Milford chronicle., 1906-05-11
MACHINES WHICH THINK.
Things which Are Accomplished by
Delicate Mechanism.

] NAENAAeNA-@ff~-H
# is said that when the inventor of
tbe tvpesetting machine first endeayor-
ed to demonstrate the practicability of
/ bie mechanism it was laughed at and
noohpoohed by old printers. In Or
1er - said they, Ito make a machine
that will set type you must invent
ebino that will think" But the invent
or triumpbed. says the Philadelphia
Record. and today the result OF MS Ia
bor is one of the most valuable OF
mecbanisms. And each year adds to
tbe long list of machines that do the
work of brain workers. From the corn
niller's little bell that sets up terri
bIe amount of tinkling the moment the
homer runs empty up to the compll-
coted calculating machines seen in eY-
erv bank there are so many mechanic
nj substitutes for the brains that 1t IS
really difficult at times for one to real
ize that after all these machines are
machines and not things of intelll-
| gence.
In screw factories one will see ma
chine that. taking hold of rod of met
al will pull it rapidly along, giving
+be end of it the general shape OF
screw. cutting the thread around 1t ana
the slot in the head, finally turning out
a nerfect screw. So far the process
docs not strike one as being anything
90 very remarkable in this age of Won
derful inventions, but when the ma
chine exhausts its material and emlJs
n sharp. impatient ring of bell 10
summon an attendant to bring more
metal then one does experience an
eerie sensation that the contrivance
/ really does think.
There is a machine for printing rail-
wav tickets that affords an amusing
instance of a thinking" invention, 1t
is interesting to watch this machine do
its work.
The tickets that it turns out are not,
as might be supposed, printed in large
sheets and then cut up. On the contra
rv. the cardboard is first cut into TICK
cts. which are printed afterward one
| by one.
These small blank cards are inserted
into what might be termed perpen-
dicular spout, being arranged In pie
The machine slips piece of metal be-
neath the bottom of the spout and
nusbes out the lowest ticket in the pile
70 he printed and consecutively num-
bered. There is no chance to fool the
machine by offering a bad ticket, for
in an instant the mechanism detects
+ba imDerfect blank, with which it ut
terlv refuses to have anything to do.
A great many other references might
no made to the thinking" machines
that do their work with so much CON
scientiousness. But to complete the
list If will suffice to notice the remark
able performance of certain machines
used in the Philadelphia mint in CON
nection with the weighing of coins.
The new coins are found sometimes
TO be under or over weight, and 1t be-
comes necessary to sort them under
tbe classifications of eight, heavy and
good" This delicate business is done
with unerring precision by a long row
Of wonderfully clever little machines.
Into these machines are inserted sin
Gle niles of bright, new coins. Auto
matically the mechanism takes each
coin. nuts it into the scale and in a
fraction over three seconds weighs it.
Tf tbe coin be Eight the machine
pushes it into its proper receptacle II
"beavy" into another, and if the coin
be of correct weight it is pushed into
a third receptacle.