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Knight's Mechanical Encyclopedia (ed. Knight), B. (search)
ttached to a workbench for holding an article to be operated on in place. The bench-clamp is shown on a painting in Herculaneum, where it is used to dog a timber to a bench while it is being sawed by a frame-saw. In one form, a, the board, whee prosperous Theban era. Roundheaded pegs (crota′a) were held between the fingers of the dancers in the festivities of Herculaneum, and used after the manner of the modern bones by rattling in the hand. The maces of the ancient Egyptians were metalnd leaves of vellum were made by Attalus, King of Pergamus, about 198 B. C. See parchment. The manuscript rolls in Herculaneum consist of papyrus, which is charred and matted together by the fire. The rolls are nine inches long, and vary in diaius. The Ulpian library of Trajan was attached by Diocletian to his thermae. A furnished library was discovered in Herculaneum. Round the wall it had numbered cases containing the rolls. It is recorded that Plato bought three works of Philol
Knight's Mechanical Encyclopedia (ed. Knight), C. (search)
als played with the finger and thumb in the manner of castanets are shown in the paintings of Herculaneum, and are used in the Almch dance of modern Egypt. The modern bones, which give so much vive. Roundheaded pegs are seen in the hands of some of the dancing figures in the paintings of Herculaneum, and similar instruments of wood are used by the Japanese. In ancient Egypt a similar effect Vitruvius does not mention chimneys. Winckelmann states that no traces of them are found in Herculaneum, where the people warmed themselves by fires in braziers placed on the floor of the apartmenty and gave the first taste of arts to ancient Attica. Several compasses were discovered at Herculaneum (overwhelmed, A. D. 79), and among the number was a pair of reducing-compasses. See Bowpen; ts in the mode of using to beat the measure of the dance. They are shown in the paintings of Herculaneum, and were sometimes attached to the ankles of the flute-players. See castanets. Cymbals
Knight's Mechanical Encyclopedia (ed. Knight), D. (search)
ne, stone, metal, ivory, or glass. The number of pieces used was similar to the number of the lines on the Greek abacus, or the digits of the hand. (See abacus.) The game of astragaii is represented in ancient sculpture and in a painting in Herculaneum. Pliny mentions a group in bronze by Polycletus of two naked boys at play, then in the Atrium of Titus. The same subject in stone is in the British Museum. In the game of duodecim scripta the moves were determined by dice; the game of tali and tesscra was played with dice. Dice similar to ours were found at Herculaneum, and the convulsion which overwhelmed Pompeii surprised a hazard-party at their amusement; 1800 years afterward the dice were found in their bony hands, and the game yet unsettled. At an entertainment given in 1357 by the Lord Mayor of London, the Kings of France and Scotland being prisoners and the King of Cyprus on a visit (temp. Edward III.), the host challenged all to dice and hazard.—stow. The dice-b
Knight's Mechanical Encyclopedia (ed. Knight), F. (search)
taken down, exposing the block of soap, which is then cut up by wires which are passed through it to divide it into parallelopipeds. Frame-lev′el. A mason's level. Frame-saw. A thin saw stretched in a frame which gives it sufficient rigidity in its work. The buhl-saw, for enlarging, is of this character. It is common to make the handle-attachment at each end rotatable, so as to present the saw-edge in any direction. Frame-saws. A frame-saw is shown in a painting at Herculaneum. The sawyers are at each end, one standing and the other sitting. The bench to which the timber is secured by cramps is supported by four-legged stools. The saw-frame is square and the saw-blade is strained in the middle; the teeth stand perpendicularly to the plane of the frame. Frame-saws were common in Egypt many centuries previous to this time. Framing. 1. A mode of putting parts of a structure together. Joinery framing is of various descriptions, as square, bead, bead
Knight's Mechanical Encyclopedia (ed. Knight), G. (search)
pper of gilded wood. The price of a glass drinking-cup in the time of Strabo was half an as. The as was about one cent. The Museo Borbonico of Naples contains about 2,400 specimens of ancient glass, recovered principally from Pompeii and Herculaneum. They represent numerous forms of glass ornamentation in green, opal, blue, red, white, and yellow. The Barberini vase, now known as the Portland vase, was discovered about 300 years since, a short distance from Rome, in the tomb of Alexan. The growth of the art has developed four modes: — 1. The mosaic. This is the earliest, and was known in Byzantium at an early date. It is not known that colored-glass windows were known in Rome, though white-glass windows are found at Herculaneum and Pompeii. The art is supposed to have been brought from Byzantium to Venice and Marseilles, and was practiced by the Saracens throughout the cities of the East. Stained-glass windows were in the basilica of St. Sophia and other churches
Knight's Mechanical Encyclopedia (ed. Knight), I. (search)
. A paint is smeared over an object, a dye colors or stains it. Some inks are of one kind and some of the other. The essential characteristics of the best ink are: limpidity, permanence, distinctness. The first enables it to flow easily and avoids clogging the pen. The second prevents its fading and becoming indistinct. The third makes it readily legible, both to the eye in following the motions of the pen, and to the eyes of readers subsequently. An ink was found in an inkstand at Herculaneum. Some ancient manuscripts show the ink in relief when held to the light, and some have evidently been corroded by the ink. Black ink is a solution of tanno-gallate of iron suspended in gum-arabic water. Logwood adds to the color. Take bruised galls, 6 ounces; gum-arabic, 4 ounces; green vitriol, 4 ounces; soft water, 6 pints. Boil the galls in the water, add the other ingredients; keep in a bottle, shake occasionally, and in two months time decant into bottles and cork. A drop o
Knight's Mechanical Encyclopedia (ed. Knight), K. (search)
ege of Troy, 1193 B. C. The bolt of the lock mentioned in the Odyssey was moved by pulling a latch-string which passed through the door and hung outside. Denon has engraved an Egyptian lock which no doubt had a key. The Roman keys were very various (see f g h i, Fig. 2742), some like the old Egyptian and others like the modern. The ring, or bow, stem, and bit are all there. Some have hollow barrels, like our trunk keys. Thirty varieties are shown by Montfaucon. The keys found at Herculaneum show that the art of lock-making (A. D. 79) was well understood. 4. (Joinery.) a. A piece of timber let transversely into the back of a board, which consists of several breadths, for the purpose of preventing warping. b. The last board of a floor or platform which is driven into position and keys up the others. c. A tenon piece, of the nature of a dowel entering coincident parts in matched boards, and holding them together, or in correspondence. d. The roughing on the under
Knight's Mechanical Encyclopedia (ed. Knight), L. (search)
ns are referred to by the Greek authors: — The man who first invented the idea Of walking out by night with a lantern, Was very careful not to burn his fingers. Alexis. So taking out the candle from his lantern. Ibid. A well-lit horn lantern. Eumelus: quoted by ATHENAeUS, A. D. 220. The lanterns of Epictetus and Diogenes will not be soon forgotten. See also candle. Lanterns are referred to by the Roman authors Plautus, Martial, and Pliny; have been disinterred at Herculaneum and Pompeii. In the latter place, one was found in the vestibule of a house alongside a skeleton; the person was evidently trying to escape in the thick darkness of the descending ashes. We read of the use of lanterns in the games of the circus, the sacred games of Greece, in augury, and by the military. In the latter case, the Roman soldier carried the lantern on a pike, as did the Egyptian ten centuries previously, and how much anterior to that time we do not know. The Roman lante
Knight's Mechanical Encyclopedia (ed. Knight), P. (search)
ak pose (That is well). Temou chu (Rest in peace), we replied; and, after politely putting out our tongues, withdrew. — Abbe Hue at Lha-Ssa. The Christian monks of the land once known as Assyria still use a reed for writing the Chaldean character; the ink has a fine glossy character, the paper resembles parchment, and the scribes dispense with a table or desk, resting the paper on the knee. Reeds are still used by the Arabs; their ink is thick and gummy. Reed pens are also found in Herculaneum. The ancient ink was of a viscid nature; some of it was found in a closed glass bottle in the examination of the city just mentioned. The quills of birds came into use as pens in the sixth century A. D.; so we learn from Isidore (died A. D. 636) and others. Previous to this time, the writing-implement is spoken of as calamus, a reed; after this we read of penna, a feather: the reed, however, was a favorite in many quarters among the literati of Europe for five centuries after the fir
Knight's Mechanical Encyclopedia (ed. Knight), S. (search)
l with the ancient Egyptians to set it upright between posts, to which it was lashed. Wilkinson failed to find any saw adapted for use by two persons, like the pit-saw. Ancient saws. g, Fig. 3032, page 1379, represents a saw discovered by Mr. Burton at Thebes, and now placed in the British Museum. The owner had probably been dead several hundred years before Pythagoras, Solon, or Plato visited Egypt to study science. The ancient saws were hand and frame. a. From a painting at Herculaneum. Two genii working a frame-saw. b. A frame-saw from a funeral monument. c. A frame-saw blade detached; from a monument. d. An Egyptian saw in the British Museum. Tools of Babylon. The implements of labor of the Assyrians are not so fully represented on the monuments as those of warfare. The cross-cut saw was two-handled, but not crosshan-dled, apparently. The shovels were heart-shaped, as at present used in Asia Minor. The picks had single heads. The hatchets had a pol
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