KNIGHT'S

American

Mechanical

Dictionary



G-AL-



KNIGHT'S

AMERICAN

MECHANICAL DICTIONAEY.

A DESCRIPTION OF TOOLS, INSTRUMENTS, MACHINES, PROCESSES,

AND ENGINEERING; HISTORY OF INVENTIONS;

GENERAL TECHNOLOGICAL VOCABULARY ;

ASD

DIGEST OF MECHANICAL APPLIANCES LN SCIENCE AND THE ARTS.
By EDWARD H. KNIGHT,

CITIL AND MECHANICAL ENGIKEEK, ETC.

WITH UPWARDS OF SEVEN THOUSAND ENGEAVINGS.

VOLUME m. — REA-ZTM.



'Thus Time brings all things, one by one, to sight,
And Skill evolves them into perfect light." — Lucretius, Book V.



i^^




Fiist Steam Engine.



BOSTON:
HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY.

Elje KttJcrfiiDf prrssf, Cambriogc.

1882.



COPTKIGHT, 1876,

By HURD and HOUGHTON.



BIVBRBIDB, CAMBRIDGB;

SLBCTROTYPED AND PRINTED BY

II. O. HOUGHTON AND COMPANY.



LIST OF FULL-PAGE PLATES.
Vol. III.



Plate. Subject. Page.

XLVI. THE CHAMPION HARVESTER . . . . " . . . 1892

XLVII. REAPING MACHINES. {Principles of Action.) 1894

XLVIII. REAPING MACHINES. {Principles of Action.) .... 1895

XLIX. REAPING MACHINES. {Principles of Action.) 1896

L. REAPING MACHINES. {Principles of Action.) .... 1897

LI. HARVESTER AND BINDER. {Sylvmus B. Locke' s.) . . . 1893

LII. ROOF. {Pancras Station, Midland Counties Railway, London, England.) 1972

LIII. ROTARY STEAM ENGINES 1991

LIV. EUROPEAN GANG-SAW MILL 2042

LV. SLAVING MACHINES. {Principles of Action.) 2103

LVI. SEWING MACHINES. {Principles of Action.) 2104

LVIL SEWING MACHINE STITCHES 2123

LIX. STEAM CORVETTE 2155

LX. McKAY SHOE-SEWING MACHINE 2163

LXI. STEAM BOILERS. {Various Forms.) 2327

LXH. STEAM HAMMER. {Woobvich Arsenal, England.) .... 2348

LXIII. CANNON-FORGING STEAM HAMMER AND FURNACE . . 2349

LXIV. STEEL PLATE ENGRAVING 2368

LXV. SUBMARINE EXCAVATIONS 2437

LXVI. SUGAR MACHINERY 2448

LXVII. SURFACE PRINTING. {Specimen of plate printed by that process.) . 2458

LXVni. TARGETS. {Shots made at the International Pdfle Match, 1S75.) . . 2499

LXIX. EQUATORIAL REFRACTING TELESCOPE. {Washington, D. C.) 2523

LXX. ARRANGEMENT OF TOOLS IN A FARMER'S TOOL-HOUSE 2592

LXXI. ILLINOIS AND ST. LOUIS BRIDGE. {Across the Mississippi River.) 2646

LXXII. BRITANNIA TUBULAR BRIDGE. {Across the Menai Straits.) . Frontispiece

LXXIIL SCALES 2754

LXXIV. WELL-BORING AND PUMPING TOOLS AND IMPLEMENTS . 2758

LXXV. PROPOSED WHARFAGE PIERS, AND IMPROVED HARBOR

FRONT FOR THE CITY OF NEW YORK 2762



BEAPER.



1889



REAPER.



liis shoulder, has a cup, ami a poor, naked gleaner
with iu.s baskets puts in a claim tur a driuk.

While, as has been stated, it was coiuiiicin to rea]i
the stauding grain just below the ears, we also tiud
two other modes, and they were also practiced iu
Gaul iu the time of Pliuy, 1,500 years alterward.
One was to cut low and bind in sheaves, and the
other to pull up by the roots. The figures re])re-
sent these two scenes. Tlie last-mentioned mode



Fig. 4193.




Binding and puUiit^ Grain in lite E^ypt oftke Pharaoiis.

was practiced with tlie millet, doura, or whatever it

was, — Wilkinson says soiyhum. This was |iulled,

bound in sheaves, and carried to a place where the

grain was .stripped from the stalk by a man who

drew it, a bunch at a

time, over a comb or

hackle. The operation _

is illustrated iu a tomb

at Eilethyas. The same

instrument is now used

for removing the capsule -

and seed from the Hax-

plaiit. It is called a

ripple. See RiPPLi:.

This stripper is proba-
bly like the pnddlc-fork
mentioned by Pliny.

The references in the
Bible to reaping and to
the sickle wlierewitli it
was cut are frequent, bat
add nothing to the per-
.spicuity of the Egyptian
paintings.

Coming down to early
classic periods, so called,
we fiud that the Greeks
adiled nothing and the
Romans little to the crude
old mode of cutting grain
by the curved sickle of
Egypt.

Varro describes three modes of reaping as common
in Italy : —

1. Cut low hy a hook, the ears being afterward cut ofT and
Bent in bx-^kets to the granary.

2 Cut ofT below the head by a toothed sickle, and the hcad3
carried oTin ba-skcts

3. Cut otT at half the length of the straw.

In the Sist ceutury of the Christian era we hear
from Gaul. Says Pliny (A. D. 70) : —
119



" The mode of getting in the harvest varies considerably. Id
the vast domains of the provinces of Oaul, a large hollow frame,
armed with teeth and supported on two wheels, is driven
through the standing grain, the beasts being .\oked behind it
(/« contrn/ium jititcfo) ; the result being that the ears are torn
off and fall witiiin the frame. In other countries the stalks are
cut with the sickle in the middle, aud the ears anj separated by
means of paddle-forlts."

The accompanying cut is a good restoration of the
Gallic harvester of I'liny's day. Palladius wrote the
Ve re rusiica in tlut fourth century A. D., and
gives a good descriirtion of this contrivance, which
was similar to our "heiHling-mocliine.s," having a
row of sharp teeth at the front edge, between which
the straw passed, the head being torn otf at the
angle where the teeth met, and lalling into the box
of the machine.

The description of Palladius is as follows : —

" In the plaius of Gaul, they use this quick way of reaping,
and without reapers cut large fields witii an ox in one day.
For this purpose a machine is made, tariicd upon two wheels ;
the square surface ha-s bo:irdserected at the side, uhii h, sloping
outward, niaUe a wider space above ; the loard on tlie fore part
is lower than the others; upon it there aic a great nian.\ small
teeth, wide set in a row, answering to tlie higlit of the ears of
the corn, aud turned upward at the ends; on the bai U part of
this machine two short shafts aie fi.xed, like tile poles of a
litter; to these an ox i#;oked, with his head to the ii.achine,
and the \oke and traces likewifc turned the contrary way : he
is well tl-aintd, and does not go fa^tcr than he is driven. \Vhen
this machine is pushed through the st.inding torn, all the ears
are comprehended by the teeth, and heaped up in the hollow
part of it, being cut off from the straw, which is left behind;
the driver setting it higher or lower, lis he finds it necessary :
and thus, by a lew goings and returniligs, the whole field is
reaped. This machine does very well in plain and smooth fields,
and in places where there is no necessity Ibr feeding with stniw."

After the lapse of fourteen centuries this maehine
has been reinvented, and is now used as a header
Ibi- gathering clover-seed. !>ee Figs. 1346, 2465.

The separation of the ears from the grain in the sheaf, men-
tioned above as being performed by paddle-forks, was probably
done by drawing ths turcbss of grain over a paddle whose end

Fig. 4199.







Reaper in Gaul {A. D. 70).

I was deeply notched and the teeth sharpened. The motioa
! would he something like that of hackling iienip, and the cars
I would be speedily removed by this means. The ohject in saving
tlie wheat, etc . in the head instead of in the sheaf, was prob-
ably to economize mow room. When stored in the car instead
of being first thrashed, it wa.^ a** a precaution against weevil
Some have interpreted the passajie of Pliny U) refer to a comb
j of similar character, which cauglit the ears of the slantitng grain
and tore them off or held them'wiiile they were beaten off by a
! paddle. This reminds one of the still simpler plan of the North-
I em iDdUas of Minnesota and Canada, who collect their store



REAPER.



1890



REAPER.



of wild rice by leaning the licads over the side of the canoe and i England, in 1811, and Scott, of Ormiston, in 1815, were made
beating out the gmiu. ' on this princijilc, were used practically, and bad considerable

The above plans of heading the grain leave the straw in the local celebrity. Smith's machine was illustrated in ''llall'B
field, which is a uicrit or otherwise, according to the circum- Dictionary,'' in 3 vols., folio, 1811.

stances of the case, — location, market, and mode of farming, j ISuti. Gladstone patented his front-draft , siflf-cut^ revolving-
knife machine. A segment bar with Jiti^trs gatliered tlie grain
It would be absmd to overlook the differeut cir- I and held the straw wuile the knife cut it, the Augers having
cumstances of " ......-• . .... „,, ,

de.tennine the (jues
says: —



Jlilinesota and Middlesex which ' *!**' function of (-heiir-blades The forward Umft wiLs also
^., t;«,. ^r :c,.«T.«ni,r p'lAiii- «-oll I adopted hy Mann iu 1820. and by Ogle, 1S22, in his reciprocat-
(lUfstion ol economy, rliny well .^^j^t^.r-.b:ir machine -^ ^ , , v



** The diversity of the methods employed in harvesting mainly
depends upon the extent of the crops and the price of labor."

The njodern era of reaping-machines commences
with the latter portion of the last century. The
names of those who made the earliest attempts
sliould be preserved, for in this, as in almost all
similar cases, it was after a succession of earnest at-
tempts by different parties that the desired success
was achieved. Eacli great invention that has blessed
us in modern times has been fought over. Witness
steam-engines, steam navigation, photogi-aphy, reap-
ing-machines, and the electric telegraph. Most of
those who worked at these problems added somewhat
to the eventual success, and we may surely consider
the matter with amiability and try to avoid acri-
mony.

The first modern machine resembled the old Gallic imple-
ment, iu the re.â– ^pect that it stripped the head from tlie straw.
Tiie English machine of Pitt, in 1786, had a cylinder on which
were rows oi combs or ripples, which tore o£f the ears and dis-
charged them into the box of the machine. For about two-
score years attention was principally directed to revolving cut-
ters or systems of revolving blades.

The motion of the cutting apparatus being derived from the
rotary motion of the wheels supporting the implement, it natu-
rally occurred to connect the axle or wheel witli a rotary cutter,
and later wirh an oscillating one, which had its analogues in
the swing of the scythe and the reach of the sickle. A few at-
tempts were made at a reciprocating knife, but they were
scarcely heeded, and probably never made. The first recipro-
cating knife was in 1822. .

As to the mode of attaching the horses, it was almost univer-
sally deemed necessary to hitch them behind the implement,
which they pushed before them. Up to 1S23 but four inventors
hitched the team iu front of the implement : one was ia 1806 ;
the others in 1820, 1822, 182a

As soon as this idea (lid wcur to the inventors, they made
fie horse walk alongside the swath, cue by the knives, consti-
tuting what is known as the sitJe cut.

1799. Boyce had a vertical shaft with six rotating scythes be-
neath the frame of the implement. This was the first patented
reaper.

1800. Meares tried to adopt shears.
Plucknett introduced a horizontal rotating circular



mgt

18U7. Salmon had a machine with some new features, — arow
of ZHbraiing knives over stationary blades; Jingtrs to gather
the grain to the cutters ; a raAf , suspended and reciprocating
sideways to carry the grain oflF to' the side. The machine was
pushed ahead ot the horse, or was propelled by hand. The ma-
chine of IJell, 1826, which was brought forward to confound the
American exhiliitors in 1851, has the same kind of cutters, and
was also propelled.

1820. Mann had revolving rakes on a vertical axis, to sweep
the standing grain past the cutter, and deliver it in a swath

1822. Ogle shows the first reciprocating knife-bar. It is the

Fig. 4201.




Bailerfs American Mowing-Machinf (1822).

type nf the succes.s;ful machines, but was constructed so poorly
that its merits never became apparent. It was drawn by horses
in advance; the cuttcThur projected at the jjVe, and it had a
rrrl to gather the grain to the cutter. The machine had a
srain-p/nt/orm, which was tilted to drop the gavel. The ^rjl
f/ropff r.

The machines previously mentioned are British. Fig. 4201
represents a sclf-sharponingmowinp-niachine, the first patented
in the United States, in 1822. It has a circular revolving
scythe on a vertical axis, rotated by gearing from main axle.
The edge of the scythe in its revolutions passes under a whet-
stone fixed on an axis, and revolving with the .^cxthe. The
horse is in shafts, and walks in front of the left side of the ma-
chine, and always on the mowed ground after the first swath
is cut. The grass, ns it is cut, is first thrown by the progressive



motion against a rise in the scythe-frame ftoward the center,
blade. He had a score of follower, and the first macliine used [ and by the same motion is afterward thrown off in a regular

row, following the center of the
Fig. 4200.



. pjJ I iiL a^!^^!!^^




Gladstone's Reaping- Machine 1806)



machine.

The machine of the Rev. Patrick
Bell was tried at Powrie County,
Forfar, Scotland, in 1828. It cut'a
swath of five feet with the power of
a single horse, about an acre an
hour. It was n^ed again in 1829,
and occasionally for a few years
Bucceediug, then slept till 1851,
when the World's Fair of 1851 iu
London introduced the American
machines to the British public.
The old Scotch machine was then
brought from its limbo to challenge
the American stranger.

The machine had a square frame
on two wheels, which nin loc'^e on
the axle, except when clutched
thereto to give motion to the cut-
ters. The cutter-bar had fixed
triangular cutters, between each
of which was a movable vibrating
cutter, which made a shear cut
ag;unst the edges of the stationary
cutter on each side. It had a reel
with twelve vanes to press the
grain toward the cutters, and
cause it to fall upon a traveling
apron which carried away the cut'
grain and deposited it at the side
of the machine. The reel was



in this country, and patented by Bailey (Fig. 4200) in 1822, was I driven by bevel -gearing.

of this character. Two machines by Smith, of Deaustone, in t The following machines are American : -



EEAPER.



1891



REAPER.




Fig. 4202.







L' ■« /: s,j,ni - Ma



1825. Ten Evk bad a horizontal cylinder, with spiral knives
cutting as^iDSt sCmight edges. The same was shown by Bud-
ding in 1830.

182S. Samuel Lane, of Maine, combined the reaper and
thrasher.

1S31. Manning had a row of fiogers and a reciprocating-
knife. It was pushed in front of the horse.

1833. Schnebly had a horizontal eudless apron traTeling in-
termittingly, and delivering its gave! at the side.

1833. Ilussev, of Maryland, made the first valuable harvester.
It was patented as a mower. It had opfnjingersy the knife con-
sisting of triangular sections reciprocating in the space, cutting
shearwise against the guards. It was front draft, side cut, and
had a platform The open-top slotted finger was patented by
Hussey in 1847. The cutter-bar was on a hinged frame. The
raker rode on the machine

1834. MeCorniick, of Virginia, patented his reaper, which,
with various improvements, in 1845 and 1847 received a Coun-
cil medal at the Loudon U'orld's Fair in 1851. This machine
bad a sickle-edged sectional knife, reciprocated by crank and
pitman by gear connection to the drive-wheel, on which the
frame rested. Spear-shaped fingers gathered the grain, which
was laid over to the cutter by a revolving- reel, A divider was
used on each end of the platform The driver and raker had
seats on the machine. The gearing and crank were placed for-
ward of the driving-wheel.

1835 Randall hnwl a pair of knife-bars reciprocating post each
other. ^V^ay, 1852, had the same

183 3 Briggs and Carpenter combined the reaper and thrash-
er. Moore and Haskell, the same year. Ridley, in Australia,
seven years afterward, did the same, and supposed himself to
be the first inventor.

Hizard Kno.vles. the machinist of the Washington Patent
Office, invented in 1837 a reaping-machine having a scalloped
reciprocating cutter ; the cutting apparatus jointed to a double
aPBi; the opposite end of which was in turn jointed to the main
frame, coincident with the a)cis of the crank-.'^haft i both sup-
porting-wheels were drivers for the cutters. It was a front-cut
machine, and hail a lever to raise the cutting-bar to clear
stumps and other obstructions. A machme was constructed in
1838, and in 1839 was purchased by Joel Lupton, who rode
upon the machine along the turnpike to his home, near Win-
chester, Va. The machine waa used occasionally during a fc.v
of the following years, but was soon laid aside, owing to a fear
!of the neighbors that it would disturb the relations of labor. It
was afterward purchased by one of the large firms of reaping-
machine maker:?, who became involved m the tedious and ex-
pensive litigation which ensued when the reaper became an im-
portant article of manufacture and trade. This machine is
principally curious in its anticipation of so many of the im-
portant features of the more useful machines. Like Bell's ma-
chine in its history, though fir superior to the Scotch machine
in mechanical structure and adaptedness, it was a conception
embodied in a single machine, and became an abandoned ex-
periment, to be brought fom-ardwhen the inventions and con-
tests of others give it an importance It was a machine of
great possibihties, but its inventor failed to assert his rights.
His position in the Patent OSce prevented his becoming a
patentee, and he preferred to retain his salary to embarking in
the bu.'ine.ss of making machines of so novel a character
About 1863 the m.ichine was brought forward in a patent suit.
It may be presumed that it formed but another instance of the
rule, that a single machine made and practically hidden away
shall not be allowed to defeat a patent when a subset^uent in-
ventor has showed due diligence U also indicates that the
patent is a quid pro quo, an exclusive right in return for an in-
vention alequately described on record.

1S3S Wheeler had a machine with a revolving endless apron
to deposit grain in a box with a sliding bottom, by which it was
deposited in gavels. A dropper.

1840. Lamb A platform to receive the gavels and carry the
binder The first haud-binder

1841. Churchill thrashed out the grain, the beads of grain
being pushed into the thrasher-cylinder.

1S42. Reed discharged the grain from the bed by rake-fingers
projecting tlirough slots in platform.



1846- Cook had a pen-
dulous rake swinging
baclcivardlij.

1847- Ketchum had an
endless chain cutter or
belt of knives.

1&47. Hussey'g stoltfd
finder, open at top ; knife
of triangular sections.

1848. Pea.se had a gTflin-
rake traveling .sidtways
beneath the platform,
with slots for the fingers.
Mann the same next year.

184S. Goble and Stuart
had a revolving rake pass-
ing horizontally across
the platform.

1849. Hnincs suspend-
ed the frame carrying the

I conveyor, reel, and cutter to the axles of the bearing- wheels,
I and hanged the frame to the tongue, so that it was capable of
j turning upon its bearings by means of a lever, to elevate and
I depress the cutter.

In 1849, Jonathan Haines, of Illinois, invented the " header,-'
which is the principal machine on the Pacific coiist.

1849. Purviance made the platform removable, to convert
the reaper into a mower.

1849. Piatt's self-acting rake sweeping over quadrantal plat-
firrtti. Same feature in Palmer and Williams's and in Sey-
mours, 1851.

1850. Adkins's cutter-bar on hinged frame.

1850. Knowles and Bevington's side dropper.

185C>. Heath's bindtr, with a reciprocating rake beneath the
platform.
I85I Watson's automatic binder,

1851. Miller's backivardly reciprocating rake.

1851. Allen geared the operative parts from both wheels, to
distribute the driving-power.

1852. Atkins had a rake rigged on a vertical post. It had
a jointed arm which swept across the curved platform and gath-
ered the gavel against a shield : the post, rake, and shield then
turned 90° on an axis, the rake was raised, and the gavel
dropped in rear of the driving apparatus.

This list is but a commencement, but brings us to a period
when things became lively in this line. Since this period nearly
3,000 patents have been granted in the United States for har-
vesters and attachments therefor.

In the summer of IS55,at a competitive trial of reapers about
40 miles from Paris, France, three machines were exhibited,
fi-om America, England, and Algiers. The following was the
result in a field of oats : —

The American machine cut an acre in 22 minutes.

1 The English machine cut an acre in &i minutes.

The Algerian machine cut an acre in 72 minutes.

I In 1855, Jonathan Haines patented a machine in which the
I finger-bar extended acros.s the rear end of the main frame, and
I -was connected at each side with the front end of said frame by
I rods jointed at one end to the frame, and at the other to the
I finger-bar. The inner of the.^e rods was a drag-bar to advance
the cuttingapparatus Theoutcrwasa brace to maintain its
' position at right angles to the line of advance. It was sup-
ported laterally by a brace jointed at one end to the end of the
finger-bar. and at the other end to the main frame at or near
the axis of the crank-shaft.
I In the Ball machine, shortly afterward, the drag-bar was
[ joined rigidly to the finger-bar, and thus united drag-bar and
; brace in itself The lateral brace was the same,

1856. The combined rake and reel of the " Dorsey " machine
i sweeping in a general horizontal direction across the quadnintal
I platform.

1857- Crook introduced an arrangement of driving-gears of
unequal size to be used separately for changing the rapidity of
: vibration of the cutters.

I 1860. The Henderson rake, or what is known as the " Wood"
I machine, having a chain below the platform which carries the
I rake in a curve*! path.

1861. The Sielierling "dropper,'' which is a slatted plat-
form that vibrates to discharge the gavel.
I 1861. Button inclosed the gearing in a metalhc case, fomiing
s part of the main frame.

' Plate XLVI. shows three fomi.s of the "VVhiteley
; " Champion '* harve.ster of Springtield, Ohio. The
i upper figure is the mowing-mai:hine ; below it is tlie
r.-aping-niachine, with dropphuj arrangement, which
! (h'posits the gavel behind the cutter-bar ; the lower
i figure is the self-ralciu;; reaper.

The reaping luid automatic biiKling-machine of S.

D. Locke, of Hoosick Falls, X. Y., made by Walter

A. Wood of that place, and shown in Plate LI., is

i believed to have overcome the difficulties of the



1892





.... .„ ' r~~/-"



— - . . "J












J JLLl^Jj r.






Plate XLVI.



THE "CnAMPIOX" HARVESTEa
^5 a Mower: a Dropper: a Stlf-Rakcr.



Sec 'page 1893.





Plate LI,



SYLVANUS D. LOCKE'S HARVESTER AND BINDER.
(J(focM»co/lS74. Walter A. Wood, Uanv/acturer.)



See page lS9i



REAPER.



189^



REAPKR.




Binding Attachtnent to WoorPs Reaping and Autoinatic
Binding- Mack iiu.

binding problem, after ]>ersisteiit attempts for twelve
years past. Some of the machines Were sent into
the liarvest-fieMs the past summer (1874), and a
thousand will probably go out next season.

The grain , as it is cut, falls upon a, continuously moving:, side-
delivery, elevating cArrier, and is delivered into the cradle or
receptacle A of the binder, the operative mechanism of which
comprises a right arm F, which carriea the head G with the
end of the binding wire and the twisting device, and a com-
pressing arm H, hoth rotiting upon a common axis above the
cradle, and a vibrating left arm (, moving upon an axis parallel
with the axis of the arm F.

The arm /is vibrated by the rotation of the arm F; in one
direction by segment-geiir teeth, and ia the other direction by
a cam and pin.

The motive power ts derived from the driving-wheel of the
reaper, and is transmitted to the bindirtg arms through a scries
of shafts with connecting gear-wheels, supported by a crane-
post B ; a treadle-clutch serves to gear or ungear the bindiii j;
mechanism at will. The bindiog-wirc is supplied from a reel fi
mounted beneath the cradle A, and its feed is controlled by a
spring take-up and tension /'.

The end of the bindini,^-wire is held by a nipper at
T. and from thence passes down tbroughuslit in head
G, between the leaves of a pinion .Scontamed in said
head, and thence over the extremity of arm H down
to the guide-pulley u and to the reel.

The rotation of arm F, from the position shown in
Fig. 1, is accompanied by a movement of the arm / in an
opposite dii-ection, to bundle, compress, and hold the