Tool

“ This tool, owing to the position of the application of the power, viz., the hands, and the tendency of resistance by the work to turn the whole tool in the hand, is not of general use; where, however, the curvature of surface varies, the parings to be removed are light, and the workman can have convenient access, the tool is one capable of doing good work, and, in some respects, possesses advantages over the plane, to which it probably formed an introduction. ”

“ Antonyms:
[358]
TOOL. Synonyms:
A tool is something that is both contrived and used for extending the force of an intelligent agent to something that is to be operated upon. Those things by which pacific and industrial operations are performed are alone properly called tools, those designed for warlike purposes being designated weapons. An instrument is anything through which power is applied and a result produced; in general usage, the word is of considerably wider meaning than tool; as, a piano is a musical instrument. ”

“ The reasons are many: first, the tool is an object of daily use, subjected while in service to hard wear and, in some cases, ultimate destruction; second, a tool's usefulness is apt to continue through many years and through the hands of several generations of craftsmen, with the result that its origins become lost; third, the achievement of an implement of demonstrated proficiency dictated against radical, and therefore easily datable, changes in shape or style ”

“ A tool differs entirely from a picture, or statue, or any work of art, because it can be used as a member. It is used at first as a member, and, indeed, the earliest tool makers were not conscious of it as anything outside their own bodies. ”

“ The "Odd Job" Tool.—A most useful special tool, which combines in its make-up a level, plumb try-square, miter-square, bevel, scratch awl, depth gage, marking gage, miter gage, beam compass, and a one-foot rule. To the boy who wishes to economize in the purchase of tools this is an article which should be obtained.
Fig. 270. "Odd Job" Tool.
Figure 270 shows the simplicity of the tool, and how it is applied in use.
Bit Braces.—These tools are now made with so [Pg 175] many improved features that there is really no excuse for getting poor tools. ”

“ The most necessary tool in a machine shop is a file. It is one of the neglected tools, because the ordinary boy, or workman, sees nothing in it but a strip or a bar with a lot of cross grooves and edges, and he concludes that the only thing necessary is to rub it across a piece of metal until he has worn it down sufficiently for the purpose.
The First Test.—The fact is, the file is so familiar a tool, that it breeds contempt, like many other things closely associated in life. ”

“ A side tool is one intended for use on the side faces of the work, as the side of a collar or the face of a face plate. An outside tool is one for use on external surfaces, and an inside one for internal, as the walls or bores of holes, &c.
A spring tool is formed to spring or yield to excessive pressure rather than dig or jump into the work.
A boring tool is one used for boring purposes.
Fig. ”

“ Tools have played a highly important part in the history of civilization. Without tools and the ability to use them, man were indeed but a "poor, bare, forked animal,"—worse clothed than the birds, worse housed than the beaver, worse fed than the jackal. ”

“ The essence of a tool, therefore, lies in something outside the tool itself. It is not in the head of the hammer, nor in the handle, nor in the combination of the two that the essence of mechanical characteristics exists, but in the recognition of its utility and in the forces directed through it in virtue of this recognition. This appears more plainly when we reflect that a very complex machine, if intended for use by children whose aim is not serious, ceases to rank in our minds as a tool, and becomes a toy. ”

“ To those, on the other hand, who demand in every piece, as it comes from the tool, the closest approach to perfection, both in form and finish, a degree of strength in the tool appears, and is demonstrated, to be indispensable that to the former class seems as absurd as the results attained by means of it appear incredible. ”

“ The simplest application of a principle of mechanics to an every-day hand-tool may convert it into what is called a machine. Take a three-pronged fork—one of the universal tools;—fasten a rope to the end of the handle; put a log under the fork as a fulcrum; and we have a lever, when pulled down by the rope, which will grub up a strongly-rooted large shrub in a few minutes. The labourer has called in a powerful ally. The tool has become a machine. ”

“ A portable tool is a tool or machine-tool which can be taken from place to place, for example a riveting machine.
Fig. 610.
Tool, the word, comes probably from toil, signifying the thing with which one toils or labors, a hammer, file or wrench; a tool never ceases to be a tool, i.e., something which is applied directly to the work; generally tools in machine practice cut, abrade, like a file, or strike—as a hammer; a tool is that which is brought to bear directly on the work ”

“ Then chuck and re-chuck to familiarize yourself with every operative part of the lathe, and never try to force the cutting tool. If it has a tendency to run into the work, set it higher. If, on the other hand, you find, in feeding, that it is hard to move the tool post along, the tool is too high, and should be lowered. ”

“ By 1900, the carpenter's tool chest, fully stocked and fit for the finest craftsman, contained 90 or more tools. Specialization is readily apparent; the change in, and achievement of, the ultimate design of a specific tool is not so easily pinpointed. Only by comparing illustrations and surviving examples can such an evolution be appreciated and in the process, whether pondering the metamorphosis of a plane, a brace and bit, or an auger, the various stages of change encountered coincide with the rise of modern industrial society. ”

“ Tool equipment. The choice of tools in any particular shop best comes out of long experience. Some teachers prefer to emphasize certain processes or methods, others lay stress on different ones. The following tentative list is suggested for a full equipment for twenty-four students. One bench and its tools may be added for the teacher. ”

“ But the profound influence which machine tools have had in that development is scarcely realized, even by tool builders themselves.
Three elements came into industrial life during the latter part of the eighteenth century. ”

“ Another difficulty experienced by beginners is in holding the tool still—rigidly so. They allow it to “bob” back and forth against the work, if it runs untrue, so that it is impossible to make a job. The tool must be held hard down, as if it grew to the rest, and never moved, nor receded, until the cut begun is finished. ”

“ If under certain conditions the hand tool does not operate to advantage, these conditions may be varied by a simple movement of the hands, altering the height of the tool to the work, the angle of the cutting edges to the work, or the rate of feed, as the case may be, and instantly perceiving the effects; whereas with tools held by mechanical means, such alterations would involve the expenditure of considerable time in loosening, packing, and fastening the tool, and adjusting it to position. ”

“ The hand tool is frequently a lively and decorative symbol of a society at a given time—a symbol, which, according to the judges at London's Crystal Palace Exhibition in 1851, gives "indications of the peculiar condition and habits of the people whence they come, of their social and industrial wants and aims, as well as their natural or acquired advantages." [8] The hand tool, therefore, should be considered both as an object of appealing shape and a document illustrative of society and its progress.
Figure 15.—18th century: Cabinetmaker's dividers of English origin. ”

“ Then the tool-maker assembles together the various tools, and makes a number of the parts that each tool is designed for; so that when all the tools have done their preliminary work, the makers possess about fifty machines "in bits." ”

“ The purpose of this book is to bring out the importance of the work and influence of the great tool builders. Few realize that their art is fundamental to all modern industrial arts. Without machine tools modern machinery could not be built. Little is known by the general public as to who the great tool builders were, and less is known of their lives and work. ”

“ The principle of the invention consists in constructing and fitting the rest so that, instead of being screwed down to one place, and the tool in the hands of the workman travelling over it, the rest shall itself hold the cutting tool firmly fixed in it, and slide along the surface of the bench in a direction exactly parallel with the axis of the work. Before its invention various methods had been tried with the object of enabling the work to be turned true independent of the dexterity of the workman. ”

“ The lessons in the Machine-tool Laboratory will not be described in detail as in the other laboratories. The processes are so delicate and so intricate, and the resulting products in machines so closely approach the marvellous, as to beggar description. The poverty of words as compared with things asserts itself with unexampled force in the presence of a great variety of tools, each of which seems to be endowed with the power of reflection, and each of which, instead of whispering a word in your ear, drops into your hand a thing of use to man. ”

“ The whole secret of the skillful and successful use of this valuable tool lies in giving it the proper inclination to the work. It is shown in Fig. 1344, at e, in the proper position for taking a cut from right to left, and at f in position for taking a cut from left to right. The face of the tool lying on the work must be tilted over, for e as denoted by line a, and for f as denoted by the line b, the tilt being only sufficient to permit the edge to cut. If tilted too much it will dig into the work; if not tilted, the edge will not meet the work, and therefore cannot cut. ”

“ Things to Avoid.—Do not oscillate the saw as you draw it back and forth. This is unnecessary work, and shows impatience in the use of the tool. There is such an infinite variety of use for the different tools that there is no necessity for rendering the work of any particular tool, or tools, burdensome. Each in its proper place, handled intelligently, will become a pleasure, as well as a source of profit.
Fig. 25.
The Plane.—The jack plane and the fore plane are handled with both hands, and the smoothing plane with one hand, but only when used for dressing the ends of boards. ”

“ As users of these tools we cannot begin to compare with the skilled workman of ancient days. Our progress is shown not in the development of skill, but in the loss of it. We have taken the tool out of the human hand and put it into an inanimate machine. It is only very recently that the tool was delivered to the machine and that act marked the dawn of the present remarkable mechanical era. ”

“ I had never handled a tool in my life, and yet in time, by labour, application, and contrivance, I found at last that I wanted nothing but I could [page 69] have made it, especially if I had had tools; ”

“ No, except he says he’s an inventor. He came into my place yesterday, and got me to fix some sort of a tool. I never saw one like it before. It was like a long chisel, or a big tack lifter. I thought it might be for taking up carpets, and I asked him, but he said it was a new tool he had invented, and that he wasn’t at liberty to tell me what it was for. ”

“ Before we leave the subject of sharpening tools it will be well to impress upon the beginner the extreme importance of keeping his tools in good order. When a tool is really sharp it whistles as it works; a dull tool makes dull work, and the carver loses both time and temper. ”

“ Having the room you have a place for your first tool, if it is necessary to collect them one at a time, and it is much better to do that than to buy a cheap tool-chest. When you have one tool make a place for it and keep it in its place. A hammer, a saw, a hatchet, a sharp knife, a screw-driver, a gimlet, and a rule are the first tools you will need. ”

“ The difference between a tool and a machine is not capable of very precise distinction; nor is it necessary, in a popular explanation of those terms, to limit very strictly their acceptation. ”

“ A tool is usually more simple than a machine; it is generally used with the hand, whilst a machine is frequently moved by animal or steam power. The simpler machines are often merely one or more tools placed in a frame, and acted on by a moving power. ”

“ From this point of view we may draw a sharp line of distinction between a tool and a machine: spades, hammers, chisels, &c., combinations of levers and of screws, in all of which, no matter how complicated they may be in other respects, man is the motive power,... all this falls under the idea of a tool ”

“ This capacity to govern the angle of the top face of the tool is a great advantage, and one not possessed by ordinary tool holders, especially since it does not sensibly alter the height of the tool point with relation to the work. ”

“ It is singular, that with the immense variety of tools set forth in the preceding chapter, how few, really, require the art of the workman to grind and sharpen. If we take the lathe, the drilling machine, as well as the shaper, planer, milling machine, and all power-driven tools, they are merely mechanism contrived to handle some small, and, apparently, inconsequential tool, which does the work on the material. ”

“ Strictly speaking, nothing is a tool unless during actual use. Nevertheless, if a thing has been made for the express purpose of being used as a tool it is commonly called a tool, whether it is in actual use or no. Thus hammers, chisels, etc., are called tools, though lying idle in a tool-box. What is meant is that, though not actually being used as instruments at the present moment, they bear the impress of their object, and are so often in use that we may speak of them as though they always were so. Strictly, a thing is a tool or not a tool just as it may happen to be in use or not. ”