The wheels, and every other part of the mechanism except the axes, springs, and such parts as are necessarily of steel, are formed of an alloy of copper with a small portion of tin.
The machine was constructed with the intention of tabulating the equation Delta^{7}_{u} = 0, but, by the means above alluded to, it is capable of tabulating such equations as the following: Delta^{7}u = a Delta u, Delta^{7}u = aDelta^{3}u, Delta^{7}u = units figure of Delta u.
Such results as this suggest a train of reflection on the nature and operation of general laws, which would lead to very curious and interesting speculations. The natural philosopher and astronomer will be hardly less struck with them than the metaphysician and theologian.
Phil. Trans. 1820, Part III. p. 250, on a method of expressing by signs the action of machinery.
This discovery has been more justly appreciated by scientific men abroad. It was, almost immediately after its publication, adopted as the topic of lectures, in an institution on the Continent for the instruction of Civil Engineers.
An eminent and wealthy retired manufacturer at Manchester assured us, that on the occasion of a visit to London, when he was favoured with a view of the calculating machinery, he found in it mechanical contrivances, which he subsequently introduced with the greatest advantage into his own spinning-machinery.