St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1902-04-30
Mechanical Terms and Their origin.


Through the courtesy of The Indus
trial Press IN. Y. we are permitted to
use parts of an article printed in the
April Machinery, written and illustrated
by w. H. Sargent, of this town, which is
of general interest.
There are histories, as well as ser.
mons, in stones. The anclents used
small pebbles as an aid in counting and
performing other ar.thmetical operations.
These stones were called 'calcuIl from
whence naturally comes the word 'calcu
late The word scale (weighing ma
chine) is unique in that the word comes
down to us through two distinct chan-
nels, entirely unconnected. The Anglo
saxons weighed in an even balance,
using clam shells for pans. These shells
they called scalu' and the balance, IN
course of time, came to be called a scale
The Romans improved upon this primi-
tive balance by adding sliding poise
and by graduating the steel-yard into
scala; that is, steps or divisions. Thus
the word scale came to be applied to
any graduated scale, either OF measure
ment or OF weight and finally for the
second time the weighing machine itself
was called scale
The word 'ttmplet, or more properly
template is from the Latin templatus,
vaulted, since the masOns, then as now,
used a wooden form or template for
LAYING the arches in a vault. Gradually
the name came to mean any form used in
LAYING out or constructing work. Eccen-
trio is straight Latin, being from eX, out
Of and centrum, center, "ott CENTER
Petroleum is from petra, rock, and
oleum, oil, and tells its own story very
neatly.
Conversely manufactured" originally
meant "hand made" and has since
changed about so that it now means
almost the opposite because certainly
no large part of the manufactured y
products of today are hand made We
will speak of shop as employing so
MANY "hands,' although we mean, OF
course, that not only the workman's
hands are utilized, but his arms and legs,
his evesight, his brain and all his taCul-
ties of mind and body. Other familiar
words have completely changed in mean
ing. Crafty" formerly meant having
craft or trade. VILLAIN" was once one
who lived in a village. Rubbish" was
the refuse which had been rubbed off and
thrown away. Lumber" takes us back
to the time when the Lombards did a
general mercantile and banking business
alover Europe, a lumber yard" or Lom-
bard yard being the place where their
goods were stored.
The "haft" of knife is the part by
which we have to hold it. A "tinker's
dam" has not the profane meaning some
times attached to it, since it once meant
dam of bread or putty around the
work which the tinker was soldering
the same as the plumber of today forms
mold around cast iron pipe when run
ming lead joint. A thing is, therefore,
mot worth tinker's dam when it is OF
no more value than this cast-otf form or
mold which has been used or thrown
away.
Many names are given because of the
resemblance between the article and
some object with which we happen to be
familiar. In 'dovetail, bulls -eye" and
butterfly nut" the resemblance is so
marked as to need no comment. A 'spi-
der' looks the part. A ram" was born
to push and hunt, and the Romans
carved the prows Of their boats and
poles of their chariots to resemble the