To construe the term "transmission of power" in its full sense, it will, when applied to machinery, include nearly all that has motion; for with the exception of the last movers, or where power passes off and is expended upon work that is performed, all machinery of whatever kind may be called machinery of transmission. Custom has, however, confined the use of the term to such devices as are employed to convey power from one place to another, without including organised machines through which power is directly applied to the performance of work. Power is transmitted by means of shafts, belts, friction wheels, gearing, and in some cases by water or air, as various conditions of the work to be performed may require. Sometimes such machinery is employed as the conditions do not require, because there is, perhaps, nothing of equal importance connected with mechanical engineering of which there exists a greater diversity of opinion, or in which there is a greater diversity of practice, than in devices for transmitting power.
I do not refer to questions of mechanical construction, although the remark might be true if applied in this sense, but to the kind of devices that may be best employed in certain cases.
It is not proposed at this time to treat of the construction of machinery for transmitting power, but to examine into the conditions that should determine which of the several plans of transmitting is best in certain cases—whether belts, gearing, or shafts should be employed, and to note the principles upon which they operate. Existing examples do not furnish data as to the advantages of the different plans for transmitting power, because a given duty may be successfully performed by belts, gearing, or shafts—even by water, air, or steam—and the comparative advantages of different means of transmission is not always an easy matter to determine.
Machinery of transmission being generally a part of the fixed plant of an establishment, experiments cannot be made to institute comparisons, as in the case of machines; besides, there are special or local considerations—such as noise, danger, freezing, and distance—to be taken into account, which prevent any rules of general application. Yet in every case it may be assumed that some particular plan of transmitting power is better than any other, and that plan can best be determined by studying, first, the principles of different kinds of mechanism and its adaptation to the special conditions that exist; and secondly, precedents or examples.
A leading principle in machinery of transmission that more than any other furnishes data for strength and proper proportions is, that the stress upon the machinery, whatever it may be, is inverse as the speed at which it moves. For example, a belt two inches wide, moving one thousand feet a minute, will theoretically perform the same work that one ten inches wide will do, moving at a speed of two hundred feet a minute; or a shaft making two hundred revolutions a minute will transmit four times as much power as a shaft making but fifty revolutions in the same time, the torsional strain being the same in both cases.
This proposition argues the expediency of reducing the proportions of mill gearing and increasing its speed, a change which has gradually been going on for fifty years past; but there are opposing conditions which make a limit in this direction, such as the speed at which bearing surfaces may run, centrifugal strain, jar, and vibration. The object is to fix upon a point between what high speed, light weight, cheapness of cost suggest, and what the conditions of practical use and endurance demand.
(1.) What does the term "machinery of transmission" include, as applied in common use?—(2.) Why cannot direct comparisons be made between shafts, belts, and gearing?—(3.) Define the relation between speed and strain in machinery of transmission.—(4.) What are the principal conditions which limit the speed of shafts?
There is no use in entering upon detailed explanations of what a learner has before him. Shafts are seen wherever there is machinery; it is easy to see the extent to which they are employed to transmit power, and the usual manner of arranging them. Various text-books afford data for determining the amount of torsional strain that shafts of a given diameter will bear; explain that their capacity to resist torsional strain is as the cube of the diameter, and that the deflection from transverse strains is so many degrees; with many other matters that are highly useful and proper to know. I will therefore not devote any space to these things here, but notice some of the more obscure conditions that pertain to shafts, such as are demonstrated by practical experience rather than deduced from mathematical data. What is said will apply especially to what is called line-shafting for conveying and distributing power in machine-shops and other manufacturing establishments. The following propositions in reference to shafts will assist in understanding what is to follow:—
1. The strength of shafts is governed by their size and the arrangement of their supports.
2. The capacity of shafts is governed by their strength and the speed at which they run taken together.
3. The strains to which shafts are subjected are the torsional strain of transmission, transverse strain from belts and wheels, and strains from accidents, such as the winding of belts.
4. The speed at which shafts should run is governed by their size, the nature of the machinery to be driven, and the kind of bearings in which they are supported.
5. As the strength of shafts is determined by their size, and their size fixed by the strains to which they are subjected, strains are first to be considered.
There were three kinds of strain mentioned—torsional, deflective, and accidental. To meet these several strains the same means have to be provided, which is a sufficient size and strength to resist them; hence it is useless to consider each of these different strains separately. If we know which of the three is greatest, and provide for that, the rest, of course, may be disregarded. This, in practice, is found to be accidental strains to which shafts are in ordinary use subjected, and they are usually made, in point of strength, far in excess of any standard that would be fixed by either torsional or transverse strain due to the regular duty performed.
This brings us back to the old proposition, that for structures which do not involve motion, mathematical data will furnish dimensions; but the same rule will not apply in machinery. To follow the proportions for shafts that would be furnished by pure mathematical data would in nearly all cases lead to error. Experience has demonstrated that for ordinary cases, where power is transmitted and applied with tolerable regularity, a shaft three inches in diameter, making one hundred and fifty revolutions a minute, its bearings three to four diameters in length, and placed ten feet apart, will safely transmit fifty horse-power.
By assuming this or any other well-proved example, and estimating larger or smaller shafts by keeping their diameters as the cube root of the power to be transmitted, the distance between bearings as the diameter, and the speed inverse as the diameter, the reader will find his calculations to agree approximately with the modern practice of our best engineers. This is not mentioned to give proportions for shafts, so much as to call attention to accidental strains, such as winding belts, and to call attention to a marked discrepancy between actual practice and such proportions as would be given by what has been called the measured or determinable strains to which shafts are subjected.
As a means for transmitting power, shafts afford the very important advantage that power can be easily taken off at any point throughout their length, by means of pulleys or gearing, also in forming a positive connection between the motive-power and machines, or between the different parts of machines. The capacity of shafts in resisting torsional strain is as the cube of their diameter, and the amount of torsional deflection in shafts is as their length. The torsional capacity being based upon the diameter, often leads to the construction of what may be termed diminishing shafts, lines in which the diameter of the several sections are diminished as the distance from the driving power increases, and as the duty to be performed becomes less. This plan of arranging line shafting has been and is yet quite common, but certainly was never arrived at by careful observation. Almost every plan of construction has both advantages and disadvantages, and the best means of determining the excess of either, in any case, is to first arrive at all the conditions as near as possible, then form a "trial balance," putting the advantages on one side and the disadvantages on the other, and footing up the sums for comparison. Dealing with this matter of shafts of uniform diameter and shafts of varying diameter in this way, there may be found in favour of the latter plan a little saving of material and a slight reduction of friction as advantages. The saving of material relates only to first cost, because the expense of fitting is greater in constructing shafts when the diameters of the different pieces vary; the friction, considering that the same velocity throughout must be assumed, is scarcely worth estimating.
For disadvantages there is, on the other hand, a want of uniformity in fittings that prevents their interchange from one part of a line shaft to the other—a matter of great importance, as such exchanges are frequently required. A line shaft, when constructed with pieces of varying diameter, is special machinery, adapted to some particular place or duty, and not a standard product that can be regularly manufactured as a staple article by machinists, and thus afforded at a low price. Pulleys, wheels, bearings, and couplings have all to be specially prepared; and in case of a change, or the extension of lines of shafting, cause annoyance, and frequently no little expense, which may all be avoided by having shafts of uniform diameter. The bearings, besides being of varied strength and proportions, are generally in such cases placed at irregular intervals, and the lengths of the different sections of the shaft are sometimes varied to suit their diameter. With line shafts of uniform diameter, everything pertaining to the shaft—such as hangers, couplings, pulleys, and bearings—is interchangeable; the pulleys, wheels, bearings, or hangers can be placed at pleasure, or changed from one part of the shaft to another, or from one part of the works to another, as occasion may require. The first cost of a line of shafting of uniform diameter, strong enough for a particular duty, is generally less than that of a shaft consisting of sections varying in size. This may at first seem strange, but a computation of the number of supports required, with the expense of special fitting, will in nearly all cases show a saving.
Attention has been called to this case as one wherein the conditions of operation obviously furnish true data to govern the arrangement of machinery, instead of the determinable strains to which the parts are subjected, and as a good example of the importance of studying mechanical conditions from a practical and experimental point of view. If the general diameter of a shaft is based upon the exact amount of power to be transmitted, or if the diameter of a shaft at various parts is based upon the torsional stress that would be sustained at these points, such a shaft would not only fail to meet the conditions of practical use, but would cost more by attempting such an adaptation. The regular working strain to which shafts are subjected is inversely as the speed at which they run. This becomes a strong reason in favour of arranging shafts to run at a maximum speed, provided there was nothing more than first cost to consider; but there are other and more important conditions to be taken into account, principal among which are the required rate of movement where power is taken off to machines, and the endurance of bearings.
In the case of line shafting for manufactories, if the speed varies so much from that of the first movers on machines as to require one or more intermediate or countershafts, the expense would be very great; on the contrary, if countershafts can be avoided, there is a great saving of belts, bearings, machinery, and obstruction. The practical limit of speed for line shafts is in a great measure dependent upon the nature of the bearings, a subject that will be treated of in another place.
(1.) What kind of strains are shafts subjected to?—(2.) What determines the strength of shafts in resisting transverse strain?—(3.) Why are shafts often more convenient than belts for transmitting power?—(4.) What is the difference between the strains to which shafts and belts are subjected?—(5.) What is gained by constructing a line shaft of sections diminishing in size from the first mover?—(6.) What is gained by constructing line shafts of uniform diameter?
The traction of belts upon pulleys, like that of locomotive wheels upon railways, being incapable of demonstration except by actual experience, for a long time hindered the introduction of belts as a means of transmitting motion and power except in cases when gearing or shafts could not be employed. Motion is named separately, because with many kinds of machinery that are driven at high speed—such as wood machines—the transmission of rapid movement must be considered as well as power, and in ordinary practice it is only by means of belts that such high speeds may be communicated from one shaft to another.
The first principle to be pointed out in regard to belts, to distinguish them from shafts as a means of transmitting power, is that power is communicated by means of tensile instead of torsional strain, the power during transmission being represented in the difference of tension between the driving and the slack side of belts. In the case of shafts, their length, or the distance to which they may be extended in transmitting power, is limited by torsional resistance; and as belts are not liable to this condition, we may conclude that unless there are other difficulties to be contended with, belts are more suitable than shafts for transmitting power throughout long distances. Belts suffer resistance from the air and from friction in the bearings of supporting pulleys, which are necessary in long horizontal belts; with these exceptions they are capable of moving at a very high rate of speed, and transmitting power without appreciable loss.
Following this proposition into modern engineering examples, we find how practice has gradually conformed to what these properties in belts suggest. Wire and other ropes of small diameter, to avoid air friction, and allowed to droop in low curves to avoid too many supporting pulleys, are now in many cases employed for transmitting power through long distances, as at Schaffhausen, in Germany. This system has been very successfully applied in some cases for distributing power in large manufacturing establishments. Belts, among which are included all flexible bands, do not afford the same facilities for taking off power at different points as shafts, but have advantages in transmitting power to portable machinery, when power is to be taken off at movable points, as in the case of portable travelling cranes, machines, and so on.
An interesting example in the use of belts for communicating power to movable machinery is furnished by the travelling cranes of Mr Ramsbottom, in the shops of the L. & N. W. Railway, at Crewe, England, where powerful travelling cranes receive both the lifting and traversing power by means of a cotton rope not more than three-fourths of an inch in diameter, which moves at a high velocity, the motion being reduced by means of tangent wheels and gearing to attain the force required in lifting heavy loads. Observing the operation of this machinery, a person not familiar with the relations between force and motion will be astonished at the effect produced by the small rope which communicates power to the machinery.
Considered as means for transmitting power, the contrast as to advantages and disadvantages lies especially between belts and gearing instead of between belts and shafts. It is true in extreme cases, such as that cited at Crewe, or in conveying water-power from inaccessible places, through long distances, the comparison lies between belts and shafts; but in ordinary practice, especially for first movers, the problem as to mechanism for conveying power lies between belts and gear wheels. If experience in the use of belts was thorough, as it is in the case of gearing, and if the quality of belts did not form so important a part in the estimates, there would be but little difficulty in determining where belts should be employed and where gearing would be preferable. Belts are continually taking the place of gearing even in cases where, until quite recently, their use has been considered impracticable; one of the largest rolling mills in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, except a single pair of spur wheels as the last movers at each train of rolls, is driven by belts throughout.
Leaving out the matter of a positive relative movement between shafts, which belts as a means of transmitting power cannot insure, there are the following conditions that must be considered in determining whether belts or other means should be employed in transmitting power from one machine to another or between the parts of machines.
1. The distance to which power is to be transmitted.
2. The speed at which the transmitting machinery must move.
3. The course or direction of transmission, whether in straight lines or at angles.
4. The cost of construction and durability.
5. The loss of power during transmission.
6. Danger, noise, vibration, and jar.
In every case where there can be a question as to whether gearing shafts or belts will be the best means of transmitting power, the several conditions named will furnish a solution if they are properly investigated and understood. Speed, noise, or angles may become determinative conditions, and are such in a large number of cases; first cost and loss of power are generally secondary conditions. Applying these tests to cases where belts, shafts, or wheels may be employed, a learner will soon find himself in possession of knowledge to guide him in his own schemes, and enable him to judge of the correctness of examples that come under his notice.
It is never enough to know that any piece of work is commonly constructed in some particular manner, or that a proposition is generally accepted as being correct; a reason should be sought for. Nothing is learned, in the true sense, until the reasons for it are understood, and it is by no means sufficient to know from observation alone that belts are best for high speeds, that gearing is the best means of forming angles in transmitting power, or that gearing consumes more power, and that belts produce less jar and noise; the principles which lie at the bottom must be reached before it can be assumed that the matter is fairly understood.
(1.) Why have belts been found better than shafts for transmitting power through long distances?—(2.) What are the conditions which limit the speed of belts?—(3.) Why cannot belts be employed to communicate positive movement?—(4.) Would a common belt transmit motion positively, if there were no slip on the pulleys?—(5.) Name some of the circumstances to be considered in comparing belts with gearing or shafts as a means of transmitting power.
The term gearing, which was once applied to wheels, shafts, and the general mechanism of mills and factories, has now in common use become restricted to tooth wheels, and is in this sense employed here. Gearing as a means of transmitting motion is employed when the movement of machines, or the parts of machines, must remain relatively the same, as in the case of the traversing screw of an engine lathe—when a heavy force is transmitted between shafts that are near to each other, or when shafts to be connected are arranged at angles with each other. This rule is of course not constant, except as to cases where positive relative motion has to be maintained. Noise, and the liability to sudden obstruction, may be reasons for not employing tooth wheels in many cases when the distance between and the position of shafts would render such a connection the most durable and cheap. Gearing under ordinary strain, within limited speed, and when other conditions admit of its use, is the cheapest and most durable mechanism for transmitting power; but the amount of gearing employed in machinery, especially in Europe, is no doubt far greater than it will be in future, when belts are better understood.
No subject connected with mechanics has been more thoroughly investigated than that of gearing. Text-books are replete with every kind of information pertaining to wheels, at least so far as the subject can be made a mathematical one; and to judge from the amount of matter, formul?, and diagrams, relating to the teeth of wheels that an apprentice will meet with, he will no doubt be led to believe that the main object of modern engineering is to generate wheels. It must be admitted that the teeth of wheels and the proportions of wheels is a very important matter to understand, and should be studied with the greatest care; but it is equally important to know how to produce the teeth in metal after their configuration has been defined on paper; to understand the endurance of teeth under abrasive wear when made of wrought or cast iron, brass or steel; how patterns can be constructed from which correct wheels may be cast, and how the teeth of wheels can be cut by machinery, and so on.
A learner should, in fact, consider the application and operative conditions of gearing as one of the main parts of the subject, and the geometry or even the construction of wheels as subsidiary; in this way attention will be directed to that which is most difficult to learn, and a part for which facilities are frequently wanting. Gearing may be classed into five modifications—spur wheels, bevel wheels, tangent wheels, spiral wheels, and chain wheels; the last I include among gearing because the nature of their operation is analogous to tooth wheels, although at first thought chains seem to correspond more to belts than gearing. The motion imparted by chains meshing over the teeth of wheels is positive, and not frictional as with belts; the speed at which such chains may run, with other conditions, correspond to gearing.
Different kinds of gearing can be seen in almost every engineering establishment, and in view of the amount of scientific information available, it will only be necessary to point out some of the conditions that govern the use and operation of the different kinds of wheels. The durability of gearing, aside from breaking, is dependent upon pressure and the amount of rubbing action that takes place between the teeth when in contact. Spur wheels, or bevel wheels, when the pitch is accurate and the teeth of the proper form, if kept clean and lubricated, wear but little, because the contact between the teeth is that of rolling instead of sliding. In many cases, one wheel of a pair is filled with wooden cogs; in this arrangement there are four objects, to avoid noise, to attain a degree of elasticity in the teeth, to retain lubricants by absorption in the wood, and to secure by wear a better configuration of the teeth than is usually attained in casting, or even in cutting teeth.
Tangent wheels and spiral gearing have only what is termed line contact between the bearing surfaces, and as the action between these surfaces is a sliding one, such wheels are subject to rapid wear, and are incapable of sustaining much pressure, or transmitting a great amount of power, except the surfaces be hard and lubrication constant. In machinery the use of tangent wheels is mainly to secure a rapid change of speed, usually to diminish motion and increase force.
By placing the axes of tangent gearing so that the threads or teeth of the pinions are parallel to the face of the driven teeth, as in the planing machines of Messrs Wm. Sellers & Co., the conditions of operation are changed, and an interesting problem arises. The progressive or forward movement of the pinion teeth may be equal to the sliding movement between the surfaces; and an equally novel result is, that the sliding action is distributed over the whole breadth of the driven teeth.
In spiral gearing the line of force is at an angle of forty-five degrees with the bearing faces of the teeth, and the sliding movement equal to the speed of the wheels at their periphery; the bearing on the teeth, as before said, is one of line contact only. Such wheels cannot be employed except in cases where an inconsiderable force is to be transmitted. Spiral wheels are employed to connect shafts that cross each other at right angles but in different planes, and when the wheels can be of the same size.
It may be mentioned in regard to rack gearing for communicating movement to the carriages of planing machines or other purposes of a similar nature: the rack can be drawn to the wheel, and a lifting action avoided, by shortening the pitch of the rack, so that it will vary a little from the driving wheel. The rising or entering teeth in this case do not come in contact with those on the rack until they have attained a position normal to the line of the carriage movement.
(1.) Into what classes can gearing be divided?—(2.) What determines the wearing capacity of gearing?—(3.) What is the advantage gained by employing wooden cogs for gear wheels?—(4.) Why are tangent or worm wheels not durable?
Although a system but recently developed, the employment of hydraulic machinery for transmitting and applying power has reached an extended application to a variety of purposes, and gives promise of a still more extensive use in future. Considered as a means of transmitting regularly a constant amount of power, water apparatus is more expensive and inferior in many respects to belts or shafts, and its use must be traced to some special principle involved which adapts hydraulic apparatus to the performance of certain duties. This principle will be found to consist in storing up power in such a manner that it may be used with great force at intervals; and secondly, in the facilities afforded for multiplying force by such simple mechanism as pumps. An engine of ten-horse-power, connected with machinery by hydraulic apparatus, may provide for a force equal to one hundred horse-power for one-tenth part of the time, the power being stored up by accumulators in the interval; or in other words, the motive power acting continuously can be accumulated and applied at intervals as it may be required for raising weights, operating punches, compressive forging, or other work of an intermittent character. Hydraulic machinery employed for such purposes is more simple and inexpensive than gearing and shafts, especially in the application of a great force acting for a considerable distance, and where a cylinder and piston represent a degree of strength which could not be attained with twice the amount of detail, if gearing, screws, levers, or other devices were employed instead.
Motion or power may be varied to almost any degree by the ratio between the pistons of pumps and the pistons which give off the power, the same general arrangement of machinery answering in all cases; whereas, with gearing the quantity of machinery has to be increased as the motive power and the applied power may vary in time and force. This as said recommends hydraulic apparatus where a great force is required at intervals, and it is in such cases that it was first employed, and is yet for the most part used.
In the use of hydraulic apparatus for transmitting and applying power, there is, however, this difficulty to be contended with: water is inelastic, and for the performance of irregular duty, there is a loss of power equal to the difference between the duty that a piston may perform and what it does perform; that is, the amount of water, and consequently the amount of power given off, is as the movement and volume of the water, instead of as the work done. The application of hydraulic machinery to the lifting and handling of weights will be further noticed in another place.
(1.) Under what conditions is hydraulic apparatus a suitable means for transmitting power?—(2.) To what class of operations is hydraulic apparatus mostly applied?—(3.) Why is not water as suitable a medium as air or steam in transmitting power for general purposes?
Pneumatic machinery, aside from results due to the elasticity of air, is analogous in operation to hydraulic machinery.
Water may be considered as a rigid medium for transmitting power, corresponding to shafts and gear wheels; air as a flexible or yielding one, corresponding to belts. There is at this time but a limited use of pneumatic apparatus for transmitting power, but its application is rapidly extending, especially in transporting material by means of air currents, and in conveying power to mining machinery.
The successful application of the pneumatic system at the Mont Cenis Tunnel in Italy, and at the Hoosac Tunnel in America, has demonstrated the value of the system where the air not only served to transmit power to operate the machinery but to ventilate the mines at the same time. Air brakes for railway trains are another example illustrating the advantages of pneumatic transmission; the force being multiplied at the points where it is applied, so that the connecting pipes are reduced to a small size, the velocity of the air making up for a great force that formerly had to be communicated through rods, chains, or shafts. The principal object attained by the use of air to operate railway brakes is, however, to maintain a connection throughout a train by means of flexible pipes that accommodate themselves to the varying distance between the carriages. Presuming that the flow of air in pipes is not materially impeded by friction or angles, and that there will be no difficulty in maintaining lubrication for pistons or other inaccessible parts of machinery when driven by air, there seems to be many reasons in favour of its use as a means of distributing power in manufacturing districts. The diminished cost of motive power when it is generated on a large scale, and the expense and danger of maintaining an independent steam power for each separate establishment where power is employed, especially in cities, are strong reasons in favour of generating and distributing power by compressed air, through pipes, as gas and water are now supplied.
Air seems to be the most natural and available medium for transmitting and distributing power upon any general system like water or gas, and there is every probability of such a system existing at some future time. The power given out by the expansion of air is not equal to the power consumed in compressing it, but the loss is but insignificant compared with the advantages that may be gained in other ways. There is no subject more interesting, and perhaps few more important for an engineering student to study at this time, than the transmission of power and the transport of material by pneumatic apparatus.
In considering pneumatic machinery there are the following points to which attention is directed:—
1. The value of pneumatic apparatus in reaching places where steam furnaces cannot be employed.
2. The use that may be made of air after it has been applied as a motive agent.
3. The saving from condensation, to which steam is exposed, avoidance of heat, and the consequent contraction and expansion of long conducting pipes.
4. The loss of power by friction and angles in conducting air through pipes.
5. The lubrication of surfaces working under air pressure, such as the pistons and valves of engines.
6. The diminished cost of generating power on a large scale, compared with a number of separate steam engines distributed over manufacturing districts.
7. The effect of pneumatic machinery in reducing insurance rates and danger of fire.
8. The expense of the appliances of distribution and their maintenance.
In passing thus rapidly over so important a subject, and one that admits of so extended a consideration as machinery of transmission, the reader can see that the purpose has been to touch only upon such points as will lead to thought and investigation, and especially to meet such queries as are most likely to arise in the mind of a learner. In arranging and erecting machinery of transmission, obviously the first problem must be, what kind of machinery should be employed, and what are the conditions which should determine the selection and arrangement? What has been written has, so far as possible, been directed to suggesting proper means of solving these questions.
(1.) In what respect are air and water like belts and gearing, as means to transmit power?—(2.) What are some of the principal advantages gained by employing air to operate railway brakes?—(3.) Name some of the advantages of centralising motive power.—(4.) Are the conditions of working an engine the same whether air or steam is employed?
The term application has been selected as a proper one to distinguish machines that expend and apply power, from those that are employed in generating or transmitting power. Machines of application employed in manufacturing, and which expend their action on material, are directed to certain operations which are usually spoken of as processes, such as cutting, compressing, grinding, separating, and disintegrating.
By classifying these processes, it will be seen that there is in all but a few functions to be performed by machines, and that they all act upon a few general principles. Engineering tools employed in fitting are, for example, all directed to the process of cutting. Planing machines, lathes, drilling machines, and shaping machines are all cutting machines, acting upon the same general plan—that of a cleaving wedge propelled in straight or curved lines.
Cutting, as a process in converting material, includes the force to propel cutting edges, means to guide and control their action, and mechanism to sustain and adjust the material acted upon. In cutting with hand tools, the operator performs the two functions of propelling and guiding the tools with his hands; but in what is called power operations, machines are made to perform these functions. In nearly all processes machines have supplanted hand labour, and it may be noticed in the history and development of machine tools that much has been lost in too closely imitating hand operations when machines were first applied. To be profitable, machines must either employ more force, guide tools with more accuracy, or move them at greater speed, than is attainable by hand. Increased speed may, although more seldom, be an object in the employment of machinery, as well as the guidance of implements or increased force in propelling them. The hands of workmen are not only limited as to the power that may be exerted, and unable to guide tools with accuracy, but are also limited to a slow rate of movement, so that machines can be employed with great advantage in many operations where neither the force nor guidance of tools are wanting.
There is nothing more interesting, or at the same time more useful, in the study of mechanics, than to analyse the action of cutting machines or other machinery of application, and to ascertain in examples that come under notice whether the main object of a machine is increased force, more accurate guidance, or greater speed than is attainable by hand operations. Cutting machines as explained may be directed to either of these objects singly, or to all of them together, or these objects may vary in their relative importance in different operations; but in all cases where machines are profitably employed, their action can be traced to one or more of the functions named.
To follow this matter further. It will be found in such machines as are directed mainly to augmenting force or increasing the amount of power that may be applied in any operation, such as sawing wood or stone, the effect produced when compared to hand labour is nearly as the difference in the amount of power applied; and the saving that such machines effect is generally in the same proportion. A machine that can expend ten horse-power in performing a certain kind of work, will save ten times as much as a machine directed to the same purpose expending but one horse-power; this of course applies to machines for the performance of the coarser kinds of work, and employed to supplant mere physical effort. In other machines of application, such as are directed mainly to guidance, or speed of action, such as sewing machines, dove-tailing machines, gear-cutting machines, and so on, there is no relation whatever between the increased effect that may be produced and the amount of power expended.
The difference between hand and machine operations, and the labour-saving effect of machines, will be farther spoken of in another place; the subject is alluded to here, only to enable the reader to more fully distinguish between machinery of transmission and machinery of application. Machinery of application, directed to what has been termed compression processes, such as steam hammers, drops, presses, rolling mills, and so on, act upon material that is naturally soft and ductile, or when it is softened by heat, as in the case of forging.
In compression processes no material is cut away as in cutting or grinding, the mass being forced into shape by dies or forms that give the required configuration. The action of compressing machines may be either intermittent, as in the case of rolling mills; percussive, as in steam hammers, where a great force acts throughout a limited distance; or gradual and sustained, as in press forging. Machines of application, for abrading or grinding, are constantly coming more into use; their main purpose being to cut or shape material too hard to be acted upon by compression or by cutting processes. It follows that the necessity for machines of this kind is in proportion to the amount of hard material which enters into manufactures; in metal work the employment of hardened steel and iron is rapidly increasing, and as a result, grinding machines have now a place among the standard machine tools of a fitting shop.
Grinding, no doubt, if traced to the principles that lie at the bottom, is nothing more than a cutting process, in which the edges employed are harder than any material that can be made into cutters, the edges firmly supported by being imbedded into a mass as the particles of sand are in grindstones, or the particles of emery in emery wheels.
Separating machines, such as bolts and screens, which may be called a class, require no explanation. The employment of magnetic machines to separate iron and brass filings or shop waste, may be noted as a recent improvement of some importance.
Disintegrating machines, such as are employed for pulverising various substances, grinding grain or pulp, separating fibrous material, and so on, are, with some exceptions, simple enough to be readily understood. One of these exceptions is the rotary "disintegrators," recently introduced, about the action of which some diversity of opinion exists. The effect produced is certainly abrasive wear, the result of the pieces or particles striking one against another, or against the revolving beaters and casing. The novelty of the process is in the augmented effect produced by a high velocity, or, in other words, the rapidity of the blows.
(1.) Name five machines as types of those employed in the general processes of converting material.—(2.) Name some machines, the object of which is to augment force—One to attain speed—One directed to the guidance of tools.—(3.) What is the difference between the hot and cold treatment of iron as to processes—As to dimensions?— (4.)
Steam and other machinery applied to the transport of material and travel, in navigation and by railways, comprises the greater share of what may be called engineering products; and when we consider that this vast interest of steam transport is less than a century old, and estimate its present and possible future influence on human affairs, we may realise the relation that mechanical science bears to modern civilisation.
To follow out the application of power to the propulsion of vessels and trains, with the many abstruse problems that would of necessity be involved, would be to carry this work far beyond the limits within which it is most likely to be useful to the apprentice engineer; besides, it would be going beyond what can properly be termed manipulation.
Marine and railway engineering have engrossed the best talent in the world; investigation and research has been expended upon these subjects in a degree commensurate with their importance, and it would be hard to suggest a single want in the many able text-books that have been prepared upon the subjects. Marine and railway engineering are sciences that may, in a sense, be separated from the ordinary constructive arts, and studied at the end of a course in mechanical engineering, but are hardly proper subjects for an apprentice to take up at the beginning.
In treating of machinery for transport, as a class, the subject, as far as noticed here, will be confined to moving and handling material as one of the processes of manufacturing, and especially in connection with machine construction. If the amount of time, expense, labour, and machinery devoted to handling material in machine shops is estimated, it becomes a matter of astonishment to as many as have not previously investigated the subject; as an item of expense the handling, often exceeds the fitting on large pieces, and in the heavier class of work demands the most careful attention to secure economical manipulation.
It will be well for an apprentice to begin at once, as soon as he commences a shop course, to note the manner of handling material, watching the operation of cranes, hoists, trucks, tackle, rollers; in short, everything that has to do with moving and handling. The machinery and appliances in ordinary use are simple enough in a mechanical sense, but the principles of handling material are by no means as plain or easy to understand. The diversity of practice seen in various plans of handling and lifting weights fully attests the last proposition, and it is questionable whether there is any other branch of mechanical engineering that is treated less in a scientific way than machinery of this class. I do not allude to the mechanism of cranes and other devices, which are usually well proportioned and generally well arranged, but to the adaptation of such machinery with reference to special or local conditions. There are certain inherent difficulties that have to be encountered in the construction and operation of machinery, for lifting and handling, that are peculiar to it as a class; among these difficulties is the transmission of power to movable mechanism, the intermittent and irregular application of power, severe strains, also the liability to accidents and breakage from such machinery being controlled by the judgment of attendants.
Ordinary machinery, on the reverse, is stationary, generally consumes a regular amount of power, is not subjected to such uncertain strains, and as a rule acts without its operation being controlled by the will of attendants.
The functions required in machinery for handling material in a machine shop correspond very nearly to those of the human hands. Nature in this, as in all other things, where a comparison is possible, has exceeded man in adaptation; in fact, we cannot conceive of anything more perfect than the human hands for handling material—a duty that forms a great share of all that we term labour.
Considered mechanically as a means of handling material, the human hands are capable of exerting force in any direction, vertically, horizontally, or at any angle, moving at various rates of speed, as the conditions may require, and with varying force within the limits of human strength. These functions enable us to pick up or lay down a weight slowly and carefully, to transport it at a rapid rate to save time, to move it in any direction, and without the least waste of power, except in the case of carrying small loads, when the whole body has to be moved, as in ascending or descending stairs. The power travelling cranes, that are usually employed in machine-fitting establishments, are perhaps the nearest approach that has been made to the human frame in the way of handling mechanism; they, however, lack that very important feature of a movement, the speed of which is graduated at will. It is evident that in machinery of any kind for handling and lifting that moves at a uniform rate of speed, and this rate of speed adapted, as it must be, to the conditions of starting or depositing a load, much time must be lost in the transit, especially when the load is moved for a considerable distance. This uniform speed is perhaps the greatest defect in the lifting machinery in common use, at least in such as is driven by power.
In handling a weight with the hands it is carefully raised, and laid down with care, but moved as rapidly as possible throughout the intervening distance; this lesson of nature has not been disregarded. We find that the attention of engineers has been directed to this principle of variable speed to be controlled at will. The hydraulic cranes of Sir William Armstrong, for example, employ this principle in the most effective manner, not only securing rapid transit of loads when lifted, but depositing or adjusting them with a care and precision unknown to mechanism positively geared or even operated by friction brakes.
The principles of all mechanism for handling loads should be such as to place the power, the rate of movement, and the direction of the force, within the control of an operator, which, as has been pointed out, is the same thing in effect as the action of the human hands.
The safety, simplicity, and reliable action of hydraulic machinery has already led to its extensive employment for moving and lifting weights, and it is fair to assume that the importance and success of this invention fully entitle it to be classed as one of the most important that has been made in mechanical engineering during fifty years past. The application of hydraulic force in operating the machinery used in the processes for steel Bessemer manufacture, is one of the best examples to illustrate the advantages and principles of the hydraulic system. Published drawings and descriptions of Bessemer steel plant explain this hydraulic machinery.
There is, however, a principle in hydraulic machinery that must be taken into account, in comparing it with positively geared mechanism, which often leads to loss of power that in many cases will overbalance any gain derived from the peculiar action of hydraulic apparatus. I allude to the loss of power incident to dealing with an inelastic medium, where the amount of force expended is constant, regardless of the resistance offered. A hydraulic crane, for instance, consumes power in proportion to its movements, and not as the amount of duty performed; it takes the same quantity of water to fill the cylinders of such cranes, whether the water exert much or little force in moving the pistons. The difference between employing elastic mediums like air and steam, and an inelastic medium like water, for transmitting force in performing irregular duty, has been already alluded to, and forms a very interesting study for a student in mechanics, leading, as it does, to the solution of many problems concerning the use and effect of power.
The steam cranes of Mr Morrison, which resemble hydraulic cranes, except that steam instead of water is employed as a medium for transmitting force, combine all the advantages of hydraulic apparatus, except positive movement, and evade the loss of power that occurs in the use of water. The elasticity of the steam is found in practice to offer no obstacle to steady and accurate movement of a load, provided the mechanism is well constructed, while the loss of heat by radiation is but trifling.
To return to shop processes in manufacturing. Material operated upon has to be often, sometimes continually, moved from one place to another to receive successive operations, and this movement may be either vertically or horizontally as determined, first, by the relative facility with which the material may be raised vertically, or moved horizontally, and secondly, by the value of the ground and the amount of room that may be available, and thirdly by local conditions of arrangement. In large cities, where a great share of manufacturing is carried on, the value of ground is so great that its cost becomes a valid reason for constructing high buildings of several storeys, and moving material vertically by hoists, thus gaining surface by floors, instead of spreading the work over the ground; nor is there any disadvantage in high buildings for most kinds of manufacture, including machine fitting even, a proposition that will hardly be accepted in Europe, where fitting operations, except for small pieces, are rarely performed on upper floors.
Vertical handling, although it consumes more power, as a rule costs less, is more convenient, and requires less room than horizontal handling, which is sure to interfere more or less with the constructive operations of a workshop. In machine fitting there is generally a wrong estimate placed upon the value of ground floors, which are no doubt indispensable for the heaviest class of work, and for the heaviest tools; but with an ordinary class of work, where the pieces do not exceed two tons in weight, upper floors if strong are quite as convenient, if there is proper machinery for handling material; in fact, the records of any establishment, where cost accounts are carefully made up, will show that the expense of fitting on upper floors is less than on ground floors. This is to be accounted for by better light, and a removal of the fitting from the influences and interference of other operations that must necessarily be carried on upon ground floors.
For loading and unloading carts and waggons, the convenience of the old outside sling is well known; it is also a well-attested fact that accidents rarely happen with sling hoists, although they appear to be less safe than running platforms or lifts. As a general rule, the most dangerous machinery for handling or raising material is that which pretends to dispense with the care and vigilance of attendants, and the safest machinery that which enforces such attention. The condition which leads to danger in hoisting machinery is, that the power employed is opposed to the force of gravity, and as the force of gravity is acting continually, it is always ready to take advantage of the least cessation in the opposing force employed, and thus drag away the weight for which the two forces are contending; as a weight when under the influence of gravity is moved at an accelerated velocity, if gravity becomes the master, the result is generally a serious accident. Lifting may be considered a case wherein the contrivances of man are brought to bear in overcoming or opposing a natural force; the imperfect force of the machinery is liable to accident or interruption, but gravity never fails to act. Acting on every piece of matter in proportion to its weight must be some force opposing and equal to that of gravity; for example, a piece of iron lying on a bench is opposed by the bench and held in resistance to gravity, and to move this piece of iron we have to substitute some opposing force, like that of the hands or lifting mechanism, to overcome gravity.
As molecular adhesion keeps the particles of matter together so as to form solids, so the force of gravity keeps objects in their place; and to attain a proper conception of forces, especially in handling and moving material, it is necessary to familiarise the mind with this thought.
The force of gravity acts only in one direction—vertically, so that the main force of hoisting and handling machinery which opposes gravity must also act vertically, while the horizontal movement of objects may be accomplished by simply overcoming the friction between them and the surfaces on which they move. This is seen in practice. A force of a hundred pounds may move a loaded truck, which it would require tons to lift; hence the horizontal movements of material may be easily accomplished by hand with the aid of trucks and rollers, so long as it is moved on level planes; but if a weight has to be raised even a single inch by reason of irregularity in floors, the difference between overcoming frictional contact and opposing gravity is at once apparent.
One of the problems connected with the handling of material is to determine where hand-power should stop and motive-power begin—what conditions will justify the erection of cranes, hoists, or tramways, and what conditions will not. Frequent mistakes are made in the application of power when it is not required, especially for handling material; the too common tendency of the present day being to apply power to every purpose where it is possible, without estimating the actual saving that, may be effected. A common impression is that motive power, wherever applied to supplant hand labour in handling material, produces a gain; but in many cases the fallacy of this will be apparent, when all the conditions are taken into account.
Considered upon grounds of commercial expediency as a question of cost alone, it is generally cheaper to move material by hand when it can be easily lifted or moved by workmen, when the movement is mainly in a horizontal direction, and when the labour can be constantly employed; or, to assume a general rule which in practice amounts to much the same thing, vertical lifting should be done by motive power, and horizontal movement for short distances performed by hand. There is nothing more unnatural than for men to carry loads up stairs or ladders; the effort expended in such cases is one-half or more devoted to raising the weight of the body, which is not utilised in the descent, and it is always better to employ winding or other mechanism for raising weights, even when it is to be operated by manual labour. Speaking of this matter of carrying loads upward, I am reminded of the fact that builders in England and America, especially in the latter country, often have material carried up ladders, while in some of the older European countries, where there is but little pretension to scientific manipulation, bricks are usually tossed from one man to another standing on ladders at a distance of ten to fifteen feet apart.
To conclude. The reader will understand that the difficulties and diversity of practice, in any branch of engineering, create similar or equal difficulties in explaining or reasoning about the operations; and the most that can be done in the limited space allotted here to the subject of moving material, is to point out some of the principles that should govern the construction and adaptation of handling machinery, from which the reader can take up the subject upon his own account, and follow it through the various examples that may come under notice.
To sum up—We have the following propositions in regard to moving and handling material:
1. The most economical and effectual mechanism for handling is that which places the amount of force and rate of movement continually under the control of an operator.
2. The necessity for, and consequent saving effected by, power-machinery for handling is mainly in vertical lifting, horizontal movement being easily performed by hand.
3. The vertical movement of material, although it consumes more power, is more economical than horizontal handling, because less floor room and ground surface is required.
4. The value of handling machinery, or the saving it effects, is as the constancy with which it operates; such machinery may shorten the time of handling without cheapening the expense.
5. Hydraulic machinery comes nearest to filling the required conditions in handling material, and should be employed in cases where the work is tolerably uniform, and the amount of handling will justify the outlay required.
6. Handling material in machine construction is one of the principal expenses to be dealt with; each time a piece is moved its cost is enhanced, and usually in a much greater degree than is supposed.
(1.) Why has the lifting of weights been made a standard for the measure of power?—(2.) Name some of the difficulties to contend with in the operation of machinery for lifting or handling material.—(3.) What analogy exists between manual handling and the operation of hydraulic cranes?—(4.) Explain how the employment of overhead cranes saves room in a fitting shop.—(5.) Under what circumstances is it expedient to move material vertically?—(6.) To what circumstances is the danger of handling mainly attributable?
The combination of several functions in one machine, although it may not seem an important matter to be considered here, is nevertheless one that has much to do with the manufacture of machines, and constitutes what may be termed a principle of construction.
The reasons that favour combination of functions in machines, and the effects that such combinations may produce, are so various that the problem has led to a great diversity of opinions and practice among both those who construct and even those who employ machines. It may be said, too, that a great share of the combinations found in machines, such as those to turn , mill, bore, slot, and drill in iron fitting, are not due to any deliberate plan on the part of the makers, so much as to an opinion that such machines represent a double or increased capacity. So far has combination in machines been carried, that in one case that came under the writer's notice, a machine was arranged to perform nearly every operation required in finishing the parts of machinery; completely organised, and displaying a high order of mechanical ability in design and arrangement, but practically of no more value than a single machine tool, because but one operation at a time could be performed.
To direct the attention of learners to certain rules that will guide them in forming opinions in this matter of machine combination, I will present the following propositions, and afterwards consider them more in detail:—
First. By combining two or more operations in one machine, the only objects gained are a slight saving in first cost, one frame answering for two or more machines, and a saving of floor room.
Second. In a machine where two or more operations are combined, the capacity of such a machine is only as a single one of these operations, unless more than one can be carried on at the same time without interfering one with another.
Third. Combination machines can only be employed with success when one attendant performs all the operations, and when the change from one to another requires but little adjustment and re-arrangement.
Fourth. The arrangement of the parts of a combination machine have to be modified by the relations between them, instead of being adapted directly to the work to be performed.
Fifth. The cost of special adaptation, and the usual inconvenience of fitting combination machines when their parts operate independently, often equals and sometimes exceeds what is saved in framing and floor space.
Referring first to the saving effected by combining several operations in one machine, there is perhaps not one constructor in twenty that ever stops to consider what is really gained, and perhaps not one purchaser in a hundred that does the same thing. The impression is, that when one machine performs two operations it saves a second machine. A remarkable example of this exists in the manufacture of combination machines in Europe for working wood, where it is common to find complicated machines that will perform all the operations of a joiner's shop, but as a rule only one thing at a time, and usually in an inconvenient manner, each operation being hampered and interfered with by another; and in changing from one kind of work to another the adjustments and changes generally equal and sometimes exceed the work to be done. What is stranger still is, that such machines are purchased, when their cost often equals that of separate machines to perform the same work.
In metal working, owing to a more perfect division of labour, and a more intelligent manipulation than in wood-working, there is less combination in machines—in fact, a combination machine for metal work is rarely seen at this day, and never under circumstances where it occasions actual loss. The advantage of combination, as said, can only be in the framing and floor space occupied by the machines, but these considerations, to be estimated by a proper standard, are quite insignificant when compared with other items in the cost of machine operating, such as the attendance, interest on the invested cost of the machine, depreciation of value by wear, repairing, and so on.
Assuming, for example, that a machine will cost as much as the wages of an attendant for one year, which is not far from an average estimate for iron working machine tools, and that interest, wear, and repairs amount to ten per cent. on this sum, then the attendance would cost ten times as much as the machine; in other words, the wages paid to a workman to attend a machine is, on an average, ten times as much as the other expenses attending its operation, power excepted. This assumed, it follows that in machine tools any improvement directed to labour saving is worth ten times as much as an equal improvement directed to the economy of first cost.
This mode of reasoning will lead to proper estimates of the difference in value between good tools and inferior tools; the results of performance instead of the investment being first considered, because the expenses of operating are, as before assumed, usually ten times as great as the interest on the value of a machine.
In view of these propositions, I need hardly say to what object machine improvements should be directed, nor which of the considerations named are most affected by a combination of machine functions; the fact is, that if estimates could be prepared, showing the actual effect of machine combinations, it would astonish those who have not investigated the matter, and in many cases show a loss of the whole cost of such machines each year. The effect of combination machines is, however, by no means uniform; the remarks made apply to standard machines employed in the regular work of an engineering or other establishment. In exceptional cases it may be expedient to use combined machines. In the tool-room of machine-shops, for instance, where one man can usually perform the main part of the work, and where there is but little space for machines, the conditions are especially favourable to combination machines, such as may be used in milling, turning, drilling, and so on; but wherever there is a necessity or an opportunity to carry on two or more of these operations at the same time, the cost of separate machines is but a small consideration when compared with the saving of labour that may be effected by independent tools to perform each operation. The tendency of manufacturing processes of every kind, at this time, is to a division of labour, and to a separation of each operation into as many branches as possible, so that study spent in "segregating" instead of "aggregating" machine functions is most likely to produce profitable results.
This article has been introduced, not only to give a true understanding of the effect and value of machine combination, but to caution against a common error of confounding machine combination with invention.
A great share of the alleged improvements in machinery, when investigated will be found to consist in nothing more than the combination of several functions in one machine, the novelty of their arrangement leading to an impression of utility and increased effect.
(1.) What is gained by arranging a machine to perform several different operations?—(2.) What may be lost by such combination?—(3.) What is the main expense attending the operation of machine tools?—(4.) What kind of improvement in machine tools produces the most profitable result?—(5.) What are the principal causes which have led to machine combinations.
The first and, perhaps, the most important matter of all in founding engineering works is that of arrangement. As a commercial consideration affecting the cost of manipulation, and the expense of handling material, the arrangement of an establishment may determine, in a large degree, the profits that may be earned, and, as explained in a previous place, upon this matter of profits depends the success of such works.
Aside from the cost or difficulty of obtaining ground sufficient to carry out plans for engineering establishments, the diversity of their arrangement met with, even in those of modern construction, is no doubt owing to a want of reasoning from general premises. There is always a strong tendency to accommodate local conditions, and not unfrequently the details of shop manipulation are quite overlooked, or are not understood by those who arrange buildings.
The similarity of the operations carried on in all works directed to the manufacture of machinery, and the kind of knowledge that is required in planning and conducting such works, would lead us to suppose that at least as much system would exist in machine shops as in other manufacturing establishments, which is certainly not the case. There is, however, this difference to be considered: that whereas many kinds of establishments can be arranged at the beginning for a specific amount of business, machine shops generally grow up around a nucleus, and are gradually extended as their reputation and the demands for their productions increase; besides, the variety of operations required in an engineering establishment, and change from one class of work to another, are apt to lead to a confusion in arrangement, which is too often promoted, or at least not prevented, by insufficient estimates of the cost of handling and moving material.
Materials consumed in an engineering establishment consist mainly of iron, fuel, sand, and lumber. These articles, or their products, during the processes of manipulation, are continually approaching the erecting shop, from which finished machinery is sent out after its completion. This constitutes the erecting shop, as a kind of focal centre of a works, which should be the base of a general plan of arrangement. This established, and the foundry, smithy, finishing, and pattern shops regarded as feeding departments to the erecting shop, it follows that the connections between the erecting shop and other departments should be as short as possible, and such as to allow free passage for material and ready communication between managers and workmen in the different rooms. These conditions would suggest a central room for erecting, with the various departments for casting, forging, and finishing, radiating from the erecting shop like the spokes of a wheel, or, what is nearly the same, branching off at right angles on either side and at one end of a hollow square, leaving the fourth side of the erecting room to front on a street or road, permitting free exit for machinery when completed.
The material when in its crude state not only consists of various things, such as iron, sand, coal, and lumber, that must be kept separate, but the bulk of such materials is much greater than their finished product. It is therefore quite natural to receive such material on the outside or "periphery" of the works where there is the most room for entrances and for the separate storing of such supplies. Such an arrangement is of course only possible where there can be access to a considerable part of the boundary of a works, yet there are but few cases where a shop cannot be arranged in general upon the plan suggested. By receiving material on the outside, and delivering the finished product from the centre, communications between the departments of an establishment are the shortest that it is possible to have; by observing the plans of the best establishments of modern arrangement, especially those in Europe, it may be seen that this system is approximated in many of them, especially in establishments devoted to the manufacture of some special class of work.
Handling and moving material is the principal matter to be considered in the arrangement of engineering works. The constructive manipulation can be watched, estimated, and faults detected by comparison, but handling, like the designs for machinery, is a more obscure matter, and may be greatly at fault without its defects being apparent to any but those who are highly skilled, and have had their attention especially directed to the matter.
Presuming an engineering establishment to consist of one-storey buildings, and the main operations to be conducted on the ground level, the only vertical lifting to be performed will be in the erecting room, where the parts of machines are assembled. This room should be reached in every part by over-head travelling cranes, that cannot only be used in turning, moving, and placing the work, but in loading it upon cars or waggons. One result of the employment of over-head travelling cranes, often overlooked, is a saving of floor-room; in ordinary fitting, from one-third more to twice the number of workmen will find room in an erecting shop if a travelling-crane is employed, the difference being that, in moving pieces they may pass over the top of other pieces instead of requiring long open passages on the floor. So marked is this saving of room effected by over-head cranes, that in England, where they are generally employed, handling is not only less expensive and quicker, but the area of erecting floors is usually one-half as much as in America, where travelling-cranes are not employed.
Castings, forgings, and general supplies for erecting can be easily brought to the erecting shop from the other departments on trucks without the aid of motive power; so that the erecting and foundry cranes will do the entire lifting duty required in any but very large establishments.
The auxiliary departments, if disposed about an erecting shop in the centre, should be so arranged that material which has to pass through two or more departments can do so in the order of the processes, and without having to cross the erecting shop. Casting, boring, planing, drilling, and fitting, for example, should follow each other, and the different departments be arranged accordingly; whenever a casting is moved twice over the same course, it shows fault of arrangement and useless expense. The same rule applies to all kinds of material.
A great share of the handling about an engineering establishment is avoided, if material can be stored and received on a higher level than the working floors; if, for instance, coal, iron, and sand is received from railway cars at an elevation sufficient to allow it to be deposited where it is stored by gravity, it is equivalent to saving the power and expense required to raise the material to such a height, or move it and pile it up, which amounts to the same thing in the end. It is not proposed to follow the details of shop arrangement, farther than to furnish a clue to some of the general principles that should be regarded in devising plans of arrangement. Such principles are much more to be relied upon than even experience in suggesting the arrangement of shops, because all experience must be gained in connection with special local conditions, which often warp and prejudice the judgment, and lead to error in forming plans under circumstances different from those where the experience was gained.
(1.) How may the arrangement of an establishment affect its earnings?—(2.) Why is the arrangement of engineering establishments generally irregular?—(3.) Why should an erecting shop be a base of arrangement in engineering establishments?—(4.) What are the principal materials consumed in engineering works?—(5.) Why is not special experience a safe guide in forming plans of shop arrangement?