In the language of the mathematician, the integrator gives only that
miserly result, a definite integral, but the integraph yields an
indefinite integral, a picture of the result at all times or all
points--a much greater boon in most mechanical and physical
investigations. Members of our Society as students of University
College have probably become acquainted with a process termed "drawing
the sum curve from the primitive curve." Many have probably found this
process somewhat wearisome; but this is not an unmixed evil, as the
irksomeness of any manual process has more than once led to the
invention of a valuable machine by the would-be idler. Thus our innate
desire to take things easy is a real incentive to progress. It was
some such desire as this on my part which led me, three years ago, to
inquire whether a practical instrument had not been, or could not be,
constructed to draw sum curves. Such an instrument is an integraph,
and the one I have to describe to you to-night is the outcome of that
inquiry. It is something better than my title, for it is an integraph,
and not an integrator.
[Illustration: A NEW INTEGRATOR]
Before I turn to its claims to be considered new, I must first remind
you of the importance of an instrument of this kind to the
draughtsman.
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