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, axial fiber, and cylinder axis. -- Axis in peritrochio, the wheel and axle, one of the mechanical powers. -- Axis of a curve (Geom.), a straight line which bisects a system of parallel chords of a curve; called a principal axis, when cutting them at right angles, in which case it divides the curve into two symmetri…

of the mercurial column changes the indication of the tube. With the aid of electrical or mechanical devices adapted to it, it is used for the automatic regulation of the temperature of rooms warmed artificially, and as a fire alarm. -- Balance of torsion. See Torsion Balance. -- Balance of trade (Pol. Econ.), an equ…

, so as to admit of motion in every direction within certain limits. -- Ball bearings, a mechanical device for lessening the friction of axle bearings by means of small loose metal balls. -- Ball cartridge, a cartridge containing a ball, as distinguished from a blank cartridge, containing only powder. -- Ball cock,…

ing; scheming; as, a cool calculating disposition. Calculating machine, a machine for the mechanical performance of mathematical operations, for the most part invented by Charles Babbage and G. and E. Scheutz. It computes logarithmic and other mathematical tables of a high degree of intricacy, imprinting the results on…

An apparatus for measuring the amount of heat contained in bodies or developed by some mechanical or chemical process, as friction, chemical combination, combustion, etc.

A French mechanical lamp, for lighthouses, in which a superbundance of oil is pumped to the wick tube by clockwork.

s purposes, as of support, of restraint, of ornament, of the exertion and transmission of mechanical power, etc. [They] put a chain of gold about his neck. Dan. v. 29.

d in a kiln, retort, etc., from which air is excluded. It is used for fuel and in various mechanical, artistic, and chemical processes.

Any mechanical engraving process depending upon chemical action; specif., a process of zinc etching not employing photography. -- Chem`i*graph"ic (#), a.

A milky fluid containing the fatty matter of the food in a state of emulsion, or fine mechanical division; formed from chyme by the action of the intestinal juices. It is absorbed by the lacteals, and conveyed into the blood by the thoracic duct.

Like a clock or like clockwork; mechanical. Their services are clocklike, to be set Blackward and vorward at their lord's command. B. Jonson.

A photomechanical print made directly from a hardened film of gelatin or other colloid; also, the process of making such prints. According to one method, the film is sensitized with potassium dichromate and exposed to light under a reversed negative. After the dichromate has been washed out, the film is soaked in glyce…

One who, or that which, compensates; -- a name applied to various mechanical devices.

The faculty which enables one to construct, as in mechanical, artistic, or literary matters.

the fingers, causing intolerable itching. The spiculæ are sometimes used in medicine as a mechanical vermifuge. [Written also couhage, cowage, and cowitch.]

, a term applied to a flat country. -- Dead lift, a direct lift, without assistance from mechanical advantage, as from levers, pulleys, etc.; hence, an extreme emergency. "(As we say) at a dead lift." Robynson (More's Utopia). -- Dead line (Mil.), a line drawn within or around a military prison, to cross which involv…

The process of giving a dull or ground surface to glass by acid or by mechanical means. Knight.

precipitated from a solution (as the siliceous deposits of hot springs), or that which is mechanically deposited (as the mud, gravel, etc., deposits of a river). The deposit already formed affording to the succeeding portion of the charged fluid a basis. Kirwan.

hematical or scientific purposes, or to assist a verbal explanation which refers to it; a mechanical drawing, as distinguished from an artistical one. Indicator diagram. (Steam Engine) See Indicator card, under indicator

The art or science of descriptive drawing; especially, the art or science of drawing by mechanical appliances and mathematical rule.