On the Economy of Machinery and Manufactures - Charles Babbage (interesting books to read in english .TXT) 📗

I had never seen, and with whom I had never

previously had the slightest communication. I left the book in Mr

Knight’s hands, with a request that, when he had read it, I might

be informed whether he would undertake the publication of it; and

this he consented to do. Mr Knight, therefore, is so far from

being responsible for a single opinion in the present volume,

that he saw it only, for a short time, a few days previous to its

publication.

 

It has been objected to me, that I have exposed too freely

the secrets of trade. The only real secrets of trade are

industry, integrity, and knowledge: to the possessors of these no

exposure can be injurious; and they never fail to produce respect

and wealth.

 

The alterations in the present edition are so frequent, that

I found it impossible to comprise them in a supplement. But the

three new chapters, ‘On money as a medium of exchange’; ‘On a new

system of manufacturing’; and ‘On the effect of machinery in

reducing the demand for labour’; will shortly be printed

separately, for the use of the purchasers of the first edition.

 

I am inclined to attach some importance to the new system of

manufacturing; and venture to throw it out with the hope of its

receiving a full discussion among those who are most interested

in the subject. I believe that some such system of conducting

manufactories would greatly increase the productive powers of any

country adopting it; and that our own possesses much greater

facilities for its application than other countries, in the

greater intelligence and superior education of the working

classes. The system would naturally commence in some large town,

by the union of some of the most prudent and active workmen; and

their example, if successful, would be followed by others. The

small capitalist would next join them, and such factories would

go on increasing until competition compelled the large capitalist

to adopt the same system; and, ultimately, the whole faculties of

every man engaged in manufacture would be concentrated upon one

object—the art of producing a good article at the lowest

possible cost—whilst the moral effect on that class of the

population would be useful in the highest degree, since it would

render character of far greater value to the workman than it is

at present.

 

To one criticism which has been made, this volume is

perfectly open. I have dismissed the important subject of the

patent-laws in a few lines. The subject presents, in my opinion,

great difficulties, and I have been unwilling to write upon it,

because I do not see my way. I will only here advert to one

difficulty. What constitutes an invention? Few simple mechanical

contrivances are new; and most combinations may be viewed as

species, and classed under genera of more or less generality; and

may, in consequence, be pronounced old or new, according to the

mechanical knowledge of the person who gives his opinion.

 

Some of my critics have amused their readers with the

wildness of the schemes I have occasionally thrown out; and I

myself have sometimes smiled along with them. Perhaps it were

wiser for present reputation to offer nothing but profoundly

meditated plans, but I do not think knowledge will be most

advanced by that course; such sparks may kindle the energies of

other minds more favourably circumstanced for pursuing the

enquiries. Thus I have now ventured to give some speculations on

the mode of blowing furnaces for smelting iron; and even

supposing them to be visionary, it is of some importance thus to

call the attention of a large population, engaged in one of our

most extensive manufactures, to the singular fact, that

four-fifths of the steam power used to blow their furnaces

actually cools them.

 

I have collected, with some pains, the criticisms* on the

first edition of this work, and have availed myself of much

information which has been communicated to me by my friends, for

the improvement of the present volume. If I have succeeded in

expressing that I had to explain with perspicuity, I am aware

that much of this clearness is due to my friend, Dr Fitton, to

whom both the present and the former edition are indebted for

such an examination and correction, as an author himself has very

rarely the power to bestow.

 

[*Footnote: Several of these have probably escaped me, and I shall

feel indebted to any one who will inform my publisher of any future

remarks.]

 

22 November, 1832.

 

Section I.

 

INTRODUCTION.

 

The object of the present volume is to point out the effects

and the advantages which arise from the use of tools and

machines;—to endeavour to classify their modes of action;—and to

trace both the causes and the consequences of applying machinery

to supersede the skill and power of the human arm.

 

A view of the mechanical part of the subject will, in the

first instance, occupy our attention, and to this the first

section of the work will be devoted. The first chapter of the

section will contain some remarks on the general sources from

whence the advantages of machinery are derived, and the

succeeding nine chapters will contain a detailed examination of

principles of a less general character. The eleventh chapter

contains numerous subdivisions, and is important from the

extensive classification it affords of the arts in which copying

is so largely employed. The twelfth chapter, which completes the

first section, contains a few suggestions for the assistance of

those who propose visiting manufactories.

 

The second section, after an introductory chapter on the

difference between making and manufacturing, will contain, in the

succeeding chapters, a discussion of many of the questions which

relate to the political economy of the subject. It was found that

the domestic arrangement, or interior economy of factories, was

so interwoven with the more general questions, that it was deemed

unadvisable to separate the two subjects. The concluding chapter

of this section, and of the work itself, relates to the future

prospects of manufactures, as arising from the application of

science.