David Allan Low

“ To pass in machine construction and drawing, he must be able to apply this knowledge to the representation of machinery. He must be acquainted with the form and purpose of the simpler parts of which machines are built up and must have had some practice in drawing them. To test his knowledge, rough dimensioned sketches, more or less incomplete, of simple machine details will be given him, and he will be required to produce a complete drawing in pencil to a given scale. ”

“ The eccentric is a particular form of crank, being a crank in which the crank-pin is large enough to embrace the crank-shaft. In the eccentric what corresponds to the crank-pin is called the sheave or pulley. The advantage which an eccentric possesses over a crank is that the shaft does not require to be divided at the point where the eccentric is put on. ”

“ Washers are flat, circular, wrought-iron plates, having holes in their centres of the same diameter as the bolts on which they are used. The object of the washer is to give a smooth bearing surface for the nut to turn upon, and it is used when the surfaces of the pieces to be connected are rough, or when the bolt passes through a hole larger than itself, as shown in fig. 10. The diameter of the washer is a little more than the diameter of the nut across the angles, and its thickness about 1⁄8 of the diameter of the bolt. ”

“ At one time steam-engine cranks were largely made of cast iron, now they are always made of wrought iron or steel. The crank is either forged in one piece with the shaft, or it is made separately and then keyed to it.
Overhung Crank.—Fig. 37 shows a wrought-iron overhung crank. A is the crank-shaft, B the crank arm, provided at one end with a boss C, which is bored out to fit the shaft; at the other end of the crank arm is a boss D, which is bored out to receive the crank-pin E, which works in one end of the connecting rod. ”

“ Through unequal cooling, and therefore unequal contraction of a cast-iron, pulley in the mould, the arms are generally in a state of tension or compression; and if the arms are straight they are very unyielding, so that the result of this initial stress is often the breaking of an arm, or of the rim where it joins an arm. ”

“ We may here point out the importance of putting the dimensions on a working drawing. If the drawing is not dimensioned, the workman must get his sizes from the drawing by applying his rule or a suitable scale. ”

“ In addition to the exercises given in this work the student should practise making freehand sketches of machine details from actual machines or good models of them. Upon these sketches he should put the proper dimensions, got by direct measurement from the machine or model by himself. These sketches should be made in a note-book kept for the purpose, and no opportunity should be lost of inserting a sketch of any design which may be new to the student, always putting on the dimensions if possible. These sketches form excellent examples from which to make working drawings. ”

“ Various sections of keys are shown in fig. 20. At (a) is the hollow or saddle key. With this form of key it is not necessary to cut the shaft in any way, but its holding power is small, and it is therefore only used for light work. At (b) is the key on a flat, sometimes called a flat key. The holding power of this key is much greater than that of the saddle key. At (c) is the sunk key, a very secure and very common form.
The part of the shaft upon which a key rests is called the key bed or key way, and the recess in the boss of the wheel or pulley into which the key fits is called the key way ”

“ The grey varieties of cast iron are called foundry irons or foundry pigs, while the white varieties are called forge irons or forge pigs, from the fact that they are used for conversion into wrought iron. ”

“ Water or other fluid can pass freely upwards through the grating, but when it attempts to return the elasticity of the india-rubber, and the pressure of the water upon it, cause it to lie close on the grating, and thus prevent the return of the water. The india-rubber is prevented from rising too high by a perforated guard. In fig. 54 is shown an example of an india-rubber disc valve. A is the grating, B the india-rubber, C the guard secured to the grating or seat by the stud D and nut E. The grating is held in position by bolts and nuts F. The grating and guard are generally of brass. ”

“ While the above action has been going on, the port S2 will have become uncovered, and the hollow part of the valve will be opposite both the steam port S2 and the exhaust port E, so that the steam from the under side of the piston, and which forced the piston up, can now escape by the passage P2, the steam port S2, and the exhaust port E to the exhaust outlet O, and thence into the atmosphere, if it is a non-condensing engine, or into the condenser if it is a condensing engine, or into another cylinder if it is a compound engine. ”

“ The two parts of the sheave are connected by two cotter bolts. The part which embraces the sheave is called the eccentric strap, and corresponds to, and is, in fact, a connecting rod end: the rod proceeding from this is called the eccentric rod.
The distance from the centre of the sheave to the centre of the shaft is called the radius or eccentricity of the eccentric. The throw is twice the eccentricity.
The sheave is generally made of cast iron. ”

“ The greater the amount of carbon chemically combined with the iron, the whiter, harder, and more brittle does it become.
The white cast iron is stronger than the grey, but being more brittle it is not so suitable for resisting suddenly applied loads. White iron melts at a lower temperature than grey iron, but after melting it does not flow so well, or is not so liquid as the grey iron. White iron contracts while grey iron expands on solidifying. The grey iron, therefore, makes finer castings than the white. ”

“ In the second kind of exercise the student is asked to reproduce certain views shown to dimensions given in words or in tabular form. In the third kind of exercise the student is required to make, in addition to certain views shown to given dimensions, others which he can only draw correctly if he thoroughly understands the design before him. In the fourth kind of exercise the student is asked to make the necessary working drawings for some part of a machine which has been previously described and illustrated, the dimensions to be calculated by rules given in the text. ”

“ The most familiar example of the use of a connecting rod is in the steam-engine, where it is used to connect the rotating crank with the reciprocating piston. The rod itself is made of wrought iron or steel, and is generally circular or rectangular in section. ”

“ The point of the set screw indents the nut and raises a bur which would interfere with the free turning of the nut in the recess if the bur was not at the bottom of a groove. Additional security is obtained by drilling a hole through the point of the bolt, and fitting it with a split pin E.
Locking arrangements for nuts are exceedingly numerous, and many of them are very ingenious, but want of space prevents us describing them. We may point out, however, that many very good locking arrangements have the defect of only locking the nut at certain points of a revolution, say at every 30°. ”

“ In practice, the thin nut, called the lock nut, is often placed on the outside, for the reason that ordinary spanners are too thick to act on the thin nut when placed under the other. [Pg 21]
Another very common arrangement for locking a nut is shown in fig. 19. A is the bolt and B the nut, the lower part of which is turned circular. A groove C is also turned on the nut at this part. The circular part of the nut fits into a circular recess in one of the parts connected by the bolt. ”

“ A B is the piston rod, C D a portion of the cylinder cover, and E F the stuffing-box. Fitting into the bottom of the stuffing-box is a brass bush H. The space K around the rod A B is filled with packing, of which there is [Pg 64] a variety of kinds, the simplest being greased hempen rope. The packing is compressed by screwing down the cast-iron gland L M, which is lined with a brass bush N. In this case the gland is screwed down by means of three stud-bolts P, which are screwed into a flange cast on the stuffing-box. ”

“ The cross section of the arms of cast-iron pulleys is generally elliptical.
Fig. 31.
Exercise 31: Fast and Loose Pulleys.—Fig. 31 shows an arrangement of fast and loose pulleys. A is the fast pulley, secured to the shaft C by a sunk key; B is the loose pulley, which turns freely upon the shaft. The loose pulley is prevented from coming off by a collar D, which is secured to the shaft by a tapered pin as shown. The nave or boss of the loose pulley is here fitted with a brass liner, which may be renewed when it becomes too much worn. ”

“ The crystalline structure induced in this way may be removed by the process of annealing, which consists in heating the iron in a furnace, and then allowing it to cool slowly.
Forging and Welding.—The process of pressing or hammering wrought iron when at a red or white heat into any desired shape is called forging. If at a white heat two pieces of wrought iron be brought together, their surfaces being clean, they may be pressed or hammered together, so as to form one piece. This is called welding, and is a very valuable property of wrought iron. ”

“ This simple form of piston is used in the steam-engine indicator, and also in pumps.
Fig. 46 shows the piston of the circulation pump of a marine engine. A is the cast-iron casing or barrel of the pump; B is a brass liner fitting tightly into the former at its ends, and secured by eight screwed Muntz metal pins C, four at each end; D is the piston, which is made of brass, and is attached to a Muntz metal piston rod E. The liner is bored out smooth and true from end to end, and the piston is turned so as to be a sliding fit to the liner. ”

“ If the countersunk head be lengthened so as to take up the whole of the unscrewed part of the bolt, we get the taper bolt shown in fig. 14, which is often used in the couplings of the screw shafts of steamships. The taper bolt has the advantage of having no projecting head, and it may also be made a tight fit in the hole with less trouble than a parallel bolt. Bolts may also have hexagonal heads. ”

“ Next come the distance or dimension lines, which should be put in with blue or red ink, depending on which colour was used for the centre lines. Dimension lines and centre lines are best put in of different colour. The arrow-heads at the ends of the dimension lines are now put in with black ink, and so are the figures for the dimensions. The arrow-heads and the figures should be made with a common writing pen. The dimensions should be put on neatly. Many a good drawing has its appearance spoiled through being slovenly dimensioned. ”

“ The reciprocating motion of the slide valve is nearly always derived from an eccentric fixed on the crank-shaft of the engine. Slide valves are generally made of brass, bronze, or cast iron.
Exercise 59: Simple Slide Valve.—At (d) , fig. 58, is shown a sectional elevation of a simple slide valve for a steam-engine, the section being taken through the centre line of the valve spindle, while at (e) is shown a cross section and elevation, and at (f) a plan of the same. ”

“ In producing this work the author has aimed at placing before young engineers and others, who wish to acquire the skill and knowledge necessary for making the simpler working drawings such as are produced in engineers' drawing offices, a number of good exercises in drawing, sufficient for one session's work, and at the same time a corresponding amount of information on the design of machine details generally. ”

“ Phosphor bronze contains copper and tin with a little phosphorus; it has this [Pg 81] advantage over ordinary bronze, that it may be remelted without deteriorating in quality. This alloy also has the advantage that it may be made to possess great strength accompanied with hardness, or less strength with a high degree of toughness.
Wood.—In the early days of machines wood was largely used in their construction, but it is now used to a very limited extent in that direction. Beech and hornbeam are used for the cogs of mortise wheels. Yellow pine is much used by pattern-makers. ”

“ Boxwood scales are much cheaper, although not so durable as those made of ivory. If the student does not care to go to the expense of ivory or boxwood scales, he can get paper ones very cheap, which will be quite sufficient for his purpose. ”

“ When the brass bush becomes worn it is replaced by a new one.
Fig. 44 shows an example of a locomotive coupling rod end for an outside cylinder engine. In this case it is desirable to have the crank-pin bearings for the coupling rods as short as possible, for a connecting rod and coupling rod in this kind of engine work side by side on the same crank-pin, which, being overhung, should be as short as convenient for the sake of strength. The requisite bearing surface is obtained by having a pin of large diameter. The brass bush is prevented from rotating by means of the square key shown. ”

“ As the wear on a step is generally greatest at the bottom, it is made thicker there than at the sides, except where the fitting strips come in. To prevent the steps turning within the block they are generally furnished with lugs, which enter corresponding recesses in the block and cover. ”