

Figure 34. — Hachette's ferryboat of 

 1808, a "machine" for converting 

 continuous rectilinear motion into 

 alternating circular motion. From 

 Phillipe Louis Lanz and Augustin de 

 Betancourt, Essai sur la composition 

 des machines (Paris, 1808, pi. 2). 



Hachette's classification scheme was copied and his 

 chart reproduced.^' 



A translation of the work of Lanz and Betancourt '- 

 under the title Analytical Essay on the Construction of 

 Machines, was published about 1820 at London by 

 Rudolph Ackermann (for whom the Ackermann 

 steering linkage was named), and their synoptic chart 

 was reprinted again in 1822 in Durham.^' In the 

 United States, Appleton's Dictionary of Machines ^* (1851) 

 adopted the same system and used the same figures. 

 Apparently the wood engraver traced directly onto his 



"Jacob Bigelow, Elements of Technology, ed. 2, Boston, 1831, 

 pp. 231—256; Olinthus Gregory, A Treatise oj Mechanics, 3 vols., 

 ed. 3, London, 1815. 



'2 Rudolph Ackermann, Analytical Essay on the Construction of 

 Machines, London, about 1820, a translation of Lanz and Betan- 

 court, op. cit. (footnote 64). 



°3 Thomas Fenwick, Essays on Practical Mechanics, ed. 3, Dur- 

 ham, England, 1822. 



'■* Appleton's Dictionary of Machines, Mechanics, Engine-Work, and 

 Engineering, 2 vols.. New York, 1851 ("Motion"). 



block the figures from one of the reprints of Lanz and 

 Betancourt's chart because the figures are in every 

 case exact mirror images of the originals. 



In the Dictionary of Engineering '° (London, 1873), 

 the figures were redrawn and dozens of mechanisms 

 were added to the repertory of mechanical motions; 

 the result was a fair catalog of sound ideas. The 

 ferryboat still tugged at its anchor cable, however.'* 

 Knig/it's American Mechanical Dictionary, '^^ a classic of 

 detailed pictorial information compiled by a U.S. 

 patent examiner, contained well over 10,000 finely 

 detailed figures of various kinds of mechanical con- 

 trivances. Knight did not have a separate section on 

 mechanisms, but there was little need for one of the 

 Hachette variety, because his whole dictionary was a 

 huge and fascinating compendium of ideas to be filed 

 away in the synthetic mind. One reason for the 

 popularity and usefulness of the various pictorial 

 works was the peculiar ability of a wood or steel 

 engraving to convey precise mechanical information, 

 an advantage not possessed by modern halftone 

 processes. 



Many patent journals and other mechanical 

 periodicals concerned with mechanics were available 

 in English from the beginning of the 19th century, 

 but few of them found their way into the hands of 

 Arnerican mechanicians until after 1820. Oliver 

 Evans (1755-1819) had much to say about "the 

 difficulties inventive mechanics labored under for 

 want of published records of what had preceded 

 them, and for works of reference to help the be- 



Figure 35. — Ferryboat from Gardner 

 D. Hisco.x, ed., Mechanical Movements 

 (ed. 10, New York, 1903, p. 151). 



'5 E. F. and N. Spon, Dictionary of Engineering, London 1873, 

 pp. 2421-2452. 



»« Ibid., p. 2447. 



" Edward H. Knight, Knight's American Mechanical Dictionary, 

 3 vols., New York 1874-1876. 



218 



BULLETIN 228: CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE MUSEUM OF HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 



