DIFFERENTIAL CRANE. same, and I extract it not only to furnish an additional example of the coincidence of different and independent thinkers in the same train of discovery, but also as a hint worthy, perhaps, of adoption in practice. The coincidence I have alluded to has ceased to surprise me, since I have reflected upon the general uniformity of the structure of the human mind, the limited number and the simplicity of the original models nature places before us, the slight diversity of the materials we have to work upon, and the sameness of the wants and necessities which serve to stimulate to exertion. We pass over (to be inserted at some future opportunity), descriptions of an universal tool for cutting outside screws-a plan for uniting the thermometric and pyrometric scales-a fisherman's lamp to burn under water-and an improvement in canal locks-all distinguished by our esteemed correspondent's usual ingenuity, in order that we may find room this week for the account which follows of a plan for applying the differential principle to cranes, which the author thinks will be probably found similar in principle to Mr. Saxton's locomotive-pulley, which happens to be described, for the first time, in our present Number.-Ed. M. M. 8 EFFECT OF COMBINATIONS ON MACHINERY. EFFECT OF COMBINATIONS ON THE IN- As hostility to machinery is a very prevalent feeling among the working classes, it might be supposed that they would turn all the power of their Unions towards its suppression. In this attempt, however, they have been singularly unsuccessful; and so far have they been from attaining, or even approaching the attainment of this object, that their efforts have led to an exactly contrary result, and some of the most valuable and ingenious machines that our manufactories can boast of, actually owe their existence to the operation of Trades' Unions. The cotton trade affords one remarkable instance of the truth of this observation. The evils inflicted on this manufacture by strikes have been detailed; many years ago, the masters with the view of escaping these disastrous effects of the tyranny of the Spinners' Union, requested the machine-makers to attempt the construction of a self-acting mule, that is, of a mule, which should perform its work without the assistance of a spinner. For a long time the attempt was regarded as hopeless, difficulties stood in the way, which it is not easy to describe, requiring, however, all the resources of mechanical genius to surmount. But the successive efforts of mechanists have by degrees overcome every obstacle, and the skill of Mr. Roberts, an eminent machine-maker at Manchester, has brought the invention to perfection. The most extraordinary power of this machine, consists in its manner of re gulating the motion of the spindles, when the mule is receding to its frame; during this retrograde course, which carries the mule over the space of 4 feet, about three times a minute, the velocity of the spindles is constantly changing, and this continues as many hours as they are filling with thread; they exhibit, to speak mathematically, a fluxion of movement; during no two successive portions of time, however small, is the speed the same. The machine may now be seen in action in several mills, and almost appears to realise the finest results, that could be expected from human ingenuity. The following evidence taken by the From a very interesting pamphlet just published by Messrs. Ridgway, entitled, "Character, Object, and Effects of Trade Unions," written for the purpose of demonstrating the injurious tendency of these Unions, and written, it must be confessed, with great ability; but which, it is only fair to add, contains many facts of very questionable authenticity, and calls for new laws to put down a class of associations, which, if all be true that the author asserts of them, may be safely left to work out their own downfall. Committee of Manufactures and Commerce, which sat last Session, will show the way in which the combination of the spinners is forcing the adoption of this machine. It is given by Mr. Graham, a Scotch manu-, facturer: "We are paying much higher in Glasgow than they are paying in England for spinning the same numbers, and in consequence of this, we have been driven to employ machines, which may supersede those men (spinners). "Are you aware of any cotton-spinning work, where the proprietors are turning out the old machinery in consequence of the combination of the workmen, and introducing self-acting mules! We are doing it ourselves. "Have you adopted the self-acting mule to get rid of combinations?-Before adopting the self acting mule, I had the plans drawn, and I called a deputation from the men in, and explained it to them, and I said, You drive us either to take machines, or you drive us to bankruptcy, or to stop our works; here is an order going off to Manchester for self-acting mules; we do not wish to introduce them, and we will be the last house to introduce them, if you will take the same wages that they have in Lancashire;' and they said, 'It is no use, we are determined not to reduce our wages.' The introduction of this invention will eventually give a death-blow to the Spinners' Union, the members of which will have to thank themselves alone, for the creation of this destined agent of their extinction. It is now rapidly coming into use; other advantages, besides the great one of escape from the dictation of the workmen, are found to attend it; and in a few years the very name of working-spinner, as well as the follies and oppression of their combination, will only be found in history. The turn-out of the Lancashire workmen in the building-trade, has introduced a curious application of the steam-engine. This machine is now employed in some towns, instead of manual labour, in hoisting the various building materials to the top of the edifice, where they are intended to be used. The magnificent design of the Liverpool custom house is at the present moment rising into existence by the assistance of steam. The following letter from a masterbuilder, who was one of the principal sufferers in this strike, graphically describes the circumstances attending the introduction of the improvement: "Sir, I have much pleasure in complying with your request, and shall feel happy if any information, which I can afford, will be useful to your purpose. About two years ago, the bricklayers' labourers, whom I had EFFECT OF COMBINATIONS ON MACHINERY. at work at the new custom-house here, began to exhibit symptoms of rebellion, the building being unusually large, and requiring much work, I found that, just in proportion as we were hurried, the labourers began to relax and grow careless, and sometimes did not do a sufficient quantity of work to cover their own wages. My wits were accordingly set to work to discover a remedy. I well knew that if I resorted to severe measures, a general strike would have been the consequence; but as we had on the ground, about 35 yards from the front of the edifice, a 7-horse steam-engine for the purpose of mixing up our lime and sand into mortar and making grout, I had the shaft of the mill lengthened, and a drum fixed upon it; attached to this was a chain governed by a break, which we carried in a hollow trough under ground, and connected with a crossbeam placed upon two uprights on the top of the building. We then placed 300 bricks in a square box, slung it, and tried our en gine. The bricks went up in fine style, and were received at the top by waggons placed on a light railway, furnished with crossslides, and the result was that two labourers could fill the boxes with bricks below, sling them on the chain, and two more receive them at the top, who, by the help of the railway conveyed them (weighing 23 cwt.) to any part of the building with ease. thus rendered useless the services of about 20 hod-carriers at once, at the cost of about 1001. in machinery. The remainder of the men were for a long period quiet, and would have continued so, had not the Trades' Unions virtually compelled them to strike, many y of them against their wills. The contrivance just mentioned has acted so well, that, when in full work, we usually send to the top of the building 16,000 bricks per diem, with 7 or 8 tons of mortar and grout, the engine all the while doing its other accustomed work. This would only pay in large buildings; in small erections the expense of fixing the machinery would be too great; but small high-pressure steam-engines are now made, which stand upon 3 feet square, consume about 1 cwt. of coal a-day, and will hoist with sufficient rapidity 25 cwt. to any height, they are also sufficiently portable to be moved about in small carts; or I am satisfied that a horse with a rope and pulley, working through a snatch-block, would be cheaper and better than the old system of manual labour. We "The contractor for the stone-work at the new custom-house raises all his materials by a small engine (1 think it is 8-horse power, which cost him 1501., and his other additional machinery about 2001. more. He sends his stones (varying from 1 to 11 tons in weight) up to the summit with perfect 9 ease. His engine like ours is stationary, and his ropes run round the building to that part where the work is proceeding, and though they are sometimes 500 feet in' length, no difficulty is experienced from this cause. We send up indiscriminately, bricks, stone, iron, or timber; the engine is much more tractable and civil than the hod-men, easier managed, keeps good hours, drinks no whiskey, and is never tired. I need hardly add that in a large building it is much cheaper, more expeditious and satisfactory, than carrying up materials on men's shoulders. The time consumed by the men in descending, and by the slowness of their ascent consequent on the loss of strength caused by having to overcome the gravity of their own bodies, before they have strength to spare for carrying a heavy burden, makes the hod-carriers far inferior to the steamengine, more especially if we consider the constancy with which the latter works. I do not now fear a turn-out of hod-carriers, because I have proved that we can do very well without them, and I think that I now see many other modes of saving labour, which I should instantly avail myself of, were another strike to happen amongst 'my workmen. It is also obvious to myself that many of the uses to which machinery is now applied, may be traced to turn-outs, which, having subjected masters to inconveniences, have compelled them to scheme mechanical contrivances, that otherwise would not have been thought of. Feeling that improve. ments in meclianism will not eventually injure the labourer, yet I would not hastily adopt such, as would suddenly deprive a number of men of their subsistence, did not their own folly compel me to it. I am now quite sure that another strike or two will annihilate many hod-carriers, and brickmakers, and this principle of hoisting by stationary or moveable steam-engines, will, no doubt, be adopted for many other pur. poses, if the operatives in particular departments endeavour to force their employers to pay a higher rate of wages than they can afford. For instance, we know that two stationary engines at each dock, with shafts and drums running along the quays, would discharge the cargoes of all the ships, with a tenth of the porters now employed; at present I should be sorry to see it adopted, but I know before long it must be done. "I am, Sir, "Liverpool, Feb. 7, 1834." The machine lately introduced in the wool-combing business has also been ald luded to; the history of its invention gives, 97** in a short compass, a view of the process by 10 EXTRAORDINARY SHOWER OF FIERY METEORS. which results of this kind are brought about. The Woolcombers' Union has been celebrated above a century, and several Acts of Parliament have been passed with the object of suppressing the power which it had acquired, and exercised with the usual bad consequences. Hence, many endeavours have been made to comb wool entirely by machinery, but with very partial success, till last year, when the whole of the combers in a large factory struck, upon which the proprietors turned their attention to this machine, applied their skill and capital to its improvement, and in a short time brought it to such perfection, as completely to supersede the employment of wool-combers.* It consists of two large wheels, set with spikes, and which are made to approach and recede alternately from each other; the spokes, fellies, and axles are all hollow, by means of which steam is kept constantly flowing through every part of the machine, like the arteries in the human body, diffusing the required warmth to every corner of the engine. This invention is now daily coming into wider use; it performs its work both better and cheaper than by the old process, and before no long period has elapsed, the trade of wool-comber, like that of cottonspinner, will cease to exist. Mr. Babbage, in his " Economy of Manufactures," has given two other instances of invention of modes for superseding human labour, owing to strikes among workmen ; one occurred in the manufacture of gun-barrels, and the other in that of iron tubes in general; and, doubtless, many other cases might be found, in which a similar process had taken place. The obvious result of this forced and premature adoption of new machinery, is to displace labour with inconvenient rapidity; and, instead of improvement proceeding by those gently varying gradations, which characterise its natural progress, it advances, as it were, per saltum, and comes upon the workman unprepared for the change, which his course of life must subsequently undergo. The counter effect in retarding the improvement of machinery, sometimes caused by combinations, is so trivial, as hardly deserve mention. But whatever power they may * Till within a few years of the time when this machine was introduced, it could not have been made, though it might have been imagined, and every part and principle necessary to its construction clearly and accurately described. The reason is, that the skill and nicety of execution necessary to the manufacturing of such a machine, or of any machine requiring delicate adjustments, did not exist. The principle of Bramah's press was known two centuries before its application, but was a barren truth, till mechanism had advanced sufficiently to give it an existence.-See Babbage on the Decline of Science. have in this way, the end of it must be to increase still further the evil just alluded to, and to make the progress in the application of substitutes for labour more fluctuating and irregular. At one time they are unna. turally held back, at another pushed forward. It would be a glaring absurdity to suppose that the improvement of machinery can be really hurtful to society, or lessen the demand for labour in the country which employs it, when we have the example of Manchester before us, where, within a radius of forty miles, more human beings are collected together, and substitutes for labour more extensively used, than on any other spot on earth, and where, in addition, wages are for the most part enormously high. It undoubtedly is productive of transient injury by the displacement, which it causes of manual labour in those operations to which it is applied. But this evil is trivial, if the displacement be slow, and is formidable only when it is pushed on, as in the cases above mentioned, with sudden violence. We might view these inventions with un. mixed pleasure, on account of their use to society, and even-considering the force of example without much regret for the retribution they inflict on the offenders, were it possible to put out of sight some of the evils which may for a season follow their intro duction. The community certainly gains by such mechanical improvements, which, since they spring from hostility to combinations, may be considered an indirect effect of them, and form, as far as we are aware, the only benefits those bodies have bestowed upon their country, in return for the violence and oppressions of which they have been guilty. EXTRAORDINARY SHOWER OF FIERY METEORS. On the morning of the 13th of Nov. last, one of the most extraordinary showers of fiery meteors that, probably, ever was witnessed, took place in America. It appears to have been visible all over the United States, the newspapers and journals of which have ever since teemed with accounts of the phenomenon. We extract the following very picturesque description, from the American Journal of Science : "Missouri, Lat. 39° 26′ N., Long. 919 W, "On Wednesday morning, 13th Nov., we were awakened by a friend, and told that the stars were falling from the heavens, and flying about in all directions. We instantly hurried from our room, and found, to our CUFF'S IMPROVED MODE OF CONSTRUCTING SEWERS. utter astonishment, that although not so in reality, the wonderful appearances in the heavens warranted the assertion. This place is situated on an elevated point of an extensive prairie, and presents an unbroken view of the horizon, and thus afforded us an excellent opportunity of observing the phenomenon; but language fails to convey an idea of the extraordinary and appalling scene. Above us, and all round the firmament, as far as the eye could reach, more numerous than the stars themselves, which were this night uncommonly bright-we beheld innumerable fireballs, of a whitish pallid colour, rushing down, and, to all appearance, crossing the sky in all directions-drawing after them long luminous traces, which clothed the whole heavens in awful majesty, and gave to the earth a lurid and death-like aspect. Our first look, after a hasty and general glance, was directed to the zenith, and at that instant an inconceivable number of meteors, or falling stars, as though the sky had just received a mighty shock, burst from the blue and cloudless arch, and shot, like so many burning ar rows, toward every part of the horizon. We next turned our eyes to the west, and here they appeared to be flying in that direction; but we soon found that that was the case to whatever quarter of the heavens we directed our view. "Though there was no moon when we first beheld them, their brilliancy was so great that we could at times read common-sized print without much difficulty, and the light which they afforded was much whiter than that of the moon in the clearest and coldest night, when the ground was covered with snow. The air itself, the face of the earth, so far as we could behold it, all the surrounding objects, and the very countenances of men wore a death-like hue, occasioned by the continued pallid glare of these countless meteors, which, in all their grandeur, flashed lawless through the sky.' There was a grand, peculiar, indescribable gloom on all around. There was scarcely a spot in the firmament that was not filled every moment with these meteors; and the long luminous traces which they left behind, like the train of some mighty rocket, would last for several seconds; and, at times, when the nucleus had entirely vanished, these streams of light, apparently from 50 to 100 yards long, would linger in the sky, and continue to shine in all their brilliancy for two or three minutes, and then expire in the twinkling of an eye. Their size was apparently as large as the disc of Jupiter-their velocity much greater than that of the common meteors-and from the place of their starting to where they expired was from 10° to 40°. Occasionally one would seem to burst into flames, and burn with great energy. The meteors vanished from sight without any audible explosion, and frequently without scintillations. One of the observers described a meteor seen at three o'clock as being far more brilliant than any of the others, appearing as large as the moon, and shedding a glowing light, which, for a few seconds, rendered even small objects visible." POETICAL TRIBUTES TO MRS. SOMERVILLE. Lady! it was the wont, in earlier time, Seen in the depth of a pellucid mind, Full of clear thought-free from the ill and vain II. (An Imitation.) Three women, in three different ages born, CUFF'S IMPROVED MODE OF CONSTRUCT- We described, in our 12th volume, page 60, a very important improvement in common sewers, which had been invented by Mr. Joseph Cuff, and adopted, in two or three cases, with great advantage. The plan having been brought under the notice of the Commissioners of Sewers for the City of London, they referred it to their surveyor, Mr. Acton, who made a report upon it, from which the following is an extract : "The utility of stench-traps in small drains, which convey little more than foul * Hypatia of Alexandria. + Madame Agnesi of Bologna. Alluding to the monastery of Blue Nuns, where she ended her days. |