Wedge

“ A loud series of snarls followed and the sound of a body falling heavily.
Wedge stood for a moment dazed. Then he dashed across to the door through which the beast had entered, and flung all his weight against it. He tried again and again with all the weight of his powerful shoulders. It yielded with a crash, and he fell flat into the cage on the other side, amongst the foul straw.
He was up in an instant. By the light of the arc-lamps in the arena he could make out that the cage had an iron grating on one side closed by a bolt. He thrust his hand through the bars and worked back the bolt. ”

“ WEDGE. At the University of Cambridge, Eng., the man whose name is the last on the list of honors in the voluntary classical examination, which follows the last examination required by statute, is called the wedge. "The last man is called the wedge" says Bristed, "corresponding to the Spoon in Mathematics. This name originated in that of the man who was last on the first Tripos list (in 1824) , Wedgewood. Some one suggested that the wooden wedge was a good counterpart to the wooden spoon, and the appellation stuck."—Five Years in an Eng. ”

“ Wedge brought in the lamp, and put it down on the mantel, he did not look up to say a cheerful word, as was his custom, but continued gazing into the fire; and she noticed that he was in better humor than he had ever been before during their acquaintance. Usually his thinking made him frown, but to-night he seemed to be enjoying it.
The worthy woman took pleasure in finding excuses to go to his room as often as possible, for he seemed to bless her for the intrusion upon his loneliness ”

“ Now the power yielded by sallying may be considered as corresponding with that obtained by a wedge acted on by a heavy weight; the wedge, in this case, being the portion of the ship’s side that becomes depressed, operating by virtue of the expansion of the ship’s width when heeling, and the force acting on the wedge being the weight transferred from an even distribution with an upright position of the ship, to an accumulation of weight on one side, inducing a heeling position. ”

“ Westwood once saw an Ichneumon-fly thus boring its way into a dry post, the wood of which must have been very hard. When she had bored far enough, she partially withdrew the ovipositor, and then re-plunged it into the hole that she had made, as if she were depositing eggs. While engaged in this operation, she stood very high on her long legs, resting only on the extremities of the feet. She belonged to the genus Pimpla.
The principle of the Wedge or Inclined Plane is admirably shown by objects which we pass unheeded every day, and yet afford wonderful examples of the power of the wedge. ”

“ The Wedge.—Wedges are used to separate objects, as in splitting wood (see Fig. 102) , cutting wood, and where great force is to be exerted for short distances. An axe is a wedge, so is a knife. A fork consists of several round wedges set in a handle. The edge of any cutting tool is either an inclined plane or a wedge. Our front teeth are wedges. Numerous examples of inclined planes may be seen about us.
No definite statement as to the mechanical advantage of the wedge can be given as the work done depends largely on friction. The force used is generally applied by blows on the thick end. ”

“ Among other things we may easily imagine the apex of the wedge to suffer considerably in some places, and to be ground off till it may have a blunt base, not only of 8 feet, but of many yards in width. ”

“ It was difficult to see clearly, for the light of the arc-lamps was intense. He stared up, shielding his eyes, and then suddenly he saw what they were. A couple of cinematograph machines were trained on the floor below!
It was not until then that Wedge fully realised his position. The picture of the man fighting the rattlesnakes was suddenly explained. He remembered the pit. He walked to the centre and stood with clenched fists. Here was the pit. Extremely life-like!
He stooped and picked up the cudgel. At any rate, whatever he had to face, he would make a fight for it. ”

“ The wedge is used for splitting blocks of wood and stone, for producing great pressures, for raising heavy bodies, etc. All cutting and piercing instruments, knives, razors, axes, needles, pins, nails, etc., act on the principle of the wedge. ”

“ It is a common belief, that if a shepherd drives a wedge into their holes, they apply a certain kind of herb,2944 immediately upon which it falls out. Trebius informs us that if a nail or wedge is driven with ever so much force into a tree in which these birds have made their nest, it will instantly fly out, the tree making a loud cracking noise the moment that the bird has lighted upon the nail or wedge. ”

“ The equally-inclined sides of the wedge-form of edge hitherto alone described as belonging to axes, and the equal pressure this form necessarily exerts upon each side if a blow is given in the plane of the axe, suggest what will be the action of an axe if the angle of the wedge is not bisected by the middle line of the metal. ”

“ A wedge should never be driven at the center of the cross-beam, except it may be in special cases, and then only after the timbers have taken the weight. The position of the wedges above the collar should be slightly inside of or toward the center of the entry from the top of the leg, so that the line of pressure will act to arch the weight over the airway. ”

“ If they are driving against the wind, the wedge would of course be the best figure for them to move in; but if they are going down the wind a line one deep would be better, as it would give the full help of the current to every individual of the flock ”

“ The English archers were drawn up in front in form of a wedge, and each man was provided with a stake shod with iron at both ends, which being fixed into the ground before him, the whole line formed a kind of hedge bristling with sharp points, to defend them from being ridden down by the enemy's cavalry. ”

“ A wedge is considered to be the most simple of "mechanical powers," and is often used in cases where no other apparatus can be made to apply; as in splitting logs and other adhesive articles. If a massive rock is to be elevated from the ground, a wedge must first be driven between that and its foundation, preparatory to the application of levers. Yet the wedge is in most cases objectionable on account of the friction with which its use is attended. The next, and most common power applied for elevating buildings on large rocks, is the simple lever, commonly called a pry. ”

“ The reason why horses are eased by taking a zig-zag direction, in ascending or descending a steep hill, will appear from the preceding account of the action of the inclined plane, because in this way the effective length of the inclining surface is increased while its height remains the same.
The Wedge is rather a compound, than a distinct mechanical power; since it is composed of two inclined planes, and in action frequently performs the functions of a lever. It is sometimes employed in raising bodies; thus the largest ship may be raised to a small height by driving a wedge below it ”

“ The advantages of the plug-and-feather method are that it reduces the width of the slot at the top, leaving it wider below and hence to a large extent preventing the sharp edge of the wedge from touching the bottom of the wedge-slot, and that, since the faces of the feathers are smooth, it tends to {5} obtain the maximum advantage of the lateral force exerted by the wedge in the most evenly distributed way and with a minimum of friction. ”

“ Bodding could never have so simply and beautifully explained the occurrence of stone wedges in tree trunks. But to a realist, the story would be something like this:
A man who needed a tree, in a land of jungles, where, for some unknown reason, every one's very selfish with his trees, conceives that hammering stone wedges makes less noise than does the chopping of wood: he and his descendants, in a course of many years, cut down trees with wedges, and escape penalty, because it never occurs to a prosecutor that the head of an ax is a wedge. ”

“ Unless much overbalanced on one side by the limbs, an oak will stand on a still day when almost off.
Some now seize the rope, and alternately pull and slacken, which gives the tree a tottering movement. One more daring than the rest drives a wedge into the saw-cut as it opens when the tree sways. It sways—it staggers; a loud crack as the fibres part, then with a slow heave over it goes, and, descending, twists upon the base. The vast limbs plough into the sward; the twigs are crushed; the boughs, after striking the earth, rebound and swish upwards. ”

“ When one or both arms are thrown into a horizontal position they show themselves as a sidewise growth of the body, like the limb of a tree, and consequently have their base in the center of the back, or in the center of the front. For the purpose of permitting the arms to drop down to the side, a wedge, or gusset, or a lap, is made between the top of the armhole and sleeve, which is taken up when the arm drops down into its natural position at the side. ”

“ It occurs in the Kamauli grant, where it consists of a triangular va, with a wedge for its top stroke and a vertical straight line to the right, which is joined to the main body of the letter by a slanting straight line. [12]
(b) It is of course to be found in the Cambridge Manuscripts where we find the wedge transformed into a top stroke.' [13]
In later periods the triangle, in the left limb, opens at the top, and finally a curve is added to the top of the open side. The right limb decreases in length and mounts upwards. ”

“ Short, wedge-form, little gaping, with many accessory pieces.
2. Gastrochæna. Three species. Always without accessory pieces, and, therefore, easily distinguished from the Pholas.
Shell equivalve, somewhat wedge-shaped, with a very large, oval, oblique, anterior opening between the valves; the posterior extremity nearly close; hinge linear, marginal, without teeth; two distant muscular impressions; sometimes with a kind of tube or calcareous general envelope. ”

“ Museum negative no. 44531, 8-9 from the west of south.
Tools Used by Men.
A number of objects which seem to be tools intended to be used by men are found in this region. Among these may be mentioned a wedge, hammerstones, a celt, a hand-adze, drills, scrapers, and an arrow-shaft smoother.
Wedges. Wedges made of antler were not frequently found by us as in the Thompson River region, [146] although according to Lewis, elk horn wedges or chisels were used for splitting wood in the general plateau region of which this is a part. ”

“ Having made itself thus secure, it attacks its prey, and draws out the flesh, while the other tries to contract itself, but all in vain, in consequence of the separation of the shell, thus effected by the insertion of the wedge. ”

“ Wedges are used to obtain a tight bearing for the rider shores and are used at their base. As little force as possible must be employed in driving them as vibration is liable to injure the already weakened wall. ”

“ Next morning she said, “Yesterday it was too easy for thee, I must give thee harder work. To-day thou must hew down the whole of the forest, split the wood into logs, and pile them up, and everything must be finished by the evening.” She gave him an axe, a mallet, and two wedges. ”

“ The Barkmen.—As soon as the sap begins to rise, the trees intended for felling are cut and barked. At which time the men who are employed in that business pass whole days in the woods.
Line 3.
The Wedgecutters.—The wedges used in ship-building are made of beech wood, and great numbers are cut every year in the woods near the Downs. ”

“ Atsugewi are said by some to have had both eyed and open notched needles of bone for sewing skins and tule mats.
The wooden shuttle for net weaving was a stick notched at both ends and was used by all of the local tribes. A squarish wooden net mesh spacer permitted nets to be properly made.
Mountain Maidu used deer antler wedges for splitting wood while Atsugewi used wooden wedges—especially of mountain-mahogany. Wedges were usually driven with simple wooden clubs, though rocks might be employed for the purpose. ”

“ In the first class I place those wedges, whose broad surfaces are worked convex, becoming thinner towards the sides without presenting lateral planes, even of the smallest size. Underneath they are ground more or less sharply from one broad surface to the other. A section of the upper part is considerably smaller than that of the lower. It often even tapers in some degree to a point. ”

“ There are no fish of the shark tribe in the Bower waters? Perhaps not. Still, Wegg is established there, and would seem, judged by his secret proceedings, to cherish a notion of making a discovery. For, when a man with a wooden leg lies prone on his stomach to peep under bedsteads; and hops up ladders, like some extinct bird, to survey the tops of presses and cupboards; and provides himself an iron rod which he is always poking and prodding into dust-mounds; the probability is that he expects to find something. ”

“ Instances have come to our own knowledge, of masters, who, for their mere amusement, would go out to the next hedge, cut a large branch of furze or thorn, and having first carefully arranged the children on a row round the walls of the school, their naked legs stretched out before them, would sweep round the branch, bristling with spikes and prickles, with all his force against their limbs, until, in a few minutes, a circle of blood was visible on the ground where they sat, their legs appearing as if they had been scarified. ”