Practical Mechanics for Boys | Page 4

His labor is most diverse, and in his employment doing machine work he is called upon to do things which vary widely in their character.
These require special knowledge, particular tools, and more frequently than otherwise, a high order of inventive ability to enable him to accomplish the task.
The boy should be taught, at the outset, that certain things must be learned thoroughly, and that habits in a machine shop can be bad as well as good. When he once becomes accustomed to putting a tool back in its rightful place the moment he is through with it, he has taken a long step toward efficiency.
When he grasps a tool and presents it to the work without turning it over several times, or has acquired the knack of picking up the right tool at the proper place, he is making strides in the direction of becoming a rapid and skilled workman.
These, and many other things of like import, will require our attention throughout the various chapters.
It is not the intention of the book to make every boy who reads and studies it, a machinist; nor have we any desire to present a lot of useful articles as samples of what to make. The object is to show the boy what are the requirements necessary to make him a machinist; how to hold, handle, sharpen and grind the various tools; the proper ones to use for each particular character of work; how the various machines are handled and cared for; the best materials to use; and suggest the numerous things which can be done in a shop which will pave the way for making his work pleasant as well as profitable.
It also analyzes the manner in which the job is laid out; how to set the tools to get the most effective work; and explains what is meant by making a finished piece of workmanship. These things, properly acquired, each must determine in his own mind whether he is adapted to follow up the work.
Over and above all, we shall try to give the boy some stimulus for his work. Unless he takes an interest in what he is doing, he will never become an artisan in the true sense of the word.
Go through the book, and see whether, here and there, you do not get some glimpses of what it means to take a pleasure in doing each particular thing, and you will find in every instance that it is a satisfaction because you have learned to perform it with ease.
I do not know of anything which has done as much to advance the arts and manufactures, during the last century, as the universal desire to improve the form, shape and structure of tools; and the effort to invent new ones. This finds its reflection everywhere in the production of new and improved products.
In this particular I have been led to formulate a homely sentence which expresses the idea: Invention consists in doing an old thing a new way; or a new thing any way.
THE AUTHOR.
CHAPTER I
ON TOOLS GENERALLY
Judging from the favorable comments of educators, on the general arrangement of the subject matter in the work on "Carpentry for Boys," I am disposed to follow that plan in this book in so far as it pertains to tools.
In this field, as in "Carpentry," I do not find any guide which is adapted to teach the boy the fundamentals of mechanics. Writers usually overlook the fact, that as the boy knows nothing whatever about the subject, he could not be expected to know anything about tools.
To describe them gives a start in the education, but it is far short of what is necessary for one in his condition. If he is told that the chisel or bit for a lathe has a diamond point, or is round-nosed, and must be ground at a certain angle, he naturally wants to know, as all boys do, why it should be at that angle.
So in the setting of the tools with relation to the work, the holding and manipulation of the file, of the drill for accurate boring, together with numerous little things, are all taken for granted, and the boy blunders along with the ultimate object in sight, without having the pathway cleared so he may readily reach the goal.
VARIED REQUIREMENTS.--The machinist's trade is one which requires the most varied tools of all occupations, and they are by all odds the most expensive to be found in the entire list of vocations.
[Illustration: Fig. 1. Bench Vise.]
This arises from the fact that he must work with the most stubborn of all materials. He finds resistance at every step in bringing forth a product.
LIST OF TOOLS.--With a view of familiarizing the boy with this great variety the following list is compiled, from which we shall select