114 Economy of Machinery and Manufactures, 



from the cotton plant an almost gossamer thread." Obedient to the hand, which 

 called into action its resistless powers, it contends with the ocean and the storm, and 

 rides triumphant through dangers and difficulties unattempted by the older modes of 

 navigation. It is the same engine, that in its more regulated action weaves the can- 

 vass, which it may one day supersede ; or with almost fairy fingers, entwines the 

 meshes of the most delicate fabric, that adorns the female form." 



A great advantage is derived from machinery " in Registering 

 Operations." To count the endless numbers of coins struck in a 

 press, or the turns of a wheel, is a wearisome occupation, consuming 

 much time and labor. An instrument for registering is used in some 

 establishments for calendering and embossing calicoes, where there 

 are many hundreds of thousands of yards delivered weekly; and as 

 the price paid for the process is small, the time spent in measuring 

 them and taking the account would absorb the profit. The machine 

 measures and registers the goods as they pass rapidly through the 

 hands of the operator. Erroneous counting is also thus avoided. 



The ingenious instrument called a tell-tale, connected with a clock, 

 to ascertain the vigilance of a watchman, is a very useful piece of 

 mechanism. It is so arranged, that if a man does not pull a string 

 at a certain part of his round, his neglect is exposed by the machine.* 



The advantage of machinery is also great in " economising the 

 materials employed." 



" The earliest mode of cutting a tree into planks, was by the use 

 of the hatchet or adze." It must first have been split into parts, and 

 then hewn to its proper breadth and thickness. Much of the raw 

 material was wasted by this process ; probably more than half. The 

 saw reverses the process, and in converting a tree into planks, it 

 wastes but a small part. In order to economise still further, a ma- 

 chine consisting of a system of blades has been contrived for cutting 

 veneer from the precious woods, in continuous shavings, thus render- 

 ing the whole timber available. 



Another instance of the saving of materials is noticed by Mr. Bab- 

 bage, in the improvements made within twenty years in the printing 

 press. In the old methods, much ink was lost by forming a harden- 



* See p. 40, Economy of Machinery, &c. Analogous, in some degree, to this, is 

 a contrivance employed by the millers at the tide-mills in this country. A gate is 

 so fixed in the mill-flue as to be raised by the tide to the precise point, where the 

 water is suflicient to set the mill at work : this is connected with a wire, which is 

 conducted from the mill to the miller's house, on the top of high posts. The jar 

 upon the wire rings a bell, which summons the miller to his duty, at the moment 

 when the tide serves. 



