The Engineer's And Mechanic's Encyclopaedia Vol2 | by Luke Hebert
Comprehending Practical Illustrations Of The Machinery and Processes Employed In Every Description Of Manufacture Of The British Empire.
| Title | The Engineer's And Mechanic's Encyclopaedia Vol2 |
| Author | Luke Hebert |
| Publisher | Thomas Kelly |
| Year | 1849 |
| Copyright | 1849, Thomas Kelly |
| Amazon | Engineer's And Mechanic's Encyclopaedia |
Engineer's And Mechanic's Encyclopaedia
With upwards of two thousand engravings.
By Luke Hebert, Civil Engineer, Editor Of The History And Progress Op The Steam Engine, Register Op Arts, And Journal Op Patent Inventions, Etc.
A New Edition, With Considerable Additions And Improvements.
IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. II.
" How much useful knowledge is lost by the scattered forms in which it is ushered to the world ! How many solitary students spend half their lives in making discoveries which had been perfected a century before their time, for want of a condensed exhibition of what is known." - Buffon.
London: Thomas Kelly, 17, Paternoster Row.
MDCCCXLIX.
R. Clay. Printer. Bread Street Hill.
Frontispiece.
Isinglass- A solid glutinous substance, almost wholly gelatine, prepared chiefly from a fish of the sturgeon kind, caught in rivers of Russia and Hungary. The belluga yields the greatest quantity, as being the l...
- Ivory
- The tusk of the male elephant. It is an intermediate substance between bone and horn - hard, solid, white, and capable of taking a good polish. The finest, whitest, and most compact ivory comes from C...
- Ivory Paper
- The properties which render ivory so desirable a subject for the miniature painter and other artists, are the evenness and fineness of its grain, its allowing all water colours laid on its surface to ...
- Jack
- Jack in Mechanics, a portable machine for raising great weights through a small space. It consists of a rack and pinion inclosed within a strong wooden case, and the power is applied by means of a wi...
- Jack Kitchen
- A machine in which the descent of a weight is made to turn a spit. The ordinary construction is represented in the annexed sketch, which may be briefly described as follows: - a is a barrel, round whi...
- Jack Smoke
- Another contrivance for the same purpose as the former, but acting not by a weight, but by means of the smoke or rarefied air passing up the chimney, which striking against a set of oblique vanes, fix...
- Jack In The Box
- A large wooden solid screw, turning in a hollow one which forms the upper part of a strong wooden box, shaped like the frustrum of a pyramid: it is used by means of levers, passing through holes in it...
- Jamb-Posts
- The side posts of doors. Mr. T. N. Parker having noticed how rapidly the lower ends of door-posts decayed where they are exposed to wet, contrived a cast-iron socket for them, which is much used in Sh...
- Japanning
- The art of painting and varnishing, after the manner originally practised by the natives of Japan, in the East Indies. It is employed for the purpose of preserving and beautifying various articles, us...
- Priming
- The priming is a composition of strong size and whiting. The size should be of a consistency between the common double size and glue, and mixed with as much whiting as will give it a good body, so as ...
- Japan Grounds
- The proper japan grounds are either such as are formed by the varnish and colour, where the whole is to remain of one simple colour, or by the varnish with or without colour, on which some painting or...
- Of Varnishing Japan Work
- The last and finishing process in japanning consists in the laying on and polishing the outer coats of varnish, which are equally necessary whether the plain japan ground be painted on or not. This is...
- Jib
- The projecting frame of a crane, to which the weight or goods are suspended; the term is a corruption of gibbet, evidenced by the similarity of structure. Jib is also the name of the foremost sail of ...
- Jib-Boom
- Jib-Boom is a continuation of the bowspit forward, being run out from its extremity in a similar manner to a top-mast on a lower mast. There is also the flying jib-boom, which is a boom extending beyo...
- Jigger
- A machine consisting of a piece of rope about five feet long, with a block at one end, and a sheave at the other, used to hold on the cable when it is heaved into the ship by the revolution of the win...
- Junk
- Remnants or pieces of old cable, which are usually cut into small pieces for making mats, gaskets, etc. ...
- Jury-Mast
- A temporary mast erected in a ship in the place of the proper one. ...
- Kaleidoscope
- An instrument for creating and exhibiting an infinite variety of beautiful forms, pleasing the eye by an ever-varying succession of splendid tints and symmetrical figures, and enabling the observer to...
- Kaolin
- The name given to a kind of earth, which forms one of the ingredients in the manufacture of oriental porcelain. The other ingredient, which is called petuntse, is easily vitrifiable, while kaolin is s...
- Kedge
- A small anchor used to keep a ship steady and clear from her bower anchor while she rides in a harbour or river. They are generally furnished with an iron stock, which is easily displaced for the conv...
- Keel
- The principal piece of timber in a ship, which is usually first laid on the blocks in building; it supports and unites the whole fabric, since the stem and stern posts which are elevated on its ends, ...
- Keelson
- A piece of timber forming the interior of the keel, being laid upon the middle of the floor-timbers immediately over the keel, and serving to bind and unite the former to the latter by means of long b...
- Kelp
- A very impure carbonate of soda, obtained by the incineration of sea-weed, and chiefly employed in the manufacture of glass. The cultivation of the marine plants for this purpose is now much encourage...
- Kermes
- Kermes is an insect found in many parts of Asia and the south of Europe On account of their figure they were a long time taken for the seeds of the tree on which they feed, whence they were called gr...
- Kermes-Mineral
- Kermes-Mineral is usually prepared by 1 pound of common antimony with 22 1/2 lbs. of the sub-carbonate of potash, and 20 gallons of water in an iron pot, filtering the liquor whilst hot into earthen p...
- Ketch
- A vessel equipped with two masts, viz. the main-mast and the mizen-mast, and usually from 100 to 200 tons burthen. A bomb-ketch is a vessel rigged ketch fashion, and equipped for firing mortars. ...
- Key
- An instrument for opening locks, etc. This term is applied to a great variety of things which it is needless even to enumerate. ...
- Key Or Quay
- A long wharf by the side of a harbour, river, or canal, furnished with posts and rings, whereby ships and boats may be secured; also with cranes, capstans, and other convenient mechanism for loading a...
- Kilderkin
- A cask that holds 2 firkins or 18 gallons, or 72 quarts. Two kilderkins are a barrel, three a hogshead, and six a butt. ...
- Kettle
- A general name given to variously formed vessels employed in culinary and other operations. Mr. D. Gordon introduced an improvement upon them, which is explained by the subjoined cut. It consists simp...
- Kiln
- A structure or machine designed for drying substances by the application of heat. Their forms are as various as the substances or manufacture for which they are designed; for, although it may be said ...
- Kilns For Drying Corn
- If air and moisture be a refully excluded from grain, it may be kept uninjured for an indefinite length of time. This is proved by an extraordinary experiment made with some Indian cum found in the gr...
- Hebert's Patent Kiln
- Under the article Corn is described an apparatus for washing and separating the impurities with which grain is always to a greater or less extent contaminated; and, as a necessary concomitant to that ...
- Kite
- A fictitious bird, made of paper. This well-known juvenile plaything has been of late years applied to several objects of utility: the foremost of these, and the most paramount in importance, is the i...
- Kneading
- Kneading is the process of making the stiff paste of flour and water for being afterwards baked into bread. It is usually effected by a sort of pommeling action of the hands and arms, and sometimes of...
- 5. Hebert's Patent Kneading Machine
- In this a cylinder of from 4 to 5 feet in diameter, and only about 18 inches wide inside, is made to revolve upon an axis, which is fixed by a pin during the revolution of the cylinder. The flour is a...
- Knives (Including Forks)
- Knives are well-known instruments, made for cutting a great variety of substances, and adapted by differences in form to various uses; but the two principal sorts may be classed under the terms of poc...
- Knife-Sharpeners
- This term has been given to a variety of convenient modern instruments, especially adapted to the sharpening of knives at table, but particularly carvers, and are intended as substitutes for the commo...
- Laboratory
- A place fitted up and supplied with the necessary apparatus for chemical operations. Laboratories for conducting chemical processes on a large manufacturing scale will of course vary in their arrangem...
- Lac
- A resinous substance, the product of an insect found on several different kinds of trees in the East Indies. These insects pierce the small branches of the trees on which they feed; and the juice that...
- Lacquering
- Lacquering is the application of transparent or coloured varnishes to metals, to prevent their becoming tarnished, or to give them a more agreeable colour. The basis of them is properly the lac descri...
- Lace
- A delicate kind of net-work, composed of silk, flax, or cotton threads, twisted or plaited together. The meshes of this kind of net are of a hexagonal figure, in which thick threads are also woven to ...
- Lactometer
- An instrument invented by Mr. Dicas, of Liverpool, for the purpose of ascertaining the different qualities of milk from its specific gravity compared with water. On this subject Dr. Ure observes, that...
- Ladder
- A portable frame, containing steps for the feet. There are various kinds, most of which are too familiar to the readers of this work to need description; but there is one of a very ingenious descripti...
- Lake
- A name given to several pigments formed by precipitating colouring matter with some earth or oxide. The principal lakes are carmine, Florence lake, and madder lake; the first of these has been already...
- Lamp
- A vessel in which fluid combustibles are burned for the purpose of affording artificial light. This is effected by means of a wick or burner (commonly composed of a few threads of linen or cotton), wh...
- Lamp. Part 2
- When it is found to escape in sufficient quantities from the burners at F, set it on fire, remove the heater, and a beautiful bright flame will be supported by its own heat as long as there is oil in ...
- Lamp. Part 3
- When lamps are required to give light in one direction, as when placed against a wall, or used as reading lamps, the fountain lamps, similar to that just described, are undoubtedly superior to all oth...
- Lamp. Part 4
- The mode of filling the lamp is as follows: close the hole f in No. 2 and open 1, 2, and 3, and through 5 pour quicksilver till a is filled to the level of the top of the bent leg g, then close 5 by i...
- Lamp. Part 5
- On each side of the air tube a short piece of copper pipe is fixed by hard solder, for holding the cotton wicks; these tubes (which ought to be longer) get intensely hot, and, by the conducting power ...
- Reference To Engraving
- a, the vessel of condensed gas; b b, the reflectors, placed at suitable angles to accumulate the light upon a bull's eye magnifier fixed in front, but removed in the drawing to show the interior of th...
- Reference To Engraving. Continued
- F, the wire gauze cylinder, which should not have less than 625 apertures to the square inch. G, the second top, three-fourths of an inch above the first, surmounted by a brass or copper plate, to whi...
- Lancet
- A two-edged and pointed surgical instrument, chiefly used for opening veins in the operation of bleeding. ...
- Lantern
- A transparent case to contain a light. Lanterns are of various kinds adapted to their peculiar uses; most of them are, however, too well known to need a description here. The dark lantern is so called...
- Lapidification
- The art of cutting and polishing stones as practised by lapidaries. The stone to be cut is cemented to the end of a stick, and the different facets or planes on its surfaces are formed by a little sim...
- Latch
- A simple fastening to doors. The original and simplest form of a latch, is the little falling bar hooked, and the catch; the former being fixed on the door, and dropping into a notch of the latter, wh...
- Laths
- Laths are long, thin, and narrow slips of wood nailed to the rafters of a roof to sustain the covering, or to the joists of a room, in order to support or hold up the plaistered ceiling; they are also...
- Lathe
- A machine chiefly used for giving a truly circular form to wood, metals, and other substances. See Turning. ...
- Lead
- A metal of a bluish-white colour, and when recently cut, of considerable lustre. It is very soft and flexible; not very tenacious, and consequently incapable of being drawn into very fine wire; yet it...
- Lead. Continued
- The saving effected by this apparatus in preserving a quantity of valuable matter, which would otherwise, as heretofore, escape to the iniury of the neighbourhood, would of itself amount in one year, ...
- Sheet Lead
- There are two distinct kinds of sheet lead, cast, and milled or rolled. The first-mentioned is the original kind, and as it is preferred we shall first describe it as usually practised by the plumbers...
- Lead Pipe
- The next article of importance in the lead manufacture is pipe or tubing. There have been various modes of producing it: the original mode, from some specimens of very old pipe that we have seen, appe...
- Lead Pipe. Continued
- A different method of casting lead pipe continuously, has lately been patented in the United States of America by a Mr. Titus, which is thus described in the Franklin Journal, with reference to the su...
- Strength Of Leaden Pipes
- Some experiments upon this important subject were made by Mr. Jardine, of the Water Company in Edinburgh. The method of proving was to close one end of a piece of pipe, and then inject water into it b...
- Red Lead And Litharge
- We have described, at page 52, the method of refining lead for obtaining the silver which it usually contains, by which process there results an oxide of lead, called litharge. The use of this substan...
- Chromate Yellow
- This beautiful colour, which has superseded the use of the last-mentioned pigment, is obtained by precipitating a solution of lead in acetic acid, by the addition of a solution of the chromate of pota...
- Leather
- The skins of animals, combined in a variety of ways with astringent and other matters, to adapt them to numerous purposes of utility. The art of preparing leather is very ancient, and is practised in ...
- Leather. Part 2
- By this mode of tanning, the thickest leather takes.fifteen months before it is thoroughly tanned throughout; which is ascertained by cutting a piece off the edge of the hide, when it should appear un...
- Leather. Part 3
- The time required for completing the tanning will vary according to the density of the skins or hides, the strength of the tan liquor, the amount of the hydrostatic pressure, and other circumstance Wh...
- Leather. Part 4
- After this is done, pour on the hides as much of the solution as the hollow surface which they will then present will hold, and continue to fill them up as it runs off through the pores of the hide fo...
- Leather. Part 5
- The tanning is effected by steeping the skins in an infusion of bark, with the addition of the orpiment; the manipulations being the same as is practised in ordinary. Of the numerous substances emplo...
- Leather. Part 6
- If the pelts are to be tawed, they are then put into a solution of alum and salt, in warm water, in the proportion of about three pounds of alum, and four pounds of salt to every 120 middle sized skin...
- Leather. Part 7
- These rubbers, in their revolution, pass directly over a series of eight tables, circularly arranged underneath them. The upper surfaces of the tables are all brought to one true horizontal plane, par...
- Ellis's Machine
- Instead of a great wheel revolving horizon tally, like Hebert's, he employed a little wheel (about 30 inches diameter), which revolved vertically like a grindstone; on the outside edge of which were f...
- Splitting Of Hides And Skins
- We have already noticed that after a sheep skin, or other raw hide, has been cleansed and purified from all extraneous matters, it undergoes a scraping and paring of its inner surface to give it a thi...
- Bevington's Splitting Machine
- In a stout A framing were mounted two horizontal rollers or cylinders, which were made to revolve in opposite directions by means of pinions at one of their extremities gearing into each other. The lo...
- Stott's Splitting Machine
- About the same period of time that we saw the machine at Messrs. Bevington's (which, we should have added, was said to be the invention of Lieut. Parr), another machine was brought under the notice of...
- Reveres Splitting Machine
- By a reference to the eighteenth volume of the Repertory of Arts, Second Series, we find the specification of an English patent granted to Mr. Joseph Warren Revere, an American, for a new and improve...
- Duxburys Patent Skin Splitting Machine
- Mr. Davy states that it has been found that the parallel sides of a cylinder are not adapted for the smooth extension of a skin upon them; and that the consequence of compressing it between such surfa...
- Currying Leather
- This operation, which usually forms quite a distinct business, consists in a peculiar mode of dressing or preparing leather for boots, shoes, harness, and a variety of other things. The dressing of a ...
- Shagreen
- This singular and valuable leather is a manufacture almost peculiar to Astracan, where it is prepared by the Tartars and Armenians. For making shagreen, only horses' or asses' hides are taken, and it ...
- Gunby's Patent Substitute For Leather
- This invention consists in the application of an elastic coating and varnish to substances of a pliable nature, such as all kinds of cloth, whether cotton, linen, woollen, or felt. When the material i...
- Hancock's Patent Substitute For Leather
- Instead of U9ing cloth, as in Mr. Gunby's patent just described, Mr. Hancock merely hackles or cards the fibres of flax, cotton, etc. by which they are drawn out into layers of a suitable thickness; t...
- Lemons
- Lemons Salt of, is the native salt of sorrel, the super-oxalate of potash, and is chiefly used to take the ink-spots out of linen. The effect is produced by the oxalic acid dissolving with facility t...
- Lens
- Lens in Optics, a piece of glass, or other transparent substance, having its two surfaces so formed that the rays of light have their direction changed by passing through it; so that they either conv...
- Level
- An instrument employed for obtaining a line or plane parallel to the plane of the horizon. One principal use of the level is to find the difference of elevation of two or more planes, for the purposes...
- Levelling
- The art or act of finding a line or plane parallel to the plane of the horizon. The uses to which this art applies, are the determining the height or depth of one place with respect to another; the la...
- Levelling Staves or Levelling Poles
- Levelling Staves or poles, are those employed in levelling, serving to carry the marks to be observed, and at the same time to measure the height of those marks from the ground. They usually consist ...
- Lever
- One of the mechanic powers, or elements of machinery. It is usually defined an inflexible bar, movable round a fixed point of support, denominated the fulcrum. There are three kinds of levers, disting...
- Levigation
- The art of reducing hard bodies to an impalpable powder; it is performed by pounding, rubbing, or grinding; or by a combination of these operations. ...
- Levity
- Levity in Natural Philosophy, is that supposed property of a body by which it is said to be less weighty than another body, bulk for bulk; levity in this sense is the opposite to gravity. Thus cork, ...
- Leyden Phial
- Leyden Phial in Electricity, is a glass phial or jar, coated within side and without with tin foil, or some other conducting substance, so as to be capable of receiving and retaining an electric char...
- Light
- Light is that principle or substance which renders objects perceptible to our sense of seeing. It is a subject apparently but little understood, and upon which opinions are as much divided as any of t...
- Lighter
- A large, open, flat-bottomed vessel, employed to unload or lighten a ship, and to convey the goods therefrom to their destination; especially when there is not sufficient depth of water for the ship t...
- Light-Room
- A small room in a ship of war, having double glazed windows, through which light is admitted into the powder magazine. ...
- Lighthouse
- A tower or other lofty building erected upon some headland or rock of the sea-coast, the upper part of which is brilliantly illuminated during the night-time to guide ships in their course, or warn th...
- Lightning
- The explosion of the electric fluid in the atmosphere Lightning Conductors, are pointed metallic rods fixed to the upper parts of buildings, to secure them from strokes of lightning. They were invente...
- Lime
- One of the primitive earths; and since the discovery by Sir H. Davy of its metallic base, which he denominated calcium, it is regarded by chemists as the oxide of calcium; that important substance com...
- Limestone
- The native indurated carbonate of lime is usually distinguished by this name; but Professor Jamieson considers it as a genus of minerals, which he divides into four species; namely, Rhomb-spar, Dolomi...
- Limning
- The art of painting in water colours, as practised by the ancients, in contradistinction to the more modern art of painting in oil. Before John Van Eyck (better known by the name of John of Bruges) fo...
- Lint
- The scrapings from the surface of old linen cloth, forming a very soft absorbent material, peculiarly adapted to the dressing of wounds; for which purpose it is chiefly used. This material is prepared...
- Liqueurs
- This name, adopted from the French, is given to a variety of odoriferous, fine flavoured, alcoholic liquors; the processes of preparing which have been given in various parts of this work; see Eau de ...
- Lithia
- An alkali, recently discovered by M. Arfredson, a young chemist, employed in the laboratory of M. Berzelius. Sir H. Davy demonstrated by voltaic electricity that the basis of this alkali is a metal, t...
- Lithography
- The art of transferring from stone, writings or drawings made thereon; which is quite of modern invention. Unlike other kinds of printing, this is strictly chemical, and is in consequence called in Ge...
- The Stones, And The Manner In Which They Are Prepared To Receive The Drawings
- The stone most used in England is found at Corstan, near Bath: it is one of the white lias beds, but not of so fine a grain, nor so close in texture as the German stone, and therefore inferior; but it...
- Mode Of Drawing
- Previous to drawing or writing, the stone must be well wiped with a clean, dry cloth. The ink is rubbed with water, like Indian ink, and is almost wholly used on the polished stone. The chalk is used ...
- Preparation Of The Stone For Printing
- The drawing being finished on the stone, it is sent to the lithographic printer, on whose knowledge of his art depends the success of the impressions. The first process is to etch the drawing as it is...
- Stone Printing
- When the intention is to print from the stone, it is placed upon the platten or bed of the press, and a proper sized seraper is adjusted to the surface of the stone. Rain water is then sprinkled over ...
- Principles Of The Stone Printing
- The accidents just mentioned arise at the extreme points of the scale at which the printing inks can be used, for it is evident that the only inks that can be used are those which are between these po...
- Autographic Paper
- The operation by which a writing or drawing is transferred from paper to stone, not only affords the means of abridging labour, but also of producing the writings or drawings in the same directions in...
- Autographic Processes
- To transfer a drawing or writing to stone, it is made with ink on paper, both prepared in the way we have described. A crayon drawing may, on an emergency, be executed autographically; but this mode o...
- Lixiviation
- Lixiviation is the application of water to the fixed residue of bodies, for the purpose of extracting the saline part. ...
- Lock
- A secret fastening for doors and similar things, provided with an arrangement of mechanism designed to prevent the introduction or successful operation of any instrument but that which has been made t...
- Lock. Part 2
- Although no doubt can be entertained that Barron really invented the lock we have been noticing, it appears from the statements of Mr. Ainger, that the Egyptian locks now in use are constructed upon t...
- Lock. Part 3
- The key being thus completed and applied to the surface of the levers, will, by a gentle pressure, force them to unequal distances from their common station in the frame, and sink their points to uneq...
- Lock. Part 4
- In this remark of Mr. Kemp's we entirely coincide; and it still applies to all locks hitherto made (1834), that the keys, when in the possession of a workman, may be copied; and, in many, without poss...
- Log
- A machine or apparatus used to measure the rate of a ship's velocity through the water. For this purpose there are various inventions; but the one mostly used is the following, and called the common l...
- Logarithms
- Logarithms are series of artificial numbers, so arranged with reference to a set of natural numbers that the addition of the logarithms shall correspond with the multiplication of the natural numbers ...
- A Table Of Logarithms Of Numbers, From 1 To 1000
- Number 1 to 100, and their Logarithms. 1 .0000000 21 .3222193 41 .6127839 61 .7853298 81 .9084850 2 .3010300 22 .342...
- Logwood
- A hard compact wood, so heavy as to sink in water; of a fine grain, capable of being polished, and so durable, as to be scarcely susceptible of decay. Its predominant colour is red, tinged with orange...
- Longimetry
- The measuring of lengths and distances, both accessible and inaccessible. Accessible distances are measured by the application of some lineal measure, as a foot, a chain, etc. Inaccessible distances a...
- Loom
- A machine for weaving cloth, of which there are various kinds. See Weaving. ...
- Lozenges
- Lozenges or Troches, are small articles of confectionery, sometimes medicated, and usually made up of the form of thick wafers. The basis of their composition is refined sugar, which is finely pulver...
- Lute
- Lute or Luting. A mixed, tenacious, ductile substance, which being applied between the junctures of distillatory and other vessels, grows solid by drying, and effectually stops up the crevices. Lutes...
- Machine
- Machine signifies anything used to augment or regulate force or motion. The simplest machines, namely, the lever, the wheel and axle, the pulley, the inclined plane, the wedge and the screw, are usual...
- Madder
- A substance very extensively employed in dyeing; it is the root of a trailing plant that grows very abundantly in the south of Europe. It is cultivated in England and Holland also; but the best is sai...
- Magic
- The imposture by which a few individuals, who had become acquainted with some of the more remarkable phenomena of nature, and the operations of chemistry, managed to enslave the minds and bodies of th...
- Magic Lantern
- An optical machine employed to throw a magnified image of paintings upon glass or any transparent substance on a white screen in a darkened chamber. It has generally been devoted to the amusement of c...
- Magnesia
- One of the primitive earths, having a metallic base called magnesium. It is a soft white powder; of specific gravity 2.3. It renders the syrup of violets, and the infusion of red cabbage, green; and r...
- Magnet or Loadstone
- Magnet or Loadstone, is a ferruginous stone or ore of iron; it has the property of attracting iron, of pointing itself in a certain direction, and of communicating the same property to steel or iron....
- Mahogany
- The beautiful reddish brown coloured wood of which household furniture is now chiefly made. It is a native of the warmest parts of America and the West Indies. It thrives in most soils in the tropical...
- Maize or Indian Corn
- Maize or Indian Corn being now cultivated to some extent in different parts of this country, we have given the engraving on the following page of a machine for husking the corn, or separating the gra...
- Mallet
- A large kind of hammer, made of wood; they are of various forms, according to the kind of work to be performed by them. ...
- Malt
- Grain which has become sweet from the conversion of its starch into sugar, by an incipient growth or germination artificially induced, called malting. In malting barley the usual method is to steep th...
- Maltha
- The mineral tallow of Kirwan, said to be found on the coast of Finland, also on the lake Baikal, in Siberia. It resembles wax, and has hence been denominated sea-wax. It is a solid substance, spec. gr...
- Mandrel
- Mandrel is the name given to a kind of pulley, forming an important part of a lathe; there are various kinds, - see Turning. ...
- Manganese
- Manganese is a metal of a dull whitish colour, but soon changes to a dark grey by exposure to the air. It is hard, brittle, rough in its fracture; not pulverizable, but falls to powder when broken to...
- Mangle
- A domestic machine of great utility, employed in smoothening linen, as a substitute for the heated irons extensively used for the same purpose. In the common mangle, as most of our readers well know,...
- Mangle. Continued
- For a particular description of this machine, see Register of Arts, Vol. I. New Series, p. 168. A new and very simple method of producing the alternate motion of a mangle-box, by the continuous motio...
- Manna
- A white sweet juice, which oozes from the trunk, branches, and leaves, of several kinds of trees; but the ash, the larch, and the alhagi afford it in the largest quantities. Sicily and Calabria, are t...
- Manometer
- Manometer an instrument for measuring the rarefaction and condensation of elastic fluids, but especially that of the atmosphere. It differs from the barometer which shows only the weight of the super...
- Maple
- From the juice of this tree obtained by tapping, the Americans prepare a sugar, and the Highlanders, it is said, an agreeable wine. ...
- Maranta
- Maranta or Indian Arrow Root. From this root, washed, pounded, and searced in water, is obtained the fashionable starch called arrow-root, much used for infant and invalid food. ...
- Marble
- Marble a fine kind of lime-stone, (a carbonate of lime;) it is found in extensive masses in most parts of the world. It occurs in beds in granite, gneiss, etc, rarely in secondary rocks, but is found...
- Marl
- An earth, of which there are three principal kinds, the calcareous, the argillaceous, and the siliceous; according as the lime, the clay, and the silex abound in them. ...
- Marline-Spike
- An iron tool, tapering to a point, used to separate the strands of a rope, in order to introduce those of another, when they are to be spliced, or joined evenly, without knotting. ...
- Marquetry
- A kind of inlaid work, composed of a tasteful variety of fine woods, of different shades and colours, glued or fastened in thin slices on a solid ground; the work is not unfrequently enriched with sil...
- Masonry
- The art of hewing and preparing stones of their due proportions and figure, and of joining them together, in building houses, and other works. ...
- Massicot
- The yellow oxide of lead. See Lead, and Painting. ...
- Mast
- A long round piece of timber, raised perpendicularly on the keel of a ship, upon which are attached the yards, the sails, and the rigging. A mast, according to its length, is either formed of one sing...
- Mastic
- A resinous substance in the form of tears, of a pale yellow colour, and farinaceous appearance; having little smell and a bitter taste. It flows naturally from the tree; but this process is accelerate...
- Matter
- Matter is generally understood to mean that solid, inert, divisible substance, accessible to the senses, of which all bodies in the universe are formed. Dr. Woodward was of opinion that matter is orig...
- Matrix
- The stone in which metallic ores are found enveloped; the same term is applied by type-founders to the metallic mould in which the letters are cast. ...
- Mead
- A wine prepared from honey; a quantity of good honey, with rather more than its weight of water is to be boiled, scummed, and evaporated until it is of a consistence that will float an egg: the liquor...
- Meal
- The flour and bran of corn in the mixed state; they proceed from the mill before they are separated by a bolter or dressing machine. ...
- Measure
- A quantity assumed at pleasure, and considered as unity, or one, to which the ratio of other quantities being determined, their relative magnitude, both to the assumed unit, and to each other, will be...
- Heaped Measure
- That the standard measure of capacity for coals, lime, culm, fish, potatoes, or fruit, and all other goods, and things commonly sold by heaped measure, shall be the aforesaid bushel, containing 80 lb...
- Stricken Measure
- The last-mentioned goods may be sold either by the heaped measure or by the standard weight (see the article Weight); but for all other kind of goods not usually sold by heaped measure, which may be s...
- Mechanics
- Mechanics is a science which treats generally of the action of forces on solid bodies, and the construction and use of machinery. When forces acting upon a body in different directions produce equilib...
- Mechanic Powers
- Mechanic Powers are those simple machines or elements that enter into the construction of the various parts of machinery: they are usually considered to be six in number; viz. the lever, the wheel and...
- Mercury
- Mercury is a metal distinguished from all others by its extreme fusibility, which is such that it does not take the solid state until it is cooled to the 39o below 0 in Fahrenheit's thermometer, and i...
- Metallurgy
- Metallurgy in a general sense, comprehends the art of working metals from the state of ore to the utensil; and in this sense, assaying, smelting, refining, smithery, etc, are branches of metallurgy. ...
- Metals
- A numerous class of undecompounded bodies, which are distinguishable by their lustre, ductility, malleability, tenacity, opacity, etc. They are fusible by heat, and in fusion retain their lustre and o...
- Mica
- A mineral, which Professor Jameson divides into ten species; hut the term is generally understood to imply talc. or Muscovy glass, which is one of the species. Most of the mica or talc of commerce is ...
- Micrometer
- An instrument of which there are various construe-tions,'usually applied to telescopes and microscopes, for the purpose of measuring minute bodies, or small angles formed by bodies at a remote distanc...
- Microscope
- From two Greek words, signifying small, and to view. An optical instrument for viewing small objects, rendering those visible which cannot be distinguished by the naked eye, and magnifying those that ...
- Milk
- A fluid secreted by the females of the class mammalia. Although the proportions of its constituents vary in different animals, its general properties are the same in all. When this fluid is allowed to...
- Mills
- Mills are machines for triturating all kinds of substances capable of being reduced or pulverized by their action. Those employed for converting grain into flour, by rubbing it between two hard surfac...
- Hebert's Patent Flour-Making Machine
- From a personal inspection of the machine delineated in perspective on the following page, and from a careful perusal of the inventor's specification, it appears to us to be his design to construct fl...
- Hebert's Patent Flour-Making Machine. Part 2
- The mechanical arrangements of this new machine equally adapt it to the production of every quality of flour and meal that may be required; to grind and dress finer or coarser, at the pleasure of the ...
- Hebert's Patent Flour-Making Machine. Part 3
- The surface of the upper stone is brought to a perfectly parallel position with respect to the other, by means of four equidistant regulating screws, acting upon a brass box h, in which the lower extr...
- Mine And Mining
- Mine is a term applied to works carried on underground, for obtaining minerals generally, but chiefly for metallic ores. The internal parts of the earth, as far as they have been investigated, consist...
- Mine And Mining. Part 2
- The scheme succeeded, and Coster long continued to profit by Cornish ignorance. Besides tin and copper, some of the Cornish mines yield cobalt, lead, and silver. The ores are in veins or lodes, the mo...
- Mine And Mining. Part 3
- The agents take these to the Cornish assayers, a set of men, who (strange to relate,) are destitute of the most distant notion of the theories of chemistry or metallurgy, but who nevertheless can prac...
- Mine And Mining. Part 4
- The patented machinery of Messrs. Petherick and Kingston, is, we are informed, in successful operation at the Lancscot and other Cornish mines. Diamonds, gems, and the precious metals being scattered...
- Mine And Mining. Part 5
- Fig. 1. Fig. 2. Mining The other form of the valve, shown in Fig. 5, is similarly placed in the centre of the bottom of the tub, and for the same purpose, though rather more simple in its c...
- Mine And Mining. Part 6
- When the double agitator is used, two riggers will be necessary, as at L and W, and the one at W, which communicates with the large external agitator, is made double the diameter of the smaller one L,...
- Mine And Mining. Part 7
- In addition to the several modes of working the apparatus explained, it is proposed to work the same in streams, or ponds, where gold-dust, ores, etc. may be found, or suspected to exist, without usin...
- Minium
- A name which was given to what is now called cinnabar; it is a native mineral, of a shining red colour, out of which quicksilver is extracted. ...
- Mint
- The place in which the king's money is coined. Formerly mints existed in almost every country, for notwithstanding the coining of money appears at all times to have been considered a special prerogati...
- Mint. Part 2
- These are the air furnaces, built of fire brick, in the usual manner of melting furnaces, but to render them more durable, the brickwork is cased in iron plates, which are put together by screws. b b ...
- Mint. Part 3
- It consists of two steel rulers fixed fast together at one end, the other end being a certain distance asunder, forming an opening between them gradually diminishing to nothing; the sides of the ruler...
- Mirror
- A surface of polished metal, or of glass, silvered on its posterior side, capable of reflecting the rays of light from objects placed before it, and exhibiting their image. There are three classes of ...
- Moorings
- Moorings are an assemblage of anchors, chains, and bridles, laid athwart the bottom of a river or harbour, to ride the shipping therein. These anchors have generally but one fluke, which is sunk in th...
- Mortar
- A cement made of lime, sand and water. See Lime. MORTAR. A strong hollow instrument, usually made of marble, Wedgewood ware, or metal, in which hard or brittle substances are pulverized by percussio...
- Mosaic Work
- An assemblage of little pieces of glass, marble, precious stones, etc. of various colours, cut to a determined pattern or design, and cemented on a ground of stucco, in such a manner as to imitate pai...
- Mother Of Pearl
- Mother Of Pearl is that beautiful natural white enamel, which forms the greater part of the substance of the oyster shell, particularly the pearl oyster. It is found to consist of alternate layers of...
- Mother-Water
- Mother-Water is the uncrystallizable residue of a compound saline solution; thus the liquor left in a salt pan, after the salt is taken out, is the mother-water. ...
- Mould
- A general term applied to a great variety of implements employed in the mechanic arts. Thus with a shipwright, a mould signifies a thin flexible piece of wood, on which the required curves of the timb...
- Mowing Machine
- An agricultural implement, designed to supersede the use of scythes by hand. Many have been made at different times, but the difficulty of adapting them to the ordinary unevenness of the surface of th...
- Mucic Acid
- This acid has generally been known by the name of saccholactic, because it was first obtained from sugar of milk, but all the gums appear to afford it readily. ...
- Mucilage
- A general term, denoting any viscid or glutinous liquid; but chemically speaking, it is understood to apply only to an aqueous solution of gum, or mucilaginous extract of vegetables. ...
- Muffle
- A vessel employed in metallurgic operations. In figure it represents an oblong arch or vault, the hinder part of which is closed by a semicircular plane, and the lower part, or floor, is a rectangular...
- Mule
- A machine employed in spinning cotton and other fibrous mate-rials. It was invented by Crompton, in 1779, and was found to produce finer yarn than was spun by the machine previously in use. For produc...
- Muller
- A tool employed for holding or grinding substances upon a stone. The glass-grinders thus call the instrument used for grinding their glasses, which consists of a round piece of wood, about six inches ...
- Muslin
- A fine sort of cotton cloth, first imported from India, but now for the most part manufactured in this country. ...
- Myrrh
- A gummy, resinous, concrete juice, which issues by incision, and sometimes spontaneously, from the trunk and large branches of a tree, growing in Arabia, and Egypt, especially in Abyssinia. It consist...
- Nails
- Nails are small spikes or pegs of metal, usually of iron, extensively used in building, and generally in the constructive arts. From the immense quantities of nails made in this country, the manufactu...
- Nails. Continued
- The terms employed by retailers, of fourpenny, sixpenny, tenpenny, etc, are very undefined as respects the kind, as well as the precise size, these varying with the locality wherein they are sold. To ...
- Cut Or Pressed Iron Nails
- Sheets of rolled iron, of the thickness of the intended nails, are cut into strips or ribands, that are in width equal to the length of the intended nails; being then held horizontally, with a flat si...
- Cut Or Pressed Iron Nails. Continued
- The ends of the cutters are only brought into view in the figure; these are, however, of greater, and may be of any required length, to cut a given number of brads at a time, as may suit the power of ...
- Naphtha
- Naphtha or Rock Oil, is a yellow or brownish bituminous fluid, of strong penetrating odour, greasy to the touch, and so light as to float on alcohol. By exposure to the air it thickens into the subst...
- Napier's Bones, Or Napier's Rods
- Napier's Bones, or Napier's Rods, are certain instruments invented by Lord Napier, for performing some of the fundamental rules of arithmetic, by an easy mechanical process. They may be made of bone, ...
- Naples Yellow
- Naples Yellow is prepared by calcining lead with antimony and potash, in a reverberatory furnace. See Painting. ...
- Natron
- The native carbonate of soda. It is found in vast abundance in the lakes near Alexandria, in Egypt. ...
- Nautical Indicator
- For finding the latitude, longitude, and variation, invented by James Hunter, member of the Glasgow Philosophical Society. The indicator consists of a stand, supporting a circular plate of polished br...
- Nave
- The central boss, or hub, as it is in some places called, of a wheel, through which the axletree passes, and which receives the ends of the spokes in deep mortices made therein. Although the naves mad...
- Needles
- Well known little instruments, usually made of steel, pointed at one end, and perforated at the other, to receive a thread, for sewing with, etc. The processes of manufacturing needles have been much ...
- Scouring
- In this process the needles are piled in rows many tiers deep, and in several parallel rows, upon a piece of buckram, or stout cloth, which is saturated with oil and fine emery. The needles, after the...
- Packing-Needles, Bodkins, Etc
- Some years ago a patent was taken out for making needles of this kind, by Mr. William Bell, of Walsall; and as the manufacture of them has ever since been continued with success, we shall close the pr...
- Net
- A trellis-like fabric of threads or cords, chiefly used for entrapping fish, birds, and other animals. The term is likewise applied to a particular branch of manufacture, of a fine open texture, usual...
- Nickel
- A white metal, which, when pure, is both ductile and malleable, and may be forged into very thin plates, whose colour is intermediate, between that of silver and tin, and is not altered by the air; it...
- Nitrates
- Compounds of the nitric acid, with various salifiable bases. Nitre The usual name given to a combination of the nitric acid with potash. See Acid, Nitric. ...
- Nitrogen
- A simple or undecomposed gaseous substance, was first distinguished by Dr. Rutherford, in 1772. It is sometimes called azote, from its inability to support animal life; but it is commonly designated n...
- Nutgalls
- Excrescences formed on the leaves of the oak by the puncture of an insect, which deposits an egg upon them. The best galls of commerce are those imported from Aleppo; they are chiefly used by dyers, c...
- Nutmeg
- The kernel of a large fruit, not unlike the produce of the miristica. The nutmeg is separated from its investient coat, the mace, before it appears in commerce. ...
- Oakum
- The substance into which old ropes are reduced when they are untwisted, loosened, and drawn asunder. It is used chiefly for caulking the seams of ships. ...
- Oar
- A long piece of timber, flat at one end, and round or square at the other, used to propel a vessel through the water. The flat part, which is dipped in the water, is called the blade; and that which i...
- Observatory
- A building purposely constructed for viewing the heavenly bodies, and furnished with suitable instruments and conveniences for facilitating the operations. ...
- Ochre
- Ochre (red,) is an iron ore of blood-red colour, which is sometimes found in powder, and occasionally in a hardened state. It has an earthy texture, and sometimes stains the fingers when handled. The...
- Odometer
- An instrument for measuring the distance travelled over by a post-chaise or other carriage; it is attached to the wheel, and shows, by means of an index and dial-plate, the distance gone over. ...
- Oil
- The distinctive characters of oil are unctuosity and inflammability, insolubility in water, and fluidity at moderate temperatures. Oils are distinguished into fixed, or fat oils, which do not rise in ...
- Oil. Part 2
- Of late years the elastic force of steam has been introduced to give the necessary pressure, and the patented improvements by Mr. John Hall, jun. (of Dartford), which we have now to describe, consist ...
- Oil. Part 3
- Mr. Robinson, of Edinburgh, having witnessed the difficulties and waste which take place in filtering and clearing oil from its dregs; in which operation, as it is usually conducted, a great deal of t...
- Oil. Part 4
- The annexed drawing is taken from a model recently brought from India and deposited in the museum of the Asiatic Society a represents a mortar about six feet high, usually formed out of a block of gra...
- Oil. Part 5
- It is, perhaps, deserving of notice, that the self-acting property of these presses adapts them for situations where advantage could be taken of the ebbing and flowing of the tide; the rising of the w...
- Fish Oil
- In the Greenland fisheries, the blubber produced from whales is cut into small pieces and packed in casks, and when it arrives in England, it is in a putrid state. It is started into a large receiver,...
- Native Oil of Laurel
- This extraordinary and valuable production is supposed to be the only known instance of a perfectly volatile liquid obtainable without the aid of art. It is yielded by a tree of considerable height, w...
- Birch Bark Oil
- The Oil of Birch Bark, which is so much used in Russia for currying eather, to which it gives a peculiar odour, and a power of resisting moisture beyond any other dressing, is prepared in the followin...
- Oil-Colour Cakes
- A convenient preparation for the use of artists, invented by Mr. George Blackman, for which that gentleman was awarded a medal by the Society of Arts. Take, says Mr. Blackman, of the clearest gum mast...
- Opera-Glass
- A short kind of telescope, used chiefly in theatres; it is sometimes called a diagonal perspective, from its construction. It consists of a short tube, in each side of which there is a hole exactly ...
- Opium
- An inspissated gummy juice, which is obtained chiefly from the white poppy of the East (papaver somniferum). It may also be obtained, but in a small quantity, from the other species of poppy. It is im...
- Opobalsam
- The most precious of the balsams; or that commonly called Balm of Gilead. The true balsam is of a pale yellowish colour, clear and transparent, about the consistence of Venice turpentine, of a strong,...
- Opodeldoc
- A solution of soap and alcohol, with the addition of camphor and volatile oils. It is used, externally, against rheumatic pains, sprains, bruises, and other like complaints. ...
- Optics
- The science which treats of the nature of light, and the phenomena of vision. Our prescribed limits will not allow of our giving more than a brief outline of the elements of this sublime science, whic...
- Optics. Continued
- No. 2, a plano-convex lens; No. 3, a double convex; No. 4, a plano-concave; No. 5, a double concave; No. 6, a meniscus; No. 7, a multiplying glass; and No. 8, a prism. The term lens is usually giv...
- Ores
- The natural bodies whence metals are extracted. Metallic substances, when found pure, are called native; but when combined with other substances, as they generally are, they are denominated ores. As i...
- Ores Of Gold
- Gold exists in nature only in the metallic state; but it is scarcely ever found perfectly pure, for it is alloyed in different proportions with silver, copper, tellurium, and some other metals. When i...
- Ores Of Platinum
- The whole of the platinum which has been brought to Europe, has been previously subjected to the process of amalgamation in South America; and hence it happens that a.small quantity of mercury remains...
- Ores Of Silver
- The analysis and reduction of these different ores, it is scarcely necessary to observe, must be conducted according to the nature and proportion of the ingredients which enter into the composition of...
- Ores Of Mercury
- These present less variety than those of many other metals; and on account of the peculiar properties of the metal, the management of its ores, whether for the purposes of analysis or reduction, is le...
- Ores Of Copper
- This metal is found native in the state of oxide, in the state of sulphuret, and in that of salt, combined with carbonic, muriatic, phosphoric, and arsenic acids. Native copper sometimes contains gold...
- Ores Of Iron
- Notwithstanding the great variety of iron ores, they may be all, as far as analysis is concerned, arranged under three heads; namely, sulphurets, oxides, and salts. The first are distinguished by thei...
- Ores Of Tin
- Tin-stone, or vein tin, as it is called in Cornwall, contains a large proportion of stony matters; it therefore requires considerable care in its preparation, previously to its being reduced. It is fi...
- Ores Of Lead
- The methods of reducing lead ores have been given under the article Lead. See also Separation. ...
- Ores Of Bismuth
- Bismuth is accompanied by native silver, galena, some other metals, and earthy substances. In conducting the analysis, previous roasting is not requisite. The low degree of heat at which bismuth is fu...
- Ores Of Zinc
- The ores of zinc are the native carbonate, or common calamine, the oxide of zinc and blende, or the sulphuret of zinc. In the process for reducing the ore of zinc, it is first to be broken into small ...
- Ores Of Antimony
- The sulphuretted ore of antimony is the only one which is found in sufficient quantity to be employed in the process of reduction in the large way, and the process it undergoes is extremely simple. Th...
- Organ
- A large and very harmonious musical instrument, of considerable antiquity. They were first introduced into this country about the fourteenth century, although instruments of a similar nature, but of a...
- Orpiment
- A mineral substance, consisting of arsenic combined with about forty-three parts of sulphur, and is about thrice as heavy as water. It is found, both in a massive and crystallized state, in Turkey, Hu...
- Orrery
- An astronomical instrument, for exhibiting the motions of the heavenly bodies, was first constructed by Graham; but its name is derived from one made by Howley for the Earl of Orrery. It is now genera...
- Orris-Root
- The root of a white-flowered kind of iris, called Florentine Iris, which is a native of Italy, and is distinguished by having two flowers on each stalk; the petals bearded, and the leaves sword-shaped...
- Oscillation
- Oscillation Centre of. . That point, in a body vibrating by its gravity, in which, if any body be placed, or if the whole mass be collected, it will perform its vibrations in the same time, and with ...
- Osmium
- A metal lately discovered by Mr. Tennant among platina, and thus called by him, from the pungent and peculiar smell of its oxide. The pure metal, previously heated, did not appear to be acted upon by ...
- Oven
- Oven is a general term applied to variously formed apparatus employed for baking or drying different substances, many of which have been described in the course of this work; we shall therefore confin...
- Hicks's Economical Oven
- In the year 1830 a patent was taken out by Mr. Robert Hicks for an economical apparatus or machine to be applied in the process of baking for the purpose of saving materials; and for carrying this i...
- Oxalic Acid
- This acid, which abounds in wood sorrel, and which, combined with a small portion of potash, as it exists in that plant, has been sold under the name of 'salt of lemon, to be used as a substitute for ...
- Oxidation
- The process of converting metals or other substances into oxides, by uniting them with a certain proportion of oxygen. ...
- Oxides
- Substances, combined with oxygen without being in the state of an acid. There are several oxides of the same substances, differing in the proportion of oxygen they contain. When a substance combines w...
- Oxygen
- Oxygen which, uncombined, is known only as a gaseous substance, was discovered by Dr. Priestley, in 1774. It has been called dephlogisticated air, empyreal air, and vital air. The term oxygen was giv...
- Oxygenation
- Similar in meaning to oxidation, but of more general application. It signifies the uniting of oxygen to various substances, whether the result be an oxide acid, or alkali. ...
- Painting
- Painting House. The art of covering with various suitable pigments the wood-work, plaster walls and ceilings, iron work, etc, of the interior and exterior of houses. It may be divided into three sepa...
- Grinding Colours
- All substances employed for painting in oil require to be ground up with a small portion of the oil previous to mixing them with the whole quantity required for use; for this purpose, they must first ...
- Mixing Colours For Painting
- before the colours which ha\e been ground can be applied to the work, they must be rendered fluid by the addition of linseed oil, or spirits of turpentine, or certain proportions of both. Whan a tinte...
- Old Work
- Carefully remove all dirt and extraneous matter with the stopping knife and duster; those places near the eye should be rubbed with pumice-stone, and greasy places should be well rubbed with turpentin...
- Priming For New Work
- This is made of white lead with dryers, and a little led lead to harden it, and further to assist its drying; it is thinned entirely with oil, and should be made very thin, as the new wood, or plaster...
- Turpentine Colour
- This is only used when the work is to be finished in oil; that is, left shining. It is thinned almost entirely with turpentine, that the finishing coat may have a better gloss. Third, or ground colou...
- Tinted Colours
- Stone Colour White lead, with a little burnt or raw umber, and yellow ochre. Gray Stone Colour White lead, and a little black. Drab White lead, with burnt umber and a little yellow ochre for a wa...
- Distempering
- The principal difference between oil and distemper painting is, that in the latter the colours are ground in water, and diluted with size. It is much less durable than oil painting, but is cheaper, an...
- Graining
- Graining comprises the imitating of woods and marbles; the latter is distinguished by the term marbling: it is strictly an imitative art, and demands in its execution considerable judgment and good ta...
- Wainscot In Oil
- The effect of the grain in this wood is produced by the horn graining-tool, which very much resembles a comb, but the teeth are not pointed. The teeth of the graining-tool are of equal dimensions from...
- Wainscot In Distemper
- Raw umber alone is a very good colour for this, or a little burnt umber may be added to it, to make a warmer tint. The fluid used for this and all other distemper graining must be such as will so bind...
- Pollard Oak
- Either burnt umber or Vandyke brown makes an excellent pollard oak colour. The colour, in this case, unlike wainscot, should be laid on unevenly, or darker in some places than in others, after the cha...
- Marbling
- Marbles are generally imitated with oil colours, and those colours are mostly opaque, as for this purpose it is not at all necessary that they be transparent. The manner of proceeding with the differe...
- Ornamental Painting
- This chiefly consists in painting scrolls, figures, or other enrichments on plain work, so as to give them the appearance of relief or projection; it is most commonly done in the corners and margins o...
- Palette
- A small tablet, usually of ivory or wood, upon which painters lay small portions of the several pigments or tints they have occasion for in their work. Instead of a handle, it has a hole cut near the ...
- Palette Knife
- A long knife with a very thin well-tempered steel blade, used by artists for mixing colours, or for rubbing down such as have been previously ground, on the palette. They are mounted in wood or ivory ...
- Palladium
- The name given to a metal discovered in 1803, by Sir H. Davy, associated with platina, among the grains of which he supposed the ore to exist, or an alloy of it, with irridium and osmium, scarcely dis...
- Paper
- Thin leaves or sheets, fabricated of fibrous materials, and adapted to write or draw upon, as well as for numerous other purposes. Paper is an article of such immense importance in the commercial worl...
- Printing Paper
- At the head of this extensive and highly useful class must be placed the plate papers. They are of the same size, weight, and quality as the drawing-papers, described in the foregoing list, differing ...
- Paper Manufacture
- The first paper mill established in England was at Dartford, by a German, (who was jeweller to Queen Elizabeth,) about the year 1588. For a long period afterwards the manufacture was, however, of so i...
- Paper Manufacture. Part 2
- This cylinder is made of wood, and furnished with a number of parallel blades, fixed longitudinally around its circumference. Immediately beneath this cylinder is a block of wood extending its length,...
- Paper Manufacture. Part 3
- Across these, and consequently along the mould, the wires run, from fifteen to twenty in an inch. A strong raised wire is laid along each of the cross-bars, to which the other wires are fastened; this...
- Paper Manufacture. Part 4
- The exchange succeeds the operation last described; it is conducted in a hall contiguous to the vat, supplied with several presses and a long table. The workman arranges on this table the paper newly ...
- Paper Manufacture. Part 5
- By the time the pulpy mass arrives to the farthest end of the machine, it has acquired sufficient tenacity to be taken up by a larger cylinder, covered with felt or flannel, and is then passed between...
- Paper Manufacture. Part 6
- Two Waters, in Hertfordshire, took out a patent in 1827, for an endless web of wire, that will produce the same kind of water-marks as are exhibited in the laid paper. The warp, consisting of the smal...
- Paper Manufacture. Part 7
- Fig. 2, a, a metal roller revolving on bearings, which can be raised or lowered by the screw b; c another roller, revolving in a fixed bearing; this roller is set in motion by the toothed wheel d on i...
- Paper Manufacture. Part 8
- The next invention we have to notice is by Mr. Wilks, one of the partners of the firm of Bryan, Donkin, & Co., engineers of great experience and celebrity in this department of mechanism; they having ...
- Paper Manufacture. Part 9
- The next patent, dated March 1831, is the invention of Mr. G. W. Turner, of Bermondsey, Surrey, which consists, first, in the construction of a new species of sieves for separating the lumps and coars...
- Paper Manufacture. Part 10
- Fig. 1. Fig. 2. Fig. S. A patent for certain improvements in sizing, glazing, and beautifying the materials employed in the manufacture of paper, pasteboard, etc.,was taken out in 1828 by Mes...
- Paper Manufacture. Part 11
- The mould is then returned to the vat-man, who repeats the process as before: the coucher, in the mean time, lay3 another felt upon the sheet or tablet just couched, whereon the second sheet is to be ...
- Paper Manufacture. Part 12
- Another method of cutting paper of great merit was patented by Mr. Edward Newman Fourdrinier, paper maker, of Hanley, in Staffordshire. It consists of a series of receiving rollers placed one over the...
- Moss Paper
- Mr. Nesbit, of Upper Thames-street, had a patent in 1823 for the fabrication of a coarse kind of paper, especially applicable to the sheath ing of ships, in the manner that the tarred brown paper is u...
- Paper From Wood
- This process is the subject of a patent lately granted in the United States. The shavings of wood are to be boiled in water, with from 12 to 18 parts, by weight, of common alkali, which reduces the wo...
- Papier-Mache
- A name given by the French to an artificial substance, applied to many useful and elegant purposes. It is made of the waste cuttings of paper, boiled in water, and beaten to a pulp in a mortar. It is ...
- Paragrandine
- A new invention, the object of which is to avert hailstorms, acting in the same manner as the electric conductors for obviating danger from lightning. In this climate the hail is seldom so violent as ...
- Parallel Motion
- A term applied by practical machinists to an arrangement of parallel bars, by which the alternating rectilinear motion of a piston rod is made to work harmoniously with the alternating curvilinear mot...
- Parallelogram Of Forces
- A term used to denote the composition of forces, or the finding of a single force that shall be equivalent to two or more given forces when acting in given directions. ...
- Parallel Ruler
- An instrument for drawing lines parallel to each other. The simplest parallel ruler is the common cylindrical ruler of the counting-house, represented at Fig. 1; it serves very well for common purpose...
- Parbuckle
- A term given to a contrivance whereby a cask, etc. is raised or lowered without a crane or pulley tackle; it is formed by passing the middle of a rope round a post or ring, or under a boat's thwart; t...
- Parchment
- A durable material, prepared from the skins of sheep and goats, but chiefly the former, and employed for writing upon, the covers of books, and various other purposes. The skin is stripped of its wool...
- Parting
- Parting in Metallurgy, is an operation by which gold and silver are separated from each other. In this sense it is the same with refining metals, or obtaining them in a pure state. Gold and silver ar...
- Paste
- Glass prepared in imitation of gems. The basis of all artificial gems is a very hard and pure silica, obtained by melting pounded quartz with an alkali, with the addition of borax, nitre, and differen...
- Pasteboard
- A thick kind of paper, made by pasting several sheets together, which are afterwards pressed or rolled, to give the fabric firmness and evenness of surface. ...
- Pastil
- A dry composition of odoriferous resinous matters, commonly employed to burn in chambers, to sweeten the air. ...
- Patent
- Patent or Letters Patent, is a writ or grant in the king's name, and under the great seal, designed to secure to the proprietor of any new invention the monopoly of its advantages for the term of fou...
- Patent. Part 2
- Latterly, however, the judges have been somewhat more tender of the rights of patentees, to which improved conduct the writer perhaps indirectly contributed. He was opposed, during the passing of a pa...
- Patent. Part 3
- The king having signed it, it is called the King's-bill, and is next taken to the Signet-office, which, having passed, it is denominated the Signet-bill. Hence it is conducted into the Privy Seal-...
- Patent. Part 4
- The cost of patents for England, Scotland, and Ireland, are stated in a printed report of the Committee of the House of Commons, to be as follows: - £ s. d. For England, ...
- Paving or Pavement
- Paving or Pavement. A layer or covering of stone or brick, carefully laid over roads, paths, halls, passages, etc, and to form stone floors in the interior of buildings. Pavements of flint and flags,...
- Pearls
- A calculus or morbid concretion, formed in consequence of some external injury which the muscle or shell-fish receives that produces it, particularly from the operations of certain minute worms, which...
- Pearl
- Pearl Mother of. The shell, not of the pearl oyster, but of another kind of oyster, the inside of the shell of which is very smooth and polished, and of the whiteness and water of pearl itself. The s...
- Pearlash
- An impure potash, obtained by lixiviation of the ashes of plants. See Potash. ...
- Pearl-Shell
- A new process of working pearl-shell into a variety of devices, for the purpose of applying it to ornamental uses in the manufacture of japan ware and other articles, has lately been invented by Messr...
- Pearl-White
- An oxide of bismuth. It is employed as a cosmetic, to whiten the skin; but its tendency to become black, by exposure to the action of sulphuretted hydrogen mixed with the atmosphere, renders it a very...
- Peat
- A spongy black earth, combined with decayed vegetable matter: when dried, it forms a valuable fuel. ...
- Peck
- An English measure; the fourth part of a bushel. ...
- Pedometer
- Pedometer foot-measure, or way-wiser, is a machine in the form of a small time-piece, containing a train of toothed wheels, which, by means of a chain or string, fastened to a man's foot, or to the w...
- Pen
- A well-known instrument for writing. In the earliest ages, writing was executed with styles of metal or other hard substance, which, after a time, were superseded by pens and coloured inks. The first ...
- Pen. Part 2
- Mr. James Perry, of London, has contributed, we believe, more than any other individual to the introduction of the modern improved steel pens; he has brought out several steel pens of a very ingenio...
- Pen. Part 3
- The action of the oblique steel pen is altogether remarkably good, and, from the shape of the nibs immediately below the shoulder, it has a most excellent spring, producing a pleasing effect both in t...
- Pen. Part 4
- By this means the pens are sufficiently softened for the subsequent process; but as the flats are very rough and scaly from the effects of the fire, they are first cleaned by being placed in a mechani...
- Pens (Drawing)
- By this term is commonly understood the mechanical drawing-pens, consisting of a pair of delicately-formed steel blades, the ends of which are drawn together and adjusted by means of a fine set-screw;...
- Pencil
- An instrument used by painters for laying on their colours; they are of various kinds. The larger sorts are made of boars' bristles, the thick ends of which are bound to a stick, large or small, accor...
- Pendulum
- A vibrating lever or suspended weight. See Horology. ...
- Penstock
- A sluice or floodgate, serving to retain or let go at pleasure the water of a mill-pond. ...
- Pepper
- A well-known spice, of which there are three kinds, - the black, the white, and the long pepper; to these we may now add a fourth, bleached pepper, a patent process which the black pepper undergoes in...
- Percussion
- Percussion Centre of, in any body or system of bodies revolving about a point or axis, is that point which, striking an immovable object, the whole mass shall not incline to either side, but rest in ...
- Percussion Powder
- Take two parts of the chlorate of potash, and one of antimony; they must be separately levigated to an impalpable powder, in a marble mortar, and mixed together with an ivory knife; to granulate it, i...
- Perpetual Motion
- Perpetual Motion is that which possesses within itself the principle of motion; and, consequently, since every body in nature, when in motion, would continue in that state, every motion once begun wou...
- Perspective
- The art of delineating objects on any given surface as they would appear to the eye if that surface were transparent, and the objects themselves were seen through it from a fixed situation. Thus, if o...
- Perspective Instruments
- A mechanical contrivance designed to facilitate the making of drawings in perspective, especially by such persons who are unacquainted with the rules by which it is performed. Some of these instrument...
- Petrifactions
- Stony matters deposited either in the way of incrustation, or within the cavities of organized substances, are called petrifactions. Calcareous earth being universally diffused, and capable of solutio...
- Petroleum
- A fluid bitumen, of somewhat greater consistence than naphtha, of a black, brown, or sometimes dingy green colour. By exposure to the air, it assumes the consistence of tar, and is then called mineral...
- Pewter
- Pewter which is commonly called etain in France, and generally confounded there with true tin, is a compound metal, the basis of which is tin. The best sort consists of tin, alloyed with about a twen...
- Phantasmagoria
- The exhibition called by this name is performed by means of a magic lantern, constructed on a large scale. In the common magic lantern the figures are painted on the glass, and all the rest of the gla...
- Pharmacy
- The art of preparing, compounding, and preserving medicines. The established and authorized modes of practising this important art, are to be found in those books called pharmacopaeias. ...
- Pharos
- A name sometimes given to a lighthouse, from the circumstance of the first being built at Pharos, near Alexandria. See Lighthouse. ...
- Phonics
- Phonics or Acoustics. A science which treats of the nature and mode of propagation of sound. Whenever any elastic body is made to vibrate, it produces corresponding vibrations in the air surrounding ...
- Phosphates
- Salts formed by the phosphoric acid with the alkalies, earths, and metallic oxides. The phosphates at present known amount to twelve, two of which are triple ones. ...
- Phosphites
- Salts formed with the phosphorous acid united to the earths, alkalies, and metallic oxides. ...
- Phosphoric Acid
- The base of this acid, or the acid itself, abounds in the mineral, vegetable, and animal kingdoms. In the mineral kingdom it is found in combination with lead in the green lead ore; with iron in the b...
- Phosphorous Acid
- Phosphorous Acid is prepared by exposing phosphorus dining soma weeks to the ordinary temperature of the atmosphere. Even in winter the phosphorus undergoes a slow combustion, and is gradually changed...
- Phosphorus
- A substance which shines by its own light. The discovery of this singular substance was accidentally made in 1677, by an alchemist of Hamburgh, named Brandt, when he was engaged in searching for the p...
- Phosphurets
- Substances formed by an union of the alkalies, earths, and metallic oxides, with phosphorus. Thus we have phosphuret of lime. ...
- Photometer
- An instrument designed to exhibit the different quantities of light, especially in bodies illuminated in different degrees. In Lesslie's photometer, the essential part is a glass tube, like a reversed...
- Piano-Forte
- A musical instrument, resembling the harpsichord, (of which it is an improvement,) in which the tone is produced by hammers, instead of quills, upon the strings. Of all the keyed instruments, as obser...
- Piano-Forte. Continued
- This lever being short, and joined near its movable end by a small connecting brass rod to the finger lever, furnishes in itself the required variety of motions, by placing the rods which act upon the...
- Pier
- A strong erection jutting into the sea, for affording shelter to shipping and small craft, or for the convenience of landing goods and passengers. For the former purpose they are usually constructed o...
- Pile-Engine
- A machine for driving piles into the ground, to make a solid foundation for buildings, the construction of piers, wharfs, etc. As these engines are of every-day observation, and are figured in all pre...
- Pin
- A well-known little instrument, chiefly used to adjust or fasten the clothes of women and children. Although consisting of merely a piece of wire, with a head and a point, great mechanical ingenuity h...
- Pinchbeck
- Pinchbeck or Prince's Metal. An alloy of copper, much resembling gold in colour. It consists of one part zinc to live or six parts of copper. ...
- Pinion
- Pinion in Mechanics, a small-toothed wheel, which drives, or is driven by, a larger. ...
- Pinnace
- A small vessel, navigated with oars and sails, and having generally two masts, which are rigged like those of a schooner. One of the boats belonging to a man-of-war, for carrying the officers to and f...
- Pipe
- A cask containing from 110 to 140 gallons of wine; the Madeira pipes containing about 110, and the Port and Lisbon from 138 to 140 gallons. ...
- Pipes
- Pipes for the conveyance of water and other liquids, are made of lead, iron, stone, pottery, wood, Indian-rubber, etc. Of iron there are two sorts, - wrought and cast. Wrought-iron pipes are made ou...
- Hancock's Patent Pipes
- A patent was taken out in 1826 by Mr. Walter Hancock, of Stratford, in Essex, for the manufacture of water or other piper, that should be as durable, but less expensive, than the cast-iron pipes we ha...
- Hancock's Patent Pipes. Continued
- Pipes produced in a similar manner, of which the material was a cement or imitation of stone, have likewise been brought into use. Some years since Mr. Murdock took out a patent for the economical fa...
- Tobacco-Pipes
- The clay of which these are made is obtained from Purbeck, in Dorsetshire, and at Teignmouth, in Devonshire, in large lumps, which are purified by dissolving in water in large pits, where the solution...
- Piston
- That part in a steam engine on which the elastic force of the steam exerting itself puts it into motion; and which, through the medium of the piston rod connected thereto, actuates the entire machine....
- Piston. Continued
- Fig. 1. Fig. 2. To prevent the segments from falling out of their places whilst the piston is being taken out, or put into the cylinder, the periphery of it is grooved near to its upper and lowe...
- Pitch
- A resinous substance, obtained by the inspissation of tar. There are two methods of obtaining it; one by simply boiling the' tar in large iron pots, or by setting it on fire and letting it burn until ...
- Pivot
- A short shaft on which a body turns or revolves. ...
- Plan
- A representation of something according to the proportion of its parts, made on a flat surface, as on paper, pasteboard, etc.; such are maps, charts, etc. By the term plan, however, a draughtsman unde...
- Plane
- Plane in Geometry and Mechanics, a perfectly flat surface in whatever position, as horizontal plane, vertical plane, inclined plane. If a sphere be cut by a plane, the section will be a circle. If a ...
- Wood Plane
- An instrument employed for shaving wood and other substances to a true plane or smooth surface, of which there are a great variety; they are usually divided into two principal kinds, namely, bench-pla...
- Plane-Chart
- Plane-Chart in Navigation, a sea-chart constructed on the supposition of the earth and sea being an extended plane surface. Such charts have, consequently, the meridians represented as right lines to...
- Plane-Sailing
- The art of performing the several reckonings necessary for conducting a ship on the ocean on the principles of the plane-chart. ...
- Plane-Table
- An instrument by which the draught or plan of an estate, etc. may be taken on the spot, while the survey or measuring is going on. It consists of a perfectly flat rectangular board, sufficiently large...
- Planetarium
- An astronomical machine of the same nature as the orrery, designed to exhibit the orbits, motions, and phenomena of the planets in the solar system. In a machine of this kind, which was constructed by...
- Planing Machines
- For the planing of wood and metal on the large scale, by power, extensive and varied mechanism has been employed; in the invention and furtherance of which the late Mr. Bramah largely contributed. Und...
- Platina
- One of the metals, and the heaviest body hitherto discovered in nature; its specific gravity being 21.54 when pure. It is obtained from an ore or metallic sand brought from South America, which contai...
- Plating or Plated Manufacture
- Plating or Plated Manufacture. The art of covering other metals with silver. The method known by the name of French plating was usually applied to articles made of brass, after they were, in other re...
- Plating or Plated Manufacture. Continued
- The first mode we shall describe is that of the braziers, or those who work with hammers. The nature of sheet metal is so similar to copper, that the working of itwith the hammer, into various forms, ...
- Plough
- An instrument employed in agriculture for breaking and turning up the soil in furrows expeditiously. The invention is of very remote antiquity. The most ancient of ploughs on record are still used in ...
- Plumb-Line
- An instrument used by builders, consisting of a leaden weight, or bob, suspended to the end of a line, used to determine the perpendicularity of their structures to the horizon. ...
- Plumb-Rule
- A simple instrument, for the same purpose as the foregoing; but in this the bob is suspended to the end of a straight board with a fine marked down the centre; so that when the edge of the board is pl...
- Plumbago
- Graphite, or black lead, is an ore obtained from the mines of Keswick and Borradaile, in Cumberland, from Ayr in Scotland and other places. It occurs in beds of various thickness, and constitutes an i...
- Plumbery
- The art of casting and working lead. See the article Lea in this work; also Nicholsons Practical Builder. ...
- Plunger
- A long solid cylinder, sometimes used in force pumps instea of the ordinary pistons or buckets. ...
- Plush
- A kind of stuff having a sort of velvet nap or shag on one side, composed regularly of a woof of a single woollen thread and a double warp; the one wool, of two threads twisted, the other goats' or ca...
- Pluviometer
- Pluviometer An instrument for measuring the quantity of rain that falls in a given time. See Rain-gauge. ...
- Pneumatics
- Pneumatics treat of the mechanical properties of air, gases, and vapours. Ail air, gases, and vapours not in contact with the liquids from which they rise, partake of the same general properties; that...
- Pneumatics. Continued
- It has been ascertained that the actual amount of the air's pressure is about 15 pounds on every square inch of surface; hence may be calculated the force with which the hemispheres are held together,...
- Ponderability
- Ponderability is a quality of bodies that relates to sensible weight. A ponderable body is one that possesses sensible weight. A great difference exists in the relative weights of different substances...
- Porcelain
- A fine kind of semi-transparent earthenware, in imitation of that made in China, and hence called China-ware. The combination of silex and argil is the basis of porcelain; and, with the addition of va...
- Porosity
- Porosity is a term in physics, opposed to density, and signifies the relative proportion of matter and space included within the exterior superficies of a body. The volume of a body is the quantity of...
- Potash
- Potash or Potassa, is the protoxide of potassium. It is called the vegetable alkali, because it is obtained in an impure state by the incineration of vegetables. Potash is always formed when potassiu...
- Potassium
- A metallic substance, the base of potash: it was discovered by Sir H. Davy, in 1807. It was prepared by causing hydrate of potash, slightly moistened for the purpose of increasing its conducting power...
- Potatoes
- A bulbous esculent root, and forming the basis of several manufactures. Under the article Bread will be found the description of a machine and process for separating the pure farina or starch from the...
- Pounce
- Gum sandarach, pounded and sifted very fine, mixed or not with the fine powder of the cuttle-fish bone, and used for rubbing on paper, to prevent the writing thereon from sinking or blotting. ...
- Power
- Power in Mechanics, is the force which, being applied to any body, tends to produce motion, whether it actually produces it or not. In the former case it is called the moving power; in the latter, th...
- Pottery
- The art of making vessels from earth. In the earliest ages upon record pottery was manufactured. The chief establishments in England are in Staffordshire, in a district called The Potteries, at Worces...
- Pottery Moulding And Pottery Turning
- Tea-cups, saucers, basins, jugs, and such like vessels, receive their first shape from the hands of the thrower, who sits on a stool with a flat circular wooden wheel before him, moving horizontally o...
- Pottery Firing
- When the ware is ready for firing, it is placed in clay cases, called saggars, which vary in size and shape according to the articles placed in them. The saggars are put into an oven, shaped like a be...
- Pottery Printing
- The design is previously engraven on a copper plate, and laid on a stone to warm. The colour (which has oxide of cobalt for its basis) is mixed with a preparation of oils, to fetch out the impression;...
- Pottery Glazing
- The glaziers differ in their composition in all manufactories; most, however, have oxide of lead for their basis. The ingredients being mixed with water, and well ground, the. glaze is ready for use, ...
- Pottery Painting
- The pieces of porcelain or earthenware to be enamelled and enriched by gilding, are, after the first firing, dipped in a suitable glaze, and again submitted to the fire; they are then delivered to the...
- Precipitate
- When a body, dissolved in a fluid, is either in the whole or in part made to separate and fall down in the concrete state, the act of falling is termed precipitation, and the matter fallen is called a...
- Press
- A machine for the compression of any articles or substances, by the application of screws, levers, wedges, etc. in a convenient manner. As the combinations of the mechanical powers are almost illimita...
- Press. Continued
- When it is required to unscrew the press, the hooked end of the lever l is placed in contact with the circle of teeth on the upper surface of the ratchet-wheel; the lever being then pulled the reverse...
- Printing
- The art of taking copies by impression of type, engraved plates and blocks, or of any design or work whatever, in black-ink or pigments of various colours; but the word printing, standing alone, witho...
- Printing. Part 2
- The first line being thus finished, the compositor proceeds to the next; in order to do which he removes the brass rule from behind the former, and places it before it, and thus composes another line ...
- Printing. Part 3
- It consists of two upright beams, called cheeks, about six feet long, tenoned into a cap above, and, at their lower ends, into a stout square frame, on which it stands. The head of the press is sustai...
- Printing. Part 4
- Numerous alterations have been successively made upon the Stanhope press by the manufacturers, who magnify them to the public as being vast improvements, as increasing the productive power of the pres...
- Printing. Part 5
- The black parts in every figure represent the inking apparatus. The diagonal lines the paper cylinders. The perpendicular lines the types ...
- Printing. Part 6
- In 1815 Mr. Cowper obtained a patent for curving stereotype plates for the purpose of fixing them on a cylinder. Several of these machines, capable of printing 1000 sheets per hour on both sides, are ...
- Printing. Part 7
- This invention has raised the quality of printing generally. In almost any old book will be perceived groups of words very dark, and other groups very light; these are technically called monks and fr...
- Printing. Part 8
- When either of the forms is depressed, its distributing-rollers are carried to the ink-trough to receive ink from the supply-roller, which they transfer to the form by passing over its surface as it i...
- Printing. Part 9
- Mr. Napier's second improvement applies to the inking part of the printing machines. It consists of a series of rods, jointed and connected together in the manner of the system of rods which constit...
- Prism
- Prism in Geometry, is a solid body, whose two ends are equal, similar, and parallel planes; and its sides connecting those ends are parallelograms. Prism in Optics, is a triangular prism of glass, ...
- Projectiles
- The laws of projectiles, or bodies projected by any impulsive force into the atmosphere, are identical with those by which the motions of bodies falling perpendicularly in free space are governed; so ...
- Protoxide
- A term used in chemistry to denote the minimum of oxidisement. ...
- Protractor
- An instrument used for protracting, or laying down on paper the angles of any figure. The protactor is commonly a small semicircle of brass, nicely divided it into 180 degrees; the ends of the arch ar...
- Pumice-Stone
- A light grey-coloured substance, of a fibrous spongy texture, supposed to be formed from felspar, in volcanic fires, and thence ejected in a state of fusion. ...
- Pumps
- Machines for raising water and other fluids; usually consisting of a tube or tubes, in which valves and pistons, or buckets, are made to operate, to produce the effect. Engines differently constructed...
- Common Pump, Or "Suction" Pump
- This pump consists of two hollow cylinders, a b and b d, placed one under the other, and communicating by a valve u, which opens upwards. The cylinder ab is called the suction pipe, and has its lower ...
- Common Pump, Or "Suction" Pump. Part 2
- The forcing pump is generally employed in mines or in situations where it is required to draw water from great depths. Pumps of this kind act by compression instead of exhaustion. Although atmospheric...
- Common Pump, Or "Suction" Pump. Part 3
- By this arrangement it will be seen that, on turning the crank by the winches, the buckets alternately receive and lift the water which has passed upwards through their valves. On raising the buck...
- Common Pump, Or "Suction" Pump. Part 4
- Their action is very nearly alike, for this last pump raises water through the suction-pipe h, by the elevation of the piston i; on depressing the piston, that water passes through it by its valve, an...
- Common Pump, Or "Suction" Pump. Part 5
- Mr. George Vaughan, of Mile-end Old Town, took out a patent in 1830 for a double-acting pump, acting in a horizontal direction; the principle of its operation may be readily understood after the descr...
- Common Pump, Or "Suction" Pump. Part 6
- It with be proper to connect these hoops, before putting them in, by three or four cords, from top to bottom, which will keep them at their proper distances; thus will the bag have the form of a barbe...
- Punch and Punching
- Punch and Punching. A punch is a short, stout piece of steel, or or iron steeled, used for stamping out pieces of metal, so as to make perforations in iron or other plates, for the insertion of rivet...
- Purlines
- Pieces of timber extending from one end of a roof to the other; they pass under the middle of the rafters, which they support, and counteract their tendency to sink in the middle. ...
- Putty
- A cement used by glaziers for fastening window-glass into the frames; it is used also by carpenters and other artizans for stopping holes in their work: it is made by kneading whiting and linseed oil ...
- Puzzolana
- A kind of earth thrown out of volcanoes; it is of rough, dusty, granular texture. It easily melts per se; but its most important property consists in its forming a cement, when mixed with one-third of...
- Pyrites
- Native compounds of metal with sulphur. The principal in this country are the sulphurets of iron, called martial pyrites, worked for the sake of the sulphur they contain; the sulphurets of copper are ...
- Pyrometer
- A machine contrived to measure the expansion of metals, and other bodies, occasioned by heat. Muschenbroeck was the original inventor of the pyrometer; the nature and construction of his instrument ma...
- Pyrophorus
- An artificial product, which takes fire upon exposure to the air, and hence called air-tinder. It is prepared from alum by the addition of various inflammable substances. The simplest mode of preparin...
- Pyrotechny
- Pyrotechny is, properly speaking, the science which teaches the management and application of fire in various operations; but in a more limited sense, and as it is more commonly used, it refers chiefl...
- Quadrant
- Quadrant in Geometry, the quarter or fourth part of a circle, and therefore containing an angle of 90 degrees. Quadrant also denotes a mathematical and optical instrument, of great use in navigation...
- Quadrat
- Quadrat in Printing, is a piece of metal cast like the type, to fill up the spaces between words; they are made of different sizes, called by the space they occupy, as m quadrats, n quadrats, etc. ...
- Quarry
- A cavity or opening made by miners in rocky ground, from which are procured marble, freestone, slate, limestone, or other materials; one of which, in the island of Jersey, is represented in the subjoi...
- Quartation
- An operation by which the quantity of one thing is made equal to the fourth part of the quantity of another thing. Thus, when gold alloyed with silver is to be parted, we are obliged to facilitate the...
- Quartz
- A mineral of the flint genus, which is divided into five subspecies by Professor Jameson; namely, the amethyst, the rock-crystal, milk quartz, common quartz, and prase. ...
- Quicklime
- A hot caustic substance, employed in the composition of mortar for buildings; by farmers, as a manure; by bleachers, tanners, sugar-bakers, soap-boilers, and iron-masters, in the preparation of variou...
- Quick-Match
- A combustible preparation, formed of cotton strands, drawn into length, and dipped into a boiling composition of vinegar, saltpetre, and mealed d powder. After this immersion, it is taken out hot, and...
- Quills
- The largest feathers taken from the wings of geese, swans, crowa, and other birds. The different qualities are denominated according to the order in which they are fixed in the wing; the second and th...
- Quinine
- A vegetable alkali obtained from cinchona (bark.) It is procured by the following process: a pound of bruised bark is boiled in about a gallon of water, containing three fluid drachms of sulphuric aci...
- Race
- The canal along which the water is conveyed to and from a water wheel. ...
- Rack
- A straight bar, which has teeth or cogs similar to those on a toothed wheel. ...
- Radical
- That which is considered as constituting the distinguishing part of an acid, by its union with the acidifying principle, or oxygen, which is common to all acids. Thus sulphur is the radical of sulphur...
- Radius
- In Geometry, the semi-diameter of a circle, or a right line drawn from the centre to the circumference. It is implied in the definition of a circle; and it is apparent, from its construction, that all...
- Raft
- A float formedof an assemblage of pieces of timber fastened together, for the convenience of transporting them without dispersion; or for sustaining goods in transport; and sometimes for the saving of...
- Rafters
- Rafters in Building, are pieces of timber, which, standing in pairs on the railing piece, meet in an angle at the top, and form, as it were, the ribs of the roof. ...
- Ragstone
- A species of blue stone with a sharp grit, employed for sharpening knives and coarse instruments upon. It is abundant in Kent, at Newcastle, in Northumberland, and at Rowley, in Staffordshire. ...
- Railway
- The origin of railways it would be difficult to fix any precise date to. The laying down of wheel-tracks of some more cohesive material than ordinary earth, seems so obvious and natural astorender it ...
- Railway. Part 2
- The adoption of cast-iron plates to cover and strengthen the wooden fabric, was the first application of metal to railways; and this was effected by the Colebrook-dale Company, at their iron works in ...
- Railway. Part 3
- In this method the wheels of the waggons cannot be obstructed by the heads of the nails rising above the surface, and the blocks are not disturbed by fixing the plates; and when repairs arc necessary,...
- Second Railway Era
- To Trevithick and Vivian, who were engineers at Camborne, in Cornwall, belongs we believe the honour of having invented and carried into practice locomotive engines. This single event forms an era, no...
- Second Railway Era. Part 2
- Indeed, the design is so complete, as to adapt itself, with slight alterations, to many situations and purposes. The improvements effected on the Penryhn railway before mentioned naturally led to a...
- Second Railway Era. Part 3
- The means adopted by the patentees for carrying their invention into effect, are described at considerable length, with explanatory drawings, in their specification; but as Mr. Wood informs us that th...
- Second Railway Era. Part 4
- The boiler was a cylinder of wrought iron, 5 feet 6 inches long, 3 feet in diameter, and of such strength as to be capable of sustaining a pressure of upwards of 400 pounds per square inch. The work...
- Second Railway Era. Part 5
- These locomotive engines were long in use at Killingsworth Colliery, near Newcastle, and at Hetton Colliery, on the Wear; so that their advantages and defects have been sufficiently submitted to the t...
- Second Railway Era. Part 6
- Fig. 5 is a cross section of our edge-railway through the middle of one of the chairs a, and across the ends of the two adjoining rails, which are connected by a transverse pin; c is the stone support...
- Second Railway Era. Part 7
- It is a remarkable fact in the history of our iron manufacture, that at so advanced a period as 1817 no attempt had been made to make railway bars of malleable iron of a judicious form, like those use...
- Second Railway Era. Part 8
- A new species of railway, possessing many advantages peculiar to itself, was invented and patented in the year 1821 by the late Mr. H. R. Palmer, who was for some years engineer to the London Dock C...
- Second Railway Era. Part 9
- Fig. 4. Among the advantages contemplated by the patentee of this railway, may be mentioned that of enabling the engineer, in most cases, to construct a railway on that plane which is most effectua...
- Second Railway Era. Part 10
- In the subjoined cuts, Fig. 1 exhibits a transverse section of the railroad, with the end view of a waggon upon it. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same, showing the manner in which the carriage is ...
- Second Railway Era. Part 11
- A patent for a suspension railway was granted to Mr. J. G. Fisher, on the 2d of April, 1825. This gentleman, it will be observed, suspends his carriages to a double line of rail; in this respect, howe...
- Second Railway Era. Part 12
- A suspension railway, combining the characteristic features of Mr. Palmer's and Mr. Fisher's previously described, was patented by Mr. Maxwell Dick, of Irving, in Ayrshire, on the 21st of May, 1829; d...
- Second Railway Era. Part 13
- Thirdly, and which I think the most important of all, is the great despatch to be gained by the suspension railway, without, in the least degree, endangering either persons or property, its height bei...
- Second Railway Era. Part 14
- On leaving Chat Moss, the road passes over the lowlands at Barton, extending about a mile between the moss and Worsley canal by means of an embankment; it is carried over the canal by a neat stone via...
- Second Railway Era. Part 15
- The Novelty, which was not tried until the 10th, owing to unavoidable circumstances, carried its own water and fuel; and, therefore, to place it on the same footing as the other engines, the same prop...
- Second Railway Era. Part 16
- The Novelty, by Messrs. Braithwaite and Erricson, is exhibited in the opposite page, representing a side elevation of the machine. F is the carriage-frame; E, one end of a long horizontal cylinder,...
- Section II. The Constituent Parts Of Railways
- Stephenson's And Losh's Rails And Chairs Jessop's Chairs and Pedestals. - Stephenson's patent Chairs and Fastenings. - Scrivenor's patent wrought-iron Chairs. - Reynold's patent continuous Hearing-ra...
- Jessop's Patent Chairs And Pedestals
- To obviate the inconvenience frequently resulting by the sleepers or blocks sinking in the soil or losing their perpendicularity; and hence of destroying the level or parallelism of the rails, Mr. Jes...
- Stephenson's Patent Chairs And Fastenings
- Owing to the effects of expansion and contraction, and the violent shocks and strains to which the fastenings of a railway are subjected, the task of perfecting these parts of the mechanism has until ...
- Scrivenor's Patent Wrought-Iron Chairs
- The extensive destruction of the ordinary cast-hon chairs about fifteen years since, induced Mr. Scrivenor, in 1832, to attempt their formation of malleable iron by the rolling and die-pressing proces...
- Reynolds's Continuous Bearings And Sleepers
- It has been observed that the deflection of the railway bars, by heavy carriages passing over them, absorbs a considerable portion of the tractive force; besides producing, by their vibratory action, ...
- Parkins's Petrified Sleepers
- Mr.Thomas Parkins, of Dudley, took out a patent for a similiar object to the foregoing, in December 1835. It consists in forming continous sleepers of vitrified earth (burnt clay), which the patentee ...
- Permanent Way Of The Great Western Railway
- This line of rails is laid down throughout upon continous bearings, but the method of connecting the rails to those bearings, and of connecting the latter to the transverse sleepers, or rather ties, i...
- Permanent Way Of The South-Eastern Railway
- The chairs, fastenings, and sleepers employed on this line of railway are entitled to the particular attention of the engineer, on account of the good judgment and skilful execution displayed in the d...
- Brighton And Hastings Permanent Way
- The sectional form of railway bars are now for the most part much alike; and similar to that previously described as appertaining to the South-Eastern line: the variations consisting only in some slig...
- Railway Switches
- In order to enable railway trains to pass from one line of rails to another as becomes necessary on various occasions, at certain parts of the line small portions of the rail are formed of bars, terme...
- Curtis's Patent Switches
- Mr. W. J. Curtis's improvements in switches have come into extensive use on the Great Western, South Western, Midland Counties, and other railways. Fig. 1, in page 428, shows a plan of switches for a...
- Railway Turntables
- In order to transfer an engine or carriage laterally to another line of rails, at a station or terminus, circular platforms called turntables are established upon each set of rails, which turn as upon...
- The Broad And Narrow Rail Gauges
- The inconvenience arising from a diversity in the breadth of space between the two lines of rails, on one railway compared with that on another, became the subject of much discussion, and of animadver...
- Expedient Of Telescopic Axles To Apply To All Gauges
- Of the various mechanical contrivances submitted to the investigation of the commissioners, was one under the foregoing denomination; wherein the running wheels of the carriages are made capable of sl...
- Expedient Of Mounting Carriages Upon Trucks Of A Different Gauge
- The plan of running loaded waggons from a narrow gauge railway, on to trucks that work on the broad gauge lines, is of course one of facility; but it is only applicable for the transmission of goods f...
- Expedient Of Shifting The Bodies Of Carriages From One Wheeled Platform To Another Having A Different Gauge
- Although the system has been partially adopted in France,of shifting the bodies of carriages from the road wheels to those of the railway, the commissioners regard it as inapplicable to our rapid trav...
- Expedient Of Carrying Minerals And Merchandise In Loose Boxes, Capable Of Being Shifted From One Truck To Another, In Such Manner That One May Be Carried On A Narrow Gauge, And Two On A Broad Gauge Truck
- The commissioners state that this plan has been repeatedly tried, and the experience is, that it has barely succeeded in a temporary trial by one engineer who had the entire control; but that it has i...
- Considerations On The General Policy Of Establishing An Uniformity Of Gauge Throughout The Country
- In the earlier period of railway history of this country, the great trunk-lines were so far separated as to be independent of each other, and, as it were, isolated in their respective districts, and n...
- 3. On The Gauge Best Adapted For Speed
- To ascertain this, the time tables of the several companies having fast or express trains were examined, and the returns furnished by those companies of the actual speeds attained by the express train...
- 3. On The Gauge Best Adapted For Speed. Part 2
- 1st. The difficulty of entirely protecting the fast trains from interfering with or coming into collision with the slow trains. 2d. The difficulty of seeing signals, especially in foggy weather in ti...
- 3. On The Gauge Best Adapted For Speed. Part 3
- Towards the close of this inquiry Mr. Brunei requested, on the part of the broad gauge companies, to institute a set of experiments to test the power of their engines; and Mr. Bidder, on the part of t...
- Cleansing Rails
- To avoid the impediment that is likely to occur occasionally from snow or ice upon railways, Mr. Grime, of Bury, has proposed, under a patent right, dated the 21st February, 1831, to dissolve the same...
- Water Crane
- The mechanism for supplying the tenders of locomotive engines with water, necessarily differs according to its situation, the position of the source whence the water is derived, and other circumstance...
- Curtis's Traversing Jack
- The accompanying figures represent Curtis's Traversing screw jack for replacing an engine or carriages upon the rail. The screw jack a is bolted to the plank c; at the other end of the plank is fix...
- Cost Of Railways Per Mile
- Cost Of Railways Per Mile The London & Blackwall . . . £287,693 London & Greenwich . . 267,270 London & Croydon . . . 80.400 Dublin & Kingston . ...
- Section III. Locomotive Engines And Carriages
- Increased Efficiency Of Modern Locomotives Similarity in the general features of construction. - Stephenson's Patent Engines. - Mt-lling's Patent Engines with new Couplings, and Breaks, and Slidevalv...
- Section III. Locomotive Engines And Carriages. Continued
- Side Elevation. It is often of essential importance to be able to arrest the progress of a carriage on a railway with great promptitude; and the breaks in ordinary use by pendulous links z from a c...
- Melting's Patent Couplings And Breaks
- To obviate the inconvenience and waste of power by the slipping of the wheels of locomotives on railways, when they are in a wet or greasy state, Mr. John Melling, of Liverpool (the manager of the loc...
- Four-Wheeled And Six-Wheeled Railway Locomotive Engines
- A difference of opinion has of late years existed amongst Railway engineers as to the relative merits of four and six-wheeled engines. Amongst the advocates of each there are men of talent and experie...
- Four-Wheeled And Six-Wheeled Railway Locomotive Engines. Part 2
- A, is the boiler; B, fire-box; C, smoke-box, in which are placed the cylinders; D D, the cylinders (valve-box, and valves removed); E E, driving wheels; F F, connecting rods; G, crank axles; H H H H...
- 4-Wheeled And 6-Wheeled Railway Locomotive Engines. Part 3
- 9. These advantages are best described by comparing it with the ordinary outside framing submitted to the principal strains which it has to resist. 10. The most important is that caused by the whole ...
- 4-Wheeled And 6-Wheeled Railway Locomotive Engines. Part 4
- 18. It is evident that the round form of fire-box possesses great advantages over the square fire-box: first, it is much safer than the square fire-box, being made nearly in that shape which an excess...
- 4-Wheeled And 6-Wheeled Railway Locomotive Engines. Part 5
- 27. At the time the above paper was read before the Society, the four-wheeled engine had but few supporters, arising, no doubt, from the erroneous supposition, that the safety of the engine was in pro...
- 4-Wheeled And 6-Wheeled Railway Locomotive Engines. Part 6
- 37. 7th. As the engine is more simple in its form and parts, there are fewer chances of delays, stoppages, and disappointments during the journeys, or the times of taking the trains. Whatever the 'c...
- Experiments On The Grand Junction Line
- Name of Engine. Date. Gross Load in Tons. Mean Speed in Miles. Coke per Mile in lbs. Coke per ton per mile. PHALARIS............ May 30........... ......
- Experiments On The London And Birmingham Line
- Descriptions of Engines. Gross Load in Tons. Mean Rates Coke per ton per mile. Twelve inch Cylin-ders and 5 feet Wheels............... .....50.15...... .....30....
- Ascending Of Inclined Planes
- One of the chief difficulties in the application of locomotive carriages to railways has been to obtain sufficient friction or adhesion between the driving wheels and the rails to cause them to ascend...
- Kollman's Locomotive Guides
- To prevent locomotives running off their lines of rails, Mr. G. A. Kollman proposed (by his patent of 183(5) to attach a vertical arm or bracket underneath the carriage, furnished with anti-friction r...
- Prosser's Guide Wheels Used In Railway
- In 1844 r. W. Prosser obtained a patent for Improvements in the construction of railways and in carriages to run thereon; the latter improvement consisting in the removal of the guiding flanges from...
- Stephenson's Compound Axles
- In the specification of a patent granted to Mr. Robt. Stephenson in 1831, he informs us that in the carriages previously used on the Manchester and Liverpool railway, each pair of wheels was fixed fas...
- Losh's Patent Railway Wheels
- Some improvements in the construction of wheels for railway carriages were patented on the 31st of August, 1830, by Mr. Wm. Losh, of Bentom House, in Northumberland, a gentleman whose experience and k...
- Lessening The Vibration And Noise Of Railway Wheels
- It is now generally understood that the rapid deterioration as regards the strength of railway wheels and axles, is chiefly caused by the intense vibration to which they are subjected. This can readil...
- Dircks's Wheels
- At the meeting of the British Association at Glasgow in 1840, Mr. H. Dircks exhibited a wheel of a novel construction, invented by him, which had been running for several weeks on the St. Helen's rail...
- Mode Of Fixing Tubes In Locomotive Boilers
- These tubes are made of the best rolled brass, one thirteenth of an inch thick, the edges of the brass are properly chamferred, and lapped over each other, and soldered together, the solder being appl...
- Water Gauge
- In order to show the height of the water in the boiler, two methods are employed; the first consisting of a number of gauge cocks fixed at 2 or 3 inches apart, one over the other, by turning which in ...
- Melting's Water Ash-Box
- Instead of the ordinary thin plate,which is usually suspended below the furnace, for the purpose of receiving the falling cinders, Mr. Melling employs a shallow tank containing three or four inches de...
- Mallett's Buffers
- Robert Mallett, Esq. of Dublin, in a communication to the Editor of the Mechanic's Magazine, has described an ingenious and original plan of buffing, an extract of which we shall proceed to give. Mr. ...
- Curlis's Passenger Carriage
- The carriage of which the following is a correct drawing was built as a pattern carriage for the Boston and Providence U. S. railway in 1836: it is made upon the same principle as those of the London ...
- Curtis's Railway Trucks
- Mr. Curtis has applied the principle of construction just described to trucks for the conveyance of private carriages. Fig. 1 is a side view, and Fig. 2 an end view, and Fig. 3 a plan of the machine: ...
- Railway Carriage Connectors
- The following engraving, Fig. 1, shows the mode in which railway carriages were at first attached together; which consisted simply of a chain, the buffers of one carriage not coming in contact with th...
- Checking The Speed, Or Stopping The Engine
- In the same patent as the connecting apparatus just described, this very able and original minded inventor has included a novel method of checking the speed of the engine, or stopping it altogether. I...
- Hick's Locomotive Engine
- The annexed cut represents a side elevation of this remarkable engine; some of the parts, which could not well be explained otherwise, are shown in section. It was patented by Mr. Benjamin Hick, of Bo...
- Patent Axle Grease
- Every circumstance relating to locomotion on railways Having become of importance, nothing escapes investigation, nor attempts at amelioration. Amongst the many matters to which attention is necessary...
- Section IV. Atmospheric And Other Peculiar Railways
- Historical Sketch And Principles Of Atmospheric Railways Papin. - Medhurst. - Pinkus's patent.- Vallance. - Pinkus's first patent Atmospheric railway. - Pinkus's second patent. - Clef's patent Atmosp...
- Section IV. Atmospheric And Other Peculiar Railways. Part 2
- In 1836, Mr. Pinkus took out a patent, for his second plan of atmospheric propulsion, which differs materially from his first, the travelling piston in the atmospheric main being dispensed with, and t...
- Section IV. Atmospheric And Other Peculiar Railways. Part 3
- The whole of this lateral opening is covered by the valve before described, and that part of it through which the arm passes is lifted to allow it to pass, and also for the admission of air to the pis...
- Experiments On The Weight And Velocity Of Trains
- Weight of the Trains. English Weight. SPEED PER HOUR, EXPRESSED IN MILES, Corresponding to the First Quarter of a Mile. Second Quarter of a Mile. Third Quarter...
- Conflicting Opinions On The Merits Of The Atmospheric System
- The experience of the atmospheric system on the Dalkey line has called forth the most opposite opinions on its merits from engineers and other scientific characters; some asserting that the superiorit...
- Stephenson's Report
- Mr. R. Stephenson, in a most able and impartial report on the Atmospheric railway, addressed to the directors of the Chester and Holyhead railway, comes to conclusions extremely unfavourable to the in...
- Stephenson's Report. Part 2
- Table B. - Loss Of Power With Different Weights Of Train TRAIN. VACUUM TUBE. Total power of working Air-pump. Power indicated by Air-pump during Motion of Train. Power abs...
- Stephenson's Report. Part 3
- Comparing the atmospheric with the locomotive system, Mr. Stephenson admits, with light trains upon steep inclines and at considerable velocities, the atmospheric system (in common with all systems in...
- Stephenson's Report. Part 4
- I cannot now attempt to enter into the minutiae of this part of the subject, because it would involve a complete revision of all the original plans, and numerous considerations which could not now be...
- Stephenson's Report. Part 5
- 6th. That on short lines, such as the Blackwall railway, where the traffic is chiefly derived from intermediate points, requiring frequent stoppages between the termini, the atmospheric system is inap...
- Herapath's Report
- Mr. Herapath published a most able and searching analysis of M. Mallet's report; but, from the great length we have already devoted to this part of the subject, we can do little more than notice bis o...
- Bergin's Evidence
- Mr. Bergin, the superintendent of the Dalkey line, in his evidence before the Committee of the House of Commons, on the Portsmouth atmospheric line, stated that the average consumption of coal was 37 ...
- Pilbrow's Atmospheric Railway
- Although, as we have shown, the results obtained on the Dalkey line are not universally regarded as in favour of the atmospheric principle, many eminent engineers contending that they decidedly establ...
- Keene And Nickels's Pneumatic Railway
- Messrs. Keene and Nickels have patented a novel system of railway locomotion, which is founded on principles stated not to have been hitherto applied to the communication of mechanical motion. It diff...
- Hallette's Atmospheric Railway
- We shall now briefly describe what has been generally termed Hallette's system of atmospheric railway; although, strictly speaking, the system is not new, being in fact a combination of Mr. Pinkus's...
- Saxton's Differential Pulley
- A very ingenious proposition for making use of the power of a horse, moving at his slow working pace, to communicate a high velocity to carriages upon a railway, through the medium of a new arrangemen...
- Badnall's Undulating Railway
- A very singular and interesting proposition has been made by Mr. Richard Badnall, for travelling upon undulating lines 6f railway in preference to straight or level lines, with the view of saving loco...
- Rope Traction. Blackwall Railway
- On the Blackwall railway the traffic is carried on by means of ropes worked by stationary engines, erected at each end of the line. This system has been adopted on account of the number of intermediat...
- Farrell's Patent Archimedean Railway
- This invention appears to possess considerable originality as well as ingenuity; but whether it can be made to work on the great scale, as well as we are told it does in the model, is a question upon ...
- Farrell's Patent Archimedean Railway. Part 2
- The annexed figure is added, to explain the means of connecting the spiral c to the arms b of the propeller; the latter has a flange turning at right angles, through which a rivet is passed, as well a...
- Farrell's Patent Archimedean Railway. Part 3
- Estimate of one mile of screw propeller. £ s. d. 33 tons cast iron shafting, including the bearings and fitting the coupling joints, at £10...... 330 0 0 ...
- Parkins Windmill Railway
- Amongst the numerous suggestions for new modes of propulsion, that proposed by Mr. Thomas Parkin is one which the less informed portion of the public have been led to believe would supersede the use o...
- Section V. Telegraphic And Safety Arrangements
- Prevention of Accidents from Collision. Curtis's Lamp Signals. - Hawkshaw's Signals and Switches. - Steam Whistle. - Taylor's Guard's Signals. - Porteous's Mouth Whistle. - Electric Telegraph - princi...
- Mallelt's Polyzonal Lamps
- Brilliancy and space-penetrating power, in the light of railway signals, is of the highest importance; and equally, or even more so, are the signals of steam-boats, etc. 'As the thickness at the cen...
- Hawkcshaw's Signals And Switches
- In the generality of cases, there is one position of the switches, or shunts, which is necessary for the thorough or principal traffic, and in which direction the trains have to pass at a maximum velo...
- Steam Whistle
- The construction of this very powerful means of communicating intelligence by sound is shown in the annexed Fig.; it is all of brass, and the foot a is cast hollow with a flanch b at the bottom, to bo...
- Captain Taylor's Railway Guard's Signals
- Notwithstanding the many plans which have been proposed for the purpose, there is not yet a single invention which has been brought into use for effecting the much wanted communication between the gua...
- Electric Telegraph
- Amongst the numerous inventions to which railways have given rise, or have aided in bringing to maturity, the Electric Telegraph stands pre-eminent, transcending as far all previously known means of t...
- Electric Telegraph. Part 2
- Fig. 1. We must now proceed to the description of the Indicator, represented in Figures 2 and 3; Fig. 2 being an external elevation, and Fig. 3 showing the apparatus divested of the external casi...
- Electric Telegraph. Part 3
- Fig. 3. The signals below the centre of the dial are indicated by the parallel movements of both needles simultaneously. Both needles moving once to the left indicate r; twice, s; thrice, t; first ...
- Safeguard Against Collisions
- Figures 5 and 6 represent an apparatus invented by Mr. Curtis for the prevention of collisions on Railways. Fig. 5 is a side view of the apparatus, and an engine in contact with it, attached to the l...
- Section VI. Chronological And Descriptive List Of All Patents Granted For Improvements In Railways, And Locomotion Thereon: Down To The 30th June, 1846
- Note Further information respecting these Patents may be obtained at J. Murdoch's British and Foreign Patent Office, 7, Staple Inn, Holborn, London. 24th March, 1802. R. Trevithick and A. Vivian. Fo...
- Patents Granted For Improvements In Railways, And Locomotion. Part 2
- 18th Sept. 1828. W. Losh. Certain improvements in the formation of iron rails for railroads, and of the chains or pedestals, in or upon which the rails may be placed or fixed. - Described at page 413....
- Patents In Railways, And Locomotion. Part 3
- 18th Mag, 1836. P. B. G. Debac. Improvements in railways. 6th Aug. 1836. T. Binns. Improvements in railways, and in the steam engines to be used thereon, and for other purposes. 4th Oct. 1836. J. Wh...
- Patents In Railways, And Locomotion. Part 4
- 30th May, 1840. W. Pettit. For a communicating apparatus, to be applied to railroad carriages. 9th June, 1840. J. G. Shuttleworth. Certain improvements in railway and other propulsion. A mode of prop...
- Patents In Railways, And Locomotion. Part 5
- Brakes set in action by the pressure of steam in the boiler, self-acting switches, and a mode o signalizing accidents, and the exact time of their occurrence. 19th Jan. 1841. R.B.Curtis. Method or me...
- Patents In Railways, And Locomotion. Part 6
- 1. The using of a series of lamps for night signals, and by the different combinations of the lamps when exposed, or when closed, to communicate from a train of carriages to a station, or from a stati...
- Patents In Railways, And Locomotion. Part 7
- 29th Aug. 1844. W. Newton, Improvements in the means of preventing shocks, or accidents, on railways, or in lessening the dangerous effects arising therefrom. 22d Oct. 1844. J. Nasmyth and C. May. Im...
- Patents In Railways, And Locomotion. Part 8
- 2lst July, 1845. J. Brett.lmp ovements in atmospheric propulsion, and in the manufacture of tubes for atmospheric railways and other purposes. A series of hollow pistons, communicating with a pneumat...
- Raisins
- Grapes, prepared by suffering them to remain on the vine till they are perfectly ripe, and then drying them in the sun, or by the heat of an oven. The former are esteemed as much the best. ...
- Rancidity
- That sensible change which first takes place in oils, when exposed for some time to the air; supposed by chemists to be analogous to the oxidation of metals. For it appears that the processes employed...
- Rarefaction
- The act whereby a body is brought to occupy more space, or expand into a larger bulk, without the apparent accession of any new matter. This is commonly regarded as the effect of heat, or the matter o...
- Rasp
- A species of file, on which the cutting prominences are distinct, being raised by punching with a point, instead of cutting with a chisel. ...
- Ratafia
- An alcoholic liquor prepared from the kernels of various kinds of fruits, particularly those of cherries and apricots. ...
- Ratan
- A kind of cane much employed in the useful arts. They grow in profusion along the banks of rivers in parts of Asia and the neighbouring islands. Certain species furnish cables, cords, and withes, of e...
- Ratch
- A bar containing angular teeth, into which a pall drops, to prevent machines from running back. A circular ratch is called a ratchet wheel. ...
- Rectification
- A careful repetition of distillation, by which the results are purified. See ALCOHOL. ...
- Reed
- That part of a loom resembling the teeth of a comb, between which the threads of the warp are separated. ...
- Reels
- Rotatory cylinders, or frames, on which lines, threads, etc. are wound. ...
- Reeming
- The opening of the seams between the planks of vessels, by caulking irons, for the purpose of caulking or re-caulking them with oakum. ...
- Refining
- Refining in general, is the art of purifying any thing; but the term is commonly understood to apply to the purification of metals, particularly gold and silver, from the alloys with which they may b...
- Reflection
- Reflection in Mechanics, is the return or regressive motion of a move able body, arising from the reaction of another body on which it impinges. The reflection of bodies after impact, is attributable...
- Refraction
- Refraction in Mechanics, is the deviation of a body in motion from its original course, arising from the different densities of the several parts of the medium through which it passes. ...
- Refrigeratory
- Refrigeratory in Chemistry and Distillation, is a vessel for cooling liquids, or condensing vapour into liquids, by the application of cold water. The common worm-tub is a specimen; but refrigeratori...
- Register
- An aperture or valve placed in a chimney, stove, or furnace, for regulating the quantity of air to be admitted. ...
- Regulus
- A term that was given to metallic matters when separated from their ores by fusion. ...
- Relievo
- Relievo or Relief, are terms applied to that mode of working in sculpture by which figures are made to project from the ground or body on which they are formed, and to which they remain attached. The...
- Rennet
- The coagulum prepared from the stomach of a calf, employed in making cheese. ...
- Repulsion
- Repulsion in Physics, that property in bodies, whereby if they are placed just beyond the sphere of each other's attraction of cohesion, they materially recede and fly off. ...
- Resin
- A solid inflammable substance of a vegetable origin, and soluble in alcohol; it resembles gum in appearance, but differs from it chiefly in its insolubility in water; in which gum is soluble, and not ...
- Resistance
- Resistance in Fluids, is that opposition to the motion of a body which arises from the inertia, tenacity, and friction of the parts of the fluid in which it moves. If any body move through a fluid wi...
- Resolution Of Forces
- Resolution Of Forces or resolution of motion, is the act of dividing any single force or motion into two or more others, in different directions; or of finding the quantities of two or more forces or...
- Retardation
- The act of checking or diminishing the velocity of a body in motion. The two grand causes of the retardation of moving bodies are, the resistance of the medium through which the body moves, and the ac...
- Retort
- A vessel used in distillatory processes, usually of a pear shape, with a long beak; but they are modified in a great variety of ways. See GAS. ...
- Reverberatory
- A furnace or oven, wherein the flame, or current of heated gases from the fuel, is caused to reverberate, or be reflected down upon the substance under operation, before passing. into the chimney: suc...
- Rhodium
- A new metal, discovered by Sir H. Davy amongst crude platina; specific gravity, 11.. It unites easily with every metal with which it has been tried, except mercury: with gold or silver it forms a very...
- Rifle
- The name given to a fire-arm from the peculiar construction of its barrel, which is cut internally into long spiral grooves, that usually make but one revolution through its length. ...
- Rigger
- A cylindrical pulley; known also by the term drum, in machinery. ...
- Rigging
- A general name given to all the ropes employed to support the masts, and to extend or reduce the sails, or arrange them to the disposition of the wind. ...
- Roads
- The subject of this article opens to us so vast a field of inquiry, that it is impossible to do justice to its importance within the limits prescribed to us. To the curious explorer of ancient records...
- >Road Drainage
- In properly conducting this part of the business of road-making, great care is necessary. The utmost judgment of the skilful surveyor will be called into action to enable him to make the best use of t...
- Road Materials, Etc
- The breadth of roads should vary according to circumstances. In the vicinity of large towns, where the traffic is considerable, the road should be not less than 60 feet between the fences. Where here ...
- Roof
- The top covering to a house or other building; in which sense it comprises the timber work, slate, tile, lead, with whatever else is necessary to form and complete the whole. Roofs are of various form...
- Rope-Making
- The art of forming fibrous, flexible, and tenacious substances into cordage. The principal aim of the ropemaker is to unite the strength of a great number of fibres. This would be done most effectuall...
- Rope-Making. Continued
- The sledge itself is kept in its place by a tackle, and a proper weight laid on it till the strands are stretched in their places. The tackle is now cast off, the cranks turned at both ends, and as th...
- Rule
- An instrument with lines, divisions, and numerals marked upon it, of the greatest utility in mensuration. There are, of course, numerous kinds adapted to their peculiar objects. The most extensively u...
- Saccharometer
- An instrument for ascertaining the strength of worts, in the preparation of malt liquor for beer or distilling spirit; its name, however, simply implies a measurer of saccharine matter or sweetness. S...
- Saddle
- A seat placed upon a horse's back, for the convenience of the rider. Among the recent patents having this object in view, we shall mention the leading features of two or three of them. To give increa...
- Saffron
- The stigmata of the crocus officinalis, dried on a kiln, and pressed into cakes. The best saffron has the broadest blades, - this being the mark by which English saffron is distinguished from the fore...
- Sago
- A nutritive substance, brought from the East Indies, of considerable use in diet as a restorative. Sago is procured from a tree called landau, growing in the Moluccas: this tree is a species of the pa...
- Sal
- The Latin name for salt, commonly adopted in chemical language as in the following examples, which require explanations: - Sal-alembroth, a compound muriate of mercury and ammonia. Sal-ammoniac, mur...
- Salifiable Bases
- Those metallic, earthy, or alkaline substances, which have the power of neutralizing acidity entirely or in part, and producing salts. ...
- Salt
- A term commonly used in chemistry to denote a compound in definite proportions, formed by the union of an acid with an alkaline, earthy, or metallic base. We have already given a brief enumeration of ...
- Salt. Continued
- At this period, the evaporation is usually brought to that degree, that a crust of salt is formed on the surface of the water, which the workmen break, and it immediately falls to the bottom. They con...
- Sapphire
- A precious stone, of which there are several varieties; next to diamond, it is considered the most valuable of gems. The white and pale blue varieties, by exposure to heat, become snow white, and, whe...
- Sardonyx
- A precious stone, consisting of a mixture of chalcedony and cornelian, sometimes in strata, but at other times blended together. It is found,' first, striped with white and red strata, which may be cu...
- Sarsaparilla
- A medicinal root, obtained from Peru: it consists of a great number of long strings, hanging from one head; they are given in decoction, as a diet drink. ...
- Sassafras
- The wood of an American tree, of the laurel kind, imported in large straight blocks; it is said to be warm, aperient, and corroborant, and to be often successfully employed in purifying the blood, f...
- Satin
- A kind of silken stuff, very smooth and shining. The woof is coarse, and hidden underneath the warp, which is fine, and stands out, and on this depends its gloss and beauty. ...
- Saturation
- The act of imbibing till no more can be received. A fluid that holds in solution as much of any substance as it can dissolve, is said to be saturated with it. But saturation with one substance does no...
- Saws And Saw-Mills
- Saws And Saw-Mills. A saw is a cutting instrument, with a serrated edge; a saw-mill, a machine or building, wherein several or many of these instruments are actuated by horse, wind, steam, water, or ...
- Saws And Saw-Mills. Part 2
- The unctuous matter which adheres to the plates being next partially removed, they are taken up successively by a pair of tongs, and passed backwards and forwards over a clear charcoal fire, so as to ...
- Saws And Saw-Mills. Part 3
- In the ordinary saw-mill, the saws are stretched in a wooden frame, which slides up and down within another frame, in a similar manner to a window sash: the motion is given to it by a crank, attached ...
- Saws And Saw-Mills. Part 4
- A few years ago (about 1824), Mr. Robert Eastman, of Brunswick Maine, U. S., invented some improvements in the construction of circular saws, and in the mode of sawing lumber (timber), which obtaine...
- Saws And Saw-Mills. Part 5
- One machine will cut from eighteen to twenty hundred of square feet of pine timber per day, and two of them maybe driven by a common tub-wheel, seven or eight feet in diameter, having six or seven fee...
- Scale
- A mathematical instrument, consisting of various lines drawn on wood, ivory, brass, etc, and variously divided, according to the purposes it is intended to serve; whence it acquires various denominati...
- Scales
- A term commonly applied to the ordinary balance or weighing machine, which see. The term scales, however, is often applied to the boards or dishes only, in which the goods and the weights are placed. ...
- Scales Of Fish
- Scales Of Fish consist of alternate layers of membrane and phosphate of lime; they are employed in the arts in the fabrication of artificial pearls. See Pearls. ...
- Screw
- The screw is one of the most powerful and useful of the simple machines or mechanic powers. It is a modification of the inclined plane, as will easily appear to any one who reflects a little on its co...
- Screw. Continued
- The patent screws manufactured by Mr. Nettlefold, of Holborn, are made with great attention to the perfection of the worm; the upper side, as intended to be represented in the following Fig. 1, is v...
- Sewer
- A subterraneous channel or canal, formed in towns and other places, for draining and purifying them. They are made of such materials and forms as suit the circumstances of the locality, and come too o...
- Sheathing
- Sheathing in Naval Architecture, a sort of covering nailed all over the outside of a ship's bottom, to protect the planks from the ravages of worms. Formerly, this sheathing consisted only of boards ...
- Ship
- The general name for any large vessel fitted with one or more masts and sails, for the purpose of navigating on the sea. The name ship is, however, more strictly and properly applied to a vessel with ...
- Ship. Part 2
- But if the test of experience should suggest any alteration, it is easily done by making the timbers more or less of the wedge form, as may be found best. The section No. 1 also shows the timbers ar...
- Ship. Part 3
- It is supposed in this description, that the keel is first laid down, as usually done, only its internal edge will be formed to the curve of the under part of the hull, exclusive of the filling out p...
- Ship. Part 4
- The mode of proceeding is first to form a model of the required dimensions, and regulate the symmetry of the subordinate arrangements accordingly; this done, the model is cut across, by which the form...
- Ship. Part 5
- To obviate this difficulty is the end proposed in the plan under consideration. It does not appear, from any thing which has been presented to the Committee, that Mr. Clark proposes anything novel in ...
- Shingles
- Shingles in Building, small boards, nearly resembling, in shape and size, the staves of a common pail, but tapering regularly thinner and thinner from the broad to the narrow end. They were formerly ...
- Shot
- A missive weapon discharged by the force of ignited powder from a fire-arm in warfare: of these there are various kinds, as round shot, or bullets, a ball or sphere of iron whose weight is in proporti...
- Shrouds
- A range of large ropes, extended from the mast heads to the right and left sides of a ship, to support the masts, and enable them to carry sail. The shrouds, as well as the sails, etc, are denominated...
- Shuttle
- The instrument employed in weaving, by which the crossing of the threads is mainly effected. See Weaving. ...
- Sickle
- An instrument for cutting down corn. It is simply a curved blade or hook of steel, with the edge, in the interior of the curve, serrated, so as to make a cut like a saw. The subjoined engraving, which...
- Sieve
- An instrument for separating the small or particles of substances from the grosser; they are made of various forms and sizes, to suit the article to be sifted. In its most usual form it consists of a ...
- Silex
- Silex silica, silicium, or silicious earth, is one of the most abundant substances in nature, constituting the entire mass of many mountains, and probably of a large portion of the globe itself. It i...
- Silk
- A very soft, fine, bright thread, the production of different species of caterpillars; but the bombyx mori, or silk-worm, is chiefly cultivated for this purpose; it is a native of China, and the cultu...
- Silver
- Silver is the whitest of metals, and next to gold the most malleable and ductile. Under the hammer, the continuity of its parts is not destroyed until its leaves are not more than the one hundred and...
- Silvering
- The art or act of covering certain substances, as metal, wood, paper, leather, parchment, etc. with silver, so as to give them the appearance of that metal. Silver leaf is laid on much in the same way...
- Size
- A kind of weak glue, used in many trades; it is made of the shreds and parings of leather, parchment, or vellum, boiled in water, and strained. Common size is made of leather, boiled in water till it ...
- Sloop
- A small vessel furnished with one mast, the main sail of which is attached to a gaff above, to the mast on its foremost edge. and to a boom below. It differs from a cutter by having a fixed steeving b...
- Sluice
- A frame of timber, stone, or other matter, serving to retain and raise the water of a river, etc, and, on occasion, to let it pass. Such is the sluice of a mill, which stops and collects the water of ...
- Smack
- A small vessel, commonly rigged as a sloop or hoy; used chiefly in the coasting and fishing trade. ...
- Smalt
- A combination of glass with the oxide of cobalt, in the state of a very fine blue powder. See Zaffre and Cobalt. ...
- Smelting
- The operation of fusing ores, in order to separate the metals from the other minerals by which they may be combined. See Iron. ...
- Smut
- Smut in Agriculture, a disease to which wheat is peculiarly liable, by which it becomes contaminated with a sooty looking powder, which sometimes destroys the whole substance of the grain. Many contr...
- Snatch-Block
- A block having an opening in one of its sides, wherein to fix the bight of a rope occasionally. This is by some termed a rouse-about block. See Blocks. ...
- Snow
- The frozen vapours of the atmosphere; its whiteness is owing to the small particles into which it is divided, for ice, when pounded, becomes equally white. Snow. A vessel equipped with two masts, res...
- Snuff
- A scented powder, the use of which is well known. The stalks of tobacco leaves, ground small, are the basis of all snuffs; and the various kinds derive their names from the whims of the manufacturers,...
- Soap
- A name given to those bodies which are compounds of the alkalies with fat and the fixed oils. The earths, and the other metallic oxides also, combine with fat and oils, forming neutral compounds. The ...
- Soap-Stone
- A species of steatite. It imparts to the touch a peculiar unctuous feeling, like fine white soap. The soap-stone of this country is chiefly obtained from the Lizard, in Cornwall, where it is found in ...
- Solder
- A metallic cement for joining separate pieces of metal together by fusion. It is a general rule, with respect to solder, that it should fuse at a lower temperature than the metal to be soldered. The s...
- Specific Gravity
- The weight of any body, or substance, compared with the weight of some other body which is assumed to be a standard. The standard of comparison, by common consent and practice, is rain water, on accou...
- Spectacles
- An optical instrument consisting of two lenses set in a light frame, the extremities of which are made elastic, so as to retain, by a slight pressure against the sides of the head, the instrument in i...
- Spermaceti
- A substance obtained from the oil found in the head of several species of whale, but chiefly from the physeter macrocephalus. Though analogous to fat and wax, it differs from them in several propertie...
- Sphere
- A solid contained under one uniform round surface, such as would be formed by the revolution of a circle about the diameter thereof. ...
- Spheroid
- A solid body approaching the figure of a sphere, though not exactly round, but having one of its diameters longer than the other. ...
- Spindle
- A term synonymous with axis. In machinery where several axes occur, it is usual to denominate the subordinate or smaller axes spindles, as in cotton-spinning, etc. ...
- Spinet
- A musical instrument of the piano-forte kind. The latter, by its improved tones and construction, has superseded the manufacture, and almost wholly banished the use of the former. See Piano-forte. ...
- Spinning
- The art of combining animal or vegetable fibres into threads, by twisting them together, as in cotton, silk, wool, flax, hemp, etc. See those articles. ...
- Sponge
- A marine production of a remarkably porous and absorbent nature. Its property of readily imbibing almost as great a volume of water as its own bulk, and as readily parting with it by compression, rend...
- Starch
- A well-known substance extracted from wheaten flour, by washing it in water. All farinaceous seeds afford this substance in a greater or less degree; but it is most easily obtained from the flour of w...
- Steam
- The term generally employed to designate water in its elastic form, at or above the temperature of 212. It is at present applied to many economical purposes, as well as in various manufactures, i...
- Steam Carriages
- - Under this designation is to be understood all kinds of locomotive vehicles, propelled on the common roads, by other than animal force. In the case of steam carriages used upon rail-roads, the stru...
- Steam Carriages. Part 2
- This stud has a certain length of play, by means of a long hole or groove in the bar, so that when the springing lever is pressed up, the stud slides in the groove without giving motion to p. When the...
- Steam Carriages. Part 3
- Burstall And Hill's Steam Carriage Patent 1824. A is the place for fuel, and a a a are parts of the flue, as seen in section, the top being formed into a number of shallow receptacles for water i...
- Steam Carriages. Part 4
- W, H. James's Steam Carriage Patent 1824. In 1832 Mr. James took out another patent, the chief features in which were a high pressure boiler of a novel descripti n; being formed of a horizontal ti...
- Steam Carriages. Part 5
- The piston rod is attached by a joint to the vibrating lever e, from which lever a chain extends over small pullies, let into the blocks d, and its ends are made fast to the other vibrating lever f; c...
- Steam Carriages. Part 6
- Mr. Neville, of Shad Thames, London, took out a patent for steam locomotion in 1827, the chief object of which appears from the specification to have been to prevent the wheels of a locomotive carriag...
- Steam Carriages. Part 7
- But they did not meet with that patronage that was expected. The next locomotionist who received the great seal, was Mr. Nathan Gough, of Salford, some of whose arrangements possess originality, and ...
- Steam Carriages. Part 8
- Messrs. W. G. and R. Heaton, of Birmingham, built several steam carriages, under a patent-right dated 1830; but their mechanism was too complicated to be understood without the aid of drawings, whic...
- Steam Carriages. Part 9
- Eighthly, For a modification of the crank and beam intended to supersede the use of a beam of the usual weight and dimensions, parallel motion, cross heads, and costly fittings and bearings connected ...
- Steam Carriages. Part 10
- The engines are placed horizontally underneath the carriage body; the boiler is at the back, and a blast is employed to excite the combustion of the fuel, the supply of which is regulated by an engine...
- Steam Engine
- - A machine wrought by the force obtained from the expansion and contraction of the steam of boiling water, and employed as a first moving power to other machines. Before proceeding to describe the c...
- Steam Engine. Part 2
- If the load upon the piston be increased to 30lbs, making with the pressure of the atmosphere 451bs, the pressure of the steam will be trebled, the piston will be raised 4 inches in the cylinder, and ...
- Steam Engine. Part 3
- Hero, the elder, was the son of a Greek, settled at Alexandria, who flourished about 130 years before the Christian era. In his work entitled Spiritalia, he describes, among other ingenious machines, ...
- Steam Engine. Part 4
- The first vessel P being thus emptied of its air, open the cock again, and the force of steam from the boiler presses upon the surface of the water with an elastic quality like air, still increasing i...
- Steam Engine. Part 5
- A sufficient quantity of steam being first formed in the boiler, the attendant pushes the handle or lever which he holds down to j, which, by the wheels and and, opens the cock k, and allows the steam...
- Steam Engine. Part 6
- The last grand improvement was the rendering the engine double acting, by causing the pressure of the steam to operate during the ascent as well as the descent of the piston; and to obtain a rotatory ...
- Steam Engine. Part 7
- An important improvement of Mr. Watt's was carried into practice in 1778. It consists in shutting off the steam from the cylinder, some time before the piston has completed its stroke, so that the r...
- Steam Engine. Part 8
- Example The pressure of steam in the boiler being equal to 120 inches of mercury, the loss from friction, etc. (reckoned as 1/4 of the whole) is 48, which added to 30 inches for the pressure of the a...
- Steam Engine. Part 9
- The upper part of it is hollow, to receive a small rod, that is attached by a cross pin to a brass sliding socket, which is connected with the governor arms by two small links, and partakes of the mot...
- Steam Engine. Part 10
- To the head of the piston rod is fixed a cap e e, which works between the guides f f, which are bolted to the cylinder cover, and thus take the strain off the piston rod in the oblique positions of th...
- Steam Engine. Part 11
- The wheel is somewhat like an overshot water-wheel, and does not touch any part of the case. It is turned by a jet of steam issuing from the steam-pipe of the boiler, into the exhausted case, through ...
- Galloway's Rotatory Engine
- The annexed Fig. represents a transverse section of the engine, divested of such parts as are not required to explain its construction and mode of action. a a is a cylinder, which is supported upon a...
- Bennett's Steam And Smoke Engine
- Oliver Evans, the celebrated American mechanic, projected an engine, which he termed a volcanic engine, wherein he proposed to combine the expansive force of the heated gases and other products of com...
- Steam Navigation
- Steam Navigation the navigating or propelling vessels by steam. - In treating this subject we have, for the sake of perspicuity, and for ease of reference, divided it into the following sections:- S...
- Section I. Historical Outline Of The Rise And Progress Of Steam Navigation
- Early writers and projectors; Dr. Allen. Hulls. - Fitch. - Rumsey. - Miller. - Symington - his tirst Boat - his second, the Charlotte Dundas. - Fulton. - Livingstone. - Fulton's boat, the Clermont....
- Historical Outline Of The Rise And Progress Of Steam Navigation. Part 2
- Thus a continuous rotation of the wheels, with an equable force, is obtained from the rectilinear and intermitting action of the engine. Both Allen's and Hulls' plans were sufficiently clear and ex...
- Historical Outline Of Steam Navigation. Part 3
- To avoid trenching upon the sweeping claims set up by Mr. Watt in the specifications of his patents, Mr. Symington was compelled to resort to several peculiar contrivances; which we shall proceed to...
- Historical Outline Of Steam Navigation. Part 4
- The steam cylinder was 2 feet diameter, with a 4 feet stroke; the paddle wheels were 15 feet in diameter, the floats were 4 feet wide, and dipped in the water 2 feet. Early in the autumn the vessel s...
- Historical Outline Of Steam Navigation. Part 5
- These levers turn upon the pin of the propelling cranks dand e, and are guided in their motions by the radius rods h and i, connected to their upper ends. The radius rods are connected to a cast iron ...
- Section II. The Construction And Arrangement Of Steam Vessels
- Differences Between Steam And Sailing Vessels Form and Proportions. - Resistance. - Beaufoy's Experiments. - Russell's Experiments. - Remarkable deviations from the assumed law of velocity.- The sol...
- Resistance Of Floating Bodies
- The question as to the best form for vessels, is one which has long excited much attention in this and foreign countries. Many attempts have been made to determine, both by mathematical deduction and ...
- Beaufoy's Experiments
- The most extensive sets of experiments upon the resistance of fluids to floating bodies, are those instituted in Sweden, under the sanction, and at the expense, of the Society of Iron Masters of Stock...
- Mr. Russell's Experiments
- In order to render the deductions of theory more consonant with the results obtained in practice, J. S. Russell, Esq., of Edinburgh, conducted a series of experiments in the years 1834 and 1835, upon ...
- Mr. Russell's Experiments. Continued
- With regard to the second and chief cause by which the resistance is influenced - the wave - Mr. Russell concludes, from his investigations, that the restoration of the equilibrium amongst the particl...
- Sir J. Robison's Experiments
- Prior to the experiments of Mr. Russell, J. Robison, Esq., afterwards Sir J. Robison, had instituted a series of experiments on the Forth and Clyde canal, with the view of ascertaining the best form o...
- Table A. Experiments With Equal Loads
- (In favour of No. I.) Models tried. United Weights of Vessel and Load. Divisions in the Arms of Yoke when at 3 Miles per Hour. Difference. Divisions in the Arms of Yoke when...
- Proportion Of Power To Size Of Vessels
- The proportion which the power ot the engines should bear to the size of the vessel depends greatly upon the nature of the service for which the vessels are intended. Post-office packets, and vessels ...
- The Flamer
- 156 feet in length; 26 feet 8 inches beam; depth, 15 feet 3 inches; measured tonnage, 496 49/94 tons; nominal power, 120 horses. TONS. Tonnage, 590 With this displacement, she ar...
- The Columbia
- 129 feet in length; 24 feet 6 inches beam; and 15 feet in depth; measured tonnage, 360 tons; nominal power, 100 horses. TONS. Tons, 494. With this displacement, she draws 12 feet ...
- Steam Vessel Construction
- In regard to the mode of constructing and fastening steamers, much diversity of practice exists; but, generally speaking, strength and durability are not sufficiently studied; and, although improvemen...
- Subdivision Of Steam Vessel Hull
- The subdivision of the hull into separate watertight compartments by means of plate iron bulkheads calls for particular notice. The following observations by Mr. Williams will show the importance of t...
- Iron Bulkheads
- Here, then, we have an effectual remedy against the casualties attending on a vessel coming into collision with another. Unless the water break into the vessel in all the sections at the same time (wh...
- Mr. Lang's System
- The following plan of building steamers has been introduced with great success by Mr. O. Lang, of H. M. Dockyard, Woolwich. Upon the keel being laid (say for a vessel of 300 tons), 1 1/4 inch oak pla...
- Iron Vessels
- Owing to the many advantages attending the construction of vessels made entirely of wrought iron, excepting the decks, a decided preference is now given to them, and they are fast becoming almost univ...
- Iron Vessels. Continued
- We shall conclude this section by a notice of what are called Twin Boats, of which there have been several constructed both in this country and America. These vessels are composed of two floating bodi...
- Section III. The Construction And Arrangement Of Marine Engines, Boilers, Condensers, etc
- Peculiar Construction Of Marine Steam Engines Generally Beam Engine. - Lever Engine.-Napier's Direct Action Engine. - Seaward's Gorgon Engine. - Penn's Direct Action Engine.-Steeple Engine. - Gallowa...
- Beam Engine
- The annexed figure represents a longitudinal section. At a is the foundation-plate, on which the engines are erected; it is supported upon two deep sleepers of wood, which cross the floor-timbers of t...
- Lever Engine
- The accompanying figure represents in section an engine of this class, a is the cylinder; b the slide-case; c the steam-pipe; d the slide, of the sort commonly known as the long side, which is hollow,...
- Napier's Direct-Action Engine
- The annexed figure represents a Direct-action Engine, which in appearance greatly resembles the preceding, the small side-beams being retained; but solely for the purpose of working the pumps. It was ...
- Seaward's Gorgon Engine
- The annexed engraving represents an arrangement for a Direct-action Engine, devised by Messrs. Seaward, and commonly known as the Gorgon Engine, from having been first employed in a government steam...
- Perm's Direct-Action Engine
- This arrangement of marine engines, shown in the opposite engraving, originated, we believe, with Mr. Penn, of Greenwich, who has applied it to some steam-boats on the Thames. At a is the cylinder; b ...
- The Steeple Engine
- This arrangement is extensively adopted on the Clyde, with some variations in the minor details, according to the views of different makers. At a is the condenser, constituting the base of the cylinde...
- Galloway's Inverted Cylinder Engine
- The engraving on the opposite page exhibits an arrangement for marine engines for which Mr. Elijah Galloway obtained a patent; and which has, we believe, been adopted in one or two vessels plying on t...
- Humphery's Trunk Engine
- Mr. Francis Humphery obtained a patent in 1835 for an arrangement in which not merely the side beams, but likewise the piston-rod was dispensed with: the power of the engine being transmitted direct f...
- Parkyn's Sliding-Cover Engine
- The adjoining cut is explanatory of a direct-action engine invented by Mr. Parkyn, which resembles the preceding in the circumstance of the piston-rod serving also as the connecting rod, but by a some...
- Maudslay's Annular Cylinder Engine
- This is a new arrangement, patented by Mr. Joseph Maudslay, in 1841. We understand that several engines have been constructed on this plan by the firm of Maudslay, Sons, and Field. Its distinguishing ...
- Hick's Inverted Double-Cylinder Engine
- This arrangement resembles the preceding one by Messrs. Maudslay and Field in the circumstance of each engine being composed of two cylinders, but in all other respects it is different. The cylinders ...
- Maudslay And Field's Direct-Action Screw Propeller Engine
- This engine is chiefly designed for dispensing with the multiplying wheels, or chains and drums, hitherto employed, between the engine crank and the shaft of the screw propeller, in order to produce a...
- Brunei's Inclined Cylinder Engine
- This arrangement was patented by Mr. Marc Brunei in 1822, and he employed an engine on this plan for pumping in the great subterraneous work of the Tunnel under the Thames. It has likewise been adapte...
- Penn's Oscillating Engine
- But of all the arrangements of direct action engines, that which admits of the greatest length of stroke in the smallest compass, and which, perhaps, is also the simplest, is the Oscillating Engine, i...
- Borries Rotatory Engine
- The accompanying engraving is a transverse section of this engine through the centre of the cylinder. At a is the foundation plate, to which all the parts of the engine are directly or indirectly atta...
- Steam Condensation
- The means adopted for the condensation of the steam is almost universally by the injection of cold water Into the condenser, as in land engines. But for the purposes of steam navigation, this method i...
- Condensation. Part 2
- Fig. 1. Amongst the first to put in practice this system of condensation in steam vessels was Mr. D. Napier, of Glasgow, who made trial of various arrangements of cooling surfaces, and if he di...
- Condensation. Part 3
- On the top of the hot well is placed a snift valve, to maintain the water in the hot well at a certain height, so as to prevent the air from entering the boiler along with the water. The whole of the ...
- Parallel Motion In Steam Vessels
- The parallel motion commonly employed in marine engines, working with side beams, is exactly similar in principle to that employed in land engines; but owing to the parts being inverted, it appears di...
- Reversing Motion In Steam Vessels
- In steam vessels it frequently becomes necessary to reverse the engines suddenly, and sometimes to run a considerable distance by the reversed motion. It therefore becomes indispensable that the engin...
- Seaward's Slide Valves
- The annexed engraving represents these valves as applied to a marine engine, aa is the steam cylinder, and b and c are two nozzles, either cast upon the cylinder, or firmly bolted to it; b is the stea...
- Morgan's Conical Valves
- Mr. W. Morgan obtained a patent for an improved Construction of Conical Valves, which remedies the objection of the great pressure to which they are subject, when large, in a very simple and ingenio...
- Piston Slide Valves
- Instead of the common semi-cylindrical slide valve, cylindrical, or piston slides are sometimes made use of, and possess this advantage over the former, that the packing being metallic, requires no at...
- Expansion Valves
- Within these few years the application of the expansive action of steam has been gradually coming into use in marine engines, and with considerable advantage; but many circumstances tend to oppose its...
- Snodgrass's Expansion Apparatus
- The annexed cut represents Mr. Snodgrass's method of working expansively, with the ordinary slide valve. Upon the paddle shaft, and at the back of the crank, is fixed a spur wheel a, which gives motio...
- Bourne's Expansion Valves
- This is an arrangement for cutting off the steam at any portion of the stroke, and for varying the quantity of steam admitted to the cylinder, without stopping the engine; for which in connexion with ...
- Boilers
- It having been found desirable in steam vessels to economize to the utmost the space occupied by the apparatus, a material difference in the construction of the boilers becomes necessary from those us...
- Separate Elliptical Boilers
- Instead of building the boilers in two or three flat-sided divisions up to the water-line, and covering the whole with one slightly convex roof or top, many manufacturers prefer completely distinct bo...
- "United Kingdom" Boilers
- The annexed figures represent the boiler of the United Kingdom steam-packet, the engines of which are of 200 horse-power, and constructed by Mr. D. Napier, of Glasgow. Fig. 1 is a front elevation; Fi...
- Safety Valves
- Various descriptions of safety valves are in use on board steam vessels, some of which are of a very improper construction, being liable to be impeded in their action by design or by accident. For a s...
- Section IV. The Construction And Arrangement Of The Propelling Machinery
- Analysis Of The Various Plans For Propelling The ordinary or undershot Water-wheel - defects of. - Galloway's Cycloidal Paddle-wheel. - Gemmel's Paddle-wheels. - Galloway's double oblique Wheels. - B...
- Undershot Water Wheel
- Of all the plans of propelling, the undershot water wheel, with radiating floats attached to the arms of the wheel, is that which is most generally employed, on account of its extreme simplicity, its ...
- Galloway's Cycloidal Paddle-Wheel
- In 1835, Mr. Elijah Galloway obtained a patent for a paddle-wheel, which is free from many of the objections to which other inventions forthe same objectare liable. It is equally simple as the common ...
- Gemmel's Paddle-Wheels
- We have already noticed Mr. Gemmel's twin-boat in our second section. In the same patent (1837) he proposed to employ two pair of paddle-wheels of the ordinary construction to steam vessels generally,...
- Galloway's Oblique Double Wheel
- In this invention two wheels are placed at each side of the vessel, the axes of which wheels do not lie in the same right line, but form an obtuse angle with each other. The axes are connected by a un...
- Buchanan's Parallel Float Wheel
- With the view to obviate the loss of power which has place in the ordinary wheel, owing to the oblique action of the radiating floats, Mr. Buchanan invented a wheel in which the whole of the paddles c...
- Morgans Vibrating Float-Wheel
- This wheel, although commonly known as Morgan's Wheel, is in reality the invention of Mr. Elijah Galloway, who obtained a patent for the same in 1829. This patent was subsequently purchased by Mr. M...
- Dawson's Radiating Feathering Paddle-Wheels
- The distinguishing feature of these wheels is that the floats or paddles revolve or vibrate upon radiating arms or axes, so as to enter and leave the water edgewavs, the planes lying parallel to the k...
- Spurgin's Endless Chain To Wheel
- The accompanying engraving represents an arrangement of a propeller on this principle, for which Dr. Spurgin obtained a patent in 1837. It possesses some advantages over preceding arrangements on the ...
- Perkins's Sculling Paddle-Uheels
- In 1829 Mr. Perkins obtained a patent for the following mode of propelling, which may be considered as an example of sculling motion. Mr. Perkins places each of his paddles on the extremity of a radia...
- Linnaker's Propelling Pumps, (1808)
- Mr. Linnaker proposed two plans for propelling vessels by means of pumps: in the first the pumps were placed horizontally beneath the vessel's bottom, and in the second, a pump was placed vertically w...
- Busk's Hydraulic Propellers
- The principle of this plan of propelling vessels has been termed the reactionary principle; it is thus explained by the patentee. It is well known that water contained in a vessel has a tendency to...
- Screw Propellers
- The idea of propelling vessels by a screw (in lieu of oars) is of ancient date; it is mentioned in the Machines et Inventions approuvees par l'Acad'emie Rotyale des Sciences depuis 1727 jusqu'a 1731....
- Ericsson's Screw Propeller
- In 1836 Captain Ericsson, a Swedish gentleman, well known for his mechanical talent, obtained a patent for an apparatus for propelling steam vessels. The invention consists in a modification of the wa...
- Hunt's Steering And Propelling Apparatus
- The distinguishing feature of this apparatus consists in its combining the two operations of propelling and steering in one. The following description we quote from the inventor's specification:- a ...
- Canal Navigation
- The application of steam to the navigation of canals has long been considered a desideratum, and many plans have been brought forward for the purpose, but none have been permanently adopted. Amongst t...
- Seaward's Spike Wheel
- Messrs. Seaward's plan for propelling vessels on canals and other shallow waters consists in the employment of a circular thrusting instrument or spike-wheel to act continuously. In the annexed cut, ...
- Saxton's Mode Of Propulsion On Canals (1833)
- This invention is intended for propelling light vessels at a high velocity on canals. It consists in a novel and ingenious application of the converse principle of the arrangement commonly known as th...
- Section V. On The Prevention Of Accidents From Explosion, Collision, Fire, Foundering, Etc
- Paramount Necessity Of Precautionary Regulations Government commission for inquiring thereon. - Extracts from Commissioners' Report thereon. - Abstract of Accidents on board ninety-two Steam-boats. -...
- Copies Of Original Reports
- City of Dublin Steam Cys. Works, North Wall. Mr. J. C. Shaw. Dublin, 22 Jany. 1839. A Report of the state of the Royal Adelaide Boilers, this day, on her arrival from Belfast. Andfind them in good...
- Causes Of Accidents On Board Steam-Vessels
- The primary causes of nearly all the accidents which occur to life and property on board steam-vessels, may be classed as follows:- Of Wrecks, Foundering, or imminent peril of the same. Causes. - Def...
- Causes Of Accidents On Board Steam-Vessels. Part 2
- Special surveys to be paid for by the owner, or owners, of the vessel, accord-to a fixed scale. The first survey of the hull of a new vessel to be made during its construction, and a specification of...
- Causes Of Accidents On Board Steam-Vessels. Part 3
- In order to diminish the frequency and danger of collisions, and being convinced of the necessityfor establishing a definite rule of the road,and a uniform system of signals, for the government of s...
- Causes Of Accidents On Board Steam-Vessels. Part 4
- Many plans have recently been brought forward for supplying the desideratum. The following cut represents one, for which Mr. Murdoch obtained a patent in 1839. It will be seen that it admits of great ...
- Causes Of Accidents On Board Steam-Vessels. Part 5
- Second. A declaration of the sufficiency and good condition of the machinery of such steam vessel, under the hand of an engineer to be approved by the Lords of the said Committee; such declarations be...
- Steel
- A peculiar combination of carbon with iron. It is chiefly used for edge tools, and other sharp cutting instruments, where great hardness is required; and from the fine polish of which it is susceptibl...
- Steelyard
- A machine for ascertaining the weights of bodies, usually denominated the Roman balance. It consists of a lever of unequal arms, suspended horizontally; to the shorter of the two arms is suspended the...
- Still
- The name of the principal vessel in which distillation is conducted. See a great variety of them under the heads Alcohol, Distillation, etc. ...
- Stippling
- A mode of engraving on copper by means of dots, as contradistinguished from a course of continued lines. The term is likewise applied to the mode adopted by some artists in drawing, of putting in the ...
- Stocks
- A frame erected on the shore of a river, or of the sea, and in the large establishments in the inside of docks, for the purpose of building ships. It generally consists of a number of solid wooden blo...
- Strand
- One of the twists or divisions of which a rope is composed; also the name applied to any sea-beach, or shore, that slopes gradually down to the water's edge ...
- Stranded
- Stranded in sea affairs, a term, which, when applied to a rope, signifies that one, at least, of its strands is broken, but when applied to a ship, or vessel, it means that she has run on a rock or s...
- Sublimation
- An operation, by which volatile substances are collected and obtained. It is nearly allied to distillation, excepting that in the latter, the fluid parts only of bodies are raised, whereas, in sublima...
- Sulphur
- A simple inflammable body. Its fusing point is 220 Fahr. after which it begins to evaporate; at 560, it takes fire in the open air, and burns with a pale blue flame: kept melted in an open v...
- Sulphurets
- Combinations of the alkalic earths, and metals, with sulphur. ...
- Sumach
- A vegetable substance, extensively employed in tanning and dying. It consists of the young shoots of a shrub, that grows naturally in many parts of the Mediterranean; the shoots, after being dried, ar...
- Swivel
- A kind of ring or link of a chain, that is enabled to turn round, by jointing it to the next, by means of a pin or axis. The term of swivel is applied to a small cannon, provided with a similar kind o...
- Sword
- A long-bladed knife, fashioned in various ways, but all designed for mangling or destroying the human species. ...
- Syringe
- Syringe A simple hydraulic machine, employed to draw in and discharge fluids violently. It consists merely of a small tube, in which is fitted a piston or plunger, and having a small hole at the bott...
- Tabby
- The name of a rich kind of silk, which has undergone the operation of tabbying; which consists in passing between metallic rollers, the surfaces of which are variously engraven, producing thereby the ...
- Tables
- In mathematics, they are the results of calculations, systematically arranged, for the convenience of ready application. They also serve the useful purposes of testing the accuracy of a person's own c...
- Talc
- A soft unctuous mineral, occurring in beds, in mica-slate, and clay-slate. It is found in several parts of Scotland, but the best comes from the neighbourhood of the Tyrol. It is employed as an ingred...
- Tambour
- A species of embroidery, in which threads of gold and silver are, by needles of a peculiar form, worked in leaves and flowers, etc, upon a silk stuff, stretched over a circular frame, called a tambour...
- Tannin
- A peculiar vegetable principle, so named because it is the effective agent in tanning, or the conversion of skin into leather. See Leather. ...
- Tapestry
- A species of woven hangings of wool and silk, adorned with scenic representations in imitation of painting, and employed formerly for lining the walls of elegant apartments, churches, etc. The French ...
- Tapioca
- A gummy kind of starch, prepared by the Brazilians from the root of the casava plant. A spurious tapioca has been manufactured in this country, from the farina of the potato; the process of preparing ...
- Tar
- A thick black unctuous substance, obtained chiefly from old pines and fir trees, by burning them with a close smothering heat. It is prepared in great quantities in Norway, Sweden, Russia, Germany, No...
- Tarpaulin
- A piece of strong canvass, or sail-cloth, well saturated with tar, and dried; employed extensively for covering goods in ships, barges, waggons, carts, etc.; also for protecting stacks and ricks of ag...
- Tarras or Terras
- Tarras or Terras. A volcanic earth used as a cement. It differs but little from puzzolana, but contains more heterogeneous particles, as spar, quartz, shorl, etc. It effervesces with acids, is magnet...
- Tartar
- A substance deposited on the sides of wine casks, during the time that the wine is in a state of fermentation. This substance being scraped off, and in its natural and unpurified state, is called by c...
- Tartaric Acid
- An acid obtained from the above-mentioned salt tartar by Scheele. In a solution of the super-tartrate in boiling water, he saturated the superfluous acid by the addition of chalk, as long as effervesc...
- Tea
- The dried leaves of the tea-plant, which is a native of Japan, China, and Tonquin. The history of commerce does not perhaps present a parallel to the circumstances which have attended the introduction...
- Teak
- A very valuable timber, which abounds in various parts of the East Indies, and is applied to domestic and nautical purposes. Ships built with teak are far more durable in the Indian seas, than those m...
- Teazle
- Aplant, the heads of which are employed in the dressing of woollen cloth, and for which operation no substitute equally effective has hitherto been discovered. The teazle has been considered as afford...
- Telegraph
- The name given to a machine, by which intelligence may be transmitted, with extraordinary rapidity, to great distances. There is reason to believe, that the principle of the modern invention of commun...
- Telegraph. Continued
- Below is a small wooden hut, in which a person is employed to observe the movements of the machine. On the eminence nearest to this, another person is to repeat these movements, and a third to write t...
- Telescope
- An optical instrument, employed for discovering and viewing distant objects; or which magnifies their natural appearance, by representing them under a larger angle than that under which they appear to...
- Telescope. Part 2
- The magnifying power, and the field of view, of this telescope may be increased by using two plano-convex lenses, combined so as to act like one glass; and such a combination is now generally employed...
- Telescope. Part 3
- Of reflecting telescopes, the Gregorian is the one most generally used. The construction of this instrument is represented below. At the bottom of the tube A B C D, is placed the large concave refl...
- Tellurium
- A metal discovered by Klaproth in 1798, in an ore of gold from Transylvania. It has a silver-white colour, and possesses much brilliancy. Its texture is laminated like antimony, and has a specific gra...
- Temperature
- Implies that degree of sensible heat, which a body possesses when compared with other bodies. To accurately measure and determine such degrees of heat, so as to be readily comprehended, thermometers h...
- Tenacity
- A term derived from the Latin, implying the property or holding fast, firmness, etc.; some authors restrict its application to that force by which metals resist their being pulled, or torn asunder; as...
- Tenacity. Part 2
- As we have not space for detailing the particulars of each experiment, we here add only the average results of them. The experiments on cast iron, in cubes of one-eighth of an inch, - specific gravit...
- Tenacity. Part 3
- A wire of one-tenth inch diameter of Lead breaks with . lbs. 29 1/4 Emerson. Do. do. Tin do. 49 1/4 Do. do. Copper ...
- Tenon
- The end of a bar of metal or piece of wood reduced in its dimensions, so as to fit a hole in another piece, called a mortise, and thus joining the two together. . . ...
- Tension
- Is the state of a thing stretched; this term is much used by engineers to express the tenacity of metals and other substances, when pulled in the direction of their length; thus a wire of one-tenth of...
- Tenter
- Tenter trier, or prover, a machine or frame, used in the cloth manufactory, to stretch out the pieces of cloth, and make them set even and square. It is usually about 4 1/2 feet high, and for length ...
- Tessellated Pavements
- Pavements of different coloured stones, tiles, or brick, laid chequer-wise, or like dice (tesselae.) The term tessellated is, however, extended to all kinds of mosaic patterns or designs. ...
- Test
- Any solid or fluid body, which, added to a substance, teaches us to distinguish its chemical nature or composition. ...
- Theatre
- An edifice or great room for the public exhibition of scenic representations, the performance of the drama, of concerts, the delivery of scientific lectures and demonstrations, etc. Considering that t...
- Theodolite
- A mathematical instrument used by land-surveyors, for taking angles, distances, altitudes, etc. This instrument is variously made, and provided with subordinate apparatus, according to the price, or t...
- Theorem
- A proposition which terminates in theory, and which considers the properties of things already made or done. Or, theorem is a speculative proposition, deduced from several definitions compared togethe...
- Theory
- A doctrine which terminates in speculations, without any view to the practice or application of it. ...
- Thermometer
- An instrument for measuring the temperature of bodies; founded upon the principle of augmentation in volume of fluids, in proportion to their absorption of caloric; and as regards aeriform fluids, the...
- Thermometer. Part 2
- Correspondence of the Thermometers of Fahrenheit and Reaumur, and that of Celsius, or the Centigrade Thermometer of the modern French Chemists. Fahr. Reaum. Celsius. Fahr. ...
- Thermometer. Part 3
- A Thermometer of Contact has lately been invented by M. Fourrier It is well known, says M. Fourrier, that on touching different substances maintained at the same temperature, the same calorific i...
- Thermostat
- The name given to an instrument invented and recently patented by Dr. Ure, for regulating temperature in vaporization, distillation, and other processes, in which the agency of heat is required. It is...
- Thimble
- A metallic case, worn by tailors and sempstresses upon the finger, for the purpose of pressing needles through the stuff in sewing. An instrument, answering the same purpose, is worn by sailors and sa...
- Threshing-Machine
- An apparatus for separating the grain from the straw. Machines for this purpose were contrived as far back as 1732; these were considerably improved by Mr. Andrew Meikle, in 1785, who took a patent fo...
- Tide
- A regular periodical current of water, setting alternately in a flux and reflux, and generally considered to be produced by the influence of the moon. The sagacious Locke, in describing the theory of ...
- Tide-Mills
- Are mills or any kind of machinery moved by the ebbing and flowing of the tide. Mills of this kind are not very common, on account of the great expense of their construction; but in situations where t...
- Tiles
- Plates of red earthenware, used for the coverings of buildings, also for paving and other purposes. They are made of the better kind of brick-maker's clay, washed free from stones and other foreign ma...
- Tiller
- The bar or lever employed to turn the rudder in floating vessels for the purpose of steering. ...
- Time
- According to Mr. Locke, is the measure of duration. We acquire our notions of time, says Dr. Robison, by our faculty of memory, in observing the succession of events. Time is conceived by us as u...
- Tin
- A metal of a white colour, intermediate between silver and lead. It is considerably harder than lead; scarcely at all sonorous; very malleable, being capable of extension, under the hammer, to about a...
- Tinning
- The art of covering any metal with a thin coating of tin. Copper and iron are the metals most commonly tinned. The use of tinning these metals is to prevent them from being corroded by rust, as tin is...
- Titanium
- A new metal discovered by the Rev. Mr. Gregor, in the beginning of the present century, in Cornwall. Klaproth subsequently found it in the red-shorl of Hungary, and gave it the name of titanium. Lampa...
- Tobacco
- The dried leaves of a foreign poisonous plant, most extensively cultivated in many parts of the world, to furnish a species of aliment to the depraved tastes of a large portion of the human race. Tob...
- Toddy
- A juice drawn from various kinds of palms, by cutting off such branches as nature intended to bear fruit, and receiving from the wound the sap designed for the nourishment of the future crop. This jui...
- Topaz
- A precious stone found in Saxony, Bohemia, Siberia, and Brazil, mixed with other minerals, in granitic rocks. The yellow topaz of Brazil becomes red when exposed to a strong heat in a crucible; that o...
- Topography
- A description or draft of some tract of land,as that of city, town, villa, field, etc. as set out by surveyors. ...
- Tormentor
- An instrument much used in tillage, sometimes for breaking down the stiff clods, and at other times for skimming the surface turf, for the purpose of burning. It resembles a harrow in its general appe...
- Torpedo
- A sub-marine apparatus, invented by Robert Fulton for the purpose of destroying ships. It consisted of a vessel or case, charged with combustible matter, which he proposed to transfix by a harpoon to ...
- Tortoises Hell
- The shell of the tortoise, a testaceous animal, used in the fabrication of many articles of ornament and utility. The comb-makers and horn-turners of France, Holland, and Germany, make use of the pari...
- Tragacanth
- A gum, also called gum adracant, and gum dragon, is the produce of the above, and some other shrubs. The gum is brought to us in long and slender pieces, of a flatted figure more or less; and these no...
- Trammel
- An instrument employed by artificers and draftsmen for drawing ellipses. It consists of a cross with two grooves at right angles to each other, and a beam containing two pins that are made to traverse...
- Transferring
- Transferring of engravings and lithographic drawings from the paper, on to wood, or other material, is thus performed. The print is first placed in a vessel of water, until it is completely saturated,...
- Transparencies
- Is a term ordinarily applied to pictures, prepared with semi-transparent or translucent materials, and illuminated at the back, so as to exhibit them at night. The art of preparing them is as follows:...
- Tread-Mill
- Is a mill worked by the weight of persons treading upon the first movement, which is usually a wide cylindrical wheel, having upon its periphery a series of projecting steps or boards, resembling thos...
- Tree-Nails
- Are cylindrical wooden pins or bolts, used to fasten planks to timbers, especially in ship-building. ...
- Trepanning
- Is a surgical operation for opening the skull in cases of fracture; a description of which does not form a part of the plan of this work, and we only introduce the subject, in order to describe the in...
- Triangle
- In geometry, a figure bounded or contained by three lines or sides, and which consequently has three angles, from whence the figure takes its name. ...
- Triangular-Compasses
- Are compasses with three legs, whereby to take off any triangle at once; much used in the construction of maps, globes, etc. ...
- Truck
- A small wheel carriage to be moved by hand; a species of barrow with two wheels; they are made in a great variety of forms, to adapt them to their peculiar objects, such as the moving of sacks, bags, ...
- Trumpet
- The loudest of all portable wind instruments; of which there are various kinda. In their most simple form, they consist of a metallic tube, with a large bell-shaped aperture at one end for the emissio...
- Trundle
- A small wheel with staff teeth; also called a lantern or wallower. This term is likewise given to the little carriages more generally called Trucks, which see. ...
- Trunnions
- The short arms which project from the opposite sides of a piece of artillery, on which it is supported in its carriage, and becomes the centre of motion upon altering its inclination. Trunnions arc al...
- Truss
- A term applied to many different things. In surgery, it is the bandage worn round the bodies of persons afflicted with hernia, or rupture. In sea affairs, it is a certain combination of pulleys, to b...
- Tube
- A hollow cylindrical body, made of metal, wood, or any other substance; the term is synonymous with Pipe; which see. ...
- Tun
- A large cask or barrel, which has probably derived its name from its capability to hold about a ton weight of ordinary liquids; or the measure of weight might be derived from that of capacity. A tun o...
- Tungsten
- A mineral found in Sweden, of an opaque white colour, and great weight; whence its name, - tungsten, or ponderous stone. This ore was analyzed by Schule, who found that it was composed of lime, and a ...
- Tunnel
- An artificial arch or passage under ground. They are employed as the means of conducting canals under elevated ground; for the formation of roads under rivers and canals, and in the construction of se...
- Tunnel. Part 2
- This magnificent undertaking was, however, doomed to a second misfortune, of a more disastrous character, which took place in January 1828, and was attended with the lamentable loss of six lives. T...
- Tunnel. Part 3
- Fresh quantities of clay and bags of clay were now employed to fill up the second hole; and the enlarged dimensions of the former, occasioned by a settling or movement of the artificial ground, was al...
- Turf
- A mixture of earth with the roots and leaves of plants, partially decomposed; it is used as fuel in many parts of the country. See Peat. ...
- Turmeric
- Turmeric or Indian Saffron. A root brought from the East Indies, and employed in making a yellow dye. The colouring matter it yields is very abundant, and of great brilliancy of tint; but it possesse...
- Turning
- The art of giving circular and other forms to solid substances, in the fabrication of innumerable articles, by the aid of a machine called a lathe. There is perhaps no contrivance with which human ing...
- Turning. Continued
- For turning light work, a bow, such as is used for shooting arrows, is susperded by its middle over the lathe; the string is then tied to the middle of the bow-string instead of the pole, and acts in ...
- The Foot Lathe, With Mandril And Collar
- A lathe of this kind serves equally well for centre work; therefore if the professed turner is without a mandril lathe, one of these constructed in the simplest and most economical manner, and chiefly...
- The Foot Lathe, With Mandril And Collar. Part 2
- The mandril by this means runs very steady and accurately in its bearings; and it is plain that any piece of work being firmly attache d to the end of it, by means of the screw before-mentioned, may b...
- The Foot Lathe, With Mandril And Collar. Part 3
- The degree of velocity with which the surface of an article being turned, ought to pass the edge of the tool so as to be cut by it, differs materially in relation to different metals. Cast-iron, in co...
- The Foot Lathe, With Mandril And Collar. Part 4
- This machinery is intended to supersede the use of the eccentric chuck, by assuming a more natural and easy method of engraving, by the tool or cutter tracing the work, instead of the article doing ...
- The Foot Lathe, With Mandril And Collar. Part 5
- When the ring is situated as in Fig.1. the jaws are open to receive a large piece; and when moved round towards the back, the ring operates to press down the clamps, owing to the curvature of their se...
- Turpentine
- A transparent resinous juice, flowing either naturally or artificially, by making incisions from a variety of unctuous trees, as the larch, pine, fir, etc. The essential oil distilled from this resin ...
- Tutenag
- A name given in India to the metallic zinc. The Chinese copper is also called by this name, which is alloyed with zinc, and forms a very hard and white metal, but little disposed to tarnish. ...
- Tympan
- The double folding-frame in which the sheet of paper is held to receive the impression in printing. ...
- Tympanum
- Tympanum or Tympan. In Mechanics, a kind of wheel placed round an axis, or cylindrical beam, on the top of which are two levers for turning the axis, and therewith the weight required. ...
- Ultramarine
- A beautiful permanent blue pigment, until recently obtained from the lapis-lazuli, or azure-stone. (See the article Azure-Stone, where that process is described.) A method of forming ultramarine artif...
- Umbrella
- A very light portable canopy, of a circular form, framed of radiating ribs of whalebone, or other suitable material covered with silk or cloth, and supported by a central staff over the heads of perso...
- Uranium
- A metal discovered by Klaproth in 1789, in the mineral called pech blende. In this, it is in the state of sulphuret. But it likewise occurs as an oxide in the green mica, or uranglimmer, and in the ur...
- Urn
- A vessel of a vase or pitcher-like form. The vessels employed to keep water boiling at the tea-table, have thus been called tea-urns, notwithstanding every possible deviation has been subsequently mad...
- Valve
- A cover or stop to an aperture, to control or direct the course of fluids. They are usually contrived so as to be readily opened by a small force acting on one side, and to be perfectly closed by a fo...
- Valve. Part 2
- As soon as the piston reaches the bottom of the cylinder, the valves r and t must be shut, and u and q opened; when the steam, being no longer able to g -t through r, would pass down the pipe p, and e...
- Valve. Part 3
- The opening in the lower part of the box, which is fixed on the boiler-top, or, if more convenient, on any part of a pipe having a free communication with it, requires to be of such a size, as to all...
- Vanadium
- A newly discovered metal by M. Sefstrom. It has been briefly described in a letter from M. Berzelius to M. Dulong, from which the following is an extract; - M. Sefstrom, director of the School of Mi...
- Vapour
- Vapour from the circumstances of its formation, may be considered to consist of extremely minute vesicles of water or other fluid, inflated with air. See Steam, Alcohol, etc. ...
- Vapour-Bath
- A closet or room, in which a person exposes his body to the action of vapour introduced by a pipe from a boiler. See Bath. ...
- Varnish
- A solution of resinous matter, which, laid upon the surface of solid bodies, becomes hard, glossy, impervious to moisture, and gives beauty and durability to them. Under the several heads of Lac, Copa...
- Veneering
- The art of fixing, in a firm and durable manner, very thin leaves of a fine or superior wood, over a coarse or inferior wood; so as to give the latter the appearance of a solid mass of the former. The...
- Ventilation
- The act of renovating the air of chambers, houses, ships, and all kinds of buildings or places. We may exist for several days without food, but we die, if deprived only for a few minutes of air. As ai...
- Ventilation. Part 2
- By this expansion it is increased in bulk but not in weight; and in consequence, rises from among the other particles, and ascends towards the ceiling; in the same way that a bladder, filled with air,...
- Ventilation. Part 3
- In the centre of the cylinder, there is now put (perpendicularly) a shaft, of about three inches diameter and of the length of the cylinder; and having it, and the centres of the top and bottom of the...
- Verdigris
- Verdigris is a crude acetate of copper, employed in the arts as a pigment; see Painting. It is usually obtained by moistening the surfaces of copper plates with vinegar, and exposing them to the actio...
- Verditer
- A blue pigment, obtained by adding chalk or whiting to a solution of copper in aquafortis. It is thus prepared. A quantity of whiting is put into a tub, and upon this the solution of copper is poured....
- Verjuice
- An austere vinegar, made from the expressed juice of wild or crab apples. It is used by the wax-chandlers for purifying their wax. Also in French cookery, to give pungency to ragouts, etc. ...
- Vermicelli
- A composition of flour, cheese, yolks of eggs, sugar and saffron, reduced to a smooth paste, and formed into long slender pieces like worms, by being forced through little holes, by means of a piston ...
- Vermilion
- A beautiful scarlet-red pigment. It is usually obtained from mercury, being the red sulphuret of that metal. It is said, by some authors, that the Chinese vermilion is a sulphuret of arsenic: others, ...
- Vice
- An instrument consisting chiefly of a pair of stout jaws or chaps, which are brought together by the aid of a screw, to compress, or hold fast any substance placed between them. Vices are of almost in...
- Vineficateur
- An apparatus for collecting the alcoholic vapours that usually escape from fluids during the process of vinous fermentation. It is a conical vessel or cap, covering a hole in the top of the fermenting...
- Vinegar
- Acetic acid in a dilute state, combined with mucilage, and sometimes accompanied with flavouring ingredients. Though frequently resulting from spontaneous fermentation, this useful acid is usually obt...
- Vinery
- A garden erection, usually consisting of a wall 12 or 14 feet high, extending in an easterly and westerly direction, covered with a roof and glass lights, furnished with a stove and flues, and every c...
- Violin
- Violin or fiddle; a well-known stringed instrument of brilliant tone, the vibrations in which are produced by means of a bow. ...
- Violoncello
- Violoncello or bass viol; a similar instrument in construction to the violin, but of a larger size, and having a more powerful effect. An improvement in the violoncello was lately made by Mr. S. A. F...
- Vitriols
- A class of salts formed by earthy or metallic combinations with the vitriolic or sulphuric acid. ...
- Volute
- A spiral scroll, used in the Ionic and Composite capitals of columns, whereof it makes the principal characteristic and ornament. ...
- Wafers
- Small discs of dried paste, used for sealing letters. The mode of making them is as follows: - Take fine wheat flour, mix it with white of eggs and isinglass into a very smooth paste, and spread the s...
- Washing-Machine
- Washing-Machine in the common acceptation of the term, is an apparatus for cleansing linen, cloth, and various fabrics; there is a great diversity of them, but one or two that we shall describe will,...
- Water
- A transparent fluid without colour, smell, or taste, and compressible only in a very slight degree; when pure, not liable to spontaneous change; liquid at the common temperature of our atmosphere, ass...
- Water-Closet
- It was not until that important little contrivance, called the water lute or air-trap was invented, (which we have described under the last-mentioned designation) that private dwellings could be even ...
- Water-Colours
- Pigments in which water is employed as the vehicle for painting with, in contradistinction to oil-colours, wherein oil is the vehicle the colouring matters are the same in both cases. For water-colour...
- Water-Mill
- Water-Mill is a general term applied to all mills moved by the force or weight of water; many of the mills or machinery described in the course of this work would be popularly called by the indefinit...
- Water-Wheel
- Water-Wheel in the common acceptation of the term, is an instrument by which the moving force of water is employed to communicate motion to machinery; there is, however, another class of water-wheels...
- Water-Wheel. Part 2
- To prevent this, the water is seldom permitted to run upon the wheel in a stream of more than from half an inch to an inch in thickness, and when well regulated there is scarcely a drop of water ineff...
- Water-Wheel. Part 3
- The three varieties of water-wheels already noticed, are the only ones gene-ially admitted into practice, and they do not admit of much improvement, since their principles must always remain the sam...
- Water-Works
- Water-Works denote all manner of works employed in raising or sustaining water; in which sense water-mills of all kinds, pumps, wheels, hydraulic engines, sluices, aqueducts, etc, described in variou...
- Wax
- An oily concrete matter, usually considered to be gathered by bees from plants; though Huber, who was a close observer of nature, and the habits of bees in particular, asserts that wax is an artificia...
- Weaving
- Weaving is the art of working a web of cloth from silk, cotton, or other fibrous thread, in a loom, with a shuttle. The principle of the art may be sard to consist in crossing two sets of threads at ...
- Weaving. Part 2
- L L is a frame moving on a centre at the top of the frame of the loom; L L are the two uprights of the frame; l is the bar that connects them; M is a frame carrying a great number of pieces of split r...
- Weaving. Part 3
- Power-looms, or such as are worked without the intervention of manual labour, were first suggested by Vaucausin, in 1747, but the subject was neglected until the year 1784, when the idea occurred to...
- Weaving. Part 4
- The intention of the diagram Fig. 3 is to show the method adapted by the patentee, for throwing the revolving shaft in and out of gear, and likewise to exhibit the mode by which the power is applied. ...
- Weaving. Part 5
- Fig 6. In a lecture delivered by Dr. Birkbeck, at the London Mechanics' Institution, on the subject of weaving, this loom was publicly worked, when it was found to weave at the rate of a yard and a...
- Wedge
- A simple machine, of great utility in cases where an immense pressure and little motion are required. The wedge may be considered a modification of the inclined plane, to which in many cases it is str...
- Weighing-Machines
- Weighing-Machines have been described by us under the article Balance, in which article, however, we have omitted a notice of the annexed singular but simple and useful contrivance, the invention of M...
- Weight
- The force by which bodies in air press towards the centre of the earth; and the measured quantity of that force, in any body, is the weight of it. The earliest attempt on record to define measure of c...
- Welding
- A term applied to a peculiar process of uniting pieces of iron together by heat and pressure. There are only two metals susceptible of this process, iron and platina. They are brought to a white heat ...
- Weld or Woald
- Weld Or Woald. A plant cultivated in many parts of this kingdom, for its yellow colouring matter. Two sorts of weld are distinguished, the bastard or wild, which grows naturally in the fields; and th...
- Whale-Fishery
- This subject being so intimately connected with our manufactures, we insert the following account of it. In the Greenland fishery by Europeans, every ship is provided with six boats, to each of which ...
- Wharf
- A firm landing-place, built beside the water for the convenience of loading or unloading ships, barges, or other vessels; and therefore usually furnished with cranes and various appendages, according ...
- Wheel And Axle
- A modification of the lever, by means of which a weight may be raised to a considerable height. A slight attention to the nature of the lever will show that the extent of its influence in space is ver...
- Wheel
- A circular frame, or solid disc, made of wood or metal, and turning upon an axis. There are a variety of kinds, but we shall in this place direct our attention to carriage wheels, to which the foregoi...
- Wheel. Part 2
- Having now described the several parts of an ordinary carriage wheel, excepting the axletree, and box, we refer the reader for information on those points to their initial letter (also to the articles...
- Wheel. Part 3
- Mr. Howard's invention has no reference whatever to the nave of the wheel, but is confined to an improved mode of combininga wheel at its periphery. He employs, as shown in the subjoined figure, repre...
- Wherry
- A small, shallow, light boat, made very sharp both at the head and the stern, and adapted for fast rowing and sailing, especially in tide rivers. ...
- Whirling-Table
- An instrument for illustrating the nature of the centripetal and centrifugal forces. The disposition which bodies have to fly off from the axis round which they revolve, may be beautifully exhibited, ...
- Whirlpool
- An eddy, vortex, or gulf, where the water is continually turning round. Those in rivers are very common, from various accidents, and are usually very trivial, and of little consequence. In the sea the...
- Whirlwind
- This meteorological phenomenon arises from the convergance of winds from all parts to one point on account of an extraordinary rarefaction of the air at that point. The currents acquire by their confl...
- Whiskey
- This species of ardent spirit is much used in this country as well as in Ireland. It varies considerably in the mode of preparation as well as in its strength and comparative value. One of the modes o...
- Wind
- Air put in motion by some physical cause, so as to become a current or stream. Winds are denominated according to the points from which they blow; see Compass. A variety of machines have been invented...
- Wind-Instruments
- An accurate acquaintance with the principles of acoustics is essential to the scientific construction of every species of musical instrument, but especially those which owe their operation to the acti...
- Windlass
- A machine used on board ships, chiefly for raising the anchor. It may be regarded as a modification of the mechanical power termed the wheel and axle, employed to raise buckets from wells, and for inf...
- Windmill
- A mill of any kind actuated by the impulse of the wind. They are of two kinds - vertical and horizontal. Vertical windmills (to which a decided preference has been hitherto given) usually consist of ...
- Window
- An aperture in the wall of a building, for the admission of light and air. Modern windows are almost uniformly furnished with glazed frames, that open and close, besides shutters and blinds, by which ...
- Window. Part 2
- 5x to admit screws to fit it. Its application to a sash is shown at d d. The groove may be cut in the side of the sash sufficiently deep for the whole to be buried when the spring is forced in, as t...
- Window. Part 3
- In the annexed engraving is represented a perspective view of the comer-house of a street, in which the metallic shutters and sun-blinds are exhibited as applied thereto. At a is a shop-window, and at...
- Wine
- A term applied by chemists to all liquids that have become vinous by fermentation; but it is popularly considered as confined to saccharine vegetable substances that have been converted into a vinous ...
- Wine. Continued
- This acid fermentation is very slow and insensible, when the wine is included in very close vessels, and in a cool place; but it gradually advances, so that in a certain time the wine, instead of bein...
- Wire
- Metallic threads, or fine rods, produced by forcibly drawing the ductile metals through a hole of less area than their previous transverse sections. The sizes of which wire are made are from three-eig...
- Wire. Part 2
- A band of iron is forged, of two inches broad, and one inch thick. This is prepared at the great forge. About a foot in length is cut off, and heated to redness in a fire of charcoal. It is then beate...
- Wire. Part 3
- When the plates have been repaired several times, they acquire a degree of hardness which renders it necessary to anneal them, especially when they pass from one size to another; sometimes they do no...
- Wood
- The ligneous matter forming the substance of trees. It is, in most cases, possessed of colour, taste, and smell, from the presence of extractive matter, mucilage, resin, or essential oil; and it is on...
- Wool
- The long, soft, curly hair, which covers the skin of sheep, and some other ruminating animals. Wool resembles hair in many respects; besides its fineness, which constitutes an obvious difference, ther...
- Wool. Part 2
- In spinning worsted by machinery, a sliver of wool is laid upon the drawing-frame, from whence it is conducted through several pairs of rollers, of which the operation of the first and last are the es...
- Wool. Part 3
- After The Press Has Been Screwed Down For A Sufficient Time, The Pressure Is Removed, And The Cloth Taken Out And Packed For Sale We have thus given an outline of the process of manufacturing of wool...
- Wool. Part 4
- The vat is then covered up very hot, and left to stand six hours, when it is raked again for half an hour, and this operation is repeated every three hours. When blue veins appear on the surface of th...
- Wool. Part 5
- The red colour of the flowers of carthamus is extracted by a weak alkaline ley, and precipitated by lemon juice or sulphuric acid, but is chiefly used for silk, and cotton. The precipitate is used in ...
- Writing
- The art of communicating our ideas to others by means of inscribed signs or characters. Amongst the various arts which have from time to time contributed to the improvement and advancement of society,...
- Writing. Continued
- Every nation, in its turn, contributed some letters to the common stock; in a happy moment it was discovered, that each monosyllable terminated by a sound which, with very little variation, was repeat...
- Xebec
- A three-masted vessel of a peculiar construction; chiefly employed in the Mediterranean. They are built extremely low, with a very convex deck, and carry a great press of sail. As the sea commonly bre...
- Yacht
- A sailing-vessel, fitted up with great elegance, and rqlete with conveniences. It is difficult to define any peculiarity belonging to them; as the term yacht is applied to so great a variety of fo...
- Yard
- An English lineal measure, containing three feet, or thirty-six inches; also 1760 yards make a mile. The square yard contains 3X3 = 9 square feet; 4840 square yards are an acre, and 3,097,600 a square...
- Yarn
- Flax, wool, or other fibrous matter, spun into a loose thread; of which cloth or cordage is made. The process in preparing yarn, has been generally treated under the various substances of which it is ...
- Yeast
- The scum thrown up in the fermentation of beer. See Barm. Fermentation, Bread, and Beer. ...
- Yttria
- A peculiar substance discovered in 1794, byGadolin: whether it be an earth or metal, the learned are not agreed. That great authority, Sir H. Davy, says that it consists of inflammable matter, metalli...
- Zaffre
- The residuum of cobalt, after the sulphur, arsenic, and other volatile matters of this mineral, have been expelled by calcination. The ores of cobalt are roasted in verberatory furnaces, provided with...
- New Zealand Flax
- The phormium tenax of naturalists. Its commercial name has been acquired from the circumstance of the natives of New Zealand employing it in the manufacture of their apparel, cordage, and all those pu...
- Zeine
- This name has been given to a substance obtained by Mr. Gerham from maize or Indian corn, by infusing it in water, then filtering and treating the undissolved matter with alcohol, and evaporating the ...
- Zero
- A scientific term applied to the commencement of a scale, and marked with an O. It is the point or beginning from which the scale or distances are graduated. Thus, the zero of Fahrenheit is 32o below ...
- Zimome
- The gluten of wheat treated by alcohol is reduced to the third part of its bulk. This diminution is owing, not merely to the loss of gliadine, but likewise to that of water. The residue is zimome, whi...
- Zinc
- A metal of a bluish-white colour; of considerable hardness, and so malleable, when pure, as not to be broken with the hammer, though it cannot be thus much extended. It is, however, easily rolled into...
- Zirconia
- A metallic substance, discovered in the jarzon of Ceylon, by Klaproth, in 1789. It unites with the acids, is insoluble in the pure alkalies, but soluble in alkaline carbonates. It does not melt before...
- Other Entries VolII
- Lamp-Black See Black. Marbling Of Books See Bookbinding. Marine Acid See Acid Muriatic. Mariner's Compass See Compass. Mosaic Gold See Aurum Musivum. Muriatic Acid See Acid, Muriatic. Musk...
My Books
