On the Economy of Machinery and Manufactures

Proper Circumstances for the Application of Machinery

329.  The first object of machinery, the chief cause of its extensive utility, is the perfection and the cheap production of the articles which it is intended to make.  Whenever it is required to produce a great multitude of things, all of exactly the same kind, the proper time has arrived for the construction of tools or machines by which they may be manufactured.  If only a few pairs of cotton stockings should be required, it would be an absurd waste of time, and of capital, to construct a stocking-frame to weave them, when, for a few pence, four steel wires can be procured by which they may be knit.  If, on the other hand, many thousand pairs were wanted, the time employed, and the expense incurred in constructing a stocking-frame, would be more than repaid by the saving of time in making that large number of stockings.  The same principle is applicable to the copying of letters:  if three or four copies only are required, the pen and the human hand furnish the cheapest means of obtaining them; if hundreds are called for, lithography may be brought to our assistance; but if hundreds of thousands are wanted, the machinery of a printing establishment supplies the most economical method of accomplishing the object.

330.  There are, however, many cases in which machines or tools must be made, in which economical production is not the most important object.  Whenever it is required to produce a few articles parts of machinery, for instance, which must be executed with the most rigid accuracy or be perfectly alike—­it is nearly impossible to fulfil this condition, even with the aid of the most skilful hands:  and it becomes necessary to make tools expressly for the purpose, although those tools should, as frequently happens, cost more in constructing than the things they are destined to make.

331.  Another instance of the just application of machinery, even at an increased expense, arises where the shortness of time in which the article is produced, has an important influence on its value.  In the publication of our daily newspapers, it frequently happens that the debates in the Houses of Parliament are carried on to three and four o’clock in the morning, that is. to within a very few hours of the time for the publication of the paper.  The speeches must be taken down by reporters, conveyed by them to the establishment of the newspaper, perhaps at the distance of one or two miles, transcribed by them in the office, set up by the compositor, the press corrected, and the paper be printed off and distributed, before the public can read them.  Some of these journals have a circulation of from five to ten thousand daily.  Supposing four thousand to be wanted, and that they could be printed only at the rate of five hundred per hour upon one side of the paper, (which was the greatest number two journeymen and a boy could take off by the old hand presses), sixteen hours would be required for printing the complete edition; and the news conveyed to the purchasers of the latest portion of the impression, would be out of date before they could receive it.  To obviate this difficulty, it was often necessary to set up the paper in duplicate, and sometimes, when late, in triplicate:  but the improvements in the printing machines have been so great, that four thousand copies are now printed on one side in an hour.

332.  The establishment of ‘The Times’ newspaper is an example, on a large scale, of a manufactory in which the division of labour, both mental and bodily, is admirably illustrated, and in which also the effect of domestic economy is well exemplified.  It is scarcely imagined by the thousands who read that paper in various quarters of the globe, what a scene of organized activity the factory presents during the whole night, or what a quantity of talent and mechanical skill is put in action for their amusement and information. (1) Nearly a hundred persons are employed in this establishment; and, during the session of Parliament, at least twelve reporters are constantly attending the Houses of Commons and Lords; each in his turn retiring, after about an hour’s work, to translate into ordinary writing, the speech he has just heard and noted in shorthand.  In the meantime fifty compositors are constantly at work, some of whom have already set up the beginning, whilst others are committing to type the yet undried manuscript of the continuation of a speech, whose middle portion is travelling to the office in the pocket of the hasty reporter, and whose eloquent conclusion is, perhaps, at that very moment, making the walls of St Stephen’s vibrate with the applause of its hearers.  These congregated types, as fast as they are composed, are passed in portions to other hands; till at last the scattered fragments of the debate, forming, when united with the ordinary matter, eight-and-forty columns, reappear in regular order on the platform of the printing-press.  The hand of man is now too slow for the demands of his curiosity, but the power of steam comes to his assistance.  Ink is rapidly supplied to the moving types, by the most perfect mechanism; four attendants incessantly introduce the edges of large sheets of white paper to the junction of two great rollers, which seem to devour them with unsated appetite; other rollers convey them to the type already inked, and having brought them into rapid and successive contact, redeliver them to four other assistants, completely printed by the almost momentary touch.  Thus, in one hour, four thousand sheets of paper are printed on one side; and an impression of twelve thousand copies, from above three hundred thousand moveable pieces of metal, is produced for the public in six hours.

333.  The effect of machinery in printing other periodical publications, and of due economy in distributing them, is so important for the interests of knowledge, that it is worth examining by what means it is possible to produce them at the small price at which they are sold.  ‘Chambers’ Journal’, which is published at Edinburgh, and sold at three halfpence a number, will furnish an example.  Soon after its commencement in 1832, the sale in Scotland reached 30,000, and in order to supply the demand in London it was reprinted; but on account of the expense of ‘composition’ it was found that this plan would not produce any profit, and the London edition was about to be given up, when it occurred to the proprietor to stereotype it at Edinburgh, and cast two copies of the plates.  This is now done about three weeks before the day of publication—­one set of plates being sent up to London by the mail, an impression is printed off by steam:  the London agent has then time to send packages by the cheapest conveyances to several of the large towns, and other copies go through the booksellers’ parcels to all the smaller towns.  Thus a great saving is effected in the outlay of capital, and 20,000 copies are conveyed from London, as a centre, to all parts of England, whilst there is no difficulty in completing imperfect sets, nor any waste from printing more than the public demand.

334.  The conveyance of letters is another case, in which the importance of saving time would allow of great expense in any new machinery for its accomplishment.  There is a natural limit to the speed of horses, which even the greatest improvements in the breed, aided by an increased perfection in our roads, can never surpass; and from which, perhaps, we are at present not very remote.  When we reflect upon the great expense of time and money which the last refinements of a theory or an art usually require, it is not unreasonable to suppose that the period has arrived in which the substitution of machinery for such purposes ought to be tried.

335.  The post bag despatched every evening by the mail to one of our largest cities, Bristol, usually weighs less than a hundred pounds.  Now, the first reflection which naturally presents itself is, that, in order to transport these letters a hundred and twenty miles, a coach and apparatus, weighing above thirty hundredweight, are put in motion, and also conveyed over the same space. (2)

It is obvious that, amongst the conditions of machinery for accomplishing such an object, it would be desirable to reduce the weight of matter to be conveyed along with the letters:  it would also be desirable to reduce the velocity of the animal power employed; because the faster a horse is driven, the less weight he can draw.  Amongst the variety of contrivances which might be imagined for this purpose, we will mention one, which, although by no means free from objections, fulfils some of the prescribed conditions; and it is not a purely theoretical speculation, since some few experiments have been made upon it, though on an extremely limited scale.

336.  Let us imagine a series of high pillars erected at frequent intervals, perhaps every hundred feet, and as nearly as possible in a straight line between two post towns.  An iron or steel wire must be stretched over proper supports, fixed on each of these pillars, and terminating at the end of every three or five miles, as may be found expedient, in a very strong support, by which it may be stretched.  At each of these latter points a man ought to reside in a small stationhouse.  A narrow cylindrical tin case, to contain the letters, might be suspended by two wheels rolling upon this wire; the cases being so constructed as to enable the wheels to pass unimpeded by the fixed supports of the wire.  An endless wire of much smaller size must pass over two drums, one at each end of the station.  This wire should be supported on rollers, fixed to the supports of the great wire, and at a short distance below it.  There would thus be two branches of the smaller wire always accompanying the larger one; and the attendant at either station, by turning the drum, might cause them to move with great velocity in opposite directions.  In order to convey the cylinder which contains the letters, it would only be necessary to attach it by a string, or by a catch, to either of the branches of the endless wire.  Thus it would be conveyed speedily to the next station, where it would be removed by the attendant to the commencement of the next wire, and so forwarded.  It is unnecessary to enter into the details which this, or any similar plan, would require.  The difficulties are obvious; but if:  these could be overcome, it would present many advantages besides velocity; for if an attendant resided at each station, the additional expense of having two or three deliveries of letters every day, and even of sending expresses at any moment, would be comparatively trifling; nor is it impossible that the stretched wire might itself be available for a species of telegraphic communication yet more rapid.

Perhaps if the steeples of churches, properly selected, were made use of, connecting them by a few intermediate stations with some great central building, as, for instance, with the top of St Paul’s; and if a similar apparatus were placed on the top of each steeple, with a man to work it during the day, it might be possible to diminish the expense of the two-penny post, and make deliveries every half hour over the greater part of the metropolis.

337.  The power of steam, however, bids fair almost to rival the velocity of these contrivances; and the fitness of its application to the purposes of conveyance, particularly where great rapidity is required, begins now to be generally admitted.  The following extract from the Report of the Committee of the House of Commons on steamcarriages, explains clearly its various advantages: 

Perhaps one of the principal advantages resulting from the use of steam, will be, that it may be employed as cheaply at a quick as at a slow rate; ’this is one of the advantages over horse labour. which becomes more and more expensive as the speed is increased.  There is every reason to expect, that in the end the rate of travelling by steam will be much quicker than the utmost speed of travelling by horses; in short, the safety to travellers will become the limit to speed.’  In horse-draught the opposite result takes place; ’in all cases horses lose power of draught in a much greater proportion than they gain speed, and hence the work they do becomes more expensive as they go quicker.’

Without increase of cost, then, we shall obtain a power which will insure a rapidity of internal communication far beyond the utmost speed of horses in draught; and although the performance of these carriages may not have hitherto attained this point, when once it has been established, that at equal speed we can use steam more cheaply in draught than horses, we may fairly anticipate that every day’s increased experience in the management of the engines, will induce greater skill, greater confidence, and greater speed.

The cheapness of the conveyance will probably be, for some time, a secondary consideration.  If, at present, it can be used as cheaply as horse power, the competition with the former modes of conveyance will first take place as to speed.  When once the superiority of steam-carriages shall have been fully established, competition will induce economy in the cost of working them.  The evidence, however, of Mr Macneill, shewing the greater efficiency, with diminished expenditure of fuel, by locomotive engines on railwavs, convinces the committee, that experience will soon teach a better construction of the engines, and a less costly mode of generating the requisite supply of steam.

Nor are the advantages of steam-power confined to the greater velocitv attained, or to its greater cheapness than horse-draught.  In the latter, danger is increased, in as large a proportion as expense, by greater speed.  In steam-power, on the contrary, ’there is no danger of being run away with, and that of being overturned is greatly diminished.  It is difficult to control four such horses as can draw a heavy carriage ten miles per hour, in case they are frightened, or choose to run away; and for quick travelling they must be kept in that state of courage, that they are always inclined for running away, particularly down hills, and at sharp turns of the road.  In steam, however, there is little corresponding danger, being perfectly controllable, and capable of exerting its power in reverse in going down hills., Every witness examined has given the fullest and most satisfactory evidence of the perfect control which the conductor has over the movement of the carriage.  With the slightest exertion it can be stopped or turned, under circumstances where horses would be totally unmanageable.

338.  Another instance may be mentioned in which the object to be obtained is so important, that although it might be rarely wanted, yet machinery for that purpose would justify considerable expense.  A vessel to contain men, and to be navigated at some distance below the surface of the sea, would, in many circumstances, be almost invaluable.  Such a vessel, evidently, could not be propelled by any engine requiring the aid of fire.  If, however, by condensing air into a liquid, and carrying it in that state, a propelling power could be procured sufficient for moving the vessel through a considerable space, the expense would scarcely render its occasional employment impossible.(3)

339.  Slide of Alpnach.  Amongst the forests which flank many of the lofty mountains of Switzerland, some of the finest timber is found in positions almost inaccessible.  The expense of roads, even if it were possible to make them in such situations, would prevent the inhabitants from deriving any advantages from these almost inexhaustible supplies.  Placed by nature at a considerable elevation above the spot at which they can be made use of, they are precisely in fit circumstances for the application of machinery to their removal; and the inhabitants avail themselves of the force of gravity to relieve them from some portion of this labour.  The inclined planes which they have established in various forests, by which the timber has been sent down to the water courses, have excited the admiration of every traveller; and in addition to the merit of simplicity, the construction these slides requires scarcely anything beyond the material which grows upon the spot.

Of all these specimens of carpentry, the Slide of Alpnach was the most considerable, from its great length, and from the almost inaccessible position from which it descended.  The following account of it is taken from Gilbert’s Annalen, 1819, which is translated in the second volume of Brewster’s Journal: 

For many centuries, the rugged flanks and the deep gorges of Mount Pilatus were covered with impenetrable forests; which were permitted to grow and to perish, without being of the least utility to man, till a foreigner, who had been conducted into their wild recesses in the pursuit of the chamois, directed the attention of several Swiss gentlemen to the extent and superiority of the timber.  The most skilful individuals, however, considered it quite impracticable to avail themselves of such inaccessible stores.  It was not till the end of 1816, that M. Rupp, and three Swiss gentlemen, entertaining more sanguine hopes, purchased a certain extent of the forests, and began the construction of the slide, which was completed in the spring of 1818.

The Slide of Alpnach is formed entirely of about 25,000 large pine trees, deprived of their bark, and united together in a very ingenious manner, without the aid of iron.  It occupied about 160 workmen during eighteen months, and cost nearly 100,000 francs, or L4,250.  It is about three leagues, or 44,000 English feet long, and terminates in the Lake of Lucerne.  It has the form of a trough, about six feet broad, and from three to six feet deep.  Its bottom is formed of three trees, the middle one of which has a groove cut out in the direction of its length, for receiving small rills of water, which are conducted into it from various places, for the purpose of diminishing the friction.  The whole of the slide is sustained by about 2,000 supports; and in many places it is attached, in a very ingenious manner, to the rugged precipices of granite.

The direction of the slide is sometimes straight, and sometimes zig-zag, with an inclination of from 10 degrees to 18 degrees.  It is often carried along the sides of hills and the flanks of precipitous rocks, and sometimes passes over their summits.  Occasionally it goes under ground, and at other times it is conducted over the deep gorges by scaffoldings 120 feet in height.

The boldness which characterizes this work, the sagacity and skill displayed in all its arrangements, have excited the wonder of every person who has seen it.  Before any step could be taken in its erection, it was necessary to cut several thousand trees to obtain a passage through the impenetrable thickets.  All these difficulties, however, were surmounted, and the engineer had at last the satisfaction of seeing the trees descend from the mountain with the rapidity of lightning.  The larger pines, which were about a hundred feet long, and ten inches thick at their smaller extremity, ran through the space of three leagues, or nearly nine miles, in two minutes and a half, and during their descent, they appeared to be only a few feet in length.

The arrangements for this part of the operation were extremely simple.  From the lower end of the slide to the upper end, where the trees were introduced, workmen were posted at regular distances, and as soon as everything was ready, the workman at the lower end of the slide cried out to the one above him, ‘Lachez’ (let go).  The cry was repeated from one to another. and reached the top of the slide in three minutes.  The workmen at the top of the slide then cried out to the one below him, ’Il vient’ (it comes), and the tree was instantly launched down the slide, preceded by the cry which was repeated from post to post.  As soon as the tree had reached thebottom, and plunged into the lake, the cry of lachez was repeated as before, and a new tree was launched in a similar manner.  By these means a tree descended every five or six minutes, provided no accident happened to the slide, which sometimes took place, but which was instantly repaired when it did.

In order to shew the enormous force which the trees acquired from the great velocity of their descent, M. Rupp made arrangements for causing some of the trees to spring from the slide.  They penetrated by their thickest extremities no less than from eighteen to twenty-four feet into the earth; and one of the trees having by accident struck against another, it instantly cleft it through its whole length, as if it had been struck by lightning.

After the trees had descended the slide, they were collected into rafts upon the lake, and conducted to Lucerne.  From thence they descended the Reuss, then the Aar to near Brugg, afterwards to Waldshut by the Rhine, then to Basle, and even to the sea when it was necessary.

It is to be regretted that this magnificent structure no longer exists, and that scarcely a trace of it is to be seen upon the flanks of Mount Pilatus.  Political circumstances having taken away the principal source of demand for the timber, and no other market having been found, the operation of cutting and transporting the trees necessarily ceased.(4)

Professor Playfair, who visited this singular work, states, that six minutes was the usual time occupied in the descent of a tree; but that in wet weather, it reached the lake in three minutes.

Notes: 

1.  The author of these pages, with one of his friends, was recently induced to visit this most interesting establishment, after midnight, during the progress of a very important debate.  The place was illuminated with gas, and was light as the day:  there was neither noise nor bustle; and the visitors were received with such calm and polite attention, that they did not, until afterwards, become sensible of the inconvenience which such intruders, at a moment of the greatest pressure, must occasion, nor reflect tha the tranquility which they admired, was the result of intense and regulated occupation.  But the effect of such checks in the current of business will appear on recollecting that, as four thousand newspapers are printed off on one side within the hour, every minute is attended with a loss of sixty-six impressions.  The quarter of an hour, therefore, which the stranger may think it not unreasonable to claim for the gratification of his curiosity (and to him this time is but a moment), may cause a failure in the delivery of a thousand copies, and disappoint a proportionate number of expectant readers, in some of our distant towns, to which the morning papers are dispatched by the earliest and most rapid conveyances of each day.

This note is inserted with the further and more general purpose of calling the attention of those, especially foreigners, who are desirous of inspecting our larger manufactories, to the chief cause of the difficulty which frequently attends their introduction.  When the establishment is very extensive, and its departments skilfully arranged, the exclusion of visitors arises, not from any illiberal jealousy, nor, generally, from any desire of concealment, which would, in most cases, be absurd, but from the substantial inconvenience and loss of time, throughout an entire series of well-combined operations, which must be occasioned even by short and causual interruptions.

2.  It is true that the transport of letters is not the only object which this apparatus answers; but the transport of passengers, which is a secondary object, does in fact put a limit to the velocity of that of the letters, which is the primary one.

3.  A proposal for such a vessel, and description of its construction, by the author of this volume, may be found in the Encyclopaedia Metropolitana, Art.  Diving Bell.

4.  The mines of Bolanos in Mexico are supplied with timber from the adjacent mountains by a slide similar to that of Alpnach.  It was constructed by M. Floresi, a gentleman well acquainted with Switzerland.