The Athenaeum 1832-05-12: Iss 237

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evds il to Te yal,” leep (hor THE ATHENAUM Hournal of English and fforeiqn Witerature, Science, and the fFine Arts. No. 237. LONDON, SATURDAY, MAY 12, 1822. PRICE FOURPENCE. «> This Journal is published every Saturday Morning, and is despatched by the early Coaches to Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool, Dublin, and other large Towns, and reaches Liverpool for distribution on Sunday Morning, twelve hours before papers sent by the post. For the convenience of persons residing in remote places, the weekly numbers are issued in Monthly Parts, stitched in a wrapper, and forwarded with the Magazines to all parts of the World. REVIEWS MANUFACTURES, Being an Article under that Title, from the Pen of Mr. Babbage, in Parts 22 and 33 of the ‘ Encyclopedia Metropolitana.’ Tuts article is deserving of more than ordi- nary public attention, and therefore it is that we must express our regret that the circula- tion is limited to the costly publication in which it appears. Had it been published separately, and in a cheap form, its useful- ness would have been very much extended. We, who live in the midst of manu- factures, in a high state of improvement, pass them over as matters of indifference ; but if we were to be deprived of them, our existence would be rendered compara- tively miserable : and were it possible for a man who lived in the seventeenth century to get a peep at England in the nineteenth, he would fancy himself in a land of enchant- | ment. ‘To say that all the human beings now living in the world, could not do as much for promoting human comfort as Eng- land does by means of her implements of manufacture, would be saying but little; for there are many single manufactures, to which the unassisted natural powers of man, what- ever were their numbers, would be wholly inadequate. But we must allow Mr. Bab- bage to state these advantages in his own way.—The following are his opening sen- tences : “There is perhaps no single circumstance which distinguishes our country so remarkably from all others, as the vast extent to which we have carried our contrivances of tools and ma- chines for forming all those conveniences, of which so large a quantity is consumed by almost every class of the community. patient thought, of repeated experiment, of happy exertion of genius, by which our manu- factures have been created and carried to their present excellence, is scarcely to be imagined. If we look around the rooms we inhabit, or through those storehouses of every convenience, of every luxury that man can desire, which deck the crowded streets of our larger cities, we shall find in the history of each article, of every fabric, a series of failures which have gradually led the way to excellence ; and we shall notice, in the art of making the most in- significant processes calculated to excite our | admiration by their simplicity, or to rivet our attention by their unlooked-for results. “The accumulation of skill and which has been directed to diminish the diffi- culty of the production of manufactured goods, has not been beneficial to that country ouly in which it is concentrated: distant kingdoms have participated in its advantages. The uxurious natives of the east, and the ruder inhabitants of the African desert, are alike in- debted to our looms. The produce of our fac- tories seems to have preceded even our most enterprising travellers. The cotton of India is conveyed by British ships round half our planet, to be woven by British skill in the fac- tories of Lancashire. It is again set in motion by British capital, and transported to the very plains whereon it grew; it is repurchased by the lords of the soil which gave it birth, at a cheaper price than that at which their coarser machinery will enable them to manufacture it themselves.” The first chapter is devoted to a summary of mechanical principles. It is a mere cata- logue, of course; but very clear and very striking. The three uses of machinery and manufactures are, “ the addition which they make to human power; the economy .of human time; and the conversion of sub- stances apparently the most common and most worthless into valuable products.” The principal illustration of the first, is the moving of a block of stone. It is found, that when the stone is placed on a wooden The amount of | . | science | platform, and drawn along a wooden floor, with rollers only three inches in diameter between, one fiftieth of the weight which would be required to drag it on the surface of the floor, is sufiicient to move it along: so that by this very simple contrivance, one man can do the work of fifty. The illustrations of the second are, the improved glazier’s diamond, and gunpowder ; but it is obvious that illustrations might be taken without limit. We shall quote a portion of the illustration of the third :-— * Instances of the production of valuable matie ’, from the most worthless materials, are constantly occurring. The skins used by the gold-beaters are produced from the offal of animals: The hoofs of horses and cattle, and other horny re- fuse, are employed in the production of the prussiate of potash, that beautiful yellow crys- tallized salt, which is exhibited in the shops of some of our chemists. The worn-out saucepans and tin-ware of our kitchens, when beyond the reach of the tinker’s art, are not utterly worth- less. We sometimes mect carts loaded with old tin kettles and iron coal-scuttles, traversing our streets. These have not yet completed their useful course ; the less corroded parts are cut into strips, punched with small holes, and var- nished with a coarse black varnish, for the use of the trunk-maker, who protects the edges and angles of his boxes with them; the remainder are conveyed to the manufacturing chemists in the outskirts of the town, who employ them, in | conjunction with pyroligneous acid, in making | a black dye for the use of calico-printers.” The use of tools is illustrated by a re- ference to the manufacture and arranging needles, hob-nails, &e.; and then follow some observations on the nature and appli- cation of power. ‘The speculations on the velocity which water acquires, in consequence of the different rates at which it moves, at different heights above the earth's surface, strikes us as somewhat ludicrous. Mr. Bab- | bage himself admits that it is very small. “Tt (falling water) will, therefore,” says he, * accelerate, although to an almost infi- nitessimal extent, the earth’s daily rotation.” These words are not very clear, and we wish Mr. Babbage had inserted the word “only,” after the word “ although.” In- deed, the matter at issue is one that admits of doubt, if it were worth while to doubt about it; for rivers that run west, must neu- tralize the efiect of those that run east, and those that run north or south can have no effect. Mr. Babbage does not, however, linger long on such matters. He goes on to illus- trate the accumulating of power by means of fly-wheels, and weights let fall from a height. Then comes the regulation of power by the centrifugal governor, by dampers, by vanes, and other contrivances. After that, instances are given of the increasing of velocity, im which large and small wheels, tilt hammers, and mentioned. Next comes the diminution of velocity, as it occurs in roasting-jacks and many other in- struments. Allied to that, is the extending of a quickly-accumulated power over a long time, as in the winding up of clocks and watches, in which the work of a few seconds or minutes lasts for a day or a week. others contrivances, are The next division is the accelerating of natural operations ; which is well illustrated by the modern methods of tanning and bleaching. Combinations of power are next treated of, and perhaps Bramah’s hydraulic press is as striking an illustration as could be given. That is followed by a very short notice of the performance of operations “ too delicate for human touch.”” We wish that Mr. Bab- bage had said nothing about the delicacy of human touch; for we have seen line ruling by the hand which was performed by the: touch alone, without any assistance from the: eyes, and which yet produced several mil- lions of squares in the inch. Machinery is: all very well, but it cannot come in compa-- rison with the hand, until man shall be pes-- sessed of the skill of the hand-maker. ‘Zhe: registering of operations, or work done,, by means of machinery, is illustrated by yvefer- ences to steam-engines, coining-presses, and other contrivances. The economy of materials is the next, and a very important branch of the subject, though, perhaps, more striking illustrations; than the sawing of planks, and the making of printers’ types, might have been given.. Printing types and punches are, however, good illustrations of the similarity of copies of the same work; and turning is probably the best instance of accuracy. The different modes of copying are among the happiest and the most economical* pro- cesses in the arts. Mr. Babbage reduces them