Worm gear

“ The cone-shaft bearings are babbitt lined, but the spindle bearings are made of cast iron, in which steel scrap has been melted. The worm-gear has 40 teeth, and the worm is triple threaded, thus making a back gear equivalent to 40⁄3, or 131⁄3 to 1. As the sleeve does not fit the openings in the head, the worm and gear may be readily adjusted to each other at all times, and held firmly and squarely in place by drawing the flange tight against the side of the head. Set-screws through the head prevent accidental displacement of the sleeve after being adjusted. ”

“ Two elevating segments attached to the cradle are actuated by the elevating pinion shaft operating in bearings integral with the elevating worm wheel case secured to trail. To lower end of worm shaft is fitted a worm which engages a worm wheel and pinion shaft in the gear case. On upper end of worm shaft is attached the elevating hand wheel fitted with a handle and plunger enabling the operator to lock the howitzer at any desired elevation. The motion of the handwheel is transmitted through the worm gear to the pinion shaft and thence to the elevating segments. ”

“ Worm gearing possesses the qualification that, unless of very coarse pitch, the worm locks the wheel in any position in which the two may come to a state of rest, while at the same time the excess of movement of the worm over that of the wheel enables the movement of the latter, through a very minute portion of a revolution. ”

“ Yet, after all, the most effective defense of worm-fishing is the concrete recollection of some brook that could be fished best or only in that way, or the image of a particular trout that yielded to the temptation of an angleworm after you had flicked fly after fly over him in vain. Indeed, half the zest of brook fishing is in your campaign for "individuals,"—as the Salvation Army workers say,—not merely for a basketful of fish qua fish, but for a series of individual trout which your instinct tells you ought to lurk under that log or be hovering in that ripple. ”

“ This is done to prevent the attack of a destructive little animal called the wood-worm, which eats its way into and through the planks, making holes nearly an inch in diameter. These holes would, by admitting the water into the hold of the ship, soon sink her, as it is impossible to stop the ravages of these insects while the ship is at sea. The worm attacks every part that is below the water-line in such immense numbers, that every plank in the bottom of a vessel that has not the protection of copper has been found full of them on her arrival into port. ”

“ Whenever you see little groups of clean-cut holes dotted over the earth in low, wet ground, you may know that either the woodcock or Wilson's snipe has been there probing for worms. Not even the woodpecker's combination tool {253} is more wonderfully adapted to its work than the bill of these snipe, which is a long, straight boring instrument, its upper half fitted with a flexible tip for hooking the worm out of its hole as you would lift a string out of a jar on your hooked finger. Down goes the bill into the mud, sunk to the nostrils; then the upper tip feels around for its slippery victim. ”

“ There, beyond the Joe-Pye weed, and between the stump and the cedar-top, is a hand's breadth of black water. Fly-casting is impossible in this maze of dead and living branches. Shorten your line to two feet, or even less, bait your hook with a worm, and drop it gingerly into that gurgling crevice of water. Before it has sunk six inches, if there is not one of those black-backed, orange-bellied, Taylor Brook trout fighting with it, something is wrong with your worm or with you. For the trout are always there, sheltered by the brushwood that makes this half mile of fishing "not worth while." ”

“ They become strong, light colored and lively, and should be threaded on a fine hook by passing the point in at the head of the worm and out half-way down the side; then in, half up the side of another, and forced nearly to the head. Worms, if cast as in fly-fishing, are very attractive, and will frequently kill an immense number of fish. There is much skill in casting so as not to tear off the bait, and yet to cover an extent of water. ”

“ Once such an insect is caught on one of the threads it is lost beyond all hope. There it sticks, struggle as it may. The vibrations caused by its struggles attract the attention of the glow worm which quickly winds up the hanging thread. If it is not hungry at the moment it has been observed to play with its victim, [Pg 5] drawing in and then letting out the line after the manner of a fisherman. Finally the prey is drawn into the silken sheath and entirely devoured, chitinous shell and all. It is not merely sucked, as is the fashion of the spider or the fly. ”

“ The shotgun method, therefore, is not acceptable to members in good standing in our Society. The worm-hole machine, which is used by several of the leading Parisian chineurs, is a new and excellent invention. Its front is a square plate with serpentine grooves in it. When the plate is pressed against a piece of wood and the handle turned, a number of slender augers push out and make a cluster of worm-holes. A turn of a lever changes the position of each auger slightly, so that the worm-hole pattern does not recur. ”

“ But "between the roads" it is "too much trouble to fish;" and there lies the salvation of the humble fisherman who disdains not to use the crawling worm, nor, for that matter, to crawl himself, if need be, in order to sneak under the boughs of some overhanging cedar that casts a perpetual shadow upon the sleepy brook. Lying here at full length, with no elbow-room to manage the rod, you must occasionally even unjoint your tip, and fish with that, using but a dozen inches of line, and not letting so much as your eyebrows show above the bank. ”

“ At the last joint, at the point where it joins the first segment of the body, a true head is formed, furnished with antennæ, jaws, and whatever else goes to make a marine worm "perfect after its kind," and forthwith the whole drops off, a complete animal, capable of maintaining a separate existence. Whether the process goes on for ever—that is to say, throughout all generations—of course, no one can tell; but if it does—and there is no reason to suppose the contrary—then it is self-evident that the posterior portion of one of these worms is, as I observed before, practically never dying. ”

“ But while I looked I saw one by one totter and fall, and directly I perceived that the epaulette or shoulder-strap on the shoulder of each was a great hideous yellow worm, that gnawed away the shoulder and palsied the arm and ate into the vitals. Every second, one fell and died, making frantic efforts to tear away the reptile from its grasp, but in vain. ”

“ The feeling conveyed is that there are no scales: that the external coat is continuous and homogeneous; and one marvels at the reptile's power of gliding rapidly through the fingers. Though the Slow-worm may be found on the edge of the wood, or on the heath, sunning itself early in the spring, and apparently a lifeless casting in bronze, on the slightest alarm it dives into the vegetable soil and speedily disappears. ”

“ Leather pinions must be protected from rats, which eat them freely. Worm wheel gearing is of very high efficiency if made very quick in pitch, with properly formed teeth perfectly lubricated, and with the end thrust of the worm taken on ball bearings. ”

“ The Ship-worm always makes its perforations in the direction of the grain of the timber, except where a knot, or the shell of another Teredo, or hindrance of any kind is met with, and then it takes a turn according to circumstances. The animal begins to bore long before it has reached its full size, and it grows within the cavity which it makes. When taken out of the tube the Ship-worm is found to be a long, grayish-white animal, about one foot long and half an inch thick, with rounded head and forked tail. ”

“ Discussions on how to bring up children in the way they should go are broken into by a deacon with his nose peeled coming up the bank with a string of perch in one hand, a broken fish-pole in the other, and a pair of dropsical pantaloons dripping dirty water into his shoes.
It is said to be a beautiful sight to see a truly good man offering up supplications from under a wide-brimmed fishing hat, and as he talks of the worm that never, or hardly ever dies, red angle worms that have dug out of the piece of paper in which they were rolled up are crawling out of his vest pocket. ”

“ The Pope, or Ruff, is excellent for a young Angler, bites greedily, and quantities may be taken, by Baiting the Ground with Earth, and your Hook with small Red Worms.
The Pike, loveth all sorts of Baits (unless the Fly) Gudgeon, Dace, Roaches and Loaches; and young Frogs in Summer time, of which the yellowest is best.
The Pearch, taketh all sorts of Earth-worms, especially the Lob-worm, and Brandling, well scowred, Bobs, Oak-worms, Dors, Gentles, Cole-wort-worms, Wasps, Cadbaits, and Menow, or a little Frog, the Hook being fastned through the skin of his Leg, towards the upper part of it. ”

“ Carp and Tench love the largest red worms, the
especially if they smell much of tar; to which end you may, some small time before you use them, take so many as you will use at that time, and put them by themselves in a little tar, but let them not lie long lest it kill them; paste also of all sorts, made with strong-scented oils, tar, bread, grain boiled soft, maggots, gentles, marsh-worm, flag-worm, especially; feed much and often for these fish. ”

“ The only way that I can account for the appearance of these worms is, that the fish swallows certain bugs or insects, and that the larvæ formed from them gradually develop into the full-grown intestinal worm. But even if this explanation of their appearance was received, does it not seem a little strange that while all the fish above the Upper Falls are more or less affected by them, that below and even between the Upper and Lower Falls such a thing as wormy trout is never heard of? ”

“ The animal, also, which voluntarily crawled out of its habitation, displays no such reversion of the tail as is described by Dr. Williams. This organ is a little leaf-shaped body, formed by the union of several short segments, and slightly bent downward, but not reverted.
The quitting of its tenement by the Worm enabled me to see and admire some other points in its structure, and their subservience to its economy. On each side of the neck, just below the edge of the flat cork-like head, are seen two little scarlet gills, resembling in structure those of fishes. ”

“ A slow-worm’s progression is truly marvellous. In this little creature one can detect no action of the ribs; they are too fine and too close. Its scaly armour, moreover, is smooth and firm; and as for ventral scutæ to ‘afford hold,’ it has none. Yet with ease it draws itself over that polished rim, as it draws itself up and over your finger, when suspended by the mere tip of its tail. ”

“ But for the Trout, the dew-worm, which some also call the lob-worm, and the brandling, are the chief; and especially the first for a great Trout, and the latter for a less. There be also of lob-worms, some called squirrel-tails, a worm that has a red head, a streak down the back, and a broad tail, which are noted to be the best, because they are the toughest and most lively, and live longest in the water; for you are to know that a dead worm is but a dead bait, and like to catch nothing, compared to a lively, quick, stirring worm. ”

“ The red, fat fellows never come amiss, but the light, flabby kind afford no great lure for even the hungriest sort of a fish. The worm that keeps its tail a-wiggling after he is on the hook, is just the thing. The manure worm, the marsh worm, and a worm found at the root of the sweet flag, all make good bait; but the best of all is the night-crawling earth-worm.
ANGLE WORMS are best kept in a tin box in which a number of holes are pierced to admit air, but they must not be so large as to let the worms out. ”

“ He said, “If you cut the worm in two, each end will go off and be a whole worm.”
That is not true of the worm. When the worm is cut in two, the parts do not die at once. As there are hooks and rings on each part, they each can move off.
It is thought that if the fore part is left safe, the cut can close up, and the worm can still live. A new tail may grow upon the front part, as Mr. Crab’s new claw or eye-peg grows.
The hind part cannot live and grow. It cannot get a new mouth or heart, so it can take no food, and have no blood. It soon dries up and dies. ”

“ As to the best hook for worm-fishing, you will find dicta in every catalogue of fishing tackle, but size and shape and tempering are qualities that should vary with the brook, the season, and the fisherman. Should one use a three-foot leader, or none at all? Whose rods are best for bait-fishing, granted that all of them should be stiff enough in the tip to lift a good fish by dead strain from a tangle of brush or logs? ”

“ Occasionally it was dragged quite away from the Crab's jaws, and quickly carried into the recesses of the shell; sometimes in this case he put in one of his claws and recovered his morsel; at others he gave a sudden start at missing his grasp, which frightened the Worm and made it let go and retreat; but sometimes the latter made good his foray, and enjoyed his plunder in secret.
The worm is itself a striking and even handsome animal ”

“ In the unjointed worms, as Graber states, the body forms a single but flexible lever. In the earthworm the muscular tube or body-wall is enclosed by a stiffer cuticle, divided into segments; hence the worm can move in all required directions, but only by sections, as seen in Fig. 16, which represents the thickened integument divided into segments, and folded inward between each segment, this thin portion of the skin being the intersegmental fold. ”

“ The headless body moves only when stimulated. With most mud-dwelling species it is difficult to secure an entire specimen. The slender, fragile body is likely to break into many fragments when disturbed. Quite commonly, even without any particular disturbance, a large worm will break up into a dozen or more pieces. Each becomes a small, new animal. Some regenerating fragments secrete disks of mucous and form cradles, in which they may remain for months while new organs are being formed. Eventually the disk ruptures and the [Pg 24] new worm emerges. ”