92 



Application of the Principle of a Balance. 



to the flat bottom of the air cistern, was two feet wide, and four feet 

 four inches long. The handle was four feet. The operation is very 

 easy, and the blast very powerful and regular. The principle of 

 motion is universally applicable to practice. It meets with the en- 

 tire approbation of all that have seen it operate. 

 Alps, Nassau, Rensselaer Co. N.Y. February 17th, 1834. 



Art. VII. — Application of the Principle of a Balance; iyJi. Strait. 



The principle of a balance, is a powerful one when ingeniously 

 and judiciously applied to mechanics and the arts. Its applicability 

 is universal. There are kw if any machines, now in operation, 

 that are not dependent upon this principle or to which it cannot be 

 beneficially applied. Look at the numerous machines employed in the 

 various manufactories of America and Europe: how diversified, how 

 multiplied and how complex their operations ; what a consumption 

 of power is required to work or move them; what expense is incurred 

 and how great is their performance ; nevertheless, how few are the 

 parts, and simple the motions,, absolutely necessary to answer, if not 

 overrun this performance. Indeed, what cannot man do, on the prin- 

 ciple of a balance, and what can he do without it. With it, with 

 liberty to exert his power, he might displace the world, and without 

 it, how limited would be his influence in mechanics and the arts, and 

 how small his accessions of power and profit derived from that source. 

 I conclude my premises (as effects balance causes and causes, ef- 

 fects) by suggesting, that some of the greatest discoveries yet to be 

 developed to the world, may, in all probability, be founded on the 

 powerful and universal principle of a balance, which pervades not on- 

 ly mechanics and arts, but every part of the universe. 



Fig. 1. 



1. Application to Milking. 



Fig. 1, represents a machine for milking. 

 A B, represent a light block, five inches ^ 

 long, three wide, and an inch and a half thick. 

 C D, represent a ruler-like piece of wood 

 or metal, five inches long, one third of an inch 

 thick and two thirds wide, perforated with 



