CHAPTER XXXVIII. GAUGING IMPLEMENTS.Referring first to the saving effected by combining several operations in one machine, there is perhaps not one constructor in twenty that ever stops to consider what is really gained, and perhaps not one purchaser in a hundred that does the same thing. The impression is, that when one machine performs two operations it saves a second machine. A remarkable example of this exists in the manufacture of combination machines in Europe for working wood, where it is common to find complicated [69] machines that will perform all the operations of a joiner's shop, but as a rule only one thing at a time, and usually in an inconvenient manner, each operation being hampered and interfered with by another; and in changing from one kind of work to another the adjustments and changes generally equal and sometimes exceed the work to be done. What is stranger still is, that such machines are purchased, when their cost often equals that of separate machines to perform the same work.
THREE:They crawled through and hid themselves in the black shrubs. A policeman came running up and surveyed the wreck thoughtfully. His lantern played all over it, he stooped down and rubbed at the dull frame-work vigorously.5. Symmetry of appearance, which is often more the result of obvious adaptation than ornamentation.
THREE:A great share of the handling about an engineering establishment is avoided, if material can be stored and received on a higher level than the working floors; if, for instance, coal, iron, and sand is received from railway cars at an elevation sufficient to allow it to be deposited where it is stored by gravity, it is equivalent to saving the power and expense required to raise the material to such a height, or move it and pile it up, which amounts to the same thing in the end. It is not proposed to follow the details [74] of shop arrangement, farther than to furnish a clue to some of the general principles that should be regarded in devising plans of arrangement. Such principles are much more to be relied upon than even experience in suggesting the arrangement of shops, because all experience must be gained in connection with special local conditions, which often warp and prejudice the judgment, and lead to error in forming plans under circumstances different from those where the experience was gained."I'll tell you my opinion later on," he said. "I think that after an exhibition of my marvellous powers, you can safely leave the matter to me. Should you like to have a little bit of an adventure this evening?"
"I'm on the scent," Lawrence laughed. "All the same, if I am correct it will be no laughing matter for somebody before long."To construe the term "transmission of power" in its full sense, it will, when applied to machinery, include nearly all that has motion; for with the exception of the last movers, or where power passes off and is expended upon work that is performed, all machinery of whatever kind may be called machinery of transmission. Custom has, however, confined the use of the term to such devices as are employed to convey power from one place to another, without including organised machines through which power is directly applied to the performance of work. Power is transmitted by means of shafts, belts, friction wheels, gearing, and in some cases by water or air, as various conditions of the work to be performed may require. Sometimes such machinery is employed as the conditions do not require, because there is, perhaps, nothing of equal importance connected with mechanical engineering of which there exists a greater diversity of opinion, or in which there is a greater diversity of practice, than in devices for transmitting power.Andenne offered a dismal spectacle. The doors and windows of the houses that were not completely burned down had been kicked and beaten to pieces, and boards had been nailed before the holes. The inhabitants hung about disconsolately, and I could tell by their faces how they suffered, for every family in the town mourned the death of one dear to them.
