Page:Cassier's Magazine Volume XV.djvu/250

 23§ CASSIER'S MAGAZINE nesses, requiring the use of other power than hand power. There are also some handicrafts which are, at present, una- voidably confined to hand power, be- cause steam, gas, oil, and hydraulic power are each and all inapplicable. There can be little doubt that the elec- tric motor would be welcomed and readily adopted in these cases if only its simplicity and adaptability were known and understood. Appended is a some- what full, though by no means exhaus- tive, list of these trades: — Acid manufacturers, aerated water manufacturers, agricultural implement makers, automatic electric signs, back and vat makers, bag makers, aerated bread makers, basket makers, bicycle makers and repairers, boilermakers, bookbinders, boot makers, boot polish- ing, bottle cleaners, bottle makers, box makers, brass finishers, brush makers, cabinetmakers, carpenters, carpet beat- ers, coach builders, coffee grinders, coopers, cutlers, cranes, dairymen, dentists, engineering worksnops, en- gravers, fans for ventilating and other purposes, forage cutters, forced draught, founders, grain elevators, hoists, hair-brushing machinery, laun- dries, lifts, lithographers, millwrights, musical instrument makers, oil refiners, opticians, organ builders, organ blow- ing, packing-case makers, paper mak- ers, pianoforte makers, picture- frame makers, presses, printing machinery, pumping, racket makers, rope makers, sack makers, saddles, sausage makers, saw makers, saw-mills, scientific instru- ment makers, seed crushers, sewing machines, shop fitters, smallware man- ufacturers, smelters, smiths, snuff man- ufacturers, soap makers, stick makers, stuff manufacturers, sugar refiners, sur- gical instrument makers, theatrical ma- chinery, timber merchants, tinplate workers, tobacco cutters, tool makers, toy makers, turners, umbrella makers, undertakers, watch makers, wire draw- ers and workers, zinc workers, etc. Other special and local industries which can be placed in the same category, will occur without enumeration. The advantages of driving electrically in some of these cases are of a very dis- tinctive character, and it will be well to consider briefly one or two prominent examples. Boiler Makers. — The practice of drill- ing all rivet holes in boilers with the overlapping plates in situ is an opera- tion which is much more rapidly, read- ily, and economically performed if the drilling machines can be brought to the work instead of taking the shells to a fixed machine tool and there adjusting them for every fresh set of holes to be drilled. Book Binders, Boot Makers, Cutlers, Presses, Saddlers, Saw Mills, Smiths, etc. — These trades are instances in which several machines are frequently employed, but of which intermittent use only is required. By any method of driving other than by electricity, it is incumbent to employ lines of shafting and countershafting, and to keep these in continual motion in order to use any one machine when required. In such cases, by direct coupling to the machine to be driven, and by its unequalled facility for starting and stopping, the electric motor has unique and all-im- portant advantages. Letterpress and Lithographic Print- ing. — This class of machinery has been successfully operated for upwards of two years by electric motors applied direct to the main driving shaft of the machine or by toothed gearing. Since the first attempts were made, many im- provements have been introduced, un- til, at the present time, nearly all the leading houses in the trade have either adopted the system of single machine driving in its entirety, or some such modification ot it as best seems to suit their particular methods of working. It is doubtful if printers realise the im- mense loss that occurs by the old method of driving. Wherever the system of shafting and belts is used to transmit the energy generated by the driving engine there is a great loss of power; not only so, but a mass of machinery and gearing has to be kept wastefully running whilst possibly only one or two machines may be utilised. In one case where tests were made it was found that the shafting and belts absorbed 56 per