, 1881-05-01

MANUAL TRAINING IN THE SCHOOLS.
The American people are very proud Of
their Inventive faculty, and with justice.
Tile Paten1-Ottice Is full to repletiou vi II
evidences Vt Yankee ingenuity. Labor-saY-
| ing and product-luu1tiplying machines
abound everywhere. But it is nevertheless
IL fact that Americans have improved and
/ perfected rather tunn originated. The ger
!! minal idea Of vast majority of the au-
toin'.tic machines brought To q high state Of
perfection In this country and Of iuprove-
| ments iu heating metals had their origin
! III the workshops of Great Britt Wait
conceived the stealn-engine. Huntsulan tooK
! the first long step forward III improving the
/ quality Of steel Nelson invented the hot
blast in iron-sulelllng, which saved all incal-
clllable amount Ut expense. Bra.uah ill.,
! vented the combination lock. and lock-
] making tools, and the hydraulic press. and
made valuable improvements in aIl aut.,-
! matte machine touts- Maudsiey Invented
the slide-lathe and the siide-rest, which are
Indispensable in every modern workshop.
! Clement invented the planning machine
Murray invented the flax hccktulg machine.
Roberts invented the Jacquard punching
machine and the sclf-actng mule which
revolutionzed the cotton-anill. NaslAyth
invented tie steau-haumer. Weisenlhal in
vented the sewlnyulaclline, Dudley first
applied coal to smelling purposes. Iar-
rantun Introduced the manufacture Of tin
plate into England from Saxony. Reynolds
invented cas.-ron rails. Darby constructed
the first iron bridge. CoIt greatly improved
the processes Of iron manufacture In many
respects. The Crancgo Brothers improved
the ".pudlling y process. Among other
useful inventions are Sicmens' method of
generating coal-gas 10 be used in sncting-fur-
naces, and the Btsselner process for convert
ing molten pig-iron into steel, whereby it
has bccome almost as cheap Us common iron,
and SO un. These inventions and vital i'm
proyelnents cover nearly the whole range Of
mechanical work which distinguishes this
from ali past ages, giving to 1t the name of
tile iron aye. Most Of the Inventors we're
apprentices in English workshops,-poor
boys educated to use their brains, their |
hands, and their eyes. The period In which
this great industrial advance was made
WAS 1741 to 1S4). The work Ut improvement
is still going OIL, but i'll the course Of the !
hundred years named the main principles
governing the Use Of automatic machinery |
were discovered and applied. This period was !
the apprentice period. Boys were taught |
in the shop. They learned to use such tools |
is they had, and, from That vantage ground, t
invented tools, which, driven by steam,
fashion more tools aud fill the world with |
marvellous machines. The apprentice system !
which accomplished these noble results has |
passed away. The tradcs-unlons have prac- !
ticat!y abolished 1t, They arr trying to |
"bull " the skil'ed-lahor market, and hence !
seek to reduce the supply. The exceptional |
Of this country, owing to Its vast !
resources and the consequent higher wage |
price, enables us to draw upon all the world I
fur skilled labor. But the rapid growth Of !
mechanical industries foreshadows de-
mand far in excess OF the supply. How shall !
we meet this demand? Not by educatlon I
through the apprentice system, for it never
here aud it Is dying Out in Europe. |