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Within the last twenty years, however, various attempts have been made by ingenious individuals to construct machines, by means of which horse labour should be substituted for human strength. 'These have generally been on the principle of giving rotatory motion to a circular horizontal cutter, elevated a little from the ground, and kept sharp by the continued application of a fixed whetstone. In most of these plans for superseding the scythe and the sickle, the implement, instead of being drawn by the horse as in the case of a cart, is forced along before the auimal as a man wheels a barrow. In Mr. Plunknett's machine, however, which is figured and described in the Farmer's Dictionary, the horse, instead of pushing, as in the old method, tracks from the front of it, but in such a manner as to clear the crop. On very level ground, and when the corn stands well, some of these machines may be used with comparative success, at least in the way of experiment; but there are difficulties in the way of regulating the application of the cutter, or cutters, maintaining a keen edge, and especially in so laying down the straw, in order to its being bound up in sheaves, that it may be conveniently collected, that, practically speaking, a reaping machine remains as much a desideratum as

ever.

To convey a more distinct idea of the difficulties to be overcome in a project of this kind, by showing what has been done in a single instance, it may be mentioned, that a machine for mowing grass, or what may be denominated a revolving scythe, was constructed, several years ago, by an individual of the name of Bailey, of Chester county, in the United States, and for which he obtained a patent. According to accounts from America, this machine was used with considerable success in the neighbourhood of the patentee's residence, in the summer of 1822, when twenty acres of grass per day were cut down by it. This machine is represented in the annexed engraving, fig. 19.

A B are two wheels of equal sizes, which support the

machine: the former revolves on its axle, in the usual manner of a coach-wheel; the latter, which is ad

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vanced about a foot, is attached to its axle, so that they revolve together. This wheel, which works within the frame, has a circle of cogs screwed upon the outside of the felloes, but a little within the circumference, that they may not touch the ground: these cogs work into those of the wheel C, which is placed upon an axle, which carries likewise another with face-cogs, so as to give motion by means of a trundle-head to a vertical shaft of iron. To the bottom of this shaft, which reaches towards the ground, is fixed a circular horizontal table D, which is about four feet in diameter, and on the circumference of which six scythes are fastened in a horizontal position, and so as to compose a complete circular edge. To keep the scythes at a proper distance from the ground, the bottom of the shaft is supported on the end of the piece E, in which it works and is retained; so that, according to the inequalities of the ground, the scythe-frame, shaft, and the trundle-head rise and fall together.

To keep the scythe sufficiently sharp, its edge is made to pass, during its revolution, under a circular whetstone, that likewise revolves with the scythe. This stone is fixed to a sliding rod, by means of which it

rises or falls with the scythe. To regulate the pressure of the trundle-shaft and scythe-frames on the ground, the lever F is fixed to the top of the machine, and the weight removed backwards or forwards, according to the nature of the ground and the grass. The horse is

yoked in shafts at G, and walks in front of the farther side of the machine, and, consequently, is always on the mowed ground after the first swath has been cut. By the increase of velocity, the scythe revolves with the greater swiftness: the grass, as it is cut, is first thrown, by the progressive motion, against the rise in the centre of the scythe-frame, and, by the same motion, afterwards thrown off, in a regular row, in the direction of the centre of the machine.

CHAP. IV.

MILITARY WEAPONS.

SPEARS AND AXES OF EARLY FORMATION. SAXON AND NORMAN WEAPONS. SWORDS OF WOOD, COPPER, AND OTHER SUBSTANCES.

MANUFACTURE OF SWORDS BY THE TURCOMANS. NORIC AND SPANISH SWORDS. MILAN BLADES. DAMASCUS SABRES. SWORDS NAMED, AND USED AS CROSSES. BRITISH SWORD CUTLERY. ANTIQUE SWORDS. AUSTRIAN SWORD. SWORD TRADE IN ENGLAND. PROCESS OF MANUFACTURE AT BAYONETS.

BIRMINGHAM.

UNDER the foregoing designation may be comprehended most of the instruments, exclusive of fire-arms, which have been used in warfare, ancient or modern, savage or civilised, for the destruction of mankind. These instruments may be divided generally into three classes, which, according to the most probable order of their invention and their comparative efficiency, may be enumerated as follows:-1. spears; 2. axes; and 3. swords.

In the assagai, or bone-headed javelin, and the stone-edged battle-axe of the most savage nations, we recognise the originals of the first and second classes. The former of these, indeed, are abundantly diversified, as well in regard to their use as their elegance, even among barbarians, from the clumsy pike of the Hottentot to the delicate arrow of the South-sea islander. In the infancy of knowledge, even in countries where the smelting of metals might not be unknown, the spear, whether regarded as a missile, or as an instrument for close fighting, must obviously have been, on account of its simplicity of construction and adaptation for use, the earliest form in which an offensive weapon would suggest itself to mankind. And this supposition perfectly accords with facts recorded by various authors, and which, from their number and familiarity, must instantly present themselves to the recollection of al

most every reader. for throwing to a distance at an enemy, or for fighting on the nearer approach of the combatants, would naturally succeed the heavier axe to be used in close engagement and although, in the first instance, it might be made rather ponderous, with the design of giving a heavy stroke, than sharp, for the purpose of cutting, such a weapon would always be wielded with dreadful effect by men bent on carnage, and actuated by no milder principle than unmitigated revenge.

To the spear, as a light weapon

is

Although, among modern civilised nations, the military axe has long been unknown, and even the spear retained at present more as a formal than a fighting instrument, nevertheless, with the ancient Greeks and Romans, and the warriors with whom they contended, these weapons were in universal use. It would be an endless, as well as an uninteresting, task to give even a catalogue of the different terms by which the ancients distinguished all the weapons of the above-named classes, or to cite the various passages in which they are referred to by classical or other authors. To the Romans, as the conquerors of this island, as well as to invaders from the north, our ancestors were doubtless indebted for many of their military weapons, especially of the sorts above mentioned. Of these arms, to which (at least to the men by whose prowess they were wielded) this country may be considered to be even at this moment indebted, the following figures and descriptions, copied from Strutt, who himself derived them from old manuscripts in our public and other depositories, cannot be considered uninteresting or out of place.

Fig.20.a, The gaveloc, or javelin, used by the footmen. b, The gisarma, called by Chaucer a brown bill. c, A tilting spear. d, A spear used for galling the horsemen. e, A battle-axe. f, The bipennis, or doubleedged axe. g, A glaive. h, The pole-axe, or bill. i, A Norman bill. k, Another bipennis. 1, A war axe used on board ship. Besides this diversity of weapons, many others, of which the names, if not the

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