The herald., 1897-09-05
Of an inch in breadth the whole OF the
Lords PRAYER

Of an inch in breadth the whole OF the
Lords Prayer.
To get some idea of the space upon
which this astonishing feat has been ao-
complished, a simple comparison can be
made. The space upon which the dia-
mond cut the prayer Is about four times
the size of the dot over the letter "i'' in
common print, or, to make another
comparison, about the size Of the head
of a pin.
The cutting was not done by hand,
that being an impossibility, accordingl
to Mr.. Webb. When he made up his
mind to beat the worlds record for fine
writing this gentleman set his inventive
genius to work to construct a machine
that would make 1t possible to accom-
plish what the hand alone could not do,
He worked for ten years with an en-
ergy and perseverance worthy Of bet-,
ter cause before he succeeded in per-
fecting the machine. AS may be imag-
ined, it is of the most delicate construc-
ton, and the wheels are exquisitely,
graduated. The instrument is worked
by handle shaped like an ordinary.
pen, and the writing is done by means
of this in precisely the same manner
as ordinary writing. When the opera.
tor moves the handle, or pen, in the dill
rections necessary to form letter, the
movement sets in operation a series of
wheels of the smallest and most deli
cate construction conceivable. The mo-
ton started by the hand, travelling
along the tiny wheels, eventually reach
es an arm at the end Of which is the
diamond, so finely pointed and so NIL
mute in itself that it requires the aid
Of a microscope to discover that there
is any diamond there. The hand guides
the pen handle and the diamond does
the rest, travelling within such mar
vellously small space that nothing can
be seen with the unaided eye, even when'
as many as fifty words have been writ
ten, save a few tiny scratches that
might pass for slight flaw In the glass.
When the microscope Is turned on these
scratches, however. 1t it seen that the
writing is perfectly legible, every letter,
dot, comma and period being plainly
discernible It Is claimed that the en-
tire 1855, ,4S0 letters of the Bible could
be written with the Webb machine four
times over in the space Of a square inch.
When the announcement was made
that Mr. Webb had succeeded in writ
ing the Lords Prayer on so marvellous
lY Small d SpdCc lHcIc WAS IluCn SCOlls
ing among London penmen, but the
fact was speedily demonstrated to them
by means of enlarged photographs Of
the diamond writing, in which every
point of the wonderful caligraphy was
brought out so as to be read with ease.
The experts, therefore, are likely to
lose their job.
| Any one can operate the Webb ma
chine who knows how to manipulate a
pen, and microscopical writing on glass
is possible to any one who cares to take
up the pastime. OF what use it Is to
the cause of science or any other cause.
or what reward Mr.. Webb expects to-
reap for his many years of patient la
Dor does not appear.
Mr.. Webb is SO confident that his ma
chine will start a craze for minute
writing on glass that he is preparing to
manufacture and place it on the mar
ket Practical minds predict that pur-
chases of the machine, even ii it is sold
as toy, will be too limited in number
to make success from a financial point
Of view possible.