Understanding the techniques for joining fabrics together in a way that considers durability, strength, leak-tightness, comfort in wear and the aesthetics of the joints is critical to the production of successful, structurally secure fabric products. Joining textiles: Principles and applications is an authoritative guide to the key theories and methods used to join fabrics efficiently.Part one provides a clear overview of sewing technology. The mechanics of stitching, sewing and problems related to sewn textiles are discussed, along with mechanisms of sewing machines and intelligent sewing systems. Part two goes on to explore adhesive bonding of textiles, including principles, methods and applications, along with a review of bonding requirements in coating and laminating of textiles. Welding technologies are the focus of part three. Heat sealing, ultrasonic and dielectric textile welding are covered, as are laser seaming of fabrics and the properties and performance of welded or bonded seams. Finally, part four reviews applications of joining textiles such as seams in non-iron shirts and car seat coverings, joining of wearable electronic components and technical textiles, and the joining techniques involved in industrial and medical products including nonwoven materials.With its distinguished editors and international team of expert contributors, Joining textiles is an important reference work for textile product manufacturers, designers and technologists, fibre scientists, textile engineers and academics working in this area. - Provides an authoritative guide to the key theories and methods used to efficiently join fabrics - Discusses the mechanics of stitching and sewing and problems related to sewn textiles, alongside mechanisms of sewing machines, and intelligent sewing systems - Explores adhesive bonding of textiles, including principles, methods and applications, along with a review of bonding requirements in coating and laminating of textiles

Vintage guide offered turn-of-the-century seamstresses clear instructions for altering patterns and creating shirt-blouses, skirts, wedding gowns, coats, maternity wear, children's clothing, and other apparel.

. Renewal of Life by Transmission. The most notable distinction between living and inanimate things is that the former maintain themselves by renewal. A stone when struck resists. If its resistance is greater than the force of the blow struck, it remains outwardly unchanged. Otherwise, it is shattered into smaller bits. Never does the stone attempt to react in such a way that it may maintain itself against the blow, much less so as to render the blow a contributing factor to its own continued action. While the living thing may easily be crushed by superior force, it none the less tries to turn the energies which act upon it into means of its own further existence. If it cannot do so, it does not just split into smaller pieces (at least in the higher forms of life), but loses its identity as a living thing. As long as it endures, it struggles to use surrounding energies in its own behalf. It uses light, air, moisture, and the material of soil. To say that it uses them is to say that it turns them into means of its own conservation. As long as it is growing, the energy it expends in thus turning the environment to account is more than compensated for by the return it gets: it grows. Understanding the word "control" in this sense, it may be said that a living being is one that subjugates and controls for its own continued activity the energies that would otherwise use it up. Life is a self-renewing process through action upon the environment.

We’ve all been there. Seduced by the sleek designs and smart capabilities of the newest gadgets, we end up stumped by their complicated set-up instructions and exasperating error messages. In this fascinating history, Joseph J. Corn maps two centuries of consumer frustration and struggle with personal technologies. Aggravation with the new machines people adopt and live with is as old as the industrial revolution. Clocks, sewing machines, cameras, lawn mowers, bicycles, electric lights, cars, and computers: all can empower and exhilarate, but they can also exact a form of servitude. Adopters puzzle over which type and model to buy and then how to operate the device, diagnose its troubles, and meet its insatiable appetite for accessories, replacement parts, or upgrades. It intrigues Corn that we put up with the frustrations our technology thrusts upon us, battling with the unfamiliar and climbing the steep learning curves. It is this ongoing struggle, more than the uses to which we ultimately put our machines, that animates this thought-provoking study. Having extensively researched owner’s manuals, computer user-group newsletters, and how-to literature, Corn brings a fresh, consumer-oriented approach to the history of technology. User Unfriendly will be valuable to historians of technology, students of American culture, and anyone interested in our modern dependence on machines and gadgets.

"The Mechanics of Mechanical Watches and Clocks" presents historical views and mathematical models of mechanical watches and clocks. Although now over six hundred years old, mechanical watches and clocks are still popular luxury items that fascinate many people around the world. However few have examined the theory of how they work as presented in this book. The illustrations and computer animations are unique and have never been published before. It will be of significant interest to researchers in mechanical engineering, watchmakers and clockmakers, as well as people who have an engineering background and are interested in mechanical watches and clocks. It will also inspire people in other fields of science and technology, such as mechanical engineering and electronics engineering, to advance their designs. Professor Ruxu Du works at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, China. Assistant Professor Longhan Xie works at the South China University of Technology, China.