Spade (tool)

“ Observe a man digging with a spade; his right fore-arm has become artificially lengthened, and his hand has become a joint. The handle of the spade is like the knob at the end of the humerus; the shaft is the additional bone, and the oblong iron plate is the new form of the hand which enables its possessor to disturb the earth in a way to which his original hand was unequal. ”

“ When in this position, presenting the proper angle to the operator, a man holds it firmly while another applies the pressure. A lower step and the back edge of the top are hollowed out to receive the work, while its lower end rests in an indentation in the lower step. In this manner a spade can be firmly held while its cutting end is being flaked. I do not present this as a mode that was practiced, but as a device that answers the purpose, and I judge to be within the capacity of the ancient flint-workers, of whom there is nothing left but their chips and finished work. ”

“ With hands trembling so that I could scarcely hold the spade, I began to throw the loose dirt out from the hole. I found it was not large enough to work in to advantage, and removed the adjoining stones. The earth under all of them seemed loose, and I worked feverishly, expecting every instant that the spade would strike a metal box or receptacle of some sort, in which the securities had been placed. For a few inches, it was easy digging; then the earth became hard again. ”

“ When spades are used for the purpose for which they are intended, they must be kept very sharp, and the grindstone is always in service on deck. A blow upon a bone destroys the edge of the spade, and mates are usually careful to avoid the bones; but the cutting-in is often done in a heaving sea, by a man on a single plank which may not heave in time with the body of the whale, and the spade is heavy, with a flexible sapling handle perhaps eighteen feet long, and he may not be able to see what he is cutting, three or four feet within the body of the whale ”

“ In small places, ditching must ordinarily be done wholly with hand tools. A common spade and pick are the implements usually employed, although a spade with a long handle and narrow blade, as shown in Fig. ”

“ The simplest form of shaping machine, or shaper as it is usually termed in the United States, is that in which a tool-carrying slide is reciprocated across the work, the latter moving at the end of each back stroke so that on the next stroke the tool may be fed to its cut on the work. Fig. 1496 represents a shaper of this kind constructed by Messrs. Hewes and Phillips, of Newark, New Jersey, in which p is a cone pulley receiving motion from a countershaft, and driving a pinion which revolves the gear-wheel q, whose shaft has journal bearing in the frame of the machine. ”

“ The spade is the first thing, but the average ironmonger will show you an unwieldy weapon only meant to be used by navvies. Don't buy it. Get a small spade, about half-size—it is nice and light and doesn't tire the wrist, and with it you can make a good display of enthusiasm, and earn the hypocritical admiration of your wife. ”

“ For this purpose, the blade of what is called a lady’s spade is made of not more than half the usual breadth, say not wider than five inches or six inches, and of smooth polished iron, and it is surmounted, at the part where it joins the handle, by a piece of iron rather broader than itself, which is called the tread, to serve as a rest for the foot of the operator while digging. ”

“ It consists of two parts, the spade proper and the float. The former prevents recoil, the latter the burying of the trail. The spades proper are of three types: the fixed, as in the French 75-mm; semi-fixed, as in the 155-mm howitzer; and driven, as in the Deport and American 1916 75-mm. Each has advantages and disadvantages. The driven spade is considered essential for the split trail carriage, as the latter has no means of seating itself; and should one spade take, and not the other the carriage might be damaged when the gun is fired at an extreme traverse. ”

“ If the spade, applied in a peculiar manner by the strength and judgment of the man using it, more completely turns up the soil, breaks the clods, and removes the weeds than the plough, which receives one uniform direction from man with the assistance of other animal power, then the spade is a more perfect machine in its combination with human labour than the plough is, worked with a lesser degree of the same combination. But still it may be a machine which cannot be used with advantage to the producer, and is therefore not desirable for the consumer. ”

“ The spade of equal width, works much more easily in the bottom of a trench, because its corners do not catch, as do those of the other. The pointed spade is apparently nearer the shape of the sloping ditch, but such tools cannot be used vertically, and when the heel of the pointed spade is lowered, it catches in the side of the trench, before the point reaches the bottom.
Very strong spades, of various width, from three to eight inches, and thick at the heel, to operate as a wedge, will be found most suitable for common use. ”

“ The front face should have little or no clearance, because it causes the tool to dig into the work. A tool so shaped will clear itself well on the back stroke, whereas if but little clearance and front rake be given as in Fig. 1652, the tool will not only dig in, but its cutting edge will rub on the back or return stroke. ”

“ But in tools driven by power, and therefore accurately guided in their line of motion, it is preferable to let the bottom face clear the work surface, save at the extreme cutting edge. The front face of the wedge or tool is that which mainly determines its keenness, as may be seen from Fig. 2180, in which we have the wedge or tool differently placed with relation to the work, that in position a obviously being the keenest and less liable to break from the strain of the cutting process. ”

“ The tool-heads are moved horizontally by the screws H and H1, and the vertical feed for the tool-bars is obtained from the splined shafts V and V1, there being a separate screw and shaft for each head so that the feeding movements are independent. These feed shafts are rotated for the power feed by vertical shafts A and A1 on each side of the machine. ”

“ In single-pointed tools, such as are used upon lathe work, this has but little significance, because it is the work of but a minute or two to grind up the tool to a full point again, but in taps and solid dies, or in chasers in heads (as in some bolt-cutting machines) it is highly important, because it impairs the fit of the threads, and it is difficult to bring the tools to shape after they are once worn. ”

“ The device which he used was a mechanism of considerable refinement. He employed cylinders of wood, tin, brass and other soft metals accurately mounted to revolve between centers. The hardened knife was crescent-shaped, nearly fitting the cylinder, and fixed at the required angle with great precision by means of a large graduated wheel and tangent screw. A chasing tool carried by a small, adjustable slide cut the thread as the stock moved forward under the incisive action of the inclined knife edge. ”

“ To prevent any change of position, it is good practice, especially when roughing, to clamp the tool square with the surface being turned, or in other words, at right angles to its direction of movement. Occasionally, however, there is a decided advantage in having [62] the tool set at an angle. For example, if it is held about as shown at B, when turning the flange casting C, the surfaces s and s1 can be finished without changing the tool's position. Cylindrical and radial surfaces are often turned in this way in order to avoid shifting the tool, especially when machining parts in quantity. ”

“ The Clearchus was a five-boat ship, and had five mates to head her five boats. The fifth mate was named Snow, a little man, but of tremendous energy. Each of the four mates carried his spade, and as soon as they had reached their places on the stage the cutting-in began.
The whaling-spade is perhaps the implement most used in whaling, and for a surprising variety of purposes, but its primary purpose is for cutting. Spades are made in many sizes and shapes, or the shape of a spade may be changed by continual sharpening, or to suit the individual taste of the user. ”

“ The feed nut is then engaged with the feed screw and the tool takes its cut as far along the work as the thread is to be, when the tool is rapidly withdrawn from the work and the lathe carriage traversed back again, ready to take another cut. If, however, the thread to be cut runs close up to a shoulder, head, or collar, the lathe may be run slower as the tool approaches that shoulder by operating the belt shipper and moving the overhead belt partly off the tight pulley and on to the loose one, or the lathe may be stopped when the tool is near the shoulder and the belt pulled by hand. ”

“ Whether one or two set-screws are used, the boring tool may be forged from a single bar of octagon steel, which can be seated in a piece like that shown at e in Fig. 610, which is grooved so as to receive and hold the tool. As is well known, boring tools are the most troublesome both to forge and to adjust in the lathe, and, as the result, a light tool is often used because no other is at hand and it is costly to make a new one. ”

“ Counsel for appellant, referring to the California spade, says: 'This spade has heavy straps, which are riveted to the blade of the spade at their lower ends, and extend upward to within an inch and a half of the bow of the handle. They taper gradually from the blade upward. They do not, however, form a socket, because, while they nearly meet around the wooden handle near the blade, they are cut in at that point so as to form a ferrule around the wood, but not a socket on the blade.'
But there is no description of any socket in the blade in the Myers patent. ”

“ Round-nosed tools are used to cut out round corners, and the roughing tools are given a less curvature than that to be formed on the work, thus in Fig. 939 is an ordinary form of small round nose shown operating in what is termed a hollow corner, the directions of tool feed being marked by arrows. The tool may be fed by the feed traverse, and the tool gradually withdrawn, thus forming the work to the required curve. ”

“ Take, for example, such a hand as seven Hearts, headed by Queen, Knave; Ace, Knave, and two Clubs; two small Diamonds, and no Spades. An original two Heart or one Club call would grossly mislead the partner without being of any real advantage, but one Spade followed by two Hearts, or even three, if necessary, shows the exact situation. As long as the hand containing a long suit is not so strong that there is grave danger of its being left in with one Spade, it should be started with the defensive declaration. When such great strength exists, a sound opening bid invariably presents itself. ”

“ Fig. 1776 represents a drill for stone work, whose edge is made curved to steady it. This tool is caused to cut by hammer blows, being slightly revolved upon its axis after each blow, hence the curved shape of its cutting edge causes it to sink a dish-shaped recess in the work which holds that end steady. The end of the tool is spread because the corners are subject to rapid wear, especially when used upon hard stone, and the sides of the drill would bend or jam in the walls of the hole in the absence of the clearance caused by the spread. To prevent undue abrasion water is used. ”

“ It is most important that the ends of a rod or shaft should be squared up first, before the body is turned, for the removal of some slight inequality subsequently may cause the whole shaft to run out of truth. The center must be drilled with a small drill, and slightly countersunk. When the end is squared up, the center must be run back a little, so that the tool point may project over the drilled hole, and thus make it all true about the center, as in Fig. ”

“ The end of a brass tool is sometimes ground with a straight cutting edge for turning large rigid work, such as brass pump linings, etc., so that a coarse feed can be used without leaving a rough surface. The tools at N and O are for boring or finishing drilled or cored holes. Two sizes are shown, which are intended for small and large holes, respectively.
The different tools referred to in the foregoing might be called the standard types because they are the ones generally used, and as Fig. 2 indicates, they make it possible to turn an almost [58] endless variety of forms. ”

“ Suitable flakes and chips were no doubt also carried off to be turned to account for scrapers, knives, and other small implements. Partially shaped disks and other pieces of all sizes abound in the pits, but the finer manipulation, by means of which small arrow heads, lances, drills, scrapers, etc., were fashioned, was reserved for leisure hours at home, and for the patient labour of the skilled tool-maker, for whose use the raw material was chiefly quarried. ”

“ On the same shaft as a is pivoted an arm b having a slot s at one end to receive a pin to which the feed rod e may connect. f is a disk rotated from the driving mechanism of the shaping machine, and having a T-shaped slot g g, in which is secured a pin to actuate the rod e. As f rotates e is vibrated to and fro and the catch c on one stroke falls into the notches or teeth in a and causes it to partly rotate, while on the return stroke of e it lifts over the teeth, leaving a stationary. ”