ANECDOTES, DESCRIPTIONS,

ETC., ETC.,

RELATING TO THE MECHANIC ARTS.

Progress of Invention illustrated.

THE progressive stages through which even some of our simplest tools have to pass, ere they arrive at their final state of perfection, is sometimes astonishing. The simple process of drawing a cork will furnish the necessary illustrations.

The inventor of bottles is unknown; but these were in use centuries before corks were thought of, and these, again, were employed for generations before a convenient method was hit upon for their extraction. The exhilarating contents could then only be tasted by what was technically called "beheading the bottle." More expert practitioners had many opportunities of showing their skill in removing the impediment by a dexterous twist of the fingers; or, if that were impracticable, teeth were called in as their natural auxiliaries: here, however, in many cases, it was doubtful whether the cork would follow the teeth, or the teeth remain in the cork; and if an obstinate remnant would remain, a nail was a ready means of dislodging the stubborn plug, particle by particle. When at any time, through an impatience of the nibbling labor, or a despair of accomplishing a clean extraction at all, it was resolved to send the obstacle the wrong way; this was then, indeed, an invaluable instrument.

A pair

of skewers, or forks, inserted "witchwise," would sometimes accomplish those difficult cases which had baffled the exertions of all the natur. als. Twisting the lower extremity of the "bare bodkin" into a spiral form, and adding a handle to it, was the thought of a master genius; and in this shape mankind for ages were contented to avail themselves of its services; and even at the present hour, some barbarous, uncouth countries and districts may be named where it is still the extractor in most general use. In our country, it must be in the recollection of many, that this was in numerous cases a very inefficient machine; and no one hostess ever before conferred such a favor upon all bottle suckers as that lady who first conceived the idea of placing a button at the end of the screw-worm. Henceforth the decanting process was a mere matter of routine. When, in her green old age, death laid his hand on the inventress, a piratical screwmaker also took to himself the credit and profit of the button. Yet the fair originator shall be ne'er forgotten, even although her master-piece,

some years later, was eclipsed, and may yet be superseded by the King's screw, which can receive no addition to its beauty or convenience.

Another illustration can be found in the shoemaker's awl, which is a much simpler instrument, even than the cork-screw. The first awls were plain, conical punches, that made a round hole in the leather. It was soon discovered that this form was erroneous, for the hole thus made was never more than half filled with the two waxed threads crossing each other. Geometry teaches us that these two threads, being like two small circles enclosed by a third, occupied but one half of the space of the hole.

The conical awl was then flattened, and had an oval form as to its section given to it; and some time afterwards the awl was so filed as to give it four faces, the section being something in the shape of a lozenge; but still the awl was straight. Although this straightness is useful in many cases, yet it was improper in the business of shoemaking. Suppose it were wished to sew together,

quite close to the edge, two pieces of leather, one placed upon the other, and that a straight awl is used; the hole that it will make will constantly push out the leather towards the edge and give it a convex form, and when the sewing is done the edge will exhibit a row of festoons, which it will be necessary to rub down by means of a knife, in order to give a regular edge to the pieces, but which, by this means, will lose much of its strength. Now, if, on the contrary, a crooked awl is used, and pushed in properly, it may be brought very near the edge, by making it describe the arc of a circle, whose convexity is opposite to the edge. By this simple means the festooned appearance of the edge produced by the straight awl will not be formed, and of course the strength of the leather will be preserved undiminished, and the sewing itself will be strong. Unfortunately, the name of the person who conceived the idea of bending the awl is lost.

Illustration of the Ignorance of Foreigners respecting American Inventions.

The ignorance of foreigners in relation to our country and its improvements in the mechanic arts, is well illustrated in the following conversation related by Allen, in his Travels, as having passed between himself and a Flemish gentleman, in a stage coach in Holland. In speaking of steam, he says:

"Our artisan was also eloquent in his eulogium upon steam navigation, having for the first time in his life made the passage from Rotterdam to Antwerp in the steam-packet. In a few years, he observed, steamboats would be in use in all parts of the country, and even in the United States of America we might not be long without them. His surprise was great, when informed that steamboats were in general use on most of the large rivers of the Union, where they were first successfully put into operation, some twenty years ago.

"The subject of mechanical inventions having been thus introduced, I described to him several of the curiously constructed machines invented by Americans. He continued to listen to an account of the nail machine, which cuts and heads nails from a flat bar of iron as fast as a man can count them. The machine for making weavers' reeds or slaies seemed to strike attention as a wonderful invention, whereby the mechanism is made to draw in the flattened wire from a reel, to insert it between the side pieces, to cut it off at the proper length, and finally, to bind each dent firmly in its place with tarred twine, accomplishing the whole operation

without the assistance of an attendant, in a more perfect manner than can be performed by the most skilful hand. He had never before heard of these machines: although possessed of a good share of intelligence, yet the complicated operations of the mechanism for accomplishing processes which he supposed could only be brought about by manual dexterity, appeared to him almost in. credible. But when I described to him Blanchard's Lathe, in which gun-stocks and shoe-lasts, with all their irregularity of outline, are turned exactly to a pattern, his confidence in my veracity seemed evidently wavering, and on giving him a description of Whittemore's celebrated card machine, which draws off the wire from the reel,-cuts it into pieces of the proper length for teeth,— bends it into the form of a staple,-punctures the holes in the leather with a needle,-inserts the staples into these punctured holes in the leather, and finally, crooks the teeth into the required form, completing of itself all those operations with regularity without the assistance of a human hand to direct it, the credulity of my travelling companion would extend no farther. He manifested doubts of all that I had been describing to him, accompanied by feelings of irritation at what he appeared to consider an attempt to impose upon him marvellous travellers' stories.

"Giving vent to an emphatic humph!--he petulantly threw himself back into the corner of the diligence, and would hold no farther conversation during the remainder of our ride, on the subject of mechanical improvements made in Flemish manufactures."

Singular Origin of the Invention of Frame-work Knitting.

The stocking frame, to any one who attentively considers its complex operations, and the elegant sleight with which it forms its successive rows of loops or stitches, will appear to be the most extraordinary single feat, the most remarkable stride, ever made in mechanical invention.

In the Stocking Weavers' Hall, in Red Cross street London, there is a portrait of a man, painted in the act of pointing to an iron stocking frame, and addressing a woman, who is knitting with needles by hand. The picture bears the following quaint inscription "In the year 1589, the ingenious William Lee, A. M., of St. John's College, Cambridge, devised this profitable art for stockings, (but being despised went to France,) yet of iron to himself, but to us, and to others, of gold; in memory of whom this is here painted."

This machine was constructed somewhere about the year 1600.

It was only about thirty years prior to its construction, that the art of knitting stockings, by wires worked by the fingers, had been introduced into England from Spain.

This Mr. Lee, it is said, paid his addresses to a young woman in his neighborhood, to whom, from some cause, his attentions were not agreeable; or, as with more probability it has been conjectured, she affected to treat him with negligence to ascertain her power over his affections. Whenever he paid his visits she always took care to be busily employed in knitting, and would pay no attention to his addresses; this conduct she pursued for so long a period, that the lover became disgusted, and he vowed to devote his leisure, instead of dancing attendance on a capricious woman, who treated his attention with cold neglect, in devising an invention that would effectually supersede her favorite employment of knitting. So sedulous was Mr. Lee in his new occupation, that he neglected every thing to accomplish this new object of his attentions; even his sacerdotal duties were neglected. In vain did his sweetheart endeavor to reclaim him; she found too late that she had carried her humor to far. All interests, all avocations, all affections were absorbed in his new pursuit, from which he imagined he should realize an immense fortune. His curacy was abandoned as beneath the notice of a person who had formed in his imagination such gigantic prospects.

The old stocking makers were fond of dilating in their cups and in their conversation on the difficulties he encountered. He watched his mistress with the greatest attention while knitting, and he observed that she made the web loop by loop, but the round shape which she gave to the stocking from the four needles, greatly embarrassed him in his notions of destroying her trade. Pondering in his mind the difficulties of his task, on one of his visits he found her knitting the heel of a stocking, and using only two needles; one was employed in holding the loops, while another was engaged in forming a new series. The thought struck him instantly that he could make a flat web, and then by joining the selvages with the needle, make it round. At the end of three years' excessive study and toil, Mr. Lee was enabled to make a course upon a frame; but here new difficulties presented themselves; he wrought with great facility the top, the narrowings, and the small of the leg, but the formation of the heel and foot embarrassed the ingenious mechanic, who had surmounted such seeming insuperable difficulties. After having to unreave a great number of abortive attempts, perseverance at length crowned his efforts, the clergyman attained the height of his wishes, and became the first frame-work knitter.

He brought the machine to such perfection that even to the pre