On the Economy of Machinery and Manufactures |
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Adam Smith advantages Alpnach amongst applied arising attention Bar iron cajeput oil capital cause cent CHAP circumstances clock combination committee considerable contrivance copies copper cost cotton difficult diminished division of labour duced economy effect employed endless wire engine engraving establishment executed exertion expense factory facturer flax force forceps frequently greater hand head holes House of Commons hundred importance improvement inches increased injurious instance iron lathe machine machinery mandril manu manufacture master mechanical ment metal mode mould Mount Pilatus moveable types nature operations paper perhaps persons picul piece pins plates portion possessed pounds principle printed produced profit punch purchased quantity quired rate of profit raw material reduced render rollers sheet skill steam steam-engine steel strikes substance supply surface-printing thousand tion trade usually vanced velocity wages whilst wire workmen
Popular passages
Page 135 - This great increase of the quantity of work which, in consequence of the division of labour, the same number of people are capable of performing, is owing to three different circumstances; first, to the increase of dexterity in every particular workman; secondly, to the saving of the time which is commonly lost in passing from one species of work to another ; and lastly, to the invention of a great number of machines which facilitate and abridge labour, and enable one man to do the work of many.
Page 131 - When the human hand or the human head has been for some time occupied in any kind of work, it cannot instantly change its employment with full effect The muscles of the limbs employed have acquired a flexibility during their exertion, and those to be put into action a stiffness during rest, which renders every change slow and unequal in the commencement.
Page 156 - As the possibility of performing arithmetical calculations by machinery may appear to non-mathematical readers to be rather too large a postulate, and as it is connected with the subject of the division of labour, I shall here endeavour, in a few lines, to give some slight perception of the manner in which this can be done, — and thus to remove a small portion of the veil which covers that apparent mystery.
Page 135 - That the master manufacturer, by dividing the work to be executed into different processes, each requiring different degrees of skill or of force, can purchase exactly that precise quantity of both which is necessary for each process...
Page 173 - ... whether the porter or other servant so employed admit one person or twenty, his rest will be equally disturbed. It will also be necessary occasionally to adjust or repair the machine; and this can be done much better by a workman accustomed to machine-making, than by the person who uses it.
Page 222 - ... seen it. Before any step could be taken in its erection, it was necessary to cut several thousand trees to obtain a passage through the impenetrable thickets ; and as the workmen advanced, men were posted at certain distances...
Page 198 - But I saw enough to convince me that he wanted a great many eyes ; and as the article appeared quite in my own line of business, I said I would take an order by way of experiment ; and he showed me several specimens. I copied the order. He ordered various quantities and of various sizes and qualities. On returning to the Tavistock Hotel, I found that the order amounted to upwards of five hundred pounds.
Page 224 - ... trees. Such is a brief account of a work undertaken and executed by a single individual, and which has excited a very high degree of -interest in every part of Europe. We regret to add, that this magnificent structure no longer exists, and that scarcely a trace of it is to be seen upon the Hanks of Mount Pilatus.
Page 223 - Lachez was repeated as before, and a new tree was launched in a similar manner. By these means a tree descended every five or six minutes, provided no accident happened to the slide, which sometimes took place, but which was instantly repaired when it did. In order to show the enormous force which the trees acquired from the great velocity of their descent, M.
Page 173 - Here then arises another circumstance which tends to enlarge the extent of a factory. It ought to consist of such a number of machines as shall occupy the whole time of one workman in keeping them in order: if extended beyond that number, the same principle of economy would point out the necessity of doubling or tripling the number of machines, in order to employ the whole time of two or three skilful workmen.
Bibliographic information
| Title | On the Economy of Machinery and Manufactures |
| Author | Charles Babbage |
| Edition | 2 |
| Publisher | Charles Knight, 1832 |
| Original from | Oxford University |
| Digitized | 5 Apr 2006 |
| Length | 320 pages |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |