November 20, 1852
1 min read
Add Us On GoogleAdd SciAmScrew Cutting Machinery
On supporting science journalism
If you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.
Andrew Mayer, of Philadelphia, has taken measures to secure a patent for improvements in the apparatus for cutting screws on pipes and other articles. The screwing apparatus which this patent is intended to improve, is much used by gas fitters and others to screw piping. The gas pipes are generally more or less bent, whence results considerable damage to the dies during the process of screwing; for, owing to their fixed position, they cannot accommodate themselves to the inequalities of the pipe, the threads in the screw of the latter also being liable to be broken. To obviate this defect, the patentee forms, in the stock which holds the dies, recesses for these latter, sufficiently large to allow them to move or play slightly in a direction transversely or laterally to the axis of the pipe. By this means the dies yield before any irregularities in the pipe, and thus prevent any jamming, which would increase the labor &f the operative, and tend to prevent the screw from being truly cut.
It’s Time to Stand Up for Science
If you enjoyed this article, I’d like to ask for your support. Scientific American has served as an advocate for science and industry for 180 years, and right now may be the most critical moment in that two-century history.
I’ve been a Scientific American subscriber since I was 12 years old, and it helped shape the way I look at the world. SciAm always educates and delights me, and inspires a sense of awe for our vast, beautiful universe. I hope it does that for you, too.
If you subscribe to Scientific American, you help ensure that our coverage is centered on meaningful research and discovery; that we have the resources to report on the decisions that threaten labs across the U.S.; and that we support both budding and working scientists at a time when the value of science itself too often goes unrecognized.
In return, you get essential news, captivating podcasts, brilliant infographics, can't-miss newsletters, must-watch videos, challenging games, and the science world's best writing and reporting. You can even gift someone a subscription.
There has never been a more important time for us to stand up and show why science matters. I hope you’ll support us in that mission.