Planchet

“ As they reach the bottom they are seized singly by a pair of steel feeders, in motion as similar to that of the finger and thumb as is possible in machinery, and carried over the collar and deposited between the dies, and, while the fingers are expanding and returning for another planchet, the dies close on the one within the collar, and by a rotary motion are made to impress it silently but powerfully. ”

“ London, sir, if you please, and my master, Lord d'Artagnan. With that you may be satisfied he can make his way, both going and returning."
"In that case," said Athos, "Planchet must receive seven hundred livres for going, and seven hundred livres for coming back; and Bazin, three hundred livres for going, and three hundred livres for returning--that will reduce the sum to five thousand livres. We will each take a thousand livres to be employed as seems good, and we will leave a fund of a thousand livres under the guardianship of Monsieur Abbe here, for extraordinary occasions or common wants. ”

“ She always wore a black straw hat, summer and winter, always carried a faded green shopping bag, with a supply of yellow writing paper, and always had tucked under one arm the curious, heart-shaped bit of wood, with the pencil attached, which spiritualists call "planchette." The Marshall children thought this the most laughable name imaginable, and were not always successful in restraining the cruel giggles of childhood when she spoke of planchette's writing such beautiful messages from her long-since-dead husband and children. ”

“ Monsieur Abbe, you are a great moralist."
"Doubtless," said Aramis, "for we not only require to be well served in order to succeed, but moreover, not to fail; for in case of failure, heads are in question, not for our lackeys--"
"Speak lower, Aramis," said Athos.
"That's wise--not for the lackeys," resumed Aramis, "but for the master--for the masters, we may say. Are our lackeys sufficiently devoted to us to risk their lives for us? No."
"My faith," said d'Artagnan. "I would almost answer for Planchet." ”

“ If a planchet is too heavy, but near the weight, it is filed off at the edges; if too heavy for filing, it is thrown aside with the light ones to be remelted.
The planchets, after being adjusted, are taken to the coining and milling rooms, and are passed through the milling machine. They are fed to this machine through an upright tube, and as they descend are caught upon the edge of a revolving wheel and carried about a quarter of a revolution, during which the edge is compressed and forced up. By this apparatus 560 nickels can be milled in a minute; for large pieces the average is 120. ”

“ Planchet, the most intelligent of the four, was to follow that by which the carriage had gone upon which the four friends had fired, and which was accompanied, as may be remembered, by Rochefort's servant.
Athos set the lackeys to work first because, since these men had been in the service of himself and his friends he had discovered in each of them different and essential qualities. Then, lackeys who ask questions inspire less mistrust than masters, and meet with more sympathy among those to whom they address themselves. Besides, Milady knew the masters, and did not know the lackeys ”

“ Why run any chance of losing on a race, but simply "ask Planchette?" Only, by the way, if this were universal, and if everyone is to win, who is to lose? Thus Planchette would put an end to nearly all speculation. Planchette would inaugurate a new era of complete and unqualified success. No doubt Mr. CHARLES WYNDHAM consulted Planchette before producing The Fringe of Society, and is in consequence being amply rewarded for placing his trust in Planchette. Failure would be impossible except to the obstinate few who should persistently refuse to pin their faith on the utterances of "Planchette." ”

“ First, about the mystic boards—Planchette and Ouija. The only difference between them is that Planchette has two legs and the third support is a lead pencil which writes on a sheet of paper spread out on the table; and Ouija has three legs and the board itself has “yes,” “no,” the alphabet and the numerals up to ten.
The first time I used Planchette was in the early ’70’s when I brought one home from Toronto, and with it an unopened bundle of several newspaper exchanges from the post office. ”

“ The consulting savage lies on his knees, and as the pendulum between our fingers and the pencil of Planchette in our hand write apparently at haphazard, but in reality under the pressure of our muscles acting through the unconscious influence of our will, so here also the beats of the hammer only seem to be fortuitous, but, in reality, are guided by the ecstatic owner. ”

“ Planchette smiled again.
“In other words,” he went on, with the mathematician’s natural stubborn propensity for logic, “in order to resist the force of the incoming water, it would be necessary to exert, upon every part of the large surface, a force equal to that brought into action in the vertical column, but with this difference—if the column of liquid is a foot in height, the thousand little columns of the wide surface will only have a very slight elevating power. ”

“ Into this is fastened the reverse die. The die stake is arranged to rise one-eighth of an inch; when down it rests firmly on the solid foundation of the arch. Over the die stake is a steel collar or plate, in which is a hole large enough to allow a planchet to drop upon the die. In the triangle above, the obverse die is fastened, which moves with the triangle; when the knee is straightened the die fits into the collar and presses down upon the reverse die.
Just in front of the triangle will be seen an upright tube made of brass, and of the size to hold the planchets to be coined. ”

“ The planchette, or pointer, is a thin, heart-shaped piece of wood provided with three legs, upon which it moves about upon the board, its point indicating the letters of the words it is spelling. Two persons are necessary for its operation. They place the tips of their fingers lightly upon the pointer and wait. ”

“ The following chapter was almost as tightly packed with incident, and in the midst of it there was a break, with an astonishing explanation. Three evenings in succession we had had trouble with the planchette. It had seemed to me that Mrs. Hays was trying to pull it from beneath my fingers. Mean while she had mentally accused me of digital heaviness. She uses the finger tips of her left hand while I use my right. As a rule our touch is so light that the planchette glides automatically. ”

“ On like an arrow sped the plank, straight for the centre of the opening, and all hope that it might drift against the weir was gone, when, suddenly, with a jar that almost flung me from my insecure perch, the front end of the plank struck something hidden below the muddy water, probably a sunken stake, and instantly was swung side on, jamming across the very mouth of the gates. Gathering all my few remaining energies, I made a feeble leap, and more by good luck than good management reached the top of the weir. ”

“ You once promised—”
“Plank, I'll go anywhere except there with you. I'd rather be with you than with anybody. Can I say more than that?”
“I think you ought to, Siward. A—a fellow feels the refusal of his offered roof-tree.”
“Man! man! it isn't your roof I am refusing. I want to go; I'd give anything to go. If it were anywhere except where it is, I'd go fast enough. Now do you understand? If—if Shotover House and Shotover people were not next door to the Fells, I'd go. Now do you understand?”
Plank said: “I don't know whether I understand. ”

“ From the top of the precipice a railed plank shot boldly out into mid-air. A rude scaffolding, planted firmly in the rock of the precipice, supported it with iron bars. On the opposite bank the trunk of a giant oak formed the support. In the middle there was a yawning gap of from ten to twelve feet. Like two arms longingly outstretched but never meeting, the planks branched forth on either side above the abysmal depths.
If they had never reached each other the crime would never have come to pass. But an easier job for a joiner could not be conceived. ”

“ After a little while, either the toast or the tea appeared to act on Plank as a lingual laxative, for he began suddenly to talk, which is characteristic of bashful men; and Siward gravely helped him on when he floundered and turned shy. After a little, matters went very well with them, and Plank, much more at ease than he had ever dared to hope he could be with Siward, talked and talked; and Siward, his crutches across his knees, lay back in his arm-chair, chatting with that winning informality so becoming to men who are unconscious of their charm. ”

“ They produced not only many admirable writers of the genre, but many admirable actors thereof. Planché was generous in his praise of the artists who helped so greatly to make his pieces "go"; and he did well to be so, for never, I suppose, was a comic writer so fortunate in his interpreters. During his first years at the Olympic he had the aid of the incomparable Vestris, of Rebecca Isaacs, of Miss Murray, of Mrs. Macnamara, of Mrs. Honey, of John Brougham, of James Bland, of James Vining, and of Charles James Mathews,—all in the first rank of their art. ”

“ This settled me; it is better to fall down a precipice and die than be laughed at by such a woman; so I clenched my teeth, and in another instant I was on that horrible, narrow, bending plank, with bottomless space beneath and around me. I have always hated a great height, but never before did I realise the full horrors of which such a position is capable. ”

“ Plank rose. Siward attempted to stand up, but had trouble with his crutches.
“Please don't try,” said Plank, coming over and offering his hand. “May I stop in again soon? Oh, you are off to the country for a month or two? I see.... You don't look very well. I hope it will benefit you. Awfully glad to have seen you. I—I hope you won't forget me—entirely.”
“I am the man people are forgetting,” returned Siward, “not you. It was very nice of you to come. You are one of very few who remember me at all.”
“I have very few people to remember,” said Plank ”

“ The Reason we never set the Beam on the right Half of the Plank is, that the Plough always turns its Furrow towards the Right-hand; and the strait Side of the Share and the Coulter never go so near to a Row on the Right-hand, by the Breadth of Two Furrows, as it does to a Row on the Left-hand. ”

“ But if Siward suspected something of this it was not from Plank that he learned it.
“Plank,” he said at last, “there is nothing in the world that men admire more than a man. It is a good deal of a privilege for me to tell you so.”
Plank turned red with surprise and embarrassment, stammering out something incoherent.
That was all that was said about the victory. Siward, unusually gay for awhile, presently turned sombre; and it was Plank's turn to lift him out of it by careless remarks about his rapid convalescence, and the chance for vacation he so much needed. ”

“ Again in Nash's "Lenten Stuff," 1599, "which being double roasted, and dried as it is, not only sucks up all the rheumatick inundations, but is a shoeing horn for a pint of wine overplus."
[190] [Soiled.]
[191] A planch is a plank of wood. To planch therefore is a verb formed from it. ”

“ I sought out a long flexible plank, and arranged eight tubs on it, close to each other, leaving a piece at each end to form a curve upwards, like the keel of a vessel. We then nailed them firmly to the plank, and to each other. ”

“ Lying full length in palanquin or "dooly," the gentle motion caused by the bearers, the soft patter of their bare feet as they shuffle along, their steady grunting chorus, the song of birds, the hum of insects, the slowly moving landscape, all combine to produce a feeling of complete rest to both mind and body which must be experienced to be appreciated. And so the miles gradually and serenely pass until a break occurs—truly a break—for one of the palanquin poles, which has evidently been rotting in idleness during the rains, shows distinct signs of giving way. ”

“ There is a very large hole in it, and the corn will all get damp if I don't stop it up. How lucky you mentioned it! It is quite remarkable how one good action always breeds another. I have given you my wheel-barrow, and now you are going to give me your plank. Of course, the wheelbarrow is worth far more than the plank, but true friendship never notices things like that. Pray get it at once, and I will set to work at my barn this very day.'
"'Certainly,' cried little Hans, and he ran into the shed and dragged the plank out.
"'It is not a very big plank,' said the Miller, looking at it ”

“ I had no intention of—”
“Go on,” cut in Plank heavily.
“Go on!... Yes, I want to. You know what a pillow is to a tired man's shoulders. I want to use your sane intelligence to rest on a moment. It's my brain that's tired, Plank.”
Although everybody had cynically used Plank, nobody had ever before found him a necessity.
“Go on,” he said unsteadily. “If I can be of use to you, Siward, in God's name let me be, for I have never been necessary to anybody in all my life.”
Siward rested his head on one clinched hand: “How much chance do you think I have?” he asked wearily. ”

“ French nodded. This was certainly very satisfactory.
“Besides, sir,” Daw went on, “think of a plank laid as you’ve suggested and with the end of it partly sunk. It’ll not be easy to pull out, particularly when the ground you’re pulling from is not very firm. You won’t do it without leaving pretty deep footmarks, and the plank will leave a sort of trough where it was slid out. ”