Class VI. j

ENGINEERS’ MACHINES, TOOLS, &c.

201

arrangements for cutting on an even surface of steel,without injuring the tools; and in the Swiss DepartmentM. Darier (Switz., 61, p. 1270), exhibits a press withmany delicate adjustments for cutting out watch-hands.The remainder of these presses are of a highly ornamentalcharacter, and intended for the library table, or shopcounter, as copying-presses, or for seals, book-stamps,&c., and in this character they properly belong to “orna-mental furniture,” or “ stationery,” as their chief claimto attention consists in the beauty of their form ordecoration.

In the Foreign Department we may mention a highly-finished rolling-mill, of most accurate workmanship,adapted for a mint, by M. Krupp (.Prussia, G49, p. 1086) ;an excellent machine, for forming hooks and eyes, byM. Hue (France , 269, p. 1189); and three ingeniousmachines, of very similar construction, for making thenails called “ points de Paris, ” of which one is exhibitedby M. Fkey (1607, p. 1254), the other two by M.Stoltz(1494, p. 1248).

Messrs, lb Johnson* and Brothers, of Manchester(212, p. 292), have placed in the collection a wire-drawingbench of the best construction, being the only machinefor this purpose that has been forwarded.

Mr. Felix Abate exhibits in Class XXII., (2G5, p. G23)some machines intended for planing, polishing, burnish-ing, and ornamenting sheets, bars, tubes, &e., of metal.

Messrs. Vine and Ashmkad contribute, from America (19G, p. 1449), a gold-beating machine.

Messrs. Stewart and Co. (238, p. 295) exhibit a modelof their machine for forming the moulds in which ironpipes are cast. Several excellent specimens of large pipes,that accompany the model, show the perfection which themachine imparts to the mould, and the machine itselfwould have been sent, but it was found to be too large forthe building.

An elaborate machine, for making and charging per-cussion caps, is exhibited in the Department of the Ne-therlands , by Mr. Goossens (77, p. 1116). This machine,which is worked by two men and three children, does thework (according to the inventor’s statement) of twelvemachines and twenty-five men required in the systemcommonly employed.

(19.) Machines for Working in Wood {excepting Lathes.)

From the above sketch it will be seen that the Exhibi-tion presents a tolerably fair picture of the present styleof English engineer tool-making for metal-work, and thatvery few specimens have been sent either from the Con-tinent or from America . When we turn to the machinesfor working in wood the case is altered. It certainlyeanuot be said that such machines are not employed inEngland; for, from the period of setting up the Ports-mouth block-machinery, such contrivances have beengradually making their way into English practice, andour saw-mills, dockyards, and similar establishments,abound with mechanism for sawing, veneering, planing,grooving, mortising, tonguing, cutting mouldings, cask-making, carving, and every branch of wood-work: but,from some cause or other, probably the magnitude orroughness of such mechanism, and the noise, chips, anddust it creates, only a few models have found their wayinto the English Department of the Exhibition; never-theless, the wood-work of the very building in whichthey are contained was itself almost entirely wroughtinto form by such machines. In America , however,machinery for working in wood is even more largely em-ployed than with us, and their machines find their wayinto workshops of a smaller character. The much greatervalue of manual labour in that country is shown by thefact, that as little work as possible is done by hand, andthat more attention is paid to economy of time and labour,and to the production of rapid results with the least pos-sible expenditure, than to great durability and finish."Where so many natural obstacles are to be contendedagainst by a scattered population, we must not look somuch for elegance of workmanship as for boldness of de-sign. These remarks are illustrated by a series of ma-chines for working in wood, which, although exhibited in

operation by the English importer and patentee, Mr. Fur-ness, of Liverpool (401, p. 29S), are of American origin,and some of them are well known to have been largelyemployed there for ten years or more. The style offraming and designing these machines will at once betraytheir Transatlantic origin, and exhibits great ingenuity,simplicity, and fitness for the purpose. They are prin-cipally framed of wood, not only for cheapness, butbecause iron frames are liable to bruise the highly-finished wood-work which the machines are intended toproduce. This series comprises a most effective foot-mortising machine; a tenoning machine, to be workedby hand or power; and power-machines for mortising,planing, moulding, and sash-making. Mr. Woodbury,of the United States (443, pp. 14G3, 1464), exhibits apowerful machine for wood-planing, tonguing, and groov-ing rough boards of 2 feet, or less, in width. The boardsare driven under a series of eight fixed cutters or plane-irons, each cutting in succession, and may be planed atthe rate of 90 feet per minute. A working model of aneffective machine for dressing the staves of casks, pa-tented by Messrs. Wells and Thompson, of America ,was placed among the English machines in motion, afterthe dispersion of the Jury.

In the French Department, Mr. Sautreuil (l-*”4,p. 124G) contributes a powerful planing and mouldingmachine, in which revolving cutters arc employed, withsome important improvements in their form and mode ofaction.

In the English Department, Mr. Birch (40G, p. 299),exhibits a model of the machine by which the sash-barsof the Exhibition building were entirely formed at asingle operation, as described in the Illustrated Cata-logue; and Mr. Barker (417, p. 201) shows models ofhis machinery for curvilinear sawing of ship timbers(patented in 1845). An American machine, for the samepurpose, by Mr. Cochran (patented in 1847), is also ex-hibited in model (United States , 297, p. 1453). Messrs.Prosser and IIadley (456, p. 304) have a large and well-made buhl sawing machine, capable of executing piercedwork for furniture on a large scale; and Mr. Coats (25,p. 271) a machine for the rapid manufacture of bobbins,in the Belgian Department (472, p. 1166; Mr. Wvnantsexhibits a small machine for carving in wood. Althoughnot placed in our department, we may be permitted tomention Mr. Burrel’s apparatus (Class IX., 37), bywhich a framed hurdle may be completely constructedby one man in twelve minutes.

(20). Working in Stone, Coal , Clay, Leather, $c.

Stone.—'Nv. Hunter (312, p. 297) exhibits a model ofhis well-known stone-planing machine, which has been solong and effectually employed in Scotland and else-where. Messrs. Pandell and Saunders (324) have sentseveral models of stone-sawing machines, which theyhave in operation in quarries at Corsbam, near Bath: oneof them is employed for cutting the stone from its naturalrock in the quarry itself. It works eight saws, 24 feetlong in the original.

A machine for dressing or shaping stone, by Mr. East-man, of the United States (4C0, p. 14G4), is exhibited, inaction, amongst the English machinery in motion. Inthis engine, rolling cutters of chilled cast iron are em-ployed, which crush and rapidly wear away, in the formof scales and dust, the granite, sandstone, marble, mill-stone, or other material which is subjected to their action.Mr. Cochran, United States (297, p. 1453), also exhibitsa model of a machine for stone planing.

Coal .—Two machines, with revolving cutter-wheels,intended for cutting coal, are shown by Mr. Waring(305, p. 295), one to cut in vertical planes, the other in ahorizontal plane.

Class. —Messrs. Ceaudet and Houghton (3CG, p. 295)exhibit two neat contrivances for cutting and trimmingglass shades to any required height.

leather. —In the French Department Messrs. Dumerey(4S7, p. 1201) exhibit a collection of specimens of bootsand shoes in which screws are employed in lieu of stitches,and some of the machines which they use for blocking