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A piece of mechanism; mechanical device or contrivance; a gimcrack. [Obs.] Bp. Hall. Shak.

rlike bell, rung by striking it with a small hammer which is connected with it by various mechanical devices; a stationary bell, used to sound calls or alarms; -- called also gong bell. Gong metal, an alloy (78 parts of copper, 22 of tin), from which Oriental gongs are made.

e name alludes. Grinder's asthma, phthisis, or rot (Med.), a lung disease produced by the mechanical irritation of the particles of steel and stone given off in the operation of grinding.

A black, granular, explosive substance, consisting of an intimate mechanical mixture of niter, charcoal, and sulphur. It is used in gunnery and blasting.

ic line on Gunter's scale, used for performing the multiplication and division of numbers mechanically by the dividers; -- called also line of lines, and line of numbers.

brating hammer between a contact piece and an electromagnet, or of a rapidly moving piece mechanically driven.

he phenomena of fusion and evaporation, and which, as manifested in fire, the sun's rays, mechanical action, chemical combination, etc., becomes directly known to us through the sense of feeling. In its nature heat is a mode if motion, being in general a form of molecular disturbance or vibration. It was formerly suppo…

A mechanical lift. See Elevator.

r carrying waste, garbage, etc., out to sea, so constructed as to discharge its load by a mechanical contrivance; -- called also dumping scow. Bell and hopper (Metal.), the apparatus at the top of a blast furnace, through which the charge is introduced, while the gases are retained. -- Hopper boy, a rake in a mill, mo…

To apply to, in conjunction with mechanical pressure, for the purpose of giving a smooth and glosay surface, or to express oil, etc.; as, to hotpress paper, linen, etc.

That branch of the science of mechanics which relates to fluids, or, as usually limited, which treats of the laws of motion and action of nonelastic fluids, whether as investigated mathematically, or by observation and experiment; the principles of dynamics, as applied to water and other fluids.

physicians in Italy, about the middle of the 17th century, who tried to apply the laws of mechanics and mathematics to the human body, and hence were eager student of anatomy; -- opposed to the iatrochemists.

Applied to a semipermanent contraction of a muscle, produced by a mechanical irritant.

e fulfilled, satisfied, or carried out, by means of an implement or implements. The chief mechanical requisites of the barometer are implemented in such an instrument as the following. Nichol.

Pertaining to, or characterized by, implements or their use; mechanical.

o produced motion suddenly, or immediately. All spontaneous animal motion is performed by mechanical impulse. S. Clarke.

of a foot, commonly subdivided into halves, quarters, eights, sixteenths, etc., as among mechanics. It was also formerly divided into twelve parts, called lines, and originally into three parts, called barleycorns, its length supposed to have been determined from three grains of barley placed end to end lengthwise. It…

ng plane. When used to produce pressure, or as a means of moving bodies, it is one of the mechanical powers, so called. (b) (Railroad & Canal) An inclined portion of track, on which trains or boats are raised or lowered from one level to another.

zero and changes sign, so that above synchronism the machine (driven for this purpose by mechanical power) gives out electrical energy as a generator.

nt; having an aptitude to contrive, or to form new combinations; as, an ingenious author, mechanic. A man . . . very wise and ingenious in feats of war. Hakluyt. Thou, king, send out For torturers ingenious. Shak. The more ingenious men are, the more apt are they to trouble themselves. Sir W. Temple.…