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On the Economy of Machinery and Manufactures By: Charles Babbage (1792-1871) |
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On the Economy of Machinery and Manufactures
by Charles Babbage
1832 Preface
The present volume may be considered as one of the
consequences that have resulted from the calculating engine, the
construction of which I have been so long superintending. Having
been induced, during the last ten years, to visit a considerable
number of workshops and factories, both in England and on the
Continent, for the purpose of endeavouring to make myself
acquainted with the various resources of mechanical art, I was
insensibly led to apply to them those principles of
generalization to which my other pursuits had naturally given
rise. The increased number of curious processes and interesting
facts which thus came under my attention, as well as of the
reflections which they suggested, induced me to believe that the
publication of some of them might be of use to persons who
propose to bestow their attention on those enquiries which I have
only incidentally considered. With this view it was my intention
to have delivered the present work in the form of a course of
lectures at Cambridge; an intention which I was subsequently
induced to alter. The substance of a considerable portion of it
has, however, appeared among the preliminary chapters of the
mechanical part of the Encyclopedia Metropolitana. I have not attempted to offer a complete enumeration of all
the mechanical principles which regulate the application of
machinery to arts and manufactures, but I have endeavoured to
present to the reader those which struck me as the most
important, either for understanding the actions of machines, or
for enabling the memory to classify and arrange the facts
connected with their employment. Still less have I attempted to
examine all the difficult questions of political economy which
are intimately connected with such enquiries. It was impossible
not to trace or to imagine, among the wide variety of facts
presented to me, some principles which seemed to pervade many
establishments; and having formed such conjectures, the desire to
refute or to verify them, gave an additional interest to the
pursuit. Several of the principles which I have proposed, appear
to me to have been unnoticed before. This was particularly the
case with respect to the explanation I have given of the division
of labour; but further enquiry satisfied me that I had been
anticipated by M. Gioja, and it is probable that additional
research would enable me to trace most of the other principles,
which I had thought original, to previous writers, to whose merit
I may perhaps be unjust, from my want of acquaintance with the
historical branch of the subject. The truth however of the principles I have stated, is of much
more importance than their origin; and the utility of an enquiry
into them, and of establishing others more correct, if these
should be erroneous, can scarcely admit of a doubt. The difficulty of understanding the processes of manufactures
has unfortunately been greatly overrated. To examine them with
the eye of a manufacturer, so as to be able to direct others to
repeat them, does undoubtedly require much skill and previous
acquaintance with the subject; but merely to apprehend their
general principles and mutual relations, is within the power of
almost every person possessing a tolerable education. Those who possess rank in a manufacturing country, can
scarcely be excused if they are entirely ignorant of principles,
whose development has produced its greatness. The possessors of
wealth can scarcely be indifferent to processes which, nearly or
remotely have been the fertile source of their possessions. Those
who enjoy leisure can scarcely find a more interesting and
instructive pursuit than the examination of the workshops of
their own country, which contain within them a rich mine of
knowledge, too generally neglected by the wealthier classes. It has been my endeavour, as much as possible, to avoid all
technical terms, and to describe, in concise language, the arts I
have had occasion to discuss... Continue reading book >>
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