Popular Technology; or, Professions and Trades. Vol. 2 (of 2)Hazen, Edward
History
Popular Technology; or, Professions and Trades. Vol. 2 (of 2)
Hazen, Edward
Industrial arts; Occupations
3. The principal kinds of wheel carriages made in this country, are
the cart, the wagon, the gig, and the coach; and of each of these
there are various sorts, differing in strength and mode of
construction, to suit the particular purposes to which they are to be
applied. The business of making these vehicles is divided into a
number of branches; but, as the manufacture of the coach embraces a
greater variety of operations than any other species of carriage, we
have selected it as affording the best means of explaining the
operations of the whole business.
4. In large establishments for making coaches and other vehicles of
the best workmanship, the operators confine their attention to the
execution of particular parts of the work; for example, one man makes
the wheels, another the carriage and body, another fashions and
applies the iron, another does the painting and polishing, and another
the trimming. In smaller establishments, a greater proportion of the
work is executed by one person.
5. The wheels of the coach, as well as those of every other vehicle in
which they are used, are composed of a _hub_, and several _spokes_,
and _felloes_. The hubs are commonly made of a kind of tough wood,
called _gum_, which is reduced to the desired form in the lathe. The
hole through the centre is made with a common auger, and enlarged with
one tapering towards the point, and having through its whole length
two cutting edges. The mortices for the spokes are made with a chisel
driven with a mallet.
6. The spokes are made of white oak, and the felloes, of ash or
hickory; and both are brought to the required form and smoothness with
the saw, axe, drawing-knife, spoke-shave, chisel, and sand-paper. The
constituent parts of the _carriage_, or _running gears_, are the
_axles_, _perch_, and _spring_-_beds_, or _bolsters_, to which are
added the _tongue_, or _pole_, and some other parts connected with it.
7. The joints in this part of the vehicle are made perfectly tight by
the application of putty; whereas, in the body, glue is used for this
purpose. The latter substance will not answer in the former case,
since it cannot bear exposure to water. The wood generally employed
for the carriage part, as well as for the frame of the body, is ash;
and the several parts are sawn from planks of suitable thickness. In
this part of the work, the operator is guided by patterns made of thin
pine boards. The panels of the body are made of thin boards of poplar
or bass-wood. The manner in which the several parts are dressed and
put together is too obvious to need description.
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