RAMSAY (Allan), the Scots pastoral poet, was a barber in Edinburgh in the early part of the present century. His taste in poetry, however, has justly raised him to a degree of fame that may in some measure be considered as a recompence for the frowns of fortune. His songs are in universal esteem; as is also the only dramatic performance attributed to him, viz. Patie and Roger, or The Gentle Shepherd, a Scots pastoral. He died in 1743; and was father to the ingenious Mr Ramsay, a celebrated painter of the present age, and who has likewise distinguished himself by some well-written tracts on various branches
"T, is a brass box containing a spiral spring; a strong gut is fastened and turned 3 or 4 times round the circumference of this box; the gut then passes several times round the cylinder S, and from thence down to the treadle R. Now, when the treadle is pressed down, the string pulls the cylinder S round its axis, and the clicks catching hold of the teeth on the ratchet carry the screw round with it, till, by the tooth (n) working in the spiral groove, the lever J is brought near the wheel (d), and the cylinder stopped by the screw-head (x) striking on the top of the lever J; at the same time the spring is wound up by the other end of the gut passing round the box T. Now, when the foot is taken off the treadle, the spring unbending itself pulls back the cylinder, the clicks leaving the ratchet and screw at rest till the piece (t) strikes on the end of the piece (p): the number of revolutions of the screw at each tread is limited by the number of revolutions the cylinder is allowed to turn back before the stop strikes on the piece (p).
"When the endless screw was moved round it axis with a considerable velocity, it would continue that motion a little after the cylinder S was stopped: to prevent this the angular lever x was made; that when the lever J comes near to stop the screw (x), it, by a small chamfer, presses down the piece x of the angular lever; this brings the other end x of the same lever forwards, and stops the endless screw by the steel pin x striking upon the top of it: the foot of the lever is raised again by a small spring pressing on the brace (v).
"D, two clamps, connected by the piece u, slide one on each arm of the frame L, and may be fixed at pleasure by the four finger-screws i, which press against steel springs to avoid spoiling the arms: the piece (q) is made to turn without shake between the two conical pointed screws (f), which are preventing from unturning by tightening the finger-nuts N.
"The piece M is made to turn on the piece (q), by the conical pointed screws (f) resting in the hollow centers (e).
"As there is frequent occasion to cut divisions on inclined planes, for that purpose the piece y, in which the tracer is fixed, has a conical axis at each end, which turn in half holes: when the tracer is set to any inclination, it may be fixed there by tightening the steel screws b.
Description of the Engine by which the endless screw of the Dividing Engine was cut.
"Fig. 9. represents this engine of its full dimensions seen from one side.
"Fig. 8. the upper side of the same as seen from above.
"A, represents a triangular bar of steel, to which the triangular holes in the pieces B and C are accurately fitted, and may be fixed on any part of the bar by the screws D.
"E is a piece of steel whereon the screw is intended
Ramsay of polite literature, particularly the Investigator.1