Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 23.djvu/382

368 distance, and therefore I have here a large front wheel alone. On moving this along the table, any twisting of its direction instantly causes it to deviate from its straight path; now, suppose I do not let it deviate, but compel it to go straight, then at once a great strain is put upon the table, which is urged the other way. If the table can move, it will instantly do so. A table on rollers is inconvenient as an

instrument, let us therefore roll it round into a roller, then on moving the wheel along it the roller will turn and the amount by which it turns will correspond to the height of the second figure drawn by the cart integrator. If, therefore, the wheel is inclined by a magnet under the influence of an electric current, or by any other cause, the whole amount of which we wish to know, then the number of turns of the roller will tell us this amount; or to go back to our water analogy, if we had the weighted board to show current strength, and had not the paddle-wheel to show total quantity, we might use the board to incline a disk in contact with a roller, and then drag the roller steadily along by clock-work. The number of turns of the roller would give the quantity of water. Instruments that will thus add up continuously indications at a time, and so find amounts during a time, are called integrators.

The most important application that I have made at present of the integrator described is what I have called an engine-power meter.

The instrument is on the table, but, as it is far too small to be seen at a distance, I have arranged a large model to illustrate its action. The object of this machine is to measure how much work an engine has done during any time, and show the result on a dial, so that a workman may read it off at once without having to make any calculations.Before I can explain how work is measured, perhaps I had better say a few words about the meaning of the word "work." Work is done when pressure overcomes resistance, producing motion. Neither motion nor pressure alone is work. The two factors, pressure and motion, must occur together. The work done is found by multiplying the pressure by the distance moved. In an engine, steam pushes the