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FLUID POWER
CIRCUITS and
CONTROLS
Fundamentals and Applications
 Mechanical Engineering Series
Frank Kreith - Series Editor

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FLUID POWER
CIRCUITS and
CONTROLS
Fundamentals and Applications

John S. Cundiff
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Blacksburg, Virginia USA

CRC Press
Boca Raton London New York Washington, D.C.
0924Front Page iv Friday, May 18, 2001 2:43 PM

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Cundiff, John S.
Fluid power circuits and controls : fundamentals and applications / John S. Cundiff.
p. cm. — (Mechanical engineering series)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-8493-0924-7 (alk. paper)
1. Hydraulic machinery. 2. Fluid power technology. I. Title. II. Advanced topics in
mechanical engineering series.

TJ840.C85 2001
621.2—dc21 2001025941
CIP

This book contains information obtained from authentic and highly regarded sources. Reprinted material
is quoted with permission, and sources are indicated. A wide variety of references are listed. Reasonable
efforts have been made to publish reliable data and information, but the author and the publisher cannot
assume responsibility for the validity of all materials or for the consequences of their use.

Neither this book nor any part may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic
or mechanical, including photocopying, microfilming, and recording, or by any information storage or
retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher.

The consent of CRC Press LLC does not extend to copying for general distribution, for promotion, for
creating new works, or for resale. Specific permission must be obtained in writing from CRC Press LLC
for such copying.

Direct all inquiries to CRC Press LLC, 2000 N.W. Corporate Blvd., Boca Raton, Florida 33431.

Trademark Notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are
used only for identification and explanation, without intent to infringe.

Visit the CRC Press Web site at www.crcpress.com

© 2002 by CRC Press LLC

No claim to original U.S. Government works

International Standard Book Number 0-8493-0924-7
Library of Congress Card Number 2001025941
Printed in the United States of America 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0
Printed on acid-free paper
0924Front Page v Friday, May 18, 2001 2:43 PM

Preface

This book was written as text for a one-semester course in fluid power. It is
expected that the course will be taught to senior-status engineering students.
In most engineering curricula, fluid power is an elective course. Students
interested in machine design (particularly those with a controls focus) make
room in their course of study for a single technical elective in fluid power.
This elective course must give them the basic foundation for the subject and
give as much design experience as possible. Students need to feel confident
that they can actually go out and “do something” with fluid power.
As they begin their study of fluid power, it is important that students
quickly learn to think of the collection of components (pump, valves, actua-
tors) as a system. I hope I have chosen a presentation of the material that
encourages this learning. Each concept, and the components available to
implement that concept, is illustrated with a circuit diagram of an application
at the time the concept is introduced. When each component is discussed, it
is immediately placed in a circuit and some analysis of circuit performance
done. This approach allows the students to immediately apply what they
have learned and encourages them to think about how the component oper-
ating characteristics interact with the rest of the circuit.
Chapter 1 gives a brief introduction to the fluid power industry and then
develops the basic concept for power delivery with fluids. Elementary cir-
cuits are analyzed to present the fact that fluid power generally has a lower
energy efficiency than other power delivery methods. This disadvantage
must be offset by one or more of the several significant advantages of fluid
power to justify its selection over a mechanical or electrical option. Chapter 2
reviews basic concepts learned in fluid mechanics and discusses the key
properties of the fluids.
The two key variables in a fluid power system are pressure and flow. Chap-
ter 3 discusses the various methods used to control pressure in a circuit, and
Chapter 4 discusses the creation and control of flow.
Chapter 5 deals with rotary actuators and, as might be expected, most of
the chapter is on motors. Having learned the characteristics of pumps (Chap-
ter 4) and motors (Chapter 5), it is logical to follow with a discussion of
hydrostatic transmissions in Chapter 6. Chapter 7 presents an analysis of lin-
ear actuators and completes the presentation of the key elements of a fluid
power system.
Chapter 8 deals with temperature and contamination control. The require-
ment to maintain a lubricating film, and the ability of the oil to seal clear-
ances, is a function of viscosity, which is a function of temperature.
Contamination due to chemical reactions in the oil is also a function of tem-
0924Front Page vi Friday, May 18, 2001 2:43 PM

perature; thus it is appropriate to discuss temperature and contamination

control in the same chapter.
Characteristics of auxiliary components (hoses, tubing, fittings, reservoir)
are covered in Chapter 9. The appendix to this chapter has some handbook
data. Instructors will want to supplement these data by providing handbooks
and other reference material. My goal was to write a textbook, not a hand-
book.
Chapter 10 is the single chapter on pneumatics. It does not duplicate the
discussion of components that are similar for liquid and gas but focuses on
the difference in power transmission using the two fluids.
Servo valves are covered in Chapter 11, and this discussion is followed by
a discussion of proportional valves in Chapter 12. These two chapters do not
require a course in automatic controls as a prerequisite. Students who have
had a controls course do get a more complete understanding of the material
in Chapters 11 and 12.
I have taught my fluid power course here at Virginia Tech for 10+ years. It
has always been taught with two lectures and one laboratory per week. The
laboratory requires a sizeable commitment of resources, and I continue to
fight for these resources, because I believe the laboratory experience is vital.
Some discussion of my organization of the laboratories is needed for those
who review this text. Laboratories 1–7 cover the basics, and Laboratory 8 is a
hydrostatic transmission design problem. These laboratories were written by
me and are available to those who request them.
Laboratories 9–12 are taken from the Amatrol training manuals (copies
loaned to the students) and cover the electrical control of fluid power circuits
(characteristics of certain transducers, ladder diagrams, different types of
relays, etc.). The Amatrol material is commercially available, as is similar
material supplied by other trainer manufacturers, and it was judged to be
inappropriate to try to duplicate it in this text.
Laboratories 13 and 14 are demonstrations of the use of servo valves for
position and angular velocity control, respectively. Students who have had
an automatic control course are particularly pleased to see the principles they
have learned being demonstrated.
The basic outline of the text is mine, but much of the detail was contribu-
tions by reviewers. I am greatly indebted to the long list of individuals who
gave much-needed, and much-appreciated, help. Please note the list of
acknowledgements.
A number of reviews were obtained. Any remaining errors are mine. Thank
you in advance to all those who take the time to send me the corrections.
John S. Cundiff
Biological Systems Engineering Department (0303)
Virginia Tech
Blacksburg, VA 24061
0924Front Page vii Friday, May 18, 2001 2:43 PM

About the Author

John Cundiff received his PhD in Biological and Agricultural Engineering

from North Carolina State University in 1972. His early research was on
tobacco transplant mechanization, thus beginning a continuing interest in the
use of hydraulics on mobile machines. This interest was expanded to indus-
trial applications of hydraulics and pneumatics in 1987 when he began teach-
ing a senior-level engineering course, “Fluid Power Systems and Circuits.”
This textbook captures 15 years of experience teaching this course.
Dr. Cundiff did research at the University of Georgia for the first eight years
of his academic career and has taught at Virginia Tech in the Biological Sys-
tems Engineering Department since 1980. In 2000, he was elected a Fellow in
the American Society of Agricultural Engineers.
Dr. Cundiff has two married children and three grandchildren. His hobbies
are snow skiing and working on his 1964 Ford truck.
0924Front Page viii Friday, May 18, 2001 2:43 PM
0924Front Page ix Friday, May 18, 2001 2:43 PM

Acknowledgments

I received reviews from a number of individuals. Realizing the time commit-

ment involved, I typically asked for a specific review of only one chapter. A
sincere thank you to the following very gracious people.

INDUSTRY
For material in Chapter 6 on automatic shift transmissions,
Mr. Doug Carlson, Caterpillar, Inc., Peoria, IL
For material comparing a bent-axis motor in a planetary gear set with an
axial-piston motor in a planetary gear set, Chapter 6,
Mr. Mike Clifford, Mannesmann Rexroth, Cleveland, OH
For help with illustrations, Chapter 6,
Mr. Ben Dupré, Sauer-Danfoss, Inc., Ames, IA
For extensive help with Chapters 5 and 6,
Mr. Walt Hull, SunSource/Fauve, St. Joseph, MI
For extensive contributions to Chapter 11,
Mr. Mark Ludlow, Moog, Inc., East Aurora, NY
For his review of the material on gear pumps, Chapter 4,
Mr. Jim McBurnett, Dana Corp. (Retired), Sarasota, FL
For his review of Chapter 9,
Mr. J. P. McIntyre, Parker Hannifin, Greensboro, NC
For a general review of the entire text and specific help getting illustrations,
Mr. Brad Poeth, Eaton Hydraulics, Eden Prairie, MN
For a review of Chapter 5,
Mr. David Prevallet, Fluid Power Engineer (Retired), Laurens, SC
For extensive contributions to Chapter 4 and much encouragement,
Mr. Dwaine Straight, Fluid Power Design, Mounds View, MN
For a detailed review of the entire text and specific contributions to Chapter 9,
Mr. Charles Throckmorton, Sauer-Danfoss, Inc., Ames, IA
For allowing extensive extraction of material from his book, Electrically Con-
trolled Proportional Valves: Selection and Application, for inclusion in Chapter 12,
Mr. Mike Tonyan, Mannesmann Rexroth, Auburn Hills, MI
0924Front Page x Friday, May 18, 2001 2:43 PM

ACADEMIA
For an extensive review of the entire text and specific additions to Chapter 2,
Dr. Dennis Buckmaster, Agricultural and Biological Engineering Depart-
ment, Pennsylvania State University
For a review of the entire text,
Dr. Bryan Jenkins, Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering,
University of California, Davis
For contribution of several problems,
Dr. Gary Krutz, Agricultural and Biological Engineering Department, Pur-
due University
For an extensive review of the entire text and significant contributions to
Chapter 7,
Dr. Mark Schrock, Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering,
Kansas State University
For an extensive editing of the entire text and specific contributions to Chap-
ter 2,
Dr. David Pacey, Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering, Kansas State Univer-
sity
For his review of the entire text, financial support for a one-month “writing”
leave at the University of Kentucky, and emphatic statement, “This needs to
be done,”
Dr. Scott Shearer, Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Department,
University of Kentucky
For his editing of the entire text, sorry about the English units,
Dr. Shane Ward, Agricultural and Food Engineering Department, University
College, Dublin, Ireland

TECHNICAL MATERIAL SUPPLIED BY

Mr. Ben Dupré, Sauer-Danfoss, Inc., Ames, IA
Ms. Sue Misenhelter, Honeywell, Inc., Corona, California
Mr. Bill Novak, Bosch Automation Technology, Racine, WI
Mr. Brad Poeth, Eaton Hydraulics, Eden Prairie, MN
Mr. Jeff Swanson, Delta Power Hydraulic Co., Rockford, IL
Mr. Mike Tonyan, Mannesmann Rexroth, Auburn Hills, MI
Mr. Jim Witte, PHD, Inc., Fort Wayne, IN
Mr. Fred Zerone, Festo-Didactic—USA, Hauppauge, NY
Mr. Bill Zoller, Sun Hydraulics, Sarasota, FL
0924Front Page xi Friday, May 18, 2001 2:43 PM

Dedication

To Layne (son) and Angela (daughter), who have brought much joy into my
life. I appreciate so very much your bringing two new people into my life,
Michelle (daughter-in-law) and Patrick (son-in-law), and now, together, you
have brought grandchildren, Nicholas and Sarah Beth from Layne and
Michelle, and Rachael from Patrick and Angela. I am blessed beyond mea-
sure.
0924Front Page xii Friday, May 18, 2001 2:43 PM
0924TOC Page xiii Friday, May 18, 2001 2:56 PM

Contents

Preface .......................................................................................................v

1. Brief Overview of Fluid Power ...................................................... 1

1.1 Introduction ..........................................................................................1
1.2 Concept of Fluid Power ......................................................................1
1.2.1 Basic Circuits ............................................................................2
1.2.2 Basic Circuit Analysis..............................................................7
1.2.3 Efficiency.................................................................................10
1.3 Summary .............................................................................................11

2. Fluid Power Basics ........................................................................ 15

2.1 Introduction ........................................................................................15
2.2 Fluid Statics.........................................................................................16
2.2.1 Hydrostatic Pressure .............................................................16
2.2.2 Conservation of Mass............................................................22
2.3 Functions of a Working Fluid ..........................................................24
2.4 Fluid Properties..................................................................................26
2.4.1 Viscosity ..................................................................................26
2.4.2 Bulk Modulus .........................................................................30
2.4.3 Specific Gravity ......................................................................31
2.4.4 Other Fluid Properties ..........................................................31
2.5 Flow in Lines ......................................................................................34
2.5.1 Reynolds Number..................................................................35
2.5.2 Darcy’s Equation....................................................................37
2.5.3 Losses in Fittings....................................................................43
2.6 Leakage Flow......................................................................................45
2.7 Orifice Equation .................................................................................48
2.7.1 Analysis to Illustrate Use of Orifice Equation ...................50
2.7.2 Use of Orifice Equation to Analyze Pressure
Reducing Valve ......................................................................54
2.8 Summary .............................................................................................61
A2.1 Data for Selected Hydraulic Fluids .................................................65

3. Pressure Control ............................................................................ 67

3.1 Introduction ........................................................................................67
3.2 Review of Needed Symbols .............................................................68
3.3 Relief Valve .........................................................................................69
3.3.1 Direct-Acting Relief Valve....................................................69
3.3.2 Pilot-Operated Relief Valve..................................................75
0924TOC Page xiv Friday, May 18, 2001 2:56 PM

3.3.3 Example Circuits Using Pilot-Operated Relief

Valves ......................................................................................77
3.4 Unloading Valve ................................................................................81
3.5 Sequence Valve and Pressure-Reducing Valve .............................88
3.5.1 Sequence Valve ......................................................................88
3.5.2 Pressure-Reducing Valve......................................................89
3.6 Counterbalance Valve and Brake Valve .........................................92
3.6.1 Counterbalance Valve ...........................................................92
3.6.2 Brake Valve .............................................................................94
3.7 Summary .............................................................................................95

4. Creation and Control of Fluid Flow .......................................... 101

4.1 Introduction ......................................................................................101
4.2 Fixed Displacement Pumps............................................................103
4.3 Fixed Displacement Pump Circuits...............................................104
4.4 Variable Displacement Pump Circuits .........................................109
4.4.1 Vane Pump ...........................................................................110
4.4.2 Piston Pump .........................................................................114
4.4.3 Improvement in Efficiency with Load Sensing ...............117
4.5 Comparison of Pump Performance Characteristics for
Three Main Designs.........................................................................124
4.5.1 Gerotor Pump.......................................................................124
4.5.2 Vane Pump ...........................................................................130
4.5.3 Axial Piston Pump ...............................................................132
4.6 Multiple Pump Circuits ..................................................................137
4.7 Pump Mounts...................................................................................138
4.8 Flow Control Valves........................................................................140
4.8.1 Flow Dividers .......................................................................143
4.9 Circuits Using Flow Control Valves .............................................144
4.10 Summary ...........................................................................................146

5. Rotary Actuators .......................................................................... 153

5.1 Introduction ......................................................................................153
5.2 Stall Torque Efficiency ....................................................................157
5.3 Typical Performance Data for a Gear Motor ...............................159
5.4 Comparison of Motor Performance Characteristics for
Three Main Designs.........................................................................161
5.4.1 Gear Motor............................................................................161
5.4.2 Vane Motor ...........................................................................162
5.4.3 Piston Motor .........................................................................162
5.5 Performance Characteristics of Low-Speed, High-Torque
Motors................................................................................................164
5.5.1 Geroler Motor (Disc Valve) ................................................164
5.5.2 Vane Motor (Low-Speed, High-Torque) .........................165
5.6 Design Example for Gear Motor Application..............................167
5.6.1 Functional Requirements....................................................168
0924TOC Page xv Friday, May 18, 2001 2:56 PM

5.6.2 Other Design Considerations.............................................168

5.7 Interaction of Pump and Motor Characteristics..........................168
5.8 Bent Axis Motors..............................................................................172
5.8.1 Design Considerations for Bent Axis Motors ..................175
5.8.2 Performance Advantage of Bent Axis Design .................176
5.9 Radial Piston Motors .......................................................................179
5.10 Motor-Gearbox Combinations .......................................................180
5.11 Oscillating Actuator.........................................................................183
5.12 Summary ...........................................................................................185
A5.1 Curve Fitting Technique .................................................................187

6. Hydrostatic Transmissions ......................................................... 193

6.1 Introduction ......................................................................................193
6.2 Mechanical Transmissions..............................................................193
6.2.1 Torque Converters ...............................................................197
6.2.2 Shift Control of Automatic Transmission ........................199
6.2.3 Summary ...............................................................................201
6.3 Introduction to Hydrostatic Transmissions .................................201
6.4 Hydrostatic Transmissions for Vehicle Propulsion ....................203
6.4.1 Comparison of Hydrostatic and Mechanical
Drives.....................................................................................203
6.4.2 Advantages of Hydrostatic Transmissions ......................204
6.5 Different Configurations of Hydrostatic Transmissions
to Propel Vehicles ............................................................................205
6.5.1 Hydrostatic Transmission with Two Wheel Motors.........205
6.5.2 Hydrostatic Transmission with Final Drives...................207
6.5.3 Hydrostatic Transmission with Variable Speed
Motors....................................................................................210
6.5.4 Vehicle with Two Hydrostatic Transmissions.................210
6.5.5 Hydrostatic Drive for Three-Wheel Vehicle ....................212
6.5.6 Hydrostatic Transmission for Four-Wheel Drive
Vehicle ...................................................................................212
6.5.7 Summary ...............................................................................215
6.6 Classification of Hydrostatic Transmissions ...............................215
6.7 Closed-Circuit Hydrostatic Transmissions ..................................216
6.7.1 Charge Pump........................................................................216
6.7.2 Shuttle Valve.........................................................................219
6.7.3 Cross-Port Relief Valves .....................................................221
6.7.4 Multipurpose Valves ...........................................................222
6.7.5 Summary ...............................................................................222
6.8 Closed-Circuit, Closed-Loop Hydrostatic Transmissions .........223
6.8.1 Review of Pump and Motor Operating
Characteristics ......................................................................223
6.8.2 Servo-Controlled Pump ......................................................226
6.8.3 Servo Valve Circuit..............................................................229
6.8.4 Response Time for Closed-Loop Circuit ..........................230
0924TOC Page xvi Friday, May 18, 2001 2:56 PM

6.8.5 Operation of Closed-Circuit, Closed-Loop

Hydrostatic Transmission ..................................................231
6.9 Hydrostatic Transmission Design .................................................232
6.9.1 Hydrostatic Drive for Sweet Sorghum Harvester...........234
6.9.2 Example Solution for Design of Hydrostatic Drive
for Sweet Sorghum Harvester............................................236
6.10 Summary ...........................................................................................251
A6.1 Basic Concepts in Traction..............................................................253
A6.2 Selected Catalog Data for Hydrostatic Transmission
Design Problems ..............................................................................257

7. Linear Actuators .......................................................................... 271

7.1 Introduction ......................................................................................271
7.2 Analysis of Cylinders in Parallel and Series ................................271
7.3 Synchronization of Cylinders ........................................................277
7.3.1 Orifice-Type Flow Divider .................................................279
7.3.2 Gear-Type Flow Divider .....................................................279
7.3.3 Mechanical Coupling ..........................................................279
7.4 Cushioning........................................................................................280
7.5 Rephasing of Cylinders...................................................................281
7.6 Presses ...............................................................................................282
7.6.1 Pilot-Operated Check Valve...............................................284
7.6.2 Load-Locking Circuit ..........................................................286
7.7 Load Analysis...................................................................................286
7.7.1 Analysis of Acceleration of a Load with a Cylinder.......287
7.7.2 One Method for Incorporating the Influence of
Various Factors during Acceleration Event .....................294
7.8 Types of Cylinders...........................................................................296
7.8.1 Cylinder Selection................................................................297
7.8.2 Cylinder Failure ...................................................................297
7.9 Cylinder Construction.....................................................................301
7.10 Summary ...........................................................................................303

8. Temperature and Contamination Control ................................. 311

8.1 Introduction ......................................................................................311
8.2 Temperature Control.......................................................................311
8.2.1 Methods for Cooling Hydraulic Oil ..................................313
8.2.2 Heat Transfer from Reservoir ............................................314
8.2.3 Heat Generated by the System...........................................316
8.2.4 Design Example ...................................................................318
8.2.5 Temperature Control Summary ........................................324
8.3 Contamination Control ...................................................................325
8.3.1 Sources of Contamination ..................................................325
8.3.2 Quantifying Fluid Cleanliness ...........................................326
8.3.3 Effects of Contamination on Various Components ........328
8.3.4 Setting a Target Cleanliness Level.....................................333
0924TOC Page xvii Friday, May 18, 2001 2:56 PM

8.3.5 Achieving a Target Cleanliness Level...............................335

8.3.6 Monitoring the System Cleanliness Level........................342
8.4 Summary ...........................................................................................342

9. Auxiliary Components ................................................................ 349

9.1 Introduction ......................................................................................349
9.2 Reservoir ...........................................................................................349
9.2.1 Reservoir Construction .......................................................350
9.3 Hydraulic Lines................................................................................354
9.3.1 Pipe ........................................................................................355
9.3.2 Hydraulic Tubing ................................................................357
9.3.3 Hydraulic Hose ....................................................................362
9.4 Fluid Velocity in Conductors .........................................................365
9.5 Options for Connecting Components...........................................368
9.5.1 Manifolds ..............................................................................370
9.5.2 Quick-Disconnect Coupling ...............................................372
9.6 Installation of Lines .........................................................................373
9.6.1 Recommended Practices for Hydraulic Hose..................374
9.6.2 Environmental Issues ..........................................................374
9.7 Design Life of Components............................................................375
9.8 System Integration...........................................................................378
9.8.1 Port Connections..................................................................379
9.8.2 Tube or Hose Connections .................................................380
9.8.3 Assembly...............................................................................380
9.9 Summary ...........................................................................................380
A9.1 Selected Design Data for Fluid Conductors.................................383

10. Pneumatics ................................................................................... 389

10.1 Introduction ......................................................................................389
10.2 Orifice Equation ...............................................................................390
10.3 Compressors .....................................................................................392
10.3.1 Reciprocating Piston Compressor ...................................392
10.3.2 Diaphragm Compressor ...................................................392
10.3.3 Sliding Vane Rotary Compressor ....................................392
10.3.4 Cooling ................................................................................392
10.4 Receiver .............................................................................................394
10.5 Pipelines ............................................................................................394
10.6 Preparation of Compressed Air.....................................................394
10.6.1 Drying of Air ......................................................................394
10.6.2 Air Filtration .......................................................................396
10.6.3 Pressure Regulation...........................................................397
10.6.4 Compressed Air Lubrication............................................398
10.6.5 Service Units .......................................................................398
10.7 Cylinders ...........................................................................................399
10.7.1 Single-Acting Cylinders....................................................399
10.7.2 Diaphragm Cylinder .........................................................399
0924TOC Page xviii Friday, May 18, 2001 2:56 PM

10.7.3 Rolling Diaphragm Cylinders..........................................400

10.7.4 Double-Acting Cylinders..................................................400
10.7.5 Impact Cylinder .................................................................401
10.7.6 Free Air Consumption by Cylinders...............................401
10.8 Motors................................................................................................403
10.8.1 Types of Pneumatic Motors..............................................403
10.8.2 Characteristics of Pneumatic Motors ..............................405
10.9 Additional Actuator Units..............................................................408
10.9.1 Cylinder with Mounted Air Control Block ....................408
10.9.2 Hydropneumatic Feed Unit .............................................408
10.9.3 Feed Unit.............................................................................409
10.9.4 Rotary Index Table.............................................................410
10.9.5 Air Cushion Sliding Table ................................................410
10.10 Valves ................................................................................................411
10.10.1 Valve Symbols ..................................................................411
10.10.2 Valve Design.....................................................................412
10.10.3 Poppet Valves...................................................................412
10.10.4 Slide Valves.......................................................................413
10.10.5 Other Valves .....................................................................414
10.11 Summary ...........................................................................................415
A10.1 Standard Conditions .......................................................................417

11. Servo Valves ................................................................................. 421

11.1 Introduction ......................................................................................421
11.2 Concept..............................................................................................422
11.2.1 Feedback..............................................................................425
11.2.2 Programmable Orifice.......................................................426
11.2.3 Control of Pump Displacement .......................................430
11.2.4 Basic Servo Systems...........................................................430
11.3 Servo Valve Construction ...............................................................432
11.3.1 Torque Motor .....................................................................432
11.3.2 Methods for Shifting Servo Valve Spool ........................435
11.3.3 Valve Construction ............................................................438
11.4 Valve Performance...........................................................................440
11.4.1 Rated Flow ..........................................................................440
11.4.2 Pressure Drop.....................................................................441
11.4.3 Internal Leakage.................................................................443
11.4.4 Hysteresis............................................................................443
11.4.5 Threshold ............................................................................443
11.4.6 Gain......................................................................................443
11.4.7 Frequency Response..........................................................445
11.4.8 Phase Lag ............................................................................448
11.4.9 Summary .............................................................................450
11.5 Types of Servo Systems...................................................................450
11.5.1 Hydromechanical Servo System......................................450
11.5.2 Electrohydraulic Servo Systems ......................................451
0924TOC Page xix Friday, May 18, 2001 2:56 PM

11.6 Servo Amplifiers ..............................................................................457

11.7 Servo Analysis..................................................................................459
11.7.1 Open-Loop Gain ................................................................463
11.7.2 Natural Frequency .............................................................463
11.7.3 Error Terms.........................................................................471
11.7.4 Introduction to the Laplace Domain ...............................474
11.8 Summary ...........................................................................................480

12. Proportional Valves ..................................................................... 487

12.1 Introduction ......................................................................................487
12.2 Types of Proportional Valves.........................................................487
12.2.1 Force-Controlled Proportional Valves............................488
12.2.2 Summary .............................................................................497
12.2.3 Stroke-Controlled Proportional Valves ..........................497
12.3 Analysis of Proportional Directional Control Valve ..................499
12.3.1 Overrunning Load .............................................................501
12.3.2 Resistive Load ....................................................................507
12.3.3 How a Proportional Direction Control Valve
Functions in a Circuit........................................................510
12.4 Comparison of Servo and Proportional Valves...........................513
12.5 Summary ...........................................................................................514
A12.1 Summary of Equations....................................................................517

Index ..................................................................................................... 521

0924TOC Page xx Friday, May 18, 2001 2:56 PM
0924Ch01 Page 1 Wednesday, May 16, 2001 2:39 PM

1
Brief Overview of Fluid Power

1.1 Introduction
In 1906, oil began to replace water as the pressurized fluid in hydraulic sys-
tems, and the modern era of fluid power began. Electrical control of fluid
power began to enter the commercial sector with the development of servo
valves in World War II. Today, the fluid power industry is a multibillion dol-
lar industry.
Most mobile machines in the extraction industries (mining, logging, farm-
ing, and fishing) have fluid power circuits, thus fluid power is a major factor
in the collection of raw materials for the international economy. Fluid power
is an important part of most vehicles in the transportation industry. In man-
ufacturing, the application of fluid power has continuously increased the
productivity of workers and thus has had direct impact on the standard of
living. Today, fluid power is a part of every product we use and service we
enjoy.

1.2 Concept of Fluid Power

This text leads the reader through several levels of complexity beginning
with simple circuits with a simple function and concluding with an introduc-
tion to the use of servo valves to control heavy loads moving at high speed.
As we proceed along this journey, the reader will be periodically reminded
that the fundamental concept of fluid power is quite simple. Fluid power
technology is the conversion of mechanical energy to fluid energy, delivery
of this energy to a utilization point, and then its conversion back to mechan-
ical energy. A fluid power circuit has all three features: conversion from
mechanical energy to fluid energy, delivery, and conversion from fluid
energy back to mechanical energy. An electrical circuit also has all three fea-
tures, but often the designer focuses only for the final conversion step—elec-

1
0924Ch01 Page 2 Wednesday, May 16, 2001 2:39 PM

2 Fluid Power Circuits and Controls

trical-to-mechanical. Generation of the electrical energy and its delivery are

external to the design problem.

1.2.1 Basic Circuits

Many people have an intuitive understanding of a basic cylinder circuit and
a basic motor circuit. The block diagram shown in Fig. 1.1 gives the concept
for a motor circuit. Two parameters, torque (T) and shaft speed (N), are con-
verted to two different parameters, pressure (P) and flow (Q), using a pump.
The two new parameters, P and Q, are converted back to T and N using a
motor. The principal reason for converting to fluid power is the convenience
in transferring energy to a new location. The pressurized fluid, defined by the
P and Q parameters, easily flows around corners and along irregular path-
ways before reaching the point where it is converted back to T and N.
Fluid power is used on many agricultural machines because of the need to
transfer power to a remote location. Suppose a conveyor must be driven on
the opposite side of a machine from the prime mover. (On mobile machines,
the prime mover is typically an internal combustion engine, and on station-
ary machines, it typically is an electric motor.) Power could be mechanically
transmitted using a right-angle gearbox, shafts, bearings, roller chains, or
belts. Using fluid power, the task is accomplished with a hydraulic pump
mounted at the prime mover, two hydraulic hoses, and a hydraulic motor at
the conveyor. Often, machine weight is reduced, and reliability increased, by
using fluid power. In addition, overload protection is provided by simply
installing a relief valve.

1.2.1.1 Brief Review of Mechanics

Power is defined as the rate of doing work or work per unit time. Work is
defined as force times distance. Suppose a force acts through a moment arm to

Mechanical Hydraulic Mechanical

Energy Energy Energy

T P T
Prime Hydraulic Hydraulic
Mover Pump Motor
N Q N

FIGURE 1.1
Concept of fluid power illustrated with basic motor circuit.
0924Ch01 Page 3 Wednesday, May 16, 2001 2:39 PM

Brief Overview of Fluid Power 3

produce a torque. If the shaft is rotating at a given speed (N), the distance
traveled in one minute is

x = 2πrN (1.1)

where x = distance traveled (in)

r = moment arm (in)
N = rotational speed (rpm)

Work done in a one-minute interval is

Work = Force × Distance

= F × 2πrN
= 2πTN (1.2)

where T = F × r

Since power is the rate of doing work, the work done in one minute, Eq. (1.2),
is

P = Work/t = 2πTN/1 (1.3)

where P = power (lbf-in)/min.

One horsepower is 33,000 lbf-ft/min, therefore,

( P/12 )
hp = ------------------
33, 000

If torque is expressed in lbf-in and N is shaft speed in rpm, then power in hp

is given by

2π ( T/12 )N
hp = -----------------------------
33000
TN
= ---------------
63025 (1.4)

Mechanical power is proportional to the product of T and N. Is hydraulic

power proportional to the product of P and Q?

1.2.1.2 Basic Concept of Hydraulic Cylinder

Suppose a flow of fluid is delivered to a hydraulic cylinder, causing it to
extend. The cylinder has a cross-sectional area A and delivers a force F while
0924Ch01 Page 4 Wednesday, May 16, 2001 2:39 PM

4 Fluid Power Circuits and Controls

moving a distance x (Fig. 1.2). The distance moved is related to the fluid vol-
ume delivered to the cylinder.

x = V/A (1.5)

where x = distance (in)

V = volume (in3)
A = area (in2)

The force is related to the pressure developed at the cap end.

F = PA (1.6)

where F = force (lbf)

P = pressure (lbf/in2)
A = area (in2)

(Throughout this text, pressure in lbf/in2 is expressed as psi.)

Work done is given by

Work = Fx
V
= ( PA )  ---- = PV
 A
(1.7)

Power is work per unit time,

Power = PV/t (1.8)

FIGURE 1.2
Hydraulic cylinder being extended a distance x against a force F.
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severer test of the political and moral fibre of mankind, of its power to
hold itself together in vast, efficient, plastic wholes. Whatever races
or social systems fail to produce this fibre must yield ascendency to
those which succeed.
This stronger personality depends also upon training; and
whatever peoples succeed in being righteous on a great scale will do
so only by adding to natural capacity an education suited to the
growing demands of the situation—one at the same time broad and
special, technical and humane. There can be no moral order that
does not live in the mind of the individual.
Besides personality—or rather correlative with it—there must be
an adequate mechanism of communication and organization. In
small groups the requirements of structure are so simple as to make
little trouble, but in proportion as the web of relations extends and
diversifies, they become more and more difficult to meet without
sacrificing human nature; so that, other things equal, the freedom
and real unity of the system are likely to vary inversely with its
extent. It is only because other things have not remained equal,
because the mechanism has been improved, that it has become
possible, in a measure, to reconcile freedom with extent.
Communication must be full and quick in order to give that
promptness in the give-and-take of suggestions upon which moral
unity depends. Gesture and speech ensure this in the face-to-face
group; but only the recent marvellous improvement of
communicative machinery makes a free mind on a great scale even
conceivable. If there is no means of working thought and sentiment
into a whole by reciprocation, the unity of the group cannot be other
than inert and unhuman. This cause alone would account for the lack
of extended freedom previous to the nineteenth century.
There must also be forms and customs of rational organization,
through which human nature may express itself in an orderly and
effective manner. Even children learn the need of regular discussion
and decision, while all bodies of adults meeting for deliberation find
that they can think organically only by observance of the rules which
have been worked out for such occasions. And if we are to have
great and stable nations, it is easy to see that these rules of order
must become a body of law and custom including most, if not all, of
the familiar institutions of society. These are a product of progressive
invention, trial, and survival as much as the railroad or the factory,
and they have in the long run the same purpose, that of the fuller
expression of human nature in a social system.
As might be expected from these conditions, there is a principle of
compensation at work in the growth of the larger mind. The more
betterment there is, the more of vital force, of human reason, feeling,
and choice, goes into it; and, as these are limited, improvement in
one respect is apt to be offset, at least in part or temporarily, by delay
or retrogression in others.
Thus a rapid improvement in the means of communication, as we
see in our own time, supplies the basis for a larger and freer society,
and yet it may, by disordering settled relations, and by fixing
attention too much upon mechanical phases of progress, bring in
conditions of confusion and injustice that are the opposite of free.
A very general fact of early political history is deterioration by
growth. The small state cannot escape its destiny as part of a larger
world, but must expand or perish. It grows in size, power, and
diversity by the necessities of its struggle for existence—as did
Rome, Athens, and a hundred other states—but in so doing
sacrifices human nature to military expediency and develops a
mechanical or despotic structure. This, in the long run, produces
weakness, decay, and conquest, or perhaps revolt and revolution.
The requirements of human nature—both direct, as expressed in
social idealism, and indirect, as felt in the ultimate weakness and
failure of systems which disregard them—are irrepressible.
Gradually, therefore, through improvement and through the survival
of higher types in conflict, a type of larger structure is developed
which less sacrifices these requirements.
Much of what is unfree and unhuman in our modern life comes
from mere inadequacy of mental and moral energy to meet the
accumulating demands upon it. In many quarters attention and effort
must be lacking, and where this is the case social relations fall to a
low plane—just as a teacher who has too much to do necessarily
adopts a mechanical style of instruction. So what we call “red tape”
prevails in great clerical offices because much business is done by
persons of small ability, who can work only under rule. And great
bureaucratic systems, like the Russian Empire, are of much the
same nature.
In general the wrongs of the social system come much more from
inadequacy than from ill intention. It is indeed not to be expected that
all relations should be fully rational and sympathetic; we have to be
content with infusing reason and sympathy into what is most vital.
Society, then, as a moral organism, is a progressive creation,
tentatively wrought out through experiment, struggle, and survival.
Not only individuals but ideas, institutions, nations, and races do
their work upon it and perish. Its ideals, though simple in spirit, are
achieved through endless elaboration of means.
It will be my further endeavor to throw some light upon this striving
whole by considering certain phases of its organization, such as
Communication, Public Opinion, Sentiment, Classes, and
Institutions; always trying to see the whole in the part, the part in the
whole, and human nature in both.
 PART II
COMMUNICATION
 CHAPTER VI
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF COMMUNICATION

Meaning of Communication—Its Relation to Human Nature—

To Society at Large.
By Communication is here meant the mechanism through which
human relations exist and develop—all the symbols of the mind,
together with the means of conveying them through space and
preserving them in time. It includes the expression of the face,
attitude and gesture, the tones of the voice, words, writing, printing,
railways, telegraphs, telephones, and whatever else may be the
latest achievement in the conquest of space and time. All these
taken together, in the intricacy of their actual combination, make up
an organic whole corresponding to the organic whole of human
thought; and everything in the way of mental growth has an external
existence therein. The more closely we consider this mechanism the
more intimate will appear its relation to the inner life of mankind, and
nothing will more help us to understand the latter than such
consideration.
There is no sharp line between the means of communication and
the rest of the external world. In a sense all objects and actions are
symbols of the mind, and nearly anything may be used as a sign—as
I may signify the moon or a squirrel to a child by merely pointing at it,
or by imitating with the voice the chatter of the one or drawing an
outline of the other. But there is also, almost from the first, a
conventional development of communication, springing out of
spontaneous signs but soon losing evident connection with them, a
system of standard symbols existing for the mere purpose of
conveying thought; and it is this we have chiefly to consider.
Without communication the mind does not develop a true human
nature, but remains in an abnormal and nondescript state neither
human nor properly brutal. This is movingly illustrated by the case of
Helen Keller, who, as all the world knows, was cut off at eighteen
months from the cheerful ways of men by the loss of sight and
hearing; and did not renew the connection until she was nearly
seven years old. Although her mind was not wholly isolated during
this period, since she retained the use of a considerable number of
signs learned during infancy, yet her impulses were crude and
uncontrolled, and her thought so unconnected that she afterward
remembered almost nothing that occurred before the awakening
which took place toward the close of her seventh year.
The story of that awakening, as told by her teacher, gives as vivid
a picture as we need have of the significance to the individual mind
of the general fact and idea of communication. For weeks Miss
Sullivan had been spelling words into her hand which Helen had
repeated and associated with objects; but she had not yet grasped
the idea of language in general, the fact that everything had a name,
and that through names she could share her own experiences with
others, and learn theirs—the idea that there is fellowship in thought.
This came quite suddenly.
“This morning,” writes her teacher, “while she was washing, she
wanted to know the name for water.... I spelled w-a-t-e-r and thought
no more about it until after breakfast. Then it occurred to me that with
the help of this new word I might succeed in straightening out the
mug-milk difficulty [a confusion of ideas previously discussed]. We
went out into the pump-house and I made Helen hold her mug under
the pump while I pumped. As the cold water gushed forth filling the
mug I spelled w-a-t-e-r in Helen’s free hand. The word coming so
close upon the sensation of cold water rushing over her hand seemed
to startle her. She dropped the mug and stood as one transfixed. A
new light came into her face. She spelled water several times. Then
she dropped on the ground and asked for its name, and pointed to the
pump and the trellis, and suddenly turning round she asked for my
name. I spelled ‘teacher.’ Just then the nurse brought Helen’s little
sister into the pump-house, and Helen spelled ‘baby’ and pointed to
the nurse. All the way back to the house she was highly excited, and
learned the name of every object she touched, so that in a few hours
she had added thirty new words to her vocabulary.”
The following day Miss Sullivan writes, “Helen got up this morning
like a radiant fairy. She has flitted from object to object, asking the
name of everything and kissing me for very gladness.” And four days
later, “Everything must have a name now.... She drops the signs and
 pantomime she used before, so soon as she has words to supply their
place, and the acquirement of a new word affords her the liveliest
pleasure. And we notice that her face grows more expressive each
day.”[22]
This experience is a type of what happens more gradually to all of
us: it is through communication that we get our higher development.
The faces and conversation of our associates; books, letters, travel,
arts, and the like, by awakening thought and feeling and guiding
them in certain channels, supply the stimulus and framework for all
our growth.
In the same way, if we take a larger view and consider the life of a
social group, we see that communication, including its organization
into literature, art, and institutions, is truly the outside or visible
structure of thought, as much cause as effect of the inside or
conscious life of men. All is one growth: the symbols, the traditions,
the institutions are projected from the mind, to be sure, but in the
very instant of their projection, and thereafter, they react upon it, and
in a sense control it, stimulating, developing, and fixing certain
thoughts at the expense of others to which no awakening suggestion
comes. By the aid of this structure the individual is a member not
only of a family, a class, and a state, but of a larger whole reaching
back to prehistoric men whose thought has gone to build it up. In this
whole he lives as in an element, drawing from it the materials of his
growth and adding to it whatever constructive thought he may
express.
Thus the system of communication is a tool, a progressive
invention, whose improvements react upon mankind and alter the life
of every individual and institution. A study of these improvements is
one of the best ways by which to approach an understanding of the
mental and social changes that are bound up with them; because it
gives a tangible framework for our ideas—just as one who wished to
grasp the organic character of industry and commerce might well
begin with a study of the railway system and of the amount and kind
of commodities it carries, proceeding thence to the more abstract
transactions of finance.
 And when we come to the modern era, especially, we can
understand nothing rightly unless we perceive the manner in which
the revolution in communication has made a new world for us. So in
the pages that follow I shall aim to show what the growth of
intercourse implies in the way of social development, inquiring
particularly into the effect of recent changes.

FOOTNOTES:
[22] The Story of My Life, 316, 317.
 CHAPTER VII
THE GROWTH OF COMMUNICATION

Pre-Verbal Communication—The Rise of Speech—Its Mental

and Social Function—The Function of Writing—Printing
and the Modern World—The Non-Verbal Arts.
The chief means of what we may call pre-verbal communication
are the expression of the face—especially of the mobile portions
about the eyes and mouth—the pitch, inflection, and emotional tone
of the voice; and the gestures of the head and limbs. All of these
begin in involuntary movements but are capable of becoming
voluntary, and all are eagerly practised and interpreted by children
long before they learn to speak. They are immediately joined to
action and emotion: the inflections of the voice, for instance, play
upon the child’s feelings as directly as music, and are interpreted
partly by an instinctive sensibility. I have heard a child seventeen
months old using her voice so expressively, though inarticulately, that
it sounded, a little way off, as if she were carrying on an animated
conversation. And gesture, such as reaching out the hand, bending
forward, turning away the head, and the like, springs directly from
the ideas and feelings it represents.
The human face, “the shape and color of a mind and life,” is a kind
of epitome of society, and if one could only read all that is written in
the countenances of men as they pass he might find a great deal of
sociology in them. Hereditary bias, family nurture, the print of the
school, current opinion, contemporary institutions, all are there,
drawn with a very fine pencil. If one wishes to get a real human
insight into the times of Henry the Eighth, for example, he can hardly
do better than to study the portrait drawings of Holbein; and so of
other periods, including our own, whose traits would appear
conspicuously in a collection of portraits. Many people can
discriminate particular classes, as, for instance, clergymen, by their
expression, and not a few will tell with much accuracy what church
the latter belong to and whether they are of the lower rank or in
authority. Again there is a difference, indescribable, perhaps, yet
apparent, between the look of American and of English youths—still
more of girls—which reflects the differing social systems.
This sort of communication is, of course, involuntary. An artificial
mechanism of communication originates when man begins
purposely to reproduce his own instinctive motions and cries, or the
sounds, forms, and movements of the world about him, in order to
recall the ideas associated with them. All kinds of conventional
communication are believed to be rooted in these primitive
imitations, which, by a process not hard to imagine, extend and
differentiate into gesture, speech, writing, and the special symbols of
the arts and sciences; so that the whole exterior organization of
thought refers back to these beginnings.
We can only conjecture the life of man, or of his humanizing
progenitor, before speech was achieved; but we may suppose that
facial expression, inarticulate cries and songs,[23] and a variety of
imitative sounds and actions aroused sympathy, permitted the
simpler kinds of general ideas to be formed, and were the medium
through which tradition and convention had their earliest
development. It is probable that artificial gesture language was well
organized before speech had made much headway. Even without
words life may have been an active and continuous mental whole,
not dependent for its unity upon mere heredity, but bound together
by some conscious community in the simpler sorts of thought and
feeling, and by the transmission and accumulation of these through
tradition. There was presumably coöperation and instruction of a
crude sort in which was the germ of future institutions.
No one who has observed children will have any difficulty in
conjecturing the beginnings of speech, since nearly every child starts
in to invent a language for himself, and only desists when he finds
that there is one all ready-made for him. There are as many natural
words (if we may call them so) as there are familiar sounds with
definite associations, whether coming from human beings, from
animals, or from inanimate nature. These the child instinctively loves
to reproduce and communicate, at first in mere sport and sociability,
then, as occasion arises, with more definite meaning. This meaning
is easily extended by various sorts of association of ideas; the
sounds themselves are altered and combined in usage; and thus
speech is well begun.
Many humble inventors contribute to its growth, every man,
possibly, altering the heritage in proportion as he puts his
individuality into his speech. Variations of idea are preserved in
words or other symbols, and so stored up in a continuing whole,
constantly growing in bulk and diversity, which is, as we have seen,
nothing less than the outside or sensible embodiment of human
thought, in which every particular mind lives and grows, drawing
from it the material of its own life, and contributing to it whatever
higher product it may make out of that material.
A word is a vehicle, a boat floating down from the past, laden with
the thought of men we never saw; and in coming to understand it we
enter not only into the minds of our contemporaries, but into the
general mind of humanity continuous through time. The popular
notion of learning to speak is that the child first has the idea and then
gets from others a sound to use in communicating it; but a closer
study shows that this is hardly true even of the simplest ideas, and is
nearly the reverse of truth as regards developed thought. In that the
word usually goes before, leading and kindling the idea—we should
not have the latter if we did not have the word first. “This way,” says
the word, “is an interesting thought; come and find it.” And so we are
led on to rediscover old knowledge. Such words, for instance, as
good, right, truth, love, home, justice, beauty, freedom; are powerful
makers of what they stand for.
A mind without words would make only such feeble and uncertain
progress as a traveller set down in the midst of a wilderness where
there were no paths or conveyances and without even a compass. A
mind with them is like the same traveller in the midst of civilization,
with beaten roads and rapid vehicles ready to take him in any
direction where men have been before. As the traveller must pass
over the ground in either case, so the mind must pass through
experience, but if it has language it finds its experience foreseen,
mapped out and interpreted by all the wisdom of the past, so that it
has not only its own experience but that of the race—just as the
modern traveller sees not only the original country but the cities and
plantations of men.
The principle that applies to words applies also to all structures
that are built of words, to literature and the manifold traditions that it
conveys. As the lines of Dante are “foot-paths for the thought of
Italy,” so the successful efforts of the mind in every field are
preserved in their symbols and become foot-paths by which other
minds reach the same point. And this includes feeling as well as
definite idea. It is almost the most wonderful thing about language
that by something intangible in its order and movement and in the
selection and collocation of words, it can transmit the very soul of a
man, making his page live when his definite ideas have ceased to
have value. In this way one gets from Sir Thomas Browne, let us
say, not his conceits and credulities, but his high and religious spirit,
hovering, as it were, over the page.
The achievement of speech is commonly and properly regarded
as the distinctive trait of man, as the gate by which he emerged from
his pre-human state. It means that, like Helen Keller, he has learned
that everything has, or may have, a name, and so has entered upon
a life of conscious fellowship in thought. It not only permitted the rise
of a more rational and human kind of thinking and feeling, but was
also the basis of the earliest definite institutions. A wider and fuller
unity of thought took place in every group where it appeared. Ideas
regarding the chief interests of primitive life—hunting, warfare,
marriage, feasting and the like—were defined, communicated and
extended. Public opinion no doubt began to arise within the tribe,
and crystallized into current sayings which served as rules of thought
and conduct; the festal chants, if they existed before, became
articulate and historical. And when any thought of special value was
achieved in the group, it did not perish, but was handed on by
tradition and made the basis of new gains. In this way primitive
wisdom and rule were perpetuated, enlarged and improved until, in
connection with ceremonial and other symbols, they became such
institutions, of government, marriage, religion and property as are
found in every savage tribe.
 Nor must we forget that this state of things reacted upon the
natural capacities of man, perhaps by the direct inheritance of
acquired social habits and aptitudes, certainly by the survival of
those who, having these, were more fitted than others to thrive in a
social life. In this way man, if he was human when speech began to
be used, rapidly became more so, and went on accumulating a
social heritage.
So the study of speech reveals a truth which we may also reach in
many other ways, namely, that the growth of the individual mind is
not a separate growth, but rather a differentiation within the general
mind. Our personal life, so far as we can make out, has its sources
partly in congenital tendency, and partly in the stream of
communication, both of which flow from the corporate life of the race.
The individual has no better ground for thinking of himself as
separate from humanity than he has for thinking of the self he is to-
day as separate from the self he was yesterday; the continuity being
no more certain in the one case than in the other. If it be said that he
is separate because he feels separate, it may be answered that to
the infant each moment is separate, and that we know our personal
life to be a whole only through the growth of thought and memory. In
the same way the sense of a larger or social wholeness is perhaps
merely a question of our growing into more vivid and intelligent
consciousness of a unity which is already clear enough to reflective
observation.
It is the social function of writing, by giving ideas a lasting record,
to make possible a more certain, continuous and diversified growth
of the human mind. It does for the race very much what it does for
the individual. When the student has a good thought he writes it
down, so that it may be recalled at will and made the starting-point
for a better thought in the same direction; and so mankind at large
records and cherishes its insights.
Until writing is achieved the accumulation of ideas depends upon
oral tradition, the capacity of which is measured by the interest and
memory of the people who transmit it. It must, therefore, confine
itself chiefly to ideas and sentiments for which there is a somewhat
general and constant demand, such as popular stories—like the
Homeric legends—chants, proverbs, maxims and the like. It is true
that tradition becomes more or less specialized in families and
castes—as we see, for instance, in the widespread existence of a
hereditary priesthood—but this specialization cannot be very
elaborate or very secure in its continuance. There can hardly be,
without writing, any science or any diversified literature. These
require a means by which important ideas can be passed on
unimpaired to men distant in time and space from their authors. We
may safely pronounce, with Gibbon, that “without some species of
writing no people has ever preserved the faithful annals of their
history, ever made any considerable progress in the abstract
sciences, or ever possessed, in any tolerable degree of perfection,
the useful and agreeable arts of life.”[24]
Nor can stable and extended government be organized without it,
for such government requires a constitution of some sort, a definite
and permanent body of law and custom, embracing the wisdom of
the past regarding the maintenance of social order.
It is quite the same with religious systems. The historical religions
are based upon Scriptures, the essential part of which is the
recorded teaching of the founder and his immediate disciples, and
without such a record Christianity, Buddhism or Mohammedanism
could never have been more than a small and transient sect. There
may well have been men of religious genius among our illiterate
forefathers, but it was impossible that they should found enduring
systems.
The whole structure and progress of modern life evidently rests
upon the preservation, in writing, of the achievements of the antique
mind, upon the records, especially, of Judea, Greece and Rome. To
inquire what we should have been without these would be like asking
what we should have been if our parents had not existed. Writing
made history possible, and the man of history with his complex
institutions. It enabled a rapid and secure enlargement of that human
nature which had previously been confined within small and unstable
groups.
 If writing, by giving thought permanence, brought in the earlier
civilization, printing, by giving it diffusion opened the doors of the
modern world.
Before its advent access to the records of the race was limited to a
learned class, who thus held a kind of monopoly of the traditions
upon which the social system rested. Throughout the earlier Middle
Ages, for example, the clergy, or that small portion of the clergy who
were educated, occupied this position in Europe, and their system
was the one animate and wide-reaching mental organization of the
period. For many centuries it was rare for a layman, of whatever
rank, to know how to sign his name. Through the Latin language,
written and spoken, which would apparently have perished had it not
been for the Church, the larger continuity and coöperation of the
human mind was maintained. Those who could read it had a
common literature and a vague sense of unity and brotherhood.
Roman ideas were preserved, however imperfectly, and an ideal
Rome lived in the Papacy and the Empire. Education, naturally, was
controlled by the clergy, who were also intrusted with political
correspondence and the framing of laws. As is well known they
somewhat recast the traditions in their own interest, and were aided
by their control of the communicating medium in becoming the
dominant power in Europe.
Printing means democracy, because it brings knowledge within the
reach of the common people; and knowledge, in the long run, is sure
to make good its claim to power. It brings to the individual whatever
part in the heritage of ideas he is fit to receive. The world of thought,
and eventually the world of action, comes gradually under the rule of
a true aristocracy of intelligence and character, in place of an
artificial one created by exclusive opportunity.
Everywhere the spread of printing was followed by a general
awakening due to the unsettling suggestions which it scattered
abroad. Political and religious agitation, by no means unknown
before, was immensely stimulated, and has continued unabated to
the present time. “The whole of this movement,” says Mr. H. C. Lea,
speaking of the liberal agitations of the early sixteenth century, “had
been rendered possible by the invention of printing, which facilitated
so enormously the diffusion of intelligence, which enabled public
opinion to form and express itself, and which, by bringing into
communication minds of similar ways of thinking, afforded
opportunity for combined action.” “When, therefore, on October 31,
1517, Luther’s fateful theses were hung on the church door at
Wittenberg, they were, as he tells us, known in a fortnight throughout
Germany; and in a month they had reached Rome and were being
read in every school and convent in Europe—a result manifestly
impossible without the aid of the printing press.”[25]
The printed page is also the door by which the individual, in our
own time, enters the larger rooms of life. A good book, “the precious
life blood of a master spirit stored upon purpose to a life beyond
life,”[26] is almost always the channel through which uncommon
minds get incitement and aid to lift themselves into the higher
thought that other uncommon minds have created. “In study we hold
converse with the wise, in action usually with the foolish.”[27] While
the mass of mankind about us is ever commonplace, there is always,
in our day, a more select society not far away for one who craves it,
and a man like Abraham Lincoln, whose birth would have meant
hopeless serfdom a few centuries ago, may get from half a dozen
books aspirations which lead him out to authority and beneficence.
While spoken language, along with the writing and printing by
which it is preserved and disseminated, is the main current of
communication, there are from the start many side channels.
Thus among savage or barbarous peoples we everywhere find,
beside gesture language, the use of a multitude of other symbols,
such as the red arrow for war, the pipe of peace, signal fires,
notched sticks, knotted cords, totems, and, among nations more
advanced in culture, coats-of-arms, flags and an infinite diversity of
symbolic ritual. There is, indeed, a world of signs outside of
language, most of which, however, we may pass by, since its general
nature is obvious enough.
The arts of painting, sculpture, music, and architecture, considered
as communication, have two somewhat different functions: First, as
mere picture or image writing, conveying ideas that could also be
conveyed (though with a difference) in words; and, second, as the
vehicle of peculiar phases of sentiment incommunicable in any other
way. These two were often, indeed usually, combined in the art of the
past. In modern times the former, because of the diffusion of literacy,
has become of secondary importance.
Of the picture-writing function the mosaics, in colors on a gold
ground, that cover the inner walls of St. Mark’s at Venice are a
familiar instance. They set forth in somewhat rude figures, helped
out by symbols, the whole system of Christian theology as it was
then understood. They were thus an illuminated book of sacred
learning through which the people entered into the religious tradition.
The same tradition is illustrated in the sculpture of the cathedrals of
Chartres and Rheims, together with much other matter—secular
history, typified by figures of the kings of France; moral philosophy,
with virtues and vices, rewards and punishments; and emblems of
husbandry and handicraft. Along with these sculptures went the
pictured windows, the sacred relics—which, as Gibbon says, “fixed
and inflamed the devotion of the faithful”[28]—the music, and the
elaborate pageants and ritual; all working together as one rich sign,
in which was incarnated the ideal life of the times.
A subtler function of the non-verbal arts is to communicate matter
that could not go by any other road, especially certain sorts of
sentiment which are thus perpetuated and diffused.
One of the simplest and most fruitful examples of this is the
depiction of human forms and faces which embody, as if by living
presence, the nobler feelings and aspirations of the time. Such
works, in painting or sculpture, remain as symbols by the aid of
which like sentiments grow up in the minds of whomsoever become
familiar with them. Sentiment is cumulative in human history in the
same manner as thought, though less definitely and surely, and
Christian feeling, as it grew and flourished in the Middle Ages, was
fostered by painting as much, perhaps, as by the Scriptures. And so
Greek sculpture, from the time of the humanists down through
Winckelmann and Goethe to the present day, has been a channel by
which Greek sentiment has flowed into modern life.
 This record of human feeling in expressive forms and faces, as in
the madonnas and saints of Raphael, is called by some critics
“illustration”; and they distinguish it from “decoration,” which includes
all those elements in a work of art which exist not to transmit
something else but for their own more immediate value, such as
beauty of color, form, composition and suggested movement. This
latter is communication also, appealing to vivid but otherwise
inarticulate phases of human instinct. Each art can convey a unique
kind of sentiment and has “its own peculiar and incommunicable
sensuous charm, its own special mode of reaching the imagination.”
In a picture the most characteristic thing is “that true pictorial quality
... the inventive or creative handling of pure line and color, which, as
almost always in Dutch painting, as often also in the works of Titian
or Veronese, is quite independent of anything definitely poetical in
the subject it accompanies” in music “the musical charm—that
essential music, which presents no words, no matter of sentiment or
thought, separable from the special form in which it is conveyed to
us.”[29] And so with architecture, an art peculiarly close to social
organization, so that in many cases—as in the Place of Venice—the
spirit of a social system has been visibly raised up in stone.
It needs no argument, I suppose, to show that these arts are no
less essential to the growth of the human spirit than literature or
government.

FOOTNOTES:
[23] On the probability that song preceded speech, see Darwin,
Descent of Man, chap. 19.
[24] Decline and Fall, Milman-Smith edition, i, 354.
[25] The Cambridge Modern History, i, 684, 685.
[26] Milton, Areopagitica.
[27] Bacon, Antitheta on Studies.
[28] Decline and Fall, Milman-Smith edition, iii, 428.
[29] Walter Pater, Essay on the School of Giorgione.
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