INTELLECT AND MACHINERY.

Dunstan Times, Issue 1086, 16 February 1883, Page 4

INTELLECT AND MACHINERY.

(English Journal.) , Few people »li, are accustomed to use articlei that are made Ey anachineiy li ve any distinct conception i»f the amount of ln’ain-work •involved in designing, making, and suc-■ce.-sfullv'working such machinery T.'ke, for example, such a t ivial thing as a pin. Machines are in use ■which, taking the wire from the c.>i', ■perform all the operations of heading, -cutting off, and pointing, as the un■err ng feed-rolls carry forward the ■material and after this a machine is 'used which sticks the pins upon the papers in rows at the rate of I6uo .pins per minute. Going a step higher, we may note how machine screws are produced—a still more wonderful process There are machines which, with no outside ■assistance, transform an entire Ear or rod of iron, steel, or othei material into screws ready for use, to accomplish wh ch there must I e a teed, ■carrying forward the irquired length of material at the proper time, a gapping device to close the jaws of a revolving chuck, following winch an regular order are the successive motions required to turn the head to an exact size, the body and the part tft be thread d differing in size, and each calling for an operation, after which the screw is thieaded, and on being •cut off is carried Ey lingers of steel to another part of the machine, where a revolving saw completes the process by perloiming the operation of nick ■lug- In fact in the manufacture of a great variety of goods from s t-et metal or wire, which but a few years since involved many successful operations of feeding by hand, to be operated upon Ey foot presses, we now see automatic machines, whic.i, taking the metal from he sheet, or the who from the coil, in some cases both sheet metal and wire, tor work combining the two, and in place ot five or six noisy, cluttering foot presses, each -opeiated Ey an adu t, one machine attended by a mere child is performing the operations of all more rapidly and pro. ucing superior goods. How have such marvellous apparatus been devised 1 To aecompiis i these wonderful results there have •been in many cases years of the most exhausting mental exertion, coupled with costly experiments, while to 8 rue i vento s there seems to ba\e been granted the faculty of seeing th; end from the beginning. Let us »o.k at a machine in which there are several succeeding operations, and consider h<-w close must be the calculation of the designer who is caps, -le of arranging all the deiaii of worm and gear, cams, screws, levers, and springs, to such « nicety as to be able to fix the shape and dimensions of each upon paper, even to an arbitrary Ulia justalne position for eaCn piece, in a combination invol ing an unerring perionn-uice at the exact instant ot lime, to never interfere one With another, of the succ ss.Ve operations of feeding, cut ing off, or c .tting out, forming, bending, hea dug, pointing, piercing, turning, nicking, and thread, ing, with others equally difficult. Many are the sleepless hours of the night p.isst d by tho-e who arrange in the position of<cams or ocher governing parts ot automatic machinery, only to find on attempting, b day to fix on paper ihe re ults of their study tbac what looked so simple and easy of accomplishment ‘‘ will not work.” ’■l hits, for months or \ ears, the inventor continues working -out his problems on paper, or in metal, or wood, as his taste cr acquirements us a draughtsman or mechanic dictate, but however the results are attained, ■they must be forced by brain work of the hardest, most exhaust.ng .character. Hefiective people will bear this in ■mind when estimating the merits of the inventor or manufacturer of a new and useful machine. For our own part we do not think that thee is sufficient credit given to the designer and the machauic who has skill to construct such machines ; and again the admiration that is some times expressed is not adt quale. Let us not forget that ven machines are made and driven by briiins. c