His weeds divinely fashioned, All filed and mangled. Chapman's Iliad. FILE, in law, is a record of the court; and the filing of a process of a court makes it a record of that court. An original writ may be filed after judgment given in the cause, issued forth before; declarations, &c., are to be filed, and affidavits must be filed, some before they are read in court, and some immediately after. Before filing a record removed by certiorari, the justices of B. R. may refuse to receive it, if it appear to be for delay, &c.; and remand it back for the expedition of justice; but if the certiorari be once filed, the proceedings below cannot be revived. An indictment, &c., cannot be amended after it is filed.

FILE, in the art of war, is the depth of the battalion or squadron. The files of a battalion of foot are generally three deep; as are sometimes those of a squadron of horse. The files must be straight and parallel one to another.

A FILE on horseback occupies in the ranks about two feet eight inches; thus three file eight feet. A file on foot occupies in the ranks twentytwo inches.

FILES, CLOSE, of infantry, are soldiers standing in rank, contiguous to one another, upon any given depth of line or column. The soldiers in the ranks should then touch lightly each other, without crowding or pressing.

FILES, OPEN, are soldiers standing in rank at given distances without touching each other. FILES, INDIAN, a line of men advancing or retreating from either of the flanks, from the centre, or from any proportion of a line in succession to one another.

FILE-LEADER is the soldier placed in the front of any file, or the man who is to cover all those that stand directly in the rear of him, and by whom they are to be guided in all their movements. File-leaders must be particularly careful to preserve their proper distances from which ever hand they are to dress to, and the followers of each file must only be attentive to cover, and be regulated by their proper fileleaders.

FILES, CLOSE, in cavalry, are at the distance when each man's boot-top touches, but does not press, that of his neighbour.

FILES, LOOSE, in cavalry movements, are six inches distant from boot-top to boot-top, being calculated for the gallop as well as the walk of a squadron.

FILES, OPEN, in cavalry, are the full breadth of a horse from boot-top to boot-top. They contain the distance which is left, when from close files, the left files rein back to dismount.

FILE MAKING. Many useful tools have been invented for performing mechanical operations, which consist of a number of wedges or teeth, which may be conceived to stand upon, or rise out of a flat or curved metallic surface. When these teeth are formed on the edge of a plate, the instrument is called a saw (see SAW); but when they are formed upon a broad surface, it constitutes what is denominated a file. The comb-makers use a tool of this description, called a quonet, having coarse single teeth, to the number of about seven or eight to an inch.

Files

Fine tools of this description are called floats. When teeth are crossed they are called files ; and when, instead of the notches standing in a right line, a number of single teeth are raised all over the surface, it is called a rasp. are cut upon the surface with a sharp-edged chisel. In rasps, the tooth is raised with a triangular punch. The file is adapted for working metals, but the rasp is more fitted for wood, bone, and horn. Files are distinguished by being single or double cut. The single cut file is simply cut once over, and is employed for filing brass, and the softer metals. A second course of teeth is cut to form the double cut file, crossing the first diagonally. This kind is best suited to iron and steel.

The steel employed for files requires to be very hard, and in consequence undergoes a longer process in the conversion (see STEEL). It is said to be doubly converted. The very heavy files, such as smiths' rubbers, are made of the inferior marks of blistered steel: the more delicate kind, such as watch-makers' files, of cast steel. The steel is previously drawn at the tilt, into rods of suitable size. The flat and square files are made wholly with the hammer, and the plain anvil. Two workmen, one called the maker and the other striker, are required in the forging of heavy files. The anvil is provided with a groove, for the reception of bosses or dies, which are used for the purpose of forging the half-round and three-angled files. The half-round boss contains a hollow which is the segment of a sphere, less than half a circle. That used for the triangular files has a hollow consisting of two sides, terminating in an angle at the bottom. In forging the half-round file, the steel is drawn out, as if intended to make a flat file. It is then laid in the die, and hammered, till the under side becomes round. The steel for the triangular file is tilted into square rods. The part to form the file is first drawn out with the hammer, as if intended to form a square file. It is then placed in the die with one of the angles downwards, and by striking upon the opposite angle, two sides of the square are formed into one, and consequently a threesided figure produced. By successively presenting the different sides to the action of the hammer, the figure is rendered still more complete. In forming the tangs of most files, it is necessary to make the shoulders perfectly square and sharp. This is performed by cutting into the file a little on each side with a sharp instrument, and afterwards drawing out the part so marked off, to form the tang.

After forging, and previously to their being ground and cut, the files require to be annealed. This process is generally performed by piling up a great quantity together in a furnace for the purpose, and heating them red hot; suffering them afterwards to cool slowly; on the whole a very objectionable method, since the surface of steel, when heated red hot in the open air, is so liable to oxidation. A superior method of annealing is practised by some file-makers, and, since hardness in a file is so essential a property, it ought to be generally adopted. This method consists in placing the files in an oven

or trough, having a close cover, and filling up the interstices with sand. The fire is made to play on every side of the vessel, as gradually and uniformly as possible, till the whole mass becomes red hot. The fire is then discontinued, and the whole suffered to cool before the cover is removed from the trough. Another evil may however arise from keeping steel red hot, even in a close vessel, for too great a length a time. It assumes a kind of crystallisation, under which its tenacity is much impaired. Steel annealed in this way, is perfectly free from that scaly surface acquired in the open air; and if each corticle be perfectly surrounded with the sand, and the cover not removed before the steel is cold, the surface will appear of a silvery white color. If the steel be suspected to be too kind, from containing too little carbon, powdered charcoal may be employed instead of sand, or sand mixed with charcoal. In this case the files should be stratified alternately with the charcoal, in order that the extra-conversion may be uniform.

The next thing is to prepare the files for cutting, by making the surface to 'contain the teeth as level as possible. This was formerly effected by means of files, and the process is called striping. The same is still practised by the Lancashire file-makers, and by others not having convenience for grinding. The greatest quantities of files, however, are ground to prepare them for cutting. The stones employed for the purpose are of the sand-stone kind, the texture of which is compact and sharp, but rather rough. They are of as great diameter as can be used with convenience; and about eight inches broad over the face. When used, the surface is kept immersed in water. The grinder sits in such a position as to lean over the stone, while its motion is directly from him. Its surface moves at about the same speed with those used in grinding cutlery. Since the object in grinding files is to make the surface as even and flat as possible, and as this cannot be done so completely upon a small stone, the stones of the file-grinder are laid aside when they are reduced to a certain size, and are employed for grinding other articles. Though grinding is by far the most expeditious method, it does not give that truth to the surface which can be effected by filing. If the price of the articles would admit, however, it would be well to render the surface more even by the file after grinding. If the surface be not flat, it is obvious, that when the file is used for filing a large surface, those teeth in the hollow parts of the file will not be brought into action. It is from attention to this circumstance, and to the care in annealing and hardening, that the Lancashire file-makers have generally excelled. They are, however, confined chiefly to the small articles, since the larger files would not pay for the process of striping. The tools of the file-cutter consist of an anvil placed upon a block of such a height that the man sits to his work. He has also a piece of lead alloyed with tin, on which he lays the files when one side is cut. The chisel and hammer are of such size as the size and cut of the file require. He is also provided with a leathern

strap, which goes over each end of the file and passes round his feet, which are introduced into the strap on each side in the same manner as stirrups are used. The file-cutter, therefore, sits as if he were on horseback, holding his chisel with one hand, his hammer in the other, at the same time he secures the file in its place by the pressure of his feet in the stirrups.

Great pains ought to be taken in preparing the edge of the chisel. It is, in the first place, hardened and tempered by heating it gradually till it appears of a yellowish brown. It is next ground very true to form the edge, which is afterwards finished upon a Turkey stone with oil. It is not required to be very sharp, the bottom of the tooth requiring to be rather open, to prevent the file from clogging with the substance to be filed. The edge is also required to be very smooth, in order that it may slip easily upon the surface of the files: this is also facilitated by slightly greasing the surface. From this advantage the worker, after making one tooth, is enabled by feeling only, to form at its proper distance the succeeding tooth, by sliding the chisel close up against the back of the preceding one.

In the double-cut files, the first set of teeth, which the workmen call up-cutting, are, previous to cutting the second course, filed slightly upon the face, in order to allow the chisel tr slide freely. The single-cut file is more durable than the double-cut, and ought to be preferred for all purposes excepting for iron and steel. The same method is employed in cutting the rasp. The workman is, however, guided completely by his eye in regulating the distance of the teeth from each other. The rasp ought to be cut in such a manner that no one of the teeth may stand opposite to another; this not only allows the rasp to cut faster, but makes the surface either of wood or other substance much smoother.

The operation of simple file-cutting seems to be of such easy performance that it has for almost two centuries been a sort of desideratum to construct a machine to perform that, which is not only done with great facility by the hand, but with wonderful expedition. We are told that a lad not very much experienced in the business will produce, with his hammer and chisel, nearly 300 teeth in a minute. With respect to machinery, it is said, that a Frenchman named Mathurin Jousse, in a work entitled La fidelle Ouverture de l'Art de Serrurier, published at La Fleche, in Anjou, so long ago as the year 1627, gives a drawing and description of one, in which the file is drawn along by shafts by means of wheel-work, and the blow is given by a hammer. There are several machines of this kind, or at least to effect the same purpose, in the Machines Approuvées par l'Academie Royale de Paris: there is also one published in the second volume of the Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, of which we shall give some account, as we shall of another for which Mr. William Nicholson obtained a patent in the year 1802; premising that the principal requisites. in a machine for file-cutting, are that the metal

from which it is manufactured should be steadily supported, and the chisel adapted to the face without any unequal bearing.

The American machine consists of a bench of well seasoned oak, and the face of it planed very smooth; and a carriage on which the files are laid, which moves along the face of the bench parallel to its sides, and carries the files gradually under the edge of the cutter or chisel while the teeth are cut. The carriage is made to move by a contrivance somewhat similar to that which carries the log against the saw of a saw-mill. The lever or arm, which carries the cutter, works on the centres of two screws which are fixed into two pillars in a direction right across the bench. By tightening or loosening these screws, the arm which carries the chisel may be made to work more or less steadily. There is likewise a regulating-screw, by means of which the files may be made coarser or finer: also a bed of lead, which is let into a cavity formed in the body of the carriage, somewhat broader and longer than the largest-sized files; the upper face of this bed of lead is formed variously, so as to fit the different kinds of files which may be required.

When the file or files are laid in their place, the machine must be regulated by the screw to cut them of a due degree of fineness. This machine is described as being so simple, that when properly adjusted a blind person may cut a file with more exactness than can be done in the usual method with the keenest sight; for by striking with a hammer on the head of the cutter or chisel all the movements are set at work; and by repeating the stroke with the hammer, the files on one side will at length be cut; then they must be turned, and the operation repeated for cutting the other side. This machine may be made to work by water as readily as by hand, to cut coarse or fine, large or small files, or any number at a time: but it may be more particularly useful for cutting the very fine small files for watchmakers.

We shall now give an account of the machine for which Mr. Nicholson obtained his majesty's letters patent. My machinery,' says the patentee, consists in four essential parts, suitably constructed and combined together; namely, First, a carriage or apparatus, in or by which the file is fixed or held and moved along, for the purpose of receiving the successive strokes of a cutter or chisel. Secondly, the anvil, by which the file is supported beneath the part which receives the stroke. Thirdly, the regulating gear, by which the distance between stroke and stroke is determined and governed. And, fourthly, the apparatus for giving the stroke or cut. The four several parts are supported by, or attached to a frame or platform of solid and secure workmanship, either of wood or metal, or both, according to the nature of the work intended to be performed, and the judgment and choice of the engineer. The carriage is a long block of wood, or metal, of the figure of a parallelipidon, or nearly so, having a portion cut out between its upper and lower surfaces to admit the anvil to stand therein, without coming into contact with the carriage itself. The said carriage is made of

such a length that the excavation here described shall be considerably longer than the longest files intended to be cut; and it is supported upon straight bearers from the platform, upon which by projecting pieces, or slides, or wheels, or friction-rollers, it can be moved endwise in a straight-lined direction, without shake or deviation. At one end of the said excavation is fixed a clip, resembling a hand-vice, for holding the file by its tail or tang; and in the opposite end of the said excavation there is a sliding block or piece, which being brought up to the other end of the file does, by means of a notch or other obvious contrivance, prevent it from being moved sideways. The said clip is so fixed at its head or shank, by means of an horizontal axis on gudgeons and sockets, that the file is at liberty to move up and down, but not sideways or a-twist. In this manner it is that the file being fixed in the carriage is pressed down upon the anvil by a lever and weight proceeding from the platform, and bearing upon the face of the file by a small roller of wood, ivory, bone, or soft metal. The anvil is solidly fixed on the platform, and may be of any suitable figure which shall be sufficiently massy to receive and resist the blow; but its upper part must be so contracted as to stand up in the excavation of the carriage and support the file; and the upper part of all must be constructed in such a manner that it shall fairly apply itself to the under surface of the file, and support it without leaving any hollow space, notwithstanding any casual irregularities of the said surface. I produce this effect by making a cavity in the anvil of the figure of a portion of a sphere, not much less than a hemisphere, and in this cavity I place (with grease between) a piece of iron or steel made exactly to fit, but of which the lower surface is a greater portion of the sphere, and the upper surface flat and plain. The file rests upon this last flat or plain surface, which is either faced with lead, or (in preference) a slip of lead is put under the file and turned round the tang thereof, so as to move along with it. It is evident that the upper or moveable piece of the said anvil will, by sliding in its socket, accommodate and apply itself constantly to the surface of the file, which is pressed and struck against it. Or, otherwise, I make the concavity in the upper moveable piece, and make the fixed part convex: or, otherwise, I support the upper part, or in some cases the whole of my anvil upon opposite gudgeons, in the manner of the gimbals of sea compasses: or, otherwise, I form the upper part of my anvil cylindrical, of a large diameter, supported on thick gudgeons, the axis of the said cylinder being short, and at right angles to the motion of the carriage: or, otherwise, I form only a small portion, namely, the upper extremity of my anvil, of a cylindrical form as aforesaid, and cause the same to continue motionless by fashioning the same out of the same mass as the rest of the anvil, or fixing the same thereto. And in both the last-mentioned cases of the cylindrical structure I fix the head or shank of the clip (by which the tang is held), not by a single axis or pair of gudgeons, but by an universal joint or ball and socket, so that the

ile becomes at liberty to adapt itself not only upwards and downwards, but also in the way of otation or a-twist, and supplies the want of notion in the anvil by the facility with which tself can be moved in the last-mentioned man

ier.

'The regulating-gear is that part of the nachinery by which the carriage, and consequently the file, is drawn along. It consists of a crew revolving between centres fixed to the latform, and acting upon a nut attached to the arriage with usual and well known precautions or working of measuring screws; and the nut being made to open by a joint when the carriage s required to be disengaged and slided back. And the said screw is moved either constantly y a slow motion from the first mover, or (which s better) by interrupted equal motions, so as to raw the carriage during the interval between troke and stroke. And the quantities of those espective equal motions may be produced and governed at pleasure by wheel-work applied to he head of the screw, or by the well known apparatus used in the mathematical dividing engine or circles; or by other contrivances well known o workmen of competent skill, and therefore innecessary to be described at large: or, other vise, the motion of the carriage may be proluced by a toothed rack from the carriage drawn by a pinion; and this pinion moved by a ratchetvheel on the same arbor moved by a click-lever, which shall gather up and drive a greater or less number of teeth, according to the coarseness or ineness of the file; and the click-lever itself nay be moved by a tripping piece from the first nover, or by various other evident means of connexion: or, otherwise, the said carriage may be moved by a small cylinder, and rope or chain constantly acting: or, otherwise, the said motion may be effected by a train of two or more wheels, suffered to move by any of the escapements used in time-pieces, and the fineness of stroke may be regulated either by changing the wheels as in the common fuzee engine, or by the greater or less frequency of escape during each turn of the first mover. And in every case I prefer a counter-weight to the carriage, acting either constantly against, or constantly in the direction of its motion; though this is not absolutely necessary when the work is well executed. I may also observe, that it is possible to construct my said machinery by fixing and rendering motionless that part which I have called the carriage, provided the other three principal parts be made to move instead of the carriage itself; but I consider this disposition as less eligible than that which requires the carriage to be moved. The apparatus for giving the stroke or cut, consists of a chisel, which is held between the jaws of a mouth-piece or claws resembling a strong handvice without teeth. One of the jaws is made very stout, and the chisel is formed narrow from edge to back, and wide from side to side, and has a semi-circular protuberance on its back, which rests in a circular notch in the strong jaw aforesaid; and there are two or three bended flat rings or washers of iron or metal under the thumb-screw of the said mouth-piece or claws, which prevent the chisel from becoming loose

The

by the stroke: or, otherwise, the said chisel may have a notch, or a hole, instead of a protuberance, to meet a correspondent part in the mouthpiece or claws; but I prefer the first-mentioned construction. By the construction of the chisel, as here mentioned and fixed, the edge of the said instrument is at liberty to apply itself fairly from side to side of the file notwithstanding any winding or irregularity, whatever may be the fineness of the cut upon a broad surface. The mouthpiece, with its chisel, is firmly fixed in another piece, which by its motion gives the stroke. This last-mentioned piece may either be a lever, or a moveable carriage between upright sliders; but I greatly prefer the lever. The chisel must be so fixed that the moving piece shall carry it fairly edge onwards to the file without scraping or slapping in the least; and the obliquity of the stroke may be adjusted by fixing the centres of the level either higher or lower at pleasure, or by inclining the last-mentioned sliders. lever may be raised and let fall (or the other chisel apparatus moved) by a tripping-piece or snail-work, or other usual connexion with the first mover; and its power of stroke may be increased by the addition of a weight, or by the action of a spring; which last method is of excellent use, and may, (if required from the varying breadth of the file) be made to increase or diminish its power during the run by several easy and commonly used methods or contrivances for pressing more or less against the spring. Or, otherwise, the lever, or holdingpiece, may be kept immediately above the file by the re-action of a slight spring, or weight, and be struck by a hammer moved and acted upon by the first mover, as aforesaid: and to this method I give the preference, because the lever will then have less strain upon its pivots; or the said lever may even be supported by spring-joints without any pivots or centres at all. Or, instead of a hammer, the blow may be given by a ram, or a fly and screw, but I give the preference to the hammer. The lever may move in a vertical circle immediately over the file, or in an oblique circle at right angles to it, or at any intermediate angle consistent with the foregoing instructions: and the chisel may be set with its edge at any angle whatever, with the line of the length of the lever; but, in general, I have set the lever in the first-mentioned position, and have varied the angle between the chisel-edge and the lever, according to the intended slope of the cut upon the face of the file. The edge of the chisel must be sharpened to such an angle as the intended cut and strength of burr may require. Lastly, I describe the general action of the said machinery as follows: 1. The file being prepared as usual for cutting, must be fixed in the clip of the carriage, and the sliding-block brought up and fixed, to steady its other extremity. 2. The nut of the screw being then opened (or the other regulating gear disengaged) the carriage is slided to its place, so that the chisel may be situated over that part of the file which is to receive the first stroke. 3. The nut is then closed (or the other regulating gear connected) and the small roller of the pressing lever is made to bear upon the face