Figs. 1-6.--Crystals of Calcite.Figs.1-6.—Crystals of Calcite.
Crystals of calcite are extremely varied in form, but, as a rule, they may be referred to four distinct habits, namely: rhombohedral, prismatic, scalenohedral and tabular. The primitive rhombohedron,r{100} (fig. 1), is comparatively rare except in combination with other forms. A flatter rhombohedron,e{110}, is shown in fig. 2, and a more acute one,f{111}, in fig. 3. These three rhombohedra are related in such a manner that, when in combination, the faces ofrtruncate the polar edges off, and the faces ofetruncate the edges ofr. The crystal of prismatic habit shown in fig. 4 is a combination of the prismm{211} and the rhombohedrone{110}; fig. 5 is a combination of the scalenohedronv{201} and the rhombohedronr{100}; and the crystal of tabular habit represented in fig. 6 is a combination of the basal pinacoidc{111}, prismm{211}, and rhombohedrone{110}. In these figures only six distinct forms (r,e,f,m,v,c) are represented, but more than 400 have been recorded for calcite, whilst the combinations of them are almost endless.
Depending on the habits of the crystals, certain trivial names have been used, such, for example, as dog-tooth-spar for the crystals of scalenohedral habit, so common in the Derbyshire lead mines and limestone caverns; nail-head-spar for crystals terminated by the obtuse rhombohedrone, which are common in the lead mines of Alston Moor in Cumberland; slate-spar (GermanSchieferspath) for crystals of tabular habit, and sometimes as thin as paper: cannon-spar for crystals of prismatic habit terminated by the basal pinacoidc.
Calcite is also remarkable for the variety and perfection of its twinned crystals. Twinned crystals, though not of infrequent occurrence, are, however, far less common than simple (untwinned) crystals. No less than four well-defined twin-laws are to be distinguished:—
Figs. 7-10.--Twinned Crystals of CalciteFig.7-10.—Twinned Crystals of Calcite.
i. Twin-planec(111).—Here there is rotation of one portion with respect to the other through 180° about the principal (trigonal) axis, which is perpendicular to the planec(111); or the same result may be obtained by reflection across this plane. Fig. 7 shows a prismatic crystal (like fig. 4) twinned in this manner, and fig. 8 represents a twinned scalenohedronv{201}.
ii. Twin-planee(110).—The principal axes of the two portions are inclined at an angle of 52° 30½′. Repeated twinning on this plane is very common, and the twin-lamellae (fig. 9) to which it gives rise are often to be observed in the grains of calcite of crystalline limestones which have been subjected to pressure. This lamellar twinning is of secondary origin; it may be readily produced artificially by pressure, for example, by pressing a knife into the edge of a cleavage rhombohedron.
iii. Twin-planer(100).—Here the principal axes of the two portions are nearly at right angles (89° 14′), and one of the directions of cleavage in both portions is parallel to the twin-plane. Fine crystals of prismatic habit twinned according to this law were formerly found in considerable numbers at Wheal Wrey in Cornwall, and of scalenohedral habit at Eyam in Derbyshire and Cleator Moor in Cumberland; those from the last two localities are known as "butterfly twins" or "heart-shaped twins" (fig. 10), according to their shape.
iv. Twin-planef(111).—The principal axes are here inclined at 53° 46′. This is the rarest twin-law of calcite.
Calcite when pure, as in the well-known Iceland-spar, is perfectly transparent and colourless. The lustre is vitreous. Owing to the presence of various impurities, the transparency and colour may vary considerably. Crystals are often nearly white or colourless, usually with a slight yellowish tinge. The yellowish colour is in most cases due to the presence of iron, but in some cases it has been proved to be due to organic matter (such as apocrenic acid) derived from the humus overlying the rocks in which the crystals were formed. An opaque calcite of a grass-green colour, occurring as large cleavage masses in central India and known as hislopite, owes its colour to enclosed "green-earth" (glauconite and celadonite). A stalagmitic calcite of a beautiful purple colour, from Reichelsdorf in Hesse, is coloured bycobalt.
Optically, calcite is uniaxial with negative bi-refringence, the index of refraction for the ordinary ray being greater than for the extraordinary ray; for sodium-light the former is 1.6585 and the latter 1.4862. The difference, 0.1723, between these two indices gives a measure of the bi-refringence or double refraction.
Although the double refraction of some other minerals is greater than that of calcite (e.g.for cinnabar it is 0.347, and for calomel 0.683), yet this phenomenon can be best demonstrated in calcite, since it is a mineral obtainable in large pieces of perfect transparency. Owing to the strong double refraction and the consequent wide separation of the two polarized rays of light traversing the crystal, an object viewed through a cleavage rhombohedron of Iceland-spar is seen double, hence the name doubly-refracting spar. Iceland-spar is extensively used in the construction of Nicol's prisms for polariscopes, polarizing microscopes and saccharimeters, and of dichroscopes for testing the pleochroism of gem-stones.
Chemically, calcite has the same composition as the orthorhombic aragonite (q.v.), these minerals being dimorphous forms of calcium carbonate. Well-crystallized material, such as Iceland-spar, usually consists of perfectly pure calcium carbonate, but at other times the calcium may be isomorphously replaced by small amounts of magnesium, barium, strontium, manganese, zinc or lead. When the elements named are present in large amount we have the varieties dolomitic calcite, baricalcite, strontianocalcite, ferrocalcite, manganocalcite, zincocalcite and plumbocalcite, respectively.
Mechanically enclosed impurities are also frequently present, and it is to these that the colour is often due. A remarkable case of enclosed impurities is presented by the so-called Fontainbleau limestone, which consists of crystals of calcite of an acute rhombohedral form (fig. 3) enclosing 50 to 60% of quartz-sand. Similar crystals, but with the form of an acute hexagonal pyramid, and enclosing 64% of sand, have recently been found in large quantity over a wide area in South Dakota, Nebraska and Wyoming. The case of hislopite, which encloses up to 20% of "green earth," has been noted above.
In addition to the varieties of calcite noted above, some others, depending on the state of aggregation of the material, are distinguished. A finely fibrous form is known as satin-spar (q.v.), a name also applied to fibrous gypsum: the most typical example of this is the snow-white material, often with a rosy tinge and a pronounced silky lustre, which occurs in veins in the Carboniferous shales of Alston Moor in Cumberland. Finely scaly varieties with a pearly lustre are known as argentine and aphrite (GermanSchaumspath); soft, earthy and dull white varieties as agaric mineral, rock-milk, rock-meal, &c.—these form a transition to marls, chalk, &c. Of the granular and compact forms numerous varieties are distinguished (seeLimestoneandMarble). In the form of stalactites calcite is of extremely common occurrence. Each stalactite usually consists of an aggregate of radially arranged crystalline individuals, though sometimes it may consist of a single individual with crystal faces developed at the free end. Onyx-marbles or Oriental alabaster (seeAlabaster) and other stalagmitic deposits also consist of calcite, and so do the allied deposits of travertine, calc-sinter or calc-tufa.
The modes of occurrence of calcite are very varied. It is a common gangue mineral in metalliferous deposits, and in the form of crystals is often associated with ores of lead, iron, copper and silver. It is a common product of alteration in igneous rocks, and frequently occurs as well-developed crystals in association with zeolites lining the amygdaloidal cavities of basaltic and other rocks. Veins and cavities in limestones are usually lined with crystals of calcite. The wide distribution, under various conditions, of crystallized calcite is readily explained by the solubility of calcium carbonate in water containing carbon dioxide, and the ease with which the material is again deposited in the crystallized state when the carbon dioxide is liberated by evaporation. On this also depends the formation of stalactites and calc-sinter.
Localities at which beautifully crystallized specimens of calcite are found are extremely numerous. For beauty of crystals and variety of forms the haematite mines of the Cleator Moor district in west Cumberland and the Furness district in north Lancashire are unsurpassed. The lead mines of Alston in Cumberland and of Derbyshire, and the silver mines of Andreasberg in the Harz and Guanajuato in Mexico have yielded many fine specimens. From the zinc mines of Joplin in Missouri enormous crystals of golden-yellow and amethystine colours have been recently obtained. At all the localities here mentioned the crystals occur with metalliferous ores. In Iceland the mode of occurrence is quite distinct, the mineral being here found in a cavity in basalt.
The quarry, which since the 19th century has supplied the famous Iceland-spar, is in a cavity in basalt, the cavity itself measuring 12 by 5 yds. in area and about 10 ft. in height. It is situated quite close to the farm Helgustadir, about an hour's ride from the trading station of Eskifjordur on Reydar Fjordur, on the east coast of Iceland. This cavity when first found was filled with pure crystallized masses and enormous crystals. The crystals measure up to a yard across, and are rhombohedral or scalenohedral in habit; their faces are usually dull and corroded or coated with stilbite. In recent years much of the material taken out has not been of sufficient transparency for optical purposes, and this, together with the very limited supply, has caused a considerable rise in price. Only very occasionally has calcite from any locality other than Iceland been used for the construction of a Nicol's prism.
(L. J. S.)
CALCIUM[symbol Ca, atomic weight 40.0 (O=16)], a metallic chemical element, so named by Sir Humphry Davy from itsoccurrence in chalk (Latincalx). It does not occur in nature in the free state, but in combination it is widely and abundantly diffused. Thus the sulphate constitutes the minerals anhydrite, alabaster, gypsum, and selenite; the carbonate occurs dissolved in most natural waters and as the minerals chalk, marble, calcite, aragonite; also in the double carbonates such as dolomite, bromlite, barytocalcite; the fluoride as fluorspar; the fluophosphate constitutes the mineral apatite; while all the more important mineral silicates contain a proportion of this element.
Extraction.—Calcium oxide or lime has been known from a very remote period, and was for a long time considered to be an elementary or undecomposable earth. This view was questioned in the 18th century, and in 1808 Sir Humphry Davy (Phil. Trans., 1808, p. 303) was able to show that lime was a combination of a metal and oxygen. His attempts at isolating this metal were not completely successful; in fact, metallic calcium remained a laboratory curiosity until the beginning of the 20th century. Davy, inspired by his successful isolation of the metals sodium and potassium by the electrolysis of their hydrates, attempted to decompose a mixture of lime and mercuric oxide by the electric current; an amalgam of calcium was obtained, but the separation of the mercury was so difficult that even Davy himself was not sure as to whether he had obtained pure metallic calcium. Electrolysis of lime or calcium chloride in contact with mercury gave similar results. Bunsen (Ann., 1854, 92, p. 248) was more successful when he electrolysed calcium chloride moistened with hydrochloric acid; and A. Matthiessen (Jour. Chem. Soc., 1856, p. 28) obtained the metal by electrolysing a mixture of fused calcium and sodium chlorides. Henri Moissan obtained the metal of 99% purity by electrolysing calcium iodide at a low red heat, using a nickel cathode and a graphite anode; he also showed that a more convenient process consisted in heating the iodide with an excess of sodium, forming an amalgam of the product, and removing the sodium by means of absolute alcohol (which has but little action on calcium), and the mercury by distillation.
The electrolytic isolation of calcium has been carefully investigated, and this is the method followed for the commercial production of the metal. In 1902 W. Borchers and L. Stockem (Zeit. für Electrochemie, 1902, p. 8757) obtained the metal of 90% purity by electrolysing calcium chloride at a temperature of about 780°, using an iron cathode, the anode being the graphite vessel in which the electrolysis was carried out. In the same year, O. Ruff and W. Plato (Ber.1902, 35, p. 3612) employed a mixture of calcium chloride (100 parts) and fluorspar (16.5 parts), which was fused in a porcelain crucible and electrolysed with a carbon anode and an iron cathode. Neither of these processes admitted of commercial application, but by a modification of Ruff and Plato's process, W. Ruthenau and C. Suter have made the metal commercially available. These chemists electrolyse either pure calcium chloride, or a mixture of this salt with fluorspar, in a graphite vessel which serves as the anode. The cathode consists of an iron rod which can be gradually raised. On electrolysis a layer of metallic calcium is formed at the lower end of this rod on the surface of the electrolyte; the rod is gradually raised, the thickness of the layer increases, and ultimately a rod of metallic calcium, forming, as it were, a continuation of the iron cathode, is obtained. This is the form in which calcium is put on the market.
An idea as to the advance made by this method is recorded in the variation in the price of calcium. At the beginning of 1904 it was quoted at 5s. per gram, £250 per kilogram or £110 per pound; about a year later the price was reduced to 21s. per kilogram, or 12s. per kilogram in quantities of 100 kilograms. These quotations apply to Germany; in the United Kingdom the price (1905) varied from 27s. to 30s. per kilogram (12s. to 13s. per lb.).
Properties.—A freshly prepared surface of the metal closely resembles zinc in appearance, but on exposure to the air it rapidly tarnishes, becoming yellowish and ultimately grey or white in colour owing to the information of a surface layer of calcium hydrate. A faint smell of acetylene may be perceived during the oxidation in moist air; this is probably due to traces of calcium carbide. It is rapidly acted on by water, especially if means are taken to remove the layer of calcium hydrate formed on the metal; alcohol acts very slowly. In its chemical properties it closely resembles barium and strontium, and to some degree magnesium; these four elements comprise the so-called metals of the "alkaline earths." It combines directly with most elements, including nitrogen; this can be taken advantage of in forming almost a perfect vacuum, the oxygen combining to form the oxide, CaO, and the nitrogen to form the nitride, Ca3N2. Several of its physical properties have been determined by K. Arndt (Ber., 1904, 37, p. 4733). The metal as prepared by electrolysis generally contains traces of aluminium and silica. Its specific gravity is 1.54, and after remelting 1.56; after distillation it is 1.52. It melts at about 800°, but sublimes at a lower temperature.
Compounds.—Calcium hydride, obtained by heating electrolytic calcium in a current of hydrogen, appears in commerce under the name hydrolite. Water decomposes it to give hydrogen free from ammonia and acetylene, 1 gram yielding about 100 ccs. of gas (Prats Aymerich,Abst. J.C.S., 1907, ii p. 460). Calcium forms two oxides—the monoxide, CaO, and the dioxide, CaO2. The monoxide and its hydrate are more familiarly known as lime (q.v.) and slaked-lime. The dioxide was obtained as the hydrate, CaO2·8H2O, by P. Thénard (Ann. Chim. Phys., 1818, 8, p. 213), who precipitated lime-water with hydrogen peroxide. It is permanent when dry; on heating to 130° C. it loses water and gives the anhydrous dioxide as an unstable, pale buff-coloured powder, very sparingly soluble in water. It is used as an antiseptic and oxidizing agent.
Whereas calcium chloride, bromide, and iodide are deliquescent solids, the fluoride is practically insoluble in water; this is a parallelism to the soluble silver fluoride, and the insoluble chloride, bromide and iodide.Calcium fluoride, CaF2, constitutes the mineral fluor-spar (q.v.), and is prepared artificially as an insoluble white powder by precipitating a solution of calcium chloride with a soluble fluoride. One part dissolves in 26,000 parts of water.Calcium chloride, CaCl2, occurs in many natural waters, and as a by-product in the manufacture of carbonic acid (carbon dioxide), and potassium chlorate. Aqueous solutions deposit crystals containing 2, 4 or 6 molecules of water. Anhydrous calcium chloride, prepared by heating the hydrate to 200° (preferably in a current of hydrochloric acid gas, which prevents the formation of any oxychloride), is very hygroscopic, and is used as a desiccating agent. It fuses at 723°. It combines with gaseous ammonia and forms crystalline compounds with certain alcohols. The crystallized salt dissolves very readily in water with a considerable absorption of heat; hence its use in forming "freezing mixtures." A temperature of -55°C. is obtained by mixing 10 parts of the hexahydrate with 7 parts of snow. A saturated solution of calcium chloride contains 325 parts of CaCl2to 100 of water at the boiling point (179.5°). Calcium iodide and bromide are white deliquescent solids and closely resemble the chloride.
Chloride of limeor "bleaching powder" is a calcium chlor-hypochlorite or an equimolecular mixture of the chloride and hypochlorite (seeAlkali ManufactureandBleaching).
Calcium carbide, CaC2, a compound of great industrial importance as a source of acetylene, was first prepared by F. Wohler. It is now manufactured by heating lime and carbon in the electric furnace (seeAcetylene). Heated in chlorine or with bromine, it yields carbon and calcium chloride or bromide; at a dull red heat it burns in oxygen, forming calcium carbonate, and it becomes incandescent in sulphur vapour at 500°, forming calcium sulphide and carbon disulphide. Heated in the electric furnace in a current of air, it yields calcium cyanamide (seeCyanamide).
Calcium carbonate, CaCO3, is of exceptionally wide distribution in both the mineral and animal kingdoms. It constitutes the bulk of the chalk deposits and limestone rocks; it forms over one-half of the mineral dolomite and the rock magnesium limestone; it occurs also as the dimorphous minerals aragonite (q.v.) and calcite (q.v.). Tuff (q.v.) and travertine are calcareous deposits found in volcanic districts. Most natural waters contain it dissolved in carbonic acid; this confers "temporary hardness" on the water. The dissipation of the dissolved carbon dioxide results in the formation of "fur" in kettles or boilers, and if the solution is falling, as from the roof of a cave, in the formation of stalactites and stalagmites. In the animal kingdom it occurs as both calcite and aragonite in the tests of the foraminifera, echinoderms, brachiopoda, and mollusca; also in the skeletons of sponges and corals. Calcium carbonate is obtained as a white precipitate, almost insoluble in water (1 part requiring 10,000 of water for solution), by mixing solutions of a carbonate and a calcium salt. Hot or dilute cold solutions deposit minute orthorhombic crystals of aragonite, cold saturated or moderately strong solutions, hexagonal (rhombohedral) crystals of calcite. Aragonite is the least stable form; crystals have been found altered to calcite.
Calcium nitride, Ca3N2, is a greyish-yellow powder formed by heating calcium in air or nitrogen; water decomposes it with evolution of ammonia (see H. Moissan,Compt. Rend., 127, p. 497).
Calcium nitrate, Ca(NO3)2·4H2O, is a highly deliquescent salt,crystallizing in monoclinic prisms, and occurring in various natural waters, as an efflorescence in limestone caverns, and in the neighbourhood of decaying nitrogenous organic matter. Hence its synonyms, "wall-saltpetre" and "lime-saltpetre"; from its disintegrating action on mortar, it is sometimes referred to as "saltpetre rot." The anhydrous nitrate, obtained by heating the crystallized salt, is very phosphorescent, and constitutes "Baldwin's phosphorus." A basic nitrate, Ca(NO3)2·Ca(OH)2·3H2O, is obtained by dissolving calcium hydroxide in a solution of the normal nitrate.
Calcium phosphide, Ca3P2, is obtained as a reddish substance by passing phosphorus vapour over strongly heated lime. Water decomposes it with the evolution of spontaneously inflammable hydrogen phosphide; hence its use as a marine signal fire ("Holmes lights"), (see L. Gattermann and W. Haussknecht,Ber., 1890, 23, p. 1176, and H. Moissan,Compt. Rend., 128, p. 787).
Of the calcium orthophosphates, the normal salt, Ca3(PO4)2, is the most important. It is the principal inorganic constituent of bones, and hence of the "bone-ash" of commerce (seePhosphorus); it occurs with fluorides in the mineral apatite (q.v.); and the concretions known as coprolites (q.v.) largely consist of this salt. It also constitutes the minerals ornithite, Ca3(PO4)2·2H2O, osteolite and sombrerite. The mineral brushite, CaHPO4·2H2O, which is isomorphous with the acid arsenate pharmacolite, CaHAsO4·2H2O, is an acid phosphate, and assumes monoclinic forms. The normal salt may be obtained artificially, as a white gelatinous precipitate which shrinks greatly on drying, by mixing solutions of sodium hydrogen phosphate, ammonia, and calcium chloride. Crystals may be obtained by heating di-calcium pyrophosphate, Ca2P2O7, with water under pressure. It is insoluble in water; slightly soluble in solutions of carbonic acid and common salt, and readily soluble in concentrated hydrochloric and nitric acid. Of the acid orthophosphates, the mono-calcium salt, CaH4(PO4)2, may be obtained as crystalline scales, containing one molecule of water, by evaporating a solution of the normal salt in hydrochloric or nitric acid. It dissolves readily in water, the solution having an acid reaction. The artificial manure known as "superphosphate of lime" consists of this salt and calcium sulphate, and is obtained by treating ground bones, coprolites, &c., with sulphuric acid. The di-calcium salt, Ca2H2(PO4)2, occurs in a concretionary form in the ureters and cloaca of the sturgeon, and also in guano. It is obtained as rhombic plates by mixing dilute solutions of calcium chloride and sodium phosphate, and passing carbon dioxide into the liquid. Other phosphates are also known.
Calcium monosulphide, CaS, a white amorphous powder, sparingly soluble in water, is formed by heating the sulphate with charcoal, or by heating lime in a current of sulphuretted hydrogen. It is particularly noteworthy from the phosphorescence which it exhibits when heated, or after exposure to the sun's rays; hence its synonym "Canton's phosphorus," after John Canton (1718-1772), an English natural philosopher. The sulphydrate or hydrosulphide, Ca(SH)2, is obtained as colourless, prismatic crystals of the composition Ca(SH)2·6H2O, by passing sulphuretted hydrogen into milk of lime. The strong aqueous solution deposits colourless, four-sided prisms of the hydroxy-hydrosulphide, Ca(OH)(SH). The disulphide, CaS2and pentasulphide, CaS5, are formed when milk of lime is boiled with flowers of sulphur. These sulphides form the basis of Balmain's luminous paint. An oxysulphide, 2CaS·CaO, is sometimes present in "soda-waste," and orange-coloured, acicular crystals of 4CaS·CaSO4·18H2O occasionally settle out on the long standing of oxidized "soda- or alkali-waste" (seeAlkali Manufacture).
Calcium sulphite, CaSO3, a white substance, soluble in water, is prepared by passing sulphur dioxide into milk of lime. This solution with excess of sulphur dioxide yields the "bisulphite of lime" of commerce, which is used in the "chemical" manufacture of wood-pulp for paper making.
Calcium sulphate, CaSO4, constitutes the minerals anhydrite (q.v.), and, in the hydrated form, selenite, gypsum (q.v.), alabaster (q.v.), and also the adhesive plaster of Paris (seeCement). It occurs dissolved in most natural waters, which it renders "permanently hard." It is obtained as a white crystalline precipitate, sparingly soluble in water (100 parts of water dissolve 24 of the salt at 15°C.), by mixing solutions of a sulphate and a calcium salt; it is more soluble in solutions of common salt and hydrochloric acid, and especially of sodium thiosulphate.
Calcium silicatesare exceptionally abundant in the mineral kingdom. Calcium metasilicate, CaSiO3, occurs in nature as monoclinic crystals known as tabular spar or wollastonite; it may be prepared artificially from solutions of calcium chloride and sodium silicate. H. Le Chatelier (Annales des mines, 1887, p. 345) has obtained artificially the compounds: CaSiO3, Ca2SiO4, Ca3Si2O7, and Ca3SiO5. (See also G. Oddo,Chemisches Centralblatt, 1896, 228.) Acid calcium silicates are represented in the mineral kingdom by gyrolite, H2Ca2(SiO3)3·H2O, a lime zeolite, sometimes regarded as an altered form of apophyllite (q.v.), which is itself an acid calcium silicate containing an alkaline fluoride, by okenite, H2Ca(SiO3)2·H2O, and by xonalite 4CaSiO3·H2O. Calcium silicate is also present in the minerals: olivine, pyroxenes, amphiboles, epidote, felspars, zeolites, scapolites (qq.v.).
Detection and Estimation.—Most calcium compounds, especially when moistened with hydrochloric acid, impart an orange-red colour to a Bunsen flame, which when viewed through green glass appears to be finch-green; this distinguishes it in the presence of strontium, whose crimson coloration is apt to mask the orange-red calcium flame (when viewed through green glass the strontium flame appears to be a very faint yellow). In the spectroscope calcium exhibits two intense lines—an orange line (α), (λ6163), a green line (β), (λ4229), and a fainter indigo line. Calcium is not precipitated by sulphuretted hydrogen, but falls as the carbonate when an alkaline carbonate is added to a solution. Sulphuric acid gives a white precipitate of calcium sulphate with strong solutions; ammonium oxalate gives calcium oxalate, practically insoluble in water and dilute acetic acid, but readily soluble in nitric or hydrochloric acid. Calcium is generally estimated by precipitation as oxalate which, after drying, is heated and weighed as carbonate or oxide, according to the degree and duration of the heating.
CALCULATING MACHINES.Instruments for the mechanical performance of numerical calculations, have in modern times come into ever-increasing use, not merely for dealing with large masses of figures in banks, insurance offices, &c., but also, as cash registers, for use on the counters of retail shops. They may be classified as follows:—(i.) Addition machines; the first invented by Blaise Pascal (1642). (ii.) Addition machines modified to facilitate multiplication; the first by G.W. Leibnitz (1671). (iii.) True multiplication machines; Léon Bollés (1888), Steiger (1894). (iv.) Difference machines; Johann Helfrich von Müller (1786), Charles Babbage (1822). (v.) Analytical machines; Babbage (1834). The number of distinct machines of the first three kinds is remarkable and is being constantly added to, old machines being improved and new ones invented; Professor R. Mehmke has counted over eighty distinct machines of this type. The fullest published account of the subject is given by Mehmke in theEncyclopädie der mathematischen Wissenschaften, article "Numerisches Rechnen," vol. i., Heft 6 (1901). It contains historical notes and full references. Walther von Dyck'sCataloguealso contains descriptions of various machines. We shall confine ourselves to explaining the principles of some leading types, without giving an exact description of any particular one.
Fig. 1.--Figure disk.Fig.1.
Practically all calculating machines contain a "counting work," a series of "figure disks" consisting in the original form of horizontal circular disks (fig. 1), on which the figures 0, 1, 2, to 9 are marked. Each disk can turn about its vertical axis, and is covered by a fixed plate with a hole or "window" in it through which one figure can be seen. On turning the disk through one-tenth of a revolution this figure will be changed into the next higher or lower. Such turning may be called a "step,"positiveAddition machines.if the next higher andnegativeif the next lower figure appears. Each positive step therefore adds one unit to the figure under the window, while two steps add two, and so on. If a series, say six, of such figure disks be placed side by side, their windows lying in a row, then any number of six places can be made to appear, for instance 000373. In order to add 6425 to this number, the disks, counting from right to left, have to be turned 5, 2, 4 and 6 steps respectively. If this is done the sum 006798 will appear. In case the sum of the two figures at any disk is greater than 9, if for instance the last figure to be added is 8 instead of 5, the sum for this disk is 11 and the 1 only will appear. Hence an arrangement for "carrying" has to be introduced. This may be done as follows. The axis of a figure disk contains a wheel with ten teeth. Each figure disk has, besides, one long tooth which when its 0 passes the window turns the next wheel to the left, one tooth forward, and hence the figure disk one step. The actual mechanism is not quite so simple, because the long teeth as described would gear also into the wheel to the right, and besides would interfere with each other. They must therefore be replaced by a somewhat more complicated arrangement, which has been done in various ways not necessary to describe more fully. On the way in which this is done, however, depends to a great extent the durability and trustworthiness of any arithmometer; in fact, it is often its weakest point. If to the series of figure disks arrangements are added for turning each disk through a required number of steps,we have an addition machine, essentially of Pascal's type. In it each disk had to be turned by hand. This operation has been simplified in various ways by mechanical means. For pure addition machines key-boards have been added, say for each disk nine keys marked 1 to 9. On pressing the key marked 6 the disk turns six steps and so on. These have been introduced by Stettner (1882), Max Mayer (1887), and in the comptometer by Dorr Z. Felt of Chicago. In the comptograph by Felt and also in "Burrough's Registering Accountant" the result is printed.
These machines can be used for multiplication, as repeated addition, but the process is laborious, depending for rapid executionModified addition machines.essentially on the skill of the operator.[1]To adapt an addition machine, as described, to rapid multiplication the turnings of the separate figure disks are replaced by one motion, commonly the turning of a handle. As, however, the different disks have to be turned through different steps, a contrivance has to be inserted which can be "set" in such a way that by one turn of the handle each disk is moved through a number of steps equal to the number of units which is to be added on that disk. This may be done by making each of the figure disks receive on its axis a ten-toothed wheel, called hereafter the A-wheel, which is acted on either directly or indirectly by another wheel (called the B-wheel) in which the number of teeth can be varied from 0 to 9. This variation of the teeth has been effected in different ways. Theoretically the simplest seems to be to have on the B-wheel nine teeth which can be drawn back into the body of the wheel, so that at will any number from 0 to 9 can be made to project. This idea, previously mentioned by Leibnitz, has been realized by Bohdner in the "Brunsviga." Another way, also due to Leibnitz, consists in inserting between the axis of the handle bar and the A-wheel a "stepped" cylinder. This may be considered as being made up of ten wheels large enough to contain about twenty teeth each; but most of these teeth are cut away so that these wheels retain in succession 9, 8, ... 1, 0 teeth. If these are made as one piece they form a cylinder with teeth of lengths from 9, 8 ... times the length of a tooth on a single wheel.
Fig. 2.--Brunsviga.Fig.2.
In the diagrammatic vertical section of such a machine (fig. 2) FF is a figure disk with a conical wheel A on its axis. In the covering plate HK is the window W. A stepped cylinder is shown at B. The axis Z, which runs along the whole machine, is turned by a handle, and itself turns the cylinder B by aid of conical wheels. Above this cylinder lies an axis EE with square section along which a wheel D can be moved. The same axis carries at E′ a pair of conical wheels C and C′, which can also slide on the axis so that either can be made to drive the A-wheel. The covering plate MK has a slot above the axis EE allowing a rod LL′ to be moved by aid of a button L, carrying the wheel D with it. Along the slot is a scale of numbers 0 1 2 ... 9 corresponding with the number of teeth on the cylinder B, with which the wheel D will gear in any given position. A series of such slots is shown in the top middle part of Steiger's machine (fig. 3). Let now the handle driving the axis Z be turned once round, the button being set to 4. Then four teeth of the B-wheel will turn D and with it the A-wheel, and consequently the figure disk will be moved four steps. These steps will be positive or forward if the wheel C gears in A, and consequently four will be added to the figure showing at the window W. But if the wheels CC′ are moved to the right, C′ will gear with A moving backwards, with the result that four is subtracted at the window. This motion of all the wheels C is done simultaneously by the push of a lever which appears at the top plate of the machine, its two positions being marked "addition" and "subtraction." The B-wheels are in fixed positions below the plate MK. Level with this, but separate, is the plate KH with the window. On it the figure disks are mounted.
This plate is hinged at the back at H and can be lifted up, thereby throwing the A-wheels out of gear. When thus raised the figure disks can be set to any figures; at the same time it can slide to and fro so that an A-wheel can be put in gear with any C-wheel forming with it one "element." The number of these varies with the size of the machine. Suppose there are six B-wheels and twelve figure disks. Let these be all set to zero with the exception of the last four to the right, these showing 1 4 3 2, and let these be placed opposite the last B-wheels to the right. If now the buttons belonging to the latter be set to 3 2 5 6, then on turning the B-wheels all once round the latter figures will be added to the former, thus showing 4 6 8 8 at the windows. By aid of the axis Z, this turning of the B-wheels is performed simultaneously by the movement of one handle. We have thus an addition machine. If it be required to multiply a number, say 725, by any number up to six figures, say 357, the buttons are set to the figures 725, the windows all showing zero. The handle is then turned, 725 appears at the windows, and successive turns add this number to the first. Hence seven turns show the product seven times 725. Now the plate with the A-wheels is lifted and moved one step to the right, then lowered and the handle turned five times, thus adding fifty times 725 to the product obtained. Finally, by moving the piate again, and turning the handle three times, the required product is obtained. If the machine has six B-wheels and twelve disks the product of two six-figure numbers can be obtained. Division is performed by repeated subtraction. The lever regulating the C-wheel is set to subtraction, producing negative steps at the disks. The dividend is set up at the windows and the divisor at the buttons. Each turn of the handle subtracts the divisor once. To count the number of turns of the handle a second set of windows is arranged with number disks below. These have no carrying arrangement, but one is turned one step for each turn of the handle. The machine described is essentially that of Thomas of Colmar, which was the first that came into practical use. Of earlier machines those of Leibnitz, Müller (1782), and Hahn (1809) deserve to be mentioned (see Dyck,Catalogue). Thomas's machine has had many imitations, both in England and on the Continent, with more or less important alterations. Joseph Edmondson of Halifax has given it a circular form, which has many advantages.
The accuracy and durability of any machine depend to a great extent on the manner in which the carrying mechanism is constructed. Besides, no wheel must be capable of moving in any other way than that required; hence every part must be locked and be released only when required to move. Further, any disk must carry to the next only after the carrying to itself has been completed. If all were to carry at the same time a considerable force would be required to turn the handle, and serious strains would be introduced. It is for this reason that the B-wheels or cylinders have the greater part of the circumference free from teeth. Again, the carrying acts generally as in the machine described, in one sense only, and this involves that the handle be turned always in the same direction. Subtraction therefore cannot be done by turning it in the opposite way, hence the two wheels C and C′ are introduced. These are moved all at once by one lever acting on a bar shown at R in section (fig. 2).
In the Brunsviga, the figure disks are all mounted on a common horizontal axis, the figures being placed on the rim. On the side of each disk and rigidly connected with it lies its A-wheel with which it can turn independent of the others. The B-wheels, all fixed on another horizontal axis, gear directly on the A-wheels. By an ingenious contrivance the teeth are made to appear from out of the rim to any desired number. The carrying mechanism, too, is different, and so arranged that the handle can be turned either way, no special setting being required for subtraction or division. It is extremely handy, taking up much less room than the others. Professor Eduard Selling of Würzburg has invented an altogether different machine, which has been made by Max Ott, of Munich. The B-wheels are replaced by lazy-tongs. To the joints of these the ends of racks are pinned; and as they are stretched out the racks are moved forward 0 to 9 steps, according to the joints they are pinned to. The racks gear directly in the A-wheels, and the figures are placed on cylinders as in the Brunsviga. The carrying is done continuously by a train of epicycloidal wheels. The working is thus rendered very smooth, without the jerks which the ordinary carrying tooth produces; but the arrangement has the disadvantage that the resulting figures do not appear in a straight line, a figure followed by a 5, for instance, being already carried half a step forward. This is not a serious matter in the hands of a mathematician or an operator using the machine constantly, but it is serious for casual work. Anyhow, it has prevented the machine from being a commercial success, and it is not any longer made. For ease and rapidity of working it surpasses all others. Since the lazy-tongs allow of an extension equivalent to five turnings of the handle, if the multiplier is 5 or under, one push forward will do thesame as five (or less) turns of the handle, and more than two pushes are never required.
Fig. 3.--Steiger-Egli machine.Fig.3.
TheSteiger-Eglimachine is a multiplication machine, of which fig. 3 gives a picture as it appears to the manipulator. The lowerMultiplication machines.part of the figure contains, under the covering plate, a carriage with two rows of windows for the figures markedffandgg. On pressing down the button W the carriage can be moved to right or left. Under each window is a figure disk, as in the Thomas machine. The upper part has three sections. The one to the right contains the handle K for working the machine, and a button U for setting the machine for addition, multiplication, division, or subtraction. In the middle section a number of parallel slots are seen, with indices which can each be set to one of the numbers 0 to 9. Below each slot, and parallel to it, lies a shaft of square section on which a toothed wheel, the A-wheel, slides to and fro with the index in the slot. Below these wheels again lie 9 toothed racks at right angles to the slots. By setting the index in any slot the wheel below it comes into gear with one of these racks. On moving the rack, the wheels turn their shafts and the figure disksggopposite to them. The dimensions are such that a motion of a rack through 1 cm. turns the figure disk through one "step" or adds 1 to the figure under the window. The racks are moved by an arrangement contained in the section to the left of the slots. There is a vertical plate called the multiplication table block, or more shortly, theblock. From it project rows of horizontal rods of lengths varying from 0 to 9 centimetres. If one of these rows is brought opposite the row of racks and then pushed forward to the right through 9 cm., each rack will move and add to its figure disk a number of units equal to the number of centimetres of the rod which operates on it. The block has a square face divided into a hundred squares. Looking at its face from the right—i.e.from the side where the racks lie—suppose the horizontal rows of these squares numbered from 0 to 9, beginning at the top, and the columns numbered similarly, the 0 being to the right; then the multiplication table for numbers 0 to 9 can be placed on these squares. The row 7 will therefore contain the numbers 63, 56, ... 7, 0. Instead of these numbers, each square receives two "rods" perpendicular to the plate, which may be called the units-rod and the tens-rod. Instead of the number 63 we have thus a tens-rod 6 cm. and a units-rod 3 cm. long. By aid of a lever H the block can be raised or lowered so that any row of the block comes to the level of the racks, the units-rods being opposite the ends of the racks.
The action of the machine will be understood by considering an example. Let it be required to form the product 7 times 385. The indices of three consecutive slots are set to the numbers 3, 8, 5 respectively. Let the windowsggopposite these slots be calleda,b,c. Then to the figures shown at these windows we have to add 21, 56, 35 respectively. This is the same thing as adding first the number 165, formed by the units of each place, and next 2530 corresponding to the tens; or again, as adding first 165, and then moving the carriage one step to the right, and adding 253. The first is done by moving the block with the units-rods opposite the racks forward. The racks are then put out of gear, and together with the block brought back to their normal position; the block is moved sideways to bring the tens-rods opposite the racks, and again moved forward, adding the tens, the carriage having also been moved forward as required. This complicated movement, together with the necessary carrying, is actually performed by one turn of the handle. During the first quarter-turn the block moves forward, the units-rods coming into operation. During the second quarter-turn the carriage is put out of gear, and moved one step to the right while the necessary carrying is performed; at the same time the block and the racks are moved back, and the block is shifted so as to bring the tens-rods opposite the racks. During the next two quarter-turns the process is repeated, the block ultimately returning to its original position. Multiplication by a number with more places is performed as in the Thomas. The advantage of this machine over the Thomas in saving time is obvious. Multiplying by 817 requires in the Thomas 16 turns of the handle, but in the Steiger-Egli only 3 turns, with 3 settings of the lever H. If the lever H is set to 1 we have a simple addition machine like the Thomas or the Brunsviga. The inventors state that the product of two 8-figure numbers can be got in 6-7 seconds, the quotient of a 6-figure number by one of 3 figures in the same time, while the square root to 5 places of a 9-figure number requires 18 seconds.
Machines of far greater powers than the arithmometers mentioned have been invented by Babbage and by Scheutz. A description is impossible without elaborate drawings. The following account will afford some idea of the working of Babbage's difference machine. Imagine a number of striking clocks placed in a row, each with only an hour hand, and with only the striking apparatus retained. Let the hand of the first clock be turned. As it comes opposite a number on the dial the clock strikes that number of times. Let this clock be connected with the second in such a manner that by each stroke of the first the hand of the second is moved from one number to the next, but can only strike when the first comes to rest. If the second hand stands at 5 and the first strikes 3, then when this is done the second will strike 8; the second will act similarly on the third, and so on. Let there be four such clocks with hands set to the numbers 6, 6, 1, 0 respectively. Now set the third clock striking 1, this sets the hand of the fourth clock to 1; strike the second (6), this puts the third to 7 and the fourth to 8. Next strike the first (6); this moves the other hands to 12, 19, 27 respectively, and now repeat the striking of the first. The hand of the fourth clock will then give in succession the numbers 1, 8, 27, 64, &c., being the cubes of the natural numbers. The numbers thus obtained on the last dial will have the differences given by those shown in succession on the dial before it, their differences by the next, and so on till we come to the constant difference on the first dial. A function