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Knight's Mechanical Encyclopedia (ed. Knight), C. (search)
clock which struck the hours. Chaucer refers to the horologe. No certain mention is made, up to this time, of the means of regulating the speed of the machine, and that the pendulum had not been adopted to any extent, is certain. It may be presumed that the device used was a fly (see fly); a wheel with vanes which impinged upon the air, the latter affording a resistance proportioned to the size, number, radius, angle, and speed of the vanes. Such was the case probably with: — A. D. 1380, the clock erected by Richard of Wallingford, abbot of St. Albans. During the same century a pulsating regulator was introduced into France. A. D. 1364, Henry de Wyck, or de Vick, a German, erected a clock in a tower of the palace of Charles V., at Paris. A. D. 1368, a striking clock was erected at Westminster. A. D. 1370, clocks at Strasburg and Courtray, after which they became quite common. The pulsating arrangement of Henry de Wyck consisted of an alternating balance, which
Knight's Mechanical Encyclopedia (ed. Knight), F. (search)
ical boxes the position of the wings is adjustable, so as to vary their angle of impact upon the air, thus increasing or diminishing the resistance of a given surface of wing and modifying the speed. This regulator was probably the first device attached to the going works of a clock, many centuries before the oscillating arm or the pendulum were adapted to the purpose. See pendulum. Among the clocks thus regulated may be cited that of Richard of Wallingford, abbot of St. Albans, A. D. 1380. It is likely that the clock erected in the Old Palace-Yard, London, in 1288, and that of Canterbury Cathedral, A. D. 1292, were similarly constructed. To go a step farther back, we may suppose that the clocks presented by Pope Paul 1. to Pepin of France, A. D. 760, and to Charlemagne by the Caliph Haroun Al Raschid, A. D. 810, were of similar construction; or perhaps were clepsydras. 2. (Printing.) A vibrating frame b with fingers, taking a printed sheet from the tapes and delivering
Knight's Mechanical Encyclopedia (ed. Knight), G. (search)
ation. The use of an explosive compound, pulvis nitratus, is mentioned in an Arabic writing in the Escurial collection, datiing about 1249. The Moors used it in Spain in 1312, and in 1331 the king of Granada battered Alicant with iron bullets, discharged by fire from machines. In 1342 – 43, the Moorish garrison of Algesiras defended themselves against Alonzo XI., king of Castile, by projectiles fired from cannon by powder. The Venetians used gunpowder in their wars with the Genoese in 1380. Gunpowder is mentioned in the French national accounts, 1338, and is said to have been used at Cressy, 1346, and to have contributed much to the success of the English. The two Europeans whose names have been prominently brought forward as inventors of gunpowder are Roger Bacon and Michael Schwartz. Roger Bacon, in 1216, wrote a work entitled The secrets of art and nature, wherein he states that from saltpeter and other ingredients we are able to make a fire that shall burn at what di
Knight's Mechanical Encyclopedia (ed. Knight), O. (search)
y described at the close of the eleventh century. At this time a number of small bellows, 20 or more, were used, worked by men who held to a horizontal rail and operated the bellows with their feet, as at F, Fig. 3425. It is said that half-notes were invented at Venice in the twelfth century, but the earliest authentic example of their introduction was in the Halberstadt organ, built about 1360. The invention of the pedal is claimed for Bernhard, a German organist to the doge of Venice, 1470-80. He probably made some improvement in that appendage, but it appears to have been in use nearly a century previous. The organ of Nuremberg had pipes from 16 to 32 feet long, A. D. 1468. In 1596, the organ of Breslau had most of the now known stops. It would seem that up to the fifteenth century organs were generally constructed by the monks, but about this period organ-builders by profession were to be found both in England and on the Continent. The earliest recorded in England was
Knight's Mechanical Encyclopedia (ed. Knight), R. (search)
n at the farthest point of his Eastern advance. The first European author by whom they are mentioned is Marcus Graecus, who, writing in the eighth century, says that if a compound of niter, sulphur, and charcoal be tightly rammed into a long narrow tube and set fire to, the tube will fly through the air. They appear to have been employed against the Crusaders by the Saracens, and were probably first introduced by the former into Western Europe. War-rockets were used by the Venetians in 1380, and by the French in 1449. See gunpowder. Rockets are used for various purposes:— War; in which the charge may amount to 32 pounds. Life-saving; to convey a line to a stranded vessel. Whale killing; in which the charge may be 2 or 3 pounds. Signal; fired straight upward, and not differing essentially from the ordinary. Sky-rocket; a pyrotechnic device common in public displays. Sky-rockets differ in their terminal display, which is dependent upon the garniture containe
Knight's Mechanical Encyclopedia (ed. Knight), S. (search)
he Saxons in England; also in France, 1227. It was not very common, however. Riding like a man and on a pillion behind a man were the more usual practices till the seventeenth century; and even after that in places where the roads were too bad for wheeled vehicles. The women in some parts of Europe still retain what we deem the masculine mode of riding The English ladies rode astride like men till the time of Richard II., when his Queen, Anne of Bohemia, introduced side-saddles (about 1380) Sidesaddles had been occasionally used in some of the continental European countries for several centuries. What time the change was made does not seem to be known, but until 1540 ladies appear always to have ridden on the off side, whether on the side-saddle or pillion. Queen Elizabeth's side-saddle. The side-saddle of Queen Elizabeth is still preserved at Horeham Hall, Essex, England. The pommel is of wroughtmetal, and has been gilt. The seat is a velvet cushion. I did borrow