MACHINE. 



Cthcrs were foi- razing the walls of fortified places, of which 

 the principal was the aries, or batttr'mg ram ; and thofe of tiic 

 llurd kind were for covering the approaches of the bcfiegers, 

 as tile wooden tower,&c. ; for a defcription of which fee the 

 rcfpective articles. The warlike machines employed by 

 Archimedes in the defence of Syracnfc have been much ap- 

 plauded by the ancients, and though many of the circum- 

 ilances related on this head are doubtlefs falfe or exaggerated, 

 yet it is fuificient to know the genius of their author to be 

 convinced that they were powerful and effedlive, probably 

 much exceeding any of thofe of which the conitrudion has 

 been afcertained. 



Of the architectural machines of the ancients we are totally 

 ur.acquainted, and one is at a lofs to conceive what means 

 they employed for trarifporting and railing thofe enormous 

 Itones which are found in the walls of I'ome ancient buildings, 

 though It is not unlikely that they owed as much to their 

 patient perleverance and manual labour, as to the power of 

 their machines. The Spaniards, when tliey made the con- 

 quell of Peru, were llruck with allonifhment to hnd the na- 

 tives, whom they confidered as favages and barbarians, raifing 

 enormous mafles of Hone of ten feet fquare for building walls 

 and other purpofes, without the airiilauce of any mftruments 

 than thofe which nature had fupplied them with : unac- 

 quainted with any other fcalTolding but that of banks of earth 

 raifed againll their buildings, they contrived by ilrength of 

 hand to raife thefe mally U)ads up the inclined planes thus 

 formed ; and many of the Druidical remains in this country 

 were probably erected in a fimilar manner. The ancient Greek 

 and Roman architedts, however, were no doubt acquainted 

 with, and employed very powerful machines in the conftruc- 

 tion of their noble edifices, with the nature of which we 

 have not been informed ; even Vitruvius, who writes cx- 

 prefsly on the fubjeA, has left us nothing that can throw 

 any light on the conllru£tion of thefe engines, yet that they 

 were in pclTeiuon ot immer.fe and wonderful machinery, 

 appears in the moll convincing manner to any peVfon who 

 relietts on the magnificent llruttures which they ereiltd, 

 and which excite to this day the wonder and admiration 

 of the world, not only on account of their grandeur and 

 incomparable elei^ance, but alfo on account of the mechani- 

 cal knowledge that feems indifpenfably iiecefTary for their 

 eredlion. 



The hydraulic machines of the ancients were indeed much 

 inferior to thofe of modern invention. 'T\k fcreiu of Archi- 

 medes, and the pumps of Ctefibius, were the principal en- 

 gines of this delcripuon ; for which fee the refpeCtive articles. 

 As to the modern machines tliey are too numerous to admit 

 even of a (light enumeration in this place ; moll of them, how- 

 ever, of any importance, will be found under the feveral heads 

 in this work. See Ckanes, Wind and Water Mills, 

 iJTEAM En^Jne, &c. &c. 



Montucla, at the conclufion of the third volume of his 

 " Hiltoire des Mathematiques," has given a catalogue of 

 feveral intereltiiig works, which have been compiled in order 

 to defcribe and exhibit the moll important and curious ma- 

 chines, both ancient and modern, of which we have feleftcd 

 a few for the information of thofe who may not pofTefs the 

 above-mentioned work. 



I. The firft and niofl interefting modern work of this 

 defcription is entitled " Le diverfe et artificiofe machine del 

 <;apitano Agollino Ramelli dal ponte dellaTrelia, 6i:c. &c. 

 ■compolte in lingua Italiana et Francefe ; a Parigi 1^88," 

 .in folio, (in Germany,) in 1620. This is a very tcarcc 

 .work, leldom to be met with but in choice libraries. 



2. " Machinas navx Faulli Vcrantii cum declarationc, La- 

 WoL. XXL 



tina, Italica, Hifpanica, Gallica, et Germanica," Venetii* 

 1591, 162J, in folio, with figures. 



3. " Recueil de plufieurs Machines militaires, &c. pour 

 la Guerre et Recreations," par Frangois Thypourelet Jeaa 

 Appus, 1620, 4to. 



4. " Heinrich Zeizings, Theatrum machirarum," Leipfic 

 1621. 



5. "A Century of Inventions, &c." by Edward So- 

 merfet, marquis of Worcefler, London 166^?, in i2mo. 



6. '' Les dix Livres d'Architefture' de Vitruve, &c." 

 tranflated into French by Claude Perrault, 167J, fo'io. 



7. " Vtterum mathematicorum, Athenaci, Apollodori, 

 &c." 1G93, folio. This learned ar.d curious edition of the 

 ancient Greek machinicians was begun by Tlievenol, and 

 finilhed by La Hire ; but it relates principally to military 

 engines. 



8. " Theatrum machinarum univerfale, &c." by Jacob 

 Leupold, Leipfic, feven volumes folio, 1724, 1727, 1774. 

 This is thegreatell and moll complete work of the kind that 

 ever was pubhfhed. The fird volume is little more thaa 

 an introduftion to the work ; the fecond and third volumes 

 containdefcriptions of hydraulic machines ; the next two vo- 

 lumes relate to machines for railing weights, the theory of 

 levelling, and other fubjefts ; and the fixth treats principally 

 on machines conneiiled with the conftruction of bridges ; the 

 feventh volume is entitled "Theatre arithmetico geome- 

 trique," where the author treats of all inllruments emoloved 

 in thefe two fcienccs. This work would have been much 

 more conliderable, if its author had lived to complete the 

 immenfe tallc he had undertaken. 



9. "A Ihort Account of the Methods made ufe of in laying 

 of the Foundation of the Piers of Weilminfter Bridge," by 

 Charles Labelye, 1 739. 



10. "TheAdvancementof Arts, Manufaftures, and Com- 

 merce; or, A Defcription of ufeful Machines and Models," by 

 A. M. Bailly, London 1778, 1779, folio. 



Befides the above-meationed works, many ufeful parti- 

 culars may be gathered from Strada, BelTon, Beroaldus, 

 Bockles, Beyer, Lempergli, Van Zyl, Behdor's Archi- 

 tefture hydraulique, Delagulieri's Courfe of experimental 

 Philofophy, Emcrfon's Mechanics. The Royal Academy of 

 Sciences at Paris have alfo given a collection of machines and 

 inventions approved of by them. This work, publiihed by 

 M. Gallon, confills of fix volumes in quarto, containing en- 

 graved reprefentations of the machines, with their defcrip. 

 tions annexed. 



We might has-e carried the enumeration of works of this 

 kind to a much greater length, but the above are the mod 

 interefting, and the reader who wifhes for farther information 

 on this fubjecl may confult the hiilory of Montucla above- 

 mentioned. But we ought not to omit to mention in this 

 place, the fecond volume of the " Architefture Hydrau- 

 lique" of Prony, and the fecond volume of Gregory's Me- 

 chanics ; the firil of thefe relates principally to lieam engines, 

 but the latter contains a defcription of the moil ufeful mo- 

 dern machines for various purpofes. 



In the conllruclion of machinery, as alfo in eftimating its 

 effeft.s, feveral important conlideralions naturally arife in the 

 mindofaflcilfulartifl.fuch asthe efFeClof FiucriON.RioiDlTr 

 ot /•o/>«, the Strength and SruE-s.sofmaterials; theproper mea- 

 fure, comparifon, and equilibrium of Forces, the law.s of Rota- 

 tory and AccELEUATED motion, &c. Sec. Thefe are all treated 

 of under tiie refpeCtive articles in the Cyc!op3:d>a, and it 

 therefore only remains for us in this place to offer a few re- 

 marks on the nature of machines in general, and the belt 

 means of determining their maximum cfrects. 



Machines are introduced for three purpofes, t/s. to ac- 

 j' B commodate 



