We have stated that, at the commencement of each revolution of the
moving axis, the bolts which drive the dials of the first, third, and
fifth rows, are shot. The process of shooting these bolts must therefore
have taken place during the last quarter of the preceding revolution;
but it is during that quarter of a turn that the carriages are effected
in the second and fourth rows. Since the bolts which drive the dials of
the first, third, and fifth rows, have no mechanical connexion with the
dials in the second and fourth rows, there is nothing in the process of
shooting those bolts incompatible with that of moving the dials of the
second and fourth rows: hence these two processes may both take place
during the same quarter of a turn. But in order to equalize the
resistance to the moving power, the same expedient is here adopted as
that already described in the process of carrying. The arms which shoot
the bolts of each row of dials are arranged spirally, so as to act
successively throughout the quarter of a turn. There is, however, a
contingency which, under certain circumstances, would here produce a
difficulty which must be provided against. It is possible, and in fact
does sometimes happen, that the process of carrying causes a dial to
move under the index from 0 to 1. In that case, the bolt, preparatory to
the next addition, ought not to be shot until after the carriage takes
place; for if the arm which shoots it passes its point of action before
the carriage takes place, the bolt will be moved out of its sphere of
action, and will not be shot, which, as we have already explained, must
always happen when 0 is at the index: therefore no addition would in
this case take place during the next quarter of a turn of the axis;
whereas, since 1 is brought to the index by the carriage, which
immediately succeeds the passage of the arm which ought to bolt, 1
should be added during the next quarter of a turn. It is plain,
accordingly, that the mechanism should be so arranged, that the action
of the arms, which shoot the bolts successively, should immediately
follow the action of those fingers which raise the carrying claws
successively; and therefore either a separate quarter of a turn should
be appropriated to each of those movements, or if they be executed in
the same quarter of a turn, the mechanism must be so constructed, that
the arms which shoot the bolts successively, shall severally follow
immediately after those which raise the carrying claws successively. The
latter object is attained by a mechanical arrangement of singular
felicity, and partaking of that elegance which characterises all the
details of this mechanism. Both sets of arms are spirally arranged on
their respective axes, so as to be carried through their period in the
same quarter of a turn; but the one spiral is shifted a few degrees, in
angular position, behind the other, so that each pair of corresponding
arms succeed each other in the most regular order,--equalizing the
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