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The Engineer's And Mechanic's Encyclopaedia Vol1 | by Luke Hebert |
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Comprehending Practical Illustrations Of The Machinery and Processes Employed In Every Description Of Manufacture Of The British Empire.
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. I.
" 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.
Preface To The New Edition- The rapid progress of Mechanical Science has developed many most important facts since the first publication of this Encyclopaedia. The inventions and discoveries recently made have engaged the sedulo...
- The Iron Tubular Bridge Over The River Conway
- This surprising and unique example of engineering skill has been constructed across the river Conway, and forms a portion of the Chester and Holyhead line of railway. The enormous iron tube, or more p...
- A Curious Clock By Isaac Habrecht, Anno 1589
- Isaac Habrecht's Curious Clock. This ingenious piece of workmanship was for more than two centuries in the possession of the Court of the Popes of Rome; and was subsequently the property of Wil...
- Abacus
- An instrument employed by the ancients for facilitating calculations; similar to that now frequently employed for teaching children the rudiments of arithmetic, and which is commonly sold in our stat...
- Abattoir
- A name given by the French to their commodious public slaughter-houses. The many serious evils occasioned by the driving of cattle and other animals intended for the food of the people, through the cr...
- Absorbing And Productive Cascade
- an apparatus of great utility and elegance, invented by M. Clement. It is known that the absorption or solution of the gases takes place in proportion to the pressure on the absorbing liquid, the exte...
- Abutment
- Abutment is a term commonly applied by engineers to those fixed parts of mechanism whence a resisting or reacting force is obtained. Thus each of the ends of the cylinder of a reciprocating steam engi...
- Acceleration
- Acceleration is the increase of velocity in a moving body, caused by the continued action of the motive force. When bodies in motion pass through equal spaces in equal times, or, in other words, when ...
- Accordion
- A musical instrument, of the class called Free-reed instruments, in which the sound is produced by the vibrations of thin tongues or slips of metal. The invention is very recent, of German origin,...
- Acoustics
- See PHONICS. In this place we take the opportunity of introducing a notice of an extraordinary machine lately invented by Professor Faber, and now being exhibited in this country. It is called the Eup...
- Acetates
- The salts formed by the combination of the acetic acid with alkalies, earths, and metallic oxides. See their different bases, and the article, Acid, Acetic ...
- Achromatic
- A term applied to those lenses of telescopes, and other optical instruments, in which the aberrations of light common to ordinary lenses are remedied, and the colours justly reflected. ...
- Acids
- A most important class of chemical compounds, which have for the most part the following properties. They have a sour, or sourish taste, the stronger kinds being acrid and corrosive. They change the v...
- Acetic Acid
- Acetic Acid, is the acid contained in common vinegar, but in a very dilute state, and in combination with other vegetable principles. It is found united with potash in a great variety of plants, also...
- Muriatic Acid
- Muriatic Acid, may be obtained by distillation from a mixture of common salt with clay or bole, which is the original process; but it is now only used where fuel and pottery earths are cheap, and oil ...
- Nitric Acid
- Nitric Acid may be made in various ways, but that most commonly employed is to decompose saltpetre, or nitrate of potash, by concentrated sulphuric acid, in an apparatus similar to that used in the pr...
- Sulphuric Acid
- Sulphuric Acid, is obtained either by simple distillation from copperas, (which was the original method,) or by the combustion of sulphur, in large leaden chambers, in combination with substances yie...
- Acre
- A measure of land, amounting to 4 square roods, or 160 square poles or perches. The English statute acre is about 3 roods and 6 falls standard measure of Scotland. The Welsh acre contains commonly 2 E...
- Adamant
- The ancient name of the diamond. This term is also sometimes applied to the scoria? of gold, and to a species of iron ore. ...
- Adamantine Spar
- There are two varieties of this important mineral known in Europe, one of which is brought from China, the other from India. They are both remarkable for their extreme hardness, which approaches to th...
- Adhesion
- Adhesion denotes a union, to a certain degree, between two distinct substances, and differs from cohesion, (with which the former word is often confounded,) inasmuch, as the latter term is alone prope...
- Adhesion of Iron Nails
- Adhesion of Iron Nails, in which Mr. Bevan's object was to determine, first, the adhesive force of different kinds of nails, when driven into wood of different species: second, the actual weight, with...
- Adhesion of Iron Pins
- The force necessary to break or tear out a half-inch iron pin, applied in the manner of a pin to a tenon in the mortice, has likewise obtained the attention of the same celebrated experimentalist. The...
- Adhesion of Glue
- Mr. Bevan glued together by the ends two cylinders of dry ash wood, one-fifth of an inch in diameter, and about 8 inches long. After they had been glued together twenty-four hours, they required a for...
- Adhesion of Sealing-Wax
- The best red sealing-wax was proved to have a cohesive force equal to l,5001bs. per square inch, and the black sealing-wax was rather more than 1,000 lbs. to the square inch; the deficiency in the lat...
- Aeolian Harp
- Aeolian Harp, or harp of AEolus, is a musical instrument, which probably received its name from the effects produced upon it by the air without human aid. It consists of a slight box of fibrous wood,...
- Aeolipile
- Aeolipile. A name that has been given to an instrument variously modified, for converting in a close vessel water into steam. The first individual who used it, appears to have been Hero the elder, a ...
- Aerated Waters
- This term being popularly applied to a variety of acidulous and alkaline beverages more or less impregnated with fixed air, or carbonic acid gas, we introduce our article on the subject in this place;...
- Aerometer
- An instrument, to which this name has been given by the inventor, Dr. M. Hall, for making the necessary corrections in pneumatic experiments to ascertain the mean bulk of the gases. It consists of a b...
- Aerostation
- The art of navigating the air in aerostatic machines. See Balloons. ...
- Agate
- A mineral whose basis is calcedony, blended with variable proportions of jasper, amethyst, quartz, opal, heliotrope, and carnelian. Ribbon agate consists of alterate and parallel layers of calcedony w...
- Agriculture
- Agriculture is the art of cultivating the earth, so as to preserve and increase the natural fertility of the soil, as well as to render sterile tracts productive of vegetation useful to man; and the ...
- Air
- Air, Atmospheric From the remotest antiquity, until a comparatively recent period, the air was considered as one of the four elements of which all things were compounded; and it was generally held to...
- Air-Beds
- A bag of the size of a bed, divided into several compartments, and rendered air-tight by a composition, of which caoutchouc, or Indian-rubber, forms the greatest part. This bag may be inflated by bell...
- Air-Fountain
- There are two kinds of fountains produced by the elastic pressure of the air. One consists in compressing the air in a close vessel, and causing it to act on the surface of the water as in the force p...
- Air-Gun
- A machine in which highly-compressed air is substituted for gunpowder to expel the ball, which will be projected forward with greater or less velocity, according to the state of condensation, and the ...
- Air-Pressure Engines
- Engines in which the difference of pressure of air of different densities is employed as a motive force. From the extreme lightness and mobility of air, it has been frequently proposed to employ it as...
- Pneumatic Transport
- In the year 1810, Mr. Medhurst took out a patent for conveying letters and goods by the pressure of air; and shortly afterwards he issued a prospectus, to show the practicability of conveying persons ...
- Pneumatic Transport. Part 2
- The sides of this cord, when not compressed, have a curved figure, as represented by the dotted lines: it is surrounded with a coat of felt, and on the top is attached a jointed band m of iron, resemb...
- Pneumatic Transport. Part 3
- Perspective sketch of a portion of a line of the pneumatic railway, exhibiting the governor dragging a train of carriages along it, representative of the working model referred to in the text. Fig....
- Pneumatic Transport. Part 4
- The air-pump is only occasionally required to be set to work. Fig.2. In 1828, Messrs. Parkinson and Crossley took out a patent for an air-engine, which differs considerably in the arrangemen...
- Air-Pump
- An instrument or machine for exhausting or rarefying the air in closed vessels, and very generally employed to illustrate the properties of air, and to explain the various phenomena connected with the...
- Air-Pump. Continued
- Fig. 3. Fig.4. Fig. 5. Fig. 2. Although the machine just described is equally adapted for condensing air as for rarefying it, by merely connecting the bent pipe with the oi...
- Air-Stove
- A stove, the heat: of which is employed to heat a stream of air directed against its surface. The principle of the construction is, to enclose the stove containing the fuel in a casing somewhat larger...
- Air-Stove. Continued
- It has been mentioned, that stoves are liable to the objection of sometimes causing an unpleasant sensation from the air becoming over-heated, or, as it is termed, burnt. This may be obviated by heati...
- Air Bags
- A bag of the size of a bed, divided into several compartments, and rendered air-tight by a composition, of which caoutchouc, or Indian-rubber, orms the greatest part. This bag may be inflated by bello...
- Air Vessel
- Air Vessel, in hydraulics, a contrivance to continue the flowing of water after the impelling force has ceased to act, as in the return stroke of a forcing pump, or in Bramah's hydrostatic press, thu...
- Air Trap
- A contrivance for excluding the effluvia arising from drains, etc. The most simple and effectual trap for this purpose consists of what is termed a water joint, which may be variously arranged. Fig. 1...
- Air Thermometer
- The great sensibility of air to the influence of heat, has induced the chemist to employ it in substitution of mercury and spirit of wine in the construction of thermometers. The instrument is exhibit...
- Alarm
- Alarm, or ALARUM, is a term applied to a variety of instruments constructed for the purpose of producing sufficient sound or noise to awaken a person from sleep, or otherwise to give notice of some o...
- Albumen
- A viscous ropy fluid, found in its greatest purity in white of eggs, from whence it derives its name. The serum or colourless part of the blood, the crystalline humours of the eye, and all animal matt...
- Alchemy
- The word is derived from the Arabic al (the) and kemia (excellent), and signifies the most exalted science. It is a branch of chemistry, the objects of which were the transmutation of inferior metals ...
- Alcohol
- The purely spirituous part of liquors, which have undergone the vinous fermentation. It is the product of the saccharine principle formed by the successive processes of vinous fermentation and distill...
- Alcohol. Part 2
- The worm is a long tube, generally made of pewter, of a gradually decreasing diameter, and is curled round into a spiral form; it is enclosed in a tub which is kept filled with cold water during the d...
- Alcohol. Part 3
- A number of spiral pipes surround the tub on the inside, the ends of only two of which are shewn in the figure to avoid confusion. Now, as the upper part of the tub is always the warmest, a current of...
- Alcohol. Part 4
- A number of bent tubes, as at H, are fixed in the annular plate, which covers the receiver at B with their upper ends, a little above the surface, which serve to carry off the condensed liquid back in...
- Alcohol. Part 5
- The continuous motion of the liquid prevents the formation of empyreuma, however fierce the fire may be; and by the agitation of the liquid, and the intensity of the heat applied, a rapid production o...
- Alcohol. Part 6
- We have already mentioned the pulp of potatoes as amongst the substances from which alcohol may be obtained; and the manufacture has been for some time past carried on in various places with great...
- Alcohol. Part 7
- For a further account of distillatory apparatus, we refer our readers to the article Distillation, under which head will be found a description of a great variety of stills and apparatus connected the...
- Alcohol. Part 8
- It has been ascertained that bladder is impervious to alcohol, although pervious to water; so that if a portion of alcohol be confined in a bladder, the water will be evaporated in the course of a few...
- Alcohol. Part 9
- From the circumstance of alcohol boiling at a temperature considerably below the boiling point of water, many persons have supposed that its vapour might be advantageously substituted for steam as...
- Alcohol. Part 10
- The following diagram presents an outline of an arrangement for avoiding this, and producing a double action, a a are the vapour vessels; b is the piston cylinder; c the piston working horizontally. T...
- Ale
- The name given to a species of malt liquor. See Beer. ...
- Alembic
- The name formerly given to a common distillatory apparatus, now termed a still. See Alcohol and Distillation. ...
- Alkali
- The term is derived from an Arabic word kali, the name of a plant containing an alkali. The alkalies possess these general properties in their pure state. They are caustic and acrid to the taste. They...
- Alkalimeter
- An instrument for ascertaining the strength of alkalies. The best, perhaps, is a tube graduated into a number of equal parts. Acid of a known specific gravity, diluted with water, and coloured with in...
- Alkanet, Or Bugloss
- A genus of the Monogynia order, belonging to the Pentandria class of plants. It is found chiefly in the warmer regions of the continent; that which grows in England is inferior in the colouring power...
- Alloy
- A combination of two or more metals. The term is sometimes employed to denote the inferior metal combined with gold or silver. Thus it is said the standard gold of jewellers is 18 carats of gold and 6...
- Alloy. Part 2
- Manheim Gold Three parts copper, 1 part zinc, and a small quantity of tin If these metals are pure, and are melted in a covered crucible containing charcoal, the alloy bears so close a resemblance ...
- Alloy. Part 3
- Common Pewter Seven lbs. tin, 1 lb. lead, 6 oz. copper, and 2 oz. zinc. The copper must be first melted before the other metals are added. Best Pewter One hundred parts tin, and 17 parts anti...
- Almond
- The well-known kernel of certain fruit trees, of which there 's great variety. Almonds contain a considerable quantity of oil, on which account they are chiefly valuable. As an article of food, they p...
- Aloes
- The aloe is a plant of the Monogynia order, belonging to the Hexandria class. The medical substance called aloes, is the inspissated juice of the plant. There are three sorts of this, viz. socotrina, ...
- Altitude
- The height of any place or thing; one of the three dimensions of solid bodies; elevation of the celestial bodies, etc. In geometry, the altitude of a figure, or a solid, is the perpendicular distance ...
- Alto Fagotta, Or Octave Fagotta
- A new musical instrument. It is very sonorous, the upper notes approximating closely to those of a horn, though much softer; the lower notes blending very harmoniously with those of the voice, piano-...
- Aludel
- The recipient of vapourizing substances subjected to the operation of heat. They are generally of earthenware, and of various forms and size. Sometimes tubes are employed as aludels, and sometimes ves...
- Alumina
- A primitive earth existing in great abundance in clays, earths, ochres, rocks, etc. Soils containing much of this substance are called argillaceous. It is found in a state of great purity in many prec...
- Alum
- Alum, a triple salt of great importance in the arts, is composed of sulphuric acid, alumina, and potash. It is sometimes found native, but only in small Quantities, and is artificially manufactured, ...
- Amadou
- This substance is, perhaps, better known by the familiar appel Or,Sulphate of alumina..................... 36.85 Sulphate of Potash...................... ...
- Amalgam
- A combination of mercury with any other metal. ...
- Amber
- A hard, solid, semi-transparent substance, found in several mines of Prussia, in a bed of argillaceous mineral. It is also found in Poland, France, Italy; on the shores of the Baltic and Mediterranean...
- Ambergris, Or Ambergrease
- A solid, opake, fatty substance, found on the sea-coast, or sometimes floating on the sea, chiefly in the tropical regions. It is of various colours, but generally of a deep ash-coloured yellow. It i...
- Amethyst
- A natural gem, of a violet colour and great brilliancy, as hard as the ruby or sapphire, from which some say it only differs in colour. The Asiatic are of a deep purple hue, and are deemed the most va...
- Ammonia
- A powerful alkali, sometimes called the volatile. In its pure state it is a gas transparent and colourless, and possessing all the mechanical properties of ordinary atmospheric air. Its smell is punge...
- Ammoniac Gum
- Ammoniac Gum is a concrete gummy-resinous juice. This gum has a nauseous sweetish taste, succeeded by a sensation of bitter, somewhat resembling galbanum, but more grateful. It is usually brought fro...
- Anacardium
- The cashew-nut tree; a genus of plants of the class Enneandria, and order Monogynia. At one extremity of the fruit of this tree there is a flattish kidney-shaped nut, between which and the shell is a ...
- Anaclastic Glasses
- A kind of sonorous glasses, chiefly made in Germany. They have the property of being flexible, and emitting a vehement noise by the human breath. The anaclastic glasses are a low kind of phials, with ...
- Anaclastics
- That part of Optics which considers the refraction of light, and is commonly called Dioptrics. ...
- Anchor
- A heavy curved instrument, used for retaining ships in a required position. The forms of anchors, and the materials of which they are made, are various. In many parts of the East Indies the lower part...
- Anchor. Continued
- An anchor, differing materially in form and construction from the ordinary, was invented by Mr. R. F. Hawkins, and is represented in the subjoined engravings. The shank of the anchor a is forked at th...
- Anchusa
- Yellow anchusa, or blue-flowered bugloss. The juice of its corolla or flower, gives out, on the addition of acids, a beautiful green. An infusion of these flowers is given in inflammatory bilious dise...
- Anil
- The plant from which indigo is prepared. See Indigo. ...
- Anime
- Anime is a resinous substance, commercially, but improperly, called gum anime; for, like resins, it is totally soluble in alcohol, and also in oil, while water will not take up more than a sixteenth ...
- Anemometer
- An instrument for measuring the strength or velocity of the wind. Among various machines which have been constructed for this purpose, the following one has been found to answer very well. It consists...
- Aniseed
- A medicinal seed produced from a species of pimpinella which grows naturally in Egypt, Syria, and other eastern countries. In France it is cultivated for culinary and medicinal uses. Aniseeds are roun...
- Annealing
- The process by which metallic, and other mineral productions, are converted from a brittle to a comparatively tough quality, presumed to be caused by a new arrangement of their constituent particles. ...
- Annotta
- The pellicles of the seeds of a lilaceous shrub. The annotta commonly met with among us, is moderately hard, of a brown colour en the outside, and a dull red within. It is used for giving an orange ca...
- Anthracite
- A species of coal called by a variety of names, of which the most common are, stone coal, blind coal, glance coal, Kilkenny coal. There are several varieties, and they possess generally the property o...
- Anti-Attrition
- A patent for a composition under this name was taken out in this country some years back: it was introduced as a substitute for oil or grease, in lubricating the axle-trees of carriages, and is, of co...
- Antimony
- A brilliant white metal of a laminated or striated texture. It is very brittle, and cannot be rolled into sheets, or drawn into wire. The spec. grav. of the metal, is 6.712; it melts at 810, and ...
- Anvil
- A large solid mass of iron, of indispensable use in smiths', as well as many other workshops, for hammering or forging work upon. They are made of various sizes, from the weight of a few pounds (or ev...
- Apiaries
- A place where bees are kept; the term is considered to apply to a collection of hives, and not to a single one. See Beehive. ...
- Apollonicon
- A musical machine, on the principle of the organ, which, by peculiar modification of the pipes, produces an excellent imitation of the tones of all the most admired wind instruments; the combined effe...
- Apollonicon. Part 2
- To remedy this, the cylinder is allowed to move endways in its bearings, a space equal to the distance between two keys; on its axis is cut a screw, containing nine threads, and the bevelled edge of a...
- Apollonicon. Part 3
- Now when the tooth of the key is raised by one of the studs of the barrel passing under it, the other end of the key is depressed, and drawing down the piece g, shifts the lever e into the position sh...
- Aqua Fortis
- The old and still popular name for nitric acid. The article sold in the shops under this name is generally prepared by mixing common nitre with an equal weight of sulphate of iron, and half its weight...
- Aqua Regis
- This having been the first solvent that was discovered for gold, the king of metals, was called by this name, signifying the king'3 water. The original and proper aqua regis is made by adding four oun...
- Aqua Vitae
- Ardent spirit of the first distillation has been distinguished in commerce by this name. The distillers of malt and molasses spirits call it low wines. ...
- Aqueduct
- A conduit for water, constructed of different materials, built on uneven ground, for preserving the level of water, and conveying it from one place to another. Aqueducts art- distinguished into two cl...
- Arabic Gum
- This gum, which flows naturally from the acacia, in Egypt, Arabia, and elsewhere, forms a clear transparent mucilage with water: it is insoluble in alcohol and ether. It is used in medicine, and is co...
- Arch
- Arch, or Arc In geometry, a part of a curve line, as of a circle or an ellipse, etc. Arch, in architecture, an aperture, the upper portion of which is bounded by curve lines, as we see in porches, br...
- Archil
- A whitish lichen, growing upon rocks in the Canary and Cape Verd Islands, which yields a rich purple tincture, fugitive, indeed, but extremely beautiful. This weed is imported to us as it is gathered:...
- Argal
- Crude tartar, in the state in which it is taken from the inside of wine vessels, is known in the shops by this name. ...
- Aromatic Vinegar
- An acetic solution of camphor, oil of cloves, oil of lavender, and oil of rosemary; a sufficient quantity of each to make it pleasant. ...
- Arrach
- A spirituous liquor, imported from the East Indies; it is chiefly manufactured at Batavia and at Goa, upon the Malabar coast. ...
- Arrowroot
- The pure starch of a bulbous-rooted plant, growing in the West Indies, and other warm climates. The starch of the potatoe has precisely the same properties, and, from the superior cheapness of the lat...
- Artesian Wells
- A name given by the French, and extensively adopted here, to artificial fountains, made by boring the earth, and permitting the confined water to rise. See Boring the Earth. ...
- Arcograph
- An instrument for drawing a circular arc without a central point. There are various ways of performing this, but the following is the most simple, and is often practised by bricklayers and masons. Two...
- Arsenic
- A brittle metal of a bluish white colour, possessing very little lustre. By exposure to the atmosphere it becomes nearly black, and slightly pulverulent. It is very fusible, and is frequently employed...
- Asafoetida
- Asafoetida is the concentrated juice of a large umbelliferous plant, which is found in several parts of Asia. The root is of a black colour, and resembles a parsnip; on cutting this transversely, a t...
- Asbestos (Amianthus)
- A fibrous mineral, found in large quantities in Corsica. It is also procured from Savoy, France, Scotland, Sweden, and other places, but is nowhere so abundant as in Corsica. The fibres of asbestos we...
- Asphaltum
- Called also mineral pitch, Jew's pitch, and bitumen, is a hard black substance, resembling pitch in appearance, but having a higher internal polish. It is found on the shores of the Dead Sea, in China...
- Artillery
- Artillery, in its most extended sense, is applied not only to the guns, projectiles, powder, carriages, etc. used in warfare, but to the men employed in working them. Military engineering, however, n...
- Assay
- The separation of a valuable metal from its alloy or impurities. The art of assaying differs from that of analysis in this respect: by analysis the various component parts of the mineral or alloy are ...
- Astringent
- A substance possessing a peculiar rough austere taste. This is remarkable in the tincture of galls, bark, the husks of walnuts, green tea, port wine, etc. Leguin first observed that the astringent pri...
- Astroscope
- An astronomical instrument, composed of two cones, on whose surfaces are exhibited the stars and constellations, by means of which they are both easily found in the heavens. ...
- Athanor
- A kind of furnace, which has long since fallen into disuse. The very long and durable operations of the ancient chemists rendered it a desirable requisite that their fires should be constantly supplie...
- Atmometer
- The name given to an instrument, by its inventor, Professor Leslie, to measure the quantity of exhalation from a humid surface in a given time. A thin ball of porous earthenware, 2 or 3 inches in diam...
- Attar Of Roses
- An essential oil, obtained from roses, of great value, and possessing wonderful odoriferous properties. Gareepon is celebrated throughout India for the beauty and extent of its rose gardens; the rose-...
- Attraction
- Attraction denotes the tendency which is observed in bodies to approach and adhere to each other; it is also sometimes employed to signify the unknown cause of this tendency. It assumes various names...
- Auger
- The name of a very efficient instrument, extensively used by carpenters, and other mechanics, for boring holes in wood. There are several varieties adapted to their peculiar offices, or to the prejudi...
- Auger For Making Square Holes
- It appears that endeavours to supersede the tedious and somewhat difficult process of truly forming square and other shaped boles, varying from the circular, by means of mortice-chisels, were made bot...
- Aurum Musivum
- Aurum Musivum, or Mosaicum, is a combination of tin and sulphur, having the appearance of bright gold in powder. It is used by japanners, and for varnished works, as snuff-boxes, tea-trays, etc, also...
- Automaton
- In the strict sense of the word, a piece of mechanism in which the effects are produced by some inanimate force contained within it; the word is, however, more commonly used to signify a piece of mech...
- Axe
- A heavy steeled instrument, employed for cutting down trees, and by carpenters and other mechanics for cutting large masses of wood, when attention to much exactness is unnecessary, or the saw cannot ...
- Aviaries
- A place appropriated to the feeding and rearing of birds, sufficiently extensive to allow them scope for flight The inclosure is usually made of net-work, duly supported, but preferably of wire-work. ...
- Axiom
- A self-evident truth, or one that neither requires nor admits of a proof, because it cannot be made plainer by demonstration; as, for instance, a whole is greater than a part. ...
- Axis
- Axis, in Geometry, is the straight line about which a plane figure revolves, so as to produce or generate a solid; or it is a straight line drawn from the vertex of a figure to the middle of the base...
- Axle-Tree
- The pivot, or centre, upon which a carriage wheel turns. They were formerly made of wood, and, we believe, are to this day, in some parts of the country, but are now generally constructed of iron. Num...
- Axle-Tree. Continued
- This lubricating arrangement is, evidently, applicable to both kinds of axles, but the other part of the contrivance, which has for its object the better security of the wheel, and the prevention of e...
- Azimuth
- Azimuth, in Astronomy, is an arch of the horizon intercepted between the meridian of a place, and the azimuth, or vertical circle, passing through the given object; or it is the angle formed at the z...
- Azote, Or Nitrogen
- The phlogisticated air of Dr. Priestley. It contains four-fifths of atmospheric air, and one-fifth of oxygen. See Chemistry, and Nitrogen Gas. ...
- Azure
- The blue colour of the sky, and the name given to a celebrated Egyptian pigment, which has preserved its brilliancy of tint for upwards of seventeen hundred years. The late Sir Humphrey Davy, who expe...
- Azure-Stone
- Azure-Stone, or Lapis-Lazuli, is a massive mineral, of a fine azure blue colour. Lustre, glistening. Fine grained, even fracture. Scratches glass, but scarcely strikes fire with steel. Opaque, or tra...
- Baking
- Baking, in its true sense, implies the process of applying a dry or scorching heat to any substance in a close vessel or chamber; but the term is generally understood to mean the art of preparing bre...
- Balance
- Balance. A simple machine, in which the lever is employed to determine the equality or difference of two given weights. Balances are of various kinds, differing in their form, and in the perfection o...
- Balance. Part 2
- The first of these conditions is fulfilled by making the points L and L', of hardened steel, and sharpened to a knife edge, like the point C, as, in this case, the motion of the beam will not sensibly...
- Balance. Part 3
- Balance Hydrostatic, is a balance furnished with apparatus adapted to ascertain the specific gravity of bodies, by weighing them in liquids, as well as in air. A common balance, of a good cons...
- Balance. Part 4
- The ancient balance was the statera, or steelyard, in which the arms are of unequal length, and one movable weight is used, placed at different distances from the centre of motion, or fulcrum. The ann...
- Balance. Part 5
- The goods are placed in the scale h, which may then be raised from the ground by turning the handles k k, which causes the screw i to enter the nut above. Machines on this principle are made of all si...
- Baling Machine
- A machine for raising water from the hold of ships. When, from the pumps being rendered useless by an accident, or from the extent of a leak, the water gains upon the pumps, the method usually resorte...
- Ballast
- Heavy substances placed in the lowest part of the hold of a ship, to preserve the vessel in an upright position, when under sail. It consists generally either of masses of cast-iron 3 feet long and 6 ...
- Ballast Lighter
- A vessel employed to remove sand, silt, or other depositions from the beds of rivers, harbours, docks, etc. which is effected as follows: The vessel, which is a species of open barge, being moored, a ...
- Ballista
- A machine used in ancient warfare for throwing stones or darts. It in some measure resembled the cross-bow, but possessed far greater projectile power. It has been thus described: An iron cylinder was...
- Ballistic Pendulum
- An ingenious machine, invented by Mr. Benjamin Robins, for ascertaining the velocity of military projectiles, or the force of fired gunpowder. It consists of a large block of wood, fixed to the end of...
- Balloon
- Balloon, in Chemistry, a glass vessel to receive the product of distillation. ...
- Air Balloon
- A bag made of silk, paper, or other light material, for containing heated air, or gas, of less specific gravity than the atmosphere. If the weight of the balloon, and of the heated air or gas which it...
- Air Balloon. Continued
- Mr. Blanchard applied a species of wings to the car, but was unsuccessful in hi3 attempt to travel against the direction of the wind; nor was Morveau more fortunate with large oars or sails, introduce...
- Ballustrade
- A series, or row, of ballusters, joined by a rail, serving both as a rest, and as a fence or enclosure, to stair-cases, balconies, etc. ...
- Balsams
- Balsams are vegetable juices, either liquid, or which spontaneously become concrete, consisting of a substance of a resinous nature, combined with benzoic acid, or which are capable of affording benz...
- Bamboo
- Bamboo is a native of the hottest regions of Asia. It is likewise to be found in America, but not in that abundance with which it flourishes in the old world. It is never brought into this country in...
- Bamboo Habit
- A Chinese contrivance, by which a person who cannot swim, may easily keep himself above water. Four pieces of bamboo, about a man's length, placed horizontally, and at right angles, in parallel pairs,...
- Bandannas
- A name given to a certain description of silk handkerchiefs manufactured in the East Indies, the patterns of which generally consist of square or circular spots, variously arranged upon a red, blue, o...
- Barilla
- A substance imported, in considerable quantities, from Spain, and extensively used in soap-works, glass-works, and various other chemical arts. It is obtained by the incineration of the salsola soda, ...
- Barium
- A metal discovered by Sir H. Davy, in the earth barytes, in which it is combined with oxygen, thus constituting a metallic oxide. The following is the mode of obtaining it: take pure barytes, make it ...
- Bark
- In Botany, the outer skin or covering of trees, the ingredients composing which vary much in the different species, which are, accordingly, applicable to various purposes of the aits. Some are highly ...
- Barker's Mill
- A simple and ingenious hydrostatic machine, invented more than a century ago, by Dr. Barker, and forming one of the most simple water mills ever constructed. It has been rarely introduced in practice,...
- Bark Stove
- Bark Stove is a kind of hot-house, containing a bed of tanners' spent bark, mixed, according to circumstances, with a proportion of earth and other matters, in which are placed the plants, in pots or...
- Barley
- A well known kind of grain, chiefly used in this country in the preparation of malt, for which see Malting. The meal is also used in bread and soups. Whiskey, gin, and other spirits, are distilled fro...
- Barm
- Barm, or Yeast, is a substance which separates under the form of a froth, more or less viscid, from all the juices and infusions which experience the vinous fermentation. It is commonly procured from...
- Barometer
- An instrument by which the pressure or elasticity of the air is ascertained. It consists essentially of a glass tube, not less than 34 inches in length, closed at one end. The tube is completely fille...
- Barometer. Part 2
- From this arrangement, it will be seen that every division on the vernier will be the tenth part of 11 tenths of an inch, or every division is equal to 11 hundredths of an inch, and, consequently, eve...
- Barometer. Part 3
- On the other hand, if the atmospheric pressure decrease, the surface at c will rise, and, with the assistance of the counterpoise w force up the iron ball, and, by this means, turn the pulley and inde...
- Baroscope
- An instrument for shewing the weight of the atmosphere, frequently confounded with the Barometer: the former, however, only proves that the atmosphere has weight; while the latter determines its true ...
- Barrel
- This article, as made by coopers, is too well known to need a description; but the air and water-tight metallic barrels employed in the British navy for preserving provisions, from their peculiarity o...
- Barrow
- A machine for carrying loads by manual labour. Barrows are of two classes: hand-barrows, and wheel-barrows. Hand barrows consist merely of a small platform attached to two poles projecting equally fro...
- Barytes
- An alkaline earth, most commonly found combined with sulphuric acid, forming sulphate of barytes, or heavy spar. The experiments of Sir H. Davy show barytes to be an oxide of a metal to which he gave ...
- Basaltes
- Basaltes, in Natural History, a heavy hard stone, most commonly black, or greenish, consisting of prismatic crystals, the number of whose sides is uncertain. It is distributed over the whole world, b...
- Base
- Base is a term usually applied to the lowest part of any thing; thus, in Geometry, it is the lowest side of the perimeter of a figure; in Architecture, the lowest part of a column, or pedestal; in Bu...
- Basket
- A fabrication woven of straw, rushes, canes, and other elastic materials; but, in this country, principally of willow; which last, according to their growth, are called osiers and sallows. Osiers for ...
- Bassoon
- Bassoon, a musical wind instrument, blown with a reed, furnished with eleven holes, and used as a bass to hautboys, flutes, etc. ...
- Bassorine
- A name given to a substance which is extracted from the gum resins, by successively treating them with water, alcohol, and ether. The bassorine being insoluble in these liquids, remains mixed merely w...
- Bath
- A receptacle of water in which to plunge, wash, or bathe the body. The practice of bathing, although not so common in this country as on the continent, is daily becoming more general; and, in most lar...
- Baths
- Baths in Chemistry, a contrivance for subjecting different substances either to a steady heat, not liable to sudden fluctuations, or to a temperature which shall never exceed the boiling point of wat...
- Battering Ram
- An ancient military engine, used for destroying the walls of fortified places, but which, since the invention of gunpowder,;s no longer used for that purpose, as, by means of cannon, the attack can be...
- Beam
- Beam, in Building, a piece of timber resting upon walls, and used to support the floors or fronts of houses, to suspend weights from, etc. The strength of beams to each other is inversely as the leng...
- Beam. Continued
- The cut on the left represents one of the iron girders employed in building the London University. The whole length is 36 feet, and cast in one piece; it rises in the middle about 25 inches, a...
- Bedstead
- The forms of bedsteads are so numerous, and at the same time, so well known, as to render description at once tedious and unnecessary; we shall, therefore, merely notice a bedstead designed especially...
- Beehive
- An artificial habitation for bees, usually constructed of straw. This description of hive is so well known, that we shall only remark upon one or two essential points. First, care should be taken to h...
- Beer
- A fermented liquor, which is most commonly prepared from malted barley, although it is sometimes made from other kinds of grain, either raw, or malted, as wheat, maize, millet; also from sugar and mol...
- Beer Machine
- An ingenious contrivance, of comparatively recent introduction, for drawing beer from different casks, situated in an apartment or cellar beneath, without descending for that purpose; by which means m...
- Bell
- A hollow vessel of metal, formed to produce a sound by the act of striking it. The principal uses to which bells are applied, are to sound the hours, and to summon persons from a distance. The forms o...
- Bellows
- An instrument for directing a current of air against burning fuel, to increase the combustion. The ordinary bellows, for domestic use, are so well known, as scarcely to require description, consisting...
- Oil Of Ben
- This is obtained from the ben nut by simple pressure. It is remarkable for its not growing rancid in keeping, or at least not until it has stood for a number of years; and on this account it is used i...
- Benzoic Acid
- An acid commonly obtained from benzoin, although it exists in various substances, as vegetable balsams, cinnamon, the urine of horses, cows, etc. It is usually procured from benzoin, either by sublima...
- Benzoin, Or Benjamin
- A resin which exudes from incisions made in a certain species of tree growing in the East Indies, particularly Siam, and the island of Sumatra. This resin is moderately hard and brittle, and yields an...
- Beryl
- A precious mineral, commonly green, but of various shades, passing into honey yellow and sky blue. Its spec. grav. is 2.7. It differs from emerald in hardness and colour. It has been called aqua marin...
- Bevil
- An instrument for measuring and transferring the angle formed by two surfaces; it consists merely of two straight legs, turning upon a common centre, and is used by the two limbs coinciding with the s...
- Binnacle
- A small case, in which is placed the compass-box. It is fixed to the deck in front of the steersman, and is furnished with glazed apertures to admit light upon the compass, and exclude rain in the day...
- Binocular Telescope
- Binocular Telescope, is a telescope to which both eyes may be applied at once, and consequently, the same object observed at the same time with both. It consists of two tubes, with two sets of glasse...
- Bird-Lime
- The best bird-lime is made of the middle bark of the holly, boiled seven or eight hours in water, and, when soft, it is laid in pits in the ground, and covered with stones, and left to ferment till it...
- Biscuit
- A species of unleavened bread. There are several sorts of biscuit, each having a distinguishing name; but the most important, from its very great consumption, is the sea biscuit, destined for the use ...
- Bismuth
- A brittle metal, of a yellowish white colour; it is somewhat harder than lead, and melts at 480 Fahr. Urged by a strong heat in a close vessel, it sublimes entire, and crystallizes very distinctl...
- Bistoury
- Bistoury, in Surgery, an instrument for making incisions, of which there are different kinds, some straight and fixed in a handle like a knife; some are of the form of a lance, while others are crook...
- Bistre
- A brown pigment, consisting of the finest part of wood-30ot, pulverized, and passed through a fine sieve, then mixed with a little gum-water, made into cakes, and baked. It is a fine transparent colou...
- Bit
- The iron which is put into a horse's mouth, and to which the bridle is attached. There are various descriptions of bits, but they may all be ranged under two heads., the snaffle and the curb; in the s...
- Bittern
- The mother water which remains after the crystallization of common salt in sea water, or in the water of salt springs. It abounds with sulphate and muriate of magnesia, to which its bitterness is owin...
- Bitumen
- A term including a considerable range of mineral substances, which burn with flame in the open air. They vary, in consistency, from a thin liquid to a solid; but the solids are for the most part liqui...
- Blanket
- A warm, woolly sort of stuff, light and loosely woven, used in bedding. The manufacture is chiefly confined to Witney, in Oxfordshire, where it is the principal article of trade. The excellent quality...
- Blasting
- An operation resorted to in mines and quarries for the purpose of detaching large masses of earth or stones. The implements employed, (which are few and simple,) are shown in the engraving. Fig. 1. Th...
- Bleaching
- The art of freeing cloths and various other substances from their natural brown or dusky tinge, and rendering them perfectly white. The most ancient, and at one time the only known, method of bleachin...
- Bleaching. Part 2
- Mr. Tennant's patent for the liquid chloride of lime was afterwards set aside; but he subsequently obtained a patent for combining chlorine with lime in the dry state. This is a most valuable improvem...
- Bleaching. Part 3
- When the silk is taken out of this second water, they wring it hard with a wooden peg to press out all the soap and water; after which they shake it to untwist it, and separate the threads. It is then...
- Blinds
- Screens composed of various materials, and fixed in window frames, either to exclude a too strong light, or to screen the interior of an apartment from the observation of persons on the outside, witho...
- Block Machinery
- The machinery at the Royal Dock-yard, at Portsmouth, invented by Mr. Brunei, for manufacturing blocks, is deservedly celebrated. The following is a concise account of it. The machines are separated in...
- Block Machinery. Continued
- The fly-wheel is loose upon the shaft, which is attached to, or detached from, the fly-wheel, by a friction-clutch p, which enters the conical interior of the drum n, and which is moved by the levers ...
- Blocks
- Blocks, in the Navy, and Marine Architecture, a species of pulley very extensively used for moving heavy weights, by means of ropes or chains passing over the pulleys; also occasionally in architectu...
- Blood
- The principal use of blood in the arts is for making Prussian blue, or sometimes for clarifying certain liquors. It is also recommended in agriculture, as an excellent manure for fruit trees. A mixtur...
- Bloom
- A mass of iron after having undergone the first hammering, called bloomary. It requires many subsequent hammerings or rollings to render it fit for smiths' use. See Iron. ...
- Blotting Paper
- A species of paper made without size, serving to imbibe the wet ink in books of account, etc. See Paper Making. ...
- Blowing Machines
- Machines employed for producing a rapid combustion of fuel, by furnishing a more copious supply of air than can be obtained by the mere draft of the ordinary chimneys. Although the common bellows is u...
- Blow Pipe
- An instrument for exciting intense combustion upon a small scale; it is extensively used in many branches of the arts, and also in philosophical experiments upon metallic substances. In its simplest f...
- Blow Pipe. Continued
- In this state the instrument remained, until Mr. Goldsworthy Gurney applied himself to its improvement, and after numerous experiments, which are highly interesting, and are fully detailed in his publ...
- Blubber
- Blubber, in Physiology and Commerce, the fat which invests the bodies of all large cetaceous fishes, serving to furnish an oil. The blubber lies immediately under the skin, and over the muscular fles...
- Blue Pigments
- Prussian Blue A very fine blue pigment, extensively used in the arts. It is composed of prussiate of iron, and the earth precipitated from alum or pure alumine. It is commonly obtained by calcining...
- Boat
- A small vessel for the conveyance of goods or passengers to short distances, and which may be impelled either by oars or sails at pleasure. They are for the most part open or without decks; but the va...
- Life Boat
- A boat invented by Mr. Henry Greathead, of South Shields, for the purpose of preserving the lives of shipwrecked persons; and so well has it answered, and indeed, exceeded, every expectation in the mo...
- Boiler
- Boiler, in its most extended sense, implies any vessel employed for producing the ebullition of liquids; thus the ordinary domestic pots and kettles, brewing and washing coppers, as well as all kinds...
- Boiler. Part 2
- In fact, a spare boiler should be provided wherever stoppages are of serious importance in a concern. The strength of low-pressure boilers should be twice the regulated pressure on the safety-valve; b...
- Boiler. Part 3
- It is covered by a strong plate of iron bolted down, in which plate is usually fitted the atmospheric or vacuum safety valve z, which opens inwards by the pressure of the atmosphere, preventing the la...
- Boiler. Part 4
- Passing now under the seventh cylinder, the course of the flue is over the sixth, under the fifth, over the fourth, under the third, over the second, and partly over and partly under the first, when i...
- Boiler. Part 5
- The first we shall describe is the invention of Mr. W. H. James, patented in 1823. It consisted of a series of annular tubes of equal capacity and diameter, placed side by side, and bolted together, s...
- Boiler. Part 6
- The chambers b have direct communication one with another, by means of the vertical pipes c; d d, are two bent tubes, leading from b b into the steam vessels or separators e e (as Mr. Gurney calls t...
- Boiler. Part 7
- The object of the inventor in introducing such great masses of metal into his apparatus is not very apparent, unless it be the prevention of sudden and great variations of temperature in the tubes, wh...
- Boiler. Part 8
- Although the intelligent inventor of this apparatus was, as we are informed, unsuccessful in the introduction of it, yet it has strong claims upon the attention of engineers for the originality and in...
- Boiler. Part 9
- On account of the great deposition of salts, and other earthy matters, on the bottom and sides of boilers employed in steam boats at sea, it becomes expedient, in long voyages, to stop the progress of...
- Boiler. Part 10
- For the ready passage of the smoke, a temporary flue, which proceeds in a direct line to the chimney, is opened whilst lighting the fire, after which it is stopped by a damper or valve, which causes t...
- Boiler. Part 11
- In the description of the common waggon-shaped boiler in the early part of this article, the manner usually adopted of feeding boilers with water was explained. The necessity of a due supply of the fl...
- Bolognian Stone
- This stone is the ponderous spar, or native sulphate of barytes, the phosphoric property of which was first discovered by an Italian shoemaker. If it be first heated to ignition, then finely powdered,...
- Bolting Machine
- A part of the machinery of a flour mill, by which the flour is separated from the meal, which operation is termed dressing the flour. It usually consists of an hexagonal reel, over which is drawn a sa...
- Bombasine
- A well known stuff, produced by various mixtures of cotton and silk. ...
- Bone Ash
- The residue of burnt bones. The process is conducted in the open air, in large heaps, and the earthy salt which remains forms on an average about half the weight of the fresh bone. It is composed chie...
- Bones
- The hard insensible substance of which the frame or skeleton of animal bodies is formed. Although the proportion of the ingredients vary in the bones of different animals, as also in different parts o...
- Bookbinding
- Bookbinding is the art of securing together a number of separate leaves into one book, and is of very great antiquity, the invention being generally attributed to one of the kings of Pergamus, to who...
- Bookbinding. Part 2
- The remaining sections are then sewn, the thread being fastened through the catch-stitch of each preceding section. Care must be taken not to draw the thread of the catch-stitches too tight, but to...
- Bookbinding. Part 3
- But the most striking improvement is in a cutting-press recently constructed by an ingenious mechanic named Penny, which promises to be of great practical utility; for with this press, an indifferent ...
- Bookbinding. Part 4
- The part produced by working one silk over the other is called the braiding, which forms the principal beauty of the head-band, and should be ranged close down upon the leaves of the book on the insid...
- Bookbinding. Part 5
- Whole bound books are frequently very handsomely gilt on the sides as well as the back, frequently by running a broad gold roll round the edges of the cover, and sometimes by means of corner and centr...
- Bookbinding. Part 6
- Strong pieces of canvass or buckram are then glued at the top and bottom of the back, and between each of the vellum slips. A hollow back is prepared by taking a slip of milled board, about a quart...
- Boracic Acid
- An acid which, combined with soda, forms borax, or borate of soda. As obtained by the action of sulphuric acid upon a solution of borax, it is in the form of thin irregular hexagonal scales, of a silv...
- Borax
- A compound of soda and boracic acid, and of considerable use in various metallurgic operations. It enters into the composition of reducing fluxes, and is of the greatest use in analysis by the blow-pi...
- Boring Bit
- A tool or instrument used for making aper ures in wood, metal, or other hard substances. They are of various shapes, too common to workmen to need description; but one of a very peculiar and effective...
- Boring Machines
- A name usually confined to machines for giving a perfect form to metallic cylinders, as pump barrels, blowing machines, etc, which machines differ from lathes in the circumstance of the tool revolving...
- Boring Machines. Continued
- On the periphery of the block are eight notches, in which the cutters are fixed by wedges; l a bevelled wheel, and m a pinion by which a rotatory motion is given to the boring bar and cutter block, th...
- Bottle
- A vessel with a narrow mouth or aperture, used to contain liquids; and usually composed of glass or earthen ware. Under these two Leads will be found a description of the process of manufacturing them...
- Brake
- In Mechanics, a contrivance for retarding or arresting machinery in motion, by means of friction. It generally consists of a simple or compound lever, pressing forcibly upon the periphery of a broad w...
- Bran
- The inner husk or skin of wheat, which is separated from the flour by the boulting machine. It is employed in the manufacture of starch, and also by dyers in making what they call the bout water with ...
- Brandy
- The spirituous liquor obtained by distillation of wine, and which, by further concentration, may be converted into alcohol. The best brandy is made in France; that made in Spain and Portugal is distin...
- Brass
- An elegant yellow-coloured compound metal, consisting of copper combined with about one-third of its weight of zinc. The best brass is made by cementation of the ore of zinc with granulated copper. Se...
- Brazil Wood
- A red-coloured wood, chiefly used in the process of dyeing. The tree that affords it is the growth of the Brazils, in South America. The wood is capable of a good polish, and is so hard that it sinks ...
- Bread
- Various preparations of farinaceous substances bear this denomination; but those which are chiefly used in this country may be distinguished into three principal kinds. In the first, called unleavened...
- Bread. Continued
- The effect of this commencing fermentation is found to be, that the mass is rendered more porous by the disengagement of elastic fluid, which separates its parts from each other, and greatly increases...
- Wheaten Bread
- The nature of wheaten bread when raised with yeast has been explained already at the commencement of this article; but the importance of the subject demands a more exact account of the established pro...
- Rolls
- Mr. Edlin has likewise furnished the following mode of making rolls, as witnessed by him in a London bakehouse. The flour was sifted and mixed in the same manner as was done for the bread; at half-p...
- Substitutes For Wheaten Bread
- Numerous attempts have been made to find a substitute for wheaten bread, that should wholly or partially supply its place in times of scarcity. With this view, the annexed table has been prepared, by ...
- Barley Bread
- Next to wheat, barley is the most profitable of the farinaceous grains, and when mixed with a small proportion of that flour, makes a much cheaper, and as good bread as that grain, as respects its nut...
- Buck-Wheat Bread
- Buck-wheat is so little used as an aliment in this country, that there is little opportunity of studying its effects; but from all appearance, it has the common quality of other grain. In Norfolk it i...
- Rye Bread
- Bread from rye alone is not, we believe, eaten in this country, though in many parts of the north of Europe it is the ordinary diet of the people; a mixture of rye and wheat, however, forms excellent ...
- Rice Bread
- Boil a small quantity of rice in water until it becomes very thick and glutinous; with this solution knead up the rice flour in the trough, to which is to be added sufficient yeast and salt. The dough...
- Oat Bread
- Take a peck of oatmeal and an ounce of salt; stir them up into a stiff paste with warm water; roll it out into thin cakes, and bake in an oven, or over the embers. The Scotch peasantry live chiefly on...
- Bean Bread
- Bean flour does not essentially differ from other farina, but it has an unpleasant taste; this is, however, scarcely perceptible if the flour be steeped in water before it is used for making into brea...
- Potatoe Bread
- Pare the potatoes, boil them well, beat them to a pulp, and knead with double their weight of wheat flour, adding a sufficient quantity of yeast and salt; ferment, make up, and bake. The introduction ...
- Potatoe Bread. Continued
- The cistern is again filled with water as before, the hopper replenished with potatoes, and thus the grinding and washing away of the starch is alternately performed: this variation in the process aff...
- Breakwater
- An artificial wall or rampart carried nearly across the mouth of an open harbour or bay, to protect vessels moored behind it from the violence of the sea. The two most celebrated structures of this ki...
- Brewing
- The art of preparing ale or beer. The materials commonly used for this purpose are malted barley and hops. The ingredients serve as the basis of all ale and beer, and, indeed, are the only ones permit...
- Brewing. Continued
- After mashing, the tun is generally covered, to prevent the escape of heat, and the whole remains untouched until the insoluble parts separate from the liquor, when the wort is discharged into another...
- Brick
- A kind of factitious stone, made of a fatty earth formed into a parallelogram about 4 inches broad by 8 or 9 inches in length, by a wooden mould, and then baked or burnt either in a kiln or a clamp, t...
- Brick. Part 2
- To prevent the fire burning too furiously, the mouths of the flues are stopped with old bricks, and the outside of the whole clamp plastered with clay; and against any side particularly exposed to the...
- Brick. Part 3
- The horizontal wheel e worked by d actuates the shaft c bearing the knives in the pug mill. At the lower end of the shaft c is fixed the large circular revolving bottom plate it, the periphery of whic...
- Brick. Part 4
- The moulding boxes, immediately they are thus filled, are subjected alternately to the action of a steel scraper, which levels and smooths their surface, and is made to operate by the pressure of spri...
- Brick. Part 5
- The axes of the polygonal drums revolve in plummer-blocks, supported upon a strong frame s; but as the polygonal drums revolve in close contact, the plummer-blocks are free to slide in grooves in the ...
- Bridge
- A structure with one or more transverse apertures, raised for the convenience of passing a river, canal, valley, etc, and formed of various materials, as timber, stone, iron, etc. It is highly probabl...
- Bridge. Part 2
- The ascent on either side of the semicircular arches is by steps paved with small stones, and so steep that foot passengers only can go over the bridge. The first bridge over the Thames at London was ...
- Bridge. Part 3
- The length of the brick arches in the Surrey approach is 766 feet. Ditto......................................Strand approach.... 310 ...
- Bridge. Part 4
- In addition, there are four arches on the western side, and three on the eastern side of the main opening, each of 50 feet span The roadways consist of two carriage ways, each 12 feet in breadth, w...
- Bridge. Part 5
- By this mode of construction, it will be seen that the stress or pressure instead of acting upon the highest point of the structure (as in the case of bridges where the main chains pass over lofty tow...
- Brilliant
- The purest kind of diamond; which sec. ...
- Brine
- Water impregnated with saline particles, and is either native, as in the sea and in salt springs, or it is artificially formed by dissolving salt in water. ...
- Bronze
- A mixed metal, consisting chiefly of copper, with a small proportion of tin, and sometimes of other metals. It is used for casting statues, cannons, bells, and other articles, in all of which the prop...
- Building
- Building is the art of constructing edifices, the decorative part of which has received the more imposing name of Architecture. As the main design of this work is, however, to furnish the most extend...
- Building. Part 2
- Trusses are strong frames of carpentry, so contrived as to act like a solid body, and support certain weights at given immovable points, the truss being suspended from two such immovable points; they ...
- Building. Part 3
- The common facing stuff is composed of lime, one part, and earth, the same as that used for walling, three parts. These are mixed together, and slaked the same as mortar, and the more it is wetted and...
- Buoy
- A floating mark to point out the position of objects beneath the water, as shoals, anchors, etc.; also any light body used to support in the water another body, whose specific gravity exceeds that of ...
- Burning Glass And Burning Mirror
- Instruments for concentrating upon a very small surface the rays of the sun, which fall upon a much more extended one, by which means such an intense heat may be produced as to fuse, burn, or volatili...
- Button
- A fastening for various parts of dress. Buttons may be divided into two general classes, - those with shanks, or loops of metal, for the purpose of attaching them to garments, and those without shanks...
- Cable
- A rope of large diameter, by which ships are held to their anchors or moorings. The materials of which cables are formed are very various, as bass, hemp, sunn, and coir, or the husk of the cocoa nut, ...
- Cacao Nut, Or Cocoa
- An oblong roundish nut, nearly the shape of an almond, but larger; the shell dark-coloured, brittle, and thin; the kernel both externally and internally brownish. It is the produce of a small tree, th...
- Caisson
- A kind of chest-framed or flat-bottomed boat, sometimes used in laying the piers of bridges in deep or rapid rivers. The caissons for this purpose consist of a very strong platform of timber, to which...
- Calamine
- An ore of zinc, principally used in making brass. ...
- Calcination
- The process by which some bodies are rendered reducible to powder; it consists in exposing the substances to a strong heat, so as to dissipate the water of crystallization and other volatile portions....
- Calculating Machines
- Machines devised for facilitating arithmetical computations. From a remote period of antiquity, various mechanical devices were resorted to for this purpose. Amongst the Greeks and Romans, an instrume...
- Calculating Machines. Continued
- The outer circle, marked L, has a double line of numbers; the first half circle numbered 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and the second half marked 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90. The figures on A and ...
- Calendering
- The operation by which all accidental wrinkles and creases are removed from various kinds of cloths, and their surfaces rendered smooth and uniform previous to packing for transport: calicoes are like...
- Calico Printing
- The art of producing upon calico or cotton cloths patterns or designs combining a variety of colours, so as to produce an agreeable and pleasing effect. This ingenious business, as at present conducte...
- Calico Printing. Continued
- The pieces are then taken to the river or wash-wheels, to be more effectually cleansed, and afterwards passed through tepid water, in order to insure every impurity being removed. A quantity of madder...
- Callipers
- A sort of compasses, made with bowed or arched legs, and used for measuring the diameter of cylindrical bodies. ...
- Calomel
- Chloride of mercury, frequently called mild muriate of mercury. ...
- Caloric
- A modern term to denote heat, or the cause by which the phenomena of heat are produced. See Chemistry. ...
- Camber
- A term applied to that slight degree of arching which is usually given to beams, ...
- Camel
- A contrivance for lifting ships over a bar or bank obstructing the navigation of a river. It is used in Holland, and some other parts, particularly at the Dock at St. Petersburgh. A camel is composed ...
- Cameo
- The name given to stones of various colours, which contain ancient sculptures in relief. ...
- Camera Lucida
- An ingenious and elegant invention of the late Dr. Wollaston, for the purpose of facilitating the delineation of objects, by producing a reflected picture of them upon the paper. It consists of a soli...
- Camera Obscura
- Camera Obscura. An instrument for a similar purpose as the foregoing, but constructed upon different principles, the rays from the object being caused to pass through a convex glass, on to a white sur...
- Camphor
- There are two kinds obtained from the East, one from Sumatra and Borneo, the other from China and Japan It is extracted from the roots, wood, and leaves of the laurus camphora, the roots affording the...
- Canal
- An artificial cut in the ground, supplied with water from rivers or springs, etc. in order to form a navigable communication between one place and another, and also for supplying towns with water. The...
- Canal. Continued
- Before arriving at the top, the fore wheels open two latches l, having counterbalance weights, and both hind and fore wheels arrive together on the top of the horizontal line of rail. On drawing it fo...
- Candle
- A cylindrical mass of tallow, or other concrete oleaginous matter, having in its axis a cotton or other wick, and employed to afford artificial light Next to tallow, the substances most extensively us...
- Candle. Part 2
- Candles are made from spermaceti, the process being very similar to that employed in making them of tallow; they are also made of various mixtures of tallow, spermaceti, and wax; certain proportions o...
- Candle. Part 3
- We are not wholly indebted to the animal kingdom for a supply of the material for candles, several vegetable oleaginous substances having been recently introduced as valuable substitutes. On the 2d of...
- Candle. Part 4
- Both these products are of a yellowish brown colour, and require a process of bleaching to deprive them of it. We have seen candles made from the stearin of palm oil, which were very little inferio...
- Candle. Part 5
- From an experiment which we have witnessed with spermaceti candles, made by Mr. Miller according to the plan described, they appear to answer the purpose intended. Mr. John Murray, in a letter to t...
- Cannon
- In military affairs, a long cylindrical tube for throwing projectiles by the explosion of gunpowder, of such dimensions as to require to be supported upon a carriage, with liberty to recoil after firi...
- Canoe
- A sort of boat or vessel used by the natives of various uncivilized countries. They are generally composed of the trunk of a tree hollowed out, and are usually impelled by paddles instead of oars. The...
- Cantharides
- Insects vulgarly called Spanish flies: they are chiefly used on account of their vesicating or blistering properties. The insect is about two-thirds of an inch in length and one-fourth in breadth, obl...
- Cantilevers
- In architecture, pieces of timber projecting horizontally, used to support the eves of a house, a balcony, etc. ...
- Canvass
- A cloth of hemp, unbleached, and of various degrees of fineness; used principally to form the sails of ships, but also by painters, and for a variety of other purposes. ...
- Caoutchouc
- A soft, dense, elastic, resinous substance, usually called India rubber, but sometimes very improperly elastic gum. It is obtained from the milky juice of several plants, the chief of which are the Ja...
- Capillary Tubes
- Capillary Tubes, in Physics, are very small pipes, whose canals or bores are exceedingly narrow, their usual diameter not exceeding one-twentieth or one-thirtieth of an inch, and in some cases being ...
- Capstan
- A machine employed in large vessels, principally for heaving up or weighing the anchor. It consists of a drum or barrel, revolving upon an upright spindle, and having holes cut in the upper part or...
- Carabine, Or Carbine
- A fire-arm, something like a small musket; it is usually borne by cavalry soldiers, slung by a belt over the left shoulder. ...
- Caraway
- A plant much cultivated, particularly in Essex, for its seed, which is greatly esteemed for its agreeable flavour, pungent warmth, and medicinal properties. By distillation it affords an odoriferous e...
- Carbon
- The name given in the modern chemical nomenclature to a simple combustible, which constitutes a large portion of all animal and vegetable substances, and which is found in the greatest state of purity...
- Carbonates
- Compounds of carbonic acid with salifiable bases composed either of one prime of acid and one of base, or one of acid to two of base. The former set of compounds are termed carbonates, and the latter ...
- Carbonic Acid
- An acid composed of oxygen and carbon. It abounds in great quantities in nature, and appears to be produced in a variety of circumstances. It composes forty-four hundredths of the weight of limestone,...
- Carbonic Oxide
- A gaseous compound of oxygen and carbon, consisting by weight of 75 of the former, and 100 of the latter. Its spec. grav. is 0.9569. Carbonic oxide may be procured by subjecting to a strong heat in a ...
- Carbuncle
- An elegant gem whose colour is deep red, with an admixture of scarlet. It is usually found pure and faultless, and is of the same degree of hardness as sapphire. It is naturally of an angular figure, ...
- Carburets
- Combinations of carbon with any of the simple substances. ...
- Cards
- In the manufactures of cotton and wool, an instrument used for preparing those substances for being spun into thread, by strengthening the fibres, and rendering them parallel to each other. They are a...
- Carmine
- A very bright crimson pigment, obtained by precipitating the colouring matter of cochineal. The preparation is as follows:- Take 4 ounces of cochineal, finely pulverized, which pour into 4 quarts of r...
- Carpentry
- Carpentry is the art of cutting out, framing, and joining large pieces of wood to be used in building. The only difference between Carpentry and Joinery is, that whilst the former includes the larger...
- Carpet
- Carpet is a sort of stuff wrought with the needle, or on a loom, and forms the ordinary furniture of a house, being commonly laid upon the floor. The Persian and Turkey carpets have hitherto been in ...
- Carriage
- A vehicle for the transport of persons and goods by land. Although the varieties of carriages are very great, yet they may be ranged under two heads, viz. sledges, or carriages without wheels, and whe...
- Carriage. Continued
- The patentees several times exhibited a carriage similar to the above, in Hyde Park, and, we believe, performed a journey from Southampton to London with it, but we do not recollect the particulars. T...
- Carnelian
- Carnelian is a sub-species of calcedony. Its colours are white yellow, brown, and red. It has a conchoidal fracture, and a spec. grav. of 2.6. It is semi-transparent, and has a glistening lustre. It ...
- Carronade
- A short piece of ordnance, intended principally for close combat at sea. ...
- Carthamus
- Carthamus, Safflower, or Bastard Saffron. Watery menstrua take up the yellow, and leave the red colour, which may afterwards be extracted by alcohol, or by a weak solution of alkali; such particularl...
- Cartoon, Or Carton
- A design drawn on strong paper, to be afterwards chalked through, and transferred on the fresh plaster of a wall, to be painted in fresco. It is also used for a design coloured for working mosaic tape...
- Cartouche
- Cartouche is a general term in the military art, applicable to a variety of projectiles contained in differently formed cases. ...
- Cartridge
- A case containing a charge of powder for fire-arms. For pistols and muskets the case is made of-strong paper manufactured for the purpose, and called therefore cartridge-paper, and the cartridges are ...
- Carving
- Carving, in a general sense, is the art of cutting or fashioning a hard body by means of some sharp instrument; but in a more particular sense it is usually understood to be the art of cutting figure...
- Cascabel
- The knot of metal behind the breech of a cannon; it serves as a handle to elevate or direct the piece, and likewise to sling and fasten it. ...
- Cascade
- A steep fall of water from a higher to a lower place: cascades are both natural and artificial; those which fall with great noise are usually called cataracts, which see; also Fountain. ...
- Case
- In printing, a large oblong frame, placed aslope, divided into several little square compartments, in each of which are kept a quantity of type or letters of the same kind, whence the compositor takes...
- Casemates
- Vaulted apartments of masonry made in the bastions of fortifications. ...
- Casement
- A small window made to open or turn upon hinges. ...
- Caserns
- A term frequently used synonymously with barracks, but which more strictly applies to the huts or lodgings of soldiers in the ramparts of fortified places. ...
- Case Shot, Or Canister Shot
- Tin canisters filled with small balls, which are discharged from cannon, and make sad havock with human life. ...
- Cask
- A vessel of capacity, for holding both liquid and dry goods. See Barrel and Coopering. ...
- Casting And Moulding
- Under this head we shall give the art of taking impressions from sculptures, medals, and other delicate works of art; also the taking of casts from the face, and other natural objects. For the process...
- Castors
- Small wheels fixed to heavy household furniture, as tables, sofas, etc. to admit of moving them with facility. The annexed engraving represents an improvement upon the common construction, by the intr...
- Cataract
- Cataract, in hydrography, is occasioned by a precipice in the channel of a river, caused by rocks or other obstacles stopping the course of the stream, from whence the water falls with great noise an...
- Catechu, Or Japan Earth
- An extract prepared in India from the juice of the mimosa catechu. In its present state it is a dry pulverable substance, outwardly of a reddish colour, and internally of a shining dark brown, tinged ...
- Catenaria, Or Catenary
- In the higher geometry, the curve line formed by a line or cord hanging freely between two points of suspension, whether those points be horizontal or not. The properties of this curve have been pract...
- Catoptrics
- Catoptrics, is that part of science which treats of the laws and properties of light reflected from mirrors or specula. The whole doctrine of catoptrics depends on this simple principle, namely, that...
- Cat's Eye
- A mineral of a beautiful appearance, brought from Ceylon. Its colours are grey, green, brown, and red, of various shades; and from a peculiar play of light proceeding from interposed white fibres, it ...
- Caulking
- Caulking is a term applied in ship-building to the driving of a quantity of oakum, saturated with tar, into the seams between the planks of ships, which is effected by a blunt chisel and a mallet. Af...
- Caustic
- A term in chemistry, applied to alkalies when deprived of carbonic acid by means of quick lime. Caustic (Lunar). A preparation of silver dissolved in nitrous acid, and afterwards fused and formed i...
- Cawk
- A term given by miners to the opaque sulphate of barytes. ...
- Cementation
- A chemical process, which consists in surrounding a body in the solid state with the powder of some other bodies, and exposing the whole for a time to a degree of heat not sufficient to fuse the conte...
- Cements
- Cements, in general, are substances employed to unite bodies in close adhesion, for which purpose they are applied in a semi-fluid or pasty state, so as to be brought into intimate contact with the o...
- Cements. Continued
- Cement for Electrical Apparatus. One pound of bees'-wax added to five pounds of resin, one pound of red ochre, and two table-spoonfuls of plaster of Paris, all mixed together, make an excellent compos...
- Central Forces
- The two antagonist forces by which bodies are caused to revolve round a central point. As all forces act in right lines, the tendency of any body moving in a circle is to fly off in a right line formi...
- Centre Of Gravity
- A point in any body about which all the parts are in equilibrio; so that if the body be suspended or supported by this point, it will remain in any position in which it may be placed. The centre of gr...
- Centre Of Gyration
- Centre Of Gyration is that point in a body revolving about an axis, into which, if the whole quantity of matter were collected, the same moving force would generate the same angular velocity. - To fi...
- Centre Of Oscillation
- Centre Of Oscillation is that point in a body suspended from a point and made to vibrate, in which all its force is collected, and to which point, if an obstacle were applied, all its motion would ce...
- Centre Of Percussion
- That point in a body revolving about a fixed axis into which the whole force or motion is collected; it is, therefore, that point of a revolving body which would strike an obstacle with the greatest e...
- Centre, Or Centering
- The framing of timber by which an arch or vault is supported during its erection. See Bridge. ...
- Centrifugal Machine
- A machine invented by Mr. Erskine for raising water by means of a centrifugal force combined with the pressure of the atmosphere. This machine consists of a vertical tube resting upon a pivot, and hav...
- Cerate
- A compound of hog's lard or oil with bees' wax, employed in surgery. ...
- Cerin
- That part of common wax which is dissolved by alcohol. ...
- Cerium
- A newly discovered metal found in the mineral cerite. It has not yet been obtained in a useful metallic form. ...
- Ceruse
- Ceruse, or White Lead, is commonly made by coiling up very thin cast sheets of lead into rolls, so as to leave a small space between each fold. The rolls thus formed are lightly jammed into the mouth...
- Cetine
- The name given by Chevreul to spermaceti, which is extensively adopted. See Fat. ...
- Chaff-Cutting Machine
- Chaff-Cutting Machine, as its name denotes, is a machine for cutting chaff for cattle, which being an object of some consequence on large farms, and in establishments employing many horses, a variety ...
- Chain
- A series of links of metal engaged one within the other; also, in surveying, a measure of length, made of a certain number of links of iron wire. That which is most commonly used for this purpose, cal...
- Chaldron
- An English measure for coals, containing 12 sacks, or 36 bushels. The bushel measures are always heaped up, and on shipboard, 21 chaldrons are allowed to the score. ...
- Charcoal
- The fixed residue of vegetables exposed to a strong heat whilst protected from the access of the atmospheric air. In countries where wood abounds, charcoal is prepared by forming it into a conical sta...
- Charge
- Charge, in gunnery, the quantity of powder and shot which is necessary to load a piece of ordnance, in order that when fired it may produce the intended effect. For proving guns the weight of the pow...
- Chaya Root
- The root of Oldenlandia umbcllata, which grows wild on the coast of Coromandel, and is likewise there cultivated for the use of the dyers and calico printers. It is used for the same purposes as madde...
- Cheese
- An article of food obtained by mixing an acid with milk, which causes it to coagulate and form a curd; the curd is then subjected to the action of a powerful press to separate it from the whey, after ...
- Chemistry
- Chemistry is the science which teaches the composition, properties, and uses, of all material bodies. It is the business of Mineralogy to investigate the properties and uses of inorganic substances a...
- Chemistry. Part 2
- If the more evaporable fluid is condensed and received into a separate vessel, it is termed distillation. This process may easily be performed in a small way by using a retort and receiver. In the ann...
- Chemistry. Part 3
- Another compound of mercury is the well-known medicine called calomel, which is formed by the union of the metal with a gas named chlorine. The compound is heavy, white, tasteless, crystalline, and ne...
- Chemistry. Part 4
- The colours, proceeding from the bottom, are red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet, according to Sir Isaac Newton's observation; but some modern observers state that there are only red,...
- Chemistry. Part 5
- The flame exhibited in the burning of charcoal and phosphorus is merely the ignition of the solid particles of these bodies. At a certain elevation of temperature, about 800 of Fahr., all solid b...
- Chemistry. Part 6
- When made red hot, it will be found so much enlarged as to be incapable of passing through the hole, or fitting into the gauge, thus proving that it has been enlarged in all its dimensions. The cubic ...
- Chemistry. Part 7
- This curious fact was first explained by Dr. Black, and gave rise to the knowledge of the latent heat or caloric of fluidity of bodie3. Dr. Black suspended two glass globes, of the same size, near eac...
- Chemistry. Part 8
- Latent heat. Vapour of water at its boiling point . . . 1000 alcohol (spec. grav. 825) . . . 457 ...
- Chemistry. Part 9
- Accurate experiments made in vessels of ice, have, however, established the fact that liquids do conduct heat downwards, or by contact of their particles. If it be desirable to heat a liquid, it is...
- Chemistry. Part 10
- If the snow were not placed in front of the mirror, the thermometer would receive as much caloric as it emits, and hence its temperature would remain constant; but as the temperature of the snow is lo...
- Chemistry. Part 11
- If the electricity-be accumulated in a large jar, or if several jars are connected, as in the accompanying sketch, they form an electric battery, and all the effects produced by lightning may be imita...
- Chemistry. Part 12
- In an early part of this article we have stated that different bodies combine in proportions that are fixed with regard to each other in a given compound. We may now observe that these proportions ...
- Chimes
- A piece of musical mechanism produced at equal intervals of time by the strokes of a hammer against a series of bells. This is effected by means of a chime-barrel, which is something of the nature of ...
- Chimney
- An aperture or passage for the escape of the smoke and heated air from a furnace or fire-place, and for producing a more perfect combustion by determining a rapid current of air through the fuel. The ...
- Chlorine
- The name given by Sir Humphrey Davy to a gas which long went, and even still commonly goes, by the name of oxymuriatic acid gas, as being imagined to be a compound of oxygen and muriatic acid, but whi...
- Chocolate
- A kind of paste or cake prepared from several ingredients, the chief and basis of which is the cacao nut. The cacao, after being roasted, is ground to a paste. The English manufacturers are said to mi...
- Churn
- A vessel in which butter is obtained from milk or cream by agitation. A great variety of churns are in use; a very common one consists of a deep wooden tub, rather conical, resting on its base, and ha...
- Cinchona
- Cinchona is the bark of several species of cinchona, which grow in South America; of this bark there are several varieties, the red, the yellow, and the pale. The red is in large easily pulverized pi...
- Cinnabar
- A beautiful red pigment, composed of sulphur and mercury, and hence in the chemical nomenclature called sulphuret of mercury. ...
- Cinnamon
- The inner bark of the laurus cinnamonum, a native of Ceylon. It is a most grateful aromatic, of a very fragrant smell, and a moderately pungent taste, and is an excellent restorative spice. ...
- Circle
- A line continued till it ends where it began, having all its parts equidistant from a common centre. ...
- Circumference
- The periphery or line bounding or including any thing. ...
- Circumferentor
- A mathematical instrument used by surveyors for taking angles by the magnetic needle in cases where great accuracy is not required, and where a permanent direction of the needle is of the most materia...
- Citric Acid
- An acid obtained from the juice of lemons, although it is also contained in various other fruits and vegetables. The usual method of preparing it consists in saturating a quantity of the juice of lemo...
- Civet
- A perfume which bears the name of the animal from whence it is taken, called a civet cat (found in China and the East and West Indies), but bearing a greater resemblance to a fox or marten than a cat ...
- Clarification
- The process of clearing or fining any fluid from heterogeneous matter or feculence by chemical means, thus differing from filtration, which is merely a mechanical operation. Clarification is performed...
- Clepsydra, Or Water Clock
- A contrivance of very great antiquity, to measure the lapse of time, and indicate the hour by the flowing of water into or out of a vessel properly graduated. In the former case the vessel was divided...
- Clock
- An instrument for measuring and indicating time. See Horology. ...
- Clog
- In the manege, a log of wood fastened to the fetlocks of a horse, to break him in to a peculiar kind of pace or step. Clog. A sort of shoe with a thick sole of wood or leather, worn over the ordina...
- Cloth
- A general name for any fabric woven from any fibrous materials (except silk), such as flax, cotton, etc, but it is mostly used to signify cloth made from wool. See Weaving and Woollen Manufacture. ...
- Clouts
- Thin plates of iron, which are nailed to the wooden axletrees of carriages. ...
- Cloves
- The produce of the caryophillus aromaticus of Linnaeus, which grows in the Molucca Islands, particularly in Amboyna, where it is principally cultivated. The clove tree resembles in its bark the olive,...
- Clutch
- A mode of connecting shafts with each other or with wheels, so as to be disengaged at pleasure; numerous examples of which have been given in the preceding part of this work. See also Millwork. ...
- Coal
- A carbonaceous substance lying in strata at various depths beneath the surface of the earth, and extensively used for fuel. The varieties of coal are scientifically described by Dr. Jamieson in his ge...
- Coal Mine
- Strata of coal are to be met with in various parts of the globe, as France, Germany, Sweden, America, Australia, and we believe likewise in India; but in no country in such profusion, or of so good a ...
- Coal Mine. Continued
- The different strata that are cut through to arrive at the principal bed of the coal are exhibited on the left of the shaft, by variously shaded portions of the solid earth, extending in the Bradley m...
- Cobalt
- A metal of a whitish grey colour, similar to tin, but with little brilliance. It is brittle and easy to pulverize, but difficult to fuse, requiring a temperature equal to that which is necessary to me...
- Cocoa-Nut
- Cocoa-Nut is a native of most of the tropical countries; the tree is from 40 to 60 feet high, the leaves from 10 to 15 feet long, and 3 feet broad. The fruit is about the size of a man's head; it con...
- Cog
- The tooth of a wheel, by which H acts on another. ...
- Clarion
- A kind of trumpet, whose tube is narrower, and its tone acuter and shriller, than that of the common trumpet. ...
- Cochineal
- An insect which feeds on the Oactus opuntia, or prickly pear of Mexico and other parts of South America. In the dried state in which it is brought to Europe it resembles grains about one-eighth of an ...
- Cock
- An instrument for permitting or arresting the flow of a liquid at pleasure. They generally consist of a short tube communicating with the cask containing the liquid, and having a plug ground into it n...
- Coffee
- Coffee is the seed contained in a berry, the produce of a moderate sized tree called the Coffea Arabicum, and which has also been named Jasminum Ara-bicum. This tree grows erect, with a single stem, ...
- Coffer Dam
- An enclosure constructed for the purpose of laying the foundations of bridges, piers, etc. formed by two or more rows of piles driven close together, with clay thrown in between the rows, the heads of...
- Cohesion
- Cohesion, or Attraction of Cohesion, is that power by which the particles of bodies are held together. The absolute cohesion of solids is measured by the force necessary to tear them asunder; heat is...
- Coinage
- Coinage, or Coining, is the art of making metallic money. See Mint. ...
- Colchicum Autumnale
- A medicinal plant, the vinous infusion of whose root has been shown by Sir E. Home to possess specific powers of alleviating gout The sediment of the infusion ought to be removed by filtration, as it ...
- Collar
- A part of a horse's harness which surrounds his neck, and to which the traces are attached by which he draws. It ordinarily consists of a stuffed leather pad, on which rest two curved bars called the ...
- Colour
- Colour is that property in bodies which, when acted upon by light, impresses the mind, through the agency of our sight, with those sensations which we denominate colour. The light of the sun, which s...
- Comb Making
- The process of comb making is usually conducted as follows. The material of which the comb is formed is first reduced to thin smooth plates of an even thickness. The workman who cuts the teeth then fa...
- Combustion
- The disengagement of heat and light which accompanies chemical combination. Combustion was for a long time held to be the disengagement or development of a certain air supposed to be contained in all...
- Compass
- A nautical instrument, showing the direction in which a vessel is sailing, or the part of the horizon to which her head is directed. It consists of a flat bar of steel, which being repeatedly rubbed w...
- Mathematical Compasses
- Instruments for describing circles, measuring lines, etc. They are of various descriptions; the common consist of two sharp-pointed branches or legs, turning upon a hinge at top. Triangular compasses ...
- Composition Of Forces
- Composition Of Forces is the finding a single force which shall be equal to two or more given forces when acting in given directions, the principles of which may be thus illustrated. If two forces, m...
- Compressibility
- Compressibility, in Philosophy, - that quality of a body by which it yields to the pressure of another body, so as to be reduced within a smaller compass. The compressibility of liquids is still a ma...
- Condensation
- The art by which a body is rendered more dense, compact, and heavy. Condensation is by most writers distinguished from compression, by considering the latter as effected by mechanical force or pressur...
- Condenser
- A vessel in which aqueous or spirituous vapours are reduced to a liquid form, either by injection of a quantity of cold water, as in the condenser of a steam-engine; or when this is inadmissible, as i...
- Code
- A geometrical figure generated by the revolution of a right angled triangle upon one of its short sides, as an axis. ...
- Congelation
- The transition of a liquid to a solid state, in consequence of the abstraction of heat: thus metals, oil, water, etc, are said to congeal when they pass from a fluid to a solid state. With regard to f...
- Conic Sections
- Conic Sections are the figures formed by the cutting of a cone by a plane; they are five in number, corresponding to the different positions of the cutting-plane. When the cutting-plane passes throug...
- Conoid
- A solid produced by the circumvolution of the section of a cone about its axis, and consequently may be either an elliptical conoid (otherwise called a spheroid), a hyperbolical conoid, or a parabolic...
- Contracted Vein
- Contracted Vein, in Hydraulics, - a term denoting the diminution which takes place in the diameter of a stream of water issuing from a vessel at a short distance from the discharging aperture, owing ...
- Contrate Wheel, Or Crown Wheel
- A wheel in which the teeth do not radiate from the axis, but stand at right angles to the arms, or parallel to the axis. It is chiefly used for clock-work. ...
- Cooler
- Cooler, among brewers, distillers, etc. is a large shallow vessel in which liquids are exposed to cool. ...
- Coopering
- Coopering is the art of manufacturing casks, barrels, vats, and all kinds of circular or elliptic wooden vessels, that are bound together by hoops. There are several classes of coopers, some of whom ...
- Copal
- A hard, shining, transparent concrete juice, obtained from an American tree; but which, although it is commonly considered a gum, has neither the solubility in water common to gums, nor the solubility...
- Copper
- Copper is a metal of a reddish brown colour, hard, very malleable, ductile, and sonorous; of considerable tenacity, and of a specific gravity from 8.6 to 8.9, The good quality of copper is shown by i...
- Copperas
- A name apparently given by persons ignorant of its true nature, to the sulphate of iron, obtained by the decomposition of iron pyrites. The English copperas, or green vitriol, as it is also called, is...
- Copying Press
- A machine for speedily producing a fac-simile copy of any manuscript recently written. The method is to place over the letter a sheet of thin damp paper, and subject them both to the action of the pre...
- Coral, And Coral Fishery
- The substance called coral was formerly considered to be of vegetable origin, but it is now admitted to be of animal origin, belonging to the order Zoophytes: by analysis it is found to consist almost...
- Cork
- The bark of a tree growing wild in the southern parts of Europe, especially in Spain ,and Portugal. When the tree is about fifteen years of age, it may be barked; and the operation may be repeated for...
- Corn
- A general name for the various kinds of grain which serve as food for man or other animals; thus wheat, rye, barley, maize, etc, are comprehended under the term corn. In England, however, it is usuall...
- Corrosive Sublimate
- The chloride of mercury; also called the oxymuriate of mercury. ...
- Cotton
- The down of the cotton tree or plant, of which naturalists recognise ten varieties. Some of these are to be met with in the warmer parts of Europe; but its cultivation to any extent is chiefly confine...
- Cotton Spinning
- the operation by which cotton-wool is formed into yarn. The most ancient and simple method of forming filamentous substances into a continuous thread was undoubtedly by the distaff and spindle, a meth...
- Cotton Spinning. Part 2
- After a certain number of layers are wound upon the lapping cylinder, which is called plying, or doubling, the machine is stopped, and the lap broken off and removed to the finisher, which has a cardi...
- Cotton Spinning. Part 3
- In order to save time, the spindles move more rapidly during the process of stretching. The mechanism by which this is effected is called double speed. The yarn being sufficiently hard twisted, the...
- Cotton Spinning. Part 4
- We therefore set aside that part of the apparatus or machinery, and allowed the mule to stop in the common way, on receiving the full complement of twist; and the instant it stopped, the boy or girl, ...
- Cotton Spinning. Part 5
- A lever 20, inclined downwards at both ends, is mounted at its middle upon 21, a tumbler shaft, carrying 22, a fixed vertical arm, which is connected by 23, a link with the side arm of the bell crank;...
- Cotton Spinning. Part 6
- As soon as the cop has attained its full diameter, that is, when the bottom is formed, the winding on power then remaining uniform, the governor lever is no longer made to act upon the strap, and, con...
- Coulter
- A stout iron knife or blade fixed to the beam of ploughs, which serves to cut out the furrows. ...
- Counterbalance
- A weight applied to balance the vibrating parts of machinery upon their axes, so as to cause them to turn freely, and to require little power to put them in motion; also a weight by which a lever acte...
- Coupling Box A
- Coupling Box A mode of permanently connecting two shafts: they are variously constructed, the most common being simply a tube embracing the end of each shaft, with a pin or bolt passed through each. ...
- Crab
- A kind of small capstan, consisting of an upright shaft, having several holes at the top, through which long bars or levers are thrust. The name of crab is likewise given to a simple portable crane, o...
- Cradle
- Cradle is a name given to a supporting frame of timbers, which is placed under the bottom of a ship, in order to conduct her steadily into the water when she is to be launched, at which time it suppo...
- Cramp
- A portable kind of iron press, chiefly designed and employed for closely compressing the joints of frame-work. See Flooring Cramp. ...
- Crane
- A machine employed at wharfs, warehouses, &e. for raising and lowering goods; it consists of a long projecting arm, called the Jib, having a pulley at the outer end, over which passes the rope or chai...
- Crane. Continued
- This is done when it is intended to lower the rope or chain; but if a weight or goods be appended to it, the friction band m m is made to press against the periphery of the fly-wheel k by raising ...
- Crank
- A short arm or lever fixed to a shaft in any machine, and set in motion by a connecting rod proceeding from some other part of the machine, which has a reciprocating motion to and fro. To obtain a con...
- Crape
- A light kind of stuff, somewhat like gauze, much used in mourning. It is made of raw silk, jammed and twisted in the mill, and woven without crossing. Crapes are either crisped or smooth; the first do...
- Crayon
- Crayon is a general name given to various mineral and vegetable substances used in designing or painting in pastil, whether they have been beaten and reduced to a paste, or are used in their primitiv...
- Cream
- The oily part of milk which rises to the surface of that liquid, mixed with a little curd and serum. When churned, butter is obtained. Heat separates the oily part, but injures its flavour. ...
- Crown Saw
- A species of circular saw formed by cutting the teeth round the edge of a cylinder. ...
- Crucible
- A pot in common use for a variety of chemical purposes. It is generally made of clay, and is designed to withstand a strong heat. The best crucibles for this purpose are the Hessian crucibles, compose...
- Crystallization
- That process of nature by which the particles of bodies are arranged systematically in passing from a liquid to a solid state. The phenomena of crystallization have much engaged the attention of moder...
- Cucurbit
- A chemical vessel commonly called a body, made of earth or glass, in the shape of a gourd, and therefore called a cucurbit. It is used in place of a still for distillation. ...
- Cupel
- A shallow earthen vessel used in that part of the process of assaying termed cupellation. It is made of the phosphate of lime, or the residue of burnt bones, rammed into a mould, which gives it its fi...
- Cupellation
- A process in assaying for freeing gold, silver, and pla-tina, from alloys of other metals. It is performed as follows: - the precious metal is put together with a due proportion of lead into a cupel, ...
- Cupola
- Cupola, in Architecture, an hemispherical vault: this term is also applied to the furnaces used for melting iron. See Foundry. ...
- Currying
- Currying is the art of preparing leather after it has been tanned, with oil, tallow, and other matters calculated to give it pliability or suppleness, and durability. See Leather. ...
- Cutlery
- Cutlery is a general term applied to table knives, forks, scissors, pocket knifes, razors, lancets, swords, and to a great variety of the more delicate kinds of cutting instruments; it is distinguish...
- Cyclograph
- An instrument used for describing arcs of circles in cases where compasses cannot be employed. The most simple cyclograph is that commonly used by artificers in describing arches for the tops of doors...
- Cycloid
- That curve which is described by a point in th8 circumference of a circle, during the revolution of the circle over a plane. ...
- Cyder
- A fermented beverage prepared from the juice of apples. Large quantities of this liquor are made annually in England; that made in Herefordshire and Devonshire is generally accounted superior to any o...
- Dairy
- Dairy is the art of manufacturing various kinds of food from milk; the term dairy is likewise applied to the building where those operations are performed. The great variety of business in a well-con...
- Damajavag
- This singular name has been given to a preparation of the chestnut tree, and is employed in tanning as a substitute for oak bark and gall nuts: it is the subject of a patent granted to Charles Louis G...
- Damask
- The name given to silk or linen fabrics with a raised pattern on the right side. ...
- Damaskening
- The art of beautifying iron, steel, etc. by making incisions in them, and filling them up with gold or silver wire; it is chiefly used for adorning sword blades, locks of pistols, etc. See Iron. ...
- Davit
- A projecting piece of timber, used as a crane to hoist the flukes of the anchor to the top of the bow of a ship. ...
- Dead Lights
- Strong wooden shutters for closing the stern windows of a ship in bad weather. ...
- Dead Reckoning
- An account of the progress of a vessel, showing the courses steered by compass, with the distance in miles and fathoms run upon each course. These courses, corrected by allowances for leeway and varia...
- Deal
- A stout kind of plank made from the fir-tree by sawing the trunk longitudinally. ...
- Decimal Arithmetic
- Decimal Arithmetic, in general sense, denotes the common arithmetic in which we count by periods of tens; it is otherwise and more properly called denary arithmetic, to distinguish it from the binary...
- Decoction
- A fluid which has been made to take up certain soluble principles by boiling. ...
- Decomposition
- Decomposition, in Chemistry, the separation of the component parts of bodies from each other. It is in general the effect of some new combination amongst the constituent principles of bodies, the onl...
- Decrepitation
- The crackling noise which several salts make when suddenly heated, accompanied by a violent exfoliation of their particles. It has been attributed to the sudden conversion of the water they contain in...
- Deflagration
- The act of burning two or more substances together, as charcoal and nitre. ...
- Deflexion
- Deflexion, in Mechanics, the bending of any material exposed to a transverse strain. In all bodies so situated deflexion takes place; but whilst the elastic force of the material exceeds the strainin...
- Degree
- Degree, in Geometry, the 360th part of the circumference of a circle, into which number of parts all circles are considered to be divided; it is indicated by a small near the top of the figure;...
- Delft Ware
- A kind of pottery, covered with an enamel or white glazing, which gives it the appearance of porcelain. They are composed of a fatty clay, with which is ground a portion of sand, that it may not crack...
- Deliquescent
- Deliquescent, in Chemistry, a property of various substances (chiefly salts), to absorb moisture from the atmosphere, and dissolve. ...
- Dendrometer
- An instrument for measuring trees, invented by Messrs. Duncombe and Whittel. It consists of a semicircle, divided into two quadrants, and graduated from the middle; upon the diameter there hangs a plu...
- Density
- Density is the proportionate quantity of matter in bodies of a given magnitude; thus, if a body contains more matter than another, both being of the same bulk, the former is said to be more dense tha...
- Departure
- Departure, in Navigation, the distance of a ship or place to the east or west of any meridian, expressed in nautical miles, whilst the difference of longitude is the same distance reckoned in degrees...
- Dephlegmation
- The operation by which bodies are deprived of water, which is principally effected by evaporation. ...
- Dephlogistication
- The operation by which bodies are deprived of phlogiston, or the inflammable principle, and nearly synonymous with what is now expressed by oxygenation or oxidization. ...
- Descending Clock
- A clock so constructed that by gradually rolling down an inclined plane it shows the progress of time; the motion is communicated to the wheels by a weight, which revolve about the axis as the clock d...
- Designing
- Designing is the art of delineating or drawing the appearance of objects by lines on a plane; but,the term is more generally understood to apply to the first sketch of a work which it is intended aft...
- Detent
- Detent, in Clock-making, a stop, which, being lifted up and let fall down, locks and unlocks the striking parts of a clock. ...
- Detonating Jar
- An apparatus for firing a mixture of gases by means of the electric spark. It consists of a thick glass tube, open at bottom, but hermetically sealed at top, and having towards the upper part two smal...
- Detonating Powders
- Detonating Powders, or Fulminating Powders. Certain chemical compounds, which, on being exposed to heat or friction, explode with a loud report, owing to one or more of the constituent parts assuming...
- Diacoustics
- The consideration of the properties of sound refracted in passing through different media. ...
- Diagonal
- Diagonal, in Geometry, a right line drawn across a figure from the vertex of one angle to the vertex of another DIAGONAL SCALE. See Scale. ...
- Diagram
- A geometrical scheme for the explanation of the properties of a figure, or for the illustration of machinery; in which case it differs from a drawing, by the parts being represented by single lines wi...
- Dial, Or Sun Dial
- An instrument for measuring time by means of a shadow cast by the sun upon a surface properly placed for the purpose. Sun dials are an invention of very great antiquity, and are frequently mentioned i...
- Dialling
- The art of drawing dials on any surface, plane or curved. On account of the limited utility of this art, from the causes before noticed, we shall confine ourselves to explaining the general principles...
- Diameter
- Diameter, in Geometry, the line which, passing through the centre of a circle, or other curvilinear figure, divides it or its ordinates into two equal parts. ...
- Diamond
- The most brilliant and the most valued of all the minerals. It is found of all colours - white, grey, red, brown, yellow, green, blue, and black; the colourless varieties are the most esteemed. If ver...
- Diapason
- An interval in music that expresses the octave of the Greeks. This term is likewise applied to the rule or scale whereby musical instrument makers adjust the pipes of organs, and cut the holes of haut...
- Diaper
- A kind of cloth, on which is formed a variety of designs, chiefly employed for table linen. See Weaving. ...
- Dice
- Small cubical pieces of bone or ivory, marked with dots on each face, from one to six. To give uniformity to their figure, or to make true dice, is of course a very simple art; but the ingenuity of th...
- Difference
- Difference is the remainder after taking the less of two quantities from the greater. ...
- Differential
- Differential, in the higher Geometry, is an infinitely small quantity, or part of quantity, so small as to be less than any assignable one, and is thus denominated because it is frequently considered...
- Digester
- A strong vessel formed of iron or copper, the lid of which screws down, and is made tight by luting or grinding; and the steam not being allowed to escape, the water acquires a very high temperature, ...
- Digit
- Digit, in Arithmetic, any one of the ten numerals 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0 also a measure equal to three-quarters of an inch. ...
- Dilatation
- The expansion of a body into a greater bulk by its own elastic power. It differs from rarefaction: for though the effects of both are nearly, if not quite the same, yet the latter arises from the appl...
- Dioptrics
- The doctrine of refracted vision, which investigates and explains the effects of light refracted by passing through different media, as air, water, glass, etc. ...
- Distillation
- The art of obtaining in a separate state, by the application of heat, the more volatile parts of bodies; but the term is generally limited to signify the separation of volatile liquids, for when the v...
- Distillation. Part 2
- If the vacuum becomes destroyed by the accumulation of the air extricated in boiling, it may be easily restored by refilling 6 as at first. Dr. Arnott states that he planned this arrangement as a simp...
- Distillation. Part 3
- But to convert a fluid into steam, not only a certain quantity of heat is required, but the heat must also be of a certain intensity; thus, although a pound of steam at 212, would raise six pound...
- Distillation. Part 4
- The coils of the cooling worm are made octangular: the worm itself is made flat, and of considerable breadth; a transverse section of it is exhibited in the separate figure k, which shows it to be in ...
- Diving Apparatus
- Contrivances for the purpose of enabling persons to descend and to remain below the surface of the water for a great length of time, to perform various operations, such as examining the foundations of...
- Docks
- Enclosed excavations or basins, formed for the reception of shipping. There are two descriptions of docks, viz. wet docks, and graving or repairing docks. Wet docks are extensive basins formed adjacen...
- Dodecahedron
- A solid, having twelve equal and similar sides or faces, each of which is a regular pentagon. ...
- Dovetail
- Dovetail is a term implying a mode of connecting two pieces of wood or other substance together by means of cutting their extremities into the form of a dove's tail, and interlocking them so that the...
- Dough
- The paste formed by kneading flour and water together in the preparation of Bread, which see; also Kneading. ...
- Drachm, Or Dram
- A weight consisting of the sixteenth part of an ounce avoirdupois, and the eighth of an ounce in apothecaries' weight. ...
- Drag Sheets
- The name given to a contrivance for lessening the drift of vessels in heavy gales of wind, for which Mr. Burnett obtained a patent in 1826. The current caused by the action of the wind extends but a f...
- Dragon Beams
- Dragon Beams are two strong braces, supporting a breastsummer, and meeting each other on the shoulder of the king-post. ...
- Dragon's Blood
- A red coloured resin, imported from the East Indies. It is insoluble in water, partially so in alcohol, but dissolves readily in oils: the solution imparts a beautiful red stain to hot marble. ...
- Draining
- Draining, in Agriculture, the process of drawing off the water from bogs, marshes, and lands liable to be flooded by excessive rains, by means of drains or trenches cut to some depth below the surfac...
- Directions To Be Observed In Laying The Syphon To Suit Different Situations
- First, in laying the pipes of the syphon, it is necessary to give them a regular slope, to admit the air to pass forward into the receiver, or to the highest bends, which must have either an air recei...
- Draught
- The depth of water necessary to float a ship or other vessel. For the draught of carriages, see Resistance. ...
- Drawbridge
- A bridge thrown over a ditch or ravine, which may be drawn up or let down at pleasure, one of its ends serving as an axis or joint for that purpose, while the other is connected by means of chains to ...
- Drift
- Drift, in Mining, a passage dug under the earth, betwixt shaft and shaft, or turn and turn. Drift, in Navigation, the angle which the line of a ship's motion makes with the nearest meridian, when ...
- Drill
- An instrument for boring holes in metals and other hard substances. It usually consists of a straight piece of steel, one end of which is formed into an angular point, and the other into a blunted rou...
- Drill Harrow
- A small harrow employed in drill husbandry, for extirpating weeds, and pulverizing the earth between the rows of plants. ...
- Drill Husbandry
- A mode of cultivation in which the sowing of seeds in drills is adopted, instead of the more common method of broad casting. It is also called horse-hoeing husbandry, because the plants thus cultivate...
- Drug
- A general name of commodities brought from abroad for the purposes of medicine, dyeing, tanning, and various other arts. ...
- Drug Mills
- Drug Mills are machines used for triturating drugs; but as they are for the most part applicable to the grinding of other substances, they are described under the general head of Mills. ...
- Drum
- A martial musical instrument in the form of a cylinder, hollow within, and covered at the two ends with vellum, which is stretched or slackened at pleasure, by means of cords with sliding knots. The c...
- Dry Rot
- A term applied to that rapid decay of timber by which its substance is converted into a dry powder, which issues from minute tubular cavities resembling the borings of worms. On the causes of this dec...
- Ductility
- That property or texture of bodies which renders a practicable to draw them out in length, while their thickness is diminished, without any actual fracture of their parts. ...
- Dulcification
- Dulcification, or Dulceration, in Chemistry, the combination of mineral acids with alcohol, by which their caustic or corrosive qualities are diminished: thus we have dulcified spirit of nitre, dulci...
- Dulcimer
- A musical instrument, strung with about fifty wires, cast over a bridge at each end. It is performed upon by striking the wires with little iron rods. ...
- Duodecimals
- Duodecimals, or Cross Multiplication, is a rule used by workmen and artificers in computing their work. Dimensions are usually taken in feet, inches, and parts, omitting all those which are less than...
- Dying
- The art of tinging or imbuing various substances with different colours at pleasure. The principal application of thi3 art is to fabrics of wool, silk, and cotton; but it is also applied to the colour...
- Dying. Part 2
- Of Blue The only two substances used for dying blue are woad and indigo-Indigo has a very strong affinity for wool, silk, cotton, and linen, all of which may therefore be dyed with it without the a...
- Dying. Part 3
- Of Green This is a mixture of blue and yellow, the shade varying according to the prevalence of either ingredient. The cloth is generally first dyed blue, and then immersed in a yellow bath; but wh...
- Dynamics
- Dynamics treats of the nature and laws of motion. In this sense it is used in opposition to Statics. A single force, always producing motion, must 6e considered under the head of Dynamics; but two or...
- Dynamometer
- An instrument employed to measure the comparative strengths of men and cattle, and to ascertain the force required in drawing carriages upon land, and vessels upon canals. These effects are usually es...
- Earths
- A name commonly assigned to a class of solid substances composing, in various states of combination, the crust of the globe; the general qualities of which are, that they are incombustible, not conver...
- Earthenware
- Articles made of baked or vitrified earth: See Pottery. ...
- Ear Trumpet
- A contrivance for the benefit of deaf persons; as usually constructed, it resembles in shape a marine speaking trumpet, but smaller, seldom exceeding six or eight inches in length. The party using the...
- Easel
- A frame used by painters for supporting their pictures while in progress, and admitting of being adjusted to any convenient angle by means of a movable prop at the back. ...
- Eau-De-Luce
- A volatile preparation, which is thus made: - 12 grains of white soap are dissolved in 4 ounces of spirit of wine; this solution being strained, a drachm of rectified oil of amber is added, and the wh...
- Eau-De-Cologne
- A celebrated odoriferous liqueur: the following is the true mode of preparing it. Take of the essence of bergamot, lemon peel, lavender, and orange flower, of each 1 ounce; essence of cinnamon, half a...
- Eaves
- The edge or margin of the roof of a house, which projects beyond the walls to throw off the water therefrom. ...
- Ebony
- An exceedingly hard and heavy wood, susceptible of a fine polish. There are many kinds of ebony; the most usual are the black, red, and green, all of them the product of the island of Madagascar. The ...
- Eccentric
- Eccentric, in Geometry, denotes two circles or spheres, one of which is contained within the other, but the centres of the two do not coincide. In mechanics, the name is given to a contrivance freque...
- Edge Tools
- Edge Tools is a general name applied to the coarser kinds of cutting instruments, such as chisels, axes, adzes, gouges, augers, saws, etc. ...
- Effect
- Effect (Useful), in Mechanics; the measure of the real power of any machine, after deducting that portion which is lost or expended in overcoming the inertia and friction of the moving parts, and in ...
- Effervescence
- The commotion produced in fluids by some part of the mass taking suddenly the elastic form, and escaping rapidly in numerous bubbles. ...
- Efflorescence
- The effect which takes place when bodies spontaneously become converted into a dry powder. It is almost always occasioned by the loss of the water of crystallization in saline bodies. ...
- Eggs
- The envelope which contains the foetus of various animals, and which, being voided by the parent, is subsequently matured by. incubation. This may also be effected by means of prolonged artificial hea...
- Elaine
- The oily principle of solid fats, the remaining or solid portion being named stearine, - names assigned to these substances by the discoverer, Mr. Chevreul. If tallow be squeezed between the folds of ...
- Elasticity
- A property of bodies to resume their form upon the removal of any force by which they may have been deflected from it. In this respect all bodies which come within our knowledge are comprehended under...
- Electricity
- The name assigned to a certain mysterious natural principle or element, with the nature of which we are totally unacquainted, as it can only be inferred from its effects, in which respect it resembles...
- Elements
- The name assigned by the ancients to those simple substances of which, by combination, all bodies were supposed to be formed. These principles were supposed to be four in number, viz. fire, water, ear...
- Elevation
- Elevation, in the art of design, an orthographic projection of the vertical figure of any building or piece of machinery, there being no vanishing points, as in a perspective representation, but the ...
- Eliquation
- An operation by which one substance is separated from another that is less fusible. It consists in the application of a degree of heat sufficient to fuse the former, but not the latter. ...
- Elixir
- A compound tincture extracted from many ingredients, whereas, a simple tincture is extracted from only one ingredient. ...
- Ellipsis
- Ellipsis, in Geometry, a curve line returning into itself, and produced from the section of a cone by a plane cutting both its sides, but oblique to the axis of the cone. ...
- Embolus
- Any thing inserted and acting in another, as the sucker of a pump, the piston of a steam engine, etc. ...
- Embossing
- The forming of ornaments in relief upon any substances, whether by sculpture, casting, stamping, or any other means. One pleasing species of embossing is that by which the leather covers of books are ...
- Embroidery
- The enriching of cloth, stuff, or muslin, by figures worked thereon with a needle, with thread of gold, silver, silk, or cotton. The embroidery of stuffs is performed in a kind of loom; that of muslin...
- Emerald
- A well-known gem, of a pure green colour, somewhat hard r than quartz, though softer than most of the precious stones. Owing to the beauty of its colour, and the fine contrast it makes with brilliants...
- Emery
- A very hard mineral, of a dark grey colour. The best is obtained from the island of Naxos, whence it is imported into this country; it is found in irregular masses, mixed with other minerals. It is so...
- Empyreuma
- A term implying a peculiar odour derived from the overheating of matters under the process of distillation, or when vegetable or animal matter becomes burned in other processes in close vessels. It is...
- Enamel
- A shining vitrified substance, employed as an indestructible coating to pictures, and various articles of taste and utility. The basis of all kinds of enamel is a perfectly transparent and fusible gla...
- Enamelling
- The art of covering plates of metal with enamel is of great antiquity; it was practised by the Egyptians, and by them probably transmitted to the Greeks and Romans. Several ancient specimens of curiou...
- Enamelled Cards
- Enamelled Cards is a name given to the cards on which a coating in imitation of real enamel is produced. We believe there are various processes at present employed for fabricating these elegant and f...
- Encaustic Painting
- A method of painting, much in use among the ancients, in which wax was employed to give a gloss to the colours, and permanence to the work. From the meagre account given to U3 by Pliny of the method, ...
- Enchasing, Or Chasing
- The art of enriching and beautifying gold, silver, and other metal work, by some design or figures represented thereon in low relievo. It is practised only on hollow thin works, as watch cases, etc, a...
- Engine
- Engine, among practical men, is a term used synonymously with machine; but some eminent writers on Mechanics affect to distinguish it as designating more complicated structures than ordinary machines...
- Engraving
- The art of producing figures or designs upon metals, stone, wood, and various other substances, by means of lines cut upon the surface. In this extensive sense of the term, the art is doubtless of ver...
- Engraving. Part 2
- The different shades and tints are then worked up by the needle, the arrangement of the lines of which they are composed depending entirely upon the taste and judgment of the artist. When the etching ...
- Engraving. Part 3
- This invention is admirably adapted to the prevention of forging bank notes, as by this means several first rate artists may be employed at one time to produce portions of a plate in detached parts, w...
- Entablature
- Entablature, in Architecture, is that part of an order of a column over the capital; and comprehends the architrave, frieze, and cornice. Mr. Nicholson, author of The New Practical Builder, says, In...
- Epicycloid
- Epicycloid, in Geometry, a curve generated by a point in one circle, which revolves about the circumference of another circle. They are distinguished into exterior and interior epicycloids. An exteri...
- Equation
- Equation, in Algebra, is an expression in which two quantities, differently represented, are put equal to each other by means of the sign = placed between them, as 3 ab=d. ...
- Equilibrium
- Equilibrium, in Mechanics, signifies an equality of forces in opposite directions, whereby the body remains at rest, or in equilibrio; in which state the least additional force being applied on eithe...
- Chemical Equivalents
- A term happily introduced into chemistry by Dr. Wollaston, to express the system of definite ratios in which the corpuscular objects of this science combine, referred to a common standard of unity. Th...
- Ermine
- A fine description of fur, obtained from the skin of an animal of the same name. ...
- Essences
- Several of the volatile or essential oils are called essences by the perfumers. ...
- Essential Oils
- Essential Oils, (called also volatile and ethereal,) are distinguished from fixed or fat oils, from the circumstance of their rising in distillation at temperatures below that of 320 Fahr, by th...
- Eudiometry
- The measurement of the quantity of oxygen contained in atmospheric air,' or, indeed, in any gas in which it is not intimately combined, is named eudiometry, and the instrument by which it is performed...
- Evaporation
- A term generally used to signify the dissipation of the volatile parts of a compound body, whether caused by the action of the sun and atmosphere, or by artificial means; although some authors restric...
- Evolute
- Evolute, in the higher Geometry, a curve, which, by being gradually opened, describes another curve. It may be described mechanically by un-winding a string, to which is fastened a tracer, from off a...
- Excavating Machines
- Excavating Machines, for digging and removing earth in extensive excavations, have occupied the attention of many ingenious men, and various machines for the purpose have been proposed and tried with...
- Exhalation
- Exhalation is distinguished from evaporation by some writers, as not applying to the raising of vapour in the ordinary sense of the word, but to subtle, dry effluvia, loosened, by the action of the s...
- Expansion
- Expansion, in Natural Philosophy, the enlargement or increase of bulk in bodies, chiefly by means of heat. This is one of the most general effects of caloric, being common to all bodies whatever, whe...
- Experimental Philosophy
- That philosophy which proceeds on experiments, and deduces the laws of nature, and the properties and powers of bodies, and their action upon each other, from sensible experiments and observations. Th...
- Explosion
- Explosion, in Natural Philosophy, a sudden and violent expansion of an aerial or other elastic fluid, by which it instantly throws off any obstacle that may be in the way. It differs from expansion i...
- Exponent
- Exponent, in Algebra, is a number placed over any power or involved quantity, to show to what height the root is raised; thus 2 is the exponent of x2, and 4 is the exponent of x4. or xxxx. ...
- Extract
- Mixtures of several of the principles of vegetables, reduced by decoction either to a solid, or to the consistence of paste. The word is also applied by modern chemists to denote a peculiar substance ...
- Facade
- Facade, or Face, in Architecture, the side of a building in which is the principal entrance; also that exterior part of a building which is projected or advanced beyond the main body. ...
- Face Guard
- A kind of mask to defend the face and eyes from accidents in various chemical and mechanical processes. A guard intended to preserve the face, and particularly the eyes of smiths, founders, and others...
- Facets
- Facets, in Crystallography, the flat surfaces which bound the angles of crystals. ...
- Facia, Or Fascia
- A broad flat projecting part of a building, as the bands of an architrave, larmier, etc. ...
- Factor
- Factor, in Arithmetic, a name given to the multiplier and multiplicand, as their quantities multiplied together constitute the product ox factum. ...
- Fake
- One of the circles or windings of a cable or hawser, as it lies disposed in a coil. ...
- Fan
- A machine used to agitate the air, and cause it to impinge upon other bodies to reduce their temperature. Those used for cooling the person are made of every variety of form and materials that fancy c...
- Farina
- Farina implies generally vegetable flour. The flour of the Parisian bakers (which it may be presumed is chiefly, if not wholly, wheaten,) was ascertained by M. Vauquelin to consist of gluten 10.2, st...
- Farriery
- Farriery is the art of shoeing horses and administering to their diseases. See Horse-shoe. ...
- Fat
- Animal oil in a concrete state, deposited in minute cells in various parts of the bodies of animals. The colour is white or yellowish; it is insipid, inodorous, insoluble in water and in alcohol, but ...
- Fathom
- A measure of six feet, used to regulate the length of cables, rigging, etc, and to divide the lead or sound lines. ...
- Feathers
- A general name for the natural covering of birds. Chemically examined they are found to differ but little from hair or bristles. Mr. Hatchet boiled some feathers for a long time in water, but discover...
- Felling Trees
- The cutting down of trees at the proper time, and in the best manner, requires both knowledge and skill. Its proper season is determined by various causes, as maturity of growth, defects in the trees,...
- Felloes
- Felloes, the curved pieces of wood, usually six or eight in number, which, when united end to end, form the circular rim, or periphery of carriage wheels, and into which the spokes are inserted. See ...
- Felting
- The process by which hair, wool, or silk, is worked into a fabric of firm texture, called felt, without spinning or weaving; it is chiefly employed in the manufacture of hats, and under that head will...
- Fermentation
- When vegetables and animals are deprived of life, the elements of which they are composed exert an action on each other; some of them enter into new combinations, others become entirely undecompounded...
- Ferretto
- A substance used in colouring glass, obtained by the calcination of copper and powdered brimstone, or of copper and white vitriol. ...
- Festoon
- Festoon, in Architecture, an ornament in the form of a garland of flowers. The term is also applied to drapery, when suspended so as to form elliptic curves, with the extremities of the cloth dependi...
- Vegetable Fibre
- A substance of great use in the arts and manufactures, furnishing thread, cordage, etc. For these purposes the filamentous parts of hemp and flax are employed amongst us; in Sweden, a strong cloth is ...
- Fibrin
- A peculiar organic compound, found both in animals and vegetables, but procured however, in its most characteristic state, from animal matter. To obtain it, we may beat blood as it issues from the vei...
- Fid
- A short and thick bar of wood or iron, which, passing through a hole cut in the lower part of the topmast or top-gallant mast, and resting upon the trestle trees, serves to support those masts. A most...
- Filament
- Those extremely delicate threads of animal or vegetable production, such as are produced by the silk-worm, spiders, flax, nettles, etc.; by the combination and twisting of which, threads, cordage and ...
- File
- A steel instrument employed for shaping or giving a smooth surface to articles made of metal, bone, wood, etc. The varieties of files are very extensive, being expressly adapted to numerous different ...
- File. Continued
- The next process is that of cutting the files, which is performed by means of a chisel and hammer on an anvil. The chisel and hammer are of such a size as the size and cut of the file require. The fil...
- Fillagree Work
- A kind of enrichment on gold or silver, wrought delicately in manner of little threads or grains, or both intermixed. In Sumatra, manufactures of this kind are carried on to very great perfection. But...
- Fillet
- Fillet, in Architecture, is a narrow rectangular moulding. In the metallic framing of machinery, narrow moulded slips or fillets are put in the angles, to facilitate the casting and strengthen the st...
- Filtration
- A process for freeing liquids from particles held in suspension in them, by causing them to percolate through various porous substances, which intercept the insoluble matter, but allow a passage to th...
- Filtration. Continued
- A very simple method of freeing water from its impurities by means of the capillary attraction of fibrous substances is represented in the annexed engraving, a is the reservoir, b the lower compartmen...
- Fire
- Fire, in Natural Philosophy, combustion, or the decomposition of combustible bodies, accompanied with light and heat. The word, however, has been used in such various senses by philosophers of differ...
- Fire Arms
- Fire Arms are all sorts of arms charged with powder and ball; as cannon, mortars, muskets, pistols, etc. See Cannon, Gun, etc. ...
- Fire Engine
- An engine for projecting water upon buildings on fire. Buckets composed of wood, leather, or other suitable material, were the only means employed in England and on the continent for extinguishing fir...
- Fire Engine. Part 2
- With such inefficient means it is not to be wondered at that fires spread as they used to do, but rather, taking into account the buildings of that period, that they were extinguished at all. Towards ...
- Fire Engine. Part 3
- Fig. 3 is another section, taken vertically through the hinder part of the engine, showing one of the cylinders o and the air vessel s. On the floor of the cistern is placed the standing-piece, or ...
- Fire Engine. Part 4
- The valves are brass plates, ground to fit the circular brass seat on which they rest; being accurately ground, no leather is required to make them tight. The whole valve is put together, and then sli...
- Fire Engine. Part 5
- A very compact and convenient fire engine has lately been invented by Mr. Baddeley, consisting of only one cylinder placed horizontally, and working on the principle of De la Hire's double-acting ...
- Fire Escape
- Perhaps few subjects have more extensively engaged the public attention, or exercised so much ingenuity, as the best mode of rescuing individuals from death by fire. Notwithstanding the varied talents...
- Fire Escape. Part 2
- Fig. 2. Fig.3. Fig. 1. Arts for his invention. The next class of fire escapes, comprising those of a portable description, is a very numerous one, and may be said to commence with...
- Fire Escape. Part 3
- The bullet and cord are thrown over the house by the cross-bow; to this cord a stronger one. is attached, and drawn over the house by the former, and so on, until a chain ladder or escape is eventuall...
- Fire Escape. Part 4
- In the year 1813, Mr. Thomas Roberts received a reward from the Society of Arts, for a speedy elevator and fire-escape, of a very complex description, on the principle of the lazy-tongs; the same p...
- Fire Extinguishing
- The most suitable and convenient material for extinguishing fire is water; but when that cannot be speedily obtained in sufficient abundance, it has been proposed to increase its extinguishing propert...
- Fire Extinguishing. Continued
- The only successful mode of using a fire-engine, is to take the director or branch-pipe into the building, as near as possible to the fire, and be sure that the stream of water strikes directly upon t...
- Fire Prevention
- Among the various modes which have from time to time been proposed for this purpose, the most useful and important are those relating to the manner in which buildings are constructed. The general prin...
- Fire Prevention. Continued
- Mr. Frost's floors have many recommendations, and his cement affords a very convenient mode of protecting various parts of buildings from the action of fire. Mr. Farrow, of Great Tower-street, Lond...
- Fire-Place
- Fire-Place is a general term given to the brick, stone, and iron-work, which constitute the apparatus for heating the apartments of dwelling-houses, and for performing culinary and other domestic ope...
- Irish Stove
- Mr. Buchanan, in his Essay on the Economy of Fuel, relates, that on landing in Ireland, he was much struck with the excellent construction of the fire-grate in the room of the inn where he lodged. He ...
- Birmingham Stove
- The stoves in common use in Staffordshire and Warwickshire, although not so elegant as those made in London and Nottingham for the same class of rooms, are far more judiciously disposed for diffusing ...
- Open Fires
- There is, from long custom, so great a desire among all ranks in England to see the fire that warms, their apartments, that the most convenient, cleanest, and cheapest methods of heating them, are sac...
- Sir George O. Paul's Stove
- This stove may, at pleasure, be made either an open fire-place, or a close stove, heating the room by the radiation of the heat from its front wall; and when thus acting as a close stove, it serves as...
- Pycroft's Patent Fire Stove
- Mr. Pycroft, of Rolleston, near Burton-upon-Trent, took out a patent for improvements in fire-places, in 1831, the principle of which consists in connecting with the fire stove a chamber for hot air, ...
- Cutler's Patent Stoves
- This invention, when first brought before the public in 1815, met with considerable patronage; but it is now, we believe, but little used, owing to some difficulties of a slight description, for which...
- Mrs. Smith's Stove
- A plan of a stove designed for burning its own smoke, was communicated by Mrs. Rachel Smith to a periodical journal, which seems susceptible, by its simplicity of construction and soundness of princip...
- Atkins's Patent Stove
- Messrs. Atkins and Marriott had a joint patent for a smoke-consuming stove on the principle of the last described, which they manufactured in a style of great elegance, and adapted to the various situ...
- Jacomb's Patent Grates
- The principle of this invention also consists in placing the fresh fuel underneath the ignited portion; but the mode of carrying it into effect is peculiar. The stove is a kind of grated cage, cylindr...
- Smoke-Cons Liming Stove
- The annexed cut is illustrative of a design, by an anonymous inventor, for a stove to consume its own smoke. We are not aware of its having ever been constructed, but as it presents a novel and elegan...
- Silvester's Patent Stove
- The common methods of heating buildings by means of hot air stoves had been much and justly complained of, from the salubrity of the air being frequently injured by its coming in contact with the surf...
- Gaunt And Ecksteins Grate
- The stove designed by these gentlemen (for which they had a patent in 1831,) has a grate of bars, of a semi-elliptical form, attached to a straight back, which is brought much further forward than are...
- Maw's Stove
- This apparatus, for which Lieut. Maw obtained a patent in 1831, consists in the introduction of a fuel drawer, or receptacle for the fuel, which is placed under a grate of the usual construction, in o...
- Witty's Fire Places
- Mr. Witty, by a judicious attention to proportions, and the conveniences required, has succeeded in adapting the original invention of Watt (described under the word Furnace,) to domestic stoves, part...
- Nott's Patent Furnaces
- A very effective kind of close stove, particularly adapted to large rooms, halls, and churches, and possessing considerable novelty of appearance, has lately been introduced into this country by Mr. J...
- Welles's Patent Peripurist
- This is a small portable cooking stove, and is very ingeniously contrived. The patentee states in his prospectus of it, that it boils water, prepares coffee and chocolate in a very superior manner, ...
- Tozer's Patent Calefactor
- This is another ingeniously contrived little cooking stove, and is intended to meet many of the wants of a small family, especially in the summer season, when the smallest quantity of artificial heat ...
- Fire-Ship
- A small vessel filled with combustible matter, and employed for the destruction of an enemy's shipping by being run into the midst of them, and set on fire by the crew before they quit the vessel. ...
- Fire-Stone
- A coarse kind of free-stone, obtained at Reigate and other places, which is capable of bearing a considerable degree of heat, and is therefore used in the construction of furnaces, ovens, etc. Its col...
- Fire-Works
- As the leading object of this work is utility and not mere amusement, we shall but very briefly notice the nature and composition of artificial fire-works. Of these the most generally interesting, fro...
- Flageolet
- A little flute, made of box or other hard wood, with an ivory mouth-piece, and having six holes besides the one at bottom, and one behind the neck. Great improvements were made in this pleasing instru...
- Flail
- An instrument for threshing corn. It is composed of two staffs united at one end of each by strong double leathers. ...
- Flame
- The luminous phenomenon produced by the combustion of gaseous substances, or under certain circumstances of a solid and a gaseous body. ...
- Flannel
- A kind of loose woollen stuff, composed of a woof and warp, woven in a loom with two treddles, in the manner of baize. ...
- Flax
- A plant having a slender, round, hollow stalk, about two feet high; its bark is full of filament3, like hemp; the leaves are long, narrow, and pointed; it bears a blue flower, to which succeeds a roun...
- Flax Dressing
- Before flax can be converted into cloth or other articles, it undergoes certain preparatory processes, constituting what is called dressing; the object of which is to separate the boon, or core, fr...
- Fleam
- An instrument containing several lancets, jointed so as to shut up into a handle in the manner of pocket clasp-knives. ...
- Flint
- A mineral consisting of 98 silica, 0.50 lime, 0.25 alumina, 0.25 oxide of iron, 1 loss. The domestic use of this stone, for producing light by collision against steel, is well known. It is also much u...
- Float Boards
- Those boards which are fixed to the rim or circumference of undershot water-wheels, serving to receive the impulse of the stream, by which the mill is put in motion. ...
- Floating Bodies
- Floating Bodies, are those bodies which swim on the surface of a fluid, the stability, equilibrium and other circumstances of which form an interesting subject of mechanical and hydrostatical investi...
- Flooring Cramp
- A machine invented by Mr. Andrew Smith, for laying down floors, so as to make very tight and close joints with great facility. The annexed engraving shows a perspective view of the machine as in opera...
- Flooring Machine
- A machine invented by Mr. Muir, of Glasgow, the object of which is the preparation of complete flooring boards with extraordinary dispatch, and in the most perfect manner; the several operations of sa...
- Flour
- The fine particles of grain, usually obtained by grinding in a mill. See Farina, Corn, and Mills. ...
- Fluid
- A body whose parts yield to the slightest force when impressed, and by yielding, are easily moved against each other. Fluids are divided into elastic and non-elastic. Elastic fluids are those which ma...
- Fluoric Acid
- The name given to an undecomposed substance, which, combined with lime, constitutes the fluor spar. Fluoric acid may be obtained by putting a quantity of the spar in powder into a leaden retort, pouri...
- Flute
- One of the simplest musical instruments of the wind kind. It is played with a mouth-piece at the end, and the notes are changed by opening or stopping the holes ranged along the side. The German flute...
- Flux
- A general term used to denote any substance or mixture added to assist the fusion of minerals. In the large way, limestone and fusible spar are used as fluxes. The fluxes made use of in philosophical ...
- Fly
- Fly, in Mechanics, a wheel with a heavy rim, placed on the shaft of any machinery put in motion by any irregular or intermitting force, for the purpose of rendering the motion equable and regular by ...
- Focus
- Focus, in Optics, a point wherein several rays concur or are collected, after having undergone either reflection or refraction. The point is thus denominated because the rays being here brought toget...
- Foil
- Foil, among jewellers, a thin leaf of metal placed under a precious stone, in order to increase its brilliancy, or give it an agreeable and different colour. These foils are made of either copper, go...
- Foot
- A measure of length, consisting of twelve inches, each inch being three barley corns, or twelve lines. The square foot is a measure for surfaces, being a square of which each side is 12 inches; conseq...
- Force
- Force is the name applied in Mechanics to whatever produces motion or pressure. Thus we have the forces of gravity and of elasticity, muscular force, and that of electricity and magnetism. These will...
- Forceps
- A general term, (but principally used in surgery,) for a variety of instruments of the nature of tongs or plyers. ...
- Forge
- Forge properly signifies a little furnace, furnished with a pair of bellows to render the combustion more vivid; and employed by smiths and other artisans in iron, steel, etc. to heat their metals, i...
- Fork
- A well-known instrument, consisting of a handle, and two or more prongs. Though considered now to be indispensable, it did not come into use till the reign of James l. ...
- Form
- In Printing, an assemblage of letters, words, and lines, arranged in order, and disposed into pages by the compositor; from which, by means of ink and the press, sheets are printed. Every form is encl...
- Formiates
- Compounds of the formic acid with earths, alkalies, and metallic oxides. ...
- Formula
- A general rule or expression for resolving certain particular cases of some problem. ...
- Fothering
- A method sometimes resorted to for stopping a leak in a vessel at sea. It consists in stitching loosely a quantity of oakum upon a sail, which is drawn under the vessel's bottom; and by the flow of th...
- Founding
- Founding is the art of casting or forming of melted metal an infinite variety of articles to any given pattern or design; and the place or building where the art is carried on is called a foundry. Fo...
- Founding. Part 2
- When this counterpart table has been finished, and all the patterns indented in the sand, it is carried to the melter, who, after enlarging the principal jet of the counterpart, and making the cross j...
- Founding. Part 3
- Sc?ilptors adjust the weight of the metal required m this kind of founding by the wax taken up in the model. One pound of wax so employed will require ten pounds of metal to occupy its space in the ca...
- Founding In Bronze
- The Egyptian bronze consisted, according to Bessari, of two-thirds brass and one-third copper. Pliny says, that the Grecian bronze was formed by adding one-tenth lead and one-twentieth silver to the t...
- Founding Of Iron
- Owing to the immense demand for cast iron in most of our great public works, such as bridges, rail-roads, columns, girders, fences, gas and water pipes, house-building, framing of machinery, and innum...
- Founding Of Iron. Part 2
- While this is doing, a deep pit is dug, and into this the core is let down by a crane; when this is done, the mould is lowered over the core; as soon as the adjustment is perfected, sand is thrown in ...
- Founding Of Iron. Part 3
- Section. Plan. The founding of iron cannon is conducted in a similar manner to other castings; the pattern is moulded in the sand, and the metal run into the mould through a gutter. Smal...
- Founding Of Iron. Part 4
- Thus, in the casting of every single type, there are several distinct operations to be performed; yet, owing to the admirable adaptation of the apparatus to the purpose, an expert caster can, on an av...
- Fount
- Fount, or Font, among Printers, a set of types, sorted for use, that includes running letters, large and small capitals, single letters, double letters, points, lines, numerals, etc.; as a fount of e...
- Fraction
- Fraction, in Arithmetic and Algebra, is a part or parts of something considered as a unit or integer. Fractions are distinguished into vulgar fractions and decimal fractions. Vulgar fractions consist...
- Frankincense
- Frankincense, or Olibanum, is a gum resin, the product of the Junipus lycia of Linnaeus, brought from Turkey and the East Indies, usually in drop.2 or tears. The best sort is of a yellowish white col...
- Friction
- Friction, in Mechanics, the rubbing of the parts of engines or machines against each other, by which means a great part of their effect is destroyed. A body upon a horizontal plane should be capable ...
- Frit
- The matter or ingredients of which glass is made, after they have been calcined in a furnace. These ingredients are chiefly soda and flint, or silicious sand. ...
- Frizing Of Cloth
- A term applied to the forming the nap of woollen cloth into a number of little hard burs or prominences covering almost the whole of the ground. It is commonly performed by a machine or mill worked by...
- Frost
- Such a state of the atmosphere as causes the congelation or freezing of water or other fluids into ice. In the more northern parts of the world even solid bodies are affected by frost, though this is ...
- Frustrum
- Frustrum, in Geometry, is the part of a solid next the base left by cutting off the top or segment by a plane parallel to the base, as the frustrum of a cone, a pyramid, a conoid, or of a sphere, whi...
- Fuel
- Those substances which receive and retain fire until they are wholly or partially consumed. Dr. Black divided fuel into five classes. The first comprehends the fluid inflammable bodies; the second, pe...
- Fuel. Continued
- As respects coal, there is a considerable difference in the effects of the several varieties. The caking or binding coal with which London is supplied from the great coal fields in Northumberland and...
- Fulcrum
- Fulcrum, in Mechanics, the prop or support upon which a lever turns. ...
- Fuller's Earth
- A soft, greyish brown, dense marl. When dry it is of a greyish ash-coloured brown, in all degrees, from very pale to almost black, and it has generally something of a greenish cast; it is of a compact...
- Fulling
- A process by which woollen cloths are divested of the oil they imbibe by the operation of carding, and the texture at the same time rendered much closer, firmer, and stronger. This process, also calle...
- Fulminating Powders
- A variety of chemical combinations, which explode, by the application of certain degrees of heat, with instantaneous combustion and prodigious noise. See Detonating Powders. ...
- Fumigation
- A process for destroying contagious miasmata or effluvia, by the fumes of various substances. The most efficacious substance for this purpose is chlorine, which may be readily applied in the state of ...
- Funnel
- A conical or bell-mouthed instrument with a narrow tube, for facilitating the transferring of liquids or small substances from one vessel to another. Any pipe or passage is sometimes called by this na...
- Fur
- Fur, in Commerce, signifies the skins of several species of animals, dressed in alum, with the hair on, and used for the purposes of dress. The kinds mostly made use of are those of the ermine, sable...
- Furlong
- A measure of length, equal to the eighth part of a mile, or forty piles. ...
- Furnace
- A vessel or apparatus, wherein fuel is burnt in chemical, manufacturing, and culinary operations. Furnaces are as various, and even more so, than the particular objects for which they are designed; to...
- Delasme's Furnace
- The invention of a mode of constructing furnaces calculated to burn all the smoke given out by the fuel, is usually attributed to our celebrated countryman, Mr. James Watt; but it appears from the vol...
- Watt's Patent
- The earliest application in this country of apparatus for consuming the dense smoke of furnaces, that we are acquainted with, is the invention of Mr. Watt, in 1785, before alluded to. It is thus descr...
- Thompson's Furnace Patent
- Mr. Thompson had a patent in 1796 for a furnace on the same principle as Watt's, but it was a less deviation from the ordinary construction. The fire-bars were made about one third longer than usual, ...
- Roberton's Patent
- In 1801 Messrs. Roberton, of Glasgow, patented some improvements upon Mr. Watt's plans, which rendered the apparatus more complete and convenient. To these gentlemen, indeed, is usually attributed the...
- Sheffield's Patent
- In the year 1812, Mr. William Evetts, of Sheffield, took out a patent for improved reverberatory furnaces for melting metals, in which he introduced what he termed an air conductor, for the purpose of...
- Legislative Enactment
- The annoyance and pernicious effects experienced by the public from a sooty atmosphere, drew the attention of the legislature to the subject, and a Select Committee of the House of Commons was appoint...
- Losh's Patent
- The entire specification of this gentleman's improvements is inserted in the Repertory of Arts, and is deserving of perusal by those who are interested in the subject; the leading arrangements may how...
- Steel's Improvement
- Mr. Steel's fire-place was of a circular form, and made to revolve on an upright axis by a gear connected to its lowest extremity; motion was also given, at the same time, to a fluted roller, turning ...
- Brunton's Patents
- Mr. Brunton had a patent in 1819 for a revolving firegrate of a similar kind; but whether Mr. Steel's was antecedent to it (as would appear from the dates given, together with the circumstances), we d...
- Murray's Improvement
- It has doubtless been observed by most of our readers, that the very dense black smoke which issues from the chimneys of steam engines and other furnaces, is not constant; that it commences at the tim...
- Pritchard's Patent
- Mr. William Pritchard took out a patent in 1821 for the same object. He fixed a small cylinder in some convenient place contiguous to the furnace, with an air-tight piston to rise and fall within it. ...
- Stanley's Patent
- This invention, which we have seen repeatedly and successfully applied, forms a distinct appendage to the front of the furnace. At the upper part of the apparatus is a hopper, containing a supply of s...
- Chapman's Furnace
- In 1824 Mr. Chapman received a reward from the Society of Arts for a different mode of introducing air into the furnace. He casts the grate bars hollow from end to end, so that they form a series of p...
- Gilbertson's Patent
- This differs but little from the former. Mr. Gilbertson's plan is to heat the air by causing it to pass through hollow plates fixed to the sides of the furnace, and thence into a cavity at the bac...
- Chemical Furnaces
- The forms of furnaces employed by experimental as well as practical chemists are extremely diversified. Those which are employed in manufactories; in metallurgical, distillatory, and other operations ...
- Reverberatory Furnace
- Annexed is the common reverberatory furnace. At d a is the ash pit and fire-place; b b the body of the furnace; c c the dome or reverberating roof; d the chimney; e door of the ash pit; f door of the ...
- Lamp Furnaces
- The flame of an argand lamp is very often employed for chemical purposes, and it is very convenient. To a vertical rod is fitted to slide thereon a number of metallic rings projecting from it horizont...
- Fusee
- Fusee, in Clockwork, the conical barrel drawn by the spring, and about which the chain or cord is wound; for the use of which see Horology. ...
- Fusion
- Fusion, in Chemistry, the application of heat to produce the dense fluid state of bodies. ...
- Fustian
- Fustian, in Commerce, a kind of cotton stuff, which seems as if it were whaled on one side. Right fustians should be made entirely of cotton; but they are frequently made with a warp of flax. ...
- Fustic, Or Yellow Wood
- This wood, the Moras tinctoria, is a native of the West Indies, and affords much colouring matter, which is very permanent. The yellow given by fustic without any mordant is dull and brownish, but sta...
- Galbanum
- A resinous and gummy juice that exudes from the Bubon galbanum. The commercial article is in the state of white, yellow, and brownish tears, unctuous to the touch, and softening between the fingers, a...
- Galley
- Galley, in Printing, a frame into which the compositor empties the lines of type out of his composing stick, and in which he arranges and ties up the whole matter of the page when it is completed. Th...
- Gallic Acid
- Gallic Acid is found most abundantly in the vegetable substance galls, whence it derives its name; but most astringent vegetable matter contains it. The simplest mode of obtaining it is probably that...
- Gallon
- An English measure of capacity, which, until recently, varied considerably with the kind of goods measured by it; thus - The gallon wine measure contained ...
- Galls
- The protuberances on various kinds of trees, supposed to originate in the puncture of an insect. Some are hard, and are therefore called nut-galls; others soft, which are called berry, or apple-galls....
- Gall-Stones
- The calculous concretions occasionally found in the gall-bladders of animals. Those found in oxen, used by painters, are of this nature. ...
- Galvanism
- A species of electricity excited, not by friction, but by establishing a communication between two different metals through the medium of a liquid. See Chemistry. ...
- Gamboge
- A substance obtained from the Stalagmites Cambogioides, a tree that grows wild in the East Indies, from which it is had by wounding the shoots. It is brought here in large cakes, which are yellow, opa...
- Garlic
- The root of the Allium. This root has been found, by chemical analysis, to consist of albumen, mucilage, fibrous matter, and water. ...
- Garnet
- Garnet, in Mineralogy, a species of the flint genus, of which there are two sub-species, viz. the precious and common. The precious, or oriental, is red, but of various shades; it occurs most commonl...
- Gas
- The name given to all elastic aeriform fluids (except the atmospheric air) which retain that state at all ordinary temperatures and pressures. For a long time the gases were supposed to be permanently...
- Gas Lighting
- The art of procuring and applying to the purpose of illumination the inflammable gases evolved by animal and vegetable matter when exposed in close vessels to a high temperature. This important and hi...
- Gas Lighting. Part 2
- Various arrangements have been employed for this purpose; that shown in the engraving, and which we believe to be generally preferred, is the invention of Mr. Perks, and consists of a close vessel k d...
- Gas Lighting. Part 3
- From each end of the retort a tube projects horizontally, which serves to support and guide the scraper rods, which slide through them. The form of the scraper b is shown by the separate figure 2, ...
- Gas Lighting. Part 4
- Some ovens on this principle have, as we have already mentioned, been erected at the Gas Works at Abergavenny, and it is stated, that, after being kept constantly at work for two years, they were not ...
- Gas Lighting. Part 5
- The figure gives a vertical section of two cast-iron retorts, a and b, fixed over a furnace constructed with fire-bricks; the retorts are about four feet long, of a cylindrical form, with covers accur...
- Gas Lighting. Part 6
- When coal or other solid matters are to be decomposed to obtain the gas, the pan f, the pipe g, and the reservoir h, are to be removed, and the operation conducted without them retaining however the u...
- Gas Lighting. Part 7
- The next valve to be described is the one which is fixed at the bottom of each reservoir or lamp, for the purpose of filling them in the manner described in the preceding part of our subject; the ...
- Gas Lighting. Part 8
- The retort is turned with a small rim or flange at the fore end, which fits into the plate c, and the hinder end is supported by a stout pin projecting from the back of the retort, and resting in an i...
- Gas Lighting. Part 9
- Fig. 3 represents the apparatus for the more perfect purification of the gas on its passage from the street mains to the burners, i is a recipient, intended to contain and supply the purifying liquid;...
- Reference To The Engraving
- Fig.1 represents a skeleton frame dial, cast all in one piece; the eight central divisions are very thin, and curved, so as not to coincide or interfere with the hands while passing over them; the spa...
- Gas Engine
- An engine in which the motive force is derived from the alternate expansion and condensation of the liquefiable gases. For the discovery that certain gases may be reduced to the liquid form, and for t...
- Gas Vacuum Engine
- An engine working by the pressure of the atmosphere, a partial vacuum being obtained by the combustion of hydrogen gas in a close vessel. The first person who proposed obtaining power by this means we...
- Gate
- Gate, in Architecture, a large door leading or giving entrance into an open area, as a field or court-yard, or into a considerable building, as a palace or prison. An excellent method of hanging gate...
- Gauge
- An adjustable standard of measure employed in various arts where a number of articles of the same kind are required to be as nearly as possible of the same dimensions. Gauges are various, constructed ...
- Pressure Gauge
- An instrument to determine the pressure exerted in hydrostatic or pneumatic machines, as the hydrostatic press, air pump, and steam engine. When the pressure exerted is less than the pressure of the a...
- Rain Gauge
- An instrument for showing the depth of rain or quantity falling on a given surface at any place. These instruments are variously constructed; the one shown in the engraving on the following page is th...
- Gauging
- The art of measuring the capacities of all kinds of vessels Gauging of course forms a part of mensuration, and is accordingly treated of by most writers on that branch of science; but as casks are sel...
- Gauze
- A thin, transparent kind of stuff, woven sometimes of silk, and sometimes of thread. To warp the silk for the making of gauze, a peculiar kind of mill is used, upon which the silk is wound: it is a wo...
- Gearing
- A train of toothed wheels, for transmitting motions in machinery. There are two sorts of gearing in common; viz. spur gear and beveled gear. In the former, the teeth are arranged round either the conc...
- Gelatin
- An animal substance soluble in hot water, capable of assuming a we11 known elastic or tremulous consistence by cooling, when the water is not too abundant, and liquefiable again by increasing its temp...
- Gems
- This word is used to denote such stones as are considered by mankind as precious. These are, the diamond, the ruby, sapphire, topaz, chrysolite, beryl, emerald, hyacinth, amethyst, garnet, tourmalin, ...
- Geometry
- One of the most important of the mathematical sciences; as it relates to the form, extension, and magnitude of bodies, and is consequently the foundation of Mensuration. The most generally useful port...
- Geometry Problems. Part 2
- Problem L To divide a given line A B into two equal parts. From the end of the line A and B, Fig. 1, as centres, and with any opening of the compasses greater than half A B, describe arches, cut...
- Geometry Problems. Part 3
- Problem VI To lay down an angle of any number of degrees. There are various methods of doing this. One is by the use of an instrument called a protractor, with a semicircle of brass, having its ...
- Geometry Problems. Part 4
- Problem XI To draw a tangent to a circle, or any segment of a circle ABC through a given point B, without making use of the centre of the circle. Take any two equal divisions upon the circle, Fi...
- Geometry Problems. Part 5
- Problem XVIII Upon a given straight line, A B, to form a polygon of any number of sides. Produce the side A B to P, Fig. 18, and on A P from the centre B describe a semicircle A C P; divide the ...
- Geometry Problems. Part 6
- Problem XXIII Two right lines AB, CD, being given, to find a third proportional. Make an angle H E l, Fig. 24, at pleasure; from E make E F equal to A B, and E G equal to C D: join F G. Take EI ...
- Geometry Problems. Part 7
- Problem XXVIII The transverse axis A B, and conjugate axis CD of any ellipsis, being given, to find the two foci, and from thence to describe the ellipsis. Take the semi-transverse, A E, or E B,...
- Geometry Problems. Part 8
- Problem XXXII To describe a parabola, by finding points in the curve; the axis A B, or any diameter being given, and a double ordinate C D. Through A draw E F. Fig. 33, parallel to C D; through ...
- Gilding
- The art of applying to various substances an extremely thin coating of gold. If the substances to be gilt be metallic, this is effected by simple adhesion of the surfaces; but if not, the gold is atta...
- Gimbals
- Gimbals, in Sea Affairs, the brass rings by which a sea compass is suspended in its box, forming a universal joint upon the principle of Hooke's, so as to counteract the effect of the ship's motion, ...
- Gin
- Gin, in Mechanics, a machine for driving piles, fitted with a windlass and winches at each end, at which eight or nine men heave the rope from the barrel or windlass, passing over the wheel at the to...
- Glair
- The white of eggs used as a varnish for paintings; for this purpose it is beaten to an unctuous consistence, and commonly mixed with a little spirit of wine to make it work freely, and a little lump o...
- Glass
- A well-known transparent and brittle factitious substance, of which the basis is silica, brought into complete fusion by the addition of one of the fixed alkalies. There are several different kinds of...
- Glass. Continued
- In the mean time another blower, having formed a smaller ball, opens it by a sharp cut, and presses it while red hot against the end of the stalk held by the former workman, to which it immediately ad...
- Soluble Glass
- Soluble Glass. A simple silicate of potassa or soda, which unites perfect solubility in boiling water to some of the general properties of common glass. In the liquid state, it may be applied to cloth...
- Soluble Glass Properties
- Soluble glass forms a viscid solution, which when concentrated becomes turpid and opalescent: it has an alkaline taste and reaction. The solution mixes in all proportions with water. When the density ...
- Soluble Glass Uses
- The properties of soluble glass fit it for numerous and varied applications. It has been used in the theatre of Munich as a means of safety from fire. All sorts of vegetable matter, wood, cotton, hemp...
- Glazing
- Glazing, as it is now practised, embraces the cutting of all the varieties of glass manufactured for windows, together with fixing it in sashes by means of brads and a stopping of putty; also the for...
- Globe
- Globe, or Sphere, in Geometry, a solid figure described by the revolution of a semicircle round its diameter, which remains unmoved; or it may be defined as a solid, bounded by a uniform convex surfa...
- Glue
- A tenacious viscid substance, used chiefly for binding or cementing pieces of wood together: it is usually prepared from the cuttings and parings of hides, and from the hoofs and horns of animals. For...
- Gluten
- A substance found combined with the feculent and saccharine matter, which constitute the principal part of nutritive grain. It is obtained in the largest quantity from wheat (amounting to the twelfth ...
- Gold
- A yellow metal of specific gravity 19.3, which is greater than any other body in nature, except platina. It is soft, very tough, ductile, and malleable, unalterable and fixed, whether in the atmospher...
- Gold-Beaters' Skin
- The gold-beaters use three kinds of membranes, viz. for the outside cover common parchment, made of sheepskins, is used; for interlaying with the gold, first the smoothest and closest vellum, made of ...
- Gold-Beating
- The gold is prepared for leaves by melting it in a blacklead crucible, with some borax, in a wind furnace; and as soon as it is in perfect fusion, it is poured out into an iron ingot mould, then forge...
- Gold Thread
- Gold Thread, as it is called, consists of a silk thread covered with gold wire. It is formed by passing gold wire between two rollers of nicely polished steel, set very close together, by which means...
- Gold Wire
- That which is commonly called gold wire is in fact merely silver wire gilt. The following is the process employed for this purpose. First an ingot of silver of 24 pounds is forged into a cylinder of a...
- Goniometer
- An instrument for measuring the angles formed by two or more planes, and chiefly, in crystallography, to determine the angles of crystalline substances. ...
- Gouge
- A sort of round hollow chisel, for cutting holes, channels, grooves, etc. in wood or stone. ...
- Granary
- A storehouse for grain. The construction of this class of buildings has not, we believe, received that attention from the scientific which the importance of it deserves. The best which we have met wit...
- Granulation
- The method of dividing metallic substances into grains or small particles to facilitate their combination with other substances, and sometimes for the purpose of readily subdividing them by weight. Th...
- Gravity
- Gravity, in Physics, the natural tendency of bodies towards a centre. Terrestrial or particular gravity is that by which bodies descend or tend towards the centre of the earth; the phenomena of which...
- Grenade
- A kind of small bomb or shell filled with an explosive composition, and fired by a fusee inserted in the touch-hole. Their principal use is in a close assault, when they are thrown by hand from the to...
- Grinding
- A mechanical process, in which certain effects are produced by the attrition of two surfaces. The process of grinding is of extensive use in various mechanical arts; and great differences exist in the...
- Grindstone
- A flat circular stone, mounted on a spindle, and turned by a winch handle, used for the purpose of grinding edge tools. In districts where cutlery and edge tools are manufactured, great numbers of the...
- Guitar
- A musical instrument with five double rows of strings, of which those that are bass are in the middle. ...
- Gum
- A vegetable juice, or thick, transparent, tasteless fluid, which sometimes exudes from certain species of trees. It is very adhesive, and gradually hardens without losing its transparency; but easily ...
- Gun
- A fire-arm or weapon chiefly composed of a barrel or long tube, from which shot and other missiles are discharged by means of inflamed gunpowder; ignition being effected by the percussion of flint and...
- Gun. Part 2
- A number of bits, each a little larger than the former, are afterwards successively passed through the barrel in the same way, until the bore has acquired the magnitude intended. By this operation the...
- Gun. Part 3
- A piece will undoubtedly burst from having its mouth stopped up with earth or snow; which accident sometimes happens to sportsmen in leaping a ditch, in which they have assisted themselves with their ...
- Gunnery
- The art of employing artillery and other fire-arms against an enemy with the best effect, including every thing that is necessary to a complete knowledge of the most approved methods of mounting, tran...
- Gunpowder
- The origin of the invention of gunpowder is a question upon which the learned are by no means agreed; some attributing it to Schwartz, a German monk, in 1320, others to Roger Bacon, who lived nearly a...
- Gunwale or Gunnel
- Gunwale, or Gunnel, is the piece of timber in a ship which reaches on either side from the half-deck to the forecastle, being the uppermost bend, which finishes the upper works of the hull in that pa...
- Gypsum
- A substance which is very abundant in nature, and is now denominated, according to the new chemical arrangement, the sulphate of lime. It forms immense strata, composing entire mountains; it is found ...
- Hackle
- An instrument or tool used in hackling or straightening the fibres of flax. It consists of several rows of long sharp iron teeth, fixed in a piece of wood, and placed with their points upwards before ...
- Hair
- Slender filaments issuing out of the pores of the skins of animals, and serving most of them as a covering. All hair appears round; but the microscope shows them to be of various shapes, as square, tr...
- Hair Powder
- The starch of wheat finely pulverized, and variously scented. ...
- Halbert, Or Halberd
- A kind of spear having a staff about six feet long, much in use formerly, but now chiefly confined to the serjeants of foot. ...
- Ham
- The leg or thigh of pork, dried, seasoned, and prepared to make it keep, and give it an agreeable flavour. Westphalia hams, which are most esteemed, are prepared by salting them with saltpetre, pressi...
- Hammer
- A well-known instrument used by workmen, of which there are numerous varieties, adapted to the peculiar work they are designed for. The general form is that of an iron head, having a handle at right a...
- Hammock
- A suspended bed, usually consisting of a piece of sacking about three feet wide and six feet long, gathered or drawn together at the two ends, and suspended from only one point at each end. They are c...
- Hand
- Hand, A measure of four inches, or that of the clenched fist. ...
- Handcuffs
- Two circular pieces of iron, provided with hinge joints to open and shut them by, and a lock to secure them when together; employed to secure prisoners or malefactors. ...
- Hand-Mills
- This term does not properly apply to any specific kind of mill, but to all that are worked by hand, such as those employed in the domestic offices of grinding coffee, pepper, etc. There are, however, ...
- Handspike
- A name given to a simple lever consisting of a bar of wood or iron, chiefly used on board ship for heaving round the windlass. ...
- Harbour
- A place where ships may lie at anchor, secure from storms. The principal qualities of a good harbour are, sufficient depth of water to float the largest ships, and sufficient breadth and depth for the...
- Hardness
- The resistance opposed by a body to the separation of its particles. This property depends on the force of cohesion, or on that which chemists call affinity, joined to the arrangement of the particles...
- Harmonica
- The name given to a musical instrument invented by Dr. Franklin, in which the tones are produced by friction against the edges of a series of glasses. The glasses are blown as near as possible into th...
- Harness
- The furniture and equipments of horses, to adapt them for drawing carriages, and for being driven, guided, and controlled. Tho constituent parts of harness are noticed under their separate heads. See ...
- Harp
- A stringed instrument, consisting of a triangular frame, the chords of which are distended in a parallel direction from the upper parts, to one of its sides. ...
- Harpoon, Or Harping-Iron
- A javelin used to pierce whales, in the Greenland and South Sea fisheries. It has a broad, flat, triangular, barbed head, well sharpened, to penetrate easily, and a shank about two feet long, to the ...
- Harpsichord
- A stringed instrument contained in a large case of wood, having a double or treble row of distended strings, of brass and steel wires, supported by bridges. It is played upon similarly to the piano-fo...
- Harrow
- An agricultural implement, used for raking and levelling the earth. There are two principal distinctions; namely, the common, and the jointed chain harrow. The common harrow is usually made by framing...
- Hartshorn Shavings
- These shavings, although originally taken from the horns of stags, or harts, which are a species of bone, are now obtained chiefly by shaving down with a plane the bones of calves. They afford a nutri...
- Hartshorn
- Hartshorn, (Spirit of,) is now usually obtained by the distillation of bones, hoofs, horns, and in general the refuse of slaughter-houses. An iron still or retort is generally used with a pipe leadin...
- Hats
- A well-known covering for the head, and distinguished from a cap or bonnet by a brim. They are made by various methods, according to the nature of the substance of which they are composed; but by far ...
- Hats. Continued
- The beer grounds are applied in the inside of the crown to prevent the glue from coming through to the face, and also to give the requisite firmness, at a less expense than could be produced by glue a...
- Hatch, And Hatchway
- Hatchway is the square or oblong opening through a ship's deck; and the cover to it is the hatch, which is sometimes provided with a grating, to admit light and air beneath. ...
- Hatchet
- A small axe used with only one hand. See Axe. ...
- Hatching
- The production of chickens, or other animals, alive, from eggs, whether by incubation of the parent, or by artificial heat. Under the article Eggs, we have described the mode of hatching chickens by t...
- Hatchment
- The coat of arms of a dead person, usually placed in the front of the house. ...
- Hautboy
- A musical instrument provided with keys like a flute, but blown by a reed at one end, and spreading out conically towards the other end. ...
- Hay
- Grass dried in the sunshine. The risk of this operation being successfully completed, owing to unfavourable changes in the weather, is well known; and the loss to the farmer in consequence of long con...
- Hearth
- The pavement or surface on or over which fuel is burned in apartments. But the term hearth, in naval affairs, implies, the grate and apparatus employed on board ship for preparing the food or messes f...
- Heliometer or Astrometer
- Heliometer, or ASTROMETER, is an instrument invented by Bougeur, for measuring with exactness the diameter of the sun, moon, and planets. This instrument is a telescope, having two object-glasses of ...
- Helioscope
- A telescope fitted for viewing the sun, without dazzling the eyes, by being provided with object and eye-glasses, that are coloured red or green. Huygens used only a plain glass blacked over the flame...
- Heliotrope
- Heliotrope is a sub-species of rhomboidal quartz. It is regarded as a precious stone; the colour green, of various shades, and streaked with red veins. The blood and scarlet-red, and the yellow dots ...
- Helm
- In naval architecture, the apparatus for steering or guiding the motion of a ship. The helm is usually composed of three parts - the rudder, the tiller, and the wheel, except in small vessels, where t...
- Helix
- Helix, in Geometry, is a term generally used synonymously with spiral; but some authors make a distinction between the helix and the spiral. Daviler says, that a staircase is a helix or helical when ...
- Hellebore
- The root of a plant formerly used in medicine, but now nearly discarded from practice, on account of the violence of its operation. ...
- Helmet
- A defensive armour for the head, composed usually of the skins of animals and of metals. ...
- Hematin
- The colouring principle of logwood, which is obtained by digesting alcohol for a day on the aqueous extract of logwood; then filtering the solution, evaporating partially, and leaving the liquid to re...
- Hemisphere
- One-half of a globe or sphere, formed by a plane passing through its centre. ...
- Henbane
- A poisonous narcotic plant, common in our ditches and roadside. It is sometimes used in medicine. See Hyosciama. ...
- Henna
- A plant growing in Africa and many parts of the East; the colouring matter being much in request for dyeing the finger nails of the inhabitants of the East, and the mains, tails, and hoofs of their ho...
- Hermetical Sealing
- Hermetical Sealing, is used to denote the perfect closing of vessels so as to prevent the ingress or egress of the most subtle fluids or bodies. In stopping glass vessels, for chemical operations, it...
- Hides
- The skins of beasts; the word being, however, distinctively applied to the skins of oxen, cows, horses, and other large thick-skinned animals. Raw or green hides are those which have not undergone any...
- High-Water
- That state of the tides when they have flowed to the greatest height, in which state they remain nearly stationary for about fifteen or twenty minutes, when the water begins to ebb. The time of high-w...
- Hinges
- The joints on which doors, lids, gates, shutters, and an infinite number of articles are made to swing, fold, open, or shut up. Independently of a great variety of kinds and sizes kept ready made by i...
- Hinges. Continued
- When it is required to close the shutter, the spring (which is close to the window) is to be pressed down to allow the flap B to come back over it; and when shut it presents the appearance shown in Fi...
- Hip Roof
- A roof, the ends of which rise immediately from the wall-plate, with the same inclination to the horizon as its other two sides. The backing of a hip is the angle made on its upper edge to range with ...
- Hive
- A receptacle for bees. See Bee-hive and Honev. ...
- Hod
- A portable receptacle in which bricks, mortar, etc. are carried by labourers in house-building. ...
- Hoe
- An instrument employed in agriculture in breaking-up earth, and drawing it around plants. It consists of a broad blade of iron or steel, with an eye or socket in the middle of its upper side, through ...
- Hogshead
- A measure of capacity, or a cask of a certain determinate size, for holding liquids. The wine hogshead is three-fourths of a puncheon, one-half of a pipe, and one-fourth of a tun; it contains a tierce...
- Hold
- The whole interior cavity of a ship comprehended between the floor and the lower deck throughout her entire length. ...
- Holdfast
- Holdfast, Carpenters', is the name of a very useful tool, employed not only by carpenters, but by other mechanics, for holding fast their work upon the bench whilst being operated upon. It usually co...
- Holdfasts
- A general term applied to a variety of flat-sided iron spikes, that are driven into the joints of brick-work, against which it is desired to fasten any kind of wood-work; for this purpose, the other e...
- Holland
- A closely woven kind of linen cloth, of a peculiar fabric, so called from its having been originally imported from Holland. ...
- Hollow Wall
- A wall built in two thicknesses, leaving a cavity between, which maybe either for saving materials, or for preserving an uniform temperature in apartments. ...
- Holometer
- A mathematical instrument that serves universally for taking all measures, both on the earth and in the heavens. ...
- Hone
- A fine grained kind of stone, used for sharpening razors, penknives, and other cutting instruments. The exquisite edge given by cutlers to razors, lancets, etc. can rarely be produced by those persons...
- Honey
- A sweet and scarcely fluid substance, which is collected by bees from the nectaria of flowers, and deposited in the cells of the combs for the support of the bees and their offspring. Naturalists are ...
- Hood
- A cowl or covering, placed on the top of any thing. ...
- Hood And Mouth Piece
- Hood And Mouth Piece, invented by Roberts, the miner, for descending mines, or going into houses on fire, is described under Fire Escapes. ...
- Hoofs
- The horny substance that covers the feet of various animals; it chiefly consists of coagulated albumen. See Horn. ...
- Hoop
- A pliant piece of wood or metal made into rings, or circular bandages for casks, etc. ...
- Hopper
- A trough or funnel employed to supply corn to a mill, fuel to close furnaces, and to a great variety of other purposes. ...
- Hops
- The dried flower buds of a British climbing plant, which grows wild in many parts of England; but for the purposes of commerce and brewing, they are usually cultivated in extensive plantations, where ...
- Horn
- An animal substance, composed of coagulated albumen, with a little gelatine, and about a two-hundredth part of the phosphate of lime. But the horns of the buck and hart are of a different nature, bein...
- Horn Musical Instrument
- A musical instrument of the wind kind: the earliest, from which the instrument derived its name, were the horns of animals, and these are still used extensively in remote or uncivilized districts. Con...
- Horn, Artificial, Or Tanned Gelatine
- Considerable manufactories have, it is said, been established in France, for the construction of a variety of articles with this substance. The gelatine is usually obtained from bones, by treating the...
- Hornblende
- A species of the clay genus, of which there are three varieties; viz. the common, hornblende slate, and basaltic hornblende. ...
- Hornstone
- A sub-species of rhomboidal quartz, according to Jameson, who divides it into splintery hornstone, conchoidal hornstone. and woodstone. ...
- Horology
- The art of constructing machines for measuring time; but from the circumstance of clocks and watches having very generally superseded all other contrivances for this purpose, the term is now usually u...
- Horology. Part 2
- The catgut goes round 16 times, so that the clock will go eight days. The hour-hand of the clock is turned by the wheel work shown upon the front frameplate; on the end of the arbor of the centre whee...
- Horology. Part 3
- Having thus explained the nature and operation of the regulator, and of the maintaining power, we shall endeavour to describe the construction of an ordinary watch, with the assistance of the annexed ...
- Horology. Part 4
- When the art of clock-making had attained a high degree of perfection, and the application of this instrument to astronomical observations rendered the utmost accuracy desirable, it was soon perceived...
- Horology. Part 5
- Care must be taken in screwing the cylinder of zinc up or down, to place the finger and thumb at the same time on the nut, so that the two may turn together; or the nut may be fastened to the cylinder...
- Horology. Part 6
- The small screws near the ends of the radii afford an adjustment for time, as the balance will vibrate more quickly the further these are screwed in; and the contrary will be the case if they be unscr...
- Horology. Part 7
- One tooth of the wheel in the present position rests on the inclined surface of the inner part of the pallet c, upon which its disposition to slide tends to throw the point of the pallet further from ...
- Horology. Part 8
- The detached escapement was applied first to chronometers or time-pieces, but is now also used for astronomical clocks; and various excellent constructions have been invented by different artists, amo...
- Horology. Part 9
- What has been already advanced, will, we trust, be sufficient to convey a clear idea of the nature and general construction of horological machines; but great diversities in their form and a variety o...
- Horology. Part 10
- The hour-wheel, marked A, Fig. 2, lies immediately underneath the alarum wheel, and has on its under side an oblong steel plate, 1, 2, 3, in the detached figure A of Fig. 2, which is called the detent...
- Horology. Part 11
- Fig. 5 shows a watch having all the above described parts appertaining thereto, and placed upon one of the aforesaid detached alarum movements; l being the case of the alarum, formed of open-work,...
- Horology. Part 12
- Figs. 1 and 8 show the impendent, made of the same metal as the case; it turns freely on a piece of steel g, Fig. 8; this steel arbor has a small knob on one side, h, shown at Figs. 1 and 8, to preven...
- Horology. Part 13
- The projection of the index in front of the dial is exhibited by the projection of its shadow thereon. ...
- Horse Power
- The force with which a horse acts is compounded of his weight and muscular strength. If, then, the weight of one horse exceed that of another to which it is inferior in muscular strength, the weaker a...
- Horse-Shoes
- Curved pieces of iron, made to fit accurately the horny hoofs of horses, to which they are nailed in a peculiar manner; the use of the shoes being to preserve the hoofs from the destructive effect tha...
- Horse-Shoes. Continued
- From the rapid action of a horse's foot it is not easy to discover the precise kind of motion which he makes in stepping out and relieving his foot for the next step; but it is ascertained to be a rol...
- Hose
- A term given to a flexible tube attached to hydraulic engines, for conveying water or other fluid to any required point Fire-engine hose was originally made of leather sewed up, which being very liabl...
- Hot-Beds
- Hot-Beds, in Gardening, are beds made with fresh horse-dung, or tanner's bark, and covered with glasses to defend them from inclement weather. ...
- Hot-House
- A garden erection, similar to a green-house, employed either for forcing plants, or for the training of exotics, provided with a stove or flue for the diffusion of artificial heat, and the means of du...
- Hot-Pressing
- Hot-Pressing is, strictly speaking, the art of applying heat in conjunction with mechanical pressure; but it is generally understood to mean the employment of that process to paper, linen, and simila...
- House
- A building constructed for the purpose of habitation. The recent improvements made in the construction of the constituent parts of houses, such as windows, shutters, roofs, chimneys, etc. we have give...
- Howitzer
- A kind of artillery between a cannon and a mortar; being longer than a mortar and shorter than a cannon, and from that circumstance adapted to throw either shot or shells; it is usually mounted as a c...
- Hulk
- A large vessel moored and fitted up for the purpose of taking out or putting in the masts of other ships, and for various other purposes that may be required in nautical affairs. They are sometimes em...
- Hungary Water
- Hungary Water is made by distilling, in a water bath, two pounds of fresh-gathered flowers of rosemary, with two quarts of the rectified spirit of wine. ...
- Hurdles
- A light fence of open rails, made in convenient detached pieces, for fixing separately in the ground by stakes or prongs; the hurdles being afterwards tied together, end to end, constitute a continued...
- Hyacinth
- A sub-species of pyramidal zircon. Colours red, brown, green, and grey, and more rarely yellow. The darker varieties are deprived of their colour by heat, a fact of which artists avail themselves to m...
- Hydrates
- Compounds, in definite proportions, of metallic oxides with water. ...
- Hydraulics
- Hydraulics is the term applied to that collection of facts which describe the phenomena of fluids in motion. In treating of hydrostatics, we have shown that fluids press in all directions, and that t...
- Hydraulic Engines
- Hydraulic Engines, are all kinds of machines which either receive motion from the weight or impulse of water, or are employed in raising it; but the term is sometimes used to denote a machine which i...
- Hydraulic Machines
- Under this head we propose to notice various machines which are at times employed in lieu of pumps for raising water, or which have been proposed for that purpose. The most simple, as well, perhaps, a...
- Hydraulic Machines. Part 2
- A cock or valve, of large dimensions, is also fixed at m, by which the second chest f can be emptied of its water, and a smaller cock is fixed higher up, as at % for discharging its air. To set the ma...
- Hydraulic Machines. Part 3
- This is no sooner done than the water is constrained to become again stationary, by which the momentum is lost, and the valve and weight again become superior, and fall, thus reopening the orifice, an...
- Hydraulic Machines. Part 4
- As the number of troughs, and the height of the machine, will depend upon the altitude to which it is required to raise the water, and as three troughs will show the arrangement and the action of the ...
- Hydraulicon, Or Water Organ
- A musical instrument acted upon by water; the invention of which is said to be of higher antiquity than that of the wind organ. ...
- Hydriodates
- Salts consisting of hydriodic acid, combined in definite proportions with oxides. ...
- Hydrochloric Acid
- A compound of chlorine and hydrogen. Hydrocyanic Acid Prussic acid ...
- Hydrodynamics
- Hydrodynamics treats of the mechanical properties of fluids in general. It is usually divided into hydrostatics, which explains the pressure and equilibrium of liquids, such as oil, water, etc.; - Hy...
- Hydrometer
- An instrument for ascertaining the specific gravities of different liquids. The most common description of these instruments consists of a hollow ball, of either metal or glass, capable of floating in...
- Hydrophane
- A variety of opal, which has the property of becoming transparent on immersion in water. It is also called oculus mundi. We must be careful to immerse them only in pure water, and to withdraw them whe...
- Hydrostatics
- Hydrostatics explains the pressure and equilibrium of liquids, or of what have been generally termed inelastic fluids. A fluid is a body whose parts are put into motion among one another by the sligh...
- Hydrostatics. Continued
- The pressure upon a perpendicular surface will of course vary with the depth. If a board one foot square be placed perpendicularly in a vessel of water, and be divided into horizontal sections, each o...
- Hydrosulphurets
- Compounds of sulphuretted hydrogen with the saliliable bases. ...
- Hydrurets
- Hydrurets, compounds of hydrogen with metals. ...
- Hygrometer
- An instrument for ascertaining the degrees of dryness or moisture of the atmosphere; therefore whatever substance expands by mois-ture or contracts by dryness, may be employed for the purpose, in conn...
- Hyosciama
- A new vegetable alkali, extracted by Dr. Brande from the hyoscyamus nigra, or henbane. It is a strong poison. The vapour is extremely prejudicial to the eyes; the smallest morsel of the alkali upon th...
- Hyperbola
- Hyperbola, is one of the conic sections, formed by the intersection of a plane and cone, when the plane makes a greater angle with the base of the cone than that formed by the base and side of the co...
- Hypothenuse
- Hypothenuse, the longest side of a right-angled triangle. ...
- Ice
- Water in a solid, crystallized state, owing to the abstraction of its combined heat. Its specific gravity, according to Dr. Thomson, is .92. The force of expansion exerted by water in the act of freez...
- Ice-Boats
- There are two descriptions of boats which come under this denomination; namely, those that are designed to sail upon the surface of the ice, and those that are employed to open the navigation of froze...
- Ice-Cream
- A species of confectionary made by immersing cream, variously flavoured, in a mass of ice, contained in a pail constructed for the purpose, wherein the cream is congealed. ...
- Ice-House
- A repository for ice during the summer season. In London and other places, ice is kept by the confectioners in deep cellars, from which the external air is excluded as much as possible, and provided w...
- Mode Of Filling The House
- When the ice (or snow, if ice cannot be procured,) is put into the house, it must be well beaten down with a pavior's rammer, or mallet, and the surface always kept concave, as by this means any snow ...
- Ice-Saws
- Large saws used for cutting through the ice for relieving ships when frozen up. The vessels employed in the Greenland fisheries, and others that navigate the polar seas, are regularly furnished with t...
- Ichnography
- Ichnography, in Drawing, is synonymous with the term plan, such as is exhibited in an horizontal section of a building, or of any other object, which shows the true dimensions to a scale of every par...
- Ignition
- Ignition, in its general sense, properly signifies the setting fire to any substance. But the sense is more usually limited to the kind of burning which is not accompanied with flame, such as that of...
- Illuminating
- A kind of miniature painting, anciently much practised for illustrating and adorning books, but now, comparatively to the other modes of illustration, but little practised, being chiefly confined to v...
- Impact
- Impact, in Mechanics, the simple or single action of one body upon another, to put the latter, if at rest, in motion; or, if it be moving, to increase, retard, or alter the direction of its motion. T...
- Impalpable Powders
- Powders so finely levigated, that the particles of which they are formed cannot be distinguished by the senses, more especially that of feeling. Fine pigments, prepared by a flat stone and muller, are...
- Impenetrability
- Impenetrability is commonly understood to imply that quality of a body by which it cannot be pierced; but in Physics the term has a different, or more refined signification. It is therein defined to ...
- Impulse
- Impulse, in Mechanics, the single or momentary action or force by which 2 body is impelled by another body striking it, and is distinguished from continued force, such as pulling, pushing, or pressur...
- Inch
- The twelfth part of a foot; it contains three barley-corns, or twelve lines. ...
- Incidence
- Incidence, or Line of Incidence, in Mechanics, is the direction in which one body presses or strikes upon another. ...
- Incineration
- The combustion of vegetable or animal substances, for the purpose of obtaining their ashes or fixed residue. ...
- Inclination
- Inclination, in Geometry and Mechanics, the mutual tendency of two lines, planes, or bodies, to each other, making, at the point where they meet, an angle, called the angle of inclination. Thus, the ...
- Inclined Plane
- One of the mechanic powers or simple machines by which weights may be elevated with great facility. If a heavy body be suspended freely in space, or against a vertical plane, it is manifest that a wei...
- Indelible
- Something that cannot be cancelled or effaced, as indelible ink. See Anacardium and Ink. ...
- Index
- Index, in Mechanism, is a light rod, similar to the hand of a clock employed to point out the degrees marked upon a divided scale. ...
- Indigo
- A blue colouring matter, extracted from the leaves and stalks of the indigofera tincteria, or anil plant. The ancients were acquainted with this dye under the name of Indicum. It is found both in the ...
- Inertia Of Matter
- The name given to a passive principle, by which bodies persist in a state of motion, or rest, receive motion in proportion to the force impressing them, and resist as much as they are resisted. See Me...
- Inflammability
- That property in certain bodies which disposes them to kindle or take fire readily. ...
- Infusion
- Infusion, is the operation of macerating or steeping any substance in water or other fluid, hot or cold (but without boiling), so as to extract its soluble parts. The liquid thus impregnated is ...
- Ingot
- Ingot, is a term applied to small bars of gold, silver, copper, and other metals, of a wedge-like shape in their transverse section. The metals are run into this form for portability, the convenience...
- Inhaler
- The name given to an apparatus having a breathing-pipe, by which a patient inhales steam or other vapours, and sometimes particular gases or airs, presumed to be beneficial in catarrhs, affections of ...
- Injection
- The operation of forcibly throwing any liquid or aeriform fluid by means of a pump, syringe, or other suitable mechanism, into a vessel. Thus, cold water is injected into the condenser of a steam-engi...
- Inks
- Inks, are fluid compositions designed for writing, drawing, and printing As there are a great variety of sorts, we shall treat them consecutively, according to the following arrangement of the subjec...
- Inks. Part 2
- Dr. Lewis and others have recommended vinegar as the menstruum in preference to water; on which, as well as the sulphate of copper of Mr. Ribaucourt, Dr. Ure acutely observes, l have found an inconve...
- Inks. Part 3
- 7. Indestructible Red Ink may be made by dissolving one ounce of copal in seven ounces of oil of lavender, and adding thereto three ounces and a half of pure vermilion. If found too thick for the pen,...
- Inks. Part 4
- When these materials are well incorporated, they are poured on a plate of cast iron, made warm, and oiled, in order that the composition may be easily detached from it. Ledges of wood are put on th...
- Inkstands
- Utensils for holding ink for the convenience of dipping a pen into them. They were formerly chiefly made of horn, but now generally of glass or metal. It is not our intention to describe the ordinary ...
- Patent Caoutchouc Inkstand
- Mr. Doughty, the ingenious manufacturer of pens with ruby and rhodium nibs, having discovered the injury that those pens received from being incautiously struck against the glass of common inkstands, ...
- Horsley And Cooper's Patent Inkstand
- The peculiarity in this invention consists in the forming of convenient and perfectly air-tight stoppers, in a substance not liable to corrode. It is effected by bringing into contact two circular dis...
- Insolation
- A method of preparing certain fruits, drugs, etc. by exposing them to the heat of the sun's rays, either to dry, to maturate, or to render them acid; as is done in figs, raisins, vinegar, and many oth...
- Intaglios
- Precious stones, on which are engraved the heads of eminent men, such as are usually set in seals, rings, etc. ...
- Integer
- Integer, in Arithmetic, signifies a whole number, in contradistinction to a fraction. ...
- Integral
- Integral, in Philosophy, is an appellation given to parts of bodies which are of a similar nature to the whole. ...
- Integral Calculus
- Integral Calculus is the reverse of the differential calculus, and is the finding of the integral from a given differential, and corresponds with the inverse method of fluxions. ...
- Intermediates
- A term made use of in Chemistry in relation to affinity; thus, oil has no affinity to water unless it be previously combined with an alkali; it then becomes soap, and the alkali is said to be the inte...
- Intrados
- The internal curve of the arch of a bridge. ...
- Inverse Proportion
- Inverse Proportion, or Inverse Ratio, in Philosophy, is that in which more requires less, or less requires more. Thus in the case of light and heat flowing from a luminous body, the light and heat ar...
- Iodine And Iodic Acid
- Iodine is a peculiar and compounded principle; it was discovered in Paris in 1811 by M. Courtois, a saltpetre manufacturer, who observed a rapid corrosion of his vessels in his processes for obtaining...
- Iridium
- A new metal, to which that name was given by its discoverer, Mr. Tennant, from the striking variety of colours it affords whilst dissolving in muriatic acid. On examining the black powder left after d...
- Iris Metal Ornaments
- A patent was taken out a few years ago by Mr. Barton, of the Mint, for a very ingenious method of ornamenting steel and other metals with the prismatic colours. It is effected by engraving with an eng...
- Iron
- A metal of a bluish-white colour, of great hardness and elasticity; very malleable, and exceedingly tenacious and ductile. It is the most abundant, the most important, and the most valuable of all the...
- Iron. Continued
- Sturtevant failed in executing his proposed plans, and was obliged, the following year, to render up his letters patent, or monopoly. John Ravenson, Esq. succeeded Sturtevant a. 1613, had a patent gra...
- Making Of Coke
- The first operation is the preparation of the coal, to reduce it to the state of coke, which is accomplished either in kilns, or in the open air. The latter plan has been, and is still, the most exten...
- Coke And Tar Works
- The annoyance attending this process by the evolution of the immense quantities of smoke from the ignited matter, besides the entire waste of the volatile products, induced the late Earl Dundonald, ma...
- Coke Kilns
- The last described process of making cokes, is now being superseded in many places, particularly in the neighbourhood of Sheffield, by the employment of kilns made of bricks, of a hemispherical form, ...
- Roasting Iron-Stone
- The ores of iron require different treatment in the smelting process, according to the nature and extent of the heterogeneous matter with which the metal is combined. In all ores the iron is in the st...
- Fluxes
- The coke and iron-stone having been duly prepared, the next consideration is the nature and extent of the flux required to separate the metal by fusion from those of its combinations which the previou...
- Smelting Furnace
- The external figure of a blast furnace is that of a truncated pyramid, while its interior form has been very aptly compared to that of a decanter, supported upon a funnel. In the subordinate details o...
- Mode Of Working Furnace
- When the furnace is finished, the bottom and sides of it for 2 feet up the square funnel, receive a lining of common bricks upon edge, to prevent the stone from shivering or mouldering when the fire c...
- Phenomena Attending The Production Of The Different Qualities Of Pig-Metal
- When fine (No. 1,) or super-carbonated crude iron is run from the furnace, the stream of metal, as it issues from the fauld, throws off an infinite number of brilliant sparkles of carbon. The surface ...
- Mechanical Arrangements For Supplying The Tunnel-Head With The Materials For Fusion
- The mode of supplying the lime, coke, iron-stone, etc. to the crater, or tunnel-head of the furnace, was formerly by men carrying them in baskets up an inclined plane or bridge. Subsequently small wag...
- Welsh Smelting Furnaces
- In South Wales and other mountainous districts it is the practice to build the blast furnaces beside cliff's or steep precipices, which are sometimes walled up artificially to render them perpendicula...
- Anthracite Used In Smelting
- Before closing our account of the smelting department of the iron manufacture, we think it right to call the attention of those who are interested in the iron trade to the consideration of the practic...
- Matin's Furnace For Smelting Iron With Anthracite Coal
- Mr. Joshua Malin, of Lebanon, in Pennsylvania, has described his furnace for this purpose in the Franklin Journal. It is very similar to our common blast furnaces, the crucibles and hearth alone diffe...
- Improved Blowing Machinery
- In continuing our account of the process of obtaining iron in the smelting furnace, we omitted to notice that the blowing apparatus delineated in connexion therewith, has, in a great measure, been sup...
- Refining Furnace
- The refining of pig-metal is a modern intermediate process of conversion, which the experience of our iron masters has led them to believe is the best economy in the preparation of the metal for subse...
- The Puddling Furnace
- The next process consists in depriving the iron of its remaining carbon and oxygen (or as far as that may be practicable), by which it is rendered malleable and is constituted wrought-iron. For this p...
- Malleable Iron Produced Direct From The Ore With Stone Coal
- A short time ago, a patent was taken out in America, by Mr. B. Howell, of Philadelphia, for an improvement in a bloomery furnace, by means of which, and the use of anthracite coal exclusively for f...
- Refining With Mineral Cod
- A patent recently granted in America, to Mr. C. Lewis, (of Pine Creek, Alleghany County, Pennsylvania,) for refining pig iron, seems also to be well deserving of the attention of the English manufactu...
- Salts Employed In Making Iron
- A patent was taken out a few years ago, by Mr. Luckcock, an iron master of Edgebaston, near Birmingham, for the application of the muriate of soda, (common salt,) to the iron in the puddling furnace j...
- Shingling Or Blooming
- The underhand having drawn a ball out of the furnace, his superior, the shingler, takes it up by a pair of tongs and heaves it on to the depressed part a of an anvil b, which with its block (sunk ...
- Shearing The Bars
- This rough bar is therefore, immediately it has passed through the rolls, and while it is still red hot, put between the jaws of a pair of shears, worked by the engine, and cut into lengths of about a...
- Piling
- The piler piles the pieces of the rough bar together in the manner shown in the annexed cut, putting as many upon one another as will form a bloom or a finished bar of the size and weight required. Th...
- The Balling Or Reheating Furnace
- This furnace is in no essential respect different from the puddling furnace already described; but the men who work them are usually called bailers. ...
- Balling
- With an iron instrument of the shape of a baker's peel, the bailer places each pile on the bed of sand prepared to receive them, taking care not to disturb them, so as to cause any of the pieces to pr...
- Variety Of Rolling Apparatus
- For the manufacture of so extensive a variety, f. great number of rolls is required in an iron work. The stock of these ponderous tools, in some works, consists of upwards of a hundred pairs; and ther...
- Process Of Rolling - Defects And Improvements
- To give the reader a clear insight into the mode of working a bar through the rolls, it appears to be necessary partly to repeat what has been before but imperfectly noticed. A bar of iron, as it pass...
- Norton's Mode Of Rolling Large Bars
- For bars of still greater dimensions Mr. Horton adopted the following process, for which he took out a patent a few years back. Instead of rolling the single blooms, and then welding the bars together...
- The Various Forms Of Rolled Iron
- Having seen that round iron is produced by the junction of two semicircular grooves in the opposite rollers, the reader will readily perceive, without the aid of a figure, that half-round iron, (th...
- Slit Rods
- The manufacture of this article is interesting from the wonderful rapidity of its execution; and that it is of great importance in its results, it need only be stated that in the neighbourhood of Birm...
- Rolling Rods
- Round rods, and those of a square or flat shape, that are required more perfect in their figure, and with a smoother surface than those which are split by the process described, are made by rolling wi...
- Best Malleable Iron
- The correct meaning of the term best is very different to the signification of it in the iron trade, in which it now implies the next better quality than common; and it is usually said to be made b...
- Scrap Iron
- There is another kind of best iron, distinguished by the name of scrap-iron, being made up of all the scraps, short lengths, ends cut off the finished bars, as before explained, and all the little b...
- Charcoal Iron
- This term is originally applied to such iron only as had been prepared solely with wood charcoal, from the ore to the malleable and finished state; but now the name of charcoal iron is given to mallea...
- Re-Manufactured Iron
- Worn-out and broken articles of iron, termed old iron, are collected throughout the country, and purchased by a class of tradesmen called dealers in marine stores, who sort them into three kinds for s...
- Re-Manufactured Iron. Continued
- The first quality, or best king and queen iron, is thus prepared: - a ball or faggot, being duly heated, is first compressed a little by the squeezer, then rolled to a flat bar in the shingling ro...
- Natural Steel
- In those countries where iron ores are found extremely rich and pure, and their reduction is effected by charcoal, excellent steel is produced from cast-iron, without an intermediate process; and this...
- Blistered Steel
- The first process employed by our manufacturers in the preparation of steel is to stratify malleable bar iron with pounded charcoal in alternate layers, in a close furnace, to cause a gradual absorpti...
- Mackintosh's Patent
- A few years ago Mr. Mackintosh, of Crossbaskets, in Lanarkshire, took out a patent for converting malleable iron into steel, by subjecting it to a stream of carburetted hydrogen gas, evolved from coal...
- Mushat's Patent Steel
- The preceding articles are descriptive of three distinct modes of preparing steel. First, by the careful refinement of cast-iron; second, by the stratification of malleable iron with charcoal; and thi...
- Tilted Steel
- As blistered steel in its crude state is applicable to but few purposes, it is moderately heated in a furnace, and subjected to the action of a tilt hammer, which strikes about 700 blows per minute: t...
- Shear Steel
- This name was given to a steel that was first made by Crowley, of Newcastle, about sixty years ago, in imitation of a peculiar kind of bar steel that we formerly imported from Germany. Crowley, howeve...
- Sandersons Patent
- In September, 1828, a patent was taken out by Mr. Charles Sanderson, of the Park Gate Iron Works, entitled A new process or method of making shear steel, which, the specification informs us, consist...
- Cast Steel
- The finest and very best steel for most purposes, is that which has undergone the process of fusion and a subsequent hammering, called cast steel. It is about ninety years since this steel was introdu...
- Thompson's Patent
- A short time after the granting of Mr. Needham's patent, Mr. Thompson, of the Chelsea-street Works, took out another, having a very similar object in view. He proposes, in the first place, to melt the...
- Alloys Of Steel
- Messrs. Farraday and Stodart, a few years since, made a series of experiments on the combinations of some other metals with steel, an account of which was published by them in the Philosophical Transa...
- Meteor Steel
- The patentees of this manufacture (Messrs. J. Martineau, jun. and W. H. Smith,) specify their object to be the preparation of an alloy of steel, having that peculiar wavy appearance exhibited in the D...
- Wootz
- This celebrated steel is made in India, at little furnaces supplied with air by several pairs of small bellows, worked assiduously by men and boys; and thus is produced the raw material of the famed D...
- Case-Hardening
- Case-Hardening is a term applied to the process of converting the external surface of articles or masses of iron into steel, with the view of combining the hardness of the latter with the toughness a...
- Hardening And Tempering
- In giving the requisite degree of hardness to cutting instruments of steel, two distinct processes are employed; first, hardening, and afterwards tempering. The hardening is effected by heating the st...
- On Restoring The Elasticity Of Hardened And Tempered Steel Articles
- Saws, sword-blades, clock and watch springs, etc, which, after being hardened and tempered, require to be ground and polished,or otherwise brightened, lose their elasticity or springiness by these o...
- Table Showing The Weight Of Cast-Iron Plates, Twelve Inches Wide, And From One-Eighth Of An Inch To One Inch Thick
- PARTS OF AN INCH IN THICKNESS. Width in Inches. 1/8 1/4 3/8 1/2 5/8 3/4 7/8 ...
- Other Entries VolI
- Chain Pump See Pumps. Aqua Tinta See Engraving. Argand Burners See Lamps. Bell, Diving See Diving Apparatus. Brimstone See Sulphur. Cashew-Nut See Anacardium. Ether...
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