Mint, at Tower Hill, whicb was 

 constructed in 1810, under the direction of Messrs. Boultuu and Watt, who 

 furnished the steam-engines and the coining machinery. The rolling ma- 

 chinery by Rennie,and Ihe equalizing machineiy of Barton, constructed by 

 JVlaudsIay, complete this magnificent establishment. At St. Petersburg, 

 Copenhagen, Calcutta, and Bombay, Messrs. Boultou and Watt erected 

 similar establishments, with rolling-mills by Kennie, at the two latter 

 places. 



The whole of the above ingenious and valuable inventions, except power- 

 weaving, had been fully carried out and brought into successful practice 

 before the end of the last century. The brilliant results which were obtained 



from these inventions excited, in an intense degree, the skill and ingenuity 

 of a host of able mechanicians in the various departments above mentioned. 

 The most minute operations were reduced to system by the use of ma- 

 chines, and Ihe high prolils derived from manutaciuring by machinery, 

 while the prices of the articles continued the same as those formerly pro- 

 duced by manual labour, occasioned a readiness before unknown to adopt 

 all new machines, as well as to extend and improve them. 



AVater-Wheels. 



The general introduction of self-acting machines induced the construction 

 of more extensive mills of all kinds, and rendered necessary the use of more 

 powerful and better regiilated prime movers. Mater-wheels were employed 

 as the moving power at the early establishments of Cromford, Belper, 

 Matlock, Bakewell, Lanark, Cattran, Deanstone, fee. ; and when the go- 

 vernor was afterwards applied to water-wheels by Sirutt, at Belper, the 

 moiion and power were regulated with a degree of uniformity almost equal 

 to that of the steam-engiue, and water was rendered as perfect a moving 

 power as its nature admitted of. Rennie, it is believed, first applied Ihe 

 descending shuttle, by which the flow of water is regulated over its upper 

 edge, so as to obtain the full benefit of the fall, instead of passing under 

 Ihe shuttle as formerly, whereby some of the fal 1 is lost. He improved the 

 construction of the wheel, increased the width and diminished the depth of 

 the buckets, at the same time augmenting the velocity of the periphery 

 from 3 feet to 5 feet per second. By these means nearly 75 per cent, of 

 the power vras realised. Strutt's improvements in water-wheels, executel 

 by Hewes, consist in making them with slender iron arms and oblique tie- 

 rods, with segments of teeth on the circumleience of the wheel, turning 

 pinions with nearly the same velocity as cranks of steam-engines, and ren- 

 dering them almost equally applicable. In Ibis department Doukiu ai.d 

 Fairbairn have also taken a conspicuous part. 



The Turbine, or a modification of the horizontal water-wheel, by Four- 

 neyron, has latterly been introduced into this country from France, with, it 

 is said, considerable success. The governor had been applied to wind- 

 mills by Hooper, in 1789, and soon after Ai'att adapted it to his rotative 

 steam engine, which was thereby rendered applicable for turning mills, 

 and its superiority to water, and every other power then known, became 

 manifest. The uniformity and certainty of the movement, its capability of 

 extension to any amount, its applicability to any situation, rendered its 

 adoption almost universal, and extended the sphere of manufacturing ope- 

 rations from the weaver's cottage and Ihe banks of the lonely stream, to 

 large populous towns, such as Manchester, Leeds, Macclesfield, and other 

 places, wherever circumstances, independent of water, were favourable for 

 their adoption. 



The concentration of manufacturing operations, caused a number of small 

 machines to be substituted for those formerly impelled by hand in work- 

 men's cottages, and brought together in large buildings adapted for that 

 purpose, and worked by one great moving power, and so combined with 

 each other and the building, as to render a spinning mill, with its water- 

 wheel, or steam engine, and all its accessories, one vast and complicated 

 machine. A new school for mechanics was thus formed, in which far 

 greater power than had ever before been applied to machinery, was to be 

 distributed amongst a number of delicate machines of the greatest variety 

 of form and complexity, with some parts minute like clock-work, requiring 

 every gradation of force to drive Ihem, and corresponding strength in some 

 for resisting the largest and others the smallest impulse. A new and ex- 

 tended field of inquiry and observation was thereby produced, which 

 bi ought forward artists of every description to contribute their aid, as to 

 one common stock of knowledge, for the advancement of the new system of 

 manufacturing, as well for the invention of new machines and processes, as 

 for the multiplication and improvement of those previously invented. '1 be 

 ingenious and valuable labours of the great mechanicians of the last cen- 

 tury have been most ably continued by their successors, many of whom are, 

 or have been, our contemporaries, and who with a greatly extended sphere 

 of application, have advanced in the career of improvement with au almost 

 unparalleled rapidity. 



Many new machines have been invented, and most of those in daily use 

 liave been rendered self-acting or automatical, so as to require no further 

 aid from man, than the mere act of presenting the materials to them to be 

 manufactured, directing their progress through the machine, and disposing 

 of them afterwards. The power loom, invented by Cartwright, in 1784, 

 was afterwards improved by Austin, Miller, Horrocks, M'Adam, Lane, 

 Bowman, and others, and its employment greatly extended. 



Rope Machinery. — Machinery for making ropes and cordage was in- 

 vented by Cartwright, Grimshaw, Chapman, and others, and subsequently- 

 carried to great perfection by Huddarl, as exhibited in the establishment 

 of Turner, Huddart, and Co., at Limehouse. This ingenious and valuable 

 invention consisted in regulating and adapting the lengths of the dilferent 

 yarns, or threads composing the rope, so that each might bear an equal 

 strain, which could not be done on the old system. To effect this, a series 

 of bobbins, with the proper lengths of yarns wound upon them, were 

 placed in a frame of a descent form, and the yarns from these bobbins 

 were conducted through holes in a vertical guiding plate, having those 

 holes arranged in concentric circles; from thence the yarns passed through 

 a vessel of liquid lar or pitch, and then through a single hole of the re- 

 quired gauge, on to a large reel mounted in an oblong frame, to which a 

 rotatory motion about a horizontal axis, was communicated for twisting all 

 the yarns together into a strand, and also a circular motion of the reel j,t 



