Page:On the economy of machinery and manufactures - Babbage - 1846.djvu/156

122 in a saving of expense in some of the processes; and his ingenuity will be sharpened in this inquiry by the hope of being able in his turn to undersell his rivals. The benefit of the improvements thus engendered is, for a short time, confined to those from whose ingenuity they derive their origin; but when a sufficient experience has proved their value, they become generally adopted, until in their turn they are superseded by other more economical methods.