Scientific American Supplement, No. 794, March 21, 1891Various
Science
Scientific American Supplement, No. 794, March 21, 1891
Various
Science -- Periodicals
The scale on the present instrument is very inconvenient, as it is
often almost out of sight; the curve it draws, on the other hand, I
consider very satisfactory, when the pencil is loaded, say, with a
planimeter weight. On the whole, I think you will agree with me that
this integraph goes a good way, if not the whole way, toward
fulfilling the conditions of a practical instrument.
I next turn to its construction and the claim it has to be considered
in any way new. Let me briefly remind our members of the process by
which an element Q R of the sum curve (Fig. 1) corresponding to the
point P on the primitive is drawn; P M being the mid-ordinate of L N,
a horizontal element, P B is drawn perpendicular to any vertical line
A B; and O A being a constant distance termed the base or "polar
distance," Q R is drawn between the ordinates of L and W, parallel to
O B. If P' be the point where P M meets Q R, we note the following
relationship of P' to P.
1. If P moves along a horizontal line, O B remains unchanged, and,
therefore, Q R or P' must move in the straight line Q R parallel to O
B.
2. If P moves along a vertical line, P' does not change, but Q R turns
round it, remaining parallel to O B.
[Illustration: FIG. 1, 2, 3]
Without taking the trouble, as I ought to have done, to inquire what
previous investigations had achieved in this matter, I thought, three
years ago, I could get an apparatus to save me the trouble of drawing
sum curves, made somewhat after the following fashion.
P (Fig. 2) is the guide or point to be taken round the primitive. It
is attached to a block, D, which works along the bar, B C, which in
its turn moves on the four wheels, e e f f, upon the frame R S U T
fixed upon the drawing board. O A is fixed perpendicular to R U, and
is such that O may be fixed at various points to determine the polar
distance. O B D is a light bar passing freely through B and forming
one side of a parallel ruler of two or more points, g g, h h, i i.
Along i i is a slot and in this works a loaded block containing a
wheel P', whose plane is always parallel to i i. This block also
passes through a slot in D E, an arm at right angles to B C. A little
consideration will show that P', if worked at all, would trace out the
sum curve of P.
It was only when I showed the rough idea of this to Professor
Kennedy, with the view of ascertaining what would be the amount of
back-lash and friction, that I learned that Mr. Boys had already
invented a very similar integrator. In his model the double parallel
ruler is replaced by two endless strings and pulleys, and the bar, B
C, by a T square.
Although this integrator was afterward made in a less crude form, I do
not think it has ever been a practical instrument for the draughtsman.
Shortly afterward I came across a work by Abdank-Abakanowicz, entitled
"Les Integraphes," being a study of a "new kind of mechanical
integrator."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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