The Progress of Invention in the Nineteenth Century Part 25

_Rock Drills._--In mining and tunneling through rock, the rock drill has been the implement of paramount importance and utility. For boring by rotary action the diamond drill is most effective. This uses bits set with diamonds which, by their extreme hardness, cut through the most refractory rock with great rapidity. It was invented by Hermann and patented by him in France, June 3, 1854.

More important, however, is the compressed air rock drill, in which a piston has the drill bit directly on its piston rod and cuts by a reciprocating action. The piston is actuated by compressed air admitted alternately to its opposite sides in an automatic manner by valves. The compressed air conveyed to the drill in the tunnel or mine not only operates the drill, but helps to ventilate the tunnel. As early as 1849 Clarke and Motley, in England, invented a machine drill, and in 1851 Fowle devised a similar machine, having the drill attached directly to the piston cross head. The Hoosac and Mont Cenis tunnels greatly stimulated invention in this field, and among the notable drills of this cla.s.s may be named the Burleigh, Ingersoll, and Sergeant. The Burleigh drill was brought out in 1866, and was covered by patents Nos. 52,960, 52,961 and 59,960 of that year, and 113,850 of 1871, and the Ingersoll drill, by patents No. 112,254, and No. 120,279, of 1871.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 233.--BLOWING UP FLOOD ROCK.]

_Blasting._--The discovery of nitro-glycerine in 1846, followed by its convenient commercial preparation in the form of dynamite, gave a great impetus to blasting. Notable as the largest operation of the kind in the century is the blowing up of Flood Rock, in the path of commerce between New York City and Long Island Sound. The dangerous character of this and other rocks in this vicinity gave long ago to this channel the significant name of h.e.l.l Gate. The undermining of the rocks by shafts and galleries is seen in Fig. 233, and the final blowing up of the same in a single blast was the culmination of a series of similar operations at this point tending to safer navigation. On October 10, 1885, 40,000 cartridges, containing 75,000 pounds of dynamite and 240,000 pounds of _rack-a-rock_, were, by the touching of a b.u.t.ton and the closing of an electric circuit, simultaneously exploded. In the twinkling of an eye nine acres of solid rock were shattered into fragments by the prodigious force, and a vast upheaval of water 1,400 feet long, 800 feet wide, and 200 feet high, sprang into the air in tangled and gigantic fountains. As the termination of the most stupendous piece of engineering of the kind the world has ever seen, and with spectacular features fitting the enormous expense of $1,000,000, which the work cost, this final scene put an end to the menaces of Flood Rock, and wiped out of existence the worst dangers of h.e.l.l Gate.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 234.--CROSS SECTION MISSISSIPPI JETTIES.]

_Mississippi Jetties._--The broad bar and shallow waters at the mouth of the Mississippi involved such an obstruction to commerce that in 1872 it received the attention of Congress, resulting in the building, by Capt.

Eads, of the celebrated jetties. They were begun in 1875 and finished in 1879, and cost $5,250,000. The channel obtained was 30 feet deep and 200 feet wide. Its construction involved the building across the bar and out into the Gulf of Mexico two long reaches of parallel embankments, called jetties. This was effected by sinking mattresses of willow branches bound together and weighted with stone. These were laid in four layers, and when submerged, and resting upon the bottom, were covered with a layer of loose stone, and this in turn was surmounted with a capping of concrete blocks, as seen in cross section in Fig. 234. These jetties so concentrated the flow of waters into a narrow channel as to cause its increased velocity to wash out the mud and silt and deepen the channel.

The immensity of the work may be measured by the quant.i.ty of material used in its construction, which included 6,000,000 cubic yards of willow mattresses, 1,000,000 cubic yards of stone, 13,000,000 feet (board measure) of lumber, and 8,000,000 cubic yards of concrete. The mattresses were laid 35 to 50 feet wide at the bottom, which width was considerably increased by the superimposed layer of stone, and the jetties extended 2 miles into the sea. Their influence upon commerce is indicated by the fact that before their construction the annual grain export from New Orleans was less than half a million bushels, and in 1880, the year following their completion, it was increased to 14,000,000 bushels.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 235.--INTERIOR CONSTRUCTION MODERN STEEL BUILDING.]

_High Buildings._--A distinct feature of modern architecture is the enormously tall steel frame building known as the "sky sc.r.a.per." The increasing value of city lots first brought about the vertical extension of buildings to a greater number of stories, and the necessity for making them fireproof, coupled with the desire to avoid loss of interior s.p.a.ce, due to thick walls at the base, made a demand for a different style of architecture. To meet this a skeleton frame of steel is bolted together in unitary structure, the floors being all carried on the steel frame, and the outer masonry walls being relatively thin, and carrying only their own weight. In Fig. 235 is shown an example of the interior structure of such a building. The vertical columns are erected upon a very firm foundation, and to them are bolted, on the floor levels, horizontal I-beams and girders, stayed by tie rods, which I-beams receive between them hollow fireproof tile to form the floor. The outer masonry walls are built around the skeleton frame, as seen in Fig. 236, and the details of connections for the floor members appear in Fig. 237.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 236.--ENCLOSURE OF STEEL FRAME BY MASONRY.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 237.--DETAILS OF INTERNAL CONSTRUCTION.]

The construction of iron buildings began about the middle of the century. In 1845 Peter Cooper erected the largest rolling mill at that time in the United States for making railroad iron, and at this mill wrought iron beams for fireproof buildings were first rolled. In the building of the Cooper Inst.i.tute in New York City in 1857 he was the first to employ such beams with brick arches to support the floors. The unifying of the iron work into an integral skeleton frame, for relieving the side walls of the weight of the floors is, however, a comparatively recent development, and this has so raised the height of the modern office building as to cause it to impress the observer as an obelisk rather than a place of habitation. An earthquake-proof steel palace for the Crown Prince of j.a.pan is one of the modern applications of steel in architecture. It is being built by American engineers, and is to cost $3,000,000.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 238.--THE EIFFEL TOWER. HEIGHT, 984 FEET. TALLEST STRUCTURE IN THE WORLD.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 239.--WAs.h.i.+NGTON'S MONUMENT. HEIGHT 555 FEET, 5 INCHES. HIGHEST MASONRY STRUCTURE IN THE WORLD.]

_Eiffel Tower._--Loftiest among the high structures of the world, and significant as indicating the possibilities of iron construction, the Eiffel Tower of the Paris Exposition of 1889 was a distinct achievement in the engineering world. It is seen in Fig. 238. It is 984 feet high, and 410 feet across its foundation, and has a supporting base of four independent lattice work piers. In the top was constructed a scientific laboratory surmounted by a lantern containing a powerful electric light.

The total weight of iron in the structure is about 7,000 tons, the weight of the rivets alone being 450 tons, and the total number of them 2,500,000. The level of the first story is marked by a bold frieze, on the panels of which, around all four faces, were inscribed in gigantic letters of gold the names of the famous Frenchmen of the century. The summit of the tower was reached by staircases containing 1,793 steps, and by hydraulic elevators running in four stages. The cost of this structure was nearly $1,000,000.

_Was.h.i.+ngton's Monument._--Next in height to the Eiffel Tower, and being, in fact, the tallest masonry structure in the world, this n.o.ble obelisk, by its simplicity, boldness and solidity, challenges the admiration of every visitor, and gratifies the pride of every patriot. It is seen in Fig. 239, and is 555 feet 5 inches high, 55 feet square at the base, and 34 feet square at the top. The walls are 15 feet thick at the base, and 18 inches at the top, and its summit is reached by an internal winding staircase and a central elevator. At the height of 504 feet the walls are pierced with port holes, from which a magnificent view is had of the capital city and surrounding country. The summit is crowned with a cap of aluminum, inscribed _Laus Deo_. The foundation of rock and cement is 36 feet deep and 126 feet square, and the total cost of the monument was $1,300,000. The corner stone was laid in 1848. In 1855 the work was discontinued at the height of 152 feet, from lack of funds. In 1878 it was resumed by appropriation from Congress, and completed and dedicated in 1885, under the direction of Col. Thomas L. Casey, of the United States Corps of Engineers.

_The Capitol Building._--Representing the heart of the great American Republic, and overlooking its Capital City, this grand building, shown in Fig. 240, is a poem in architecture. Ma.s.sive, symmetrical and harmonious, its highest point reaches 307 feet above the plaza on the east. It is 751 feet 4 inches long, 350 feet wide, and the walls of the building proper cover 3 acres. Crowning the center of the building is the imposing dome of iron, surmounted by a lantern, and above this is the bronze statue of Freedom, 19 feet 6 inches high, and weighing 14,985 pounds, the latter being set in place December 2, 1863. The dome is 135 feet 5 inches in diameter at the base, and the open s.p.a.ce of the rotunda within is 96 feet in diameter and 180 feet high.

The corner stone of the original building was laid in 1793 by Was.h.i.+ngton. The first session of Congress held there was in 1800, while the building was still incomplete. The original building was finished in 1811. In 1814 it was partly burned by the British. In 1815 reconstruction was begun, and completed in 1827. In 1850 Congress pa.s.sed an act authorizing the extension of the Capitol, which resulted in the building of the north and south wings, containing the present Senate Chamber and Hall of the House of Representatives. The corner stones of the extension were laid by President Fillmore in 1851, Daniel Webster being the orator of the occasion, and the wings were finished in 1867.

Since this time handsome additions in the shape of marble terraces on the west front have added greatly to the beauty and apparent size of the building.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 240.--THE UNITED STATES CAPITOL. LENGTH, 751? FEET; WIDTH, 350 FEET; HEIGHT, 307 FEET; BUILDING COVERS 3 ACRES.]

It is not possible to give anything like an adequate review of the engineering inventions and achievements of the Nineteenth Century in a single chapter, and only the most noteworthy have been mentioned. The modern life of the world, however, has been replete with the resourceful expedients of the engineer, and the ingenious instrumentalities invented by him to carry out his plans. There have been about 1,000 patents granted for bridges, about 2,500 for excavating apparatus, and about 1,500 for hydraulic engineering. In mining the safety-lamp of Sir Humphrey Davy, in 1815, has been followed by stamp mills, rock-drills, derricks, and hoisting and lowering apparatus, and lately by hydraulic mining apparatus, by which a stream of water under high pressure is made to wash away a mountain side. Apparatus for loading and unloading, pneumatic conveyors, great systems of irrigation, lighthouses, breakwaters, pile drivers, dry-docks, s.h.i.+p railways, road-making apparatus, fire escapes, fireproof buildings, water towers, and filtration plants have been devised, constructed and utilized. Many gigantic schemes, already begun, still await successful completion, among which may be named the draining of the Zuyder Zee, the Siberian railway, the Panama and Nicaraguan Ca.n.a.ls, the Simplon tunnel, the new East River Bridge, and the Rapid Transit Tunnel under New York City; while a bridge or tunnel across the English Channel, a s.h.i.+p ca.n.a.l for France, connecting the Bay of Biscay with the Mediterranean, a tunnel under the Straits of Gibraltar, and a s.h.i.+p ca.n.a.l connecting the great lakes with the Gulf of Mexico, are among the possible achievements which challenge the engineer of the Twentieth Century.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

WOODWORKING.

EARLY MACHINES OF SIR SAMUEL BENTHAM--EVOLUTION OF THE SAW--CIRCULAR SAW--HAMMERING TO TENSION--STEAM FEED FOR SAW MILL CARRIAGE--QUARTER SAWING--THE BAND SAW--PLANING MACHINES--THE WOODWORTH PLANER--THE WOODBURY YIELDING PRESSURE BAR--THE UNIVERSAL WOODWORKER--THE BLANCHARD LATHE--MORTISING MACHINES--SPECIAL WOODWORKING MACHINES.

Surrounded as we are in the modern home with beautiful and artistic furniture, and installed in comfortable and inexpensive houses, one does not appreciate the contrast which the life of the average citizen of to-day presents to that of his great-grandfather in the matter of his dwelling house appointments. A hundred years ago most of the dwellings of the middle and poorer cla.s.ses were crudely made, with clap-boards and joists laboriously hewn with the broad ax, and the roof was covered with split s.h.i.+ngles. Uncouth and clumsy doors, windows and blinds, were framed on the simplest utilitarian basis, and a scanty supply of rude hand-made furniture imperfectly filled the simple wants of the home.

To-day nearly every cottage has beautifully moulded tr.i.m.m.i.n.gs, paneled doors, handsomely carved mantels and turned bal.u.s.ters, all furnished at an insignificant price, and art has so added its aesthetic values to the furniture and other useful things in wood, that beautiful, artistic and tasteful homes are no longer confined to the rich, but may be enjoyed by all. This great change has been brought about by the sawmill, the planing machine, mortising and boring machines, and the turning lathe.

Pre-eminent in the field of woodworking machinery, and worthy to be called the father of the art, is to be mentioned the name of Gen. Sir Samuel Bentham, of England, whose inventions in the last decade of the Eighteenth Century formed the nucleus of the modern art of woodworking.

_The Saw_ was the great pioneer in woodworking machinery, and the circular saw has, in the Nineteenth Century, been the representative type. Pus.h.i.+ng its way along the outskirts of civilization, its glistening and apparently motionless disk, filled with a hidden, but terrific energy, and singing a merry tune in the clearings, has transformed trees into tenements, forests into firesides, and altered the face of the earth, the record of its work being only measured by the immensity of the forests which it has depleted. It is not possible to fix the date of the first circular saw, for rotary cutting action dates from the ancient turning lathes. The earliest description of a circular saw is to be found in the British patent to Miller, No. 1,152, of 1777.

It was not until the Nineteenth Century, however, that it was generally applied, and its great work belongs to this period. The preceding saws were of the straight, reciprocating kind. The old pit-saw is the earliest form, and in course of time the men were replaced by machinery to form the "muley" saw, the man in the pit being replaced by a mechanical "pitman," which accounts for the etymology of the word. With the "muley" saw the log was held at each end, and each end s.h.i.+fted alternately to set for a new cut. The first development was along the lines of this form of saw, and to increase its efficiency the saws were arranged in gangs, so as to make a number of cuts at one pa.s.s of the log. This type was especially used in Europe, but on the up stroke there was no work being done, and hence half of the time was lost. This and other difficulties led finally to the adoption of the circular type, whose continuous cut and high speed saved much time and presented many other advantages. A representative example of the circular saw is given in Fig. 241.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 241.--PORTABLE CIRCULAR SAW.]

With the increased diameter and peripheral speed of the circular saw, however, a grave difficulty presented itself. The saw would heat at its periphery, and its rim portion expanding without commensurate expansion of the central portion, would cause the saw to crack and fly to pieces under the tremendous centrifugal force. This difficulty is provided for by what is known as "_hammering to tension_," _i. e._, the saw is hammered to a gradually increasing state of compression from the rim to the center, thus causing an initial expansion or spread of the molecules of metal of the central parts of the saw, which is stored up as an elastic expansive force that accommodates itself to the tension caused by the expansion of the rim, and prevents the unequal and destructive strain, due to the expansion of the rim from the great heat of friction in pa.s.sing through the log.

Mounted upon a portable frame, this machine was put to its great work upon the logs in the forests of America, and for many years this type of sawmill held its sway, and an enormous amount of work was done through its agency. Among its useful accessories were the set-works for adjusting the log holding knees to the position for a new cut, log turners for rotating the log to change the plane of the cut, and the rack and pinion feed, by which the saw carriage was run back and forth.

Following the rack and pinion feed came the rope feed, in which a rope wrapped around a drum was carried at its opposite ends over pulleys and back to the opposite ends of the carriage, which was thereby carried back and forth by the forward or backward movement of the drum.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 242.--DIRECT-ACTING STEAM FEED SAWMILL CARRIAGE.]

The greatest advance in sawmills in recent years, however, has been the steam feed, in which a very long steam cylinder was provided with a piston, whose long rod was directly attached to the saw carriage, and the latter moved back and forth by the admission of steam alternately to opposite sides of the piston. This type of feed, also known as the _shot gun_ feed, from the resemblance of the long cylinder to a gun barrel, was invented about twenty-five years ago, by De Witt C.

Prescott, and is covered by his patent, No. 174,004, February 22, 1876, later improvements being shown in his patent, No. 360,972, April 12, 1887. The value of the steam feed was to increase the speed and efficiency of the saw, by expediting the movement of its carriage, as many as six boards per minute being cut by its aid from a log of average length. An example of a modern steam feed for sawmill carriages is seen in Fig. 242. With the modern development of the art the ease and rapidity of steam action have recommended it for use in most all of the work of the sawmill, and the direct application of steam pistons working in cylinders has been utilized for canting, kicking, flipping and rolling the logs, lifting the stock, taking away the boards, etc.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 243.--METHOD OF SHAPING AND HOLDING LOG FOR QUARTER SAWING.]

Beautifully finished furniture in quartered oak has always excited the pleasure, and piqued the curiosity of the uninformed as to how this result is obtained. Fig. 243 ill.u.s.trates the method of sawing to produce this effect. The log is simply divided longitudinally into four quarters, and the quarter sections are then cut by the vertical plane of the saw at an oblique angle to the sawed sides, which brings to the surface of the boards the peculiar flecks or patches of the wood's grain so much admired when finished and polished.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 244.--AUTOMATIC BAND RIP SAW.]

The _Band Saw_ is an endless belt of steel having teeth formed along one edge and traveling continuously around an upper and lower pulley, with its toothed edge presented to the timber to be cut, as seen in Fig. 244, which represents a form of band saw made by the J. A. Fay & Egan Company, of Cincinnati. A form of band saw is found as early as 1808, in British patent No. 3,105, to Newberry. On March 25, 1834, a French patent was granted for a band saw to Etiennot, No. 3,397. The first United States patent for a band saw was granted to B. Barker, January 6, 1836, but it remained for the last quarter of the Nineteenth Century to give the band saw its prominence in woodworking machines. That it did not find general application at an earlier period was due to the difficulty experienced in securely and evenly joining the ends of the band. For many years the only moderately successful band saws were made in France, but expert mechanical skill has so mastered the problem that in recent years the band saw has gone to the very front in wood-sawing machinery. To-day it is in service in sizes from a delicate filament, used for scroll sawing and not larger than a baby's ribbon, to an enormous steel belt 50 feet in peripheral measurement, and 12 inches wide, traveling over pulleys 8 feet in diameter, making 500 revolutions per minute, and tearing its way through logs much too large for any circular saw, at the rate of nearly two miles a minute. A modern form of such a saw is seen in Fig. 245. Prescott's patents, Nos. 368,731 and 369,881, of 1887; 416,012, of 1889, and 472,586 and 478,817, of 1892, represent some of the important developments in the band saw.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 245.--MODERN BAND SAW FOR LARGE TIMBER.]

When the band saw is applied to cutting logs the backward movement of the carriage would, if there were any slivers on the cut face of the log, be liable to force those slivers against the smooth edge of the band saw, and distort and possibly break it. To obviate this the saw carriage is provided with a lateral adjustment on the back movement called an "off-set," so that the log returns for a new cut out of contact with the saw. Examples of such off-setting are found in patents to Gowen, No. 383,460, May 29, 1888, and No. 401,945, April 23, 1889, and Hinkley, No. 368,669, August 23, 1887. A modern form of the band saw, however, has teeth on both its edges, which requires no off-setting mechanism, but cuts in both directions. An example of this, known as the telescopic band mill, is made by the Edward P. Allis Company, of Milwaukee.

A saw which planes, as well as severs, is shown in patents to Dougla.s.s, Nos. 431,510, July 1, 1890, and 542,630, July 16, 1895. Steam power mechanism for operating the knees is shown in patent to Wilkin, No.

317,256, May 5, 1885. Means for quarter sawing in both directions of log travel are shown in patent to Gray, No. 550,825, December 3, 1895. Means for operating log turners and log loaders appear in patents to Hill, No.

496,938, May 9, 1893; No. 466,682, January 5, 1892; No. 526,624, September 25, 1894, and Kelly, No. 497,098, May 9, 1893. A self cooling circular saw is found in patent to Jenks, No. 193,004, July 10, 1877; s.h.i.+ngle sawing machines in patents to O'Connor, No. 358,474, March 1, 1887, and No. 292,347, January 22, 1884, and Perkins, No. 380,346, April 3, 1888; and means for severing veneer spirally and dividing it into completed staves, are shown in patent to Hayne, No. 509,534, November 28, 1893.

_Planing Machines._--While the saw plays the initial part of shaping the rough logs into lumber, it is to the planing machine that the refinements of woodworking are due. Its rapidly revolving cutter head reduces the uneven thickness of the lumber to an exact gauge, and simultaneously imparts the fine smooth surface. The planing machine is organized in various shapes for different uses. When the cutters are straight and arranged horizontally, it is a simple _planer_. When the cutters are short and arranged to work on the edge of the board they are known as _edgers_; when the edges are cut into tongues and grooves it is called a _matching machine_; and when the cutters have a curved ornamental contour it is known as a _molding machine_, and is used for cutting the ornamental contour for house tr.i.m.m.i.n.gs and various ornamental uses.

The planing machine was one of the many woodworking devices invented by General Bentham. His first machine, British patent No. 1,838, of 1791, was a reciprocating machine, but in his British patent No. 1,951, of 1793, he described the rotary form along with a great variety of other woodworking machinery.

Bramah's planer, British patent No. 2,652, of 1802, was about the first planing machine of the Nineteenth Century. It is known as a transverse planer, the cutters being on the lower surface of a horizontal disc, which is fixed to a vertical revolving shaft, and overhangs the board pa.s.sing beneath it, the cutters revolving in a plane parallel with the upper surface of the board. The planing machine of Muir, of Glasgow, British patent No. 5,502, of 1827, was designed for making boards for flooring, and represented a considerable advance in the art.

With the greater wooded areas of America, the rapid growth of the young republic, and the resourceful spirit of its new civilization, the leading activities in woodworking machinery were in the second quarter of the Nineteenth Century transferred to the United States, and a phenomenal growth in this art ensued. Conspicuous among the early planing machine patents in the United States was that granted to William Woodworth, December 27, 1828. This covered broadly the combination of the cutting cylinders, and rolls for holding the boards against the cutting cylinders, and also means for tongueing and grooving at one operation. The revolving cutting cylinder had been used by Bentham thirty-five years before, and rollers for feeding lumber to circular saws were described in Hammond's British patent No. 3,459, of 1811, but Woodworth did not employ his rolls for feeding, as a rack and pinion were provided for that, but his rolls had a co-active relation with a planer cylinder, or cutter head, in holding the board against the tendency of the cutter head to pull the board toward it. A patent was granted to Woodworth for these two features in combination, which patent was reissued July 8, 1845, twice extended, and for a period of twenty-eight years from its first grant, exerted an oppressive monopoly in this art, since it covered the combination of the two necessary elements of every practical planer.

Following the Woodworth patent came a host of minor improvements, among which were the Woodbury patents, extending through the period of the third quarter of the Nineteenth Century, and prominent among which is the patent to J. P. Woodbury, No. 138,462, April 20, 1873, covering broadly a rotary cutter head combined with a yielding pressure bar to hold the board against the lifting action of the cutter head.

In modern planing machinery the climax of utility is reached in the so-called _universal woodworker_. This is the versatile Jack-of-all-work in the planing mill. It planes flat, moulded, rabbeted, or beaded surfaces; it saws with both the rip and crosscut action; it cuts tongues and grooves; makes miters, chamfers, wedges, mortises and tenons, and is the general utility machine of the shop.