Democratic Sentinel, Volume 18, Number 10, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 March 1894 — PRIMITIVE DEVICES. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

PRIMITIVE DEVICES.

PECULIARITIES OF ANCIENT MACHINERY. Wks Water Holsts of Madagascar and the Gaageo—The Dutch Inclined Plane aad the German Flying Wheel—The Fuat Hydraulic Lift. Used in Hauling aad Lifting. I became acquainted with a man, ■ays a writer in the Globe-Democrat, who told me that he was commissioned by a large manufacturer to hunt out various primitive forms of the application of power. It became

then his duty to search through all sorts of musty tomes in half a dozen languages. “And what have you found?" I said. “One of the oddest is that used on the coast of Madagascar by the natives. It consists of a long pole swung something after the fashion of the old oaken bucket. The pot goes down in the well. Now, the weight cf the pot is just equal to the weight es the beam, or.log, so that when it is filled with water it will not rise steadily. But the ingenious natives have arranged a railing on each side

of the log, and, to make the pall come up, deliberately walk backward. Ii it not Ingenious? No one but a Dutchman would ever think of hoisting a package Into a building in the curious fashion outlined here. A glance at the picture •hows how it was done. The sliding seat holds the man; when the package is to go up tbe man slides down, •nd vice versa. It was used in the Netherlands about 100 years ago. In some small towns it may still be seen. The little Dutch boys look on in wonder and, no doubt, think of the time when they, too shall ride. Ido not think that “Old Carrot Top” hit on a more odd or unique

method of application of power than that of the flying wheel, as it was called, a device used in Germany and Austria along about 1670-1700. The lads in the wheel had to be nimble ■ fellows, but, the way being long and the day likewise, they must have been very tired at nightfall. Happily this

rode method of hoisting has now passed away. Travelers on the Ganges often tell of the strange way in which the natives hoist, buckets of water by means •f a series- of cranes. The method calls for a number of changes from one crane So another, but the labor beFtil!* shared by half a dozen people, to »ot sb Jrtresome to the individual as te the of the wheel. Still. Aaseridan engineers would doubtless

find it decidedly primitive and irksome. • » . The Chinese of the last century used an odd device to haul up their wine. It was a rope running around a shaft, which, in turn, connected, with a great wheel, upon which was* a device something like the escapement of a modern watch. By working a lever up and down the ratchet*

were rapidly thrown along the teeth of the wheel, and slowly the barrels' of wine came from the cellar. The earliest use of the hydraulic method is shown in the picture, and a quaint study it is. The water was forced against a paddle wheel, which, in turn, communicated its power to a rope, and this did the hoisting. For a unique screw attachment, the one here shown beats the world. It was used by the builders of the Middle Ages to carry the stones upward In raising the high walls that surrounded the cities. It was painfully slow in Its action, but at the

time was regarded as a wonderful thing. The monks of the Middle Ages had a clever scheme, simple and effective, for hoisting casks. It was the earliest form of the windlass, and for simplicity and general utility affords the best example of the early method of the intelligent use of hoisting power. Four men, or more, would man the

capstan and, like sailors in a ship, heave away until the plunder came into the castle.

STILL USED IN THE NETHERLANDS.

GERMAN FLYING WHEEL.

WATER CRANES ON THE GANGES

A CHINESE DEVICE.

FIRST HYDRAULIC LIFT.

USED BY BUILDERS IN THE MIDDLE AGES

EARLIEST FORM OF THE WINDLASS