46. A small moving power, in the shape of a jack or a spring with a train of wheels, is often of great convenience to the experimental philosopher, and has been used with advantage in magnetic and electric experiments where the rotation of a disk of metal or other body is necessary, thus allowing to the enquirer the unimpeded use of both his hands. A vane connected by a train of wheels, and set in motion by a heavy weight, has also, on some occasions, been employed in chemical processes, to keep a solution in a state of agitation. Another object to which a similar apparatus may be applied, is the polishing of small specimens of minerals for optical experiments.
Chapter 6
Saving time in Natural Operations
47. The process of tanning will furnish us with a striking illustration of the power of machinery in accelerating certain processes in which natural operations have a principal effect. The object of this art is to combine a certain principle called tanning with every particle of the skin to be tanned. This, in the ordinary process, is accomplished by allowing the skins to soak in pits containing a solution of tanning matter: they remain in the pits six, twelve, or eighteen months; and in some instances (if the hides are very thick), they are exposed to the operation for two years, or even during a longer period. This length of time is apparently required in order to allow the tanning matter to penetrate into the interior of a thick hide. The improved process consists in placing the hides with the solution of tan in close vessels, and then exhausting the air. The effect is to withdraw any air which may be contained in the pores of the hides, and to aid capillary attraction by the pressure of the atmosphere in forcing the tan into the interior of the skins. The effect of the additional force thus brought into action can be equal only to one atmosphere, but a further improvement has been made: the vessel containing the hides is, after exhaustion, filled up with a solution of tan; a small additional quantity is then injected with a forcing-pump. By these means any degree of pressure may be given which the containing vessel is capable of supporting; and it has been found that, by employing such a method, the thickest hides may be tanned in six weeks or two months.
48. The same process of injection might be applied to impregnate timber with tar, or any other substance capable of preserving it from decay, and if it were not too expensive, the deal floors of houses might thus be impregnated with alumine or other substances, which would render them much less liable to be accidentally set on fire. In some cases it might be useful to impregnate woods with resins, varnish, or oil; and wood saturated with oil might, in some instances, be usefully employed in machinery for giving a constant, but very minute supply of that fluid to iron or steel, against which it is worked. Some idea of the quantity of matter which can be injected into wood by great pressure, may be formed, from considering the fact stated by Mr Scoresby, respecting an accident which occurred to a boat of one of our whaling-ships. The harpoon having been struck into the fish, the whale in this instance, dived directly down, and carried the boat along with him. On returning to the surface the animal was killed, but the boat, instead of rising, was found suspended beneath the whale by the rope of the harpoon; and on drawing it up, every part of the wood was found to be so completely saturated with water as to sink immediately to the bottom.
49. The operation of bleaching linen in the open air is one for which considerable time is necessary; and although it does not require much labour, yet, from the risk of damage and of robbery from long exposure, a mode of shortening the process was highly desirable. The method now practised, although not mechanical, is such a remarkable instance of the application of science to the practical purposes of manufactures, that in mentioning the advantages derived from shortening natural operations, it would have been scarcely pardonable to have omitted all allusion to the beautiful application of chlorine, in combination with lime, to the art of bleaching.
50. Another instance more strictly mechanical occurs in some countries where fuel is expensive, and the heat of the sun is not sufficient to evaporate the water from brine springs. The water is first pumped up to a reservoir, and then allowed to fall in small streams through faggots. Thus it becomes divided; and, presenting a large surface, evaporation is facilitated, and the. brine which is collected in the vessels below the faggots is stronger than that which was pumped up. After thus getting rid of a large part of the water, the remaining portion is driven off by boiling. The success of this process depends on the condition of the atmosphere with respect to moisture. If the air, at the time the brine falls through the faggots, holds in solution as much moisture as it can contain in an invisible state, no more can be absorbed from the salt water, and the labour expended in pumping is entirely wasted. The state of the air, as to dryness, is therefore an important consideration in fixing the time when this operation is to be performed; and an attentive examination of its state, by means of the hygrometer, might be productive of some economy of labour.
51. In some countries, where wood is scarce, the evaporation of salt water is carried on by a large collection of ropes which are stretched perpendicularly. In passing down the ropes, the water deposits the sulphate of lime which it held in solution, and gradually incrusts them, so that in the course of twenty years, when they are nearly rotten, they are still sustained by the surrounding incrustation, thus presenting the appearance of a vast collection of small columns.
52. Amongst natural operations perpetually altering the surface of our globe, there are some which it would be advantageous to accelerate. The wearing down of the rocks which impede the rapids of navigable rivers, is one of this class. A very beautiful process for accomplishing this object has been employed in America. A boat is placed at the bottom of the rapid, and kept in its position by a long rope which is firmly fixed on the bank of the river near the top. An axis, having a wheel similar to the paddle-wheel of a steamboat fixed at each end of it, is placed across the boat; so that the two wheels and their connecting axis shall revolve rapidly, being driven by the force of the passing current. Let us now imagine several beams of wood shod with pointed iron fixed at the ends of strong levers, projecting beyond the bow of the boat, as in the annexed representation.
If these levers are at liberty to move up and down, and if one or more projecting pieces, called cams, are fixed on the axis opposite to the end of each lever, the action of the stream upon the wheels will keep up a perpetual succession of blows. The sharp-pointed shoe striking upon the rock at the bottom, will continually detach small pieces, which the stream will immediately carry off. Thus, by the mere action of the river itself, a constant and most effectual system of pounding the rock at its bottom is established. A single workman may, by the aid of a rudder, direct the boat to any required part of the stream; and when it is necessary to move up the rapid, as the channel is cut, he can easily cause the boat to advance by means of a capstan.