Treatise on Mills and Millwork

A single-volume reissue of an eminent Victorian engineer's illustrated two-part guide to industrial machinery, first published in 1861 and 1863.

William Fairbairn (Author)

9781108070010, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 21 August 2014

630 pages, 340 b/w illus.
21.6 x 14 x 3.5 cm, 0.79 kg

One of the great Victorian engineers, Sir William Fairbairn (1789–1874) had started his career as a millwright's apprentice, going on to become a civil engineer, a designer of industrial machinery and an expert on the failure of materials and structures. The present work distils a lifetime's experience of mechanical design into two highly illustrated parts. First published in 1861 and 1863, they are here reissued in a single volume. Part 1 gives a general overview of mechanisms such as gears, cranks and cams, and then moves on to the design of prime movers: waterwheels and turbines, steam engines and boilers, and windmills. Part 2 covers the design of mechanisms in more detail, and discusses power transmissions and their components: shafts, gears, bearings, couplings and so on. Lastly, Fairbairn gives overviews of the most important types of industrial mill - including cotton, wool, paper, iron and gunpowder - and their machinery.

Preface to Part I
Part I: 1. Introduction
2. The principles of mechanism
3. Of prime movers
Appendix
Preface to Part II
Part II: 4. On machinery of transmission
5. The arrangement of mills
Appendices
Index.

Subject Areas: History of science [PDX]