On the Economy of Machinery and Manufactures

82. The two last-mentioned sources of excellence in the work produced by machinery depend on a principle which pervades a very large portion of all manufactures, and is one upon...

376. A species of combination occasionally takes place amongst manufacturers against persons having patents: and these combinations are always injurious to the public, as well a...

414. As soon as a tax is put upon any article, the ingenuity of those who make, and of those who use it, is directed to the means of evading as large a part of the tax as they c...

217. Perhaps the most important principle on which the economy of a manufacture depends, is the division of labour amongst the persons who perform the work. The first applicatio...

353. There exist amongst the workmen of almost all classes, certain rules or laws which govern their actions towards each other, and towards their employers. But, besides these...

1. There exists, perhaps, no single circumstance which distinguishes our country more remarkably from all others, than the vast extent and perfection to which we have carried th...

329. The first object of machinery, the chief cause of its extensive utility, is the perfection and the cheap production of the articles which it is intended to make. Whenever i...

437. A few years only have elapsed, since our workmen were not merely prohibited by Act of Parliament from transporting themselves to countries in which their industry would pro...

181. The money price of an article at any given period is usually stated to depend upon the proportion between the supply and the demand. The average price of the same article d...

be observed, that ten individuals are employed in it, and also that the time occupied in executing the several processes is very different. In order, however, to render more sim...

453. In reviewing the various processes offered as illustrations of those general principles which it has been the main object of the present volume to support and establish, it...

201. The money price at which an article sells furnishes us with comparatively little information respecting its value, if we compare distant intervals of time and different cou...

166. In the earlier stages of societies the interchange of the few commodities required was conducted by barter, but as soon as their wants became more varied and extensive, the...

340. The time during which a machine will continue to perform its work effectually, will depend chiefly upon the perfection with which it was originally constructed upon the car...

241. We have already mentioned what may, perhaps, appear paradoxical to some of our readers that the division of labour can be applied with equal success to mental as to mechani...

284. One of the natural and almost inevitable consequences of competition is the production of a supply much larger than the demand requires. This result usually arises periodic...

305. A most erroneous and unfortunate opinion prevails amongst workmen in many manufacturing countries, that their own interest and that of their employers are at variance. The...

318. The power of inventing mechanical contrivances, and of combining machinery, does not appear, if we may judge from the frequency of its occurrence, to be a difficult or a ra...

253. The great competition introduced by machinery, and the application of the principle of the subdivision of labour, render it necessary for each producer to be continually on...

298. There are many enquiries which ought always to be made previous to the commencement of the manufacture of any new article. These chiefly relate to the expense of tools, mac...

32. The fatigue produced on the muscles of the human frame does not altogether depend on the actual force employed in each effort, but partly on the frequency with which it is e...

65. One great advantage which we may derive from machinery is from the check which it affords against the inattention, the idleness, or the dishonesty of human agents. Few occup...

404. One of the objections most frequently urged against machinery is, that it has a tendency to supersede much of the hand labour which was previously employed; and in fact unl...

56. It requires some skill and a considerable apparatus to enable many men to exert their whole force at a given point; and when this number amounts to hundreds or to thousands,...

47. The process of tanning will furnish us with a striking illustration of the power of machinery in accelerating certain processes in which natural operations have a principal...

20. Whenever the work to be done requires more force for its execution than can be generated in the time necessary for its completion, recourse must be had to some mechanical me...

277. It is found in every country, that the situation of large manufacturing establishments is confined to particular districts. In the earlier history of a manufacturing commun...

210. Although the cost of any article may be reduced in its ultimate analysis to the quantity of labour by which it was produced; yet it is usual, in a certain state of the manu...

160. Having now reviewed the mechanical principles which regulate the successful application of mechanical science to great establishments for the production of manufactured goo...

197. Having now considered the circumstances that modify what may be called the momentary amount of price, we must next examine a principle which seems to have an effect on its...

77. The precision with which all operations by machinery are executed, and the exact similarity of the articles thus made, produce a degree of economy in the consumption of the...

163. The economical principles which regulate the application of machinery, and which govern the interior of all our great factories, are quite as essential to the prosperity of...

27. Uniformity and steadiness in the rate at which machinery works, are essential both for its effect and its duration. The first illustration which presents itself is that beau...

79. Nothing is more remarkable, and yet less unexpected, than the perfect identity of things manufactured by the same tool. If the top of a circular box is to be made to fit ove...

45. This is one of the most common and most useful of the employments of machinery. The half minute which we daily devote to the winding-up of our watches is an exertion of labo...